In the sermon 'Follow Christ Jesus' by Jason Dohm, based on Philippians 1:27 and Philippians 2:5-8, the speaker emphasizes the call for Christians to embody the mindset of Christ, particularly His humility and service. The sermon begins by urging believers to live lives worthy of the gospel, standing firm in unity and not fearing adversaries. Christians are encouraged to find comfort, love, and fellowship in Christ, esteeming others above themselves and looking out for the interests of others. The sermon highlights that Jesus, though exalted as God, willingly emptied Himself, taking on human form as a bondservant, demonstrating obedience even to death on the cross. This act is presented as the ultimate example of humility and sacrifice, which believers are called to follow. The sermon urges believers to marvel at this truth, renew their minds, and follow Jesus by denying themselves and taking up their cross daily, emphasizing that in Christ, they are spiritually rich, enabling them to freely serve and uplift others.

We'll be starting in Philippians chapter 1 verse 27 just to add some context. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now here is in me. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, Having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for a text that is so full of the gospel, that is so sweet. God, we do thank you that you gave us your Son and that He was willing to pay the price, Lord, so that we can be freed from our sins. Oh Father please help us now as we enter this time of the preaching of the Word. God please strengthen Jason, help him to preach with the full authority of the scriptures.

I pray that you would help us as we listen, that we would seek your word, that we would seek it out as if it were a hidden treasure. Father, I pray that we would walk away with many ways we can use this to change, Lord, to conform our lives to be more like Christ. Lord God, please use this sermon today. In Jesus' name, Amen. So last week when we finished with the applications, my last application was this.

I asked this question. What one practical concrete thing can I do this week to advance the interests of one of my brothers and sisters? So you went home with homework if you were here last week. To just try to find something really concrete. To take the text that we were studying out of the abstract, out of the realm of theory where we just think about it and say, okay, we're going to apply this.

I'm going to not look just to my own interests this week, but try to identify the advancement of the interests of one of my brothers and sisters, and then I'm going to go try to advance it. So I hope you did your homework. I said I was going to bring it up at the start of this sermon, and I have. And if you haven't, you're not off the hook. Like, you're not off the hook until you've done it.

Okay, so You've got to identify the... Jim, I don't want to hear how you weren't here. That's not my problem. You should have listened on the internet. The title for the sermon today is, follow Christ Jesus.

Here we have a wonderful, unapologetic call to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. To look at his life and to see how he was thinking in one very specific area, and then to adopt the same thinking. And this will allow us to relate with one another in the way that God wants His kingdom to run. God wants His kingdom to operate in a certain way. And thinking like Jesus thought in a very specific way is what's going to help us with that.

So this is just about following Jesus. This is about Christ-likeness. Last week in our text, the whole point was that we are given the resources in Christ for Christian unity. In other words, Christian unity is not all that easy. If you've lived in the church for a decade or two, you've found out that sometimes Christian unity really breaks down.

Well, it can be hard. As an acknowledgement of that, God has actually given us abundant resources in Christ. When we come into union with Christ, we have the resources that we need to go do something hard, which is to have the same mind, which is to have the same love for one another. So we had the assurance last week in our text that we have everything that we need in union with Christ, we have all that we need in order to do this hard thing, Christian unity. We have freely received and we are to freely give.

In fact, because of the nature of the holiness of God and His forgiveness and all that He supplies, we can never out-give Him. So however hard it is, it's not as hard as it is for you to be forgiven as a filthy sinner. If you can be forgiven as a filthy sinner, and if I can, then we have the resources in that to go do these other things that God is calling us to. And this week in our text, today's text, all of that is grounded in the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that's the whole text.

Taking this thought of last week, us having the resources in Christ for Christian unity. Now this is all going to get grounded in the example of Christ. Let's go to the text in prayer. God, we come to You thanking You for Jesus Christ and His life. And our ability now to look at His life, to know what a life that pleases you looks like.

How we need that our God. To know what it looks like to please you. So now as we gaze upon Christ and how He thought, acted, spoke, I pray that you would give us a hunger to be like Him. Oh, to look a little more like your Son how we need it. Please send your spirit to do the work in our hearts that we have found ourselves over a long period of time unable to do in our own strength.

But you have the strength that we need. And you have promised to send your spirit to those who ask. We're asking, Lord, please, in Jesus' name, amen. So we have four verses here, and I'm just going to divide them into two portions. The first portion of the text will be verses 5, 6, and 7.

So please have your finger in the text, Philippians chapter 2, and follow along as I read 5, 6, and 7. Paul writes, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant and coming in the likeness of men. Here in these three verses, we have the call to follow Jesus by having the mindset of the incarnation. So, if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, it's mindset incarnation. The call to follow Jesus by having the mindset of the incarnation.

Verse 5, Jesus is set forth as our example of how to set aside our own interests in order to pursue the interests of others. Verse 5 says Jesus is the example of that. And so we are to have the mindset of Jesus, not just generally. There are other places in the New Testament where it just says, think like Jesus. You have the mind of Christ, and it leaves it at that.

It doesn't get more specific than that. But here, it's very specific. It calls us to have the mind of Christ, but specifically explained in verses 6 and 7. He was this, but He became that. This is the mind of Christ that is specifically being called for.

He was this. He was in the form of God. But he became that. He took on the form of a bond servant by coming in the flesh, by becoming human. In verse 6, Paul says that Jesus was in the form of God.

Now what does that mean, that Jesus was in the form of God? Turn to Revelation 1. In Revelation 1, we get a vision of Jesus after the ascension. So, He has lived His earthly life. He has accomplished the purpose, The central purpose of his earthly life in being crucified, and being in the grave three days, and then rising from the dead, and now he's sitting at the right hand of his father.

And we get a vision of the glorified Jesus in Revelation chapter 1. So hopefully you're there. I'm going to be reading actually verses 9 through 18. Revelation chapter 1 verses 9 through 18. I John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." So This is John in exile on the island of Patmos.

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. And what you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet, and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire.

His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand seven stars out of his mouth, when a sharp two-edged sword in his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last. I am he who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.

Amen." And I have the keys of Hades and of death. This is Jesus Christ now. You can put away your crucifixes where he's forever an emaciated, crucified man. He's not like that. He's like that for a very short period of time.

But now he is resurrected and ascended and glorified. And now if you were to see him, his face would be like looking at the sun at noon day, and you would fall down as if you were dead. That is Jesus Christ. We read this description and we think, how strange, this isn't how we think of Jesus. No, this is normal.

This is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in His exalted state, in His exalted form, in His normal form. Meaning that from eternity past, Jesus was That. And today, Jesus is that. And into eternity future, throughout eternity future, Jesus is that. The Gospel account of Jesus living in our weakness never was from eternity past, and never will be from eternity future.

It was only 33 years for a very specific purpose. Jesus is exalted God. This is what Paul means when he says, though he was in the form of God. Think Revelation 1. Think of looking at his countenance and seeing a radiance that is like staring at the sun at noonday, and falling down because of the vision of Him as if you were dead.

Listen to what Jesus says in John 17, verse 5. In the Gospel of John 17, verse 5, Jesus says, He's praying, and now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was." Jesus is at the end of His life in John chapter 17. The crucifixion is just about to happen. It's days away from happening. Jesus is praying that He would be returned to His position of glory.

He would be returned to His exalted form. The glory that he enjoyed with his father from before the world was. That's what next week's text is going to be all about, is the return of Jesus Christ to the place of exaltation. So even though Jesus was in the form of God, think Revelation 1 and staring at the sun, he did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Well what does that mean?

First I want to recognize a significant translational difference. So, the King James and the New King James render it almost identically, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. The NASB, New American Standard, and the ESV, the English Standard, render it this way. He did not regard or count equality with God a thing to be grasped." I'll say that again. The NASB and the ESB render it this way.

Jesus did not regard or count equality with God a thing to be grasped. A thing to be held onto. I like this translation better. It can be rendered either way very responsibly. I'm not saying that the King James or the New King James renders it irresponsibly in any way.

It can be rendered that way responsibly. With the New King James and the King James though, the topic is equality with God, and the point of that, the point of did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, the point of that would be that equality with God was rightly Jesus'. Is that true? You bet it's true. Equality with God was rightly Jesus'.

But that's never been in dispute within the Trinity. Jesus' equality as a member, a co-equal member of the Godhead has never been dispute within the Trinity. So it's strange that he would consider equality with God, not robbery. He would consider his place in the Godhead to be right. With the NASB and ESV rendering, the topic is Jesus's exalted status as God, and Jesus's willingness to let it go in order to fulfill his mission to redeem the people.

