“But emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
PHILIPPIANS 2:7-8
We need to allow the cross to operate to completely terminate this self and to germinate resurrection life. In this way, the life that is manifested in us is life out of death (2 Cor. 4:10-11). Life out of death! For this we need to let the cross operate. And how do we let the cross operate? Philippians 2 gives us the way: we empty ourselves, not grasping anything, just as the Lord Jesus emptied Himself. And then He humbled Himself and became obedient unto
death. In that emptying and humbling, God was operating. These verses are in the context of Philippians 2:13, “It is God who operates in you.” Let God operate. You cannot do anything. You simply empty. Empty out your energy, your striving, your self in its religious workings.
This is the meaning of Paul’s word, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I” (Gal. 2:20). Terminate and end that self. Just empty it out. And then humble yourself. The humbling is uniquely related to obedience. Though you cannot change yourself and you cannot reproduce resurrection life, you can let God operate by emptying out your own energy and self and then obeying. Just go along with whatever He is saying, whatever He is doing.
In our emptying and in our obeying, God is operating. The cross is operating. Death is operating to change us, to transfer us out of our self into the Spirit, and to reproduce Christ in our being until we are completely conformed to His image. This is God’s New Testament economy (Rom. 8:29).