TITLE: The Celebrityship of the Lord Jesus Christ and
The Doctrine of Kenosis; Part 2.

This past week we began a study on the Celebrityship of our Lord Jesus Christ and we also began a study on the Doctrine of Kenosis.

We begin with the greatest passage on the Celebrityship of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s read the passage on the Celebrityship of Christ.

PHI 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself;

PHI 2:4 do not {merely} look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

PHI 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

PHI 2:6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

PHI 2:7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond servant, {and} being made in the likeness of men.

PHI 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

PHI 2:9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

PHI 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,

PHI 2:11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

Now, without going back and exegete each word, let me show you why our Lord is the only Celebrity in the Christian life.
First of all, let’s look at PHI 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself;

Now, when it says “let each of you regard one another more important than himself” that is the attitude of our true Celebrity, TLJC.

Regard is the pres-act-part of the verb hegoumenoi meaning to esteem, to guide, to honor, to consider, to be sensitive towards.

This was the attitude of our true Celebrity, TLJC.

The present tense tells us this is the attitude of what habitually occurs when the believer follows in the footsteps of their true Celebrity.

The active voice, the believer who loves the Lord produces the action of the verb.

The participle = the purpose.
”as more important than” is the pres-act-part from huperecho meaning to be better than, to think about others more that yourselves.

And the present tense tells us what habitually occurs when a person follows in the footsteps of the Celebrityship of Christ.

He is completely relaxed and is not trying to prove anything.

And he is not in competition with other believers.

The active voice, the mature believer produces the action of the verb.

Corrected translation then if I were to translate every word would look like this:.

PHI 2:3 Do nothing motivated by contentiousness or ambitious pride, but with humility of mind [by means of grace orientation] let each of you keep on considering one another as more important than himself;

Now, what does this mean?

Let's get a few points down.

1. This is the true principle of sensitivity and thoughtfulness of others based on grace thinking.

This is true sensitivity.

There is false sensitivity and then there's true sensitivity.

This is grace orientation producing a true sensitivity and insulating you from hang-ups and competing with others.

This system of thinking protects us from looking at others in terms of arrogance and pride.

When you walk around with arrogance and pride, you are sticking your neck out.

And someone's going to pop it.

Also:

When pride gets popped, it automatically brings our jealousy, bitterness, implacability, anger, hatred, maligning, gossip, revenge etc.

2. Hypersensitive believers are subjective about themselves and insensitive of others.

Lack of thoughtfulness of others is a true sign of arrogance.

3. Look out for people who are hypersensitive, they will be nothing but trouble for the rest of your life.

You'll never really please them, you'll never satisfy them.

Therefore:

4. Hypersensitive people have a facade of sweetness and light.

The next verse that reveals the Celebrityship of Christ is PHI 2:4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

The phrase “do not merely look out for your own personal interests” is the pres-act-part of skopeo which means to look out for, to regard, to notice, to respect.

Our Celebrity, the one we will be in awe of when we see Him for the first half-hour in heaven at the big Genuflex, will look out for, regard, notice, and respects others.

(explain)

Now, let's get a corrected translation so far.

PHI 2:4 do not merely be regarding your own personal interests,

What does it mean your own personal interests?

It means that not only should you respect the privacy of others but you also must be very thoughtful of those advancing with you toward the objective.

This also means that while advancing to the ultimate objectives in life, there is the danger of hindering others who are growing with you.

All of the ambushes and pressures should come from reversionistic believers not from those that are growing together with you.

You don't shoot down your own people in spiritual adulthood.

The pressure is so great and the opposition is so concentrated that many believers develop something they have never had before which is hypersensitivity and they become casualties as a result.

Therefore:

The believers advancing to spiritual adulthood must be very alert as they are advancing to be thoughtful towards others as they are advancing in the PPOG.

So PHI 2:4 should say so far, Do not merely be regarding your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Meaning:

1. This is the principle of thoughtfulness especially toward those who are advancing with you in the spiritual life.

2. Thoughtfulness and sensitivity are needed among members of the Royal family of God because the pressures are intensive when you are in spiritual adulthood.

3. There are problems in the spiritual advance as well as the fact that believers have their own personal problems.

They may not show it but they have problems too.... which is why you do not judge them, you do not malign them and do not conform to any form of subjectivity.

