Text: Phil 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:


V 6 BEING in the form of God
A. Being = Another way of stating the I AM. He did not become the form of God, he was, is and shall be the form of God.


B. Form = Not the physical shape, but the essence of deity. “The outward expression which a person gives of his inmost nature; ie. an athlete is in fine FORM.
It is HE, in this form who spoke to Moses from the burning bush and to Joshua before the battle of Jericho as the captain of the Lord’s Host.


V 7 He waived his right to this expression during his earthly ministry. Not once did he demand that men kneel before him. Only once, on the mount of transfiguration, did his disciples get a glimpse of this form.


A. The FORM of a servant. The outward expression of the inner essence of a bond servant.
1. Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.
Mat 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
The eternal God doing the will of the Father and serving man!


B. He emptied himself of SELF
He set aside his expression of the deity to serve man and asks us to set aside our self (human nature) to serve him.


V 8 In FASHION - The outward appearance; the shape or form he assumed in the incarnation.
A. He HUMBLED himself. In addition to emptying himself of the divine right to express the ‘Shekinah glory’, he went to the extreme of humbling himself lower than other men!
1. Not a crib, but a manger
2. No place to lay his head.
3. No food but that plucked from the wayside or eaten from the table of others.
4. Even a Samaritan woman was asked for water!


B. He prayed for the restoration of the former glory when the dread task was done.
Jno 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.


C. Unto death = to the point of death (and beyone)
But he was not obedient unto death itself, for he always has been and always shall be the Master of Death. He is the Prince of Life!


D. EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS!
1. It was a shameful death
Jno 19:23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.


2. It was a voluntary death
Jno 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh 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. This commandment have I received of my Father.


It was a planned and predicted death
Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.


I Pet 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,


It was a substitutionary death

He was a substitute for each one of us!

I Pet 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.


Titus 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.