Philippians 2:1-10

Christ's Humiliation and Exaltation

2¹ If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care - ² then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. ³ Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. ⁴ Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. ⁵ Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. ⁶ He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. ⁷ Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! ⁸ Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death - and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion. ⁹ Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, ¹⁰ so that all created beings in heaven and on earth - even those long ago dead and buried - will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ,