Crown, Cradle and Cross (2)

Introduction (2m)

A remarkable gift in an unexpected package

Remarkable gifts can arrive in unremarkable packages.

Our house - Amazon packaging!

My attempts at wrapping often belie the quality of the gift!

The gift of Jesus Christ that we celebrated again a couple of days ago, was unexpected in many ways.

Philippians 2:5-11 reminds us that Jesus was unexpected in so many ways.

Remarkable gifts often arrive in unremarkable packages.

One did in Bethlehem.

No one expected God to come the way he did.

It seems the manger is the message.

That's what Paul says.

Explanation (5m)

The Philippian Church

If anyone asks you the message of Christmas - Philippians 2:5-11 is it!

Paul didn't mean to write a Christmas sermon.

In fact, he was writing to a church that had a few issues:

Selfish ambition, conceit, people who couldn't get along with each other.

As a result, Paul wrote to the church at Philippi to encourage them to seek humility.

But in doing so, Paul gets right to the heart of the gospel, right to the heart of the Christmas story.

Christ the Creator

Paul says the baby lying in the manger is divine.

He was God (v.6).

Before he was born in a stable, Jesus had every advantage and benefit of being God.

He was boundless / timeless / limitless.

John 1:3 NLT

God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.

Every rock, every plant , every planet, every star, every animal, every person is made by him.

He knows every star by name.

And yet, when he came to earth, he chose to come in a most unremarkable package.

Just to think such royalty would come the way he came

In a dusty little town,

Born in such humility, upon a bed of hay;

Willingly he lay his glory down.

Who would think this little child would be the Promised One?

Would Messiah really come this way?

Certainly this was no birthplace for the Son of God.

Isn't it amazing how he came?

No crown, no throne, no big parade.

There were no fanfares played, no jubilant display.

Isn't it amazing how he came?

(Mark Harris)

Christ the Incarnate One

Paul opens our passage by claiming that Jesus, the baby born in a manger is God, in human form.

Our Creator, come as one of the human beings he created.

His main aim in this passage is for Christ the Incarnate One.

The one who voluntarily put aside all the advantages and benefits of being God and 'took the humble position of a slave' (v.7).

Christ went from being boundless, timeless, limitless, to a baby and then a man with boundaries, time-bound and with normal human limits.

He became dependent on his human body, like us.

He experienced hunger and thirst, like us.

He went through all the stages of human development like us.

He relied on his parents and others to teach him to walk, stand, wash, dress, talk.

He was genuinely human.

He experienced emotions like joy, weeping, frustration, even rejection.

He took 'took the humble position of a slave' (v.7).

He came to serve, not to be served.

He didn't demand our allegiance but displayed his love and affection towards us.

He didn't use his status to his own advantage.

Instead, he gave it up, 'he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross'.

His humble birth in a dirty, smelly, messy stable is amazing.

But even more amazing is that Christ made himself nothing and died the death of the lowest of the low by the cruelest of all executions, crucifixion.

God died on that cross.

God took the nails.

God took the whipping.

God bore the shame.

God exhaled a final breath.

Just reflect on that for a moment.

Pause

From heaven's crown to Bethlehem's cradle to Jerusalem's cross.

Christ the Exalted One

But the tomb could not hold him!

And when at last they took what willingly He gave

He died, but could they keep Him in the grave

They could not, They could not

Praise God, they could not

And when at last they took from Him what willingly He gave

Could they keep Him in the grave, could they keep Him in the grave,

Could they keep Him in the grave...

They could not

(Sandi Patti)

The one who made himself nothing is now made everything!

Jesus is promoted to 'the highest place'.

No one is higher.

No angel.

No politician.

No president.

No king or queen.

God 'gave him the name above all other names' (v.9).

Only one name will ever cause everyone who ever lived to bow before him:

Philippians 2:10–11 NLT

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Application (5m)

Be an Imitator not an Impersonator

As we await that great day, Paul encourages us to respond to the gospel, to the heart of Christmas.

Paul says, here is Christ's example.

He went from everything to nothing.

Imitate him, and do the same.

Philippians 2:5 NLT

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Paul says do all you can to live up to the challenge of reflecting Christ.

Walk in his footsteps.

Adopt his thought processes and his attitude to others.

A warning:

It is not enough to simply act like Christ.

That's not imitation, it's impersonation.

Impersonation means your actions make people believe you are something that you are not inside.

Our attitudes must match our actions.

Does that seem like a tall order?

Is what Paul is teaching simply an unrealistic expectation?

It does to me.

I am painfully aware of the many times I fall short of perfectly imitating Christ's example.

How can both our attitudes and our actions imitate Christ?

They can't.

Not in our own power.

We must be 'in Christ'.

Only the Holy Spirit can create the right attitudes and actions in our lives.

We must work with him to make them our habits.

The Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor–spending and being spent–to enrich their fellow humans, giving time, trouble, care and concern, to do good to others–and not just their own friends–in whatever way there seems need (J. I. Packer).

Will you make that your Christmas spirit this year and beyond?

Maybe our new year’s resolution should be:

'You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.'  

Amen.