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We are gathered again to see the Lord. Before we go to prayer, I’ve got a couple of Bible verses I want to share. The first is from Psalm 37:3, “Trust in the Lord, do good, dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.” That expression “cultivate faithfulness” if you have the New American Standard Bible, in the margin it says literally, “feed on His faithfulness”. I looked up the Hebrew word because I don’t know Hebrew, and it says that the word means “pastured by God’s faithfulness”. What a precious thing to feed on His faithfulness.
Then in Isaiah 33:6, “He will be the stability of your times.” That word “stability” is that same word – faithfulness. He will be the faithfulness, and of course that is stability of your time. Let’s bow before the Lord.
Our Father, we thank You that You’ve revealed Yourself as the faithful God. We pray as we go forward in a heart knowledge of You that more and more we’ll depend upon Your faithfulness. Lord, we commit our study unto You and pray that You would give us understanding and deliver Your people from my reasoning and my mind, and anything that’s of the flesh, and we just pray that we might be taught today by the Holy Spirit, be taught of God. We thank You that You use human instruments, but then remove them, Lord, that we can all just behold You. Thank You in advance that You are doing it now, and You are going to continue to do it because we claim it in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Greetings again. I always repeat that indispensable principle. I actually looked up in the dictionary the word “redundant” because I didn’t want to be redundant, and it says that redundant means unnecessary repetition. So, I’m not being redundant because what I’m sharing is very, very necessary. I can’t say it too many times and I don’t think you can hear it too many times because it’s absolutely indispensable. There’s no substitute for a correct approach to the Bible. The Pharisees studied the Bible and claimed to understand the Bible. John 5:39, “You search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; you are unwilling to come to Me, so that you might have life.” They searched the scriptures, but they didn’t come to Jesus, and the scriptures were all about Him.
Last week I began to introduce this precious epistle of the Lord through the Apostle Paul, the epistle to the Philippians. I wanted to begin by giving the distinct revelation of our Lord Jesus that Philippians gives that no other book gives in the same way. I suggested that in order to do that we had to have a few introduction lessons, because in order to see Christ as He’s portrayed, first we need the theological background, and then we need the historical background. Once we have both, all you need to see Jesus is the theological background. Lord willing, we’ll finish that this morning. So, we’ll see the revelation of our Lord Jesus.
Paul wrote Philippians as the last of his church epistles. In other words, he was in his maturity when he wrote this. The only things he wrote after that were the Timothy and Titus, the Pastoral epistles and he had to be mature in order to write those. He was thirty years in Christ Jesus when he wrote Philippians. After thirty years, look at chapter 3 verse 10, here is his prayer, “That I might know Him and the power of His resurrection.” After thirty years nothing changed. That was his heart’s passion, to know the Lord. I hope it’s yours and I pray it’s mine.
I introduced the book by suggesting that we see the Lord Jesus through this theological background; who is the Lord Jesus in Philippians? In our introduction lesson we looked at the first part of a very important scripture, Philippians 2:5-11; that’s the theology. It’s such a great theology, it’s used in the whole rest of the New Testament. It’s hard to get a theology book that doesn’t expound on these verses. I’m going to read them again, and you’ll see that first it’s humiliation, God became man, and then you’ll see His exaltation. Philippians 2:5, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.” Then we begin His exaltation. “For this reason God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father.”
You have to admit that in those verses there is a lot of truth. I’m not suggesting that I’ve even begun to look at the wonder of this passage. Last week we discussed the first part, Philippians 2:5-8, the humiliation of Christ, His stooping love; God became man. I’m just going to review a little bit. We asked and answered two questions. The first was, “Why did God become man?” The answer to the that question is that He became man to live as God created man to live. Adam failed, and all his seed failed; he couldn’t live the way God created him to live. God created him in the image of God, so that he would put Christ, who is the image of God, on display. Man failed, so Christ came as the last Adam, the second man. In other words, He’s going to start over. Adam failed; the whole human race failed. He’s going to start over again, and He’s going to give us the Lord Jesus who will live as God intended us to live and created us to live, and finally redeemed us, so we might live that way. That’s the first question, “Why did He come that way?” And it was to live as God intended us to live.
