The Perfect Humility of Christmas (Philippians 2:5-8)
INTRODUCTION:
Have you noticed how early people began decorating for Christmas this year? When it is not raining, I walk to the church and when I leave it is dark and I was amazed at how many Christmas trees I could see through house windows right after Thanksgiving. We had one house in our cul-de-sac that had their tree up before Thanksgiving. Why? I think partly because people are home more, but more than that I think because they want to focus on something that brings them happiness and memories of happier times in the midst of this pandemic.
As I thought about this, I had to ask myself what will this Christmas mean to me? I now pose that question to you: What will this Christmas mean to you? I want you to honestly think about what this Christmas will mean to you. Are you caught up in and infected by the commercial distortion of bright lights, mistletoe and holly, the giving and receiving of gifts, Santa Clause? Or maybe the memories that you treasure are the times spent with family and friends. Maybe you are saying right now, “Not me, I’m more discerning than that.” For you Christmas means angelic messengers, a special star, wise men or magi from the East, shepherds keeping flocks outside of Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus lying in a feeding trough. If this is your view of Christmas or what Christmas means to you, then I submit that it, too, falls short of the divine intention.
What is the divine intention? Is there a word that characterizes what Christmas should mean for us? Yes, there is, and that word is “incarnation” which simply means “God in flesh.” If we truly understand Christmas—that God became flesh—it will point our worship in the direction of awe and wonderment. This month we have been looking at Christmas not from the traditional passages, but other passages of Scripture that point to it. We looked at two passages in the Old Testament and now we will look at two in the New Testament today and next Sunday. This morning I want to look at the incarnation in a passage which truly gives us an understanding of what it meant for God to become flesh. What was required of God to become flesh and why did He become flesh? Before turning to our passage, let’s pray and ask God to speak to our hearts this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
If you have your Bible and I hope you do, please turn to Philippians 2. This morning I want to focus in on four verses in this chapter, verses 5-8. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Philippians 2:5-8,
“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5–8, NASB95)[1]
THE FORM OF GOD (Philippians 2:6)
This morning I want to begin with verse six of our passage of Scripture and then at the end of my message I will come back to verse five.
The apostle Paul writes that Jesus Christ existed in the form of God. When we think of the form of something we think of its shape and size, but we know that God is Spirit and so this cannot refer to size and shape. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words gives an excellent definition of the Greek word used here, “morphē [the Greek word used here] is therefore properly the nature or essence, not in the abstract, but as actually subsisting in the individual, and retained as long as the individual itself exists.”[2] So when Paul says that Jesus Christ existed in the form of God, he was declaring that Jesus Christ was in essence and nature God. This and many other Scriptures declare that before the incarnation Christ existed on an equality with God and was God, and there are passages that affirm His Deity after the incarnation, they establish the fact that Jesus Christ did not surrender His Deity or any attributes which essentially or naturally belong to God. John declared in the opening verse of his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1, NASB95)[3] John uses the Word to describe Jesus Christ as is seen later on in this chapter of John. Paul declared in his letter to the Colossians, in Colossians 2:9, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,” (Colossians 2:9, NASB95)[4]
Jesus Christ was and is and will always be God, yet Paul goes on to say in Philippians 2:6 that Jesus Christ did not regard His equality with God a thing to be grasped. Jesus Christ possessed all the rights, privileges, and honors of Deity, which He was worthy of and could never be disqualified from. His attitude, however, was not to clutch or hold on to those things or His position but to be willing to give them up for a period of time. He was willing, as the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 2:9, to be made for a little while lower than the angels. In this verse Paul reminds us that Jesus Christ is God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the self-existent, all-powerful, sovereign, and eternal God. This is who He is and who He was in eternity past and who He will be forever.
THE FORM OF A SERVANT (Philippians 2:7)
In verse 7 Paul begins with that little word “but” and this is where the incarnation comes in, this is where we see Christmas in the book of Philippians. Paul writes that Jesus Christ emptied Himself, what does that mean? He certainly did not empty Himself of His Deity or any of the attributes that make God, God. Jesus Christ never stopped being God. Nor does this mean that He exchanged His Deity for humanity. Jesus Christ did set aside His privileges in several areas. First, He set aside His heavenly glory, while He lived on this earth, he gave up that face-to-face relationship with God and the continuous outward display and personal enjoyment of that glory. Jesus prayed in His high priestly prayer in John 17:5, ““Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” (John 17:5, NASB95)[5] Second, He set aside His self-interest and during His incarnation Jesus Christ completely submitted Himself to the will His Father. Jesus declared this throughout His public ministry, in John 5:30 He said, ““I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 5:30, NASB95)[6] Third, Jesus Christ set aside His divine rights by not voluntarily displaying His divine attributes but submitting Himself to the Holy Spirit’s direction. Fourth, Jesus Christ set aside His eternal riches and was poor while He was on the earth. Fifth, Jesus Christ set aside His favorable relationship with God as He felt the Father’s wrath for human sin while He was on the cross. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB95)[7] God imputed our sin to Jesus Christ and poured out His wrath on Him on the cross until that wrath was exhausted and the just requirement of God’s law was met for those who believe in Jesus Christ. This is what is meant when it says that Jesus Christ emptied Himself, He set aside these things to take on the form of a bondservant.
