Read · Philippians 2:5–8

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

⁷ rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Paul has just told them how to treat one another, and now he shows them the model, which turns out to be the most staggering paragraph in the letter.

Follow the descent, because that’s exactly what these verses are. Christ was in very nature God, which is a claim about His essential being rather than His appearance. He did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage, which means He held infinite status without ever leveraging it for Himself. He made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant. He was made in human likeness, He humbled Himself further, He became obedient to death, and then Paul adds the phrase that would’ve made a first-century reader flinch, which is even death on a cross.

Equality with God

Servanthood

Humanity

Death

Death on a Cross

Count the steps downward. From equality with God, to servanthood, to humanity, to death, and finally to the most degrading form of execution the Roman world had devised. Every one of those steps was voluntary, and there are no shortcuts anywhere in the sequence.

Jesus went all the way down, so you can probably go part of the way down for the person sitting next to you.

Now remember why Paul is telling us this. He isn’t primarily teaching theology here, although the theology is magnificent. He’s answering a practical question about how to treat the people in your church, and his answer is that Jesus went all the way down, so you can probably go part of the way down for the person sitting next to you.

That reframes almost every conflict we have. The question stops being whether the other person deserves it and becomes whether Christ went lower for us than we’re being asked to go for them.

He always did.

Notice one more thing that’s easy to miss. Paul says He made himself nothing, so no one took it from Him. Humility that’s forced on you is really just humiliation, and there’s a genuine difference between the two. Christ chose the descent. That’s why it saves us rather than merely happening to Him.

The way up in the kingdom of God has always run downward.

That isn’t a paradox to admire from a distance but a direction you can start walking before lunch.

Reflect

Where are you currently keeping score of what someone deserves before you’re willing to serve them?
Christ made himself nothing rather than having it taken from Him. What would it look like for you to choose a lower place this week rather than have one forced on you?

Today’s Move

Read verses 5 through 8 out loud, slowly, twice. Then sit in silence for two minutes without asking God for anything at all.

This passage was almost certainly an early hymn that the church sang together, and it deserves to be worshiped through before it’s applied.

Pray

Jesus, You had every right to hold on to Your position, and You let it go for me. I hold on to far smaller things a lot more tightly than that. Give me Your mindset. Show me the lower place You’re inviting me into this week, and give me the willingness to choose it rather than resent it. Amen.