WEBVTT 00:00:04.459 --> 00:00:10.880 I love the music of Christmas, don't you? Tonight 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:14.599 we will continue on with that familiar and well 00:00:14.599 --> 00:00:18.719 -loved theme. Would you open your Bible, please, 00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:22.500 to Philippians, the second chapter. Our text 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:28.719 today will focus on the first eight verses. Philippians 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:37.979 chapter 2. Each holiday of the year is noted 00:00:37.979 --> 00:00:42.939 for certain familiar themes, ideas, or activities. 00:00:43.619 --> 00:00:46.920 July 4th, for example, is noted as the celebration 00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:51.460 of liberty in our nation. On that day, we recall 00:00:51.460 --> 00:00:53.920 the signing of the Declaration of Independence 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:58.140 and perhaps celebrate with a fireworks display. 00:00:59.140 --> 00:01:03.299 Labor Day, we remember the importance of the 00:01:03.299 --> 00:01:06.180 blue -collar working men and women. of our country 00:01:06.180 --> 00:01:10.700 and the significance of the work ethic in our 00:01:10.700 --> 00:01:14.239 culture. Furthermore, we think that it's the 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:16.659 end of the summer season, and it usually is in 00:01:16.659 --> 00:01:21.980 Minnesota. April 1st, we celebrate and remember 00:01:21.980 --> 00:01:26.900 that there are atheists in the world, too. You'll 00:01:26.900 --> 00:01:30.500 have to think about that one a while. The same 00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:33.719 is true regarding religious holidays of the year, 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:37.560 especially Christmas. A common phrase that we 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:41.659 hear this time of year is the spirit of Christmas. 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:45.799 And when that phrase is used, we're usually talking 00:01:45.799 --> 00:01:51.620 about charity, gift -giving, the cozy warmth 00:01:51.620 --> 00:01:57.280 of home and friends, family reunions. That's 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:00.799 the spirit of Christmas to most people. But what 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:03.840 is the spirit of Christmas to the Christians? 00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:10.259 More importantly, what is the spirit of Christmas 00:02:10.259 --> 00:02:16.259 to God? I think we have the answer to that in 00:02:16.259 --> 00:02:22.659 our text. We take a closer look at the coming 00:02:22.659 --> 00:02:26.139 of the Lord Jesus Christ in Philippians chapter 00:02:26.139 --> 00:02:32.620 2. It is the content of Christmas without the 00:02:32.620 --> 00:02:36.080 wrappings of the historical narrative. In other 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:38.439 words, we have here in these verses the essence 00:02:38.439 --> 00:02:42.900 of Christmas. We have here the essence of what 00:02:42.900 --> 00:02:48.840 Christmas is really all about. If therefore there 00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:51.900 is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any 00:02:51.900 --> 00:02:55.159 consolation of love, if there is any fellowship 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:58.219 of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 00:02:58.620 --> 00:03:03.759 make my joy complete by being of the same mind. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:08.039 maintaining the same love, united in spirit, 00:03:08.340 --> 00:03:12.979 intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness 00:03:12.979 --> 00:03:16.460 or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, 00:03:16.599 --> 00:03:19.780 let each of you regard one another as more important 00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:23.120 than himself. Do not merely look out for your 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:26.639 own personal interests, but also for the interests 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:30.099 of others. Have this attitude in yourselves. 