Philippians 2:6-8
We are in the Advent/Christmas season and I know this is not your typical Christmas text. I confess my struggle during the week in preparing a message fit for the season for today. This is going to be our fourth Christmas as a church and when I checked, I have preached from all the Christmas texts so call. That is, the texts telling of the birth of Christ. I have preached from Luke’s account, from Matthew’s account and from John 1:14; so this Christmas season I don’t know what to do. And where we are in the gospel of John cannot preach a Christmas message. But the Lord was good to me. I found an appropriate text in what we read. Now when I first read Philippians 2:6-11, I thought to myself, this sounds like a confession or creed; so I tried to summarise it in my own words to read like a creed.
Jesus, the Son, the second person of the Trinity, though God, became man, lived in obedience to the father, died on the cross, resurrected, ascended to heaven and is now exalted by the Father above every authority and he is to be worshipped.
And to my joy, while checking up on a commentary on Philippians, it is actually said by scholars that those verses are considered as a hymn or confession to Christ which Paul incorporated into his writings.
Now the texts we read I believe speaks of things relevant to The Message Of Christmas. Though it is not as I said, a typical Christmas text. So I have simply titled this sermon The Message Of Christmas. And the relevant things I want us to consider from the text is Christ’s Divinity, Christ’s Humanity, Christ’s Humility and It’s Implications. I am hoping that we will be able to draw some comfort and joy from what Christ has done for us and that we will respond appropriately.
Christ’s Divinity (v.6)
Now for some, this is just holidays. But for us believers, it remind us of that great moment in history when God stepped into human history to save his people. The message of this season then is that God came into our world in the person of Jesus Christ, Look at how that is captured in the verse 6 “who though was in the form of God…” That points us to Christ’s Divinity. He possess the very nature of God, he was equal with God. He is God. God came to dwell among his people. Theologians call this the incarnation. Matthew recounts a fulfilment of prophecy saying
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us) (Matthew 1:23).
Christ’s Humanity (v.7)
Now though he is God, what did he do? Paul says, he became man (v.7). This is another profound message of Christmas: that God became man. That beats the human mind. We cannot easily grasp it. Christmas displays the Humanity of Christ who yet is God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
See, having taken upon himself human flesh, Jesus identifies with our sinfulness. He identifies with our weaknessess and brokeness. Christmas then we can say is hope for the hopeless. Joy for the one who has lost their joy. Peace for the troubled. Freedom to the oppressed. Love for the unloved. Salvation to sinners. Jesus identifies with us. There is something I want us to ponder over. In Psalm 103:14, David speaks of the fact that God shows compassion to us because he knows our frame that we are dust. That is to say, he understands our condition. He understands our weaknesses, sin and struggles. Then when you come to the New Testament also, we are told in Hebrews that Jesus is able to sympathise with us because he equally was tempted just like us yet without sin. The hymn writer says
What a friend we have in Jesus
all our sins and griefs to bear
what a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer
Dear friends, you and I can have hope in our struggles because we have a Saviour who identifies with us: “Come to me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” When all else in your life doesn’t make sense, know that there is one who understands you. You identifies with your pains. He understands your troubles and you can call on him
Jesus is the God-Man – hypostatic union
The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father’s glory, of one substance and equal with him who made the world, who upholdeth and governeth all things he hath made, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon him man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin; being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon her: and the power of the Most High overshadowing her; and so was made of a woman of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of Abraham and David according to the Scriptures; so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion; which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man.
Christ’s Humility (v.6-7)
Though he was God, he became man. He didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, that is something to hold on to firmly. He was willing to lay aside his divinity: He emptied himself. He put that right aside. There is an imagery we can picture in the life of Jesus to illustrate this. You remember during the last supper when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples? John tells us in John 13:3-4
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.
The imagery I want is the taking away his outer garment and taking on a towel to tie to his waist. Something was layed aside, and something was put on. He emptied himself. It doesn’t mean he stopped being God. But like Paul said, he didn’t consider it a thing to be grasped. In today’s words, it wasn’t a big deal for him.
You know how people can speak arrogantly in Ghana when they are in a place of authorithy or when they know someone in authorithy? Do you know who I am, I will show you where power lies…No, that was not the person of Jesus, he willingly laid aside his authorithy as God if you like. Notice what Paul said: “he emptied himself.” It was a move he took. It was something he did. He wasn’t forced to do it. Look at the last phrase of verse 7: “being born in the likeness of men.”
We know the events surruonding his birth. He took residence in the womb for 9months just like every other human being. He who created the process of childbirth subjected himself to the process. In the womb he was dependent on his mother. He drew nutrients from his mother. He went through the whole process we all went through. That’s mind boggling. It beats the human mind. No wonder some find it repulsive that God should become a man. Again, he wasn’t born in pomp and pagentary. We would expect that if he is God and a King, indeed he should be born in a magnificient palace. But no, he was born in an inn and placed in a manger; an animal feeding through. His birth was announced to Shepherds.
Why did all these happen?
For Our Salvation
The primary purpose of the birth of Christ. If you like, the primary reason for which he humbled himself was to die for the salvation of God’s people. The text points that to us: “he became obedient to the point of death; even death on the cross” (v.8). Jesus was not only humble in his birth, but also his death on the cross was a testament to his humility. We could say Jesus was born so he will die to save sinners. Why was his death on the cross considered humility? Because death on the cross was the highest form of death reserved for criminals. And Jesus was treated as such. But we are the criminals. We are the ones who have broken God’s law, yet the punishment due us was placed on Christ.
Matthew 1:21 tells us that the birth of Christ is for the salvation of God’s people from sin: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” This is all we celebrate this Christmas. The fulfillment of God’s promise for the salvation of sinners. He was born to die to save sinners. He died on the cross, ressurected so that those who will put their trust in him will be saved. There is a line in the carol Hark The Herald Angels sing worth noting
Hark The Herald Angels Sing
Glory to the new-born king
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled
Joyful all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With angelic host proclaim”
Christ is born in Bethlehem”
Hark! The herald angels sing”
Glory to the new-born king”
God and sinners reconciled! That’s the line I am after. In Jesus’ incarnation, God and sinner are reconciled. Jesus is the mediator who has broken the enmity between God and sinners. If you are in Christ, you are no longer an enemy of God. You have been reconciled
For An Example in Imitating Christ (v.5)
Observe in the verse 5, that the reason for which Paul cited the work of Christ is for the Philippians to imitate Christ: “Have this mind among yourselves” (v.5). Paul is prescribing how the Philippians are to live based on the work Christ has done on the cross. He points to the humility of Christ and asks the Phillipians to do same. Our observation and celebration of Christmas then must show towards how we relate to one another. It must reflect what Conrad Mbewe calls “The One Another Commands”
The New Testament is full of “one another” commands. They are divine and apostolic appeals to Christians which point to the fact that Christians are responsible to act in specific ways towards other believers. Here are some of them: “love one another” (John 13:34), “edify one another” (Col 3:16), “honor one another” (Romans 12:10)… “encourage one another” (1Thess. 4:18), “do not slander one another” (James 5:9)
And here in Phillipians, we see some of the things we can describe as “One Another Commands” I have made a list from vv.2-5
Unity and Love among brethren (v.2) We are to live in Unity and Love ourselves because of the work of Christ
Selflesness (vv.3-4). We are not to think of only our interest. Let’s think of the interest of others
Humility (v.5) We must be humble.
For His Exaltation and Worship
Jesus is Lord and King. He is exalted by the Father. Sitting at the right hand of the Father in power and authority. Because of this, he is to be worshipped (v.10). All power and authority is under him and he deserves our worship and deserves our praise.
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