The Humble Christ Exalted Pt 1

The Humble Christ Exalted Pt 1

We are continuing our series this evening going through the book of Philippians, and we come this week to one of the more well known passages of scripture in Philippians 2:5-8. Before we read that though, a word from another preacher.

On June 7, 1891, Charles Spurgeon stood before the congregation of the London Metropolitan Tabernacle, where he ministered, and he gave his last sermon. And in the closing lines of his sermon, this is what he said:

"Those who have no master are slaves to themselves. Depend upon it, you will either serve Satan or Christ, either self or the Saviour. You will find sin, self, Satan, and the world to be hard masters; but if you wear the livery of Christ, you will find him so meek and lowly of heart that you will find rest unto your souls. He is the most magnanimous of captains.There never was his like among the choicest of princes. He is always to be found in the thickest part of the battle. When the wind blows cold he always takes the bleak side of the hill. The heaviest end of the cross lies ever on his shoulders. If he bids us carry a burden, he carries it also. If there is anything that is gracious, generous, kind, and tender, yea lavish and superabundant in love, you always find it in him. These 40 years and more have I served him, blessed be his name! and I have had nothing but love from him. I would be glad to continue yet another 40 years in the same dear service here below if so it pleased him. His service is life, peace, joy. Oh, that you would enter on it at once! God help you to enlist under the banner of Jesus even this day! Amen."

“There never was his like among the choicest of princes.” The vision that captivated Spurgeon and sustained him through his ministry, even until the end, and that he focused on up until his last words in the pulpit, was Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is so compelling a character, so wonderful a person, so glorious a being, that he has inspired millions for thousands of years. Tonight I want to be abundantly clear from the pages of scripture, from this hymn that we find in the pages of scripture, of who is Jesus. There has never been and never will be someone like Jesus Christ. He stands in a category all of his own and he is someone that we did not make up. And when we examine these passages and we go into a bit more depth of what Paul is saying about who Jesus is, his nature, and his character, we will see that he is the most glorious being there ever was. Who is Jesus? Let’s look together: Philippians 2:5-8. I’m actually going to read to verse 11.Philippians 2, starting at verse 5:

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so 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."

The point of the passage today is that Jesus Christ is both the supreme revelation of who God is - he is the fullest and supreme revelation of who God is, and he is the fullest example of what humility is. And that the climax of Jesus’ humility was the cross. In other words, the way we see God, where we see God most clearly, where we see the glory of God most fully is in the humiliation of Jesus Christ. So those are the three things we are going to look at: Jesus is the full revelation of God, Jesus is the full example of humility, and the humiliation of Jesus at the cross being the fullest example of the glory of God. And we’re going to flesh these things out. That’s what we’ll be looking at tonight.

This is actually, I don’t know if this in your translation, if you have the NIV, and some other ones actually set these verses, verses 5-11, off on their own. But the reason these verses are set off in your bible, kind of as their own paragraph, is because this is actually a hymn. This is actually a hymn in the early church. You’re reading one of the first songs that the church sang, that some leaders wrote and sang together. Perhaps even the Philippian church sang this song together. We’re not quite sure who wrote this song, but some people think Paul wrote it, and some people think others wrote it. But it’s neither here nor there. Paul chose to quote this song. In one of his deepest, most profound, expositions of who Jesus is, he had to use the form of a song. And I think there’s just a simple implication in this for us. That Jesus Christ, and we will see this more clearly, who Jesus Christ is, he is not someone to be simply scrutinized. He is not someone to be examined under a microscope, he is not someone we simply give evidence to and we stand on the throne of judgement over him. That Jesus Christ is the full revelation of God, is fully God himself, is Saviour of the world, and is someone that we approach in humility. Someone that we approach with worship and approach with praise. You see, we can’t even understand who Jesus is if we don’t come to him in humility. I would ask you as we read through these words, and I pray that the Spirit would work, that when we are looking at Jesus, we are doing so with humility, not with scrutiny, not as judge over him, but as humbling ourselves before him. There is a reason that this amazing exposition of the character of Jesus Christ is written in the form of a song, of exulted grace. Because that is what Jesus deserves.