00:03:30.889 --> 00:03:33.469 which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although 00:03:33.469 --> 00:03:37.409 he existed in the form of God, did not regard 00:03:37.409 --> 00:03:41.370 equality with God a thing to be grasped, but 00:03:41.370 --> 00:03:45.250 emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant 00:03:45.250 --> 00:03:50.349 and being made in the likeness of men. And being 00:03:50.349 --> 00:03:53.229 found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself 00:03:53.229 --> 00:03:58.289 by becoming obedient to the point of death, even 00:03:58.289 --> 00:04:03.500 death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted 00:04:03.500 --> 00:04:08.099 him and bestowed on him the name which is above 00:04:08.099 --> 00:04:13.539 every name. It seems to me that the spirit of 00:04:13.539 --> 00:04:21.459 Christmas is humility. Paul says in the third 00:04:21.459 --> 00:04:24.699 verse, essentially, do not do anything out of 00:04:24.699 --> 00:04:28.620 selfishness or pride. Do everything with a spirit 00:04:28.620 --> 00:04:33.560 of humility. The Philippian church was troubled 00:04:33.560 --> 00:04:38.459 by quarreling within the fellowship. Just as 00:04:38.459 --> 00:04:41.959 a parent becomes weary with quarreling in the 00:04:41.959 --> 00:04:46.860 family, so Paul had become weary with the infighting 00:04:46.860 --> 00:04:51.100 that was taking place in the church. It seems 00:04:51.100 --> 00:04:53.279 that in this case, at least, there were two women 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:56.920 who were at the heart of it. They're named in 00:04:56.920 --> 00:05:00.720 the fourth chapter. It's interesting that one 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:03.879 or two people can disrupt the peace of a church, 00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:10.420 as is true in a family, as is true in an office. 00:05:11.939 --> 00:05:16.319 Paul exhorts the church to unity. He says to 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:18.980 them in verse 1, Look, if you have found love, 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:24.779 encouragement, fellowship, affection, and compassion 00:05:24.779 --> 00:05:31.120 in Christ, and of course they had. He says, since 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:35.459 you have found these things in Christ, go on 00:05:35.459 --> 00:05:39.500 to experience unity as well. And that unity is 00:05:39.500 --> 00:05:42.259 a fourfold unity as he describes it in the second 00:05:42.259 --> 00:05:45.959 verse. He says the kind of unity they should 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:50.680 know is unity of decision. He says, be of the 00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:56.439 same mind. Think the same thing. Truly, only 00:05:56.439 --> 00:05:59.889 the Spirit of God can bring us. with our diverse 00:05:59.889 --> 00:06:05.029 backgrounds, perceptions, and ideas, so that 00:06:05.029 --> 00:06:08.449 we think the same thing. But that is the kind 00:06:08.449 --> 00:06:11.350 of unity that God wants us to have within the 00:06:11.350 --> 00:06:15.069 fellowship of the church. He says there should 00:06:15.069 --> 00:06:18.389 be unity of affection, maintaining the same love. 00:06:20.250 --> 00:06:23.529 All of you loving each other with an equal kind 00:06:23.529 --> 00:06:28.560 of love, he says. It should be a unity of disposition, 00:06:28.980 --> 00:06:34.740 united in spirit. And finally, a unity of intention, 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:39.060 intent on one purpose. In other words, all of 00:06:39.060 --> 00:06:43.759 you heading the same direction. We might compare 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:47.399 this to a symphony. There are many instruments 00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:51.100 that make up an orchestra, and they play different 00:06:51.100 --> 00:06:55.459 notes, but those notes are harmonized. So that 00:06:55.459 --> 00:06:58.639 as they blend together, it is a beautiful sound 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:03.339 of symphony. The word symphony means to sound 00:07:03.339 --> 00:07:08.639 together. To sound together. What a beautiful 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:11.339 way to describe a church. The fellowship of a 00:07:11.339 --> 00:07:15.160 church should be a symphony of praise to God. 00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:22.259 Unity is destroyed by selfishness and by pride. 