Therefore:

4. In concentration on your advance to spiritual maturity remember others who are advancing with you.

Be thoughtful toward them.

Especially because of passages like HEB 1:1-2.

HEB 13:1 Let love of the brethren continue.

HEB 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.

TLJC often came as a man in the Old Testament.

For example,

He was the one who rescued with Jacob in Gen 32:24-30.

GEN 32:24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

Now, who is the man?

Not “Who’s the Man?

But who is the man in verse 24?

GEN 32:25 And when he [TLJC] saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

GEN 32:26 Then he [Jacob] said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."

GEN 32:27 So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."

GEN 32:28 And he said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed."

When it says God, it refers to our Lord Jesus Christ.

GEN 32:29 Then Jacob asked him and said, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And he blessed him there.

Only God can pronounce blessings.

GEN 32:30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved."

He also came as the burning bush to Moses in EXO 3:1-6.

In the Old Testament, He appeared as the angel of the Lord or the angel of Jehovah.

There are passages where TLJC is not only called the Angel of Jehovah but at the same time He is also called Jehovah.

Let me show you what I mean in GEN 16.

GEN 16:7 Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

GEN 16:8 And he said, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from and where are you going?" And she said, "I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai."

GEN 16:9 Then the angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority."

GEN 16:10 Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be too many to count."

GEN 16:11 The angel of the Lord said to her further, "Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has given heed to your affliction.

GEN 16:12 "And he will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers."

GEN 16:13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, "Thou art a God who sees"; for she said, "Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?"

Look at GEN 22:11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."

GEN 22:12 And he said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."

GEN 22:13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.

GEN 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the Lord it will be provided."

GEN 22:15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven,

GEN 22:16 and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,

GEN 22:17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.

GEN 22:18 "And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

Go forward to GEN 31:11 "Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am.'

GEN 31:12 "And he said, 'Lift up, now, your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.
GEN 31:13 'I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.'"

In GEN 48:15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

GEN 48:16 The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; And may my name live on in them, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."

Those are just a few passages.

In all of these passages you will find TLJC mentioned in context as the angel of Jehovah.

Now, there is also something else that is very interesting, the angel of Jehovah is also distinguished from Jehovah.

Why?

Because, the angel of Jehovah is always Jesus Christ.

There are times that Jehovah can refer to God the Father, God the Son, or God the Spirit.

For example, Let's take the word Elohim.

Elohim is in the plural is translated God in the Old Testament, it refers to the entire Trinity.

The plural pronoun for God, Elohim, is used in passages like Gen 1:26, 3:22.

GEN 1:26 Then God [Elohim] said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;

GEN 3:22 Then the Lord God [Jehovah Elohim] said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil;

ISA 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

Now,

Whenever one or more persons are going to be mentioned we have the word Jehovah.

It is used for God the Father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit.

However,

It is only the Son who is the "angel of Jehovah".

TLJC is the only visible member of the Trinity.

JOH 1:18 No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained {Him}.

JOH 6:46 "Not that any man has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father."

1TI 6:16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

1JO 4:12 No one has beheld God at any time;

The point is that Jesus Christ is the only the manifest person of the Godhead but He is still God.

He is the only person of the Godhead who is manifest to man as a man or in another form like the burning bush or the pillar of fire at night or the cloud by day.

For example, look at the burning bush passage.

EXO 3:1 Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

EXO 3:2 And the angel of the Lord [TLJC] appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.

EXO 3:3 So Moses said, "I must turn aside now, and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up."

EXO 3:4 When the Lord [Jehovah] saw that he turned aside to look, God [Elohim] called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."

Notice that the Lord is also called Elohim.

EXO 3:5 Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."

In verse 6, notice that the Lord said:

EXO 3:6 "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Prin: Moses knew the angel of Jehovah was God.

The angel of Jehovah is called a Theophany which is an Old Testament manifestation of the person and work of Jesus Christ in His preincarnate state.

This is a theological category for the appearances of Jesus Christ before the First Advent.

So, Obviously when some other member of the Godhead is involved in the passage where the angel of Jehovah is functioning it will say Jehovah said to the angel of Jehovah.

Why?

Because the Father is Jehovah too.

And so the Father is talking to the angel of Jehovah in these passages.

