1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,460 Speaker: That, but we are so thankful for you guys being here. 2 00:00:02,760 --> 00:00:05,849 This kid's Christmas choir was a lot of work and I, I think 3 00:00:05,849 --> 00:00:07,589 it was, was work well worth it? 4 00:00:07,620 --> 00:00:09,419 It was, uh, adorable seeing them up there. 5 00:00:09,660 --> 00:00:12,389 But again, as I said at the very beginning of this, if you weren't with 6 00:00:12,389 --> 00:00:14,369 us, uh, there's a message conveyed there. 7 00:00:14,424 --> 00:00:17,220 This is not just about us saying, well, it's Christmas time. 8 00:00:17,220 --> 00:00:19,349 This is traditional, so we want to do something cute. 9 00:00:19,349 --> 00:00:21,090 There's a, a message that is. 10 00:00:21,509 --> 00:00:25,529 Being communicated through these tiny voices that are up here on the stage. 11 00:00:25,529 --> 00:00:28,770 And, and we'll be honest, y'all, I think the world sometimes looks at 12 00:00:28,770 --> 00:00:32,100 the church and says, man, the church is, is brainwashing or indoctrinating 13 00:00:32,100 --> 00:00:33,900 these children, uh, listen. 14 00:00:34,305 --> 00:00:39,435 Uh, if we believe that heaven and hell exists and we believe that all souls will 15 00:00:39,435 --> 00:00:44,355 either spend eternity in heaven or in hell, uh, we would be foolish not to teach 16 00:00:44,355 --> 00:00:48,195 our young ones about Jesus Christ as the only way, the truth and the life, and the 17 00:00:48,195 --> 00:00:50,055 only path to heaven and hell or to heaven. 18 00:00:50,055 --> 00:00:54,105 That is so we make no apologies about the fact that we are teaching. 19 00:00:54,740 --> 00:00:58,970 About Jesus teaching them about the fact that there is salvation found in no one 20 00:00:58,970 --> 00:01:02,720 else other than Jesus Christ and teaching them that the Bible is the word of God. 21 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:06,020 And so, uh, this is some of the fruits of the labors of our kids men team. 22 00:01:06,260 --> 00:01:08,060 We do scripture memory here together. 23 00:01:08,060 --> 00:01:10,160 And so it's gonna be fill in the blank this week. 24 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:12,380 So those are gonna be up on the screen here, I believe. 25 00:01:12,500 --> 00:01:13,789 And so we can do it together. 26 00:01:13,789 --> 00:01:20,150 Luke two, 10 through 11 says this, and the angel said to them, fear not for. 27 00:01:22,030 --> 00:01:28,980 Behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people, for 28 00:01:28,980 --> 00:01:36,479 unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. 29 00:01:36,509 --> 00:01:37,170 Good job. 30 00:01:37,229 --> 00:01:37,650 Good job. 31 00:01:37,950 --> 00:01:39,990 Next week we're gonna do that without the fill in the blanks. 32 00:01:40,020 --> 00:01:41,670 It's just gonna be blank all blank. 33 00:01:41,670 --> 00:01:42,000 So. 34 00:01:42,539 --> 00:01:46,470 Um, Bible memory app fighter verses whatever you use, index cards you 35 00:01:46,470 --> 00:01:48,150 can get to, to memorizing that. 36 00:01:48,150 --> 00:01:51,180 But we love God's word here and, uh, we're gonna give our 37 00:01:51,180 --> 00:01:52,470 attention to that right now. 38 00:01:52,470 --> 00:01:54,300 So if you've got your Bibles with you, go ahead and open 39 00:01:54,300 --> 00:01:56,310 up to Philippians chapter two. 40 00:01:56,759 --> 00:01:57,555 You're saying, wait a minute, this is a Christmas. 41 00:01:58,580 --> 00:01:59,210 Series. 42 00:01:59,210 --> 00:02:02,960 This is Christmas season and we're gonna look at the Christmas story, but 43 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:06,740 we're gonna look at the Christmas story through the lens of the Apostle Paul. 44 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,300 Uh, the apostle Paul wasn't there when Jesus was born, but 45 00:02:11,300 --> 00:02:12,980 the apostle Paul did meet Jesus. 46 00:02:13,070 --> 00:02:17,360 He did meet Jesus after Jesus's resurrection while Paul was on the road, 47 00:02:17,690 --> 00:02:20,180 uh, to Damascus, to persecute the church. 48 00:02:20,180 --> 00:02:21,290 God saved Paul. 49 00:02:21,290 --> 00:02:24,440 And so Paul met Jesus and that changed his life. 50 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:27,230 And so Paul is gonna talk to us about the birth of Jesus in 51 00:02:27,230 --> 00:02:28,190 Philippians chapter two, but. 52 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:31,140 I want you to think about these, these cute kids that were on stage 53 00:02:31,140 --> 00:02:33,780 a minute ago dressed super well. 54 00:02:33,780 --> 00:02:36,359 Their hair was quaffed just perfectly. 55 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:39,480 Uh, some of y'all moms may have emptied a couple of cans of hairspray 56 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,239 on some of those boys' heads just to get their hair to, to stay right in 57 00:02:42,239 --> 00:02:43,769 spot the way, way it needed to do. 58 00:02:44,070 --> 00:02:44,880 You did a good job. 59 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:49,230 They look great, but I, I had three of my kids up there and I can tell you, 60 00:02:49,500 --> 00:02:53,459 uh, they look better up here than they normally do on a regular basis, right? 61 00:02:53,984 --> 00:02:56,025 And that can be true of us, right? 62 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,805 It, it, it's so often easy for us to show up someplace like this at, at 63 00:02:59,805 --> 00:03:04,425 church or to go to a family function with, you know, or, or to a work party 64 00:03:04,425 --> 00:03:08,415 or someplace that where, where we're out and we're away from our comfort zone. 65 00:03:08,505 --> 00:03:12,704 And when we're there, it's not hard for us to dress up, to try to look a 66 00:03:12,704 --> 00:03:17,234 certain way, to try to put ourselves out as, as being a certain type of person. 67 00:03:18,315 --> 00:03:20,595 What's harder is when we consider our family. 68 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:24,660 What's harder is when we consider those that we're around every 69 00:03:24,660 --> 00:03:28,950 single day, those that we let our guard down around, those that we 70 00:03:28,950 --> 00:03:31,110 feel like we don't have to impress. 71 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,110 Uh, those are the people that get the real us. 72 00:03:35,010 --> 00:03:39,720 And as we think about what it means to follow Jesus, following Jesus, 73 00:03:40,050 --> 00:03:44,430 which is our goal as, as Christians, at least following Jesus is, is 74 00:03:44,430 --> 00:03:49,110 not just following Jesus when it's easier for us to look a certain way. 75 00:03:49,530 --> 00:03:55,859 Or to sound a certain way or to dress up or to clean ourselves up 76 00:03:55,859 --> 00:03:57,239 for church or whatever it may be. 77 00:03:57,869 --> 00:04:01,109 Now following Jesus is following Jesus with our entire lives. 78 00:04:02,070 --> 00:04:05,160 And this morning as, as we think about Christmas reminders and we think 79 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:10,049 about this baby that was sent to do great things because God has indeed 80 00:04:10,049 --> 00:04:11,700 done great things through Jesus. 81 00:04:12,478 --> 00:04:14,940 I want us to to think about how he came. 82 00:04:15,825 --> 00:04:17,084 He didn't come on the war deed. 83 00:04:17,774 --> 00:04:21,375 He didn't come into to to the palace. 84 00:04:21,584 --> 00:04:25,095 He didn't come to immediately claim his rightful position 85 00:04:25,095 --> 00:04:26,205 as the Lord of the universe. 86 00:04:26,205 --> 00:04:28,485 He came as a baby, and our text is gonna tell us. 87 00:04:28,485 --> 00:04:32,715 He came as a baby to humble himself by becoming obedient to the point 88 00:04:32,715 --> 00:04:34,665 of death, even death on a cross. 