Welcome to a firm foundation presented by Princeton ministries with Dr. Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

We ask that these words from your scripture, these words that would tell us about your son, the Lord Jesus, that they would be placed in our lives, that we would leave this place changed because we have come face to face with Jesus. We ask this in his name. Amen. There is one name that is higher than any other name in mankind. And even as I whisper that name, there is power. Jesus. Jesus Christ. Jesus has always been the name which is above every other name. And whether it is a Christian who would declare that Jesus is the name above every other name, or if it comes in the form of a non believer like Thomas Payne, who said, the morality that Jesus Christ preached has never been exceeded by anyone. The name of Jesus.

The french infidel, Rousseau, said of Jesus, if the life and death of Socrates were those of a martyr, then the life and death of Jesus Christ were those of a God Israeli, a non believer. And yet the name of Jesus would even impact his life. That he would declare, Jesus has conquered Europe and has changed its name to Christendom. Or Thomas Jefferson, who would have his own Bible written and expunged from that Jeffersonian Bible, were all references to the miracles of Jesus, to his blessed resurrection. Thomas Jefferson, though no follower of Jesus, yet, was impacted by the name of Jesus. And he said, Jesus Christ has given to us the most sublime and benevolent codes of morals ever offered to man. Those are the reflections of non-Christians.

What then, should be the declarations of those who know Jesus Christ, who have come to love him, know of his forgiveness? Who is Jesus Christ? If you ask that question, as I have many times, of untold hundreds of people in our community, I am surprised continually at the response. The responses generally fall in several categories. One, Jesus is a moral teacher. Number two, Jesus is an example. Or number three, Jesus is more fiction than fact. And by and large, I would say safely over 90% of the people that I have ever talked to put Jesus in one of those categories. But the question for us is, who is Jesus? Not according to the world’s opinion, but according to the teaching of the scripture, who is Jesus Christ? Paul was very concerned about that subject.

And in the book of Philippians, chapter two, he tells us very clearly who Jesus Christ is. He tells us that this mind should be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven, of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Paul answers the question, who is Jesus Christ? With rapid succession, he tells us that Jesus Christ is divine. He tells us that Jesus Christ has pre existed. He tells us that Jesus Christ is equal with the Father. He tells us that Jesus Christ is a person who was humble and knew of the hand of his father and to obediently follow it.

He tells us that Jesus Christ voluntarily gave his life on the cross and that Jesus Christ ultimately and even now, reigns victorious over all of his creation. Verses five through eleven of Philippians two have been called the great parabola of Christ. Do you remember in algebra the line of the parabola, that curved line which began high and dropped and then raised again? Well, this portion of scripture is referred to as the great parabola of Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ would begin equal with the Father, that Jesus Christ would be equal in the creation of the world. That Jesus Christ would receive equal honor and glory with the Father in heaven.

But then, at the appointed moment, Jesus Christ would descend from heaven and slide ever so quickly to that low point of becoming a man and taking upon himself the form and likeness of a man. And at the lowest moment, that Jesus Christ would die upon a cross. But the story does not end, for that parabola would lift high, and Jesus Christ, we are told, is exalted above every other name that is in heaven or under the earth. That Jesus Christ has come from heaven to earth to return triumphant, seated at the right hand of his father. Who is Jesus Christ? Well, we are told in verse six that Jesus is God. Say, well, where’d you get that from? Well, let’s look at verse six, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.

Well, in what way is this telling us that Jesus Christ is God? Well, sometimes it’s helpful to do a word study, and this is a case in point, because the word that we would focus our attention on is the word form, who being in the form of God. And we would ask ourselves, what does the word form mean? Because upon that definition hangs our understanding of who Jesus Christ is because we are told that he came in the form of God. Well, the word form comes from a Greek word meaning morphe, that Greek word from which we have the word form or shape. Generally in English, we associate a form with an external appearance. And something has a form or a shape.

