I love the music of Christmas, don't you? Tonight
we will continue on with that familiar and well
-loved theme. Would you open your Bible, please,
to Philippians, the second chapter. Our text
today will focus on the first eight verses. Philippians
chapter 2. Each holiday of the year is noted
for certain familiar themes, ideas, or activities.
July 4th, for example, is noted as the celebration
of liberty in our nation. On that day, we recall
the signing of the Declaration of Independence
and perhaps celebrate with a fireworks display.
Labor Day, we remember the importance of the
blue -collar working men and women. of our country
and the significance of the work ethic in our
culture. Furthermore, we think that it's the
end of the summer season, and it usually is in
Minnesota. April 1st, we celebrate and remember
that there are atheists in the world, too. You'll
have to think about that one a while. The same
is true regarding religious holidays of the year,
especially Christmas. A common phrase that we
hear this time of year is the spirit of Christmas.
And when that phrase is used, we're usually talking
about charity, gift -giving, the cozy warmth
of home and friends, family reunions. That's
the spirit of Christmas to most people. But what
is the spirit of Christmas to the Christians?
More importantly, what is the spirit of Christmas
to God? I think we have the answer to that in
our text. We take a closer look at the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ in Philippians chapter
2. It is the content of Christmas without the
wrappings of the historical narrative. In other
words, we have here in these verses the essence
of Christmas. We have here the essence of what
Christmas is really all about. If therefore there
is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any
consolation of love, if there is any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
make my joy complete by being of the same mind.
maintaining the same love, united in spirit,
intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness
or empty conceit, but with humility of mind,
let each of you regard one another as more important
than himself. Do not merely look out for your
own personal interests, but also for the interests
of others. Have this attitude in yourselves.
which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although
he existed in the form of God, did not regard
equality with God a thing to be grasped, but
emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant
and being made in the likeness of men. And being
found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death, even
death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted
him and bestowed on him the name which is above
every name. It seems to me that the spirit of
Christmas is humility. Paul says in the third
verse, essentially, do not do anything out of
selfishness or pride. Do everything with a spirit
of humility. The Philippian church was troubled
by quarreling within the fellowship. Just as
a parent becomes weary with quarreling in the
family, so Paul had become weary with the infighting
that was taking place in the church. It seems
that in this case, at least, there were two women
who were at the heart of it. They're named in
the fourth chapter. It's interesting that one
or two people can disrupt the peace of a church,
as is true in a family, as is true in an office.
Paul exhorts the church to unity. He says to
them in verse 1, Look, if you have found love,
encouragement, fellowship, affection, and compassion
in Christ, and of course they had. He says, since
you have found these things in Christ, go on
to experience unity as well. And that unity is
a fourfold unity as he describes it in the second
verse. He says the kind of unity they should
know is unity of decision. He says, be of the
same mind. Think the same thing. Truly, only
the Spirit of God can bring us. with our diverse
backgrounds, perceptions, and ideas, so that
we think the same thing. But that is the kind
of unity that God wants us to have within the
fellowship of the church. He says there should
be unity of affection, maintaining the same love.
All of you loving each other with an equal kind
of love, he says. It should be a unity of disposition,
united in spirit. And finally, a unity of intention,
intent on one purpose. In other words, all of
you heading the same direction. We might compare
this to a symphony. There are many instruments
that make up an orchestra, and they play different
notes, but those notes are harmonized. So that
as they blend together, it is a beautiful sound
of symphony. The word symphony means to sound
together. To sound together. What a beautiful
way to describe a church. The fellowship of a
church should be a symphony of praise to God.
Unity is destroyed by selfishness and by pride.
