Philippians 2:5-11
I
came across a website this week called – The ugliest Christmas lights. Samples – Commentary
#1 I will make sure my wife
never asks me to put up Christmas lights again
#2 Why Bother: One window – come on, what is the pt.
#3 Power
shortage: Notice how there are no
lights anywhere in the Back ground – Rest of the city Power shortage.
#4 How should we
decorate this year? I know Giant quilt - How much egg nogg do you have to drink to
come up with that idea.
#5 What
thinking: Nothing says Christmas like
Santa Frankenstein and the Incredible Hulk
Look how mean this Hulk Guy
looks – Stay out of my yard, kids
Been
thinking a lot about Christmas and the way that some people view it.
A) Hulks Frankenstien and
lights
B) Christmas thru the eyes
of Mary – Joseph –
Shepherds / Wisemen
C) Today thru the eyes of
Jesus!
Turn to Phil. 2
The
Story begins in heaven – before the world was even made !!!
A) God the father & God the Son are in a meeting
– considering what they are about to do – Create a World
B) Before they created the Galaxies /
before the sun, the moon, the Stars were thrust into space / before the planets
were aligned
1) And
before this Planet called Earth was brought into Existence
C) They had a meeting about a
Creature who would reside on planet earth – A creature called man
1) A being
who would be unlike any other being ever created / For they would declare Gen
.1 Let us make man in our Image
D) For he would have a BODY– he
would be Physical, touchable, tangible
E) He would have a SOUL Conscience feelings & Emotions
1) He would
have a SPIRIT – giving him the unique ability to commune w/ God / to Know God
Like
God Himself this creature man would be a Spirit being –
A) He would be unlike any other creature that God
would make to Dwell on Planet earth
B) He would have the ABILITY to
bring God Pleasure / but even more Pain
C) Man would have the Ability to Warm God’s heart / but also to break God’s
heart / And God knew that before man was even Made
1) He Knew
that Man would rebel / that man would reject Him & He knew would it would
Cost to love man / Save man & to rescue man
Think of it in
this way: Picture a husband & wife – are having a discussion they are considering
having a Baby /
A) Are they Really ready to start trying /
B) That night they go to bed – they both have the same dream & in the dream they are given a
picture of the Child they might conceive
C) At first he is Small & Sweet – Cute & Cuddly / but as the Dream continues they are
given further insight into what this Child will become
1) As He
grows he is going to be rebellious / He will break their hearts not once / not twice but 100’s of times
D) He will get into trouble / He will be destructive – He will cause great pain to
come upon them & many others – thru his selfish Pursuits
1) And the
life that he chooses to live – will result in him being thrown into Prison w/ a
life sentence
As the Dream continues an opportunity is
presented to these parents that could result in their son being saved / being
freed
A) A special situation –the son could be freed if
the Father agreed to serve his sentence to take his place / pay his punishment
B) But even if that Father – made the decision to take
his sons place there would still be no guarantee that the son would Change his
rebellious ways
1)
That
he would love his parents & seek to bless them instead of hurting them
C) If you were given that much insight about what your
child would be like before you conceived that Child – would you even try to
Concieve?
To a certain
extent – that is the Decision that the Father & the Son made before the
world Began / Before man was created
A) They knew man would rebel / that He would turn his
back on God / that he would sin
B) They knew that Man’s Sin would
drive a wedge between Man & God / Man slave to his
sin / passions / source of evil
1) They knew
what it would cost them to Love man & have that relationship w/ man Restored
C) What it would
mean to Show man how much they loved him / They knew it would cost Everything
!!!
1) And they
knew that there would not be any
guarantee that Man would change / that he would love God & desire to serve
Him
D) Infact
they Knew that Most would not - But there would be those who receive His love /
His gift/ so the Decision was made –
1) The plan was set in motion Hebrews 10:5-7
Therefore, when
He came into the world, He said:
"Sacrifice
and offering You did not desire,
But a body You
have prepared for Me.
6 In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin
You had no
pleasure.
7 Then I said,
'Behold, I have come —
In the volume
of the book it is written of Me —
To do Your
will, O God.'"
The Christmas Story is
where the Mission begins – God the Son leaving Heaven to come into our World
Leaving His eternal
home to His embryonic home when the
Father & the Son exchange their farewells & say their Goodbyes
Paul describes it this
way in Phi 2:5-11
In the Story
Camelot, King Arthur is confronted by Queen Guinevere’s infidelity with the
king’s most trusted knight, Lancelot.
A) Under the law, she was judged guilty &
sentenced to be burned at the stake.
B) Arthur
was caught emotionally between his love for his wife and his responsibility to
the law.
1) One of Arthur’s servants articulated
the painful position the king was in:
Arthur! What an
AWEFUL dilemma! Let her die, your life is over; let her live, your life’s a
fraud. Which will it be, Arthur? Do you kill the Queen or kill the law?
C) With tears in his eyes, King
Arthur moved to the castle window to watch the execution.
1) The
executioner stood waiting for the signal from the king to light the torch, but
Arthur’s pain was overpowering. I can’t let
her die!
D) To which SERVANT replies: Well, you’re
human after all, aren’t you, Arthur? Human and helpless.
Unlike Arthur,
Jesus was not “human and helpless”. He was God. Philippians
A) Philippians 2 describes the
scene of a King – greater than Arthur – who left His kingdom behind,
B) Who emptied
Himself, taking the form of a man and becoming obedient to the point of
death.
A King
who left the comforts and splendor of the
castle to take the place of His Guievere
Being in the form of
God!
A) “Being in the Form of God” has nothing to do
with shape or size.
B) The word “form” means “the outward expression of the inward nature.”
