Listen up, little ones
Listen for the words likeness and form.
Reading
Philippians 2:6-8—The Humiliation of Christ
Keys for kids
- Jesus willingly became human.
- Jesus poured himself out for his people.
- Jesus was willing to be a slave.
Questions
- What do we see in today’s text about the mind of Christ?
- Was Jesus always God? Explain.
- Was Jesus always human? Explain
Notes
(Today’s notes are from a commentary on Philippians by Gordon D. Fee) In displaying the mind of Christ, Paul begins with one of those sublime sentences whose essential intent and meaning seem clear as can be yet whose parts are full of mystery and wonder. The reason for this is simple enough; on the basis of what was known and came to be believed about Jesus’ earthly life, Paul is trying to say something about what could not be observed yet came to be believed about Christ’s prior existence as God. What is essential is this: In his prior existence as God, Christ demonstrated what equality with God meant, not by taking advantage of it for himself but by emptying himself, by taking the role of a slave/servant in becoming one of us. …
The opening phrase, “who, being in the form [morphē] of God,” expresses as presupposition what the rest of the sentence assumes: that it was the preexistent Christ who “emptied himself” at one point in our human history. … Christ did not empty himself of anything; he simply “emptied himself,” poured himself out, as it were …
Christ entered our history not as kyrios (“Lord”), a name he acquires at his vindication (vv. 9–11), but as doulos (“slave”; see on 1:1), a person without advantages, rights or privileges, but in servanthood to all.
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 2a, 10a
Prayer
- Rejoice in Jesus’s willing humiliation.
- Pray for a specific application from yesterday's sermons.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.