“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Think through the things that the Son of God set aside! Two, stand out to me.
- The largest of which was the use of His divinity. In all of the places that He had the “nature” right to assert the power, glory and sovereignty of His divinity, He instead acted as a “true” human acts. Yet, without the sin with which we act.
- The protection that naturally comes with being a sovereign, He set aside His power to resist and conquer death administered by inferiors.
Not wanting to diminish the full significance of what Jesus did when He emptied Himself, allow me to call our attention to two “applications” of Paul’ words.
First, in a simple reduction of the power of these words and Jesus’s willful actions, Jesus set aside the control of the outcomes. It is clear from His words in Gethsemane and the words of the prophet Isaiah in chapter 53, that Jesus’ death was not an experience that He sought out or enjoyed.
He obeyed the deciding sovereignty of the Father. He obeyed the need for a payment for our rebellion. He obeyed the need for a “second” Adam to do what the first Adam did not do. He obeyed the need for a sacrifice that was fully human, but also fully perfect. A lamb without stain.
“Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:18-19)
Second, we are called to imitate Him! I read a lot of people’s thoughts on leadership. So many of them orbit around being the best person you can be, achieving the best results you always hoped for, finding the significance you “deserve.”
These same kinds of “outcome” expectations affect all of our relationships, not just leadership. Husbands and wives, friends and colleagues, all navigate, unspoken and unidentified, through the same issues. The results can be destructive, even when we think that we have the outcome we desired, that we deserved.
The problem for a Christian is that this kind of thinking is opposite to the plan of God for us. What God expects of us, is always upside down to our fallen, sin stained thinking. We have been born again, made new in our identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. As a result, God has bold expectations for us.
We rightfully say, “but I am not Jesus!” That is true. But, I am born again, called to be and act like a child of God, walk in the footsteps of the one who shows us what life was intended to be like, Jesus! We will fail, but failure should not be our default. For new life does indeed beget new living. When this doesn’t happen or mature, we should ask more fundamental questions about our salvation, or lack thereof.
Don’t allow humanistic thinking to invade your “newness” in Jesus!!!