Then, the second question that those verse answer is, “How did He live as God intended man to live?” We look at His 33 ½ years on the earth, and He demonstrated how to live the way God created us to live. If you look at the history, you’ll see His life; that’s how to do it. If you look at these verses, you’ll see the theology. Here he explains how He lived for 33 ½ years.
Last week I divided it into four simple principles, theological truths that are in these verses. The first, if I’m going to live like God lived, like Jesus lived as a man, the first thing we read is that He laid aside who He was by nature. Listen to Philippians 2:6, “Although He existed in the form of God, He emptied Himself,” He laid aside the prerogatives of the Godhead.
The second principle is the second part of that verse, “He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.” Understand the first two principles; He laid aside who He was by nature, and then He determined to never again to reach back and use that which He willingly laid aside.
The third principle, Philippians 2:8, “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient, even to the point of death, and death on the cross.” He laid aside who He was by nature, He determined to never to reach back and use it for His own advantage, and then He became obedient; to Who? To the one who lived in His heart, His Father. He was indwelled by His Father when He lived on earth. John 5:19, “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, “The Son can do nothing of Himself unless it’s something He sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, these things also the Son does in like manner.”” John 10:37, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me. But if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father. Those are the first three theological explanations. He laid aside who He was by nature, He determined to never grab at it again, and He continually depended on the One that lived inside His heart.
The last principle, of course, is the proof of it all, John 12:44, 45, “Jesus cried out and said, ‘He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but He believe in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me, sees the One who sent Me.” That’s the way God created you to live, to put on display the One who lives in your heart. John 14:9, “Jesus said, ‘Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Phillip? He who has seen Me, has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father?” Do you not believe I’m in the Father, and the Father is in Me.’” That’s how He lived; He laid aside who He was by nature, He never reached back to grasp at what He willingly laid aside, and instead He depended 100% on the One who lived in His heart. Because He lived that way, He put His Father on display, and everywhere He went, people saw God; they saw His Father.
Notice how the section begins, verse 5, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ.” In other words, that’s how to live like Godf created you to live. “You saw Me do it, so now you do it.” “As you see it, now you do it.” John 20:21, “Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I send you.’” “I did it, now you do it.” “When He said this He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” They couldn’t do it without God’s indwelling life. So, He said, “I want you. God sent Me and now I’m sending you, but I’m going to provide you with the Enabler, the One who lives in your heart.”
So, how are we going to live as God intended man to live? Well, let me repeat the principle, “Lay aside who you are by nature.” You know who that is? That’s why we read Matthew 16:24, “Jesus said to the disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me. Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.’ Lay aside who you are by nature. And since you surrendered, don’t reach back and say, “Uh oh, I’m going to need my own wisdom, my own strength, my own ingenuity.” No, no. Philippians 3:3, “We are the true circumcision, who worship in the spirit of God, glory in Christ Jesus and put not confidence in the flesh.” Once we set aside who we are, Ed Miller is dead, and he’s reckoned himself dead, and I’m never going to reach back, so Ed Miller can solve a problem. No confidence in the flesh.
How am I going live. The answer is the same way He did. Depend 100% on the One who lives in your heart. Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more, then, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” We live by His life. 2 Corinthians 4:10, “Carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body. We who are constantly being delivered to death for Jesus sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” So, those principles that are laid down in Philippians, “How can I live as God intended me to live.” It’s the same way He let Jesus live; lay aside who you are by nature, never reach back and try to depend on what you’ve willingly laid aside. Instead, depend 100% on the One who lives in your heart, and you’ll be amazed. You’ll be manifesting Christ. People will see Christ.
That’s what we saw last time. That was not the full revelation of Christ in Philippians; that was just the beginning. Now, we’re going to look at the second part, which gives us the full revelation of Christ, Philippians verses 9-11, “For this reason, God also has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him a name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will now, those who are in heaven, on earth, under the earth, and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
So, now we’re going to look this morning at His exaltation, and may God help us! As I show you this, we’re going to see the revelation of Christ in Philippians. So, please pray for me; this is a tremendous section of scripture. I almost feel spiritually like I’ve got to take off my shoes, that this is such holy ground; this is really an amazing passage. Let me begin with verse 9, “For this reason God highly exalted Him.” I want to call attention to that word “highly exalted” because we’re told by the scholars that it’s unusual expression in the Greek. It’s a Greek word and it’s preceded by the word “hyper”; it’s “hyper exalted”, highly exalted, super exalted; it’s beyond exaltation. He’s given an exalted exaltation. I don’t know how to put it in English words. It’s almost like when Romans 8:37 says, “We overwhelmingly conquer through Him.” It’s not just conquer but overwhelmingly. So, He’s exalted through the top; He can’t be exalted anymore. He’s raised all the way as high as high can be; He is super exalted. There’s no exaltation beyond what Jesus received here. That is so very important.