First, Jesus is the supreme revelation of who God is. Jesus is fully God, and Jesus is God fully revealed. Not only is he fully God, but we will never have to look anywhere but to Jesus to know exactly who God is and what he is like. He is not merely the key to a door which we go through and we look and see “oh, there’s God.” Jesus is not only the bridge that goes between man and God - Jesus is God. And if you want to know who God is, you must look to Jesus. He is the final and he is the full revelation. Paul begins: “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God…” (Philippians 2:6) The form of God means the outward display of the inward nature and character. Christ is the outward display of the inward nature and character of God. He is the outward expression of who God is. It also goes on to parallel the form of God with the equality of God. Christ Jesus, who existing in the form of God did not consider equality with God as something to be used for his own advantage. He is the full expression of who God is and he is fully equal with God. This is one of the most controversial claims of Jesus’ ministry. This is where people stumble so hard, that we can take so many of Jesus’ teachings and so many of Jesus; claims, but this, to sinful man, is one of the hardest to take. Because if Jesus is God, if he is who he says he is, then he demands our allegiance. He requires our trust. Then we must follow him. We see this even in Jesus’ own ministry, that this is one of his most controversial claims. John 5:18 “This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him,” Why? “because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” Why were they trying to kill him? Because they realized that Jesus was making some very, very bold claims. He wasn’t only breaking their rules, he was saying “I and the Father are one […] The Jews answered him, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy. Because you, being a man, make yourself God.’” (John 10:30-33)

The people who were around Jesus knew exactly what he was claiming. He was not claiming to only be an enlightened teacher. He was not claiming only to have a better way of living. He was not only an example of meekness and humility and identifying with the downtrodden and the sick. Jesus was saying way more than that. Jesus was saying “I am God, the one true God.” Consider the boldness of that claim. He will not be subjected to our terms and conditions. We are simply to receive him. Over and over and over and over again these people were angry he was making himself to be God. Jesus said things like, “You can’t receive me because you do not seek the glory of God, you seek your own glory.” (John 5: 44) And this is what I was saying at the beginning, is that in our blindness and in our pride, we seek to glorify ourselves and we cannot see the glory of Jesus Christ as God. So Paul begins with the words of this famous hymn, “he was in the form of God.” (Phil 2:5) He was the outward expression of the nature and character of God, he was equal with God, and everyone knew he meant this.

Secondly, I want you to see that the outward display of God’s nature is his glory. So another way of saying that he was in the form of God is saying that he was the glory of God. The form of God is an outward expression of inward nature – that’s what glory is. That’s what glory is. Let me read you a few verses:

“There was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.” (Exodus 16:10) The glory of God is what appeared.

“The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai” (Exodus 24:16)

“Moses said, ‘Now show me your glory.’” (Exodus 33:18)

“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” (Exodus 40:34)

“Moses said, this is what the Lord has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.” (Leviticus 9:6)

“The priests cannot perform their service because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.” (1 Kings 8:11; 2 Chronicles 5:14)

The glory of the Lord is the outward expression, or the visible demonstration, of his inward nature and character. In creation, we see this to an extent – “the heavens declare the glories of God” (Psalm 19:1). When we look at the mountains and we look at the trees and when we look at the stars, we see something true about who God is. Romans 1 says this, that all mankind can look and see something true about God. Where? By walking out the door. There’s something about God’s nature and character revealed for everyone to see that He is the Creator, that He is powerful. “Therefore we are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). God has revealed his glory.

