Christ: The State of Humiliation

Christ: The State of Humiliation

Who is Jesus?

The Doctrine of Christ

Introduction

Sometimes I dream

That he is me

You’ve got to see that’s how I dream to be

I dream I move, I dream I groove

Like Mike

If I could be like Mike

Like Mike

Oh, If I could be like Mike

Be like Mike, be like Mike

On August 8, 1991, the greatest commercial launched about the greatest basketball player of all time: Michael Jordan. And there were a few things you could do as a 90s kid to be like Mike. You had to wear a sweat band on your left forearm. You needed a bottle of Gatorade. And of course, when you drove to the hoop, you had to stick out your tongue. And I did all those things. I wore the sweatband, drank the Gatorade, and stuck out my tongue. But you know what… I was not like Mike, and no matter how hard I tried, it was impossible for me to be like Mike.

Is that how you think of Jesus? He’s the greatest of all time. But no matter how hard you try, it’s impossible for you to be like Jesus. You say, “Well, I’m trying my hardest. I’m practicing.” But no matter how hard I try to love God, I know I can’t feel for him the way Jesus did. No matter how much I try to love others, I’ll never have the compassion that Jesus had for others. Well, I have good news for you: though you may never be like Mike, you can be like Jesus.

All Christmas we’ve been asking the question: Who is Jesus? Today we see that consider the state of Christ’s humiliation. He who was infinitely high, came down for us, so that we could rise and be like him.

Let’s read from Philippians 2:5-8 (981) and Galatians 4:4-5 (974).

The Text

⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8)

⁴ But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

These two passages essentially teach the same message:

You can be like Jesus. Jesus has made all the necessary arrangements. The mind of Christ is yours. You can be adopted as God’s son. How can you ascend into the heavenlies, into the mind of Christ and adoption of God? Because Christ assumed the state of humiliation.

In order to understand this, we must see that Christ’s humiliation was: first, legal; second, his humiliation was lowly. And, to the degree that we know and trust that he came infinitely down, our hearts can rise up in love for God and others.

First, let’s consider that Christ’s humiliation was…

1. Legal

The Philippians passage says that Jesus Christ:

he humbled himself by becoming obedient

Galatians puts it this way:

God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,

“The essential and central element in the humiliation of Christ is the fact that He who was the Lord of all the earth, the Supreme Lawgiver, placed Himself under the law” in order to obey it in our place. (Berkhof)

Did you know that it wasn’t enough for Jesus Christ to die for our sins? He could not simply come as a full-grown man, and five-minutes after appearing, die on the cross. That would not have solved our problem. O, yes that would have dealt with the penalty for human sin, but God required more than that sin be punished.

You see, human beings were created to obey God entirely throughout their entire life. We all owe God obedience to his laws. So, Jesus, doesn’t just receive the punishment for disobedience, he also lives a full human life-giving God the obedience that we ought to have given him.

Imagine telling your son to mow the lawn perfectly—straight lines, no missed spots, the full job must be done right. But, instead of mowing the lawn, you son hops on his bike and rides off to play with friends. Because your son disobeyed, there’s a penalty—he’s grounded. But even if a sibling or a neighbor pays the penalty for him, the lawn still isn’t mowed—the negative penalty has been accomplished, but the positive duty remains unfulfilled.

You see, if all Jesus Christ did was die on the cross for sins, it would remove the negative penalty from us, but we’d be back as square one where Adam was in the garden, innocent but still needing to earn eternal life through our obedience.

But Christ doesn’t just take the penalty; through his perfect life, he earned the positive reward of eternal life that Adam failed to secure.

This is how we become like Jesus… by placing our faith in him, though our conscience accuses us that we have sinned against all God’s commands, and have never kept any of them, and that we are still inclined to evil, yet God, without any merit of ours, out of mere grace, imputes (or gives to us) the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ, as if we never had nor committed any sin, and as if we ourselves had accomplished all the obedience which Christ fulfilled for us. And all we must do is accept this with a believing heart.

James Williams was born in Fort Mill, SC in 1930. He enlisted in the Navy on August, 8 1947 at age 17. He went on to become the most decorated enlisted man in US Naval history earning the Navy Commendation Medal, three Purple Hearts, three Bronze Stars, two Navy & Marine Corp Medals, the Legion of Merit with Valor, two Silver Stars, the Navy Cross, and the Medal of Honor.

Now imagine James Williams taking his medals off his uniform and pinning them to yours, and everyone saluting and honoring you—though you hadn’t earned anything. That’s how God the Father treats you, when you put your faith in Christ.

It was a legal humiliation—he put himself under the law, so that he could legally trade places with you. Though he was blameless, he was treated as guilty so that you and I, though guilty, could be treated as blameless.

Second, the humiliation of Christ was…

2. Lowly

The humiliation of the Son occurred in stages, and each stage descended lower than the last. Philippians says that Christ emptied himself, took on the form of a servant, became obedient to death, even the death of a cross. Galatians says that God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law.

Christ’s descent occurred in five stages: incarnation, suffering, death, burial, and his descent into Hades. In fact, you already knew that because we confess this in the Apostles’ Christ. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into Hades. Let’s consider each of those stages briefly.

Incarnation

When the Son was incarnate, Philippians says he “emptied himself.” It’s important to understand that he did not rid himself of his divine nature, or any of the glory he possessed before the incarnation. The incarnation is not subtraction. It’s addition. He who was rich according to his deity, added to himself poverty according to his humanity.