C)) In other words - To
say, that Christ was "in
the form of God," Paul is saying that Jesus in
His preexistence shared the essential attributes of deity. God.
D) Not that He looked like God but that He was & is God
1)
Before He came to this earth, Jesus dwelled in the inde-scribable glory and
perfection of heaven, one with the Father and the Spirit, in the blessedness of
the divine being.
Now
The Phrase Thought it not robbery to be
equal with God is hard to understand in the NKJV.
Amplified:
“Who, although being essentially one with God and in the
form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], He
did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or
retained,
7 But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful
dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became
like men and was born a human being.”
“Christ did not
regard His equality with God as a treasure to be clutched and retained at all
costs.”
See when Jesus humbled Himself in becoming a man - / He was
still fully God / Still Deity - JN 1:1 In
Beg. Word …w/ God .. was God …FLESH
A)
-But there was an aspect of His Diety - His Godhood that He didn’t consider it to be a thing to be grasped
& held onto at all cost.
B) What aspect was that? HIS GLORY -
1) His GLORY was concealed in a human body -
C) RECALL Moses asked to see
God’s Glory/ God told Moses that no man could see His
face & live –
1) but people looked at Jesus
talked w/ Jesus all the time - HOW?
GLORY
WAS CONCEALED -
In Jesus divine omnipotence moved in a human arm;
In Jesus divine wisdom was cradled
in a human brain;
In Jesus divine love throbbed in a human heart;
In Jesus divine compassion glistened
in a human eye;
In Jesus divine grace poured forth
in human lips
C. S. Lewis said regarding the incarnation, “If you want to get the hang of it, think how you would like to become a snail.
Think about the
Significance of that Moment – God the Son – leaving Heaven & all of It’s
Glory !!! There He has been Worshipped
A) Here he
would experience what it is like to be Weary
B) There He is the
Lion of the Tribe of Judah / the Conquering one / Here He led
like a lamb to the slaughter
1) There He is the
Creator & the Sustainer of the Universe / Here He is
known as the Carpenters Son
C) There He is
known as the Mighty God / Here He will be known as a lunatic, drunkard, glutton
and a friend of the wrong kind of people
D)There He dwelt
in perfection / Here He will be surrounded by sin and imperfection
1) There He is
Loved & Adored by all – Here He would be hated & Scorned by Most
E) There He is
the Ruling one – Holding a Sceptor / Here He is the Little one
holding a piece of straw in his Little Baby fist
A thousand times in
History a Baby has become a King but only once in History has a King become a
Baby
He made himself subject to
His father –
Obedient unto death …. Cross
He humbled Himself.
He was humble in His total
obedience to His Heavenly Father.
He was humble in His
submission to the Holy Spirit.
He was humble in that He
took the form of a man, and not a more glorious creature like an angel.
He was humble in that He was
born into an obscure, oppressed place.
He was humble in that He was
born into poverty, among a despised people.
He was humble in that He was born as a child instead of appearing as a man.
He was humble in submitting to the obedience of a child
in a household.
He was humble in learning
and practicing a trade – and a humble trade of a builder.
He was humble in the long
wait until He launched out into public ministry.
He was humble in the companions and disciples He chose.
He was humble in the audience He appealed to and the way He
taught.
He was humble in the
temptations He allowed and endured.
He was humble in the
weakness, hunger, thirst, and tiredness He endured.
He was humble in choosing
and submitting to the death of the cross.
Reserved for the worst of criminals
He was humble in the shame,
mocking, and public humiliation of His death.
He was humble in enduring the spiritual agony of His
sacrifice on the cross.
A)Born to die was the epigram that followed the outlaw Billy the Kid
until the time of His Violent & early death
B) Born to die is a phrase that has
been hung on many a hardened criminal
1) But
that description fit Christ better than anyone – He literally was born
to die
C)In fact the
Bible declares that His Crucifixion was planned before the foundation of the
world
Revelation 13:8 Jesus was the lamb slain from
before the Foundation of the World
V. What we are to do
in response – 3 things
A)1st Believers – V.5
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus
B) Literally: Be letting or
continue to let this mind be in you
C) You have the mind of Christ
1) Sometimes we think of
our Christian experience as a series of ups and downs
D) In reality it is a
series of ins and outs
God has worked something into us – and now He is desiring to see it
worked out of us / thru trials / prayer / transformation
A) Worked into us The
mind and heart of Christ
B) Ch. 2:12 “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”
1) Salvation=
Sanctification – your being like Jesus
C) Work that out with
fear and trembling = seriousness –
D) Used of working out a mathematical formula to its end
1)It is used of mining a
vein of gold until all the gold was gone.
E) Work it out in that
way with fear and trembling
With Fear and trembling: BECAUSE: it is God who is working in you both
to will and to do ….pleasure
A)He by His HS is
seeking to work in you bring Jesus out of you to a lost world that He loves
B) To your spouse / Your
kids / your fellow believers
Your work mates
C)We are to
Put self aside – not concerned about our Reputations –
1) We are to
serve & to give
D) Key
in marriage: Serve and submit – Jesus made Himself of no reputation
1)
Sought to serve and submit to His Father
2nd – We
are to Praise Phil 2:9-11
9 Therefore
God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every
name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven,
and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
A) living expressions of Worship to Jesus –Our
King
3rd Not
saved – Decision to make – Jesus Lord or Not
A) It is not enough to celebrate His birth – You
need to acknowledge why He came & receive Him into your life
Corrie
ten Boom
If Jesus were born one thousand
times in Bethlehem and not in me, then I would still be lost.
B) On the very first Christmas
there was no room for Jesus in the Inn –
1) What
about this Christmas, is there room for Jesus in Your heart ?