89 00:04:34,665 --> 00:04:38,205 And he did that out of a love for us. 90 00:04:38,205 --> 00:04:40,275 That's unlike a love that we have ever known. 91 00:04:41,295 --> 00:04:44,055 And so as you think about following him this Christmas. 92 00:04:45,105 --> 00:04:48,465 And that idea that, again, following Jesus is not just when it's easy, but it's 93 00:04:48,465 --> 00:04:50,325 following Jesus with our entire lives. 94 00:04:50,655 --> 00:04:54,045 I want you to ask the question about how are you following Jesus 95 00:04:54,045 --> 00:04:57,315 right now with those people that you don't feel like you have to impress? 96 00:04:58,215 --> 00:05:00,315 What does your Christianity look like at home? 97 00:05:01,335 --> 00:05:03,195 In fact, I, I wanna suggest this. 98 00:05:03,645 --> 00:05:05,925 The Christian you are at home is the Christian. 99 00:05:05,925 --> 00:05:10,245 You really are the, the Christian you are around the people that you're 100 00:05:10,245 --> 00:05:12,675 not worried about them going anywhere because they're flesh and blood. 101 00:05:13,425 --> 00:05:16,815 The people that, that you're gonna be around a lot over the next few weeks 102 00:05:16,815 --> 00:05:18,405 because school's about to let out. 103 00:05:18,405 --> 00:05:19,605 It's Christmas season. 104 00:05:19,605 --> 00:05:22,425 You're gonna spend time around family because that's what we do around family. 105 00:05:22,935 --> 00:05:25,965 I want you to think about how you are following the example that we're gonna 106 00:05:25,965 --> 00:05:30,255 read about of Jesus this Christmas and ask, who's the Christian my family 107 00:05:30,255 --> 00:05:34,815 knows me to be, not who's the Christian my church knows me to be, not who's 108 00:05:34,815 --> 00:05:38,835 the Christian, you know, my, my kids' private school or the co-op or whatever. 109 00:05:38,835 --> 00:05:40,065 That not, not that person. 110 00:05:41,010 --> 00:05:43,890 Who do those that are closest to me, who I don't feel like I have to impress? 111 00:05:44,070 --> 00:05:46,229 Who do they know me to be as a follower of Christ? 112 00:05:46,289 --> 00:05:46,950 Do they know me? 113 00:05:46,950 --> 00:05:50,070 To be the follower of the one that came as a baby, born in the likeness 114 00:05:50,070 --> 00:05:52,530 of men, to humble himself to the point of death, even death on a cross? 115 00:05:52,890 --> 00:05:55,620 Philippians chapter two, if you're not there, go ahead and turn there 116 00:05:55,710 --> 00:05:58,979 and we're gonna begin in verse five. 117 00:05:59,940 --> 00:06:02,490 Philippians two, five says this, have this mind among yourselves, 118 00:06:02,490 --> 00:06:04,020 which is yours in Christ Jesus. 119 00:06:04,845 --> 00:06:07,935 Who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing 120 00:06:07,935 --> 00:06:12,105 to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, 121 00:06:12,345 --> 00:06:14,835 being born in the likeness of men. 122 00:06:16,035 --> 00:06:21,885 This is one of the thickest theological passages in all of Paul's writing. 123 00:06:23,445 --> 00:06:26,175 He begins saying, have this mind among yourselves. 124 00:06:26,175 --> 00:06:29,745 It's, it's a callback to what he said in verses one through four of Philippians 125 00:06:29,745 --> 00:06:33,945 chapter two, where he has encouraged, in fact urged us as followers of 126 00:06:33,945 --> 00:06:39,405 Christ to be united in the way that we think, united in mind and affection 127 00:06:39,405 --> 00:06:42,885 and sympathy, and to have the, the same mind and the same love to be. 128 00:06:43,025 --> 00:06:47,765 Full accord and to do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in 129 00:06:47,765 --> 00:06:51,724 humility to count others more significant than ourselves, and to let each of 130 00:06:51,724 --> 00:06:56,315 us not look to our own interest, but also look to the interest of others. 131 00:06:56,614 --> 00:07:00,724 Paul says that mind is to be yours and it's to be yours in Christ. 132 00:07:01,354 --> 00:07:05,044 In other words, to live that way is really only possible for somebody who's been 133 00:07:05,224 --> 00:07:09,544 impacted by and transformed by Jesus, and the reason being is because this is 134 00:07:09,544 --> 00:07:11,375 the way that Jesus first lived for us. 135 00:07:11,895 --> 00:07:16,245 And that's the transition that Paul's making here from the plea to the paradigm. 136 00:07:16,335 --> 00:07:19,485 I want you to have this mind in yourselves and, and look to Jesus. 137 00:07:19,485 --> 00:07:21,405 Jesus lived this perfectly for us. 138 00:07:21,405 --> 00:07:22,365 And how did he do it? 139 00:07:22,365 --> 00:07:25,575 Well, he goes on to say, this is yours in Christ Jesus, who 140 00:07:25,575 --> 00:07:29,505 though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God. 141 00:07:29,505 --> 00:07:34,005 A thing to be grasped to, to grasp that word there means 142 00:07:34,005 --> 00:07:35,655 to hold on for selfish gain. 143 00:07:36,270 --> 00:07:40,110 It's not to hold on for life, but it's to hold onto something and say, I'm not 144 00:07:40,110 --> 00:07:43,380 willing to give this up because if I give this up then it's going to cause me to 145 00:07:43,380 --> 00:07:45,120 to suffer and I don't want to suffer. 146 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:46,680 So I'm gonna hold onto this. 147 00:07:47,430 --> 00:07:52,800 Paul says, though, he was in the form of God, form is the Greek word, morphe, 148 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:57,450 where we get our English word morph morphology to to be like in appearance, 149 00:07:57,450 --> 00:08:00,360 but not just appearance, but he goes on to say the form of God did not count 150 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:02,280 equality with God a thing to be grasped. 151 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:06,870 That Jesus Christ did not just simply appear he wasn't similar to God. 152 00:08:06,870 --> 00:08:12,000 He wasn't similar in appearance to God, but he was God equal with the Father. 153 00:08:12,750 --> 00:08:15,150 I've got identical twins that were up here on stage. 154 00:08:15,150 --> 00:08:17,250 One of them was the shepherd wearing the fake beard. 155 00:08:17,250 --> 00:08:17,700 It's fake. 156 00:08:17,700 --> 00:08:18,270 Don't worry. 157 00:08:20,010 --> 00:08:23,669 Anyways, they are used to, their names are Sam and John, and you can 158 00:08:23,669 --> 00:08:26,849 really throw either name at either one of them because as identical 159 00:08:26,849 --> 00:08:30,479 twins, they've existed in the form of one another for their entire lives. 160 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:33,989 And so people mix them up all the time, and so you can call one 161 00:08:33,989 --> 00:08:36,479 by Sam or John and they'll turn around now, they'll correct you. 162 00:08:36,479 --> 00:08:39,030 They'll be like, I'm not John, I'm Sam, or I'm not Sam. 163 00:08:39,030 --> 00:08:39,419 I'm John. 164 00:08:40,198 --> 00:08:42,299 But they are not the same. 165 00:08:42,299 --> 00:08:45,719 In essence, they are not the same in nature, the way that 166 00:08:45,719 --> 00:08:48,814 the son existed in the form of God and was equal to the father. 167 00:08:49,545 --> 00:08:55,305 This is a, a, a depth of equality that, that Paul's stressing here. 168 00:08:55,305 --> 00:08:56,444 And, and he did not. 169 00:08:56,444 --> 00:08:59,415 It says, count equality with God, a thing to be grasped. 170 00:08:59,685 --> 00:09:02,144 Jesus, in other words, did not consider that something that he 171 00:09:02,144 --> 00:09:03,824 could hold onto for selfish gain. 172 00:09:03,884 --> 00:09:07,665 And the reality is if anyone could've, Jesus could've, right? 173 00:09:08,055 --> 00:09:10,634 If anyone had a right to say, I, I'm, I'm good. 174 00:09:10,634 --> 00:09:12,435 Where I'm at, it was Jesus. 175 00:09:12,435 --> 00:09:13,180 It was the son of God. 176 00:09:14,219 --> 00:09:18,000 Yet Paul says he did not count that something to be grasped, but he goes on 177 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:19,469 and he says something that's massive. 