For it was God the Father who said

EXO 23:20 "Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

Go forward to EXO 32:34 "But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you;"

Note that in these passages, the angel of Jehovah is distinguished from Jehovah.

So, back in PHI 2:6, we now meet TLJC as He was before His incarnation.

Verse 6 answers the question, what was Jesus Christ like before the first advent before He became a member of the human race?

And this was our corrected translation as we noted in PHI 2:6;

PHI 2:6 who [Jesus Christ], although He preexisted in the essence of God,

So far then we have noted His preexistence in the essence of God.

What does this mean?

Verse 6 answers the question, what was Jesus Christ like before the first advent before He became a member of the human race?

What was Christ like before the incarnation?

Before the virgin birth?

This question must be answered in order to understand
and see what happened at the incarnation and to see what the humiliation of our Lord really was.

And so, we continue in more detail our study on the Celebrityship of Christ so that:

We will be in awe of Him when we see Him for the first time at the Big Genuflex which happens immediately after the Rapture.

We build our happiness on Who and what Christ is — not on who and what people are.

There is no shortcut to this relaxed mental attitude.

It requires the daily function of the “PMA of doctrine” under the pastor-teacher consistently communicating doctrine and the believer learning doctrine on a daily basis.

The only purpose for the worship service and for the existence of a pastor-teacher is to enable believers to advance to the highest stage of super-grace.

There is no greater life for the Christian Soldier then living in the realm of the recognition of the Celebrityship of Jesus Christ.

Now, PHI 2 is the greatest chapter in the Bible that reveals the Celebrityship of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember that we already noted PHI 2:5 which says.

PHI 2:5 Keep on having this mental attitude in you which also in Christ Jesus.

The Greek word for attitude is phroneo which means “to think objectively or to think of others.”

When our mental attitude” meets the standards of this word, we have arrived at the highest and noblest point in the Christian life.

Mental attitude divine viewpoint is having the mind of Christ which is the objective and command for every believer.

The only way you can obey this command is to have doctrine in you in the right lobe.

In verse 6, we read:

PHI 2:6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

This speaks of the Celebrityship of Jesus Christ in His preincarnate state.

Preincarnate means before our Lord became true humanity.

The corrected translation looks like this:

PHI 2:6 Who [Jesus Christ] preexisting in the essence of God in His grace-thinking thought it [His deity] not a treasure retained being equal with God.

Now, this verse means that Jesus Christ always existed; there never was a time when He was not God.

He is eternal; He never grows old.

As we are noting, He is our true Celebrity!

What is a "celebrity"?

A celebrity is someone who is glamorous, someone who has status in life, someone with great ability or talent.

What happens to celebrities in the human realm?
They deteriorate; they lose their ability and their popularity; they grow old; their glamour fades; they die!

Our true celebrity is perfect.

And that's why….

A believer with any knowledge of doctrine would never make a celebrity of an angel or of any human being.

Our true Celebrity is perfect; He has neither a beginning nor an end REV 1:8.

REV 1:8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

Jesus Christ has never changed His essence for anyone or anything.

His character remains intact and will continue to do so throughout time and eternity; HEB 13:8.

Our true Celebrity knew every person in the world from eternity past meaning He has always known every need, every problem, every heartache, every frustration in your life.

He has gone through the entire angelic conflict without being inconsistent or unstable in any way.

That's our Celebrity!

And so in PHI 2:6: our Celebrity did some thinking.

In fact,

He did some "grace-thinking" [hegeomai] and here we learn something else about our Celebrity Jesus Christ.

Not only are His thoughts infinite, but He thinks about you and me in terms of grace.

This means that there never was or ever will be one believer who has earned or deserved anything from God.

And His grace-thinking toward us indicates that He is the only source of blessing.

If you have anything that is wonderful, worthwhile or valuable, it is because Jesus Christ is ultimately the source, no matter what intermediate agency may be involved.

This gives Him all the honor and glory.

And one fact that characterizes the believer who has the capacity to appreciate the Celebrityship of Christ is that

To Him, the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is more important than anything else in the world.

So, "in grace-thinking, Jesus Christ thought it not a treasure or a prize to be retained."

The treasure is Christ's deity - His equality with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

There is nothing greater or more valuable than the essence of deity.

Yet He did not consider His deity more important than our souls!