And if that is all that this verse is teaching, that externally, as you looked at Jesus, it appeared that he had the form, the shape of God, then it would be very easy to come to the conclusion that Jesus simply learned, developed external means to have that form, to have that shape, that form. Well, the word morphe also talks about an internal quality. And in English we use this. Sometimes. If you’re having a particularly good day and you are funny, someone will say, well, you’re in rare form today. And what do they mean? It’s not that you look any different. It’s that something inside of you seems to be different. Something internally is pleasant and in harmony with your exterior. Well, in the Greek morphe, it has not only to do with the external form, but the internal form.

And so when we would read that Jesus Christ came in the form of God, it means that Jesus Christ possessed inwardly and displayed externally God the father. But there’s another word that should grab our attention, and that is that he did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Now, the word equal, taken from the Greek word isos, if you remember some of your high school science classes, you remember the phrase iso being used before a number of technical words. Isomorph means to have the same form. Isometric means to be equal in measure. An isosceles triangle means that two of the sides are exactly the same. And so the word iso means exactly equal. And in this verse, we would read that Jesus Christ is exactly equal to God.

And so, as we would understand the word form, and we would understand the word equal, we would begin to get a picture that Jesus Christ is exactly in quality, in ability, in power, in majesty, in honor, the same as God. In fact, he is God. To talk about Jesus in any other terms and not to talk about him in his relationship to being God is to do a great disservice to answering the question, who is Jesus Christ? We also see in verses seven and eight that the question who is Jesus? Is answered that Jesus is also a man and a servant. Jesus, having made of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death.

Even the death of the cross. Jesus Christ came to this earth not only as God, but also as man. And in coming as a man, he emptied himself of all of the qualities that would bring honor and glory to himself. If you look at the ministry of Jesus, he continually asked that all honor, glory be given to the father. Never once in scripture are, we asked to pray to Jesus Christ. We are always instructed, according to the words of Jesus, to pray to the father through Jesus Christ. But never did Jesus call for honor to be given to himself. So Jesus comes to this world as a man who gave up his kingly office, as a man who would give up as God, who would give up as being a man, his throne in heaven.

That Jesus Christ came to this world not with angel of troops, but rather he came alone. He came to give his life as a servant. We are told that he came in the form of a servant. The same word is used here, the form of a servant, as was used previously to tell us that he came in the form of God. Perhaps the most amazing truth about Jesus Christ is in his greatness and glory, that he came down so far in contrast so often to we who bear his name, who say that we are christians and yet would not seek to come so low and to be a servant to others, but would rather want the service of others towards ourself. Charles Spurgeon said, as certain silkworms have their silk colored by the leaves on which they feed.

If were to feed on Christ and nothing else, we would become lowly, meek and servants. How often do you think of yourself as a servant to other people, wanting their needs greater than your own? Yet we would say that we follow Jesus Christ. We want to follow his example. Then, Christian, learn to be a servant to others. For as you would learn to serve others, you would be following the example of Jesus, who took the form of a servant, and himself was a servant and gave up so much. Remember talking to a businessman several years ago? We were talking about the idea of receiving honor for things that you had done. You know, in the business world, if you do very well, then you get a promotion. If you do very well, then you get an increase in salary.

And usually there is some type of testimonial, some event where everyone pats you on the back and says, very good. You’ve done well. As we talked about this portion of scripture, he began to see that most of his christian life had been wanting to have the applause of people for the tasks that he had done. And at the moment when he would be promoted or receive greater acknowledgment for his achievements. And they would say, you’ve done such a fine job. This christian man came to realize the horror for himself at that moment. Because he realized at that moment, never once did he ever say, I thank Jesus Christ for the talents, the abilities that he’s given to me. And he would stand and he would receive the applause of his business friends. And they would say, fine work, joe. What a great job.