Paul seems to suggest that that was the root
of the problem between these two women and those
parties that had taken sides around them and
were fighting each other. Unity is promoted by
humility. Now notice with me first that humility
is explained in verse 3. The apostle calls it
humility of mind. You see, humility is an attitude
of the heart. and of the mind. Humility is a
way of thinking about oneself and others. Humility
is explained as regarding others as more important
than ourselves. Humility is a gracious deference
to others. It is not just a momentary act of
courtesy But humility, rather, is a habit of
life by which one is known. You say, well, is
an attitude all that important? Yes. Of course,
we all know that, don't we? Ask the student with
intelligence who only barely gets by in the class
what his attitude is. Ask the salesman who's
gifted but who can't make a living with selling
things. What's his attitude toward his customers,
toward the product that he's selling? You may
discover why he's having trouble. Ask the athlete
who has talent, who doesn't make the team, if
attitude is important. Attitude is vital. God
tells us that the spirit of Christmas is the
attitude of humility. God considers this attitude
supremely more important than one's aptitude.
You can't be too small for God to use, my friend,
but you can be too big. In verse 4, humility
is exposed to us. How do we put an attitude into
practice? How does one see an attitude? How is
it made visible? Well, the apostle tells us how
that is exposed in the fourth verse. Look out
for your own personal interests, but also, he
says, The interests of others. Notice that the
apostle is not teaching us here that one can
be careless or should never be concerned with
his own interests. We cannot be careless with
those things. That's part of life. God has made
us stewards of life. We are to attend to our
own business. That's part of what he really says
here. We are to look out for our own things.
But not just for those things. What the Apostle
is asserting here is that we must not neglect
others, but make their interests of equal importance
with our own. We must not live self -centered.
We must involve ourselves in the very practical
matters of others. Dr. A .T. Robertson, who was
a Greek professor at Southern Seminary. in that
in Louisville years and years ago has written
a helpful book on Philippians and he has this
to say regarding this text Paul does not mean
that a man should not attend to his own business
if one does not do his own work no one else would
do it for him Paul is not advocating our being
busybodies in other people's affairs but he means
that one must fix his eye upon his own interest
to the exclusion of those of others. The Christian
has no right to conduct his life by the law of
the jungle. There is no love in the rule of might,
in ruthless overriding of the rights of others.
Might does not make right in the state or in
the individual. Romans 12 .10 puts it this way,
giving preference to one another in honor. Humility
is exposed, beloved, when we are willing to give
preference to others and honor them in so doing.
Humility is an attitude, but it's an attitude
that must be exposed eventually in one's life.
Humility runs against the grain of the natural
man, that's for sure. The natural man rather
talks about self -assertiveness, about self -achievement.
The natural man emphasizes self -realization,
and those are all hot words in our culture today.
But that is not the way of the spiritual man.
That is not to be the way of the child of God.
The child of God is to be humble. We hear a great
deal about self -esteem. And of course, there
is a proper kind of self -esteem. But understand
this. Self -esteem is not the key to greatness
with God. The key to greatness with God is others'
esteem. In verses 5 through 8, the Apostle Paul
exemplifies. That is, he gives us an example
of humility that must cause all of us to take
a step backward and gasp. Later in the chapter,
he talks about his own example to the Philippians.
He talks about Timothy, and he talks about Epaphroditus.
Those three humans also were examples of humility,
but he begins with the primary example of all
eternity. and that is the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
In verse 5, he speaks about his existence. He
says, Have this attitude in yourselves which
was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed
in the form of God. Notice his existence there.
His existence here is described not from Bethlehem
on, but before Bethlehem. what is called his
pre -existence. This is a description of the
Son of God before the incarnation. He is described
here in his existence as having the form of God.
The word form does not mean that he was in the
shape of God, but the word form means essence.
It is the essence of the person. What he is saying
here is that before Bethlehem, Christ in his
essential nature was deity. It was not merely
his outward appearance. It was not his glory.
But it was his essential nature in which he was
God. There is a subtle difference between the
divinity of Christ and the deity of Christ. There
are those who use the words interchangeably,
but it troubles me when they do so because, you
see, the divinity of Christ has to do with his
godlikeness, a godlikeness which some would say
even a man like yourself, a woman like yourself
might know. It is a very holy person. It is a
person in whom there is a great deal of God.
