The Backstory of Christmas - 2
Notes
Transcript
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.
Christmas
Last week - We studied this passage of scripture from which is one of the most wonderful and majestic passages of scripture.
In fact it was an ancient hymn that the early Christians sang.
It is called The Great Kenosis - or the Great Emptying. Jesus chose to empty Himself of His glory.
Kenosis - emptying
This is the Backstory of Christmas.
Before the baby was born in a manger, a transaction between Father and Son occurred in eternity.
That Jesus would empty Himself of His glory and set aside His rights as the King of the Universe so He could come into the world.
We now go to verse 7.
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.
Philippians 2:
Jesus did not cling to what is rightfully His so that we can have what is not rightfully ours.
“being born in the likeness of men”
Today we are going to talk about the greatest miracle of all:
The Incarnation
God taking on the form of Human Flesh.
John said: the word became flesh..
This wonder of this miracle is sometimes made so insignificant or trivilialized by our own version of the Christmas story. But this Christmas season let us be in awe of the wonder of God’s power in the incarnation of Jesus.
You see the baby just did not just come out of Mary’s womb that first Christmas. Mary carried Jesus for nine months.
How can the
Which means that Jesus became an embryo conceived by the Holy Spirit.
The first mystery of the incarnation.
17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:
The one who holds all things together to the tiniest sub-atomic particle to the gigantic galaxies of the universe became in such miraculous fashion an embryo and a baby that grew for nine months inside a woman’s womb.
What a wondrous miracle!
How is that possible? I cannot even dare to explain but only declare it is made possible by the POWER of ALMIGHTY GOD!
God went through great lengths to be born as a baby.
Why did Jesus have to go through the whole process of growing as a baby inside Mary’s womb?
He could have appeared as a fully grown man.
In fact, theologians and Bible scholars believe that Jesus had done that.
Through many pre-incarnate appearances:
Jesus’ Pre-incarnate appearances:
The Divine Being that appeared to Abraham and also wrestled with Jacob.
He was the commander of the Lord’s army that appeared to Joshua.
He was the fourth man of Daniel’s fiery furnace.
and so many more..
Jesus became 100% human.
Jesus is fully God but He became fully human.
In Jesus, there was a union of the human nature and the divine nature.
This is the second mystery of the incarnation. How is this possible?
Was Jesus a half-man and half-god hybrid?
Was He sometimes God and sometimes human?
Was it a coming together into a third superhuman nature that never existed before?
None of these theories work.
In Jesus both the Human nature and the divine nature are always fully present in the same person.
Whatever action Jesus did as a human being was an act of God...
I would like to modify what Albert Einstein said about the wave/ particle duality of Physics.
Neither His human nature nor His Divine nature separately, explain the mystery of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. But together they do.
Jesus identified Himself with fallen humanity.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
One Theologian said, what cannot be assumed cannot be redeemed.
Which means Jesus needs to be totally identified with sinners so that He can save sinners by dying in our place.
Jesus did not only go through the nine months..
He had to go through normal childhood..
he must be bullied by his brothers, the Bible said he had brothers..
he had to learn the lessons of life.
40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.
He endured all these things and went through great lengths to carry out His greatest work, to die on the cross for all of us.
Imagine the CEO of the universe joining you, meeting you where you are, becoming like you.
Illustration - how CEO’s mind works.
I work for one of the biggest banks in the world, with over 200,000 employees in the US alone. We have one CEO, just think of how it is to be a CEO of a huge company 200,000 employees strong.
I wonder, how he even got there.
My manager and I were talking about getting to a certain level in the company. She was told by the CTO her boss, that in order to breakthrough that ceiling in your career and get to a certain level, you have to think like the bank.
And I knew exactly what she meant.
That in order to go up the corporate ladder, you should only think of the interests of the corporation, not the interests of workers below you, not their families, not their daily plight and kitchen table challenges.
In order to go up and someday become a CEO don’t identify yourself with the common man.
You know something today - Jesus did exactly the opposite..
He was the CEO of the universe, yet he identified Himself with us.
To accomplish His ultimate sacrifice,
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Immanuel - God is With US.
He became like one of us so we can become like Him.
He humbled Himself by being obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Congregation recites:
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.
Philippians 2:
Jesus emptied Himself, became like one of us, became a bond servant and became like one of us. He had done His part.
Now it is our part..
Be an incarnation of God’s love to someone..
Are we ready to be obedient for the Great Commission of Jesus?