178 00:09:19,469 --> 00:09:21,270 He says he emptied himself. 179 00:09:21,810 --> 00:09:24,989 He emptied himself by taking the form of a servant and being 180 00:09:24,989 --> 00:09:26,459 born in the likeness of men. 181 00:09:27,689 --> 00:09:33,510 This phrase to to empty himself has created a lot of 182 00:09:33,510 --> 00:09:35,395 questions with the church. 183 00:09:35,625 --> 00:09:37,474 What does it mean that Jesus emptied himself? 184 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:41,280 And, and one thing we have to guard against is an improper 185 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:42,990 understanding of the nature of Jesus. 186 00:09:43,319 --> 00:09:47,040 And so we can't allow us to, to begin to think that Jesus emptying 187 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:51,540 himself mean that Jesus became less God or that Jesus gave up some of 188 00:09:51,540 --> 00:09:53,370 his godness when he came to earth. 189 00:09:53,910 --> 00:09:55,680 He wasn't emptying by losing. 190 00:09:55,680 --> 00:09:59,040 But in fact, what Paul says here is he was emptying by adding. 191 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:00,990 What in the world does that mean? 192 00:10:00,990 --> 00:10:06,810 Well, he was emptying himself by Paul says, taking on the form of a servant 193 00:10:06,810 --> 00:10:08,939 and being born in the likeness of men. 194 00:10:09,570 --> 00:10:12,780 So Jesus emptying himself was actually an emptying by addition. 195 00:10:13,230 --> 00:10:17,400 It, it's like this, uh, Jesus existed in the form of God. 196 00:10:17,610 --> 00:10:21,030 He was equal with God the father, and, and the Bible says that, 197 00:10:21,030 --> 00:10:23,520 no, I can see God and live. 198 00:10:24,224 --> 00:10:29,324 And, and so if we were to have had the son of God come to earth even as a baby, 199 00:10:29,834 --> 00:10:36,014 and yet not veil his full glory in the true humanity that he took on, then he 200 00:10:36,014 --> 00:10:41,084 would've immediately consumed every single person within the face of the planet. 201 00:10:41,954 --> 00:10:45,104 The, the glory of God and the sinfulness of man cannot coexist. 202 00:10:46,019 --> 00:10:49,829 And so for God to carry out the great things that he had planned, 203 00:10:49,829 --> 00:10:53,609 this mission that he had planned for Jesus to come as a savior, Jesus had 204 00:10:53,609 --> 00:10:58,319 to willingly empty himself by adding to his true deity, true humanity. 205 00:10:59,069 --> 00:11:00,300 You can think about it this way. 206 00:11:00,300 --> 00:11:03,689 He veiled the fullness of his glory behind the fullness of his flesh. 207 00:11:04,560 --> 00:11:09,480 Such that the son of God, God in the flesh, was born as a baby. 208 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:11,820 It says taking the form of a servant. 209 00:11:11,820 --> 00:11:15,630 That word form of is the same word for form used earlier, the form of God. 210 00:11:15,630 --> 00:11:19,590 Now he's in the form of a servant, explained further being 211 00:11:19,590 --> 00:11:20,700 born in the likeness of men. 212 00:11:21,420 --> 00:11:24,510 That word servant is the Greek word, do loss, which means slave. 213 00:11:24,510 --> 00:11:29,160 It's a lowly position that Paul is emphasizing here, and so you've 214 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:33,480 got the son of God without losing anything from his essence as God. 215 00:11:34,350 --> 00:11:39,750 Willingly condescending to us by taking to himself our frail human nature. 216 00:11:40,500 --> 00:11:44,310 John described it in his birth account this way, and the word became flesh. 217 00:11:45,795 --> 00:11:47,175 That's what Paul's talking about here. 218 00:11:47,564 --> 00:11:51,645 He emptied himself and took on the form of a servant being found or 219 00:11:51,645 --> 00:11:53,265 being born in the likeness of men. 220 00:11:53,474 --> 00:11:56,805 This is what's known in theological circles as big word 221 00:11:56,805 --> 00:11:59,055 here, the hypostatic union. 222 00:11:59,564 --> 00:12:02,805 And it's important for us to understand this because it's integral to our 223 00:12:02,805 --> 00:12:04,935 understanding of of Jesus as our savior. 224 00:12:05,354 --> 00:12:07,365 Jesus was not two in one. 225 00:12:07,365 --> 00:12:09,584 The way that your shampoo and conditioner are two in one. 226 00:12:10,709 --> 00:12:11,099 Right. 227 00:12:11,519 --> 00:12:16,409 Jesus was truly God and truly man, without any intermingling, without 228 00:12:16,409 --> 00:12:20,670 any mixing, without any loss on either one of those natures that 229 00:12:20,670 --> 00:12:24,959 Jesus came and took on full and true humanity to his full and true deity. 230 00:12:24,959 --> 00:12:29,550 And those two natures existed in the one person Jesus Christ, that's 231 00:12:29,550 --> 00:12:31,769 known as the Hypostatic Union. 232 00:12:31,769 --> 00:12:35,729 And the reason this is a tier one issue is because without his true 233 00:12:35,729 --> 00:12:37,769 humanity, he wouldn't be our savior. 234 00:12:40,079 --> 00:12:44,040 And so we have to understand this, this humbling, this humiliation, 235 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:48,540 this sacrifice of God the son, to not count equality with God. 236 00:12:48,540 --> 00:12:53,339 A thing to be grasped, but emptying himself to be found, to be formed, to 237 00:12:53,339 --> 00:12:55,800 be found in the, the form of a servant, to be born in the likeness of men. 238 00:12:56,069 --> 00:12:58,439 That that was necessary if we were gonna be saved. 239 00:12:59,310 --> 00:13:00,689 You guys ever seen the show, undercover Boss? 240 00:13:01,859 --> 00:13:02,069 Okay. 241 00:13:02,369 --> 00:13:05,489 It gets me, I tear up at the end when he's, they, they're always like, we're 242 00:13:05,489 --> 00:13:08,579 gonna pay for your college tuition and all your kids are gonna drive 243 00:13:08,579 --> 00:13:10,049 Ferraris for the rest of their life. 244 00:13:10,049 --> 00:13:12,930 And you know, it, I, it gets, it hits me in the heart. 245 00:13:12,959 --> 00:13:15,869 'cause I'm like, oh man, they, they, they were working so hard and now you 246 00:13:15,869 --> 00:13:17,069 went undercover and now they're there. 247 00:13:17,789 --> 00:13:20,999 When the undercover boss goes undercover, he is playing a. 248 00:13:22,169 --> 00:13:28,139 He's playing and, and trying to play it off as though that he or she is, uh, uh, 249 00:13:28,169 --> 00:13:29,939 just a regular Joe, just a regular worker. 250 00:13:29,939 --> 00:13:31,050 Just a regular employee. 251 00:13:31,469 --> 00:13:33,869 And so they'll go through the various jobs and they'll talk to people and 252 00:13:33,869 --> 00:13:35,999 they'll buddy up next to him and they'll talk to him about what works 253 00:13:35,999 --> 00:13:37,229 like and everything else like that. 254 00:13:37,769 --> 00:13:42,419 And, and they're, they're passing themselves off as just a regular person. 255 00:13:43,529 --> 00:13:46,379 When Jesus came, he didn't come that way. 256 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:49,859 Jesus didn't come just trying to pass himself off as one of us. 257 00:13:51,165 --> 00:13:56,865 The wonder of the incarnation is Jesus came as one of us, the full son of God. 258 00:13:57,464 --> 00:13:58,245 True deity. 259 00:13:58,425 --> 00:14:03,915 True God became true humanity without losing any of his of 260 00:14:03,915 --> 00:14:05,714 his deity, any of his godness. 261 00:14:06,975 --> 00:14:10,785 Christmas reminds us of the great humiliation of the Son of God. 262 00:14:11,115 --> 00:14:15,135 Reminds us of the incarnation, and when I think about that, I wonder 263 00:14:15,285 --> 00:14:17,625 what excuse could we possibly offer? 264 00:14:17,625 --> 00:14:17,714 God. 265 00:14:18,735 --> 00:14:23,655 What excuse could we possibly offer Jesus as to why we would not follow suit 266 00:14:23,655 --> 00:14:25,005 in the way that we treat one another? 