00:07:23.689 --> 00:07:25.990 Paul seems to suggest that that was the root 00:07:25.990 --> 00:07:29.350 of the problem between these two women and those 00:07:29.350 --> 00:07:33.250 parties that had taken sides around them and 00:07:33.250 --> 00:07:37.850 were fighting each other. Unity is promoted by 00:07:37.850 --> 00:07:41.689 humility. Now notice with me first that humility 00:07:41.689 --> 00:07:45.529 is explained in verse 3. The apostle calls it 00:07:45.529 --> 00:07:50.589 humility of mind. You see, humility is an attitude 00:07:50.589 --> 00:07:55.870 of the heart. and of the mind. Humility is a 00:07:55.870 --> 00:08:02.509 way of thinking about oneself and others. Humility 00:08:02.509 --> 00:08:07.430 is explained as regarding others as more important 00:08:07.430 --> 00:08:13.170 than ourselves. Humility is a gracious deference 00:08:13.170 --> 00:08:18.769 to others. It is not just a momentary act of 00:08:18.769 --> 00:08:23.250 courtesy But humility, rather, is a habit of 00:08:23.250 --> 00:08:28.089 life by which one is known. You say, well, is 00:08:28.089 --> 00:08:31.449 an attitude all that important? Yes. Of course, 00:08:31.490 --> 00:08:34.929 we all know that, don't we? Ask the student with 00:08:34.929 --> 00:08:38.649 intelligence who only barely gets by in the class 00:08:38.649 --> 00:08:47.529 what his attitude is. Ask the salesman who's 00:08:47.529 --> 00:08:49.769 gifted but who can't make a living with selling 00:08:49.769 --> 00:08:53.590 things. What's his attitude toward his customers, 00:08:53.690 --> 00:08:56.350 toward the product that he's selling? You may 00:08:56.350 --> 00:08:59.789 discover why he's having trouble. Ask the athlete 00:08:59.789 --> 00:09:04.289 who has talent, who doesn't make the team, if 00:09:04.289 --> 00:09:09.370 attitude is important. Attitude is vital. God 00:09:09.370 --> 00:09:11.750 tells us that the spirit of Christmas is the 00:09:11.750 --> 00:09:15.629 attitude of humility. God considers this attitude 00:09:15.629 --> 00:09:19.149 supremely more important than one's aptitude. 00:09:22.539 --> 00:09:25.440 You can't be too small for God to use, my friend, 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:31.480 but you can be too big. In verse 4, humility 00:09:31.480 --> 00:09:36.279 is exposed to us. How do we put an attitude into 00:09:36.279 --> 00:09:40.039 practice? How does one see an attitude? How is 00:09:40.039 --> 00:09:43.279 it made visible? Well, the apostle tells us how 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:46.500 that is exposed in the fourth verse. Look out 00:09:46.500 --> 00:09:49.940 for your own personal interests, but also, he 00:09:49.940 --> 00:09:54.919 says, The interests of others. Notice that the 00:09:54.919 --> 00:09:57.480 apostle is not teaching us here that one can 00:09:57.480 --> 00:10:00.779 be careless or should never be concerned with 00:10:00.779 --> 00:10:04.200 his own interests. We cannot be careless with 00:10:04.200 --> 00:10:07.700 those things. That's part of life. God has made 00:10:07.700 --> 00:10:11.179 us stewards of life. We are to attend to our 00:10:11.179 --> 00:10:14.259 own business. That's part of what he really says 00:10:14.259 --> 00:10:16.799 here. We are to look out for our own things. 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:21.830 But not just for those things. What the Apostle 00:10:21.830 --> 00:10:23.830 is asserting here is that we must not neglect 00:10:23.830 --> 00:10:28.370 others, but make their interests of equal importance 00:10:28.370 --> 00:10:33.529 with our own. We must not live self -centered. 00:10:34.629 --> 00:10:39.330 We must involve ourselves in the very practical 00:10:39.330 --> 00:10:45.370 matters of others. Dr. A .T. Robertson, who was 00:10:45.370 --> 00:10:48.960 a Greek professor at Southern Seminary. in that 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:53.000 in Louisville years and years ago has written 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:55.000 a helpful book on Philippians and he has this 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:58.059 to say regarding this text Paul does not mean 00:10:58.059 --> 00:11:00.220 that a man should not attend to his own business 00:11:00.220 --> 00:11:03.460 if one does not do his own work no one else would 00:11:03.460 --> 00:11:07.299 do it for him Paul is not advocating our being 00:11:07.299 --> 00:11:12.340 busybodies in other people's affairs but he means 00:11:12.340 --> 00:11:16.340 that one must fix his eye upon his own interest 00:11:16.340 --> 00:11:23.740 to the exclusion of those of others. The Christian 00:11:23.740 --> 00:11:27.700 has no right to conduct his life by the law of 00:11:27.700 --> 00:11:31.639 the jungle. There is no love in the rule of might, 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:35.360 in ruthless overriding of the rights of others. 