John Newton was raised by a Christian mother and eventually worked at sea. He exhibited behavioral issues, was arrogant and insubordinate, causing problems in his work. He deserted the navy and was caught and punished and eventually was discharged to a slave ship. His early life and character we would not wish upon our own sons. It seems the Lord later used a brutal storm at sea to catch his attention and he was eventually brought to faith in Christ. He left the world of slave trading and ended up supporting William Wilberforce in his efforts to end slavery. He knew men like George Whitfield and wrote hundreds of hymns, including Amazing Grace and There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood.
What happened with John Newton that would change him from a self-centered, me-first, arrogant man to someone who supported a historical campaign to end slavery and wrote hundreds of hymns? His dying words clue us in: “My memory is nearly gone. But I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.” Newton came to know himself and he came to know Jesus. He came to know his great sinfulness and his Savior’s greater salvation.
This is what Phil. 2:1-11 does for us.
In Phil. 2:1-11 Paul is doing what he is often doing, marveling at Jesus and his work for us. He proclaims who Jesus is and what he has done masterfully and poetically, writing, Jesus “…was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” The eternal Son of God, through whom all things were created, stepped down out of glory into the muck and mire of a corrupt world. He came not in brilliant glory but in the likeness of men, as a frail newborn. “Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul…” (Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 22).
Marvel, God did this for you.
“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” The Son of God, come as a newborn in the likeness of humanity in every way yet without sin, came on a mission. He set his face not first towards ascending back to glory but towards descending into death. Christ’s mission consisted in being “made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time” (Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 27).
Marvel, God did this for you.
“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” The Son of God went to death in your place and then was raised by the Father in victory. Jesus is King and every knee will bow before Him. Jesus is Lord and every tongue will confess so.
Marvel, the eternal King of glory came for you.
Why was this work necessary? Because you and I are great sinners. By nature, we are divisive, selfish, conceited, prideful, and self-consumed. We do not look out for the interests of others unless they serve our own. We naturally seek to be the one to whom everyone bows and praises. We are born at odds with the Lord Jesus, seeking to be our own lords who lord over all creation. You and I are great sinners.
But Jesus is a great Savior. The real King who deserves every knee to bow and tongue confess, who had every right to throw every last one of us in hell, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped and was born in the likeness of men and then humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. This he did because our sin is great but the love and grace of the Father is greater.
Paul marvels at the wonders of Jesus and his work in the context of calling the Philippians to be of the “same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” He is calling them to, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves…” Paul knows that the only way Christians will live united, putting others before themselves, is by understanding ourselves as great sinners and marveling at Jesus as our great Savior. So he writes, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…” When we are all bowing together, confessing the same Lord, it’s a bit easier to serve others rather than try to be their Lord.
A call to unity in the body of Christ is not a call to remove your eyes from Christ to an idea of unity. A call to put the interests of others before your own is not a call to stop marveling at Jesus. To live an others-focused life, you must know that you are a great sinner but Christ is a greater Savior. You must marvel more. All those areas of selfishness, self-centeredness, pride, and divisiveness that you’re now thinking about, Jesus became obedient to the point of death to remove those past, present, and future sins from your record. He has covered you in His righteousness.
Marvel at His great grace.
Then and only then will you be surprised to find yourself putting the interests of others before your own.