And he would say, thank you. And never once acknowledge that Jesus Christ had brought to him the abilities even to succeed in business. It was Satan who said, I will go up, and everyone will bow down to me. And God said to Satan, you will go down. It was Jesus Christ who said, I will go down to the cross. And his father who said, and I will lift you up and up. The great parabola, the great curve that would take Jesus Christ from eternity in great splendour, bring him to this world in humility. And the father would lift him higher and higher. Have you learned the lesson of being a servant, of wanting the good of others far above your own good? There were two sons in the family of the tailors.

One of the sons, the older, decided early on that he wanted to make a name for himself. And so he decided in England that he would do all that he could to join parliament. And in parliament he would receive great honor and glory. Well, there was another younger tailor who decided that he would not seek after the applause of this world. Instead, he decided to give his life to Jesus Christ, and he would go to become a missionary in China. When Hudson Taylor, the younger brother, died, his name was known throughout the world as that great missionary who would serve other people. Recently I was looking to see about the history of his brother, and I opened up the encyclopedia, looking under his name, and all that it said was the brother of Hudson Taylor. So often we would say, I’ll join parliament.

I will become a successful businessman. I will have my name in lights. And yet the Lord would say, learn to serve through Jesus Christ. That’s what brings honor and glory to me. Verses nine and ten also tell us answer to the question, who is Jesus Christ? Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Here we learn that not only is Jesus God, not only is he man who came as a servant, but he is also lord. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for Lord was the word Adonai.

Now, the word Adonai was used verbally among Jews to talk about this living God. And they would talk about Adonai, and they would sing praises using the name of Adonai, the Lord. But the name Adonai was used because the primary name of God, Jehovah, was never to be uttered because it was so holy. And so the Jews of the Old Testament would never even mention the name Jehovah. And when they would write it in this text, they would leave out those vowels so that it was not even pronounceable. And if you wanted to talk about Jehovah, the word that you used was Adonai. And to talk about Adonai was to talk about Jehovah. And so the two words were interchangeable. And everyone knew that when you use that word of Adonai, you were talking about the holy God, that holy Jehovah.

When we come to the New Testament, the Hebrew word of Adonai is simply translated into the Greek with the word curios, the word that we have before us, Lord. And so as we are told, that every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That in that declaration we are saying with the Old Testament saints that Jesus Christ is the curios, the Lord, he is Adonai, that holy Lord. He is Jehovah, that name above every other name. The question that few people are able to answer in our own day is Jesus Christ, the Lord of your life is Jesus Christ. The Adonai is Jesus Christ, Jehovah. And it is at that point that you will find great debate.

And it is at that point that the unbeliever would say, I’m not willing to say that Jesus Christ is Jehovah or Adonai or the curios, the Lord. I will call Jesus an example. I’ll call him a moral teacher, but I will not call him Lord. I believe that the great divide is the definition of Lord, that those who would be able to say Jesus Christ is Lord. But there’s one other interesting truth about the word curios, which is taken from the word Adonai. It is not merely a noun in isolation, but the word Adonai did not just mean Lord. But Adonai has a personal pronoun, my lord. And this is the word that is used when Mary comes to the tomb and she says, my lord, who’s been raised from the dead.

It is this word that is used when Thomas comes in his unbelief and places his finger into the hole of the hand of Jesus and he declares, my lord, there is a name unlike any other name. And whether it is shouted from the housetops, Jesus. Or if it’s whispered Jesus, it is a name that is above every other name. And at the name of Jesus there is coming a day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Let us pray. Our God and our father help us to love the name of Jesus. Help us to see that in Jesus Christ is to be found truth, forgiveness, reconciliation.

Help us to exalt the name of Jesus and Father, that we as christians by our lives would lift high the name of your son and father, that we would love him more than anything or anyone else. Help us as we would crown Jesus the Lord of our life. For we ask this in Jesus’s name. Amen.

Thank you for listening to a firm foundation presented by Princeton ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton Ministries Post office box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 8543. That’s Princeton Ministries, post office box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 8543. The Lord bless you and Dr. Smith looks forward to hearing from you. We would like to thank Rones web development company for making this webcast possible. You can find their link at the bottom of our website, princetonministries.org.