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Um just a few years back in our city we had a campaign called Explore God. And now that campaign is not only taking place here in Austin, but in cities all across the United States. And when that video came out, I thought it gave us a great uh insight into what people think about Jesus. Uh if I sat down with you this morning and I asked you the question, what are the common views, ideas people have about Jesus? So those are probably some of the things you would you would mention to me because you've heard those things, haven't you? I've heard those things. Uh and so as we think about those ideas and and those insights that people are giving, um, I think it's incredibly important for us as Christians, people who are Christ followers, and I want you to know I don't assume that every one of you in here is a Christ follower. You actually have put your trust in Jesus for your salvation. Uh I know people go who go to church all the time and who've yet to put their trust in Christ and actually put their hope in Him for their salvation. I know that there's some of you that may simply be exploring faith. When you hear that idea of exploring God, maybe that's you. Maybe you've been on a journey to figure out who this Jesus is or the Bible, or maybe you're looking for something in life uh to cope with the struggles of life. And I just want you to know this is a safe place that if you are uh struggling, if you are just exploring, if you're not confident in who Jesus is, um maybe you're even anti-church or Christian, uh I my prayer is that today you would be encouraged uh through this conversation and that you would know you're welcome here and that you're part of that conversation, and we want to uh help you. And and my hope today is to help us have a better understanding of who Christ is and what he has done. And to help us with that, we're gonna go specifically to a text in Philippians chapter two. And uh I want you to know that um if you've been to us the last few weeks, we've been teaching through the book of Philippians, and we're just working verse by verse through this incredible book uh to reiterate a few of the points we've made each week, which is this is a letter that was written from the Apostle Paul, who wrote half the New Testament. And he writes this letter uh with the intent of instructing uh a church of believers there in the city of Philippi, which is a major city uh in uh in Jesus' day. And he is giving them some encouragement, but he really cares deeply about them, he loves them, and he he wants them to continue to walk in truth, and he wants them to continue to live on mission that God's given them, and so he's given them some great instructions. And I think we can still learn from that because we know that God uh inspired Paul to write these words, and they weren't just for the people of Philippi, they're for the people of Austin today and for the whole world that we can continue to learn from the instruction that's there in the text. So, if you have your Bible, I want you to ask you to open it up to Philippians chapter 2. If you don't, there's actually some Bibles under uh the seats, and in fact, we just replaced some of those Bibles with new Bibles. If you don't own a Bible, I encourage you to take that Bible as a gift from us. Uh if you already have ten Bibles, don't take it, okay? Um, because a lot of you do. Um, so Philippians chapter 2. Uh, we're gonna start in verse 5. Last week, when we were together, um we were in the it was Mother's Day, which was a beautiful day. I hope you moms enjoyed your Mother's Day. Uh we also had an opportunity to uh dedicate some new kiddos to the Lord. The stage was covered with little ones, which was awesome. And uh and this week, uh we will continue where we left off from last week. Uh I mentioned towards the end of the message that I felt like God was saying to us, don't rush through this next section of text. And so I just pulled the plug and said, hey, we're gonna stop there. And that was a good thing. Uh because where we are today is probably one of the most significant scriptures in the New Testament, specifically about Jesus. And uh you'll see why as we start to dig into it here in just a minute. But if the mount if the Bible was a mountain range, this would definitely be one of the peaks in that range. And if we want to understand who Jesus is, uh, because it is uh significant, uh then we need to look at the text. And we're gonna talk about that in just a minute. So let's let's read this together. Verse 5, chapter 2 of Philippians. It's on the screen as well, if you want to see that. Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for his own advantage. Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when he had come as a man in his external form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even to death on a cross. For this reason, God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth. That's everybody. And every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So you can just sense from the reading of the text how significant this passage is. And as I said, who Jesus is matters infinitely. It matters infinitely. This has utmost importance, and maybe you don't feel that way, maybe you don't see that right now, but I think if you understand that you can't just like Jesus. You can't just be sort of like, yeah, he's a good guy, he's a good teacher, because Jesus is the most significant human being to ever walk this planet. And we know historically he actually did come. Uh, not just from the Bible, but other historical documents would tell us that there was a man, Jesus of Nazareth, who was