Philippians 2:1-11
Who is God? The Quest to Know God’s Glory
What does “God” mean? “We seek to worship and glorify God.” Sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, glorious beyond imagination. Does that carry over to his people? Paul is in a center of emperor worship: God is real power, Augustus, Rome, empire.
Or is God exalted far from human life, distant watchmaker, maybe breaks in with miracles.
Paul’s been dealing with his own chains and the Philippians’ suffering. Do they belong to a glorious God? The true God? Then why chains? Why not empire? Where’s God’s glory when you’re in prison, your family in danger. Paul models, challenges, guides.
He describes a way of life focused on a way of thinking – community in Messiah Jesus. He leads them into a hymn about Jesus centered on the remarkable journey from “God’s form” and “equality with God” to “death on a cross.” But the hymn is not just about Jesus. It is about God and God’s glory. Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation by God is God’s most emphatic and defining statement about God’s identity. Jesus is graced with God’s own name “LORD” (Kurios) the translation of Yahweh. God calls for scripture to be read in a new way – to understand we must see where God is going.