267 00:14:25,964 --> 00:14:29,025 Our first point this morning is we think about our family and the type 268 00:14:29,025 --> 00:14:30,104 of Christian that we are at home. 269 00:14:30,104 --> 00:14:32,954 Being the type of Christian that we truly are is Christmas should remind us this. 270 00:14:33,194 --> 00:14:36,375 Let the incarnation, the birth of Jesus. 271 00:14:36,584 --> 00:14:40,635 Let the incarnation remove your excuses this Christmas as to why 272 00:14:40,635 --> 00:14:43,935 you don't have to love people the way that Christ has loved you. 273 00:14:46,349 --> 00:14:51,269 It's easy to lose sight of the fact this Christmas that for Jesus to come to earth 274 00:14:51,269 --> 00:14:53,099 as a baby, he had to give up quite a bit. 275 00:14:54,359 --> 00:14:55,560 We just see the manger scene. 276 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:58,079 We see that and we're like, oh, yeah, Jesus came as a baby. 277 00:14:58,079 --> 00:14:59,789 And yeah, the, the cross and everything else. 278 00:14:59,789 --> 00:15:03,479 But John MacArthur said this of the incarnation, it was the most 279 00:15:03,479 --> 00:15:09,599 profound possible humiliation, the most profound possible humiliation. 280 00:15:10,364 --> 00:15:13,694 Uh, think with me for just a moment of some of what Jesus 281 00:15:13,754 --> 00:15:16,904 gave up when he became that baby. 282 00:15:16,964 --> 00:15:20,774 When he took on flesh to his full godness, he gave up these things. 283 00:15:20,774 --> 00:15:23,324 He gave up this, he never knew a temperature change. 284 00:15:23,925 --> 00:15:24,944 Think about that for a second. 285 00:15:25,604 --> 00:15:28,574 Jesus in eternity had never been cold, never been hot. 286 00:15:30,194 --> 00:15:35,444 Jesus never felt discomfort, and yet he came here and was born in a 287 00:15:35,444 --> 00:15:37,154 stable, and laid in a feeding trough. 288 00:15:38,774 --> 00:15:41,774 Jesus had never felt pain and yet I'm sure as the son of God was 289 00:15:41,774 --> 00:15:43,364 learning to walk, he probably tripped. 290 00:15:43,364 --> 00:15:44,594 He probably stubbed his toe. 291 00:15:44,594 --> 00:15:46,844 He probably skinned his knees. 292 00:15:48,314 --> 00:15:54,405 Jesus had never learned anything or had to learn anything, and yet Luke says 293 00:15:54,405 --> 00:15:56,474 he grew in wisdom and stature with men. 294 00:15:56,504 --> 00:16:00,074 He subjected himself, he submitted himself to the human restraints of 295 00:16:00,074 --> 00:16:05,959 having to learn how to speak, learn how to walk, learn the customs of the day. 296 00:16:07,469 --> 00:16:11,640 Jesus had never felt tired, but John four tells us that he sat down 297 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:13,650 by the well because he was tired. 298 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:14,910 He was weary. 299 00:16:15,930 --> 00:16:17,640 Jesus had never felt lonely. 300 00:16:18,839 --> 00:16:22,949 He had never had to make a friend, and yet he came to earth as a baby and had to go 301 00:16:22,949 --> 00:16:26,189 through that process and would ultimately be abandoned by all of his closest 302 00:16:26,189 --> 00:16:27,645 followers in his time of greatest need. 303 00:16:29,939 --> 00:16:32,790 Jesus had never felt tempted, but subjected himself to the will of the 304 00:16:32,790 --> 00:16:36,509 Father and the leadership of the spirit or the, the, the, the leading, the 305 00:16:36,509 --> 00:16:39,540 prompting of the spirit when he went into the wilderness and was tempted 306 00:16:39,839 --> 00:16:42,719 there in the wilderness for us. 307 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:47,280 Jesus had never experienced betrayal, and yet one of those that professed 308 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:51,119 to be one of his closest followers was going to turn him over to death. 309 00:16:52,229 --> 00:16:56,099 Jesus had never been restrained and yet allowed himself. 310 00:16:56,790 --> 00:17:00,689 To be chained and imprisoned as he awaited the trial and subsequent 311 00:17:00,990 --> 00:17:02,669 subsequent sentencing to death. 312 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,659 Jesus had never been mocked and yet as he hung on the cross, 313 00:17:07,169 --> 00:17:12,868 people mocked him and berated him and blasphemed him to his face. 314 00:17:14,010 --> 00:17:18,868 Jesus had never felt the weight of sin and yet bore our sin for us as 315 00:17:18,868 --> 00:17:20,550 he suffered and died in our place. 316 00:17:21,253 --> 00:17:24,884 Jesus had never felt the wrath of his father and yet knew the wrath 317 00:17:24,884 --> 00:17:28,725 of God in a way that if you're in Christ, we will never know the wrath. 318 00:17:30,164 --> 00:17:35,174 Jesus had never known death, and yet after he yielded up his spirit, his 319 00:17:35,475 --> 00:17:39,764 lungs, the lungs that were formed in the womb of Mary, that were 320 00:17:39,764 --> 00:17:44,354 realized in that baby laying in that manger, those lungs stopped pumping. 321 00:17:47,084 --> 00:17:51,735 This is scratching the surface of what Jesus gave up, and Paul 322 00:17:51,735 --> 00:17:54,764 says this, he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant and 323 00:17:54,764 --> 00:17:56,024 being born in the likeness of men. 324 00:17:56,655 --> 00:18:00,435 This is some of the sacrifice that that involved in, in what that looked like. 325 00:18:00,435 --> 00:18:04,185 And so the question for us this Christmas is what does sacrifice look like for you? 326 00:18:05,445 --> 00:18:06,705 How are you following? 327 00:18:06,705 --> 00:18:08,324 How are you having this mind? 328 00:18:08,324 --> 00:18:11,985 Like Paul says in verse five, how are you having this mind among yourselves, 329 00:18:11,985 --> 00:18:13,094 which is yours in Christ Jesus? 330 00:18:13,095 --> 00:18:13,185 Yes. 331 00:18:13,695 --> 00:18:16,755 And again, we're thinking about it specifically with those closest to us. 332 00:18:17,925 --> 00:18:20,655 Maybe it's, it's not hard for you to show up at church and be like, well, 333 00:18:20,655 --> 00:18:22,305 yeah, man, I'm, I'm willing to sacrifice. 334 00:18:22,305 --> 00:18:23,145 I'll give them my time. 335 00:18:23,145 --> 00:18:24,225 I'll show up, I'll set up chairs. 336 00:18:24,225 --> 00:18:24,765 I'll stay late. 337 00:18:24,765 --> 00:18:25,725 I'll tear chairs down. 338 00:18:25,725 --> 00:18:27,045 I'll help with the kids' Christmas choir. 339 00:18:27,045 --> 00:18:28,455 I'll, you know, help with this. 340 00:18:28,455 --> 00:18:29,595 I'll, I'll cut donuts. 341 00:18:29,595 --> 00:18:30,405 I'll do whatever I need to. 342 00:18:30,405 --> 00:18:32,325 I'm happy to do that for everybody. 343 00:18:33,105 --> 00:18:35,415 But what about when you go home, and again, you're around the people 344 00:18:35,415 --> 00:18:36,735 you don't have to impress anymore. 345 00:18:37,515 --> 00:18:38,895 How are you following Jesus there? 346 00:18:39,495 --> 00:18:41,595 How are you sacrificing for those? 347 00:18:42,225 --> 00:18:47,865 That are in your immediate circle, what are your excuses for why you're 348 00:18:47,865 --> 00:18:51,465 not loving them as sacrificially as maybe you should, because that's 349 00:18:51,465 --> 00:18:52,635 the way that Christ loved you. 350 00:18:54,254 --> 00:18:58,125 Maybe one of your excuses is, man, I just, you know, I'm, I'm just so tired after a 351 00:18:58,125 --> 00:19:04,485 long day of work when I get home, I just, I just, I can't, or maybe you think, man, 352 00:19:04,485 --> 00:19:08,024 you know what, my, my family, they've gotten on every single one of my last 353 00:19:08,024 --> 00:19:10,905 frayed nerves, and I just, I can't even. 354 00:19:13,260 --> 00:19:17,850 Or maybe you just think, well, they don't love me that way, so 355 00:19:17,909 --> 00:19:19,379 I'm not gonna love them that way. 356 00:19:20,969 --> 00:19:22,169 Or maybe you think, you know what? 357 00:19:22,590 --> 00:19:26,699 I just need a place to recharge without having to be on, and that's home for me. 358 00:19:27,449 --> 00:19:31,530 And so I, I can't think about having to, to be sacrificially loving 359 00:19:31,530 --> 00:19:34,620 of, of my family when I'm at home because I just, they're the people 360 00:19:34,620 --> 00:19:36,120 that just accept me for who I am. 361 00:19:38,429 --> 00:19:39,600 Or maybe you think, man, you know what? 362 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:40,590 They've sinned against me. 363 00:19:41,115 --> 00:19:44,595 They've wronged me, and so I, I don't want to sacrifice for them. 364 00:19:46,965 --> 00:19:49,905 I understand the emotions and the feelings and how those can challenge our 365 00:19:49,905 --> 00:19:52,965 willingness to love sacrificially, but I want you to think about this for a second. 