December 6, 2011 … The Emptying of Christ

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 7a [ NIV - see highlight passage in bold/underlined] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 … but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!

Philippians 2: 7a [NASB] … 7 … but [Christ] emptied Himself, …

Philippians 2: 7a [NKJV & KJV] … 7 … but made Himself of no reputation, …

Philippians 2: 7a [ESV] … 7 … but [Christ] made Himself nothing, …

Philippians 2: 7a [The Message] … 7 When the time came, He set aside the privileges of deity …

My Journal for Today: Today I (we) return to the theological doctrine of Christ’s “kenosis,” by focusing on this one short phrase in Phil. 2: 7a; and when looking at a short phrase of Scripture like this, sometimes it helps to use tapestry of the Scripture weaved by looking at several versions of God’s word in the one passage. In this case I’ve provided four reputable/scholarly translations as well as Peterson’s popular paraphrased rendering, The Message.

And as we began discussing this topic yesterday, we see the extent of Christ humility as He set aside – BY CHOICE – His infinitely powerful glory and His oneness in the Trinity to become a man. As we read in The Message version, Peterson says, “… He (Christ) set aside the privileges of deity.” And this is helpful in understanding that Christ did not set aside His deity. No, He voluntarily became human; and in doing so, He had to “empty Himself” of His majesty (that’s the Greek term “kenoo,” we introduced in my journal yesterday, from which we get our theological term for the doctrine of “kenosis.”)

It may be a rather anemic word picture to describe this wondrous process of Christ’s kenosis; but it might be seen in human terms if Bill Gates disguised Himself in some way so as not to be recognized and decided to go in among the worker bees at Microsoft and work as a new programmer, setting aside his privileges as CEO. He would still be the CEO; but as long as he was not recognized as Bill Gates; and set aside the power of his position, to practice the function of an in-the-trenches programmer, he could be identified and function as a Microsoft staff worker. However, at any time he desired he could step back into the role of CEO and become the Top Dog at Microsoft again.

Yes, I know that comparing Bill Gates to Jesus Christ is about as ludicrous as it gets; but I hope you see that Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, intentionally chose to humble Himself, not being recognized as God in the flesh until He decided to begin to reveal the essence of His deity to His disciples and followers in the later years of His earthly ministry. And over time we see Christ, during His ministry walk on this earth, taking on some of the POSITIONhood of God as well as the Godly PERSONhood as He followed the Father, utilizing the power of His Spirit, and performing many miracles, i.e., … doing things that a mere man could never imagine being done. These selective actions and miracle revealed Whom He claimed he really was … the God-man.

Jesus, becoming the Messiah and a man, gave up His independent authority in the Godhead, completely being submitted to the will of the Father – as a human - and becoming a bond servant for mankind (see Phil. 2: 8 above as well as Matt. 26: 39). In this self-chosen position as bond servant to God the Father, Jesus only exercised the power of His Deity when God, the Father, required it or when it was necessary, utilizing the power of the Holy Spirit to highlight Whom He was as the Son of God. We see this in reality (in Matt. 24: 36) when Jesus was not able to say when His second coming would occur, indicating that only God, the Father, knew that.

Not only did Jesus empty Himself of authority in the Godhead; but He also set aside His access to His personal riches (see 2nd Cor. 8: 9), becoming poor as a man so that mankind might become rich with Him forever in glory.

Finally, and this is the most touching of all the losses Christ incurred in His kenosis; He left behind His favored and glorified relationship in the Trinity to become a man who would become hated, spat upon, and crucified. We read of this horrible voluntary loss in Christ’s own words from the cross, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" (see Matt. 27: 46) And all of that, He did for me (and for you).

No, I don’t think we will ever truly comprehend Christ’s loss as He emptied Himself; but because of it, we had the God-Man on earth to be written about in God’s word and so that we might be able to see more clearly than ever the character and person of God walking in our midst. And because of that, mankind can come to know Him in faith and to receive His saving grace for eternal life with Him. And to that all this one can say is, … “HALLELUJAH!!!”