So, the Son of God did not abandon or lose his glory. That’s why we sing: “Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, hail th’ incarnate deity.”

He was not born in a palace, but a stable. (Luke 2:7) He was not born in Jerusalem, but the little town of Bethlehem. He was laid in a manger, no crib for a bed. (Luke 2:12) His parents were poor, offering the sacrifice of two pigeons since they could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24) He was conceived amid social suspicion. Mary’s pregnancy likely brought questions of shame. (Matt. 1:18-19) As an infant, King Herod tried to assassinate him and his family fled to Egypt. (Matt. 2:13-15)

Martin Luther said, “To me there is no greater consolation given to mankind than this, that Christ became man, a child, a babe, playing in the lap and at the breasts of his most gracious mother. Are you affrighted? Then come to him, lying in the lap of the fairest and sweetest maid. You will see how great is the divine goodness, which seeks above all else that you should not despair.”

Suffering

Not only did he descend in his incarnation, he descended through suffering. Did you know that every moment of Christ’s life was a moment of suffering? For his was the life of a Sinless One living in daily association with sinners. His was the life of the Holy One in a sin-cursed world.

Jesus Christ suffered the temptations and assaults of Satan. You can be sure that Satan never came attacked any one as he attacked the Son of God. (Matt. 4:1-11) Throughout his life we see him bear emotional wounds and sorrow. He wept over Jerusalem’s rejection and impending judgment. (Luke 19:41) He agonized over the death of Lazarus. (John 11:35) Isaiah described him as “a man of sorrows, full of grief.” (Isa 53:3) His own people rejected him, both in Nazareth, and in all of Israel. (John 1:11, Luke 4, John 10:20) He was constantly accused, harassed, lied about, and plotted against. (Matt. 12:24, Mark 3:6) One of his own disciples, Judas, betrayed him, and the other 11 abandoned him in his hour of need. When he was barely holding on, his friends fell asleep and didn’t see the blood running in his sweat. (Matt. 26:36-44; Mark 14:32, Luke 22:44) He was illegally tried, falsely accused, and unjustly condemned. (Matt. 26-27; Luke 23)

This is why the Heidelberg Catechism says in Question 37: that “all the time He lived on earth, but especially at the end of His life, He bore, in body and soul, the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race.”

Death

Not only did he descend in incarnation and suffering, he died. His death was not merely the natural consequence of sin, but it was the judicially imposed and inflicted punishment of sin. And what is that punishment? Not merely physical death, the separation of the soul from the body, but spiritual death; the eternal separation of man from a Holy God.

In a few hours, on the cross, Jesus Christ endured and bore the infinite wrath of God against sin and experienced eternal death to the very end. You see, for you or me, God’s judgement would be poured out for an eternal duration. But because of who Jesus is, he sustained in a few hours, a punishment infinite in weight and value to eternal death.

In Avengers: Infinity War, Thor is forging a weapon using the energy blast from a dying star. When a gate fails, Thor has to step in, hold the gate open, and he himself has to absorb the full blast of the star’s energy. And the only reason he can do it, is because he’s a god. If anyone else tried, it would obliterate them.

You see, Christ’s infinite person and divine nature enabled him, on the cross to endure the full, infinite, wrath of God against sin—wrath that would eternally crush a finite creature.

Burial & Descent into Hades

Christ descended beyond death and into the grave. His lifeless body was physically lowered into the ground, and his human soul, torn from the body, descended even further.

Throughout the Bible we’re given a threefold diagram of creation. We even see this in our Philippians passage, in verse 10:

so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth

Heaven, that is the spiritual realm above, the dwelling place of God and the holy angels. Earth, that is the physical dwelling place of the living. Under the Earth, that is the spiritual realm below, the dwelling place of the dead, and the unholy angels. Under the earth is also called Sheol in the Old Testament, and Hades in the New Testament. And there are even depths to Hades itself, the lowest depth is called the Abyss, or Tartarus.

Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 3 teach that when Christ’s body was laid in the tomb, his soul descended into Hades. But he did not go into Hades to suffer. The cross was the end of his suffering. His descent was the beginning of his victory, for he went into the abode of the dead and proclaimed his victory over him who had the power of death.

CONCLUSION

Church, see how far Christ descended in humiliation for you! He was sent by God, emptied himself, born of a women, born under the law, took on the form of a servant, was obedient to death, even the death of a cross, and he descended even to the depths of Hell.

Why was he born under the law? To redeem those under the law! His humiliation is not only legal, or lowly, it’s liberating! His humiliation secures your liberation. His descent ensures your ascent! He was delivered over to death so you can be delivered into life!

If you are not yet believing in Christ, come to him today! Believe the good news of the gospel!

Philippians says that because Christ has done all this – you can be like him. You have his perfect righteousness pinned to your chest. You can look forward to one day, being perfectly conformed to his image. O sure, in this life you will stumble, fall, and even fail in your own strength. But if you belong to him, then on the last day, you will be made to be like him in every way that it is possible for a mere human to be like the Son of God.

No, you can’t be like Mike, but you can be, and by faith, you will be like Jesus!

Soar we now where Christ has led,

Following our exalted Head

Made like him, like him we rise.

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies!