Daily Devotions for Difficult Days [118] Jesus Emptied Himself

 Always Down First

The Kingdom of God always straightens out the kingdom of Mankind. And very often that means turning the values and methods of the world upside down.

I once pastored a church which was looking around for new deacons to serve. Within that fellowship was a humble older behind-the-scenes brother. He held down a  humble job, he had no education to speak of. He lived in a plain and small semi-detached flat and in church life he was self-effacing. It would be very easy to overlook him, completely and totally; and often he was.

But this brother was servant-hearted. Without wanting any applause and always serving in the shadows he would mow the lawns of the church building and clean the building faithfully, quietly and brilliantly.

He was - rightly - appointed to be a deacon.

In the world, the way up is to push yourself forward, but in the kingdom of Christ, the way up, is to descend.

The whole of this beautiful First Christian Hymn expresses this novel and divine way of working. Notice the first half of the Hymn is all about Jesus' downward journey, the second, is all about God's upward exaltation.

"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 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."

He made himself nothing

Let us notice carefully, the downwards steps. The first was in his mind - he decided not to keep hold of the glorious trappings of divinity. He decided that it did not matter if no-one on earth knew he was God. It did not matter if he walked around Palestine without fame.

His second downward step was to "make himself nothing" or as other translations put it to "empty himself."

The Greek word, kenosis, means to "empty out."

Instead of holding on to position and power and glory, he let them go, he emptied himself of them, and in their place took on the nature of a servant.

So, if we are searching for an image, the Queen leaves the glory of Buckingham Palace, is never seen with her crown or royal robes again, and becomes a care worker in a home for street people. And the press never hear about it.

The Son of God, deliberately, and by his own choice, descends from the highest and travels down, down, down, all the way to the lowest.

Summing it All Up

And here is the most important point: not the high doctrine of the incarnation, not the clever Greek words, not the wonder of the move, not even the worship-worthiness of this mind-blowing step, but the practical example Paul is making out of it.

True Christian living is all about deliberately lowering ourselves, and doing so constantly, for the sake of others.

True Christian living is saying sorry when I do wrong, rather than holding on in foolish pride.

True Christian living is admitting to errors of judgement or belief.

True Christian living is washing feet when no-one else wants to dirty their hands or humble themselves.

True Christian living is, if I may use a real-life present example, Zooming when I don't feel like Zooming, when I am weary of Zooming, for the sake of others.

A SONG FOR THE DAY
No modern song encapsulates this downward move better than Graham Kendrick's Servant King.

From Heaven You Came, Helpless Babe,
Entered Our World, Your Glory Veiled;
Not To Be Served But To Serve,
And Give Your Life That We Might Live.

This Is Our God, The Servant King,
He Calls Us Now To Follow Him,
To Bring Our Lives As A Daily Offering
Of Worship To The Servant King.

There In The Garden Of Tears,
My Heavy Load He Chose To Bear;
His Heart With Sorrow Was Torn,
‘Yet Not My Will But Yours,’ He Said.

Come, See His Hands And His Feet,
The Scars That Speak Of Sacrifice,
Hands That Flung Stars Into Space
To Cruel Nails Surrendered.

So Let Us Learn How To Serve,
And In Our Lives Enthrone Him;
Each Other’s Needs To Prefer,
For It Is Christ We’re Serving.

You can sing HERE.

A PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Our patient Father in heaven,

We thank you for the breath-taking example of your Son. Nowhere else can we see humility like His.

We thank you that for our sakes he became poor. We thank you that he left the realms of glory, became a human being and took on the nature of a servant, so that he could reach us and bless us and save us.

Forgive us when this spirit does not mark our lives. Forgive us when we refuse to serve. Forgive us when we fail to admit error or wrongdoing. Forgive us when we are proud.

Help us by the power of your ever-present Spirit, whom you sent on the Day of Pentecost, to prefer the needs of others, always remembering that in doing this, we are serving, not them, but you.

We aks these things in Jesus' Name,

Amen

Photo by Fa Barboza on Unsplash