00:11:36.179 --> 00:11:40.279 Might does not make right in the state or in 00:11:40.279 --> 00:11:46.970 the individual. Romans 12 .10 puts it this way, 00:11:47.110 --> 00:11:53.470 giving preference to one another in honor. Humility 00:11:53.470 --> 00:11:56.370 is exposed, beloved, when we are willing to give 00:11:56.370 --> 00:12:01.850 preference to others and honor them in so doing. 00:12:04.429 --> 00:12:07.149 Humility is an attitude, but it's an attitude 00:12:07.149 --> 00:12:11.610 that must be exposed eventually in one's life. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:16.480 Humility runs against the grain of the natural 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:20.500 man, that's for sure. The natural man rather 00:12:20.500 --> 00:12:25.200 talks about self -assertiveness, about self -achievement. 00:12:26.379 --> 00:12:29.659 The natural man emphasizes self -realization, 00:12:29.799 --> 00:12:33.580 and those are all hot words in our culture today. 00:12:34.539 --> 00:12:37.159 But that is not the way of the spiritual man. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:40.419 That is not to be the way of the child of God. 00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:46.960 The child of God is to be humble. We hear a great 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:49.980 deal about self -esteem. And of course, there 00:12:49.980 --> 00:12:52.480 is a proper kind of self -esteem. But understand 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:57.299 this. Self -esteem is not the key to greatness 00:12:57.299 --> 00:13:03.200 with God. The key to greatness with God is others' 00:13:03.320 --> 00:13:10.320 esteem. In verses 5 through 8, the Apostle Paul 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:15.500 exemplifies. That is, he gives us an example 00:13:15.500 --> 00:13:19.080 of humility that must cause all of us to take 00:13:19.080 --> 00:13:24.500 a step backward and gasp. Later in the chapter, 00:13:24.620 --> 00:13:27.620 he talks about his own example to the Philippians. 00:13:27.659 --> 00:13:31.320 He talks about Timothy, and he talks about Epaphroditus. 00:13:32.600 --> 00:13:36.179 Those three humans also were examples of humility, 00:13:36.340 --> 00:13:40.539 but he begins with the primary example of all 00:13:40.539 --> 00:13:44.000 eternity. and that is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:50.759 In verse 5, he speaks about his existence. He 00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:55.159 says, Have this attitude in yourselves which 00:13:55.159 --> 00:13:58.480 was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:03.059 in the form of God. Notice his existence there. 00:14:04.179 --> 00:14:08.080 His existence here is described not from Bethlehem 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:12.970 on, but before Bethlehem. what is called his 00:14:12.970 --> 00:14:17.769 pre -existence. This is a description of the 00:14:17.769 --> 00:14:24.190 Son of God before the incarnation. He is described 00:14:24.190 --> 00:14:27.789 here in his existence as having the form of God. 00:14:29.570 --> 00:14:32.250 The word form does not mean that he was in the 00:14:32.250 --> 00:14:37.850 shape of God, but the word form means essence. 00:14:39.820 --> 00:14:44.080 It is the essence of the person. What he is saying 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:50.200 here is that before Bethlehem, Christ in his 00:14:50.200 --> 00:14:58.120 essential nature was deity. It was not merely 00:14:58.120 --> 00:15:01.100 his outward appearance. It was not his glory. 