Slices
Prepare
Draw a parabola. Write ‘in very nature God’ (v 6) at the top left, and ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ (v 11) at the top right. Trace Jesus’ journey by writing key phrases down and up the parabola.
Bible passage
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 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.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death –
even death on a cross!
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.
Explore
Paul becomes lyrical in expounding Jesus’ journey from glory back to glory via becoming human and dying in humiliation. There were popular stories of gods coming to earth in Paul’s world, but those gods did not give up their powers or status – they could angrily hurt or kill people. Their human appearance was a temporary cloak. Not so Jesus: Paul parallels Jesus being ‘in very nature God’ (v 6) with taking ‘the very nature of a servant’ (v 7) in becoming human. Rather than powerfully ‘zapping’ people, he served his Father humbly and obediently all the way to a humiliating death on a cross (v 8).
This wonderful self-giving is why Jesus is now exalted above everything and everyone (v 9). Paul echoes Isaiah 45:23, a passage about God’s rule, and puts Jesus at its heart: Jesus is now recognised as Lord of all (vs 10,11), greater than rulers such as Caesar. As often in the New Testament, Paul picks up a scriptural passage about God and treats Jesus as its subject, showing that Jesus is the one true God become one of us.
Respond
Praise God for Jesus’ willingness to travel this journey for our sake, and worship him as Lord. Notice verse 5. What does it mean for your life to have this ‘mindset’?
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Isaiah 55,56; Hebrews 10
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for unity, imagination, and a desire to reach beyond the church walls as we seek to extend our reach and build partnerships with a wider group of local churches to reveal Jesus to the 95.