That fits so much better within the context. That's why I like the rendering better. Again, looking at the translation, you can make an argument, a sound argument, based on the Greek for either one of these. But I believe that the topic at hand is Jesus' exalted state as God and His willingness to relinquish it in order to purchase a people with His own blood. He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

When you look at the Greek, it's either the act of robbery, or what you'd be tempted to rob for. Something of great value to grasp. It can be one or the other. The translators have made their choices. The reason I think it fits best in the context is when we begin to look at verse 7, there is a clear contrast, but made himself of no reputation.

That's why I like the other rendering better. He didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped, a precious thing that had to be held onto, but by contrast, he made himself of no reputation. He relinquished his exalted state in order to accept a mission to purchase a people with his own blood. Verse 7, Jesus, instead of holding on to his exalted state that we see in Revelation 1, made himself of no reputation. Here the NASB and the ESV rendered it emptied himself Again, both are fine.

He made himself of no reputation or he emptied himself the NASB and the ESV have a more literal rendering. So it literally does mean he emptied himself. And this Greek term has a figurative sense of relinquishing your reputation. So again, both are fine. I think to actually consider them both side by side gives us really the fullness of what was intended here by Paul.

He made himself of no reputation or he emptied himself. Now, If we take the literal sense, he emptied himself, what did he empty himself of? Turn to John 1. John 1. In terms of Christology, the study of who Christ is, John 1 is right at the heart of that.

If you can only have one text of the Bible to tell you who Jesus Christ is, you go to John 1, I think. I don't know of a better place to go. Hopefully you're with me in John 1. I'm going to read verses 1-5 and then skip to 10 and read 10. This is who Jesus Christ is, and this explains what it means that in coming to take on flesh, He emptied Himself.

It tells us what He emptied Himself of. John 1, verse 1. John 1 verse 1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." Skipping to verse 10. He, Jesus, the Word, was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. So again, this, like our text, Jesus was in the form of God.

But he was willing to relinquish his exalted position as the creator of everything and to come and to take on flesh, even though the world would not recognize him, and his own would reject him." That's what it means that he emptied himself. He emptied himself of his exalted state to come and be rejected. To come and receive rejection. He begins the Gospel of John in John 1, 1 and 2, in the position of ultimate honor, being with God in the beginning, being God in the beginning, with all things being made through Him and for Him. The ultimate exalted position.

The position of ultimate honor. And yet, he took on flesh in order to come and be rejected. And it was necessary that he be rejected to fulfill his mission. This is just like Colossians 1. I'm sure we'll spend time in Colossians 1 next week.

But this week, I'll just tell you what it says. It describes Jesus in glorious terms, and then it says this, or Paul says this in Colossians 1, that in all things he may have the preeminence. In other words, that in every category he might have the position of highest honor. In all things that he might have the preeminence. First place everywhere.

Every category. What's at the top of the category? The Lord Jesus Christ. This is what it means that he emptied himself because that's what he's worthy of in all things having the place of highest honor, in all things having the preeminence. In Galatians 4, Paul says that Jesus was born under the law to redeem those who were under the law.

Now think about that. We're still on the topic of Jesus emptying himself, or making himself of no reputation. So in Galatians 4, Paul says that Jesus was born under the law. Now just stop there. Jesus is the law lawgiver.

Under the law, Jesus, as God, is the supreme lawgiver. And Yet, he relinquished that exalted position in order to be born under the law and obey the law. Why? To redeem those who were under the law. It was a very specific purpose.

It was a very specific purpose for Jesus relinquishing His exalted position. It was to redeem us. Listen to Isaiah 53. I'm going to probably be here and gone before you can get there. You can try it if you'd like.

Isaiah 53, beginning at the end of verse 2 and reading into verse 5. He, this is speaking of the Messiah, He has no form or comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. Now this is speaking of Jesus Christ in his humanity. There is nothing beautiful in Jesus' humanity that would draw us to him. We like big, strong, beautiful people.

Jesus wasn't a big, strong, beautiful person who we would be attracted to through his appearance. That's what it means. He has no form or comeliness and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we did not esteem him. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions." and then it goes on and basically teaches the doctrine of an innocent dying for the guilty. It's a phenomenal Messianic passage just filling out what John says at the beginning of John and John 1.1.

He was exalted and yet he was willing to take on the form of humanity, not even a beautiful human form, but a form that wouldn't attract any of us to Him. In fact, we counted Him as afflicted and smitten by God. This was all part of His mission. This is all part of what it means that he emptied himself. Though he was in the form of God, he didn't grasp his exalted position and cling to it.

