The Whole Story of Christmas Phil 2_6_11

Text: Philippians 2:6-11 The Whole Story of Christmas

Intro: Have you ever heard someone tell you something and you questioned rather or not you had been told the whole story? Sept. 15th 2017 is a day that I will not soon forget. At 9:15 that morning I received a phone call informing me that the company I worked for was closing and after thirteen years with them I would be without a job. I decided to pick the kids up from school that afternoon and I started priming them before I dropped the bomb on them.

I asked questions like: How would you guys like it if daddy was home every night? How would you guys like to go see the mountains of Kentucky? If you could pick one job for daddy what would it be? Tony answered “a preacher.” As I turned around to look at my boys, Balen had a look on his face as if he wanted to say. “daddy, you’re not telling us 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 star 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. Vs. 6-7

You cannot even understand Christmas much less celebrate it if you don’t understand that the baby born in a stable, laid in a manger 2000 years ago was none other than God who had come in human flesh. It was Jesus who said; I and the Father are one (John 10:30). If you have seen Me then you have seen the Father (John 14:9)

The Bible tells us that Jesus being in the form of God. This word beingmeans to exist(present tense verb). 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! This one thing is what separates true Christianity from every cult. Because cults will deny that Jesus is God. There are those who take offense at the thought of the trinity. That there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The Bible says in Genesis 1:26: - Then God said let US make men in OUR likeness. God (singular) said let Us (plural) make man. 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!

ILL. 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. Jesus was God come in the flesh.

But even though Jesus was God, look at what the Bible says in vs. 7. He emptied Himself. He laid aside His divine privileges and the right 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 continues to the cross. Vs. 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. Jesus took on the cross what we would have to take for eternity if we didn’t take Jesus.

The Bible says, Jesus humbled Himself. This means He stooped low. How low did He stoop? To the point of death! But not any death. He died the shameful death of a condemned criminal. That is why Paul uses the word “even” in verse 8. Almost unbelievingly Paul 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 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 and trusted, 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 mercyfrom 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 and there, 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.

The whole story of Christmas climaxes with the crown. Vs. 9-11

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 iteral 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.

The Bible says every tongue will confess. The word confessmeansto 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 whether it is here by faith unto Salvation, or whether it is there at the judgment by force will confess that Jesus is Lord. You may not have acknowledged it; you may not have confessed it. But you will!

The Bible says 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.

ILL: 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 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.