00:15:02.860 --> 00:15:06.639 But it was his essential nature in which he was 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:10.419 God. There is a subtle difference between the 00:15:10.419 --> 00:15:16.899 divinity of Christ and the deity of Christ. There 00:15:16.899 --> 00:15:19.379 are those who use the words interchangeably, 00:15:19.419 --> 00:15:22.919 but it troubles me when they do so because, you 00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:25.559 see, the divinity of Christ has to do with his 00:15:25.559 --> 00:15:31.120 godlikeness, a godlikeness which some would say 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:34.700 even a man like yourself, a woman like yourself 00:15:34.700 --> 00:15:39.850 might know. It is a very holy person. It is a 00:15:39.850 --> 00:15:42.090 person in whom there is a great deal of God. 00:15:42.730 --> 00:15:48.330 That's divinity. It really has to do with outward 00:15:48.330 --> 00:15:52.090 appearance and the characteristics of a person 00:15:52.090 --> 00:15:57.149 as he lives out his life. But the word deity 00:15:57.149 --> 00:16:00.669 is different. Deity has to do with the essence 00:16:00.669 --> 00:16:05.549 of what a person is. That is the thought that 00:16:05.549 --> 00:16:09.009 the apostle is using here. He is saying in his 00:16:09.009 --> 00:16:16.370 existence, Christ was God before Bethlehem. Elsewhere 00:16:16.370 --> 00:16:19.950 it is asserted throughout the New Testament that 00:16:19.950 --> 00:16:26.029 he is eternal God. He was not created when the 00:16:26.029 --> 00:16:28.730 angels were created. He was not created back 00:16:28.730 --> 00:16:32.210 in Genesis 1, but rather he was the creator. 00:16:33.289 --> 00:16:38.070 in Genesis 1. He is the one through whom all 00:16:38.070 --> 00:16:44.950 things came into being. What the apostle asserts 00:16:44.950 --> 00:16:47.850 here is exactly what John asserted when he said, 00:16:47.889 --> 00:16:56.029 in the beginning the Word was. That is when creation 00:16:56.029 --> 00:17:00.950 took place, when time and space and energy began. 00:17:01.639 --> 00:17:04.000 in the creation, in the universe, in the beginning, 00:17:04.059 --> 00:17:12.440 the Word already was because He is eternal. Quickly 00:17:12.440 --> 00:17:15.420 moving beyond that, the apostle points to his 00:17:15.420 --> 00:17:19.099 humility. And notice he talks about the attitude 00:17:19.099 --> 00:17:24.180 of Christ. He says, he did not regard equality 00:17:24.180 --> 00:17:29.720 with God a thing to be grasped. Notice that he 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:32.599 used this word regard back in verse 3 of us. 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:35.619 Let each of you regard one another as more important 00:17:35.619 --> 00:17:38.920 than himself. Now he says, remember that Christ 00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:43.519 had the same attitude because he did not regard 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:48.119 equality with God a thing to be grasped, that 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:52.539 is, to be held on to at any cost. The apostle 00:17:52.539 --> 00:17:55.259 here is speaking about the relationship to God 00:17:55.259 --> 00:17:59.750 the Father of God the Son. His equality with 00:17:59.750 --> 00:18:05.109 God. God the Son did not look upon that equality 00:18:05.109 --> 00:18:07.789 and the prerogatives and the glory that he had 00:18:07.789 --> 00:18:11.710 as God the Son, as something to be held on to 00:18:11.710 --> 00:18:16.309 at any cost. And that attitude of humility led 00:18:16.309 --> 00:18:21.569 him to action. It caused him to empty himself, 00:18:21.769 --> 00:18:26.329 as it says in verse 7. Boy, there are those that 00:18:26.329 --> 00:18:29.450 have jumped all over that verb. He emptied himself 00:18:29.450 --> 00:18:33.809 as though somehow he became less than God when 00:18:33.809 --> 00:18:37.369 he came into the world. It is impossible for 00:18:37.369 --> 00:18:42.650 God to be anything less than God at any time. 00:18:44.710 --> 00:18:48.069 What does it mean that God the Son emptied himself? 00:18:51.049 --> 00:18:54.210 The best understanding that I have of it is this. 00:18:54.759 --> 00:18:59.759 That it means that he set aside for a time his 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:06.339 visible glory as God. He set aside for a time 00:19:06.339 --> 00:19:10.319 the independent use of his attributes and submitted 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:15.579 himself to the Father. He chose not to use, to 00:19:15.579 --> 00:19:18.759 manifest the prerogatives that were his as deity. 00:19:21.180 --> 00:19:27.930 He emptied himself. Not ceasing to be God, he 00:19:27.930 --> 00:19:32.170 was willing to lay aside his glory as God the 00:19:32.170 --> 00:19:35.829 Son. He did not count that something that he 00:19:35.829 --> 00:19:39.569 should grasp and hang on to, but he laid it aside. 00:19:41.869 --> 00:19:44.690 And that involved his taking the form of a servant. 00:19:45.549 --> 00:19:48.950 The word form here is the same one that we looked 00:19:48.950 --> 00:19:58.099 at previously. In his essential nature, he came 00:19:58.099 --> 00:20:03.940 as a servant. There was no loss of his nature 00:20:03.940 --> 00:20:08.759 as God. He was still God when he came. But he 00:20:08.759 --> 00:20:11.880 came with the nature of a servant. As someone 00:20:11.880 --> 00:20:14.980 has said, the master of all became the servant 00:20:14.980 --> 00:20:22.099 of all. His emptying himself also involved his 00:20:22.099 --> 00:20:26.529 being made in the likeness, of men and being 00:20:26.529 --> 00:20:31.210 found in appearance as a man." These phrases 00:20:31.210 --> 00:20:33.690 are not identical, but their idea is that they 00:20:33.690 --> 00:20:38.230 state the reality of his humanity. He did not 00:20:38.230 --> 00:20:42.230 come just in the appearance of a man, but as 00:20:42.230 --> 00:20:50.029 a real man, real human. The Gnostics of that 00:20:50.029 --> 00:20:52.220 day liked to teach that he came as a human. sort 00:20:52.220 --> 00:20:54.480 of a phantom. He did not have real substance 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:59.339 as a human being. The apostle asserts that when 00:20:59.339 --> 00:21:01.619 he came into the world, he took upon himself 00:21:01.619 --> 00:21:07.599 flesh. He took upon himself human nature, sinless 00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:13.259 human nature. Being made in the likeness of men, 00:21:13.380 --> 00:21:17.140 found in appearance as a man. It states his humanity, 00:21:17.299 --> 00:21:19.880 but it leaves place for his being more than merely 00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:27.190 human. And yet as he was observed by the people 00:21:27.190 --> 00:21:32.369 of that day, he was observed as indeed a man. 00:21:33.569 --> 00:21:38.190 The pictures that we sometimes see painted of 00:21:38.190 --> 00:21:42.210 Christ often have some kind of a halo over his 00:21:42.210 --> 00:21:46.009 head or there's some kind of a shining about 00:21:46.009 --> 00:21:50.609 his face as the artist tries as best he can to 00:21:50.609 --> 00:21:53.799 depict. The difference between this person and 00:21:53.799 --> 00:21:57.220 others. But in fact, when one looked upon Jesus 00:21:57.220 --> 00:21:59.640 in that day, there was no halo over his head. 00:22:02.500 --> 00:22:05.759 And only at his transfiguration did his glory 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:10.980 come through his skin so that he shone as white 00:22:10.980 --> 00:22:15.559 as the sun as it is closed. But all of the rest 00:22:15.559 --> 00:22:20.269 of the time, that glory was veiled. You see, 00:22:20.309 --> 00:22:23.170 he was willing to leave it veiled that he might 00:22:23.170 --> 00:22:28.789 come in this way. He emptied himself. But not 00:22:28.789 --> 00:22:33.269 only so, he humbled himself. He humbled himself. 00:22:35.029 --> 00:22:37.490 There is self -renunciation that is involved 00:22:37.490 --> 00:22:41.710 here. Becoming obedient to the point of death 00:22:41.710 --> 00:22:46.740 is the way that Paul puts it. Not only is his 00:22:46.740 --> 00:22:49.799 humility displayed in his coming as he did, laying 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:53.420 aside his glory as God and taking upon himself 00:22:53.420 --> 00:22:57.460 our real humanity, but he humbled himself even 00:22:57.460 --> 00:23:01.880 further than that. He became obedient to death. 00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:08.140 And even, he says, the death of the cross. The 00:23:08.140 --> 00:23:12.880 most shameful, painful, ignominious death of 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:16.960 that day. He followed the will of the Father 00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:20.960 to which he had submitted without any deviation 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:26.099 whatsoever. Again, I quote Dr. Robertson who 00:23:26.099 --> 00:23:30.440 says, the very reality of his humanity made him 00:23:30.440 --> 00:23:34.460 flinch as he saw that he was to be regarded as 00:23:34.460 --> 00:23:38.839 sin by