Rather, he relinquished it in order to accept the mission of saving sinners, and he emptied himself, and he made himself of no reputation. He took on the mission of being rejected for this specific purpose. Paul continues by saying that Jesus took on the form of a bond servant. This is a Greek word that we keep encountering in 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians now in Philippians. It's the Greek word doulos.

It means a servant or a slave. It means one who gives himself up to another's will. Now we know that Jesus served his father in this way. So that's Not in question. Jesus in John 4, 34 says, My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work.

In John 6, 38, Jesus says, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me." So we get that. Jesus came in order to do the will of His Father. Doing the will of His father was like eating to Jesus. But it goes beyond that. Consider what Jesus says in Matthew 20 verse 28.

Jesus in Matthew 20 verse 28 says, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." Here's what Matthew Henry says when he's commenting on this. One would think that the Lord Jesus, if he would be a man, should have been a prince and appeared in splendor." So what's Matthew Henry saying there? He's saying, well it's a stretch to think that God would be man, But if you can get your mind to do this, you would expect him to come and be a great man king. At least be a king. The condescension between the exalted position as God as the Creator of all things, the one for whom all things were created.

If you're going to come and be a man, at least be a king, Jesus. That's what Matthew Henry is saying. That's sort of the human expectation. If God is going to condescend to become a man, at least be the greatest man ever. The most exalted and served man ever.

Someone waiting on your every need. This is not what the Bible puts before us in the incarnation. Turn to John 13. John 13 I think hits the nail right on the head. In John 13, this is probably the Last Supper, and Jesus has just washed His disciples feet.

And now He provides commentary on what He's just done. John chapter 13 verses 12 through 17. So when he had washed their feet, taking his garments and sat down again, he said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. If then I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, You also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. That's verse 15, That's the punch line. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blester you if you do them." So Jesus did not come to be served, but He came to serve.

He did this in a very practical, graphic way in washing the dirty feet of his disciples. And then he says, do you see what I just did? A servant is not above his master. You are my servant. If I did this, that's what you ought to do to each other.

If I have humbled myself to serve you, you should humble yourselves to serve one another. Jesus has given us an example, and we're called to follow him. Now I want to address the children. Are the children eyes forward here? Do you spend time and energy getting out of a position of serving and getting into the position of being served?

You know there are techniques for doing this in the home. Most of us who have risen to adulthood tried to master those techniques in our childhood. There are techniques that if in the strategic moment you disappear, you get out of the position of serving, and you get into the position of being served. Do you spend time and energy doing that? In other words, if you disappear at just the right moment, instead of you doing the dishes, your dishes get done.

We all know this. All of us who have ever been on kitchen patrol know this is true. Do you spend time and energy doing that? I just want to highlight, That was not Jesus. Jesus actually valued service.

Zero percent of his time and energy ever went to getting out of the position of serving, so that he could be in the position of being served. So as we begin to gauge ourselves, children, in how we're doing in becoming a little more like Jesus Christ, This is a good area to examine yourself. How much of my time and energy do I spend wiggling out of the position of servant and into the position of being served? We find that we like being in the position of being served. But the question is, do we want to grow?

Do we want to become more like our Lord Jesus Christ? If we're becoming like Him, we're serving more. We're being served less. Back to Philippians. Back to Philippians.

Less. Back to Philippians. Now verse 8. And being found in appearance as a man, he, Jesus, humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Here in this verse we have the humility and obedience of the cross.

If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's humility, obedience. The humility and obedience of the cross. This verse begins with these words, and being found in appearance as a man. This is right on the heels of the end of verse seven that said, and coming in the likeness of men. I think I need to address this because these phrases have been seized upon by false teachers to say that Jesus wasn't actually a man, but he just appeared like a man.

Isn't that what it says? And being found in appearance as a man and coming in the likeness of men. So false teachers over the centuries, actually over the millennia, this actually starts in the hundreds in terms of our calendar, to say that Jesus wasn't actually a man, it was just sort of a mirage. He looked like a man, but he was always fully God. He never actually took on flesh.

But the Bible clearly says that Jesus was hungry. The Bible clearly says that Jesus was thirsty. That Jesus slept. That Jesus wept. That Jesus suffered.

The Bible is very clear in many places, in many ways, that Jesus was human, and in fact had to be human in order to undertake the mission that he was given. If Jesus doesn't take on humanity, he can't die for humanity. It's impossible. So put that out of your mind. That is not what this is communicating.

