Sermons

Why Does the Humility of Christmas Matter?

Grace Christian Fellowship

Philippians 2:1-11

Introduction:

If you have your Bible I’d ask you to go ahead and turn with me to the book of

Philippians, Chapter 2, as we will look closely at verses 1 through 11. One thing

that I have noticed about the Christmas season is that we tend to get really fancy

around Christmas. We will dress up to go to dinner parties or Church events. We

will make fancy dishes and candies that are reserved for this special time of year.

We will buy elaborate gifts and spends piles of money as we give these gifts to

one another, or to our family, and children. Christmas is a fancy time of year

because we have really made it that way. And maybe that is okay, maybe not, that

is not my point.

I will never forget a company I worked for in college as an intern sent me an

invitation for their annual Christmas party. It was going to be held at the

clubhouse of this extremely exclusive golfing community. Now I was country, and

I was in college and frankly I was broke. But Brooke and I decided that we should

go. It was the kind of place that parks your car for you when you get there whether

you want them to or not. I remember the inside looked like a castle with stone

walls and gas lanterns on the wall. The decorations were elaborate with a giant

Chrismas tree. White table cloths everywhere. And I was walking down the hall

with Brooke and we rounded the corner and standing right there was none other

than US senator Richard Shelby. And I remember I just froze up. He must have

seen that I was star struck so he walks over to shake my hand and say hello and I

will never forget what I said to him... “Nice”. That was it. “Nice”. I was

somewhere between, nice to meet you, but then I second guessed myself and the

whole thing was incredibly award. You see Christmas is fancy, but I’m not really

a fancy person as you can tell from that story. And what I want us to see is that

fancy really shouldn’t be how we describe the true Christmas story at all. A much

2

better word to describe Christmas as we see it in Scripture is humble. And today I

want to show you why that matters.

Now Paul writes this leter to the church at Philippi from a jail cell. His future is

uncertain. The is a living example of the persecution that Christians can expect as

the follow Christ. And it is in that place that he writes this letter.

He realizes he may never see them again, and that they will certainly endure

persecution. And he makes a statement in 1:27 that is really the idea that our text

is pointing to. His is the verse.

[Phl 1:27 ESV] 27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ,

so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are

standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the

gospel

His main concern is that this church be found living in a manner that is worth of

the gospel of Christ. Now like many churches they had some challenges. This was

a very diverse church, with people from all sorts of backgrounds. They probably

had some disagreements on theological issues, and secondary matters within the

church as we all do. With all of these difference Paul realizes that they must be a

church that is united in Christ. So Paul urges them to live lives that are worthy of

the Gospel in unity. Now I don’t know about you, but I can certainly look at

myself sometimes, at my failures, at my flaws, and I find that I can’t really say

that is the case. So Paul begins in verse 1 with some encouragement for us. Firstly,

Paul lays out the motivation for unity.

The verse begins with a conjunction “So”. Which points us back to what Paul has

just said in Chapter 1.

[Phl 2:1 ESV] 1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from

love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,

3

This first motivation is encouragement in Christ. The word to come along side and

help one another. We are called as a body to be encouragers. Then he says comfort

from love.

This love is genuine love that we are called to have. It is a close relationship with

one another. That because we have been loved by God we give that same love to

others.

The third motivation he gives in participation in the Spirit. I think if we dwell on

the reality that as believers we are indwelled with the Holy Spirit it would really

start to effect the way we live. When we look at the OT temple and we see that

now our bodies have replaced that place because now God resides inside of us,

Paul says let this motivate you to have unity. We all share that reality.

And lastly we have affection and sympathy. It can be thought of as compassion.

The Greek word is tide to the word bowels. It’s like caring to the point we can feel

it in our gut. We are called to be compassionate for one another. To care what one

another are going thru. I’m remined when the multitudes were following Jesus,

and Matthew say Jesus looked out over the crowd and had compassion for them.

[Phl 2:2 ESV] 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same

love, being in full accord and of one mind.

And now that we have been motivated to unity with one another Paul gives us

another list for “how to” section. These are the means to unity. First he says we

are to have the “Same mind”. Now we can have the same mind, and if it is the

wrong mind then we are still in trouble. So we look over to Colossians and we see

this

[Col 3:1-2 ESV] 1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that

are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on

things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

We are to all together called to have a Kingdom mindset. That is to be our focus.

This means our focus is on sharing the gospel, on missions, on making disciples

primarily. Sure we can do some other stuff along the way, but our primary focus

4

should be on building God’s Heavenly Kingdom. That focus unites us like a

runner that keeps his eye on the finish line.

The next means to unity is to have the same love. The greeks had multiple words

for love and Paul chooses to use agape here. This is a love of will, not of attraction

or preference. We are called to love one another equally. This can certainly be a

challenge because some of us are easier to love than others. But we see that unity

comes when we practice love for all within the church.

And the third means to unity is having on accord and one mind. This is to say that

we have the same purpose. He basically says you are to think on one thing.

[Phl 2:3 ESV] 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility

count others more significant than yourselves.

And fourthly, be humble. In verse three Paul really sets two ideas against each

other that can represent the way we treat one another. First we can be motivated

by selfish ambition or I can be motivated by humility.

Selfishness is a tricky one because I think we all can struggle with it. The reality is

that maybe you have learned to not be selfish on the outside, but inside you can

still struggle with it. We learn how to mask it, but it’s still there.

