Philippians 2:1-18
September 27, 2026
Have you ever run into someone who recognized you, but you did not recognize them? And when they recognize you and even remember your name, they might say something like, “Don’t you know who I am?” That can be frustrating, embarrassing, or even troubling when you don’t recognize or remember them. When my Army unit was preparing for a possible deployment in the early 1990s, we were out in the woods on an exercise at night when this soldier came up to a group of us and said, “I need to speak to the person in charge.” A friend of mine replied, “I’m in charge, but I’m a little busy. I’ll be with you in a minute.” The soldier then said, “I need to see you right now.” And my friend said, “Well I’m busy, you’ll have to wait.” The soldier replied, “Don’t you know who I am?” And my friend said, “Unless you are the commanding General of this operation, I don’t care who you are. So might as well leave.” That comment did not go over well with this soldier, because he was the commanding General of the entire operation and he was not happy. He made that very clear to my friend as the two of them then left so they could speak privately one on one, and it was not a pleasant conversation.
That phrase, “Don’t you know who I am?” can be used by any of us when we think someone is being disrespectful toward us, and it is often used by politicians, celebrities, or professional athletes when they are not getting the service or recognition they think they deserve. But if there was one person who probably had a right to get upset and say, “Don’t you know who I am?” it was Jesus, who was often treated very poorly during His ministry here on earth. So I would like us to look at our second lesson for today to see again who Jesus is and what that means for us.
This text from Philippians is part of a letter that Paul wrote to the church in Philippi to thank them for the support they gave him while he was in prison. He also took the opportunity to encourage the congregation in Christian living saying, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who emptied himself by taking the form of a servant.”
I don’t know if there was a problem in the Philippian congregation where members were saying to one another in a sense of anger, “Don’t you know who I am?” but if there was, Paul wanted them to instead consider the question, “Don’t you know who Jesus is?” The answer: Jesus is our Savior, who came to serve, and He proved His servanthood in many ways. The night before He was crucified He washed His disciples feet as they prepared to eat their Last Supper together. Foot washing was normally a task reserved for the lowest slave in the house.
We’ve all had moments when we’ve served other people. A parent serves a child. An employee serves a customer. I’m sure we’ve all had moments when we thought to ourselves, “I’m above this, this is not my job, but I will do it anyway.” That was certainly the case for Jesus at His Last Supper with His disciples, but the next day He takes on an even dirtier and more painful job as He washes the sin off of people through His death on the cross. Paul puts this act into perspective when he wrote in verses 6-8, “Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
If you walked into the White House and saw the President cleaning the floors of the visitors’ restrooms, we would be stunned and would probably say something like, “Mr. President, I’ll do that for you or do you want me to get someone to do that for you?” After all, that’s not what we expect important people to do. On the contrary, important people usually expect us to serve them. But Jesus was not like that; although He was God, He never used that fact to build Himself up or to promote Himself to others. When He fed 5000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, it wasn’t so people would make Him their king (although they tried). He performed that miracle, because He cared for the people and they needed to eat. When He turned water into wine at a wedding, it wasn’t to impress the wedding party or because His mother asked Him to do it. He did that miracle so that the wedding reception could continue joyfully without interruption. Jesus used His divine power to serve, never to brag or show off.
So who is this Jesus? He is God from eternity who became our servant. He set aside the beauty of heaven and His ultimate authority in order to cleanse us from our filthy sins. Would you ever do something that? Consider, would you jump into a sewer, with filthy water, and try to save someone who fell into it while throwing rocks at you? In a sense, that’s what Jesus did for us filthy sinners.
So how can we complain about having to clean the bathroom when we realize what Jesus went through to cleanse us from our sins? How can we complain about spending 5 minutes picking up a mess we did not make, when Jesus hung from a cross for 6 hours to clean up the sinful mess of our lives? Therefore, when people treat you poorly or ask you to do something you find demeaning to the point that you want to say to them, “Don’t you know who I am?” Answer your own question the way Jesus did by saying, “I am here to serve. So yes, I would be happy to do whatever you ask me to do for you.”
But if we act like everyone’s servant, won’t people take advantage of us? Didn’t they take advantage of Jesus? Yes, the religious leaders of Jesus’ day certainly did. They misinterpreted Jesus’ humility for weakness and had Him arrested and crucified for claiming He was God. And Paul speaks to that point in our text saying in verses 9-11, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
While people may question or even criticize you for coming to worship on a Sunday morning, instead of joining them at a weekend party, the criticism or rejection you may feel now will be nothing compared to the rejection unbelievers will feel on Judgment Day when Jesus says to them, “Away from me you evil doers. I never knew you.” You may not have very much in this life, while your blatant unbelieving neighbors seem to have everything. But who cares? The gift of eternal life in heaven as a child of God will be far greater than anything we have ever imagined.
So it doesn’t matter what kind of difficulty you may be having today. You may be in over your head financially, or the doctors may not understand what is wrong with your body, or maybe you are struggling with your marriage, the bottom line is Jesus is still with you and He will always take care of you. So when it feels like Satan is attacking you and trying to make your life miserable, go ahead and say to him, “Don’t you know who I am? I am a child of God. My Baptism assures me of that, so you have no power over me, and one day I will walk all over you since Jesus crushed you at the cross.”
Jesus was and always will be the humblest man to ever walk the face of the earth. Who will die for the sins of the world? “I will,” says Jesus. Who will take the blame for all the pride, violence, adultery, gossip, and disrespect in the world? “Blame me,” says Jesus. Who will feel the pain of being separated from God and die the worst death ever known to humankind? “I will,” says Jesus. Do you see who He is and what He does for you on the cross? He humbles himself, lowers himself, and serves you in love for you. So let us imitate Him by serving each other and especially those outside of our church, so all may come to know Him. People may not know that you are the owner of your own company or that you are at the top of your high school class or that you give a lot of money to the church or local charities. This lack of recognition may make you want to shout, “Don’t you know who I am?” But you won’t, when you remember who you really are – a forgiven sinner and a child of God who lives to serve others.