But Jesus was not just fully God, he was God fully displayed as the glory of God itself. The writer of Hebrews, as Ben read, puts it simply, connecting God’s glory to his nature. “He (Jesus) is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.” (Hebrews 1:3) John says this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) That is Jesus. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.” (John 1: 14) Jesus is God. We have seen his glory. “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (John 1: 18) Putting this together: the fact that Jesus was in the form of God means that he is the display of the glory of God. When we look at Jesus, instead of looking at trees and mountains and stars, we see more clearly and absolutely, fully, what God’s nature is. Who he is. If someone asks you: “Who is God? What is God like?” You say, “Jesus.” What is the glory of God? It is Jesus Christ. He is the glory of God. He is not only fully God, but he is God fully displayed.

So what is this God like? Jesus is not only the supreme revelation of God, the hymn goes on to tell us exactly what God is like. You’re saying “Okay, Jesus is God’s glory. Jesus is the display of his nature, what is his nature? What is his character?” That’s the million dollar question. What is God like, if we were to describe him? Well, Jesus is the supreme manifestation of humility. Jesus shows us that God is humble. There are four ways this hymn says Jesus showed his humility. One, he refused to use his equality with God for his own advantage. Two, he set aside his rights as God and took the form of a slave. Three, he became obedient even to death. And lastly, he was obedient even to death on a cross. We’re going to look at four ways that Jesus shows his humility.

First, Jesus humbled himself by refusing to use his position as God for his own advantage. He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. The HCSB says, “He did not consider equality with God as something to be used for his own advantage.” (Philippians 2: 6) Jesus, when he became a man, he didn’t give up equality with God, he didn’t stop being God. But he refused to appeal to that. He refused to use his divinity, the fact he was God, for his own advantage. He set it aside. N.T. Wright wrote, “The pre-existent son regarded equality with God not as an excuse from him taking on the task of redemptive suffering and death, but actually, what uniquely qualified him for that vocation.” In other words, Jesus did not look at the fact – He didn’t say, “I am God, so I am above this. I am God, so I am not responsible to take on these people’s problems.” Jesus Christ said, “Because I am God, I am going to take on this work of redemption. I am going to take on these people’s sins. I am going to set aside my right and position as God.” He didn’t say, “I am God, therefore I will use it all to my own advantage.” He is the exact opposite of us. Our natural tendency is to use whatever position we have, so often we do this, whatever ability we have for our own advantage. We view our career advancing as a means to more honour and to recognition. How often do we view it instead as an opportunity to serve more people? We tend to view things like getting a raise as a chance to up our own lifestyle. A chance to get the things, in other words, use it for our own gain, our own benefit, our own opportunity. Instead of first thinking, “Great, I have more money to give away.” Who thinks that way? We rarely think that way. We see a degree, or diploma, as a way of personally validating ourselves, rather than as a vehicle through which we can effectively provide and care for and serve others. Even our positions, like such as parental authority, we can struggle to see it as primarily an opportunity to love and care for and to provide and serve and discipline children, but a means of self-fulfilment. We struggle so much with not using everything we have for our own advantage. What Paul is saying, in quoting this hymn, is that Jesus did not, though he was God, did not use that to his own advantage. He is altogether different from us.

Secondly, he showed his humility by setting aside his rights as God and taking on the nature of a slave. It says that he emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. When it says that Jesus emptied himself, it doesn’t mean that he gave up being God. It doesn’t mean that he was not God. The word “emptied” Paul uses elsewhere, like 1 Corinthians 1:17: “Lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” To be emptied is to set aside your power, to become powerless, to become weak. Jesus Christ, in emptying himself, set aside his power, submitted himself to weakness. And he did this by taking on, Paul says, the form of a servant. Or other translations (I think more correctly) say “the form of a slave.” Not only did he become a man, but Jesus Crist became a slave. Consider this a contrast. It says he was the form of God, and yet he took on the form of a slave. He had all the rights, and all the privileges, and all the power, and all of the ability that God has. But instead, he refused to use that. He submitted himself, he emptied himself, he became powerless. And rather than being the ruler of all, he became the slave of all. Remember, we began this sermon by saying that Jesus is fully God. Jesus is fully God. This is not some man we’re talking about, some mere man, we are talking about God. Have you ever heard of a God like this? Have you ever heard of a God who doesn’t take his power and use his power, but gives his power away, sets his power aside, empties himself completely? What other God does that? Have you heard of that? We wouldn’t make this up. The form of a slave. Having no rights, having no power, bottom of the social scale, subject to all, and the lowest position. And he did this all willingly. He was not emptied. It does not say, “Jesus was emptied.” Jesus was not emptied. Jesus emptied himself. He emptied himself. “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down willingly” (John 10:18). On top of everything, that he is God, and that he came and that he was without power, probably one of the most profound things about that… This is one of those sermons where you’re going to have to think about it after – I can’t go through every implication of this to your heart. All of this, Jesus did absolutely willingly. It was his choice. What is God like? God is like Jesus. What god is like this? What ruler is like this? What prince is like this, as Spurgeon said? What man is like this? So Jesus showed his humility in giving away his power and becoming a slave.

Third, Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to the Father, to the point of death. “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8) What does it mean that Jesus became obedient? Well we’ll look at what it means that he became obedient, but what does obedience mean? Obedience means: faithful, loyal love in a family relationship. That’s what true obedience is. Obedience is faithful, loyal love, like a son to a father. That’s what obedience is in the Bible. In other words, obedience is not simply outward conformity to some regulations and some rules. That is not the obedience that God requires, that God created us for. That is not real obedience. Russ read the verses – does Jesus commend these people for having an outward appearance of godliness? No, he blitzes them. He blasts them. He gives his sharpest rebuke to these people who are treating obedience as if it’s just an outward thing, but inwardly are dead. You see, God created us in his image and likeness, Genesis 1 says (Genesis 1:26). And part of what that means, ‘in his likeness’, is that we are to be as sons to Him, and daughters, as children. We are to relate to God as our loving Father. In his image, we are to rule over creation as kings exercising his benevolent, gracious rule. And in his likeness, like Seth was born in Adam’s likeness, we are to live as his children. And what God has always required is faithful, loyal love from his children because of the way that he has loved them. And we see at the very beginning pages of scripture that Adam failed. That rather than be satisfied with the love of God and the provision of God and everything that he had, he said, “I want to be like God.” And all we’ve had since is sin, is disobedience, is a lack of love to our Father. And what Jesus came to do is to be the obedient son that we were supposed to be. So what does it mean that he learned obedience? That he learned faithful, loyal love? Does that mean that Jesus, at some point in his life, was not obedient to the Father? Does that mean that at some point in Jesus’ life that he was disobedient? No. It means that he grew in his obedience. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). He learned obedience through what he suffered. “And going a little further, he fell on his face and prayed, saying: ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’” (Matthew 26:39) Jesus Christ was fully human. He was fully human. Part of what it means that he set aside his divinity, he became powerless, he took on the form - the outward appearance with an inward nature - of a servant, is that he really was a slave. He really was a man. He was tempted like us, but without sin. Jesus was not going to open his shirt and have a big ‘S’ on there, as if he wasn’t really like us, he didn’t really feel the temptations we face. That he didn’t really have to make real decisions. Jesus’ whole life was a life of real obedience to his Father. Jesus’ life was a real response of love to his Dad. His whole life. And as he went on, closer and closer and closer and closer to the cross, it got more intense. And again and again and again, he chose to love his Father and to love his neighbours. And I just read for you, when he was in the garden – does that not show you the struggle? That Jesus didn’t go to the cross as if it was easy. You remember that part in, I think it’s Brave heart, at the end of the movie (again, if you haven’t seen it, I don’t care), and he’s given the opportunity to take some painkillers. Basically she gives him some medication that would supress the pain because he’s going to be tortured. A lot of people think Jesus is like that. They think about him in sentimental terms, as if his death was kind of symbolic, but like: “He was God, so it wasn’t really that hard. It was kind of a picture of something.” But it was real. The pain was real. The suffering was real. And Jesus saw this. “If it be possible, my Father, let this cup from me. But I’m going to do what you want me to do. I’m going to be obedient. I want to do what you want to do. I want to love these people. But if there’s another way, then I would love to do that.” Jesus’ obedience was the greatest display of love the world has ever seen - For God and for us. “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (John 10:18) Jesus, the Son, was sent from the Father on a mission, to give up his life and to take it up. Jesus decided and chose to be obedient to the Father, which leads us to the next point: to what end? He became obedient. Obedient even unto death.

