King has come 3

OUR KING HAS COME

Part 3

"God Became One Of us"

Phil. 2:5-8 "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."

We're in our third week now of the Christmas series, "Our King Has Come."

All of these messages are taken from the verses we just read out of Philippians 2.

We called the first message, "Jesus Was God"--for the Bible says, "Who, being by very nature, God."

The second message was entitled, "Jesus Was Unselfish"--The Bible says "He gave up his divine privileges..." in order to become a man.

Now TODAY I'm going to deal with the subject, "God Became a Man."

The verses we're focused on are verses 7 and 8, "...but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself..."

The Message Bible says, "When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human."

Here's the true meaning of Christmas---God became a man, deity wrapped itself in skin...

He felt our pain, lived amongst us, walked with us, talked with us, sweated like us, worked like us, hurt like us (all without sinning), and ultimately died for us.

It's virtually impossible for us to comprehend the full magnitude of what it meant for God to love us so much, He would become a man in order to reach us.

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You know I love dogs...and I got to thinking one day about something...

Imagine with me that lying at your feet is your dog.

Also imagine that your dog and EVERY DOG in the world is in deep distress--they are hurting, suffering, in real trouble...

And imagine further that you learn of a new scientific discovery that would bring healing and wholeness to every dog in the world.

But there is a catch....a human being is going to have to become a dog.

If this were true, would you be willing to jump in as the first candidate? Would you BECOME a dog to save dogs?

Would you put down your human nature--the ability to speak, to think logically, to walk on two legs, to laugh, to create?

Would you leave your loved ones, your job, hobbies, your art and literature and music?

Would you choose, instead of the deep relationship you have with your spouse, the poor substitute of looking into your beloved's face only able to wag your tail, unable to smile or speak?

Would you be willing to BECOME a dog in order to save all dogs?

I love dogs but, no, my devotion to them would stop there.

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Listen: Christ Jesus, by becoming man, limited the very thing which to Him was the most precious thing in the world--his unobstructed, unhindered communion with the Father!

The Bible says, "It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion."

Jesus, who was God, became a man to save us!

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Dr. John Rosen, a psychiatrist in New York City, is well known For his work with catatonic schizophrenics--the most difficult of the 4 types of Schizophrenia.

Normally doctors remain separate and aloof from these kinds of patients.

But Dr. Rosen is different--He literally moved into the ward with them.

He placed his bed among their beds...He lives the life they must live...Day-to-day, he shares it.

If they don't talk, he doesn't talk either.

It is as if he understands what is happening in their troubled minds.

His being there, being with them, communicates something that they haven't experienced in years---somebody understands.

But then he does something else---He puts his arms around them and hugs them.

He holds these unattractive, unlovable, sometimes incontinent people, and loves them back into life.

Often, the first words they speak are simply, "Thank you."

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This is what Jesus did!

He came to our world, to our neighborhood.

He lived among us--not above us as a superior, or below us as an inferior, but beside us as one Who loved us.

And He hugged us--He hugged us as He taught us about God, and life, heaven and hell, truth and falsehood, about ourselves and our lostness...

No matter how dirty we were, how repugnant our sin, how black our hearts, or how hopeless our condition, Jesus embraced us...

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And all of this was made possible by the greatest miracle to ever grace our planet...the incarnation.

The word "incarnation" simply means "God became a man. Deity occupied flesh."

Let's look at three things Paul mentions about the incarnation.

First,

He made Himself of no reputation

He..."emptied (or, stripped) Himself of His glory by having taken on Himself the form of a slave and having been made (or, born) in likeness of men."

Even though God the Son was equal with God the Father, nevertheless, rather than exalting Himself, He chose to make Himself of no reputation.

To make Himself of no reputation’ means that Jesus deprived Himself of the glories and graces He deserved as being God.

He emptied Himself rather than being full of Himself!

Consider some of the ways the Son of God deprived Himself of what He had when He became the Son of man:

1. He submitted Himself to hunger and thirst

2. He submitted Himself to weariness and exhaustion

3. He submitted Himself to pain and suffering

4. He submitted Himself to many of the limitations of human understanding. The Bible says He "grew in wisdom and stature" (Luke 2:52).

It’s hard to understand why Jesus would deny Himself such privileges...

Yet because He did, we have a High Priest in heaven who understands all of our needs!

Hebrews 4:15 "For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

So Jesus emptied Himself to become a man...

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Second,

II. He took on the form of a servant

Notice, before He came to earth, Jesus had the "form" of God.

But after coming, He took on the "form" of a servant.

The Sovereign God became a Servant man so He could be our Savior supreme!

He who was Lord of all, became servant of all.

The Bible tells us that one night, Jesus washed His disciples’ feet.

John 13:3-5 " 1-3 Jesus knew on the evening of Passover Day that it would be his last night on earth before returning to his Father. During supper the devil had already suggested to Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that this was the night to carry out his plan to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. And how he loved his disciples! 4 So he got up from the supper table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his loins,[a] 5 poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him.

The washing of His disciples’ feet was a symbol of the sacrificial death He would die.

It was also a revelation of His heart.

Jesus had a servant’s heart.

He was God, yet chose to lay aside the garments of His deity, so that He might take upon Himself the garment of a servant.

Jesus emptied Himself, Jesus became a servant...

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And third, Jesus....

III. Was made in the likeness of men

It says, "And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself..."

The word fashion includes all the particulars of a person’s outward appearance; such as his figure, air, looks, clothing, and gait.

He was found to be just like one of us!

We can’t fathom what it meant for Him to lay aside His garments of glory in order to be clothed with humanity.

There is no easy comparison, but let me try:

It would be like laying aside a full wardrobe purchased at Neiman Marcus in order to wear throw away clothes from a dumpster!

It would be like going from a $80,000 Mercedes Benz to driving around in a banged up car from a junkyard.

We can't comprehend the price Christ Jesus paid just to become a man!

Yet the Bible does tell us why this was necessary.

Listen to this:

Hebrews 10:4-7 4 "For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats really to take away sins. 5 That is why Christ said as he came into the world (catch that) “O God, the blood of bulls and goats cannot satisfy you, so you have made ready this body of mine for me to lay as a sacrifice upon your altar. 6 You were not satisfied with the animal sacrifices, slain and burnt before you as offerings for sin. 7 Then I (Jesus) said, ‘See, I have come to do your will, to lay down my life, just as the Scriptures said that I would.’”

All the blood of all the bulls and goats that were sacrificed, never took away one single sin.

The bible says they were only "a shadow of the upright and honorable things to come" (Hebrews 10:1).

A sufficient sacrifice was needed that could...

a. Identify with the one it was being sacrificed for,

b. Sinless, so that it might make proper atonement.

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Therefore a sinless human was needed.

But where would God find such a sinless human?

The Bible answers the question,

"When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son…”

So that according to Hebrews 2:9 “He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man" (Gal 4:4).

And that is why and when Christmas happened!

LET'S PRAY