born, who was uh was raised in a home, and who ultimately was killed by the Romans. It's it's a historical fact. I know some people would say that was all made up, and it was it was you know, Jesus' followers kind of came up with this story and put this thing together, and and and that's how the church was established, but we actually know that he was a historical figure. But here's the interesting thing it doesn't just stop at the fact that he was a historical figure. He said some things that were mind-blowing, and you cannot just move quickly past his claims. You can't. And because if the scripture is true and if his claims are true, it changes everything. And which is why I say you can't just like Jesus. You only have the option to respond appropriately, and we'll talk about that response, to a Jesus who claims some things that no one else has ever claimed, and actually back them up. So uh there's some things that Paul is telling us here. He, of course, starts out in verse 5 saying, make your own attitude, that of Christ Jesus. Um, if you want to know what the church is discipling or developing people into, the goal is that we as Christians would increasingly over our life look more and more like Jesus. That's our goal is to look more and more like Jesus. If you want to know why we are called Christians, you've got to go all the way back to the early church, and you realize that in Antioch, uh there were these Christ followers, there were these believers there, and the the non-believers around them saw these believers, and they saw that they were trying to mimic, imitate Jesus, his life. And so they called them Christians, which is actually a cut down. Maybe you know this, maybe you don't, but it was actually considered a slam. They were making fun of them and they called them Christians, which means little Christ. So every time you hear the word Christian, it is a good way to remind ourselves that we, that's who we're shooting for. That's what we're trying to be. That's who we're trying to follow. It's not to just conform to some religious idea, it's to conform to the person of Jesus. That's who we want to be like. Okay? But notice, Paul says, make your own attitude, that of Christ Jesus. He's been talking about unity and he's been talking about humility. And so specifically, he's saying, have the same humble attitude that Jesus had. And then he's gonna jump into what that looked like practically in verse 6. And what you'll notice is that if in your Bible, um, like mine, it's indented, and uh mine's in italics, and that's because this next section of scripture that we're gonna spend our time in today was a hymn that the church would use. So they would actually use this as a song they would sing. Uh it was it was declared within their corporate worship gatherings, much like what we just did when we sang this How Great Thou Art, and we sang Jesus true and only. Uh, this was one of the ways that they learned theology. They learned who Jesus was. They learned, they taught doctrine. And you guys have probably noticed that this, but you remember songs a lot longer than you remember sermons, right? I know I'm gonna be dishonest. I mean, what Alex does in leading us in song, it really helps us learn truths from God's word, and it sticks with us. It's portable theology, right? So we're in our daily life, and that song is going through our head. And that's a good thing. It's a good thing. So when we when we teach, we are hopefully teaching things in a memorable way. We're telling stories like Jesus did, or using illustrations like Jesus did, but we know that music has a way to do that. And so this is a hymn that they would have sung in the early church to teach the people who Jesus was. And Paul is quoting from this. We don't know if Paul actually wrote this or if someone else did, but we do know that it was at least known among the early church. And it teaches us some significant truths about Jesus that we need to know, and if we're Christ's follower, we need to believe. And my invitation for those who might not believe in Jesus, that you would consider these claims and you would not just dismiss them quickly, but you would actually consider what we're about to say about Jesus. The first one is this Jesus is God. Jesus is God. Look at verse 6 again. Notice what it says. Who existing in the form of God did not consider equality with God as something to be used for his own advantage. So two things that he says here. First, who existing in the form of God. Now, when you guys hear the word form, you might be thinking, well, it's just kind of like he's the image, or he has kind of like it represents God. But that word morphe there is the idea of actually, no, in essence and in substance originated from God because he is God. He wasn't saying he just kind of symbolizes God. He was saying he is God. That's the original language. We we read that word form, it can be a little bit confusing. I just want to make sure that you know that the original language of Paul is clearly saying, no, Jesus was God. He represents God to us as God. That's significant, okay? And then he goes on to say, which helps us, he says he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. So he's saying that Jesus is on the same value plane, same level as God, because what? Jesus is God. Now, that's hugely significant, again, because if he truly is God, our lives cannot be lived in indifference to him. You can't be indifferent to Jesus, right? You got to make a decision. Is he God? Is he not God? Is he who he claims to be? Maybe you've heard the words of C.S. Lewis before, but C.S. Lewis has said, when it comes to Jesus, there is no posture of like indifference