Hero Worship: Caesar and Christ
Philippians 2:1-11
In 42 B.C., a battle outside an old Greek city helped bring down the Roman Republic and set Octavian on the road to becoming Augustus Caesar. The city that grew from that battlefield became fiercely Roman, proud of its citizenship, and devoted to the emperor as conqueror, king, and god. A century later, St. Paul writes to the Christians living there about another Lord: Jesus Christ. Christ is not a man who became a god; He is God who humbled Himself to become a man. Philippians 2 challenges not only Rome’s idea of greatness, but our own tendency to idolise earthly heroes—to seek their approval, envy their lives, and want to become like them. Paul gives us someone infinitely greater to admire, worship, and imitate: Jesus Christ, who humbled Himself to the Cross and is now exalted above every name.
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