Imagine a king who purposely gives up his title and his throne to live as a slave and then die a torturous death he didn't deserve. Imagine him doing all of this on purpose!

Philippians 2 teaches us that Jesus was, *in the form of God* - that is, in Heaven Christ was God, a full-fledged member of the trinity, enjoying the privileges that God in heaven would enjoy.

But Christ, for our sakes, temporarily laid aside the glory and privilege of Heaven to come to earth. He *was made in the likeness of men.*

Verse 8 tells us why Christ left heaven and came to earth:

> And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Jesus went from exaltation and glory in Heaven to the humiliation and torture of the cross - and He did it on purpose! He did it in obedience to God.

Why? Why would Jesus do this? He did it to "save His people from their sins." Jesus Christ died to pay your sin debt and mine.

Are you trusting in Him or in your own good works to get you to heaven?

The death of Jesus was no accident. Isa. 53:4 foretold that He would die for our sins.

We must learn to avoid complaining and arguing to be a testimony to the lost around us (Phil. 2:14).

What does Paul mean when he says, "Work out your own salvation?" (Phil. 2:12)

There are a lot of things we need to let go of, but we need to hold firmly to wise instruction (Prov. 4:13).

Inside of all of us there is a desire to get ahead. To make something of ourselves. To be successful. Actually, it’s not enough to be successful, we want to be more successful. This is the part of worldliness that 1 John called *“the pride of life.”*

And the way this manifests itself is that many people are just trying to climb the next rung on the ladder. Whether that means getting the next promotion or the next accolade. We as humans are constantly competing against each other.

But if there is one place where this attitude should never be, and it’s church. Philippians 2:3 says:

> Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

The word “strife” there means “competition” or “electioneering” and “vainglory” is a word for ego and vanity. It’s the attitude that says “I’m really quite good...so I deserve that position, not Him. What can I do to get it?”

Do you ever wonder why church’s split? It’s the fruit of this attitude popping up in our hearts. It’s a manifestation of selfishness. We need to be on the lookout for it and kill it inside of us while it’s still small.

We've likely heard of John 3:16, but do we know what it really says?

Even during this pandemic, make time daily to sing to the Lord (Col. 3:16).

God wants the church to strive together to accomplish the goal of spreading the gospel all over the world (Phil. 1:27).