because when he made his claims, he's either a lunatic, a liar, or the Lord. Right? That's what he said. And I think it's appropriate that when you look at Jesus and you read the New Testament and you think about the things that Jesus said about himself, they're strong. He didn't, he didn't, you know, take a soft approach here. He said straight up, in fact, John chapter 8 says this. It says, Jesus said to them, these were some of the religious leaders of his day, I assure you, before Abraham was, I am. Now there have been many crazy kooks and whackjobs that have come through the years that have claimed to be a Messiah. They've gotten followers, they've gotten people to drink the Kool-Aid, they got people to buy into their thing. But when Jesus said, I am the one who was before Abraham, he's alluding to a story way back in the New Testament in the book of Exodus, when Moses is out in the desert and he sees a burning bush. Remember, Moses killed a person, he's on the run, and as he's out there, he sees this bush burning, and he goes to this bush, and this bush starts to speak to him. Burning bush, it's not really burning, and uh it's talking to him. Anybody else? Just find yourself, you probably just like pass out on the ground right there, right? And the bush says to him, Take off your shoes because you're standing on holy ground. And this dialogue goes on between God and Moses at that bush. And the result of that dialogue, of course, is that God sends Moses to go and to be his spokesperson along with his his brother Aaron. And he says, We're gonna go and you're gonna go and help my people be set free from captivity. You're gonna speak to Pharaoh. And Moses says what? He says, Who should I tell this Pharaoh that sent me? And the bush says, I am that I am. I am sent you. And so when Jesus says this in John chapter 8, everybody there knows exactly what he's saying. These are Jewish people, these are his Israelites. They understood exactly what Jesus was saying. He was saying he is God. That's why they wanted to kill him. That's why they thought he was blaspheming. That's why they thought he was crazy and they wanted to end his life right there. But that's what he said. We also know that Paul later in the book of Colossians, a book just over from Philippians, it says this in verse 9 of chapter 2. For the entire fullness of God's nature dwells bodily in Christ. So we know that this isn't the only passage that tells us and reminds us that Jesus is God. He not only claimed to be God, he displayed it. You remember some of the stories in the New Testament and the Gospels? Just read the book of Mark, for example. It's a great narrative of Jesus' life and some of the things that he did. He shows authority over the storm. You remember the story of the disciples in a boat, and they're freaking out, and Jesus is sleeping. And they say, Jesus, wake up. We're gonna die. The boat's gonna capsize. Jesus wakes up and he stands up and he says, Peace be still. And the storm is calm. He has authority over the wind and the waves. Even the disciples said that. They said, Look, even the wind and the waves, obey him. You know why? Because he's God. He created the wind and the waves. He created the earth, right? And then it goes on in another story, and it says that there were those who were sick, and he he heals the sick, and then he helps uh overcome their diseases. There's deaf, there's blind, there's mute that are all healed by Jesus. Why? Because he is God. He had that capacity, that power as God to do those things. Not only that, but we find scripture where he is, uh has authority over uh spirits, evil spirits. He casts out demons. Now we don't see a lot of that in our day. I've personally encountered some strange things in other cultures and other places in the world, and we know that these evil spirits do exist. And Jesus casts them out. In fact, one story he literally casts them out of a demonic man into some pigs that run into a sea. It's a pretty humorous story, actually. But Jesus has authority over the demonic. Why? Because he's God. And we know if if no other reason, if those aren't good enough, Jesus was killed on a cross. He was put into a grave, and guess what? He didn't stay dead. He rose again. If you want to know why we believe Jesus is God, it's because he is alive. He should be dead, but he's alive because he's God. He rose from the grave. And this matters deeply to us as Christians because if Jesus wasn't fully God, he could not have borne the weight of our sin. He could not have borne the wrath of God, the penalty for our sin. If he didn't bear that penalty, we are not saved. As Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 15, we are wretched. We should just give this thing up and walk away. If he did not bear that sin and he did not come out of that grave. But he did because he was God, and only God could do that. Right? And so this morning, this scripture reminds us that he is God, and we should worship him as God. We should see him as God. He's not just a good man, not just a good teacher, not just another guy who started a religion. He's God. He made that claim, he backed it up. The second thing that we learn from this text that's so profound is he's also man. Jesus is man. And I should say at this moment, he doesn't stop being God to become man. Mind-blown, right? I can't even begin to fathom that fully in my brain. I've processed it, I've thought through it. It just causes me to worship him even more because Scripture says clearly that he lays down his rights, but he doesn't say he stops being God. And so he is God, but he's also man. Verse 7, what does it say? Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men, and when he had come as a man in his external form. So, in a sense, we understand that through this text, Paul is making sure we are very clear that Jesus became a man. John 1 says it this way: that the word, capital W word, referring to Jesus, became what? Flesh. If you've been around church, you've probably heard that. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. That's what Jesus did. He became a man. We know that he was born of a woman. He was conceived in his mother's womb, just like you and I were. The only difference is that the Holy Spirit did it instead of the ways that babies are made in our world today. We won't get into that, but that's another lesson for another day. But here's the truth Jesus had a mom and a dad. He was raised in a family. We don't get a lot about his childhood, but in Luke chapter 2, it tells us that he had to grow in wisdom and in stature and favor with God amen. He grew physically, he grew emotionally, he grew mentally. I mean, that's an interesting thought. Can you imagine having him? Do we have any teachers in the room? Have Jesus in your classroom teaching him? It's an interesting perspective. Jesus had to grow. He was a human being. He had to develop. He worked with his dad, who was a carpenter. I'm sure that he had some learning to do on what it looked like to be a good carpenter, learning how to from his from his dad Joseph. So he he grew up, he he changed. He also experienced the range of human emotions that we feel. Think about that for a second. Have you ever thought that Jesus has felt some of the same emotions that you felt? Because he was a human being? I mean, we know from the scripture that Jesus got hungry. I get hungry. Any of you guys get hungry before? Yeah, absolutely. We get hungry. Jesus got hungry. Not only did he get hungry, he felt lonely. He felt alone. And he would obviously press into his relationship with his father, but he was he was despised and rejected, and even his closest friends at times didn't get him. They didn't understand his mission. They didn't understand his purpose. And I'm sure he felt alone in that when he laid down those rights to be God to become a man. Not only that, but he got sad. I think one of the most helpful verses for people that are grieving. Maybe you've been grieving recently, grieving the loss of a loved one, maybe grieving just the fact we live in a fallen world. My wife and I had an interesting conversation last night, even before bed, that we're we're seeing depravity in our world and we're seeing the effects of sin, even in our own kids' lives. And it's just, it just grieves you, doesn't it? Just to see the reality that we live in a messed up world. This isn't what God intended. We're struggling with sin. Our kids are being exposed to things that we don't want them to be exposed to. And there's a grief that comes in that. And we see Jesus filled with grief and compassion. We see him at one point when his good friend Lazarus dies, he it literally is the shortest verse in the Bible. You guys know it, right? Jesus wept. He felt that emotion. He felt that brokenness and that that sadness. And he also got angry. Jesus got angry. His anger was holy anger. But he goes into the temple and he cleans that thing out. He has anger. He has all these different emotions. He was a human. He experienced what we did and what we do. He gets us. He understands our pain. Some of you feel like there is no one who understands what you're going through. No one who really gets you. Can I just tell you today, Jesus does? He gets it. He understands. He's been there. He's been to the depth of your pain. But yet, in spite of the fact he was human, scripture clearly teaches us that he also was sinless. He was perfect. That he didn't sin and he didn't rebel against his father. In fact, we talk about that a little more in depth in a second, but um 2 Corinthians 5.21 reminds us that he knew no sin. He wasn't a sinner. When I was a student pastor, I remember there was a survey that came out and they asked teenagers who went to evangelical churches in the United States. So these are kids who are in church every week, from the time they were pretty young, most of them, and they asked this question. They said, Is Jesus sinless? And I remember reading the survey, and it said that half of the kids who had been sitting in those church gatherings said, No, he was not sinless. He sinned. Hello. We're not teaching people, are we? We're not teaching, and I want you to know that the scripture tells us he was sinless. 1 Peter 2 22, he committed no sin, no deceit was in his mouth. He was he was perfect. It's hard for me to get my brain around again because I know that if he was tempted like I am, I mean, how in the world did he survive that? Because he was fully man, he was fully God. He was able to overcome that sin and to live a sinless life. That's huge, guys. It's not just a bullet point of doctrine, it's it's a crazy reality that he lived a sinless life. Perfect life. Why does this matter? Well, it matters because that he understands our struggle, but also because he can be the perfect high priest, the perfect mediator between God and man. He can enable us to come to God because he has been God, but he's also been human, and he is a bridge to God, into God's presence, in his humanity, in his sinlessness, in his perfection. In fact, it says it this way in Hebrews chapter 2, verse 17. Therefore, he had to be like his brothers in every way so that he could become what? A merciful and faithful high priest in service to God to make propitiation for the sins of people. For since he himself was tested and has suffered, he is able to help those who are tested. That's good news, isn't it? That's encouraging this morning. You see, I don't need another human being to give me access to God. Jesus has given me access to the Father. And we can come to God through Him. But not only do we see these two realities, that Jesus is God, Jesus is man, so He's the God man, but that there's three things I want to draw your attention to from this text this morning that my hope is it would just stir worship in us. Now, do you guys remember when you were kids growing up, the first time you saw fireworks? Maybe some of you remember that. Maybe some of you were scared. Maybe some of you were like a little fearful. My kids don't like loud sounds, and so they're like freaked out a little bit and kind of hiding their heads, putting their hands over their ears. But I remember the first time, uh, a couple different times that I saw fireworks. We went to this fireworks show near Houston where we were living at the time, and it was out over this lake. And I'm just sitting there, just like, ah, you know. Now I look watching, I'm like, there went another 100 bucks, there went a hundred dollars. You know, I'm thinking about all the money they're blowing up. But anyway, um, back when I was a kid, I just sat there with in amazement and wonder and awe, right? Now I see it, it just doesn't amaze me as much as much. You know, in fact, we lived in Round Rock uh before we moved down here, and just out our back uh our back patio, on Friday nights, we could see, because it's just about a quarter of a mile away, Del Diamond. And every Friday night's fireworks show at Del Diamond. And when we very first moved into that house, every Friday night the fireworks would go up, you know, and oh we don't we'd hear them and we'd all run out there and we'd watch them, you know. And then about three months in, we'd just like, oh, it's the fireworks, you know. Just sit down and keep it, it doesn't matter. What's the point I'm trying to make? We kind of get indifferent to things over time. We kind of just get, oh yeah, that's that. And I think we do the same thing with Jesus a lot of times, even to the greater degree, and especially how important he is. We can just kind of get indifferent, we can get, we can get calloused, we can get to the place where it's like, oh yeah, he's God, he's man, yeah, he died. I got it. I I've been there. I've been around it so much, and sometimes we can talk about it to the degree we just don't feel it. With that wonder and amazement that we did when we very first came to faith and to understand who he is. So my prayer this morning has been as we talk about these next few things, that God would just stir in us a fresh amazement and wonder and awe of him. Okay? Can we do that? First thing that Paul says here, that this Godman, as he's reading this hymn, as he's as he's written this hymn into his letter, is that the Godman laid down his rights as God to save those grasping to be God. He laid down his rights as God to save those grasping to be God. Now, um I'm bet I'm just guessing that life is pretty good for Jesus in heaven. Again, he's God, uh, he is there with the Father and the Spirit, and they're in perfect community. Everything is perfect there. And he lays down his rights. As I said earlier, that does not mean he ceased to be God, but he left that comfortable spot, that place in heaven, and he comes down to earth. What kind of humility does it take to do that? Incredible humility to lay down because guess what? When he came down here, they didn't treat him like God's son. They didn't treat him like God. In fact, they killed him, didn't they? They didn't worship him all the time. They didn't get him, they didn't understand him. He laid down his rights. There's a lot of things that are wrapped up in that idea of laying down his rights. But he took on this flesh and was not viewed as God. I'm sure that that worked itself out in a lot of different ways in his life. And I'm sure there are moments he's like, push the eject button. I'm gonna go back where it's easy. We know that even when he came to the Garden of Gethsemane before he dies, he says, if there's any way that this cup could pass from me, God, would you would you let that happen? But not my will, but yours. Like Jesus had those emotions, he had those feelings because in that moment, the reality that he had laid down his rights was very obvious to him and in front of him. And so it's interesting to think about how Jesus laid down his rights, especially because we are a people constantly grasping to be God. I mean, isn't it interesting that the core of sin really is this idea that God, I want to be in control. I'm in charge. I want to be my own God. So it's like this Jesus comes down to rescue us, to redeem us. He lays down his rights while we're trying to constantly protect and defend our rights. While we're continually trying to make a case for why we have rights, even to God. God, you can't tell me what to do with my money. You can't tell me what to do with my relationships. You can't tell me what to do with my sex life. You can't tell me what to do with my kids, you can't tell me what to do with my stuff. That's kind of the human nature, isn't it? And Jesus lays down his rights. He goes completely opposite and says, I'm going to come and save a people who are grasping to be God. I'm going to lay down my rights to be God. You guys ever watched the show Undercover Boss? I think about that show. Even just when I watched that show, um, I'm just humored by the way that these bosses they take off their CEO hat and they get down in the trenches. And there's one that I watched that was in particularly humorous to me, where the trash guy, he was overseeing like this big trash company, and all of a sudden he goes from being the CEO running the trash company at this high level to he's out actually picking up a trash can. And then there's one scene where he's actually sorting through the recycled goods, and there's like a diaper in there with his like plastic bottles, and he's just like, and here's this CEO type, all of a sudden kind of getting another dose of reality. And I was thinking about, again, just at a very simple level, like Jesus laying down his rights to be in charge and up here and never having to deal with any of that mess down there. And he comes and he gets in our mess. I quoted earlier from John chapter 1, where it says that Jesus became flesh, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. The way that Eugene Peterson says that is that he moved into our neighborhood. He came into our lives and into our mess, into our junk, and he had to deal with all that. He laid down his rights to save people grasping to be right and to hold on to their own rights. John 10, verse 18 says it this way. This is Jesus again talking about how he is the good shepherd. But he says, No one takes it from me. He's talking about his life, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down. He had the right to say no and not lay it down, but he had the right also to lay his life down. He wasn't strong-armed into this, he wasn't forced into this. He had the right to say no to this. He could have just said, you know what, you human beings, you're screwed up. Sorry for you. Let's scrap this thing and start over. That's he could have said that. He had the right. But it says, I have the right to lay it down and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father. And Jesus lays down those rights. But the second thing really coming out of that is that Jesus, the God man, became obedient to rescue the disobedient. He became obedient to rescue the disobedient. I'm the disobedient, by the way, just in case you're wondering. We as human beings, we are the disobedient. We are the ones who rebel against God, we reject his instruction, we reject his truth and we reject his commands. And so we're the disobedient, but he was the obedient, and maybe you're scratching your head going, wait, how is Jesus obedient? Well, Romans 5, Paul writes there to the church at Rome, and obviously for our benefit as well, he says, For that, just as through one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, and by the way, he's talking about Adam, as in the first man God created, way back in the Garden of Eden. Just through that man, Adam, in his disobedience, the many were made sinners, so also through the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. He's talking about Jesus through his righteousness, through his obedience. And we know that in the text here, Paul writes it, he says, what? Verse 8. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even to death on a cross. Anybody ever had to obey someone to the degree that you died? Probably felt like it, right? Remember being a kid, it's like, mom, that's not fair, you know, gotta obey. Never to the point of death, though. But it says that Jesus obeyed. Well, what does that even mean? Well, it means that when God in his infinite wisdom is in heaven and they see this broken humanity and they've got a plan, it says before the foundations of the world to redeem this humanity, guess what? There was an instruction given. Jesus, you gotta go die for this group of rebellious people. This group of people that want to do their own thing, that want to worship themselves, that want to be their own God, that want to disobey me, that want to have control, that want to ignore the fact that I created them, that want to think that the whole world revolves around them. Jesus, you're gonna have to go die to save them. And Jesus could have said, nope, not gonna do it. But Jesus obeyed. He obeyed. The most powerful act of obedience was not just the fact that he was sinless up to the point that he came to the cross, it's the fact that he actually took on the cross. And he obeyed to the point of death on that cross for you and for me. God loves us and he was motivated by that love to send Jesus, but Jesus had to come. And scripture would say that no man has a greater love than this than he would what? Lay down his life for his friend. And that's what Jesus has done for us. He laid down his life, he became obedient to death on the horrific, terrible, pain-filled cross. But here's where it gets really good. I love those things about Jesus. I love his sacrifice. I love the fact that he gave up all those things and all those rites. I'm so thankful that he did that. It puts me in a place of awe and wonder and gratitude. But you know what? That's not where it stops in this text. And here's why we need to have a biblical view of Jesus. We need to have a holistic view of Jesus is because he didn't just come and die, he's coming again to reign. Are you with me? Catch this. This is verse 9. For this reason, God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is king. And he's not like little K King, he's capital K King, all caps king, infinitely king, forever king, reigning king. That is Jesus. And every tongue should confess that he is, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Can I just be honest with you? Our view of Jesus is too weak and too small. It really is. I was convicted of this again this week. That we have such a small, weak view of Jesus. Maybe many of us in this room have kind of the Ricky Bobby view of Jesus, right? This little Jesus, sweet baby Jesus in his golden fleece diaper. You laugh, but that's how we many of us treat