366 00:19:53,715 --> 00:19:57,465 I want you to imagine standing in front of Jesus as Jesus is 367 00:19:57,465 --> 00:19:59,745 dying on the cross for our sins. 368 00:19:59,774 --> 00:20:05,295 For your sins, and I want you to explain to Jesus all of the reasons why you're not 369 00:20:05,295 --> 00:20:09,135 willing to sacrificially love your family as he's hanging on the cross for you. 370 00:20:12,435 --> 00:20:17,774 When we think about it that way, all of a sudden those excuses that we come 371 00:20:17,774 --> 00:20:20,985 up with as to why we shouldn't have to sacrificially love our families, those 372 00:20:20,985 --> 00:20:27,074 closest to us, they pretty quickly lose their legitimacy when we think 373 00:20:27,074 --> 00:20:31,185 about, man, how much Christ has loved me, how much he sacrificed for me, 374 00:20:32,415 --> 00:20:33,675 and am I gonna sit here and tell him? 375 00:20:33,675 --> 00:20:38,020 Yeah, but, but, but Jesus, you don't understand how hard they are to love. 376 00:20:40,379 --> 00:20:41,219 See the incarnation. 377 00:20:41,219 --> 00:20:45,209 When we understand it appropriately and rightly, it removes those excuses from us. 378 00:20:46,860 --> 00:20:49,080 And yeah, we should love one another in a place like this. 379 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:50,850 Or when you're going to your company function, you should 380 00:20:50,850 --> 00:20:51,629 be a witness for Christ. 381 00:20:51,629 --> 00:20:52,439 You should love people there. 382 00:20:52,439 --> 00:20:55,320 But again, I want us to think about that place where it's so easy for us to let 383 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:57,120 our guard down because it's our family. 384 00:20:57,120 --> 00:20:58,229 We don't have to impress anybody. 385 00:20:59,699 --> 00:21:01,379 Who are you there? 386 00:21:02,580 --> 00:21:04,080 How are you following Christ with them? 387 00:21:05,219 --> 00:21:07,919 The Christian that your family knows you to be is the Christian that you are. 388 00:21:09,900 --> 00:21:13,590 It's often easy for us to to love others and give our family the 389 00:21:13,590 --> 00:21:18,210 leftovers, and that's not the paradigm of what it means to follow Jesus. 390 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:24,810 Have this mind amongst yourselves, always perpetually. 391 00:21:25,020 --> 00:21:27,180 Keep having this mind amongst yourselves. 392 00:21:28,830 --> 00:21:31,770 Jesus went from the throne to the manger and didn't count equality with God a thing 393 00:21:31,770 --> 00:21:34,650 to be grasped but emptied himself for us. 394 00:21:37,290 --> 00:21:41,640 It was more than than just being born in the likeness of men being found 395 00:21:41,940 --> 00:21:44,040 in the appearance of, of a servant. 396 00:21:44,820 --> 00:21:47,790 It's what he came to do, and that's where Paul continues in verse eight, he 397 00:21:47,790 --> 00:21:49,890 says this and being found in human form. 398 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:55,470 He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on across. 399 00:21:56,324 --> 00:21:58,935 So Paul now says, being found in, in human form. 400 00:21:58,935 --> 00:22:01,995 This is the third way that Paul has stressed the humanity of 401 00:22:02,054 --> 00:22:03,794 Jesus here in this passage. 402 00:22:04,034 --> 00:22:06,344 Who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God. 403 00:22:06,374 --> 00:22:07,004 Athe, do you grasp? 404 00:22:07,004 --> 00:22:10,124 But here it is, emptied himself, taking first the form of a servant. 405 00:22:10,124 --> 00:22:12,614 There's his first stress of the humanity of Christ. 406 00:22:12,975 --> 00:22:15,705 Then he goes on and says, being born in the likeness of men, the second 407 00:22:15,705 --> 00:22:19,514 stressor of the humanity of Christ, and then third being found in human form. 408 00:22:19,514 --> 00:22:23,654 This is the third time Paul is stressing the fact that Jesus went from the. 409 00:22:23,875 --> 00:22:26,770 The right hand of the father and took on true humanity to, 410 00:22:26,785 --> 00:22:28,735 to his true deity to come. 411 00:22:28,885 --> 00:22:34,285 For us being found in human form, he humbled himself. 412 00:22:34,975 --> 00:22:38,995 That word to humble himself, it means to condescend, to be brought 413 00:22:38,995 --> 00:22:41,065 low, to be made insignificant. 414 00:22:42,025 --> 00:22:48,355 It's from a word that means to stoop, to bow down, to become low, to become small. 415 00:22:49,620 --> 00:22:51,360 Jesus humbled himself. 416 00:22:52,230 --> 00:22:55,560 Well, he certainly humbled himself by taking on the form of a baby, 417 00:22:55,890 --> 00:22:57,270 being born in the likeness of men. 418 00:22:57,870 --> 00:22:59,130 Born to a, a virgin mother. 419 00:22:59,130 --> 00:23:03,450 Being born to an, uh, to a, a, a, a mother who came from meager means 420 00:23:03,450 --> 00:23:08,370 and to a, a adopted dad who was a, a carpenter by trade, not wealthy at all. 421 00:23:08,370 --> 00:23:11,610 Being born in a, a middle of nowhere town like Bethlehem, being 422 00:23:11,610 --> 00:23:14,400 laid in a manger at his birth. 423 00:23:14,970 --> 00:23:16,590 Certainly, he humbled himself that way. 424 00:23:17,100 --> 00:23:18,300 Nobody's gonna doubt that. 425 00:23:19,125 --> 00:23:22,274 To contrast the difference from the glories of heaven to the lowly 426 00:23:22,425 --> 00:23:23,895 reality of that cold, stable. 427 00:23:25,245 --> 00:23:26,385 Yeah, he humbled himself there. 428 00:23:27,135 --> 00:23:31,335 He humbled himself as he continued to grow up and learn all of these things 429 00:23:31,335 --> 00:23:34,335 like we talked about earlier, and have to try to figure out how do I walk and 430 00:23:34,605 --> 00:23:38,805 what does talking look like and how do I what, you know, foods that I should 431 00:23:38,805 --> 00:23:40,575 eat and what, what shouldn't I eat? 432 00:23:40,575 --> 00:23:42,645 And, and growing and, and understand it. 433 00:23:42,645 --> 00:23:45,830 He humbled himself through his childhood Uhhuh. 434 00:23:47,115 --> 00:23:51,044 He humbled himself as, as a rabbi, as during his earthly ministry. 435 00:23:52,274 --> 00:23:56,115 By, by calling the people that weren't the elite of the elite, but calling to himself 436 00:23:56,115 --> 00:23:59,445 the fishermen, calling to himself the uneducated, calling to himself, the tax 437 00:23:59,445 --> 00:24:01,215 collectors, the people that were despised. 438 00:24:01,215 --> 00:24:04,875 He humbled himself by hanging out in the house of the, the prostitutes and, 439 00:24:04,875 --> 00:24:10,155 and, and spending time around people that that common folk would, would scoff 440 00:24:10,155 --> 00:24:13,814 at if, if they saw and did when they saw him hanging around those people. 441 00:24:13,814 --> 00:24:15,254 Yeah, Jesus humbled himself. 442 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:17,250 Through the the people that he was around. 443 00:24:18,870 --> 00:24:23,730 He humbled himself by choosing to restrain his power in the face of his opposition. 