That Jesus looked like on the outside like a man, but He was always just fully God. That's not true. It's an ancient error that leads to really bad places. Jesus was fully man, but He wasn't only man. This is what the Bible teaches.

He was fully man, and tempted in every way that you're tempted. But he wasn't only man. And so all that temptation was without sin in him. Because he was also, at the same time, fully God. I know that bends your mind.

It bends mine too. I think we should be encouraged by the fact that we can't understand it, not discouraged. It means that there is a deep truth and a transcendent God that is behind this. This isn't just the invention of man. Because he was fully man, but not only man, and also fully God, it means that you have to speak about this very carefully.

I think that's what we have here in Philippians chapter 2. It's Paul speaking very carefully about the incarnation. To not leave the impression that he was just like you. He was fully man, so he knows your human experience, but he's not just like you because you will never be fully God. You will never be partially God.

You will never be God. He was different in that way. Now the cross. We know this, but this should be said, the cross just didn't happen to Jesus. It was the plan to redeem the people.

The cross wasn't things spiraling out of control. The cross was things being perfectly in control. And God perfectly working out what He intended to work out from before He made the world. Consider John chapter 10 verses 17 and 18. John chapter 10 verses 17 and 18.

Jesus says, Therefore my Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. The cross, though there were humans there sinning, the cross was not anyone taking Jesus' life. It was Jesus voluntarily, every second of the time, voluntarily laying down His life to spill His blood for sinners.

In Matthew chapter 26, when Jesus is being taken into custody, and Peter cuts off an ear of one of the servants. Jesus stops him and says, Don't you know that I could call down thousands of angels right now? Jesus was willingly being taken into custody and laying down His life. At any moment, He could have called legions of angels to stop whatever was happening. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on myself.

I have the power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. The cross was a deliberate act of humility and obedience. Do you realize that only the scum died on the cross? Only the scum. A Roman citizen could not be crucified.

Illegal for a Roman citizen to be crucified. Only slaves and foreigners, and only the worst of them, the most contemptible slaves and foreigners went to the cross. Not only did Jesus condescend from the highest height, He subjected himself to the lowest depth. You can't go any higher than being the one who made all things for yourself. That's it.

That's the panacol. You cannot go any lower than dying the death on a Roman cross reserved for the scum. This is what Jesus did. Hebrews 12 verse 2 says that Jesus for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame. The author of Hebrews is drawing on how despicable it was to die on the cross.

He despised the shame of it because everyone who went to the cross was despised. It was a shameful thing to die on the cross. Even among types of capital punishment, being crucified was shameful. He endured it, but he despised it. He despised the shame of it.

In Galatians 3, 13, Paul says that Jesus became a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. And Paul there is quoting Deuteronomy 21, 23, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. That's why the cross. Jesus Christ was being made sin. He was being cursed for sinners who deserved the curse of sinning against a holy God.

Sinning against a holy God. Turn to Matthew 26. In Matthew 26 we are in Gethsemane. The Last Supper is over, the disciples have sung a hymn, and they've gone to pray Gethsemane. Matthew 26, I'll be reading 36 through 44.

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, sit here while I go and pray over there. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death. Stay here and watch with me. He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed saying, Oh my father, if it is possible let this cup pass for me.

Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter, "'What, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Again a second time he went away and prayed saying, Oh my Father, If this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done." And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So he left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Because Jesus was fully man, there was nothing in him that desired to go to the cross.

And yet, if there was no other way to redeem a people, He subjected himself and obeyed his father. He was willing to set aside his own will and come under the will of his father and do the will of his father. The cross was a deliberate act of humility and obedience. Hebrews 5 verses 8 and 9 says, Though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him.

We've seen in a number of these cross references, Jesus' mission, the suffering that he did tied to the objective which was the salvation of sinners. Here we see it again in Hebrews 5 verses 8 and 9. I want to read it again. Hebrews 5, 8 and 9. Though he was a son, though Jesus was the Son of God, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.

Jesus learned obedience. How can that be? He didn't have to obey the law when he was the lawgiver. Having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. That's the objective of his obedience and his sufferings.

To become the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. Ultimately, this is so much more than just, Jesus was a great guy, now I should learn how to be a great guy like Jesus. Do not come to Philippians 2 and go away with that. Jesus was great. Look at that great example now.

