Christmas in Philippians

Background

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, please turn to Philippians 2:1-11

If you forgot your Bible please use the one in front of you and if you dont have a Bible at all, please take home the one in front of you as a free gift to you

New Series

It’s All About Jesus

And as we go to God’s word - we want to remember that God’s word is all about Jesus

We can have a tendency to make it about us

But really, it is about Jesus doing what Adam could not do

It’s about Jesus doing what Israel could not do

And it’s about Jesus doing what we can not do

The Bible is about Jesus rescuing his people

Old Testament: anticipation

Gospels: manifestation

Acts: proclamation

Epistles: explanation

Revelation: consummation

The past 2 weeks we have been in the Old Testament where there was an anticipation of Jesus

And this week we will be in an Epistle, explaining about Jesus

Love/friendship Letter Example

Today, we are reading a friendship letter from Paul to the Philippian church

Paul who helped to establish the church of Philippi, is writing to them from prison

And we are priviliged to read it as it is part of the cannon of scripture and as believers, applies to us as well

As we start in chapter 2, we are continuing Pauls thought in chapter 1 concerning unity

Paul is calling the church to have unity and to not fear

I know what you are thinking, this is the Christmas season so why are we in philippians?

I am going to ask that you sit tight and hang with me as we talk through and find the Christmas message in this text.

If you are able to stand, I ask that you please do so for the reading of God’s word. I’ll read it as you follow along,

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This is the Word of the Lord - You may now be seated

Christ, NOT PAUL

Paul is exhorting for the church who knows the gospel to do 2 things

First he wants them to recognize the unity that Jesus brings

Second he wants the church to exemplify the unity that Jesus brings

First he wants them to reflect on Jesus’ encouragement in their life, his love, their experience with the Spirit, affection or sympathy

Recognize that there is a change within them that came only because of Jesus

Knowing and reflecting on these things, the church can see how Jesus brings unity

Not for Paul or because of Paul, but because of the work of Jesus Christ

Second, Paul wants them to continue to exemplify these traits

To exemplify encouragement, love, experience with the spirit, affection/sympathy

And as the church exemplifies these things, it will aid in them being unified

2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Because of Christ’s work, because you are unified with him, you can exemplify encouragement, love, experience with the spirit, affection/sympathy

It will bring the church to be unified of the same mind, same love, and be in full accord with one another

So when Paul asks his friends at the church of Phillipi to complete his joy

Paul is not being selfish

Rather, Paul is simply stating that as you are unified with God, And as you exemplify his works with each other and for his glory, then you will be unified together for his glory

And you my dear friends, being unified and living together for the glory of God

It completes my joy!

Pauls complete joy comes from knowing that the church unified with Christ and living it out

That the gospel of Jesus is at the center of the church and at the center of their lives

It is because of Jesus that they can be unified

And then Paul gives a directive to help protect the church

Pitfalls of ambition and Conceit

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Warning of the Focus on self

Ambition

in and of itself is not bad - Paul lists selfish ambition

Selfish Ambition - drives you to disregard others

Selfish Ambition - Elevation of self over others (at all costs/blurred lines)

Selfish Ambition - You seek to take the glory for yourself

Selfish Ambition - You trust in your own ability

Conceit

Definition - excessive pride in oneself

Pride -

Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.”

Proverbs 16:5 “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.”

Arrogance - you dont just think you know more than others but you believe you know more and better than others

Arrogance keeps you prideful

Arrogance doesn’t allow you to fear the Lord, why should you, you know best?!

It was pride that was used in the garden to decieve Adam and Eve

As if God didn’t know what was best, Adam and Eve were not ignorant to God’s command they were arrogant

They became prideful when they wanted to know what it would be like to be like God

Do nothing with these kind of motives,

Protect and guard your heart from these actions

Display humility

Humility

but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Humility follows Paul’s teaching on unity because humility is essential for unity

Humility

We always see ourselves as a big deal - recognizing, I’m not that great

I’m no better than the person next to me

Humility doesn’t even play the comparison game

Rather, humility pushes you to count others more significant than yourself

Humility pushes you to make time and to do things for others

Humility - naturally pushes you to encourage, love, and have affection/sympathy for others

And just like it is the power of Jesus that allows you to have and display these things,

It is the power of Jesus that allows you to be humble

Jesus

Jesus was humble

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

This is why we celebrate Christmas

Jesus, being fully God - humbled himself by becoming a servant, coming to earth, and came in the form of a baby

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

Jesus is God, and is the second person of the trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit)

Each existing together with differing responsibilities

And yet Jesus did not count equality with God

What we do not know much about Satan from before the creation of the world

But what we do know is that Satan was cast out of heaven for trying to be equal or greater than God

The chief angel of worship was not God and saw God’s power and ability as something to be taken

But Jesus, being God, did not view it this way because equality with God is in Jesus’ nature!

And being equal with God, he emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Jesus being God, did not think of himself as too important, too good, too powerful, to better than to come down to earth

I dont know about you but I have a hard time thinking of God as a baby

Jesus needed to be cared for

Jeus had the authority of his parents over him

But thats how he came, in the likeness of men (Luke 1:26-35)

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

The Angel tells us how the power of the Most High will be born a child and be called Holy - The son of God

We need to be humble as Jesus humbled himself

Like to think that God would come and live among us is humbling

But then he came to serve others - added humility

And then we find that the whole point of Jesus’ life here was so that he could humble himself and die for us

This is the humility Jesus

This is the humility we are told that we should display as followers of him

Application

How is your humility?

Have you humbled yourself before God?

Do you or How do you humble yourself before others?

This friendship letter is for believers -It is for us

As your friend I want to encourage you to reflect on your - encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,

As a church body and as believers I want to encourage us to - be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

I want to encourage us to be humbe and to have humility -

Humility - Humble ourself before God

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

HUMILITY calls us to action - love, Serve, Give,

Home Alone - Young boy (Kevin) encourages an old man to reach out to his son

He had to get over his fear of rejection, and in order for unity to prevail in his family he had to humble himself to make the call

At the end of the movie, Kevin is looking out the window and sees the old man hugging and reuiniting with his family

We were at odds with God, But God made the plan of reconciliation, that Jesus his one and only son, would humbly come to earth as a baby, live the perfect life that we cannot live, and to go to a cross to humbly die for you and me

That is why we exalt and praise his Holy name, His name above every other name

This is why we preach and teach his name

Because it is only his name that saves

His name is, Jesus

And we are to proclaim his name, and to confess his name, and do everything for his glory

How do you show humility in marriage, with kids, at church, at work, etc.

We have no right to be prideful or conceited in any way - Our Savior, Ruler, King, Messiah, came to earth as a baby to love, serve, and give - He gave the ultimate price for us, his entire life