the Father while he bore the sin of the 00:23:38.839 --> 00:23:42.259 world in his death. And it made him cry aloud 00:23:42.259 --> 00:23:44.900 when the Father's presence left him in the dread 00:23:44.900 --> 00:23:49.400 darkness and loneliness. He himself was like 00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:53.099 a bondservant and served others on earth. He 00:23:53.099 --> 00:23:56.940 humbled himself to the end and met death as a 00:23:56.940 --> 00:23:59.859 condemned criminal with all the shame of the 00:23:59.859 --> 00:24:04.960 cross. Down, down Christ went to the bottom of 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:09.180 darkness, the very depth of humiliation and shame. 00:24:13.259 --> 00:24:16.420 The Lord Jesus Christ, who is God the Son, voluntarily 00:24:16.420 --> 00:24:20.220 took these actions, evidencing the perfect humility 00:24:20.220 --> 00:24:26.799 that was his. And what was his motive? Why did 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:35.500 Jesus do this? For others. The Son of God condescended 00:24:35.500 --> 00:24:40.200 to the very depths of sinful humanity to embrace 00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:45.680 its death. becoming sin for the sake of those 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:51.119 that he would redeem. Our Savior regarded others 00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:56.019 as more important than his visible glory as God, 00:24:56.099 --> 00:25:00.599 the position that was his in glory. And so he 00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:03.960 left the glories of heaven and willingly came, 00:25:04.279 --> 00:25:10.140 unselfishly sacrificed himself, and obediently 00:25:10.140 --> 00:25:19.170 died on the cross. The apostle points to an example 00:25:19.170 --> 00:25:22.809 of humility that causes all of us to wonder, 00:25:23.009 --> 00:25:29.509 to be amazed as we contemplate it. Is it any 00:25:29.509 --> 00:25:31.789 wonder that he says to those early Christians, 00:25:31.890 --> 00:25:40.730 as he says to us today, have this attitude? Which 00:25:40.730 --> 00:25:46.329 was the attitude of Christ Jesus? I say to you, 00:25:46.369 --> 00:25:48.650 the spirit of Christmas is the spirit of humility. 00:25:51.490 --> 00:25:54.809 For one cannot think about what happened 2 ,000 00:25:54.809 --> 00:25:58.009 years ago at Bethlehem on that first Christmas 00:25:58.009 --> 00:26:02.490 night without understanding the great humility 00:26:02.490 --> 00:26:10.289 of God the Son in coming. The attitude, my friend, 00:26:10.349 --> 00:26:12.710 that will make you most like the Lord Jesus Christ 00:26:12.710 --> 00:26:17.599 is humility. And the action that will make you 00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:23.819 most Christ -like is sacrifice for the sake of 00:26:23.819 --> 00:26:28.319 others. The thing that tends to be our characteristic 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:37.200 in our humanness is to hang on to what we have. 00:26:41.220 --> 00:26:49.319 Unlike Jesus, we grasp our position. The things 00:26:49.319 --> 00:26:55.759 that are ours, we hang on to. But Jesus' attitude 00:26:55.759 --> 00:27:03.380 was, let it go for the sake of others. We're 00:27:03.380 --> 00:27:06.559 willing to sacrifice, aren't we? As long as it 00:27:06.559 --> 00:27:10.839 doesn't cost us too much. We're willing to pay 00:27:10.839 --> 00:27:19.079 a price to a point. The cost? of the cross that 00:27:19.079 --> 00:27:22.140 God may call us to bear and sacrifice for others 00:27:22.140 --> 00:27:26.420 may be heavy. But without that cross, there is 00:27:26.420 --> 00:27:29.380 no crown. You say, is there a crown for Jesus? 00:27:29.559 --> 00:27:33.180 Yes. We started reading that part of the passage 00:27:33.180 --> 00:27:39.539 in verse 9 that talks about his exaltation. God 00:27:39.539 --> 00:27:42.299 has given to him a name that is above every name. 00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:45.119 Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess. 00:27:45.849 --> 00:27:51.710 That he is Lord, that is his name. You say, well, 00:27:51.730 --> 00:27:55.769 what's my crown? Well, every knee is not going 00:27:55.769 --> 00:27:58.910 to bow to you. And every tongue is not going 00:27:58.910 --> 00:28:03.390 to call you Lord because you're not. You're not 00:28:03.390 --> 00:28:07.750 God. But there is a crown for