That's divinity. It really has to do with outward
appearance and the characteristics of a person
as he lives out his life. But the word deity
is different. Deity has to do with the essence
of what a person is. That is the thought that
the apostle is using here. He is saying in his
existence, Christ was God before Bethlehem. Elsewhere
it is asserted throughout the New Testament that
he is eternal God. He was not created when the
angels were created. He was not created back
in Genesis 1, but rather he was the creator.
in Genesis 1. He is the one through whom all
things came into being. What the apostle asserts
here is exactly what John asserted when he said,
in the beginning the Word was. That is when creation
took place, when time and space and energy began.
in the creation, in the universe, in the beginning,
the Word already was because He is eternal. Quickly
moving beyond that, the apostle points to his
humility. And notice he talks about the attitude
of Christ. He says, he did not regard equality
with God a thing to be grasped. Notice that he
used this word regard back in verse 3 of us.
Let each of you regard one another as more important
than himself. Now he says, remember that Christ
had the same attitude because he did not regard
equality with God a thing to be grasped, that
is, to be held on to at any cost. The apostle
here is speaking about the relationship to God
the Father of God the Son. His equality with
God. God the Son did not look upon that equality
and the prerogatives and the glory that he had
as God the Son, as something to be held on to
at any cost. And that attitude of humility led
him to action. It caused him to empty himself,
as it says in verse 7. Boy, there are those that
have jumped all over that verb. He emptied himself
as though somehow he became less than God when
he came into the world. It is impossible for
God to be anything less than God at any time.
What does it mean that God the Son emptied himself?
The best understanding that I have of it is this.
That it means that he set aside for a time his
visible glory as God. He set aside for a time
the independent use of his attributes and submitted
himself to the Father. He chose not to use, to
manifest the prerogatives that were his as deity.
He emptied himself. Not ceasing to be God, he
was willing to lay aside his glory as God the
Son. He did not count that something that he
should grasp and hang on to, but he laid it aside.
And that involved his taking the form of a servant.
The word form here is the same one that we looked
at previously. In his essential nature, he came
as a servant. There was no loss of his nature
as God. He was still God when he came. But he
came with the nature of a servant. As someone
has said, the master of all became the servant
of all. His emptying himself also involved his
being made in the likeness, of men and being
found in appearance as a man." These phrases
are not identical, but their idea is that they
state the reality of his humanity. He did not
come just in the appearance of a man, but as
a real man, real human. The Gnostics of that
day liked to teach that he came as a human. sort
of a phantom. He did not have real substance
as a human being. The apostle asserts that when
he came into the world, he took upon himself
flesh. He took upon himself human nature, sinless
human nature. Being made in the likeness of men,
found in appearance as a man. It states his humanity,
but it leaves place for his being more than merely
human. And yet as he was observed by the people
of that day, he was observed as indeed a man.
The pictures that we sometimes see painted of
Christ often have some kind of a halo over his
head or there's some kind of a shining about
his face as the artist tries as best he can to
depict. The difference between this person and
others. But in fact, when one looked upon Jesus
in that day, there was no halo over his head.
And only at his transfiguration did his glory
come through his skin so that he shone as white
as the sun as it is closed. But all of the rest
of the time, that glory was veiled. You see,
he was willing to leave it veiled that he might
come in this way. He emptied himself. But not
only so, he humbled himself. He humbled himself.
There is self -renunciation that is involved
here. Becoming obedient to the point of death
is the way that Paul puts it. Not only is his
humility displayed in his coming as he did, laying
aside his glory as God and taking upon himself
our real humanity, but he humbled himself even
further than that. He became obedient to death.
And even, he says, the death of the cross. The
most shameful, painful, ignominious death of
that day. He followed the will of the Father
to which he had submitted without any deviation
whatsoever. Again, I quote Dr. Robertson who
says, the very reality of his humanity made him
flinch as he saw that he was to be regarded as
sin by the Father while he bore the sin of the
world in his death. And it made him cry aloud
when the Father's presence left him in the dread
darkness and loneliness. He himself was like
a bondservant and served others on earth. He
humbled himself to the end and met death as a
condemned criminal with all the shame of the
cross. Down, down Christ went to the bottom of
darkness, the very depth of humiliation and shame.
