God's Awesome Trade – (5) series by Theo Groeneveld.
What Jesus traded!
5 Your attitude
should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did
not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself
nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to
death-- even death on a cross! Philippians2:5-8
We are called to trade things that don't last for things
that have eternal significance. But this call does not happen in a vacuum. It comes in the wake of an exchange that
Jesus made.
Jesus exchanged the glory of heaven for the agony of the
cross to save us. It was the most biased trade that could ever happen - the
Creator giving everything for His creatures who could give nothing in return.
Scholars suspect that Paul is quoting from an early
Christian Hymn, which is why this passage is often printed in poetry format in
our Bibles...
But let's look more closely:
- He gave up equality with God (This was His
"right" to say "No!" when God the Father asked Him to go to
the cross.)
- Although in nature God, He became a tiny baby in Mary's
womb, He sacrificed power, knowledge, status. He limited Himself. John makes it
clear that God created the world through Jesus, the Word (Logos). Imagine going from being the agent of
Creation to being a creature!
- He took the nature of a servant. From Heaven He went to
Mary's womb, to the humble stable in Bethlehem, to being a fugitive in Egypt,
to the dusty streets of Nazareth, to the everyday-ness of an itinerant
preacher, to being swamped by the masses for healing and hated by the
establishment for being controversial. He
deserved better. He deserved recognition and respect. He spent 30 years
preparing for a three year ministry. He spent 33 years in weakness for us.
- He went to the
cross. We cannot even begin to imagine what that was like!!
In the light of
what He traded for us - how sad it is that we balk at the slightest
interruptions or minor sacrifices that He asks us to make!
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