A couple applications for us: obedience is defined ultimately as sacrificial love. He became obedient to the point of death. Is this how we view obedience? Is obedience in our minds something to revolt against, something we don’t like to hear, just an outward checking off of the boxes, “I make sure I do this, I make sure I do that”? Or do we understand that true obedience is love? It epitomizes sacrificial love. That’s what we see in Jesus Christ. Obedience, we also see, takes humility. It says he humbled himself by becoming obedient. It takes real humility to consider other people above ourselves. Outward obedience is just doing things for yourself; having the appearance of godliness. But true obedience is doing things for the sake of others, and that takes real humility. So even in the obedience of Jesus, we see this great humility: “I’m going to do what my dad wants me to do; I’m going to do what’s best for these people – even though it’s going to suck.” Jesus is the humble and obedient Son that we were supposed to be, but we weren’t, so that we could become sons of God. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered”, but what does it go on to say? “And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who will obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizadek.” (Hebrews 5:8-10) Romans 5:19: “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” Jesus is everything we were supposed to be and we’re not. Look at the parallels between him and Adam. Jesus existed in the form of God. Adam, and us, were created in the image of God. But Jesus did not grasp at his equality with God, he did not say, “This is an opportunity for me to serve myself.” But what did we do? Adam was tempted to serve himself. “I want to be like God.” Jesus took on the form of a slave. We became enslaved to our sins. Jesus was obedient even to death. And we received death because of our disobedience. All throughout this hymn, we see in the background that Jesus is the true and better Adam, that he is the obedient Son that Adam was supposed to be. And why does the writer of Hebrews say, and in Romans, “so that he can be the source of our salvation”? (Hebrews 5:9) If Jesus was not perfect, we would not be saved.

And lastly, Jesus showed his humility not just in his obedience, but in his obedience to the point of death on a cross. You see, the humiliation of Jesus reached its climax in his death, and the means of his death was the most humiliating form of death. A Roman citizen would never be executed by crucifixion; they could not be executed by crucifixion. Cicero, lived before the time of Christ, called death on a cross “a most cruel and disgusting punishment.” The cross, he said, is “the worst extreme of the tortures inflicted upon slaves. To bind a Roman citizen is a crime, to flog him is an abomination, to slay him is almost an act of murder.” He’s saying you should never do these things to Roman citizens – its an abominable thing. And yet to crucify him is what? There’s no fitting word that can possibly describe so horrible a deed. John Stott, in his work The Cross of Christ makes mention that it was not even proper to talk about the crucifixion. It was such a vulgar, humiliating term. It represented the most base kind of human behaviour, the most degrading treatment of someone. You wouldn’t bring it up in conversation. You wouldn’t share it like the news. You would be discreet about it. It was not proper, no one wanted to look there, no one wanted to see that. Like the chambers, the gas chambers of the Jews, everyone knew what they were, everyone knew what was going on, a lot of people did, but no one wants to talk about it. It is so vile. It is so animalistic, and even worse. And this is the kind of death that Jesus was obedient to. This is the kind of death that he anticipated in the garden when he asked for another way. This was the climax of his humiliation, the ultimate service that he gave. Naked and alone. Humiliated. These are the ways that Jesus shows that he is the supreme example of humility.