Jesus. It's like we we still see him in the little in the little manger. You guys know he didn't stay small, right? That he grew up, that he died, but when he comes back, he's not coming back as his sweet little baby Jesus. In fact, I want you to look with me in Romans chapter Revelation chapter 19. I think this is so helpful for us. And by the way, if you're a parent, you need to teach your kids a holistic view of Jesus. Yes, Jesus loves me, and Jesus loves me is a great song to teach them, but Jesus is also reigning king, and he's gonna call every person to worship him. He's gonna call every person to account. Verse 11 from chapter 19 in Revelation says this. This is Jesus, by the way. The same Jesus that was born to the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem with no hoopla. Then I saw heaven open, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called faithful and true, and he judges and makes war in righteousness. His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head. He had a name written that no one knows except himself. He wore a robe stained with blood, and his name is the Word of God. Remember John 1? The Word, this is Jesus, the Word of God. The armies that were in heaven followed him. He's got armies this time. He's not coming by himself, he's coming with an army. The armies of heaven were in heaven followed him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. A sharp sword came from his mouth. Whew! That's interesting. The sharp sword came from his mouth so that he might strike the nations with it. He will shepherd them with an iron scepter. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger, the God Almighty. And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh. Yeah, that's right. Jesus has a tat. And here's what it says King of kings and Lord of Lords. That's his tat. And it will be there forever. He thought about it ahead of time. That's Jesus. And we need to see him rightly. Because if we don't, we will be like, oh, we love Jesus. He's such a great guy. You can't just like Jesus. He's the warrior king, he's the righteous judge. He did come to save. He did come to seek and to save the lost when he was on his earthly mission in our flesh. But he's coming back to reign. And every person on this earth and under this earth and around this earth will bow down before Jesus. I want you just for a second to think about this. Every famous person you can imagine, every movie actor and actress, every musician, every sports athlete, every ruler, will all bow down before Jesus. Every one of them. No one's gonna escape that reality. Because Jesus is king. Even that idea of bowing down, when it says that at the name of Jesus, every one will bow down. Have you ever thought about this idea of bowing down? Something we do, we see in the earth, like a king comes and they bow down. You know why they bow down? They're exposing themselves to that king, saying, All that I am is yours. In fact, it's the idea is exposing the back of the neck so that if that king wanted to just take them out right there on the spot, they could just hack their head off and be done. Sounds gruesome, but that's where it came from. The idea is they bow down and they say, You are in charge. I am not in charge. My life belongs to you. And here's the thing: the only appropriate response to a holistic biblical view of Jesus is worship. Bowing down to Him in our hearts and with our lives. A full response to Jesus that compels us to not just sing great songs about him, not just to have a Jesus time every morning, but to truly say, Jesus, my life is yours. All that I am is yours. You see, the reason why I disobey God, the reason why I'm indifferent to God, the reason why I'm still worshiping idols is because I have a small view of Jesus. I have a small view of him. I've yet to remember that he's not just my savior, but he's my Lord and my king. And thankfully, on that day, when he comes back as the righteous judge on that white horse, that warrior king, with a sword coming out of his mouth to strike down the nations. For those of us who have put our trust in Christ, we will be called children and we will be brought near instead of cowering in fear under his wrath. Because that wrath that we deserve was poured out on Christ. That's an awesome thought. Listen, I I've come to the place where I believe Jesus is who the scripture says he is. You would hope that, right? I'm the pastor of this church. But here's the thing that's not an easy process, and it's not just an intellectual argument. It's not just a series of, hey, let's talk about this and can we logically put it together? It's a supernatural revelation that has to happen in our hearts. And that's my prayer today is if you've never done that, or if you've got people in your lives who've never put their trust in Christ, which I'm sure you do, neighbors, coworkers, friends, family, we need to pray and cry out that God would reveal Himself to them because without that hope, we are going to be under the wrath of this righteous judge. You see, Jesus humbled himself, he laid down his rights to be God, he became obedient. And Paul says we should have that same attitude. But regardless of how we live here and now today, regardless of whether you acknowledge that now today, you will acknowledge it one day involuntarily. Because when Christ shows himself for who he is, we will have no other option but to fall down on our faces and worship him. My prayers that we would do that now. My prayers that we wouldn't wait till then. My prayers that we would live a holistic life of worship response to his goodness and his grace and his mercy, his holiness, his righteousness. Let's pray.