Let me mention this super exaltation, verse 9, “Bestowed on Him a name which is above every name.” Verse 10, “At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess, in heaven, on earth, under the earth.” Philippians 2:11, “Every tongue will confess.” Now, the letter to the Ephesians also mentions this same exaltation described in Philippians, and it makes a few additions. Ephesians 1:20, “Which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, seated at His right hand in heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that’s named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” Do you see how the Holy Spirit is piling superlatives one upon another, “Far above all rule, all authority, all power, all dominion,” and then he adds, “Not only in this age but in the age to come.” He can never be raised higher than He was raise after God accepted His sacrificial death on the cross. Ephesians 1:22 continues, “He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church.” All things are under His feet; He’s the had over all things for you, to the church. He’s got a name above every name, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth, under the earth, every tongue will confess, He’s sitting at the right hand of God, far above all rule, dominion, power, authority, not only in this age but also the age to come. All of that is in those few verses.
You’ve got to understand, Philippians is a thank you note. They sent him a love offering and he wrote Philippians to say, “Thank you,” and look what he includes in this than you note. This is amazing. Colossians 1:15, adds to the exaltation, “He’s the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; by Him all things were created both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether throne or dominions or rules or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him. He’s before all things; in Him all things hold together. He’s the head of the body, the church; He’s the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”
I can’t brag on Jesus anymore than these verses which are talking about His exaltation. Hebrews 1:2, “In these last days He has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. He’s the radiance of His glory, the exact representation of His nature, and He upholds all things by the word of His power, and when He had made purification of sin, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Philippians wants you to see Him, and to see Him this way.
I’d like to comment on two expressions. Philippians 2:9, “For this reason, God had highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him a name above every name.” I want to talk a little about the name bestowed on Him which is above every name. Closely connected to that expression in verse 10, that at the name of Jesus every knee would bow. Let me begin, and I’ve already tried to hint at it, it’s sort of a confession, this passage is way beyond my ability to explain it. I’m going to give you some of my thoughts but Godly men and Godly women have looked at this in different ways. I remember Vernon McGee, he said, “Friends, if you disagree with me, you are in good company. Now, you’ve got a choice; do you want good company or do you want the truth?” You might disagree with me, and you’ll be in good company.
I don’t pretend to know the fullness of this marvelous passage. I’m not here to even attempt to plumb the depths, the mystery of everything that is recorded here. My focus is to see how this passage reveals Jesus in the book of Philippians. I’m going to stick to that; that’s where I want to go. I’m not going to be a theologian to give you all the ins and outs of these wonderful expressions. But after we look at the name “bestowed”, then we’ll spend a couple of minutes looking at “every knee will bow” and “every tongue confess”, and so on. There’s a difference even in the original language. In the American Standard Bible it says, “At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow.” Some translations say, “In the name of Jesus, every knee will bow.” The Greek word is “en” and it can go either way. So, you have different theologians going in different directions. That might make a technical difference, but I want to focus on the name, a name bestowed on Him above every name.
The first question is, “Is the name Jesus?” Is the name J-e-s-u-s? Is that the name, or is some name bestowed on the name Jesus? That’s the theological question. If it’s a name given after in exaltation, I’m wondering how it can be Jesus because He already has that name. So, when the angel talked to Mary, “Thou shall call His name Jesus,” He already had that name. If you relate the name “bestowed” to Revelation 19:12, then I can close my Bible and we can go home now because it says, “His eyes are a flame of fire, on His head are many diadems, and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.” Well, there’s a name that no on knows except Himself, so if that’s the same name in Philippians, then we don’t know and nobody knows, and only He knows.
But there are those who say, “If you study the context, Revelation 2:9-11, it fulfills a prophecy, and that prophecy is in Isaiah; it’s in Isaiah 45, in actually verses 21-28, but let me just quote verse 23, “I’ve sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness, and will not come back, that to Me every knee will now and every tongue will swear.” There’s a connection. Philippians quoted that. Who is speaking in Isaiah 45 because they are going to bow the knee to Him. Is it the Lord? Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D? Isaiah 45:5, “I am the Lord, and there’s no other, beside Me there is no God. In your English Bible when you see the word LORD, that is a special name for God; it’s a Hebrew word, and the problem with the Hebrew word, it’s four consonants. It’s YHWH. There’s no a, e, i, o, u in that. It’s just YHWH. It said that the Jews had such reverence for that name, that they wouldn’t even try to pronounce it. It’s a name too holy to pronounce; it’s a name that represent God. Some say “Jehovah”, and they put vowels in between the consonants and they say Jehovah or Yahweh or however they pronounce it, but is that His exalted name, the name bestowed on Jesus?
That special name was given after He rose from the dead. My problem with that, that it’s Yahweh (LORD) is in the sense that He also had that before; that’s not new, being bestowed upon Him in His exalted humanity; that’s a name He already had before. There are many names and many titles in the Bible. To Abraham God said, “I want you to know Me as Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides,” and to Moses He said, “I want you to know Me as Jehovah Nissi, the Lord, my banner, the One who is victorious,” and to Gideon He said, “I want you to know Me as Jehovah Shalom, God is my peace, and to Jeremiah it was Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord my righteousness.” Those are names, but each of those names is not above every other name, and somehow I’m thinking there has to be a special name or description or title or designation that includes all the other names, that’s bigger than all the names, a name above every name, including the ones that I mentioned.
In Isaiah we read, “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, His Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts, ‘I am the first, I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.’” LORD in capitals, He said, ‘I am the first, I am the last, and there is no God; don’t try to take that title,’” except we read in Revelation 1:17 that Jesus place His right hand on John and said, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last.” Jesus claimed to be Jehovah. He called Himself the “I AM” in John 8:58. John the Baptist prepared the way of the capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, and it was our Lord Jesus.
It’s interesting that Jesus is identified as Jehovah in every human author of the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, James, Jude. Everyone refers to Jesus as Jehovah. So, it’s not a new name.
There’s another possibility. It ties more closely to the word “Lord”. Philippians 2:11, “That every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. I know that Lord is not new in absolute Lordship; He’s always Lord and Lord of All, but that was in His divinity, He was Lord of all. But now in His glorified humanity, He is universally Lord; He’s been super exalted to be Lord over everything in His humanity. When Peter preached at Pentecost, Jesus had already ascended; He’s already exalted. Here’s what Peter said, “Therefore,” verse 36, chapter 2, “when all the house of Israel know for certain God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucify.” In what sense did God make Lord? He was already Lord. In His glorified humanity, He is now exalted above every name that is named.
Some can argue, “You can’t say absolute Lordship because He Himself said that the last enemy to be destroyed is death, and that’s not yet under His feet.” Well, it’s in the same sense tongue will confess; they haven’t confessed, yet. Every knee will bow; that’s still future in many cases. When it’s finished, it’s accomplished in the mind, the heart, the purposes of God; He’s already conquered death. The question is, “Is a name bestowed literally a name, or is it a title?” A name stands for a person; your name represents you. Proverbs 22:1, “A good name is more desired than great wealth.” We can say of some people, “They have a bad name,” or of a company, “They’ve got a bad name.” We’re talking about their reputation. A person, their name reveals who they are. For example, if I sign my name on a check, I better not write in the amount of one million dollar, as that doesn’t represent me. Your name represents who you are. That’s why the Lord asked Jacob, “What’s your name?” and he had to confess, “I’m a deceiver,” and that’s who he was, a supplanter, a liar, a heal snatcher. Then God gave him another name. That’s who he was, Israel, and it described the person. Jesus was name Jesus for a reason, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin.” That’s what the name means. William Shakespear put these words in Juliett’s mouth, “A rose by any other name is just as sweet.” So, here if you change the name, the rose still smells like a rose.
