"And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Philippians 2:8
Philippians 2If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation: Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.
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"Nothing is so difficult as to take a man out of himself; it is impossible, except by giving him a new nature. Man glories in anything that will bring honor to himself — anything that distinguishes him from his neighbor. It does not matter what it is, as long as it gives him an advantage over others. Some may glory in their talents. There are differences in men’s minds; vanity is seen more in some, wishing for the good opinion of others; pride more in others, having a good opinion of themselves. Wealth, knowledge, anything that distinguishes a man, he will glory in and make a little world around himself by it. There is another thing, too, that men glory in, besides things such as talent, birth and wealth, and that is his religion. Man thus takes the very thing that God has given to take him out of himself and accredits himself with it.
Religion
The measure of truth, connected with the religion men hold, is the very occasion of their glorying. Thus one who owns God will glory in his religion over those who do not; the Jew glories in his religion — he has the truth, and “salvation is of the Jews”; even the Christian is thankful he has truth, but then he prides himself upon it, and this brings in the mischief. The subtlety of the enemy is seen in proportion as it is truth in which he makes a man glory. With Jonah there was just this pride at work: He was proud of being a Jew and would not go to Nineveh, as God told him, because he was afraid of losing his reputation. He would rather have seen all Nineveh destroyed than have his own credit as a prophet lost. Jonah was a true prophet, but, glorying in himself, he turned his religion into a ground of self-glorying. Whatever you are decking yourself out with — it may even be with a knowledge of Scripture—it is glorying in the flesh. Ever so little a thing is enough to make us pleased with ourselves.
Self
Glorying in religion is a deeper thing. Whatever comes from man must be worthless. A man cannot glory in being a sinner. Conscience can never glory, and there is no true religion without the conscience. What is it then in religion that man glories in? It always must have a legal character, because there must be something for him to do — hard penance, or anything, no matter at what cost, if only it glorifies self. “As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised. . . . They . . . desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh” (Gal. 6:12-13). Man could bind heavy burdens. Why should he? Because self wants something to do. When man glories in self, there may be the truth in a measure, but it is of the legal character always, because there must be something man can do for God. Glorying in the flesh is not glorying in sin, but, as in Philippians 3, religious glorying, glorying in something besides Christ. But in the cross man has nothing to say to it. It is not my cross, but “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and the only part I had in Christ’s cross was sin. My sin had to do with it, for it brought Him there. This puts man down altogether. The one single thing I have in the cross is my sin.
Sin
There is this further thought: We are utterly lost without it. Divine love treats me as an utterly lost sinner, and the more I see that perfect, divine love, the more I see how vile I am, utterly contemptible, defiled and lost. As a sinner, I have liked defiling myself; I am a wretched slave, dragged down to my defilement. The cross, when I see what it is, destroys my glorying in self and puts truth in the inward parts, too, for it not only shows me how bad I am, but it makes me glad to confess my sin, instead of making excuses for it. I am awakened to say, I am guilty of having loved all this. Love opens the heart and enables me to come and tell Him how bad I am. I thus delight to record all that He has done, all that I owe Him, and that is thankfulness. There is no delighting in the sin, but rejoicing in the remedy.
God’s Delight
Then we have, on the other side, God’s delight in the cross. “Having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20), God gives us to delight with Him in the value of it. And first we see in it God’s unutterable love — “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). It was love acting in its own proper energy from itself only, so properly divine that a soul expecting it, as a matter of course, could not be a fit object for it. God’s work and God’s way are shown in a manner that man could not and ought not to have thought of. I am a poor, miserable sinner, and there I see God’s love in giving His own Son. When He forgives, there is the positive, active energy of love in giving the best thing — the thing nearest to itself —for sin, which is the thing farthest from itself, giving it to be “made . . . sin.” When I look at the cross, I see perfect and infinite love, God giving His Son to be “made . . . sin”; I see perfect and infinite wisdom also.
Sins Judged
With a conscience, I cannot enjoy God’s love without seeing Him dealing about my sins. Can God accept me in my sins? Can He accept an imperfect offering? As Micah says, Can I give “the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” Cain brought the fruit of his own work, without any sense of sin; the hardness of his heart was proved by it, and an utter forgetfulness about his sin. I see in the cross what my sin is. I cannot look at that as God sees it without learning God. Man has forgotten God enough to rise up against Him who was God’s remedy for his misery. Then judgment must be exercised; God’s authority must be vindicated. Are angels to see man flying in God’s face, and He take no notice of it? No! God is a righteous judge, and judgment must be executed. There is judgment as well as love seen in the cross; not only Christ, the Holy One, being made sin, but undergoing the judgment due to sin. There is the unsparing wrath of God against the sin, but God’s perfect love to the sinner. There His majesty, which we insulted, is vindicated; even the Son bows to that. If He is to keep up the brightness of the Father’s glory, He must vindicate His character in this way. God’s truth was proved at the cross. “The wages of sin is death.” Man had forgotten this, but Christ stands up, the witness of God in such a world, that what God has said is true. “The wages of sin is death.” The love with which God wins man to Him proves this very thing at the same time.
God’s Purpose Accomplished
There is more in the cross. God accomplishes all His purposes by it. He is bringing “many sons unto glory,” and how could He bring these defiled sinners into the same glory with His own Son? God has so fully accomplished the work that, when in the glory with Him, we shall be a part of the display of that glory. Therefore He says, “In the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace” — a Mary Magdalene, a thief upon the cross, trophies of that grace, through all eternity! And how could He set them in such a place with His own Son? His own glory and love rise over all our sin and put it all away; He Himself has done it.
Peace and Love
For us, then, the cross has done two things: It has given peace of conscience and made us the vessels of such love and grace. The conscience has certainty and peace, and more than that, a confidence that Adam in innocence could never have had. There is communion and peace in my own soul, and there is another thing also — I have clearness of understanding in the ways of God.
When you do not know the cross, you may use human efforts to quiet your conscience. When you know it, it leaves spiritual affections free. When I see the cross, I can love God. If I have offended Him, I can go to Him directly and tell Him, for I am a child, and my relationship is not thereby altered. My fellowship is with the Father and the Son — this is my happy privilege. When I can glory in the cross, there is an end of glorying in self, for I am nothing but a sinner. Are our souls glorying in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, or in self? If you are not glorying in the cross, it is your own loss, not to say your own sin, for you can never see God’s love, God’s holiness, God’s wisdom, God’s truth, as on the cross. The very nature which is connected with the world is what occasioned Christ’s death. Therefore, when I glory in the cross, I am crucified to the world."
John Nelson Darby
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