When the King of kings washes his servants’ feet, that’s amazing.

Steve Brown:
When the King of kings washes his servants’ feet, that’s amazing. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life is all about God’s radical grace. Grace that has dirt under its fingernails and laugh lines on its face. If you want the Bible to be a book of rules, you may want to stop listening now. But if you’re hungry for the truth that’ll make you free, welcome to Key Life.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you have your Bible, open it to the first 11 verses of the second chapter of Philippians. Now, if you were with us last week, and yesterday we talked about unity and where it comes from. Unity doesn’t come when good people get together and rejoice in their goodness, cause there aren’t any good people. Unity comes from bad people getting together and recognizing that there is a Savior who has forgiven us and loved us. And we can forgive and we can love each other. Now, last week, we spent some time trying to unpack that particular passage, and it’s amazing. It’s Philippians 2:1 through 11. And if you were listening last week, we talked about that we should note not only who Jesus was.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God.

Was God. John 1, clearly taught in Scripture. And then we talked about not only what he was, but what he enjoyed and what he did. Now, I want to show you one, this is number four, if you’re taking notes, and you will be tested on this material. Fourth note, also, what Jesus became. Look at that whole text, five through seven.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours.

In other words, you don’t have to fight for it, you don’t have to work at it, you don’t have to be good.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped,

and here he comes.

emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Someone tells about a time in a London church where the preacher was preaching. It was a big church. And if you’ve been in those big churches in England, you’re aware that there’s a pulpit that kind of sticks out over the congregation, and it’s semi circular. And the pastor stands there, and he preaches his sermon. And this particular pastor was preaching a really fiery sermon. And a little boy sitting on the front row said to his mother, loud enough for everybody to hear, What will he do if they ever let him out? I wonder myself. Some of the questions that we have about God have been similar. He was the God of the hurricane, the earthquake, the thunder and the lightning. What in the world will he do if he gets out? He is the God who parted the sea, called for absolute obedience and sacrifice. The God of wrath and power, and the question haunts. What will he do if he gets out and really enters our space? What will he do? The questions have been asked forever. Is there really a God somewhere, really? If there is a god somewhere, what is he like? Is he a monster? Does he demand the fruit of the womb for the sin of my soul? Will he give me cancer if I’m not obedient? What in the world is he like? Does he even care? Does he love? And then, very hesitantly, the question that haunts every person who lives and who has ever lived. If there’s a God, does he love, and does he love me? Then the laughter of God from Philippians 2 and John 1.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word

oh my

became flesh and dwelt among us.

And so, what Paul is saying here is absolutely amazing. Taking the form of a servant, the king took the form of a servant. In the Gospel of John, where Jesus washes his disciples feet, the amazing thing is that the king is washing his subjects feet, and that simply should not happen. It is a wonderful and amazing message that Jesus took the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. We would not have been surprised if he shouted, but he didn’t, he whispered. We would not have been surprised, after all, he’s God. If he entered with his legions of angels, but he came by himself and we would not be surprised if he came to clean up the mess with a sword cause he is God, but he didn’t. He came and hung on the cross. Tennessee Williams in the play, Sweet Bird of Youth has the heckler saying.

I believe that the silence of God, the absolute speechlessness of him is a long, long and terrible thing. The world has lost because of it. I think that the silence of God has yet to be broken to any man, or any human, who yet lived on Earth. No exceptions.

Not true. It’s not true. He came taking the form of the servant being born in the likeness of men. There’s a wonderful story, and I’ll probably get it wrong, that Paul Harvey used to take, but I’ll get the focus and the essence of it right. There was a man who lived in the country, and he was not a Christian. Didn’t believe anything. Believed what the heckler said in that Tennessee Williams play. But he had a wife and two children and they were churchgoers. And so, on Christmas Eve, he said, you guys go on to church and I’ll stay here. And when you get back, we’ll light the Christmas tree and we’ll open the Christmas presents. And that made them sad, but they understood, and he was generally a good father, and a good husband, and a good man. So, they went off to church, and he sat in the living room, reading the newspaper, waiting for them to get home. And he heard a thump on the front window of the house, and he went to look, and he was shocked to see that birds were trying to get into the warmth of his house, and they were hitting the windows and falling back in the snow. He stood there, and he watched this go on for a long time, and he decided, I’m going to have to do something. You know what he did? He put on his heavy coat and his boots, and he went out into the snow, and he walked to the barn, and he turned the light on in the barn, and then he came back to where the birds were falling, some of them being killed, by trying to get into the house, and he tried to shush them toward the barn, and they saw him as the enemy. And they just scattered. He tried to get them to see that the barn door was open and there was light and warmth in the barn, but they didn’t understand and they flew away. And then he thought to himself, if I could just be a bird, I would tell them. If I could somehow become a bird, I would show them and fly to the barn and they could fly with me. If I could just become a bird. And at that moment the church bells began to ring. And at that moment he remembered what Christmas was all about. And he fell on his knees and he said, Oh God, I didn’t understand that you became us, that we might see the light. That would be Jesus taking the form of human beings, simply because he loved us that much. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Man, I love that story about the bird. So powerful. Thank you Steve. This week we’re unpacking the truth found in the first 11 verses of Philippians chapter 2. Still so much more to discover, so hope you will join us again tomorrow. So, what comes to mind when you hear the word honor? Honestly, I usually think of it as a noun. Is that you too? Well, we recently chatted with Adam Ramsey on Steve Brown Etc. about honor as a verb, as in honoring one another. As Adam explained, it can have a powerful impact on our people and our churches. We would love for you to hear this episode. So, we put it on a CD that we would be happy to send to you for free. Just call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to order that CD. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for the free CD featuring Adam Ramsey. Finally, if you’re blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Giving is easy. Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950 then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.