It’s not just pronouncing a name, like LORD or Jehovah or Yahweh. I’m not ready to say that the name doesn’t matter. I’ve been told, “We’re all worshipping the same God but by a different name; you call Him God, and I call him Buddha.” No, that’s a different God. It’s got that name. When Aaron made the golden calf, did you ever notice what he named the golden calf? Jehovah, because he said, “This is the god that brought you out of Egypt.” He had the right name, but he had the wrong god. Just saying the name doesn’t mean in reality that it’s that name. If fact, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus called attention to just saying the words; that means nothing. Matthew 7:22, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in them will enter. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name? In Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles, and I will declare to them that I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice lawlessness.” Just saying, “Lord,” and pronouncing it correctly means nothing. It’s the Person, the individual who has the name. In Revelations 3, Sardis, the church, had a name that they were alive, but in actuality they were dead.
If we are going to say “LORD” in reality tells us how to do it. “I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says that Jesus is curse, and no on,” listen to this, “no one can Jesus is LORD except by the Holy Spirit.” Only the Holy Spirit can make you claim that in reality. So, it makes a little bit of sense to me, in the context of Philippians, that the name above every name is His being raised to absolute Lordship. God has made Him both Lord and Christ. Psalm 29:2, “A scribe to the Lord, the glory due to His name; worship the Lord.”
Let me describe absolute Lordship. At first I’ll give you the widest application, and then we’ll take it to the book of Philippians, and hopefully we’ll see how He presents Christ. The widest application of this super exaltation is that He is now in His glorified humanity, undisputed Lord over all creation – rational, irrational, animate, inanimate. It would include a passage like Psalm 148, “Praise the Lord; Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the heights, praise Him all His angels, praise all His hosts, praise Him sun and moon, praise all starts of light, praise highest heaven and the waters that are above the heaven; let them praise the name of the Lord. He commanded; they were created.” Psalm 148:7, “Praise the Lord from the earth, sea monsters and all these; fire and hail and snow and clouds and stormy winds, fulfilling His word, mountains and all hills, fruit trees, all cedar, beasts, cattle, creeping things, winged fowls, kings of the earth, all peoples, princes and all judges, both young men, virgins, old men, children; let them praise the name of the Lord. His name alone is exalted. His glory is above heaven and earth.” That’s universal Lordship. Bowing the knee and confessing with the tongue implies a submission of the will. Creation doesn’t have knees, and creation doesn’t have a tongue, even though the heavens declare the glory of God. Fire, hail, snow, mountains, trees, the trees clapping their hands, creeping things, birds of the air, fish. In fact, angels and demons are spirits. They don’t have knees, either, and they don’t have a physical tongue.
Psalm 19 says that they can still praise the Lord by their existence. That rich man in Lazarus, that story, the rich man was dead. His body was in the grave. What did he cry out? He wanted a drop of water for his tongue. He doesn’t have a tongue; he’s dead; he’s in the grave. Do you see what I’m trying to say? The wide application is that He’s Lord over everything, all creation, things in heave, on earth, under the earth, visible, invisible, in this age, in the age to come. But Philippians 2:10, at the name of Jesus, and now we’re talking about humans, every knee will bow, and demons, of course, those who are in heaven, on earth, under the earth. This is submission; this applies to those who willingly submit to Him. I’m not going to judge your heart, and please don’t judge mine, but I have an idea that you already bowed the knee to Him, and I think your tongue has already confessed Him. You’ve already done that.
What about the unbeliever? What about the heathen, what about the atheist? Are they going to bow the knee? Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess. The question is not, “Will they bow?” It’s when. Will they bow in time or not in time in eternity? They are going to bow; every knee is going to bow. Some willingly and some by restraints, but they are going to bow before His Lordship. Some will sing His praises through eternity, and some will weep His praises throughout all eternity.
Let’s go to Philippians. All of that to say that Paul included that in order to underscore the message of Philippians. Let me give you the message of Philippians. As I studied my commentators, and I have a lot, and I feel obligated to go through them all, and sometimes I wonder why, but I feel like I have to. I’m amazed at how many different commentators say, “The theme of Philippians is, and most of them say “joy”, “The theme of Philippians is joy.” It’s true that joy is mentioned in every chapter in the book of Philippians. If you add the word “rejoice”, more than twenty times in this little chapter. They use it as a key verse 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.” Some say, “Don’t forget it that Paul was in prison when he wrote this. So, the theme of the book in suffering or add them together, joy in suffering.