444 00:24:24,060 --> 00:24:28,379 He humbled himself by not just lightning bolt, smiting the Pharisees 445 00:24:28,379 --> 00:24:31,500 when they stood up against him and tried to stop him from doing things, 446 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:36,540 but Paul skips over all of that. 447 00:24:37,260 --> 00:24:39,720 He says he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. 448 00:24:40,740 --> 00:24:43,889 And then he gives this caveat, even death on a cross. 449 00:24:46,470 --> 00:24:50,429 The pinnacle, the climax of the humiliation of Jesus is the death of 450 00:24:50,429 --> 00:24:54,270 Jesus, and the baby born came to die. 451 00:24:55,889 --> 00:24:56,909 We talked about that last week. 452 00:24:56,909 --> 00:25:00,000 The wood of the manger means nothing without the wood of the cross and 453 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:04,080 and death, and this is why Paul gives the qualifier even death on a cross. 454 00:25:05,129 --> 00:25:08,730 Just death for God in the flesh is unthinkable. 455 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,189 For us, it's unimaginable. 456 00:25:11,189 --> 00:25:12,840 How does God die? 457 00:25:14,114 --> 00:25:17,534 In his true humanity, he experienced death so that we won't, 458 00:25:21,014 --> 00:25:26,594 but death on a cross took it to a level that is even more unfathomable. 459 00:25:28,754 --> 00:25:32,685 Have you ever heard somebody say, oh man, they really crucified that person. 460 00:25:34,634 --> 00:25:38,769 Sometimes in, after a bad game, a quarterback has a, a bad game and, and. 461 00:25:39,419 --> 00:25:41,940 The, the analyst will talk about his game, be like he threw four 462 00:25:41,940 --> 00:25:45,360 interceptions and he played for the 49 ERs when he was doing that. 463 00:25:45,360 --> 00:25:48,000 And uh, you know, he did some other things too. 464 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,790 And, and oh man, and then you'll hear somebody go, oh, they really 465 00:25:50,790 --> 00:25:52,290 crucified him after the game. 466 00:25:53,429 --> 00:25:54,149 No, they didn't. 467 00:25:56,010 --> 00:26:00,389 Can I encourage us church to be very, very careful and selective about when 468 00:26:00,389 --> 00:26:02,820 we employ the term they crucified him? 469 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:08,550 This death was a death that was so shameful, so ignominious, so horrendous. 470 00:26:08,550 --> 00:26:08,970 So. 471 00:26:09,374 --> 00:26:14,294 Painful that Rome passed a law and said, no Roman citizen will ever be 472 00:26:14,294 --> 00:26:16,844 crucified no matter what they do, because it's a death beneath them. 473 00:26:19,304 --> 00:26:23,354 Our word excruciating comes from the Latin word for crucifixion. 474 00:26:26,429 --> 00:26:30,449 This death that Jesus died was not simply a death of old age. 475 00:26:30,449 --> 00:26:34,259 It was not simply a death of being beheaded like a, a 476 00:26:34,259 --> 00:26:36,959 criminal who was a Roman citizen probably would've experienced. 477 00:26:36,959 --> 00:26:40,379 It wasn't a, a death, that was a normal death even for 478 00:26:40,379 --> 00:26:42,060 those that are, are executed. 479 00:26:42,060 --> 00:26:46,169 This was the most horrific death perhaps that the world has even ever 480 00:26:46,169 --> 00:26:49,409 still to date thought of and created. 481 00:26:52,470 --> 00:26:55,020 And this is the death that Jesus died for us. 482 00:26:56,550 --> 00:27:00,180 And this is why Paul says he humbled himself by becoming obedient, obedient 483 00:27:00,180 --> 00:27:03,780 to the will of the Father, to the point of death, even death on a cross. 484 00:27:03,930 --> 00:27:05,970 It begs the question, why? 485 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:08,700 Why? 486 00:27:09,750 --> 00:27:15,120 Why would the son of God be born in the likeness of men? 487 00:27:16,274 --> 00:27:20,685 Then beyond that, humble himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. 488 00:27:20,685 --> 00:27:22,304 Why would he condescend so much? 489 00:27:22,304 --> 00:27:25,844 Why would he stoop so low for us? 490 00:27:28,215 --> 00:27:29,685 In short, the answer is this. 491 00:27:29,685 --> 00:27:34,455 If Jesus had never done that, never emptied himself, never took on flesh, 492 00:27:34,485 --> 00:27:38,084 never was born in the likeness of men, never humbled himself to the the point 493 00:27:38,084 --> 00:27:42,435 of death, even death on a cross, then you and I have no forgiveness of our 494 00:27:42,435 --> 00:27:45,104 sins, and you and I have no savior. 495 00:27:47,159 --> 00:27:49,799 The writer of Hebrews puts it like this. 496 00:27:50,459 --> 00:27:53,039 He says, since therefore, the children, that's us. 497 00:27:53,039 --> 00:27:53,789 That's humanity. 498 00:27:54,870 --> 00:27:57,090 Since therefore, the children share in flesh and blood. 499 00:27:57,090 --> 00:28:00,929 He himself, likewise, partook of the same things, partook of flesh and blood. 500 00:28:00,929 --> 00:28:01,739 He himself, Jesus. 501 00:28:02,685 --> 00:28:07,365 Partook the same things that through death, through his death, he might 502 00:28:07,365 --> 00:28:11,264 destroy the one who has the power of death that is the devil, and deliver 503 00:28:11,415 --> 00:28:15,195 all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 504 00:28:15,195 --> 00:28:16,095 That's us. 505 00:28:16,754 --> 00:28:21,495 For surely it's not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 506 00:28:21,495 --> 00:28:22,814 He helps mankind. 507 00:28:23,385 --> 00:28:27,135 Therefore, he noticed this had to be made like his brothers. 508 00:28:27,524 --> 00:28:28,514 It was necessary. 509 00:28:28,514 --> 00:28:34,365 He had to be made like us, like humanity, like mankind in every respect, so that 510 00:28:34,695 --> 00:28:40,034 he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make. 511 00:28:40,034 --> 00:28:43,034 And here it is, propitiation for the sins of the people. 512 00:28:43,304 --> 00:28:47,024 That word propitiation is a big word that means to satisfy the wrath of God. 513 00:28:47,804 --> 00:28:51,764 In other words, Jesus had to take on flesh in order to be qualified. 514 00:28:51,945 --> 00:28:56,235 See Jesus, to be our substitute, had to identify with us. 515 00:28:57,495 --> 00:29:00,615 He couldn't be somebody that wasn't a part of us because he wouldn't have 516 00:29:00,615 --> 00:29:02,355 been qualified to take our place. 517 00:29:02,895 --> 00:29:07,065 So he had to identify as one of us being made like us in every respect, 518 00:29:07,065 --> 00:29:08,565 except for where a fallen nature. 519 00:29:09,449 --> 00:29:13,500 So that he could become our merciful and faithful high priest so that he could 520 00:29:13,500 --> 00:29:17,520 go to the father and say, father, I will die in their place, so that he could 521 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:20,100 bear the wrath of God against our sin. 522 00:29:20,189 --> 00:29:22,110 He had to be born in the likeness of men. 523 00:29:22,110 --> 00:29:24,240 He had to be the baby born to the Virgin Mary. 524 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:25,919 He had to grow up and learn. 525 00:29:25,919 --> 00:29:29,100 He had to be perfectly obedient to the father's will for the 526 00:29:29,100 --> 00:29:30,479 30 some odd years of his life. 527 00:29:30,570 --> 00:29:31,875 He had to be betrayed. 528 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:35,510 He had to be arrested, he had to be mocked, he had to be crucified. 529 00:29:35,540 --> 00:29:38,840 He had to die so that we can live. 530 00:29:40,129 --> 00:29:41,510 That's, that's the why 531 00:29:43,790 --> 00:29:47,000 in in what's the current underneath all of that. 532 00:29:47,959 --> 00:29:51,800 It's given in one of the most famous verses in all the Bible. 533 00:29:52,939 --> 00:29:57,860 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. 