So Jesus is the supreme revelation of God, he is the supreme revelation of humility; the last point is that Jesus’ humiliation is the climax of the glory of God. This is the bringing together of these points. That he revealed who God is. When we look at Jesus, we see what God is like and we see who he is. But the hymn goes on to say, what is the tale that it tells? It doesn’t talk about an emperor marching in on battle. It doesn’t talk about wealth, and riches, and wisdom, and women, and whatever you might imagine someone looking to (when they) think ‘impressive’. It talks about emptying. It talks about humiliating. It talks about service. It talks about death. It talks about crucifixion. Yes, Jesus is fully God. Yes, he fully revealed God, but the fullest revelation of God was at the cross. The fullest revelation of God is at the cross. Just as we cannot understand Christ’s humility apart from his nature as God, we cannot understand who he is as God apart from his humility. And this is a profound point. If it was hard enough to get over the fact that Jesus is saying, “I am God,” it is even harder to get over the fact of who Jesus then demonstrates God to be. These people thought it was so blasphemous for this man to say he was equal with God, yet how crazy is it that this same man goes and dies? But this is God saying, “This is what I am like.” And this is why we sing about the cross. This is why we talk about the cross. Not because we picked up on some thing, some cliché, some tradition. This is because that as we read our Bibles we see that the cross is the climax of the revelation of God. This is where he said, “I’m going to show everyone what I’m like. I’m going to show everyone who I am. I’m going to show everyone what I do.” And it was at the cross. When Christianity starts to wander away from the cross, we start to make God in our own image. We take little bits of Jesus that we like – Jesus who does this, Jesus who does that, Jesus who does this – and they may all be very true things, and you may even read them in your Bible, but if we get the cross wrong we get everything about Jesus wrong. If we get the cross wrong, we get everything wrong about who God is. So we must hold fast to the cross. Jesus Christ’s humility and his humiliation climaxes at the cross and it shows us most clearly who God is. He is absolutely unique from all other conceptions, from all other designs, from all other imaginations. The fact that he revealed God in the crucifixion is so startling and so glorious. And so the hymn begins: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” Everything we’ve read – “have this mind” – think the same way, have this attitude, this dominant thought as Christians, this is how you are to think: Jesus was God, and yet he emptied himself. Jesus was God, and yet he humbled himself. Jesus was God, and yet he died. We talked about this briefly last week – this is the flavour Christians are to have, is humility; humility before the Lord and humility before others. We are to worship Jesus Christ, not simply speculate, not scrutinize him, not stand in judgement over him. Have you ever heard of a man like this, have you ever heard of a god like this? And the answer is “No, you haven’t”. Jesus Christ stands fully and absolutely on his own. And I hope that as we have considered the humility of Jesus this morning, of the glory of God this morning, that you would stop running away from him. That you would humble yourself before him. Who is a safer person to come to? Who is a safer person to serve but someone who served you? There is none like the Lord Jesus Christ. As we come to the table this morning, we come to the bread, we come to the bread that Jesus said was his body that was broken for us; the body that represents the powerlessness, the emptying of God; the body that represents the slave that Christ became; the body that represents the obedience and the faithful love that Jesus had for his Father and toward us. That is what the bread represents. And the wine, the juice, represents his blood that was shed. So when you come to the table, I want you to consider, maybe afresh today, the humility of Jesus Christ, who stands in a category all of his own. To be nourished by his humility and to rise in worship.

Let’s pray. Our father in heaven, we thank you that you have not left us to our own speculations about who you are and what you are like. We confess that we are so quick to think we know you. So quick to speculate about what you are like, and we confess that even worse, so often the image that we make up looks so much like us. Seeking our own, not the sake of others. Holding onto our power, not giving up. Wanting others to serve us, not becoming a slave. Disobedient and unfaithful. We thank you that you have not left us to this, but you have sent your Son Jesus so that we can look at him through the pages of scripture and say “that is what God is like, that is the glory of God, that is God as he has revealed himself.” We thank you that as we gaze upon you, we see you. We see that Jesus was humble. We come before you now for mercy and for grace. We confess that we are sinful, that we are in great need of your forgiveness. We thank you that you are so willing to give it, at the expense of your own son. Help us to live for your glory, to be servants of you and servants of others, that we might have the same mind that Jesus had. It is for his glory that we pray, Amen.