The very nature of deity precluded the fact that any Member of the Trinity could ever be judged for sin.

Eternal life can neither be born nor die

Holiness cannot have anything to do with sin.

Omnipresence cannot be reduced to one point - the Cross.

Immutability cannot change.

Omniscience cannot live by faith.

Veracity cannot associate with lies.

Therefore,

Since nothing can be subtracted from deity, something must be added.

To be able to go to the Cross and pay the penalty for sin, deity must also become true humanity.

Jesus Christ was so occupied with us in eternity past that He did not consider His equality with the other Members of the Trinity a treasure to be retained.

And so there never was a time when Christ was not occupied with you.

You and I were "the joy" (HEB 12:2) that occasioned His Incarnation and His substitutionary death on the Cross with all its shame and pain.

You and I were in His thoughts when all the grace blessings were provided in eternity past.
It is important for you to realize that you now have the privilege of occupation with Him, Col 3:10-11.

When you reach this stage, the Celebrityship of Jesus Christ will be a reality in your life.

And although you will have tremendous capacity to enjoy all the blessings that God will pour into your "cup," they will seem insignificant compared to the One who gave them.

So, let's get some principles down concerning this verse.

1. Being God and living in Heaven, Christ did not have the arrogant attitude of Satan.

Our Lord was willing to move out of heaven and become true humanity.

2CO 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

This all began at His birth, LUK 2:7.

LUK 2:7 And she gave birth to her first born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

ISA 53:2 He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

Look at MAT 8:20 And Jesus said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

Go forward to MAT 20:26 "It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,

MAT 20:27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;

MAT 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

So again

1. Being God and living in Heaven, Christ did not have the arrogant attitude of Satan.

He was willing to move out of heaven and became true humanity.

2. This means that His deity was not a gain to be seized and held in such a way as to hinder the plan of God the Father.

There is no plan of grace without the incarnation.

There is no salvation without the incarnation.

There is no eternal life for us, no hope, without the incarnation.

And….

The plan of God called for the incarnation and Jesus Christ did not think that He had to hang on to Heaven and say no to the plan of God the Father in eternity past.

He said yes to becoming true humanity in eternity past even before the creation of the angels.

This is why Jesus Christ is called the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world, REV 13:8.

REV 13:8 And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.

ACT 2:23 He was "delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God,"
So, all these passages illustrate why our Lord did not use His deity as a gain to be seized and held in such a way as to hinder the plan of God the Father.

Therefore:

3. The Lord Jesus Christ did not cling to being deity but instead He chose to become true humanity when the Word became flesh.

JOH 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

JOH 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

4. God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, was positive toward the plan of God the Father even though it involved the humiliation of being made lower than angels and true humanity.

HEB 2:7 "Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels; Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, And hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands;

5. The mental attitude of TLJC as true humanity was positive toward the plan of God the Father even though it involved the humiliation of death on the cross.

And that's the kind of attitude we are commanded to have.

The mental attitude of Christ in submission to the Father's plan must become the mental attitude of the mature believer as he goes forward in the plan of God.

6. The mature believer must not regard leisure or rest and relaxation as a gain to be seized and held but must be willing to saddle up and move out and go back to fight.

2TI 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;
7. Jesus Christ was so occupied with us in eternity past that He did not consider His equality with the other members of the Trinity a treasure to be retained.

Your soul was so valuable that He did not consider His deity a treasure to be retained.

And He can't change His deity so something had to be added to it which was humiliation known to our Lord as becoming true humanity.

Jesus Christ was so occupied with you that He didn't think His equality with the Father and the Spirit more important than your soul.

And If you are going to have the same mental attitude that Christ had you must come to a point where you're occupied with Him.

Billions of years ago He was occupied with you.

Now it's your turn to be occupied with Him.

No sheep can ever become occupied with Christ unless they have a pastor-teacher who teaches the Word of God consistently and faithfully.

PHI 2:5 "Keep on thinking this [doctrine] within yourselves which was also resident in Christ Jesus,"

PHI 2:6 who, although He preexisted in the essence of God, did not think equality with God a gain to be seized,

So this passage says have the same attitude that Jesus Christ had.

In other words,

He moved out of heaven and He became true humanity and we should be willing to do anything that the Father's plan calls for us to do.