A lot of Australians are excited that the new AFL season has started! For the next six months or so, eighteen teams will play each other until only two are left to battle for the Premiership Cup on the last Saturday in September. During the whole season, players, coaching staff and supporters will all have this one goal: to be top of the ladder and win the AFL Premiership.
Can you imagine a football team doing their preseason training, competing throughout the regular season, making the finals and winning all the way to being victorious in the grand final, and then giving the cup and the flag to the team that finished in last place?
It’s not just footballers that try to climb the ladder and come out on top. The aim of every competitor in every sport is to win, move up the ladder and finish above everyone else.
This kind of upward movement isn’t just limited to sport. People from all world religions share the goal of working their way up a ladder to reach the top. If we think of eternity, Paradise, Heaven or Nirvana as the top of a spiritual ladder, then religion is usually about doing what we can to move upwards towards that goal. We can see the same pursuit of upward movement in other areas of life such as politics, work, and even in our relationships. In so many different ways, we can see people trying to work upwards and make it to the top, even if it means putting other people down.
While so many people are pursuing this upward mobility in so many ways, there is one person who moved in the opposite direction. He came down from the top of the ladder for the benefit of those at the bottom. In Philippians 2:5-11, Paul describes the downward movement of grace in Jesus. He begins with the Second Person of the Trinity existing in eternity, equal with God. Jesus was where every religious person hopes to be – in eternity in perfect relationship with the Divine Being. However, Paul tells us that Jesus “gave up his divine privileges” (v7 NLT) and became human, taking on the “humble position of a slave” (v7). Jesus continued his downward movement of grace as he humbled himself, literally made himself low, and in the obedience that comes through a deep and profound faith in his Father, he became subject to possibly the most humiliating and degrading form of capital punishment people have ever devised: death by crucifixion.
In AFL terms, Jesus was at the top of the ladder. He could have stayed there and enjoyed the privileges that come with being at the top of his game, far above everyone else, but he gave it all up. He moved down in humility and grace to the bottom of the ladder, to meet those who couldn’t win a game to save themselves (both metaphorically and literally) and give them what they couldn’t earn for themselves – a place at the top of the ladder. Knowing that we could never work our way to the top, Jesus moved down to meet us where we are to raise us up and give us the benefits and blessings that come with being at the top.
In verses 6 to 8, Paul describes Jesus’ downward movement. Then, in verses 9 to 11, he tells us that God the Father stepped in and raised his Son up from the lowest place. The Father lifted up his Son and reinstated him to his rightful place at the top of the spiritual ladder by giving him “the name above all other names” (v 9 NLT). Paul goes on to say that “every knee will bow” (v10 NLT) at the name of Jesus and “every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (v11 NLT). God raised Jesus up to this place of honour and glory because he willingly humbled himself in his downward movement of grace to us.
We might love the idea of every knee bowing and every tongue confessing that Jesus is Lord, but we can forget that the path to this honour and glory is the way of humility, suffering and the cross. Jesus was raised to glory after embracing the downward movement of grace to us in humility and faith. Following Jesus as his disciples means trusting our heavenly Father to raise us up as we follow Jesus along the downward movement of grace by embracing humility and suffering for the benefit of others as well.
Paul opens this week’s reading by writing, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (v5 NIV). In the verses that precede this, Paul writes that if the good news of Jesus means anything to his readers, then we will have the same mindset which Jesus had. As disciples of Jesus who are learning to follow him in faith, hope and love, we will join him in his downward movement of grace in our relationships with others by not being selfish, trying to impress others, thinking we are better than others, or just looking out for what’s good for us. Instead, we will lower ourselves in relationship with others, let them have the upper hand, and adopt the positions of servants to others. We will look for ways to help, serve, love and bless the people in our lives as we trust that God will raise us up in the same way that he lifted Jesus from the grave. We don’t do this because we have to or because it’s some counterintuitive way to make it to the top of the ladder. We can embrace the downward movement of grace to others simply because we trust that in humility and love Jesus showed us grace by moving down the ladder and giving his life for us on the cross.
A couple of weeks ago I suggested that grace is an outward movement from God to us through Jesus in the Holy Spirit to illuminate our lives as people of God, which then continues outwards into the lives of others through us. This week I’m suggesting that grace is also a downward movement from the top of the ladder, descending to us in the humility of Christ who became our slave and gave his life for us on the cross. Grace moves in ways that are different from how people usually try to move in our lives. Like an AFL team, we like to be moving in an upward direction so we can be on top in life. Jesus teaches us a different way. He lowered himself to meet us where we are, even when we are at our lowest. He became our servant and hit rock bottom in his death on a cross. Because of his faith-filled obedience, the Father raised him up to the highest place and gave him the glory and honour that comes with the name that is above all names. When we follow Jesus in his downward movement of grace by serving others in humility and Christ-like love, our Father will lift us up with Jesus so we can kneel before him and confess that he is Lord to the glory of our heavenly Father.
More to think about or discuss:
- What are some ways that you can see people wanting to move upwards in life or in their relationships with others? In what ways can that be helpful or good for people? In what ways can that become harmful or hurtful?
- What are your thoughts about Jesus’ “downward movement of grace”? How do you see Jesus adopting the role of a servant or slave in his life on earth and his death on a cross? How did that show faith-filled obedience to the Father?
- What might your life be like if you followed Jesus in his “downward movement of grace” in your relationships with others? How might you be able to practically serve someone in humble faith, hope & love this week?
Pastor Eugene Online 
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