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Thread: An absolute contradiction in terms, or is it ?

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    An absolute contradiction in terms, or is it ?

    Phil 2:6 Christ Jesus, 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.

    About 2,000 years ago, God decided to become a man. He incarnated himself into a crib as the son of a couple of less than important people. Now remember, this was God. We only exist and keep existing because God bothers to let us. He could just think the thought and we would all cease to exist in a flash. We are nothing compared to him.

    Phil 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
    even death on a cross

    Let's have a look at what that amounted to :

    Luke 23:39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
    40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?
    41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

    The criminal, who was probably a robber who had robbed someone then killed them to avoid having witnesses to his crime, admitted that his sentence was just. It was fitting of his crime, being tortured and humiliated to death like they were being. These people were the lowest of the low, both by deed and by status and by their experience at this moment. Then one of these criminals says :

    42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

    What does Jesus do ?

    43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

    He levels with him and accepts him as his brother. This is still God talking, the one who incarnated himself into this world and could have blotted all of us out of existence, including Pilate, the Jewish religious authorities, all of them. In the space of one thought. Simply by invoking his powers as the Son of God. Instead he humbles himself to the lowest position possible, to hang on that cross along with those criminals and then to die that death.

    Now listen to me.

    Satan has been defeated. The one who exalted himself and decided to have everyone else exalt themselves along with him, in rebellion towards God, has been defeated. The one who decided that he could trick us all into exalting ourselves for whatever reason, small or great, has been defeated.

    Jesus defeated him when he humbled himself to the rock bottom even though he knew that he was God. Satan was robbed blind on that day. We share in Jesus' victory over sin and that is the original sin, self exaltation. That is what Satan reckons he can always make us do whenever we get something good, and especially when we get something good from God, something that someone else, whoever and wherever they are found, doesn't have. He can not because we share in Jesus' victory over sin including that whole thing.

    Phil 2:9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
    10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
    11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

    Jesus has won complete victory over sin, from that fundamental level and up, for eternity. All we need to do, is take his yoke on our shoulders and let him lead us.

    Mat 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

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    Zechariah 13:7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd,
    against the man who is close to me!”
    declares the Lord Almighty.
    “Strike the shepherd,
    and the sheep will be scattered,
    and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
    8 In the whole land,” declares the Lord,
    “two-thirds will be struck down and perish;
    yet one-third will be left in it.
    9 This third I will put into the fire;
    I will refine them like silver
    and test them like gold.
    They will call on my name
    and I will answer them;
    I will say, ‘They are my people,’
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

    Jesus quoted verse 7 just before he was arrested. In the book of Revelation, a message is sent to the church in Laodicea :

    Rev 3:17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
    18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

    Verse 18 parallels verse 9 in the passage from Zechariah. It can be viewed in two different ways. One is that people would sell gold ore and there wasn't that much actual gold in it so refining it in the fire would produce actual gold, capable of making people actually rich rather than make believe rich. As Christians we typically have a lot of gold ore with a questionable quantity of gold in it but God is the one who supplies us with gold refined in fire.
    Another is that the gold that is in the heart is only real gold if it has been put to the test. This may be interpreted in terms of persecution but it doesn't have to be. A sum of this is that God is the one who supplies real gold and it only becomes truly real when put to the test in the refining fire.

    White clothes to wear ? Weren't they already Christians ? Yes, at least some of them were. But even those needed a greater sense of being righteous only by faith in the risen Lord and not according to own deeds. They thought they were rich and that tends to take focus from the righteousness of Jesus covering our nakedness and over onto how great we are. In reality they were wretched, pitiful, poor and naked. And then blind to these things. They needed salve to put on their eyes so they could see. The gold ore in their hearts - and in some cases it was probably just fool's gold and not even a grain of gold. Their nakedness without the white clothes they were supposed to wear.

    2 Cor 10:12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise

    The Laodiceans thought they were rich. Who were they comparing themselves to when they thought they were rich ? Themselves, obviously. Others who were like minded. Perhaps they were using faulty criteria. The super apostles obviously relied on a fame and reputation earned elsewhere in order to impress the Corinthians. Perhaps they had the background necessary to work these things up, whether it was a high birth, having the right religious education or originating from the right group. Paul technically had those things but he dared not make use of them to promote himself and his message.

    So what do we need to compare ourselves to ? The standard of the Bible. One of the standards for what constitutes gold refined in fire is the one found in Philippians 2 as discussed in the previous post. Let's back up a few verses from verse 6 :

    Phil 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
    4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
    5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

    Then the discussion on what Jesus was like follows after the statement about having the same mindset as Christ Jesus. What is God's standard ? He wants servants that do not exalt themselves above anyone at all for any reason.

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    What is the foundation for Jesus levelling with even the lowest criminal (a repentant one, granted) and counting him as his brother ? Did he merely choose to see things that way ?

    Acts 17:28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
    29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.
    30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

    "we" includes Paul's unsaved Gentile audience. We are all God's offspring, we are all prodigal sons in the pigsty of sin. Including the criminals on the cross.

    Psalm 82:6 “I said, ‘You are “gods”;
    you are all sons of the Most High.’

    Jesus interprets that verse for us here :

    John 10:34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’?
    35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside—
    36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world?

    Who is the Word of God sent to ? It is currently being sent to the ends of the Earth, to all peoples. God's desire is for all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4). He sees in them sons of the Most High, prodigal sons in need of returning to sonship and the according estate.

    This is the foundation. Let's a look at a verse that is very similar to the message to the Laodiceans that I quoted in my post above :

    1 Cor 4:8 You are already full! You are already rich! You have reigned as kings without us—and indeed I could wish you did reign, that we also might reign with you!

    They thought of themselves as kings, reigning in life. Full of everything having to do with God. They were not. What was their problem ? The previous verse tells the story :

    4:7 For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

    We have nothing that has to do with the kingdom of God that we didn't receive. All the riches belong to God and are gifts. Or something to steward as his servants. We have no reason to boast of any of it because all God needs to do is retract it and we are as bare and naked as the day we were born again.

    What about our various natural talents ? Paul was very smart and was very learned. There is nothing to boast of there either, as God is the giver of all good things. If you have something then God gave it to you, originally.

    What about all our good works, including for the sake of the gospel ? Many of us have worked so hard. Did you work according to the flesh ? That was not what your Lord told you to do, he told you to live according to the Spirit. Did you work according to the Spirit ? In that case you were employing his power and you are merely his servant doing what you are told.

    What do you have to boast of ? Nothing. What makes you better than anyone else ? Well did you sin ? In that case, death used sin as its sting and injected itself into you and death is your inheritance, spirit, soul and body. And then hell for eternity. That is pretty much what we all have to boast of. The rest is merely a matter of obeying a call to serve someone else, to be reinstated as a son of the Most High, to reenter the estate of sonship and to help with bringing other prodigal sons into the estate that God has for them. There is nothing more than that.

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