the one who will 00:28:07.750 --> 00:28:11.430 humble himself. Peter talks about that in the 00:28:11.430 --> 00:28:14.279 fifth chapter. of his first epistle, when he 00:28:14.279 --> 00:28:17.380 says, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the 00:28:17.380 --> 00:28:24.259 mighty hand of God. And in essence, he says that 00:28:24.259 --> 00:28:28.680 when God's ready, he will lift you up. Why is 00:28:28.680 --> 00:28:30.539 it that we are unwilling to humble ourselves 00:28:30.539 --> 00:28:36.119 and to sacrifice, as Jesus did, for the sake 00:28:36.119 --> 00:28:40.809 of others? Often it's because we're afraid. We're 00:28:40.809 --> 00:28:44.730 afraid that the cost may be too great. Or we're 00:28:44.730 --> 00:28:46.809 afraid that someone else is going to take advantage 00:28:46.809 --> 00:28:53.609 of us. Or someone is going to step on us. We 00:28:53.609 --> 00:28:56.589 don't have to be afraid. Because you see, when 00:28:56.589 --> 00:28:59.509 we humble ourselves, we do it under the mighty 00:28:59.509 --> 00:29:08.289 hand of God. You are protected when you humble 00:29:08.289 --> 00:29:12.140 yourself. If you lift yourself up, that mighty 00:29:12.140 --> 00:29:18.240 hand of God is gone. The place of greatest security, 00:29:18.680 --> 00:29:24.299 the place of greatest protection is under the 00:29:24.299 --> 00:29:27.460 mighty hand of God in the place of humility. 00:29:30.299 --> 00:29:34.140 And in due time, when God sees that we're ready 00:29:34.140 --> 00:29:38.640 for it, when God sees that we can handle it, 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:43.940 When God's purpose has been fulfilled, it says 00:29:43.940 --> 00:29:49.920 he will lift you up. That is a promise of God. 00:29:52.980 --> 00:29:55.779 The more that you and I are willing to voluntarily 00:29:55.779 --> 00:30:01.579 sacrifice for the sake of others, the more God 00:30:01.579 --> 00:30:08.079 will bless us. Where does the spirit of Christmas 00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:15.940 need to be found? In your relationships? Is it 00:30:15.940 --> 00:30:22.779 in your small church? Where is it that humility 00:30:22.779 --> 00:30:30.019 is lacking right now? Is it at work? Where are 00:30:30.019 --> 00:30:36.640 you being tempted to self -exaltation? Is it 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:44.799 in your school? Think through your relationships 00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:52.619 today. And then ask God to give you the grace 00:30:52.619 --> 00:30:57.400 and the courage to take the spirit of Christmas 00:30:57.400 --> 00:31:04.440 to that relationship and apply it. And then trust 00:31:04.440 --> 00:31:08.359 him and see if he won't do the same thing for 00:31:08.359 --> 00:31:15.559 you that he did for Jesus. Where there is no 00:31:15.559 --> 00:31:22.680 cross, there is no crown. In due season, he will 00:31:22.680 --> 00:31:31.279 lift you up. Let's bow together in prayer. One 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:35.359 time, William Booth, the founder of the Salvation 00:31:35.359 --> 00:31:42.019 Army, was to speak at a meeting in London, England. 00:31:44.400 --> 00:31:46.980 He was unable to go at the last minute, and so 00:31:46.980 --> 00:31:51.640 he cabled to them the text of his message. It 00:31:51.640 --> 00:31:55.880 was one word. The totality of Booth's message 00:31:55.880 --> 00:32:07.079 on that occasion was, Others. And Father, I believe 00:32:07.079 --> 00:32:09.160 that that is the message you want us to hear 00:32:09.160 --> 00:32:14.380 this morning. All of us have to confess to you 00:32:14.380 --> 00:32:20.460 that we are prone to live another way because 00:32:20.460 --> 00:32:25.900 of the selfishness and the pride that is a part 00:32:25.900 --> 00:32:33.940 of our sin, our flesh. I pray this morning for 00:32:33.940 --> 00:32:38.279 each one of us that we might understand the spirit 00:32:38.279 --> 00:32:44.259 of Christmas. and see it as it was displayed 00:32:44.259 --> 00:32:50.640 in the blessed Son of God when he came, suffered 00:32:50.640 --> 00:32:54.779 and sacrificed himself on the cross for the sake 00:32:54.779 --> 00:33:02.680 of us. Deliver us from walking in pride and selfishness, 00:33:02.700 --> 00:33:11.819 which destroy unity and displace our joy. And 00:33:11.819 --> 00:33:19.960 make us like Jesus. And I pray this in his name. 00:33:20.200 --> 00:33:20.619 Amen.