But there’s more … stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: Lord, You emptied Yourself that I might be filled in You. Again I say loudly in my spirit this morning … “HALLELUJAH!!!” … and … Amen

April 3, 2011 … The Start of Jesus’ Final Challenge

Passage of the Day: Matthew 26: 36 … Then Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray."

My Journal for Today: Today’s verse, with a glimpse of Jesus entering into His suffering at Gethsemane, allows us to begin to contemplate the final hours of agony experienced by our Lord. However, no matter what I suffer in my life or see in the way of suffering in the world, I will never fully comprehend what Jesus went through during His final living hours on this earth. Even the graphic movie created by Mel Gibson, which millions saw, cannot give our hearts the full story of how Jesus became the “man of sorrows” prophesied by Isaiah (in Is. 53: 3) as He took on the sins of the world and becoming separated from His Father in Heaven on the cross.

SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 53: 3 ... He [the Messiah] was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

As Jesus enters Gethsemane, where the sorrows of our Messiah begin to unfold, we see Christ’s agony beginning as He enters into the prayer vigil which would fully show our Lord “the cup” He must endure, even cause Him to sweat blood in His prayers that night. And in this scene we get a glimpse as to why Jesus had wept as He entered Jerusalem a few days earlier. Having a word of knowledge from His Father through God, the Holy Spirit, on that Sunday before Passover, He saw that the very crowd who cried, “Hosanna,” spreading palms before Him would soon be crying “Crucify Him!” And Christ’s time in the garden was about to give Him a clear picture of the suffering He would have to endure in His humanity for all of mankind. And, as God, the Son, He also sensed the separation that He would endure from His Father as he humbly and willingly received that “cup” which seemed so overwhelming to our Lord in His humanity.

No, what Jesus was to go through on the cross (for me and for you) is simply beyond my human reasoning abilities. And perhaps that is a blessing because the mental distance from the reality of this horror protects me; … but it also tests my faith. Unlike the close group of Disciples whom Jesus left to watch and pray in the Garden, I know what was about to happen. We have the true story given to us by God’s living word. I’ve read “THE BOOK;” and though I may not be able to fully empathize with His horror in the Garden, I must accept … in/by faith … that His passion for me was the model of suffering that would be our guide forevermore.

When we suffer, especially in His Name, we have a clear picture through God’s word as to the “why” behind our suffering. And we know that we, as Christians, will suffer in this life; … every believer who witnesses to/for his faith in this life does. So, even today, I can imagine that our Lord is saying to me, “Sit here and watch, while I suffer so that you can be with Me in heaven and all sorrows will be gone.”

Oh, my faith sees so anemic at times!

My Prayer Today: Lord, give me the vision and strength to endure life’s suffering. Amen

April 1, 2011 … Anticipating Jesus’ Death

Blogger’s Note:

This year, as I have four of the past six years, I’ve been using John MacArthur’s devotional book, Strength for Today as my devotional guide for my morning quiet times with God. This month will be no exception. For introduction to this month’s focus, however, let me say before I begin journaling my devotional thoughts, that MacArthur will be highlighting Christ’s passion this month, probably because Easter usually occurs in April. So, having been through this month of devotionals for several years now, I know I’m going to get a lot closer to knowing my Lord from this study; and I pray that you will too if you follow along. … wrb

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A Year of Daily Devotionals: A Journal by Bill Berry … April, 2008

Passage of the Day: Matthew 26: 2 …

1 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 "As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."

My Journal for Today: The cross of Christ, about which Jesus informed His Disciples shortly before that fateful Passover celebration [see Matt. 26: 1-2], is the fulcrum of human history. It is the crossroads of redemption for mankind to which the Apostle Paul declared, (in 1st Cor. 2: 2) …” For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified;” … and in 1st Cor. 5: 7 … “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” Everything we believe as Christians rests on the truth of what happened on that cross at Calvary and the reality of Christ’s resurrection.