Go be like the great example. That is part of the text, but it's not the most important part of the text. Jesus wasn't just a great example, he was the Savior of the world through his work. Listen to 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9. Write this down as a reference.

2 Corinthians 8 verse 9. In this verse, Paul is going to give us the perfect commentary on today's text. 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9. Paul writes, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, Yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich." That's it! That's the incarnation and the atoning work of Jesus Christ in one verse.

Not bad for a guy whose sentences are sometimes horrendously long. Sometimes Paul you can never get to the end of the sentence, but here he says it all so concisely. Listen to it again. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. So here's what he's talking about.

The grace of Jesus. That though he was rich, that though he was in the form of God, that though he deserved the place of ultimate exaltation, and enjoyed the place of ultimate exaltation. He was rich. Yet for your sakes he became poor. He emptied himself.

He made himself of no reputation. He took on the form of a bond servant. He became a slave for you. That through his poverty, you might become rich. That you through his poverty might become rich.

Why did Jesus do that? Your prosperity. That you would be rich. And now, in your riches, you can humble yourself and look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others. You're rich!

You don't have to clamor for riches anymore. In Christ, you're a rich man or a rich woman. And so we're not fighting over limited resources as if if you win I lose. No, no. It's a whole new world where if you win I partake in your win.

And so we don't have to squabble over resources like there's a limit, like your win is my loss. No! I'm rich! So to help you is nothing. It diminishes me in no way.

For you in Christ to help me doesn't diminish you at all. It adds to you. Isn't the Gospel glorious? Think what this means for each other. Think what this means for our church.

We're free from squabbling over limited resources. We're heirs of the King of everything. All things are ours in Christ. So now I'm free to go advance your interests. I'll never be in a position of need in the sense that what I need isn't abundantly accessible to me.

And you're in the same spot. Okay, applications. Three. Application number one, Marvel and worship. We should just stop there.

Marvel and worship. He had, because he deserved the place of ultimate exaltation, but he made himself poor so you'd be rich." If you can't marvel and worship at that, you can't see it. You just can't see it. If you can even catch just even a little glimpse of that truth, it's time to just stop and bow down before God and worship. Here's what Calvin says, of humility as ought to absorb the attention of all mankind.

So far is it from being possible to unfold it in words in a manner suitable to its dignity." Calvin's saying what I've been struggling with, which is, how do I articulate this? How do you even touch that from the pulpit? What kind of assignment is it that you've given me here to try to explain the glory of that, even a little. Calvin felt it when he was commenting on it. Marvel and worship.

Number two, renew your mind. So our text begins, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Our same author Paul in Romans 12-2 says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. What I think we glean from this is that the mind of Christ is not a one-shot thing. Like, okay, I've acquired it.

Now I just move on to other things. Well, I think we're going to have to struggle to maintain the mind of Christ. We're going to have to continually be renewed in our minds so that we're not conformed to the world. It's ongoing. Letting this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, is an ongoing thing.

It's not something to be accomplished and then you just move on because you never are going to struggle with that again. That's not my experience. Is that your experience? No. One way to be transformed by the renewing of our minds is to keep the wonder of the incarnation in front of us.

In other words, it's such a glorious truth that Jesus Christ would leave the most exalted place to come and impoverish himself for our riches, that we should be thinking about this frequently. It helps us. It will always help us. Every time we think about it, it will help us. So we should keep thinking about it.

Number three. Back to the title, Follow Jesus Christ. Our text, in our text, Paul is writing us just to tell us to follow Christ Jesus. Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 9 23. Luke 9 23, then he said to them all, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Where does the whole concept of a cross come from? It comes from Jesus and his work. And yet Jesus was already saying before he went to the cross, take up your cross and follow me. In taking up the cross, you follow him. He took it up first.

He took it up in a more profound and literal way than any of us ever will, were to follow Him. God I pray that we would be followers. I thank you for the riches that have been purchased by the work of your Son for us. I thank you for the glorious truth of the Gospel, and the emptying of Himself, of the making of no reputation of Himself, so that we could know life. I pray that we would lay hold on life through Jesus Christ and hold onto it with all of our might.

That we would know salvation in Christ, that we would rest in salvation in Christ. And that would mean things for us as we relate to one another. That we would conduct ourselves as those who have riches untold. We would cast aside selfish ambition and conceit and look to the interests of our brothers and sisters. Teach us!

Help us, Lord! We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.