Philippians 1:29, “For to you it’s been granted for Christ’s sake not only to believe in Him but also to suffer.” Some say, “No, no, no; that’s there but that’s not the theme. The theme is humility. Philippians 2:5, “Have this attitude in yourself.” He humbled himself; He became a man. Philippians 2:3, “With humility of mind, let each of you regard the other better than themselves.” Humility is the theme. They say, “No, you missed it. The theme is power to live. Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” They say, “No, no, no. The theme is contentment. Paul said in chapter 4:11, ‘I’ve learned the secret. I know how to be content, content with good things and bad things.’” Others say, “You can’t read Philippians without seeing unity. That’s every chapter about being one. He addresses Syntyche and Euodia. One commentator said, “Odious and Soon Touchy.” They say it’s unity. Others says, “No, it’s a letter of gratitude. It’s thanksgiving and it’s about stewardship.” Others say, “How can you read Philippians 4:7, “The peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your heart.” “It’s all about peace; that’s the theme.” Others say, “It’s missions; it’s evangelism.” Philippians 1:12, “My circumstances have turned to the progress of the gospel, the Praetorian guard. People in Caesar’s household are getting saved.” Others say, “No, no; it’s about heave. To die is gain.” Philippians 3:20, “Our citizenship is in heaven from which we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has to subject all things to Himself.”
I’m here to give you the theme of Philippians. Is the theme joy or suffering or humility or peace or contentment or unity or thanksgiving or heaven or missions or soul winning or perseverance, “I press on toward the mark…” Is that the theme? All those things are in Philippians. That little thank you is the most pregnant note of thanks I ever saw. It’s amazing note, but that’s not the theme. Let me give you the theme. The theme comes from those two verses, the theological background; Jesus came to live as God intended men to live, and He showed us how He did that; that’s how He lived. Then, He was highly exalted, and got a name above every name, every knee, every tongue, every power, every authority, and rules in heaven and on earth, under the earth, this age, the age to come. Now, listen up. If you’ve been sleeping, please wake up. The One that we described as Lord over everything, that’s the One that lives in your heart. That super exalted Christ lives in you. How am I going to live as God intended me to live? I’m going to begin to look at the One who lives in my heart. It’s easy to say, “Jesus is in my heart,” but who is Jesus. He’s the super exalted One. You can confess your testimony, “I asked Jesus to be my Valentine when I was five.” That’s true if He comes in, but this is the Jesus that lives in your heart, and above every name. I don’t care if you call Him president or kings of queens or emperors or prime ministers or chancellors or Imams or whatever you call, He’s above everyone.
Now, in Philippians He mentions all these things. Why can you have joy? Because of the One that loves in your heart. Why can you never need to be anxious again? It’s because of the One that lives in your heart; He’s in charge of everything. Everything is redemptive. He’s ruling the good and overruling the evil; that’s the One that lives in your heart. If you actually believed and trusted and depended on the One that lives in your heart, if we did, would there be disunity in the body? Would you ever be anxious again? Would you ever be discouraged again? Would you ever be defeated again? It’s a dead give away. If you are anxious and are not content, if you are discouraged, if you’re not flowing over on all sides at all times with the joy of the Lord, you are not looking to the One who lives in your heart. The book of Philippians describes the normal life; this is the life God has called us to live, and now this tells us how to do it, by looking to the exalted Christ that lives in our heart. It’s not possible to be anxious about anything if you actually believe the Lord who is Lord over all who is living in my heart. It’s not possible to be discouraged. This is the life He’s offering us, and that’s the revelation of Christ in this book.
The theme of the book is “for me to live is Christ.” Some people say, “I live in the world. I don’t live in this world; I’m dying in this world. I’m living in Christ; for me to live is Christ. He who has the Son, has the life.” Who is Christ in Philippians? He’s the One that lived as God intended man to live, and has been highly exalted, and now He lives in you, so you can live the way God created men to live, and the way God redeemed us to live.
We’re going to look more, but for now let’s close in prayer. Father, thank You for how highly exalted our Lord Jesus is, and the wonder that all of that glorious Person could live in my heart. We know that Christ lives in us, and not one of us has more or less of Christ than the other one. We all have the super exalted Christ. We know that all we need now, since you can’t give us more than Jesus, we ask for eyesight, that we might be able to see all we have in Christ. Work this in our hearts, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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