The Lord Jesus Christ, who is God the Son, voluntarily
took these actions, evidencing the perfect humility
that was his. And what was his motive? Why did
Jesus do this? For others. The Son of God condescended
to the very depths of sinful humanity to embrace
its death. becoming sin for the sake of those
that he would redeem. Our Savior regarded others
as more important than his visible glory as God,
the position that was his in glory. And so he
left the glories of heaven and willingly came,
unselfishly sacrificed himself, and obediently
died on the cross. The apostle points to an example
of humility that causes all of us to wonder,
to be amazed as we contemplate it. Is it any
wonder that he says to those early Christians,
as he says to us today, have this attitude? Which
was the attitude of Christ Jesus? I say to you,
the spirit of Christmas is the spirit of humility.
For one cannot think about what happened 2 ,000
years ago at Bethlehem on that first Christmas
night without understanding the great humility
of God the Son in coming. The attitude, my friend,
that will make you most like the Lord Jesus Christ
is humility. And the action that will make you
most Christ -like is sacrifice for the sake of
others. The thing that tends to be our characteristic
in our humanness is to hang on to what we have.
Unlike Jesus, we grasp our position. The things
that are ours, we hang on to. But Jesus' attitude
was, let it go for the sake of others. We're
willing to sacrifice, aren't we? As long as it
doesn't cost us too much. We're willing to pay
a price to a point. The cost? of the cross that
God may call us to bear and sacrifice for others
may be heavy. But without that cross, there is
no crown. You say, is there a crown for Jesus?
Yes. We started reading that part of the passage
in verse 9 that talks about his exaltation. God
has given to him a name that is above every name.
Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess.
That he is Lord, that is his name. You say, well,
what's my crown? Well, every knee is not going
to bow to you. And every tongue is not going
to call you Lord because you're not. You're not
God. But there is a crown for the one who will
humble himself. Peter talks about that in the
fifth chapter. of his first epistle, when he
says, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the
mighty hand of God. And in essence, he says that
when God's ready, he will lift you up. Why is
it that we are unwilling to humble ourselves
and to sacrifice, as Jesus did, for the sake
of others? Often it's because we're afraid. We're
afraid that the cost may be too great. Or we're
afraid that someone else is going to take advantage
of us. Or someone is going to step on us. We
don't have to be afraid. Because you see, when
we humble ourselves, we do it under the mighty
hand of God. You are protected when you humble
yourself. If you lift yourself up, that mighty
hand of God is gone. The place of greatest security,
the place of greatest protection is under the
mighty hand of God in the place of humility.
And in due time, when God sees that we're ready
for it, when God sees that we can handle it,
When God's purpose has been fulfilled, it says
he will lift you up. That is a promise of God.
The more that you and I are willing to voluntarily
sacrifice for the sake of others, the more God
will bless us. Where does the spirit of Christmas
need to be found? In your relationships? Is it
in your small church? Where is it that humility
is lacking right now? Is it at work? Where are
you being tempted to self -exaltation? Is it
in your school? Think through your relationships
today. And then ask God to give you the grace
and the courage to take the spirit of Christmas
to that relationship and apply it. And then trust
him and see if he won't do the same thing for
you that he did for Jesus. Where there is no
cross, there is no crown. In due season, he will
lift you up. Let's bow together in prayer. One
time, William Booth, the founder of the Salvation
Army, was to speak at a meeting in London, England.
He was unable to go at the last minute, and so
he cabled to them the text of his message. It
was one word. The totality of Booth's message
on that occasion was, Others. And Father, I believe
that that is the message you want us to hear
this morning. All of us have to confess to you
that we are prone to live another way because
of the selfishness and the pride that is a part
of our sin, our flesh. I pray this morning for
each one of us that we might understand the spirit
of Christmas. and see it as it was displayed
in the blessed Son of God when he came, suffered
and sacrificed himself on the cross for the sake
of us. Deliver us from walking in pride and selfishness,
which destroy unity and displace our joy. And
make us like Jesus. And I pray this in his name.
Amen.