Philippians 2_6_11 The Whole Story of Christmas 12-12-21

Philippians 2: 6-11 The Whole Story of Christmas 12/12/21

Intro: A lady came into our store complaining abut the prongs on the engagement ring that we sold her husband. One of the prongs kept slipping and her diamond was crooked. We replace the mounting a total of three spending times free of charge before I learned the whole story, she lived to work out in the gym. I could have saved her tons of frustration and me tons of money had I known the whole story and advised her to remove her ring before going to the Gym and lifting heavy weights. It is important to know the whole story!

I love the story of Christmas, to think about the baby Jesus laying in the manger. The Shepherds kneeling, the angels singing, the stars shinning, but that story is not the whole story of Christmas. This morning I want us to look at the whole story of Christmas from start to finish.

The Whole Story of Christmas Commences with the Cradle.6-7

You cannot understand Christmas much less celebrate it if you don’t understand that the baby Jesus, born in the stable and laid the manager was God who had come in human flesh. Jesus said; “I and the Father are one (John 10:30) and If you have seen Me then you have seen the Father (John 14:9.)”

“Who being in the form of God.” The word being means to exist and the word form means to belong naturally. This means that Jesus was the visible expression of the invisible God. Jesus was the unseen God made seen!

I went to the mail box last week and found a letter addressed to me in beautiful hand writing, I opened it and it was a letter from The Jehovah’s witnesses, I saw the word “Watch Tower” so I tore it up and threw it in the trash. This one thing “Who being in the form of God” is what separates true Christianity from every cult. Cults deny that Jesus is God; they take offense at the thought of the trinity; that there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Then God said let US make men in OUR likeness, them God made man in His likeness (Gn 1:26) God (singular) said let Us (plural) make man in Our (plural) likeness, then God made man in His (Singular) likeness. That is poor grammar. It is, but it is wonderful theology! The Bible makes it plain that God is a triune God. That does not mean that I worship three Gods. I worship one God, but that God manifested Himself in three persons.

I worship one God you say, well the math doesn’t add up. 1+1+1=3. No! 1x1x1=1. And Jesus Christ is the one God. Jesus is not a man among men but God of very God and If the FBI had the finger prints of Jesus they would have the finger prints of God because Jesus was God!

Moving in the lungs of Jesus was the breath of God. Beating in the breast of Jesus was the heart of God. Flowing through the veins of Jesus was the blood of God.

But, look at vs. 7. He emptied Himself. He laid aside His divine privileges and His rights as God and came to earth in the form of the lowest of servants, a slave. A slave was nothing more than a piece of property with absolutely no rights.

The Whole story of Christmas commences in the cradle but it doesn’t end there, it continues to the cross!

The Whole Story of Christmas Continues to the Cross.8

If you are going to tell the whole story of Christmas you can’t leave Jesus in the cradle you have to go to the cross because Jesus was born to die. Christmas is not only about the birth of Jesus. It is also about the death of Jesus because Jesus took on the cross what we would have to take on for eternity if we didn’t take Jesus.

“Jesus humbled Himself.” This means He stooped low. How low did He stoop? To the point of death! But not just any death, He died the shameful death of a condemned criminal. That is why Paul uses the word “even” in verse 8. Almost unbelievingly he says, “He not only died, but He even died on a cross.” Not just a natural death but the death of a felon!

You need to understand just what Jesus gave you and how far He was willing to go for you so that you could go to heaven. In the splendor of heaven, He stepped off His throne, turned the stars into a staircase and He came down into this sin-cursed world. He disguised His deity as a peasant carpenter and rubbed shoulders with common men.

He was betrayed by one He loved, was crowned with razor sharp thorns. His back was torn to shreds and He was taken to Mount Calvary where cruel soldiers smashed His body down on wooden timbers.

They took the hands of God that heaped up the Rocky Mountains, the hands that carved the Grand Canyon, the hands that flung the stars into outer space and they nailed those hands to the tree. They took the feet of God that carried Jesus on His mission of mercy from the halls of heaven to this sin cursed earth and they nailed them to the cross.

They lifted Him up in the sky between two thieves, hanging between heaven and hell. He bore in His body the judgment and wrath of God for our sins. Christ took on our hell, crying out “My God, My God why have you forsaken Me.”

Jesus took our place! He gave His all! He went above and beyond! Jesus did for you what no other would do for you. He died for you! But the story doesn’t end there, no it climaxes with the crown.

The Whole Story of Jesus Climaxes with the Crown9-11

If you want to know the whole story of Christmas you can’t leave Jesus in the cradle. If you want to know the whole story of Christmas you can leave Jesus on the cross. You have to go to the crown!

God did not leave Jesus in the tomb. For three days Jesus laid in a borrowed tomb as darkness and despair settled on the earth, for three days it looked as if evil and the devil had won. But the Spirit of the Living God entered that tomb and raised Jesus to new life. Jesus walked out to live forever more. As He walked out from that tomb, He was carrying with Him the keys to death, hell, and the grave. He is King over all kings and Lord over all lords! Forty days after His resurrection He ascended back up to heaven. Now that is what happened.

Now let me tell you what’s going to happen: The Lord is going to rapture His church and every lost person will be left behind for seven years of great tribulation. Then after seven years of literal hell on earth Jesus is going to saddle up His horse and lead the armies of heaven back to this earth. He is going to land on the Mount of Olives and when His feet touch the earth the mountain will split in two. Jesus will walk across the Kidron Valley, kick open the eastern gate of Jerusalem and march up the Temple Mount and take His seat on the throne of David. Then the whole universe is going to acknowledge that He alone is King! This world has not given Jesus His due, but it will! You may not have given Jesus His due but you will! One of these days we are all going to rightly acknowledge Jesus’ Lordship.

“Every tongue will confess.” The word confess means to agree with and openly proclaim. Every atheist tongue is going to confess that Jesus is Lord! Every Muslim tongue is going to confess that Jesus is Lord! Every demonic tongue is going to confess that Jesus is Lord!

This world is not going to celebrate Christmas this year it is going to celebrate winter break. You cannot celebrate Christmas if you do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. For someone to think they can celebrate Christmas without knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior is like ISIS trying to celebrate the 4th of July.

Every tongue will confess, whether it is here by faith unto Salvation, or whether it is there at the judgment will confess that Jesus is Lord. You may not have acknowledged it; you may not have confessed it. But you will! “Every knee will bow.” To bow the knee is something you do when you are going to worship someone. This does not mean that everyone will be saved: everyone will not be saved. But one day no one will be able to deny that Jesus is Lord.

Paul takes great pain to point out exactly who is going to bow the knee to Jesus. Every angel in heaven is going to bow their knees to Jesus. Every Person on earth who has ever lived is going to bow their knees to Jesus. Every demon in hell and even the devil himself is going to bow their knees to Jesus.

A number of years ago some prominent political leaders were assembled in a hotel in London. They were having a great discussion of who some of the greatest men the world was. One man said “gentlemen, what do you think we would do if Alexander the Great were to enter into this room?” One man said “we would stand and salute him as the greatest military general whoever lived.” Another man said, “what would we do if William Shakespeare were to enter into this room?” One man said “we would give him a standing ovation and declare him the greatest writer of all time.” One man said “what would we do if Jesus Christ walked into this room?” One man stood up and said “we would all fall on our faces and worship Him.” That is exactly what we all are going to do!

The Whole Story of Christmas is not only the Son born in the cradle and not only the Savior dying on the cross. The whole story of Christmas is the story of the Sovereign ruling with a crown.