The thought in Phil. 2 is how low the Lord went. In Zech. 13:55But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. (Zechariah 13:5), "Man acquired Me [as bondman] from My youth" (JND). The moment sin came into the world, the heart of God set Him to work. The promise was made and God by His Spirit has been working ever since, and will until the eternal state is brought about and every trace of sin removed. The affections of His heart set Him to work, and what should set the evangelist to work is the same—affection and love for lost, perishing souls. That, too, is what should set the pastor or teacher to work, love to Christ. That is expressed through caring for His people.
“Man acquired Me as bondman from My youth" meant taking a bondman's form, and taking His place in the likeness of men. It was a voluntary act. "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." It was His love that motivated Him. A translation of Psa. 40 which I like reads: "The good pleasure of Thy will, O God, is My delight." That is, the good pleasure of the Father's will was the delight of the heart of Christ, and so in His pathway that we meditate on here, it is love that took Him down to the shame of the cross. He loved the vilest thing on earth—you and me! Men's hearts were deceitful and thoroughly wicked and expressed themselves in the act that took place at Calvary. His grace toward us should break our hearts. What a Savior!
God is seeking to win our hearts from earth to heaven. Satan got man's ear in the Garden of Eden. And because God has been seeking to get the ear of man that his heart might be won, and that you and I might know all that is in the heart of God, Christ went down to the shame of the cross. It is not a question of bearing our sins here, but of love going to the shame of the cross—a voluntary act.