5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death--
even death on a cross! Philippians2:5-8
We are called to trade things that don't last for things that have eternal significance. But this call does not happen in a vacuum. It comes in the wake of an exchange that Jesus made.
Jesus exchanged the glory of heaven for the agony of the cross to save us. It was the most biased trade that could ever happen - the Creator giving everything for His creatures who could give nothing in return.
Scholars suspect that Paul is quoting from an early Christian Hymn, which is why this passage is often printed in poetry format in our Bibles...
But let's look more closely:
- He gave up equality with God (This was His "right" to say "No!" when God the Father asked Him to go to the cross.)
- Although in nature God, He became a tiny baby in Mary's womb, He sacrificed power, knowledge, status. He limited Himself. John makes it clear that God created the world through Jesus, the Word (Logos). Imagine going from being the agent of Creation to being a creature!
- He took the nature of a servant. From Heaven He went to Mary's womb, to the humble stable in Bethlehem, to being a fugitive in Egypt, to the dusty streets of Nazareth, to the everyday-ness of an itinerant preacher, to being swamped by the masses for healing and hated by the establishment for being controversial. He deserved better. He deserved recognition and respect. He spent 30 years preparing for a three year ministry. He spent 33 years in weakness for us.
- He went to the cross. We cannot even begin to imagine what that was like!!
In the light of what He traded for us - how sad it is that we balk at the slightest interruptions or minor sacrifices that He asks us to make!
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
