21 Days of Prayer: day 2 

The Immanence of God

“…But he emptied himself…”

READ PHILIPPIANS 2:1-13

“…But he emptied himself…” This statement is incredible because it does not make any sense. This clause is absolutely ridiculous because of who it is talking about and what He did… God EMPTIED Himself. 

And how did God empty Himself? By taking on something else – human form. Since God is the greatest reality there is, He empties Himself whenever He takes on something else. God subtracted by adding on… And God did this in the man Jesus Christ. God became a Man… 

This is incredulous!... These verses should blow our minds because the same thrice-holy God that neither the seraphim nor the righteous Isaiah could look at, took on the form of a sinner! Christ was born a human baby… We need to be clear about two things here. First, the Son did not lose His deity when He was born into this world. The full essence of God dwells in the man Jesus Christ (this is what we mean when we say Christ is “fully God and fully man”; see Col. 1:19). Second, though Christ was born into sinful mankind, He was sinless. Christ perfectly obeyed God and was sinless (see Heb. 4:15) … The incredible is the mere fact that God STEPPED DOWN into human history.

But God did more than that when He walked as man on this earth. Jesus became “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Christ did not come to earth for a vacation. He came to die…

We too often fail to realize the weight of that reality… God hates sin and does not tolerate sin. Humans rebelled (and still rebel) against our Maker. Our sin makes us utterly detestable before a wrathful God. And the moment we commit the first sin, we totally forfeit any rights we may claim before God… We deserve God’s wrath.

But the amazing reality is that God became a man to FORGIVE SINNERS! God – the Just Judge who has every right to immediately and without question destroy us – shows grace… not by telling some angel or prophet to save His people, but by going to save His people Himself… and this at the cost of His own life. Christ’s sufferings bought the reward for His Bride (the Church). By the suffering and death of Christ, sinners are purchased for God… Wow.

But why did God do this? What was the result of Christ’s suffering? “Therefore, God has highly exalted him… so that the name of Jesus every knee would bow, in heaven and earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to glory of God the Father” … God sacrificed Himself for a sinful people that they would glorify Him! The second person of the Trinity left glory so that He would be glorified. 

This thought of God saving people for His glory seems backward to us in a culture that is so man-centered. We think (though we Christians may not verbally claim it), “God should be making me happy, doing things on my terms, and on my schedule.” We think God owes us grace. And when we do not feel grace, we are indignant… Though it may be obvious, this entitled attitude sits on the extreme opposite end of the spectrum of where our attitudes should be… But that is not how we function. We receive poor service at a restaurant, so we demand to see the manager. Our wi-fi constantly goes out, so we call and complain to the internet company. Someone wrongs us, and we unleash our anger on them. We feel wronged by God, and we demand His grace... God is not the internet company! Entitlement is not the attitude we should have… But what attitude are we to have?

Verses 6-11 do not exist in a vacuum. The apostle Paul is writing to the Philippian church urging them to look at Christ (verses 6-11) and to have the same attitude He has – HUMILITY… “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” This is the mind of Christ toward His people, and this is the mind we are to have toward others as well. Instead of seeking our selfish desires, we are to seek to bless others at our expense. Christ thought it worthy enough to step down from eternity to serve sinners, and so we should serve sinners. Show grace to the waiter; be merciful with the secretary; forgive the sinner; and to God… “Wait… what attitude am I to have toward God?”

“Therefore… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” … Because God died on a cross, we are to humbly serve Him in fearful, awe-struck obedience. Stated differently – Christ died so that you would serve God in humble obedience! Indeed, we need to see who God is (utterly holy) and who we are (utterly sinful) so that we are blown away when He steps into history, lives sinlessly, and then dies substitutionally for sinners (like you and me). This awesome reality should so humble us that we have NO entitled attitudes with other people – let alone God. Instead of entitled demanders, we are humble sacrificers, ready to serve other humans (like God in the flesh did). We are to seek to honor God by humble, joyful obedience. We are to look to Christ as our example of humility and live for God’s glory.


Personal Questions:

  1. Why should the fact that God became a man blow me away? That God died?

  2. What was the ultimate purpose for which Christ died? 

  3. With Christ’s example in view, what attitude am I to reject?

  4. With Christ’s example in view what attitude should I have toward other sinners? Toward God?

Prayer Points:

  • Ask God to show you and our church the beauty of His humility.

  • Ask God to help you and our church see that He does everything for glory.

  • Ask God to help you and our church live with Christ’s example in front of us, so that we will reject entitlement and pursue God-glorifying, humble obedience.