534 00:29:59,294 --> 00:30:01,245 John says elsewhere, and this we know love. 535 00:30:01,245 --> 00:30:04,754 Not that we first love God, but that God first loved us. 536 00:30:08,084 --> 00:30:10,514 See, we talked about it last week. 537 00:30:11,054 --> 00:30:13,544 The wood of the manger means nothing without the wood of the cross because 538 00:30:13,544 --> 00:30:18,074 the baby came to live that life to die on the cross for us, because he loves us. 539 00:30:19,605 --> 00:30:22,215 It wasn't out of obligation and duty. 540 00:30:22,274 --> 00:30:23,955 It wasn't out of guilt or manipulation. 541 00:30:23,955 --> 00:30:25,365 It was because he loves us. 542 00:30:27,284 --> 00:30:31,875 And so this Christmas, we need to be reminded, not only do we need to, to lay 543 00:30:31,875 --> 00:30:35,445 our excuses down and say, man, I, I need to sacrifice because he's sacrificed for 544 00:30:35,445 --> 00:30:39,524 me, but I need to think about why I'm sacrificing, why I'm serving my family. 545 00:30:40,814 --> 00:30:45,135 And the answer is because I want to reflect the love that I've been shown. 546 00:30:46,425 --> 00:30:49,544 Point number two this morning is this, let the incarnation recalibrate your heart. 547 00:30:50,685 --> 00:30:52,845 Let the incarnation recalibrate your heart this Christmas. 548 00:30:56,190 --> 00:30:58,590 Again, we're thinking about those closest to us, those that we don't 549 00:30:58,590 --> 00:30:59,940 feel like we have to impress anymore. 550 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:03,390 Who we are amongst them is, is really the Christian that we are 551 00:31:04,410 --> 00:31:05,700 because our guards are let down. 552 00:31:05,700 --> 00:31:06,930 We're not trying to put on a show. 553 00:31:06,930 --> 00:31:11,970 We're not trying to impress, and so how are you serving them? 554 00:31:11,970 --> 00:31:14,160 Maybe you're saying, okay, I am serving my family. 555 00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:15,960 Okay, but how's your heart in serving your family? 556 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:18,780 Are you serving out of man? 557 00:31:18,780 --> 00:31:22,350 I just, well, I guess I'm, I have to do this because I got myself into this. 558 00:31:22,350 --> 00:31:23,250 I said yes. 559 00:31:23,250 --> 00:31:24,270 I said I do. 560 00:31:25,110 --> 00:31:26,790 So I gotta, I, I'm here. 561 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:30,690 I gotta serve my kids because I brought them into this world, so 562 00:31:30,690 --> 00:31:32,070 I gotta do something to help 'em. 563 00:31:33,390 --> 00:31:35,190 Are you serving because you love them? 564 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:38,730 Has your heart been recalibrated by the love that you've received 565 00:31:38,730 --> 00:31:41,370 from the Lord such that you are showing that to your family too? 566 00:31:43,395 --> 00:31:46,365 It's appropriate that this week in my family, we had a lot of sickness in the 567 00:31:46,365 --> 00:31:52,455 house because as a parent, when your kids are sick, you're willing to do things 568 00:31:52,455 --> 00:31:56,085 that you wouldn't do for a total stranger. 569 00:31:57,405 --> 00:31:58,305 Like, hold the bucket. 570 00:31:58,845 --> 00:32:00,195 I'll just leave it like that. 571 00:32:01,305 --> 00:32:03,225 You guys can imagine what's in the bucket, right? 572 00:32:03,645 --> 00:32:08,325 Maybe don't too much or rinsing out the bucket to be fused again. 573 00:32:09,945 --> 00:32:14,565 Or you make them the bed on the couch or you stop on your way home 574 00:32:14,565 --> 00:32:17,745 from, from work to pick up a, a soda to help calm their tummy. 575 00:32:18,465 --> 00:32:21,855 Or you make sure that they're, they're warm and comfortable at night. 576 00:32:21,855 --> 00:32:24,795 You give them the medicine that they need, you check their temperature, you 577 00:32:24,795 --> 00:32:27,405 wake up in the middle of the night to check on them to make sure they're okay. 578 00:32:27,405 --> 00:32:31,274 You bring them the ice chips and, and, and when we're doing that for our family 579 00:32:31,274 --> 00:32:34,905 and in situations like that, we don't typically get to the place where we're 580 00:32:34,905 --> 00:32:36,915 like, will you just stop being sick? 581 00:32:38,264 --> 00:32:40,665 Maybe in the darkness of our hearts, we get there sometimes we're like, 582 00:32:40,695 --> 00:32:42,465 okay, I'm done with the sickness, Lord. 583 00:32:42,465 --> 00:32:43,905 But it's not that we're done with them. 584 00:32:43,905 --> 00:32:45,855 We're just like, okay, can we get healthy again? 585 00:32:45,855 --> 00:32:46,814 What's it like to be healthy? 586 00:32:46,814 --> 00:32:47,415 I don't even remember. 587 00:32:47,415 --> 00:32:48,105 What does it sound like? 588 00:32:48,105 --> 00:32:48,735 Not to cough, 589 00:32:51,645 --> 00:32:55,395 but we do it because we love them and we see them in need, and it's a 590 00:32:55,455 --> 00:32:57,074 joy for us to serve them that way. 591 00:32:58,125 --> 00:32:59,685 Why does it change when they get healthy? 592 00:33:01,620 --> 00:33:01,860 Yeah. 593 00:33:01,860 --> 00:33:03,690 We want our kids to be independent. 594 00:33:03,690 --> 00:33:06,540 We don't want our kids to, to, to have to have us show up at their elementary 595 00:33:06,540 --> 00:33:07,890 school and spoonfeed them, right? 596 00:33:09,990 --> 00:33:13,140 But I wonder if the reason why it changes isn't more because we're 597 00:33:13,140 --> 00:33:14,730 naturally sinful and self-centered. 598 00:33:14,730 --> 00:33:17,730 People who find it easier to tell people we love them rather than 599 00:33:17,730 --> 00:33:18,990 to show them that we love them. 600 00:33:19,095 --> 00:33:23,310 Because telling somebody I love them costs me less than showing it. 601 00:33:25,544 --> 00:33:28,965 And the love that we've received wasn't just God sitting in heaven while we're 602 00:33:28,965 --> 00:33:31,814 in our sinful state here, separated from him going, it's okay guys. 603 00:33:31,814 --> 00:33:32,475 I love you. 604 00:33:32,475 --> 00:33:33,705 Look at the the clouds. 605 00:33:33,705 --> 00:33:35,024 Look at the nice day I gave you. 606 00:33:37,094 --> 00:33:39,495 Now he came after us. 607 00:33:40,455 --> 00:33:45,824 He took on flesh being found in the likeness of men being born in human form. 608 00:33:45,824 --> 00:33:48,794 He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 609 00:33:48,794 --> 00:33:50,594 There's no greater act of love than that. 610 00:33:53,655 --> 00:33:56,265 And he told us that we should look at that and love others. 611 00:33:57,315 --> 00:34:01,695 John 1334 through 35 says this a new commitment I give to you that you love 612 00:34:01,695 --> 00:34:03,645 one another just as I have loved you. 613 00:34:04,065 --> 00:34:06,675 This is Jesus In the upper room, immediately in the in the rear 614 00:34:06,675 --> 00:34:07,935 view mirrors the foot washing. 615 00:34:07,935 --> 00:34:11,295 But this is really looking forward to the cross that you love one 616 00:34:11,295 --> 00:34:12,705 another just as I have loved you. 617 00:34:12,705 --> 00:34:14,955 You also to love are to love one another. 618 00:34:15,465 --> 00:34:18,705 And then he says this, by this, all people will know that you are my disciples. 619 00:34:18,705 --> 00:34:20,355 If you have love for one another. 620 00:34:22,155 --> 00:34:24,795 And again, sometimes it's easier for us to love the strangers. 621 00:34:24,795 --> 00:34:27,495 It's easier for us to love the acquaintances, and it's way harder for 622 00:34:27,495 --> 00:34:30,945 us to love those that we wake up next to or love those that we share a roof with. 623 00:34:32,685 --> 00:34:36,375 You know, all I'm saying this Christmas is, is your heart calibrated to love 624 00:34:36,375 --> 00:34:38,324 them as you serve them this Christmas? 625 00:34:38,804 --> 00:34:42,014 Are you loving them because of how much you've been loved by God? 626 00:34:42,885 --> 00:34:45,344 Are you loving them because you've been transformed by that? 627 00:34:45,344 --> 00:34:46,065 How's your heart? 