King Has Come 4

Our King Has Come

Part 4

"Jesus Was Obedient"

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."

This is the final message in our Christmas series, "Our King Has Come."

All of these messages have come straight out of Phil 2:5-8.

So far we've spoken on, "Jesus Was God," "Jesus Was Unselfish," and "God Became a Man."

I've brought these messages knowing that when you understand Who He was, you'll understand why He came!

Now this time I'm going to speak on the subject, "Jesus Was Obedient."

Our key verse is...

2:8 "When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross." (NLT)

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This passage is one of the most amazing statements about Jesus in the whole Bible.

He, being God, not only gave up His divine privileges in order to become a man, but He went WAY FURTHER than this...

Jesus was obedient to God all the way to a criminal's death on a Cross.

If you think about it, the entire process the Lord went through of divesting Himself of heaven and the privileges He enjoyed there....

Being born a man,

Allowing Himself to be abused, vilified, slandered, and mistreated by men,

And finally to submit to death on a Cross as a common criminal...

This whole process of incremental condescension, humility, and obedience to God is staggering.

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We love to sing the song called, "Here I Am To Worship" that says:

"King of all days, oh so highly exalted

Glorious in heaven above

Humbly you came to the earth You created

All for loves sake became poor

"And I'll never know how much it cost

To see my sin upon that cross"

And that's true....we will never grasp while on this earth the price Jesus paid to redeem us!

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But we DO have some things the Bible tells us!

First, the Bible says...

Jesus humbled Himself

Humbled means, "To be made low; to assign a lower rank or place."

Jesus accepted a lower rank than what He deserved as God....He willingly embraced being "made low."

He condescended to come to us, meaning he descended from a high place to a less formal or dignified level; He waived the privileges of rank.

He said to His followers, “I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (John 6:38).

He not only laid aside his heavenly glory to become a man; but once he was a man, he HUMBLED himself.

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Humility was a constant characteristic of Jesus as a man.

He never sought honor; he did not want to be made a spectacle of...

He never demanded to be made over or served;

But he willingly stepped down to the lowest conditions of life.

One writer says, "The Son of God did not proudly continue in his high station, but descended from it for a while, and placed himself in the lowest condition among men, serving every one with the humility of a servant..."

He HUMBLED HIMSELF...

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Then next we're told....

II. Jesus was obedient unto death

Now, Obedience can be said to take place on many levels.

A person can easily and cheerfully obey another when the request costs nothing and is easy to accomplish.

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And then a person might be required to obey where the request is an inconvenience...They must go out of their way to accomplish it.

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And obedience is even more difficult when not only is the request inconvenient, but it requires personal sacrifice of time, or finances, or physical exertion, or maybe even some kind of suffering.

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But there is another level of obedience altogether, as in the case where obedience involves risk and danger.

As in the police officer who is ordered into harm's way to make an arrest, or to save a citizen's life.

Or the soldier who is certain that to obey means not only danger, but the possibility of death.

No profounder spirit of obedience can be shown than this, which is why we honor the military and law enforcement.

Jesus spoke of this when He said, "There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" (John 15:13).

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But it can also be said that, say, the obedience of the soldier is in many cases not totally voluntary, since, if he did not obey, court martial and prison would be the penalty.

He obeys following an order.

But Jesus's obedience to the point of death is on an even higher level than the soldier because He was not under orders to do it!

In the case of Jesus it was wholly voluntary.

He Himself said, "No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded" (John 10:18).

Jesus willingly placed himself in the position of a servant to do the will of God, and then never shrank from what that position involved....all the way to the point of death!

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But Jesus didn't just obey to the point of death, but to a terrible death, a death of the worst kind....

III. Jesus went to the Cross

You see, the Cross was the final destination of Jesus's life on this earth from the get go...

He always knew He was born to die on that tree...for you and me!

You see, in a way, the first Christmas tree was the Cross, the tree on which Jesus died.

Without that tree, there is no Christmas!

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Jesus knew it was His destiny to die on that Cross to become a curse for us, that the curse of sin might be broken from off our backs...

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE" (Gal. 3:13).

As Jesus got nearer to His arrest, the Bible says,

"31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, 'We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; 33 they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.'”

Jesus knew what was coming...

He was well aware of what King David the Psalmist had written concerning Him,

"...a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet" (Ps. 22:16).

He also knew what the Prophet Isaiah had written of Him,

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).

No wonder the Bible says, "...do you think we can risk (hell) by neglecting this...magnificent salvation? (Hebrews 2:3)

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So here's the message of Christmas in a nutshell...

Jesus emptied Himself of His glory in heaven.

He stepped out of eternity and made the long journey to earth.

He wrapped Himself in humanity's skin.

He humbled Himself, giving up the FORM of God to take on the FORM of a servant.

He voluntarily obeyed the Father, all the way to death, even the torturous death of the Cross.

On that tree He died for you and me.

Then on the third day, He arose from the dead, victor over death, hell, and the grave!

When you understand Who He was, you'll understand why He came!

LET'S PRAY...