Jesus, in a Spirit inspired word of knowledge from the Father, knew that His walk on earth, especially those awe inspiring times of Passover during His Passion, was totally determined by His Father’s sovereign time table. Yes, Jesus had complete control over His walk (see John 10: 17 – 18). However, Jesus walked in total surrender to the Sovereign plan of God, the Father.

John, the Baptist, had certainly recognized that his cousin, Jesus, was “THE ONE” Who came to save mankind (see John 1: 29); and later Luke wrote of how all of the players in Christ’s pre-scripted passion played their parts – in total free-will – to bring about God’s redemptive plan for His church and for all of mankind (see Acts 2: 22 – 24) …

SCRIPTURE: Acts 2: 22 …"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing Him to the cross. 24 But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him.

And one can see through history, the glorious coming together of all of these events at the time of Christ’s final Passover in that fate-filled time of the world to display the panorama of God’s scheme for His church – all of it known from the foundation of time (see 1st Peter 1: 20).

And it was all for me (and you)!

My Prayer Today: Hallelujah, my Lord! You died for me! Amen

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Administrative note … Again this month, I will be quoting Scriptures in the body of my journal entries, which may require you to look up these passages if you’re serious about the passages which you don’t know “by heart.” A very good website to have ready if you’re following along with my entries online is BibleGateway.com [linked here], which will allow you to look up the passage in the version of the Bible you prefer.

March 24, 2011 … Jesus’ Humility In Death

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 8 - ... And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!

My Journal for Today: My entry today will be brief … very much to the point. As I read today’s passage, I’m led to reflect on Mel Gibson’s account of Christ’s Passion in the movie he directed, attempting to give us some degree of insight into those hours on the day of Christ’s death on the cross. Though I’m sure it was even worse than Gibson portrayed it, that movie drove home – at least for me - the horrible humiliation to which Jesus exposed Himself, being led unjustly by man, but purposely by God, the Father, to the cruelest form of execution ever devised by mankind – the Roman form of crucifixion. It was God’s Lamb being led to the slaughter as a sacrificial offering for the sins of mankind; and it was my sin [and yours] which nailed our Lord to that cross.

What our Lord, Jesus Christ, endured – unjustly – should be the ultimate eye-opener for all believers when it comes to the essence of what humility is all about and what our Messiah endured, as the suffering servant, the “man of many sorrows,” which had been prophesied in Is. 52: 13-14 and all of Isaiah 53 … [Please go, with the links provided, and read these citations!].

Just a few years ago about this time, we were memorializing my earthly father, Bob Berry, at his funeral. In the latter months of his life, my Dad suffered much physical – and likely emotional – agony. Yet, as many came by at the funeral to express their condolences to my sister, myself, and the rest of the family, they commented on how our father held on to an attitude of grace right to the end in spite of the myriad of physical ailments he had endured in the last two years of his life. And that attitude was stamped indelibly for me some years before (in 1988 to be exact) when at 72 years of age, my Dad prayed to receive Christ as his Savior/Lord. Up to that time, my father had been a very self-centered man, often feeling sorry for himself, given life’s circumstances, which had been rough for him. But after Christ came into his life, his Christ-like humility was displayed readily – especially in those latter years when physical maladies drove him to reside in a nursing home. With all he went through, my Dad held to the hope of 1st Cor. 15: 37 – 54 [also linked here for your meditation] … that one day he would have a new body and be lifted up by His Lord to glory. We talked of it often as I visited my dad in that nursing home; and my earthly father became a living and dying example for me of God’s grace being poured into his soul by the humility with which my father lived out in his later life.

Those are models of humility I will always have in my life … first my Lord, as today’s verse declares, who humbly died for my sins … and then my earthly father, who humbly dealt with so many physical maladies with grace and dignity in the face of so much personal humility. I’m blessed to have been shown the way to humility with such vivid examples so that I may see and live it in my own life.

My Prayer Today: Lord, may I always walk in Your shoes when it comes to humility. Amen