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SERMON
The Story of Seven Demotions
A life committed to Christ is a life committed to downward mobility.
Bill Hybels |  Printer view |
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 2 of 3
Demotion number two is more concrete: it's the carrying out of demotion number one. Jesus "empties" himself, the text says. This does not mean for a moment that he became any less divine. He does not divest himself of an ounce of deity. He is still fully God. The text simply means that he laid aside, or put off, those divine aspects that would have kept him from becoming a man. He voluntarily laid aside whatever was necessary for him to become a man. Nobody robbed him or stripped this away; he didn't do it under protest. He purposefully and willingly divested himself of everything that would have kept him from becoming human and fulfilling his mission.
Demotions 3, 4, and 5: He became man.
Demotions three, four, and five all pertain to the incredible miracle we call the Incarnation.
As I studied this text, it struck me for the first time what a violent and profane transition this must have been for Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. Look at demotions three, four, and five as they appear in the text in reverse order: Demotion number three—take on the appearance of a man. Demotion number four—be made in the likeness of man. Demotion number five—accomplish the purpose set before him by becoming bondservant among humankind.
It boggles my mind when I think about how the transcendent Creator took on the appearance and likeness of the creature and became fully human. He did not appear on the landscape of this planet as an emperor or king, a statesman or an investment banker, but as a fetus born in a stable to a blue-collar, Jewish worker. Scripture tells us that he was fully human, like us in all ways except without sin. The omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent second person of the Trinity, Jesus, was fully God, enjoying all the divine prerogatives from eternity. Now Jesus feels the binding confines and restrictions of flesh. He's got skin around him now. He must use doors, ride animals, eat, and sleep. Think of the God of the universe saying, "Okay, Mother. Okay, Dad. Whatever you say, Dad." Now Jesus rubs shoulders with the creatures—people he created. And these people say, "Get out of my way, Jew-boy. Move it, buddy. Who do you think you are, Jesus, somebody special? Well, you're not. You should know your place, Jesus, and you should stay in it." Can you catch a glimpse of the violence of the Incarnation to the divinity of Christ?
I've heard speakers try to give illustrations of what it must be like for the second person of the Trinity to take on human flesh. I've heard people wax eloquent, saying, "Well, it would be like a man condescending to the position of an ant, crawling around and living among ants." The main problem of that analogy is that it is nowhere near as cataclysmic for creatures to condescend to a lower rank of creation as it is for the transcendent Creator to become a creature. There's really not all that much distance between humans and ants. But there is an enormous chasm between the transcendent God and human beings like you and me.
From equality with God, from this lofty and high position, down the ladder Jesus goes. He relaxes his grip. He lays aside equality with God, takes on our appearance, our likeness, and becomes a bondservant. He becomes one who teaches and feeds and serves and heals and helps and saves obstinate, arrogant, sinful people like you and me, who refuse most of our lives to even tip our hat his way.
Demotion 6: He became obedient to death.
Jesus isn't done with his demotions. He's got two more to go. Look in verse eight: "He humbled himself and became obedient to death." It wasn't enough to just become a man. He humbled himself to the point of death. Jesus, who breathed life into all that lives; Jesus, who not only initiates all life in the universe but sustains it each and every second of each and every day—this Jesus stood toe-to-toe with the power of death and said with a quiet and controlled voice: You win. This time, you win.
It's high noon at the OK Corral, and the guy in the white hat refuses to draw. He drops his holster to the ground and says, "Go ahead. Shoot me. I'm better than you, but shoot me." The eternal life-giver is giving up his life. That's just about far enough, isn't it? I can almost hear the angels crying out, "That's far enough, Jesus. That's just far enough. Six demotions are plenty. No more!" But there is one more.
Demotion 7: He accepted death on a cross.
Verse eight says Jesus not only became obedient to the point of death, but even death on a cross. Jesus didn't die by drinking hemlock or lying back on a soft mattress, taking a cyanide tablet that would assure a painless slumber into the blackness of death. The seventh demotion must be read with reverent, trembling voices. The God of the universe, giving up the divine prerogatives, loosening his grip, emptying himself, taking the likeness of a bondservant, now acquiesces to death on the cross.
Crucifixion didn't simply kill men, but rather tortured them slowly so that every macabre sensation of dying would be intensified and experienced in the fullest measure. While all that was going on, common men and women could walk by, laugh, spit, pick up sticks to throw at him, and hurl ugly accusations that made the hellishness complete. This is just about as low as any imagination can conceive, isn't it? This is the basement of human debasement. It doesn't get any lower than this. We started in a position that could be no higher. We end in a position that can be no lower. It's ironic that the best selling books in this country, inside and outside the Christian community, are the rags-to-riches books. The apostle Paul says to believers: Come on, believers, wake up. You're deeper than that, aren't you? You see the issues more clearly than that, don't you? You're not sucked into that, are you? You don't run off that fuel, do you? Your needle doesn't point that way. You have more substance in your soul now that you know Christ, don't you?
The most important story in the world is the story of our Lord, our Savior. It's the riches-to-rags story. It's a top-to-bottom story. It's a height-to-depth story. It's the story of a God who voluntarily demoted himself seven times—the story of a God who decreased and downscaled, who lost on purpose and who died so that the penalty of your sin and mine would be paid in his blood for all eternity. That is the greatest story you have ever heard or I have ever told, and it's true. It happened in history, and there were eyewitnesses, and there is a written record. Jesus did it out of love for you and me.
Christ's self-demotion is rewarded with ultimate promotion.
Because he did it, look what God the Father did to honor him. Verses nine through eleven make up one of the most majestic pieces of Scripture: "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." There's going to be a day when the world will wake up to who Jesus is. He's Lord. And those who don't wake up in time are those the Book of Revelation says are going to cry out at that moment of great awareness. They're going to cry for the mountains and the cliffs to fall on them because there is going to be a depth of regret that Scripture says will be manifested by weeping and gnashing of teeth throughout all eternity. People will clench their teeth and scream, "Oh! He was who he said he was. He was Lord, and I never honored him. I never yielded my life to his lordship. I never honored his rule. I never bowed in his presence." There will be eternal regret, and those who, at the second coming of Christ, know Christ as Lord are going to crash into thunderous, high-volume verses of, "He is Lord! He is Lord! He is risen from the dead (and returned for his church!) and he is Lord. Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord." We will be glad through all eternity and awed at the greatness of Jesus.
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