Emptied For Us

“You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.”

(2 Corinthians 8:9, NLT)

We are in the season of Lent as Christians; this is the season leading up to Easter where we grieve that Jesus had to die for us and celebrate the reality of His resurrection.  During these weeks of Lent, we intentionally point ourselves to Christ our Saviour, remembering who He is and all He has and is doing for us.  We work to deepen our understanding of Him, His life, and our need for His saving work.  And, very importantly, we intentionally submit ourselves to His loving, holy, and sacrificial character – not only to receive it but also to extend it (to serve others as Christ serves us).

To grasp the depth of our need of saving, and to grasp the sacrifice Christ made to save us, we must consider how he “emptied” Himself for us.  What did Christ have to give up so He could serve and save us?

Philippians chapter two opens with calling us to live in love and humility; if we are in Christ, these qualities are to define us as we interact with one another in the Church and with our neighbours with whom we live alongside.  We are to “love our neighbour as we love ourselves”; we are to put the needs of others ahead of our own.  This means placing high value on others regardless of who they are or what they have done.

The key part of this chapter is not the call on us but the reflection of how Christ has first done this for us.  He is not calling us to anything He has not done Himself.  Philippians 2.5-8 says, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5–8, NLT)

Christ used all of whom He is to serve us, not to serve Himself.  He remained fully divine but chose to release some of His divine privilege to become fully human.  If He had not emptied Himself of this divine privilege, He would not have taken on humanity nor have been able to serve us through His death and resurrection.  Christ displays how we are to hold our lives and privileges in open hands, offering them back to the Lord, to use them to love and serve both Him and others.

What is our response to Christ’s emptying of Himself for our sake?  Are we struck with the significance of what He gave up serving us?  It is with humility we receive His forgiveness; we do not deserve it, we cannot earn it, but He was willing to make forgiveness and renewal available to us.  Let us not treat this truth lightly.  May we live in amazement of the reality of how He came “to serve, and to give His life as a ransom” (Matthew 20.28).

Are we then willing to empty ourselves for others as Christ has done for us?  In what way do we hold our privileges and extras in open hands to God, making them available to God for His use, so we can serve sacrificially?  How does our life point us and others to how Christ served in His humanity and continues to serve today?

Use this Lent season to prepare your faith, your thoughts, and your lives for grieving the need for Jesus to die on Good Friday and to celebrate His risen life this Easter!