When you think about the phrase, “love God, and love people”, you can tend to

check those boxes and go, yep I do that. Check! But the real struggle comes when

you consider how well do you do that. In fact we have this example in Scripture.

In Luke 10 we have the parable of the Good Samaritan. And you know that story

where we have this man who was beaten by robbers and left for dead in the road.

And three would be heros come by. The preist ignores him, the Levite ignores

him, but then comes the Samaritan.

Now the key to really understanding this parable comes in answering the question

why did Jesus tell it in the first place? What question was he answering?

5

[Luk 10:25-29 ESV] 25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test,

saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 He said to him, "What

is written in the Law? How do you read it?" 27 And he answered, "You shall love

the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your

strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." 28 And he said to

him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live." 29 But he, desiring

to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus could have said like we have in Philippians, count others as more significant

than yourself. It’s the same idea. Now the lawer checks the boxes and he says yep I

do that. Have a nice day. But when Paul says the same thing here to the church I

want to pause and make sure we don’t just check the box.

And this is what the parable is really about. Remember what the Samaritan man

does for this unfortunate random stranger? The text says he doctored his wounds

with oil and wine. He gave him his transportation. He took him to an inn and cared

from him. He left money a substantial amount of money with the innkeeper with

instructions that he would pay any of the man’s bills when he returned.

Whoa! We didn’t expect that! Why on earth would this man be so generous? But

there is the point. Nobody in their right mind would do this for a stranger.

Somebody you don’t even know. In fact there is probably only one person on this

Earth that you would do that for. Who is it? Me. I would get myself medical

attention. I would ensure that I had a place to stay. I would get myself all the

medicine and food that I needed because I care about me. Jesus’ point is when you

think about the ask to “love your neighbor as yourself” that’s hard to do. I’d even

say impossible to do without God.

Paul says [Phl 2:4 ESV] 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but

also to the interests of others.

There is no greater example of this kind of love than what we have in the

Christmas story

6

[Phl 2:5-6 ESV] 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,

Paul begins by saying we are to have “this mind”. This should be our focus as we

seek to love God as we seek to love people our mind should be focused on what

Christ has done for us. Not just so we can think about it, but so that it can motivate

our actions to others.

Jesus from eternity past existed in the form of God.

[Jhn 1:1-3 ESV] 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were

made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

He is the second person of the trinity. Who always existed in perfect fellowship

with the Father and the Spirit. Nothing was missing, nothing was broken, there was

absolute and perfect union. In this union there was absolute power, and knowledge,

and peace. His existence was above time and without limit.

[Isa 57:15 ESV] 15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits

eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with

him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to

revive the heart of the contrite.

Unlike Lucifer, there was no ambition or selfish motivation in him.

[Phl 2:6 ESV] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality

with God a thing to be grasped,

And here we have it. Christmas. Look at verse 7.

[Phl 2:7 ESV] 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in

the likeness of men.

7

Paul says he “emptied himself”. He willingly and humbly set aside some of the

attributes in order to take on flesh. He was in the most high place, with more than

we could ever imagine or conceive yet all of it he gave up.

I think the greatest thing about Christianity is that Jesus never asks us to do

anything he wasn’t willing to himself. Paul’s plea here is for humility. In

comparison to what Jesus gave up, we literally have nothing to give up.

So how humble did Jesus get when he came into the world? He was born to an

otherwise insignificant family. His mother, young, unmarried girl. His earthly

father a mere carpenter. Not a religious leader. No wealth no power. His hometown

of Nazareth was a punch line of jokes.

The night of his birth was chaotic because the world was consumed with activity

that had nothing to do with him. The God of the universe would be born among

animals in a stable. There would be no room for him inside.

Mary had no place to lay him other than a feeding trough for animals. Even his first

visitors were not from the synagogue but just some lowly shepherds. The lowest

rung of the social order.

He did not enter the world as a grown man, which he certainly could have done,

but he entered the world as a tiny baby in the worst of conditions.

God could have caused this incarnation of the Son to be done anyway he wanted,

but this is what he chose to do. Intentionally placing his one and only son in the

lowest position humanly possible.

And this is the real meaning of Christmas. It’s not fancy parties, clothes, gifts, it is

that the God of the universe came low. How low did he get? He got very very low.

CS Lewis said it this way. In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend. He

comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down

into humanity . . . down to the very roots and sea-bed of the Nature He has created.

But He goes down to come up again and bring the ruined world up with Him. One

8

has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath

some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost

disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off

with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders.

This is Christmas. Real Christmas. That the God of the universe came down so low

that he was able to pick me up, and he is able to pick you up.

[Phl 2:8 ESV] 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by

becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

“he humble himself”. Don’t lose sight of Paul’s point in all of this was that this is

an illustration of what we are supposed to do for others. He said “have this mind

among yourselves”. How humble do I need to be. How generous do I need to be.

How much time and money do I need to give. Jesus gave the ultimate example.

Jesus life was a life of perfect obedience to the Father’s will. He taught this lesson

as an infant. He taught this lesson throughout his life. Remember when his

disciples were arguing about who was gonna be the one to stoop down and wash

everybody’s feet. The lowest job that was fit only for a servant. It was Jesus who

did it.

If we want to have unity in the church, if want the world to be blown away by the

power of the church, if we want the world to see the real majesty of Christmas then

I am convinced we need to do exactly what Paul proposed and humble ourselves to

be like Christ.

Ask musicians and Lord’s supper people to come.

Lord’s Supper

Closing Prayer.

Read More