And this word “form” used here is the identical word used in verse 6 in the phrase “form of God.” The nature and essence that actually exists in an individual, in this case, in a slave, is retained as long as the individual exists. Jesus Christ was, is and always will be everything that makes God, God, and here in verse 7 we learn that He is all and everything that makes a slave, a slave. Lewis Sperry Chafer writes, “It represents a divine arrangement, being designed and wrought by God. Christ was the Father’s gift to the world; yet He chose to come and to be subject to the will of Another. He delighted to do the Father’s will, both out of joyous obedience and because of His infinite understanding and vital participation in all that was proposed in the eternal counsels of God”[8]
God, the Creator of the universe, the Sustainer of all things, the self-existent, all-powerful, eternal One was born in the town of Bethlehem. He was born to be a slave, He was made in the likeness of men which simply means that He was a man, but at the same time He was God. He emptied Himself so that He could be born like any human baby is born, so that He could go through all the stages of learning to talk, learning to crawl, learning to walk, learning to do things with His hands. He was human just like you and me, but at the same time He was God. People could see Him, touch Him, and hear Him. Mary held Him, fed Him, changed His diaper, helped Him take His first steps just like our mothers did for us, but at the same time He was God. God visited planet earth in the person of His Son.
But why was the Sovereign of the universe found clothed in human flesh? This is the supreme question and if it is left unanswered there is no rationale for His existence as a man. The answer is not complex, Paul gave us the answer in verse 8, “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8, NASB95)[9] The Son of God was born to die, so that humanity might live. This is amazing, Jesus Christ, the Almighty Sovereign of the Universe, the One who created this universe and holds it all together so that it doesn’t just blow apart; emptied Himself of any self-interest, emptied Himself so that He could be conceived in the womb of a young virgin girl named Mary, be born and go through all the stages of growth, we often don’t think about that because the Gospels go from His birth to His manhood. Only Luke records one incident during His childhood when He was 12 years old. Jesus Christ speaking of His impending death said in John 12:27, “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.” (John 12:27, NASB95)[10] Paul is teaching us in this passage that Jesus Christ’s miraculous birth and substitutionary death are eternally linked. Simply the birth of baby Jesus meek and mild, separated from the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, can never be what this Christmas means to you and to me.
THE PERFECT HUMILITY (Philippians 2:8)
Once we understand this truth, once we have wrapped our minds around the fact that Jesus Christ was born to die and that the event of Christmas must include the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ on the cross, another question arises: What prompted such a sacrifice? Why did the eternal God become a man, a slave and die a criminal’s death? The answer is found in verse 8 where it says that He humbled Himself. The answer is both simple and mind-boggling at the same time. To humble yourself means to esteem others better than yourself. Do you understand what this means, do you grasp this truth? This truth for me is inexplicable, almost incomprehensible. I have trouble wrapping my finite mind around this truth. The sovereign, eternal God of the universe was born to die because He thought more highly of you and me than He thought of Himself. Oh, the magnitude of that thought, oh, what love, that God would think more highly of a sinner, than He did of Himself. Paul said it this way in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, NASB95)[11] What love for unlovely sinners. Paul described the incarnation of Jesus Christ this way in 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9, NASB95)[12] Rich beyond compare, co-heirs with Jesus Christ, the sovereign, eternal God of the universe.
CONCLUSION:
Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man was born to die because He esteemed unlovely sinners more highly than Himself. Because He thought more highly of you and me, than He did of Himself. He died for you and me because He thought we were worth saving. Anything that detracts, negates, or misdirects our worship from this central reason for the incarnation is a distortion of the Christmas message. Let us always remember this truth and always make it apart of the Good News of the Christmas message that Jesus Christ, God in flesh, was born to die so that we might live.
I promised that I would go back to verse five. Paul’s theme in this chapter is considering others more highly than yourselves and he uses the incarnation of Jesus Christ as the perfect example of humility, of esteeming others more highly than yourself. He begins by stating, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 2:5, NASB95)[13] Paul says we are to have this same attitude of humility in ourselves that we see in the Lord Jesus Christ displayed in His incarnation and substitutionary death. Jesus Christ in humility esteemed unlovely and unworthy sinners more highly than Himself. What better way to celebrate the Christmas season than becoming a servant to others, looking at people more highly than we look at ourselves. Jesus came in the flesh that He might give His life for us, what are you willing to sacrifice this Christmas so that others might see Jesus and experience the joy of salvation. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, may this attitude which was in Christ Jesus characterize each of us throughout the Christmas season and through the New Year.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]Vine, W. E., Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. McLean, VA : MacDonald Publishing Co.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]Chafer, Lewis Sperry, Systematic Theology, Volume I. Dallas, TX : Dallas Seminary Press, 1947.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.