628 00:34:46,605 --> 00:34:48,645 What's your motivation as you're serving them? 629 00:34:50,085 --> 00:34:53,475 Are you seeking opportunities or waiting for obligations? 630 00:34:55,514 --> 00:34:58,845 Are you being creative in thinking about how you can love and serve 631 00:34:58,845 --> 00:35:02,295 your family because of how much you've been loved by the Lord? 632 00:35:03,525 --> 00:35:07,305 Are you expecting them to serve you or are you looking to serve them? 633 00:35:09,525 --> 00:35:11,775 Listen, one way to express that love for your family this Christmas 634 00:35:11,775 --> 00:35:15,615 is, is to get creative with it, and you can have some fun with this. 635 00:35:16,530 --> 00:35:17,970 Think, man, I wanna love my family. 636 00:35:17,970 --> 00:35:20,400 I wanna show them how much I love them because I know how much God 637 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:23,820 has loved me, and they're the ones that I'm around most often. 638 00:35:23,820 --> 00:35:24,630 So how can I love them? 639 00:35:24,630 --> 00:35:28,830 Well, this Christmas, maybe it's, this husbands in the room, man. 640 00:35:28,890 --> 00:35:32,250 Let's, let's just all admit it and, and acknowledge the fact that 641 00:35:32,250 --> 00:35:33,750 we all have a wardrobe, don't we? 642 00:35:34,770 --> 00:35:35,250 Wardrobe? 643 00:35:35,250 --> 00:35:38,010 It's the pile of clothes on the floor next to your bed that haven't 644 00:35:38,010 --> 00:35:39,035 made it to the laundry hamper. 645 00:35:39,615 --> 00:35:41,910 I'm just giving you a peek into my, my reality right now. 646 00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:44,310 And, and they're there. 647 00:35:45,015 --> 00:35:47,444 Because they're not necessarily dirty. 648 00:35:48,825 --> 00:35:49,785 They're not clean. 649 00:35:50,564 --> 00:35:51,345 They're not dirty. 650 00:35:52,185 --> 00:35:52,874 And so what do you do? 651 00:35:52,874 --> 00:35:54,225 You grab the shirt off the floor. 652 00:35:54,225 --> 00:35:56,115 Men, don't pretend you're better than me in this, by the way. 653 00:35:57,314 --> 00:36:01,124 And you give it the smell test, you sniff the pits, and if it passes the 654 00:36:01,124 --> 00:36:03,075 smell test, then you're like, great. 655 00:36:03,075 --> 00:36:04,124 I get another day out of this. 656 00:36:04,964 --> 00:36:06,249 And that's why it's on the wardrobe. 657 00:36:07,665 --> 00:36:08,775 It's still useful. 658 00:36:08,925 --> 00:36:10,485 It doesn't need to be in the laundry yet. 659 00:36:10,755 --> 00:36:13,665 Maybe meant a sacrificial act of love for your wife is to clean 660 00:36:13,665 --> 00:36:15,435 up your wardrobe this Christmas. 661 00:36:17,145 --> 00:36:18,795 More about your pastor than you ever wanted to know. 662 00:36:20,745 --> 00:36:23,445 Wives or whoever does the cooking in the family. 663 00:36:23,445 --> 00:36:24,925 I don't mean to be chauvinistic up here. 664 00:36:26,730 --> 00:36:30,359 But maybe it's, it's planning the favorite meal of the people in your, your family. 665 00:36:30,359 --> 00:36:31,980 You're gonna spend some time with them. 666 00:36:32,310 --> 00:36:33,240 School's about to get out. 667 00:36:33,240 --> 00:36:35,190 Maybe you think about what's, what's your kid's favorite meal? 668 00:36:35,190 --> 00:36:38,279 I'm gonna sacrifice for them by, by making sure I prepare their favorite meal at 669 00:36:38,279 --> 00:36:39,390 some point over the next three weeks. 670 00:36:40,470 --> 00:36:41,310 I'm gonna love them that way. 671 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:47,460 Maybe you're here and, and the family that you have isn't home anymore. 672 00:36:48,569 --> 00:36:49,230 Maybe they're gone. 673 00:36:49,980 --> 00:36:51,990 You're still gonna spend time with them this Christmas. 674 00:36:51,990 --> 00:36:55,860 They're still the ones you let your guard down around, but they're not sharing your, 675 00:36:55,890 --> 00:37:00,510 your space well, maybe loving them this Christmas looks like, Hey, you know what? 676 00:37:00,510 --> 00:37:03,300 I'm gonna send them a steak dinner to say Merry Christmas. 677 00:37:04,950 --> 00:37:09,240 Or I'm gonna call them just to talk and I'm gonna have questions ready to 678 00:37:09,240 --> 00:37:15,120 ask them about how they're doing and what's going on in their life, or I'm 679 00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:16,530 gonna invite them to come and visit me. 680 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:19,890 Or I'm gonna invite myself to come and visit them. 681 00:37:21,509 --> 00:37:22,859 My presence is your present. 682 00:37:27,060 --> 00:37:28,589 These are creative ways to love your family. 683 00:37:29,250 --> 00:37:34,440 Listen, let me address another way to love your family sacrificially. 684 00:37:36,180 --> 00:37:41,609 Some of y'all are the EO to your family's Christmas right now. 685 00:37:43,589 --> 00:37:45,060 You are carrying. 686 00:37:45,555 --> 00:37:50,055 A dark storm cloud over you that is dragging everybody 687 00:37:50,055 --> 00:37:51,015 else in your family down 688 00:37:53,865 --> 00:37:54,525 and you know, it 689 00:37:57,195 --> 00:38:01,905 maybe part of this Christmas looks like realizing that that is is not okay. 690 00:38:03,705 --> 00:38:09,735 That your attitude, your self-centeredness is having such a detrimental 691 00:38:09,735 --> 00:38:14,295 impact on your family that this season has lost all of its joy. 692 00:38:17,205 --> 00:38:20,745 If that's you this morning, a sacrificial way for you to love your 693 00:38:20,745 --> 00:38:28,995 family is to repent, to snap out of the funk, to find joy in in Christ. 694 00:38:30,404 --> 00:38:33,374 Pastor Rod preached a great message last night with our men at our men's Compass 695 00:38:33,374 --> 00:38:36,794 Crisscut, about the fact that, yeah, there are gonna be seasons that are hard for us. 696 00:38:37,515 --> 00:38:38,805 There are gonna be times that we hurt. 697 00:38:41,625 --> 00:38:44,505 There's always gonna be reason for us at the same time to be able 698 00:38:44,505 --> 00:38:46,455 to say, and yet I will rejoice. 699 00:38:51,015 --> 00:38:54,525 We can all wait around this Christmas for other people to serve us, and 700 00:38:54,525 --> 00:38:58,910 we're gonna find ourselves disgruntled, discouraged, disappointed, or we can 701 00:38:58,910 --> 00:39:01,815 let the incarnation recalibrate our hearts to cause us to say, man, I 702 00:39:01,815 --> 00:39:05,325 wanna love other people, and I wanna do that by serving them because why? 703 00:39:05,715 --> 00:39:07,575 Because of how much Christ has loved me. 704 00:39:08,325 --> 00:39:11,384 In so many ways, the incarnation robs us of our right to say of an 705 00:39:11,384 --> 00:39:12,884 opportunity to serve our loved ones. 706 00:39:12,884 --> 00:39:13,964 I love you, but you know what? 707 00:39:13,995 --> 00:39:15,285 That's just too much for me to do. 708 00:39:17,924 --> 00:39:20,624 There's one more part to our text this morning, and 709 00:39:20,624 --> 00:39:21,915 that's verses nine through 11. 710 00:39:22,770 --> 00:39:26,009 Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is 711 00:39:26,009 --> 00:39:30,930 above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven 712 00:39:30,930 --> 00:39:35,700 and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ 713 00:39:35,700 --> 00:39:37,384 is Lord to the glory of the Father. 714 00:39:38,925 --> 00:39:41,895 Here we see the father's response to the humiliation of the son, the father's 715 00:39:41,895 --> 00:39:45,075 response to the incarnation, the father's response to Jesus being born in the 716 00:39:45,075 --> 00:39:48,765 likeness of men and humbling himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. 717 00:39:48,765 --> 00:39:49,755 What did the father do? 718 00:39:49,755 --> 00:39:53,025 The Father took him and highly exalted him. 719 00:39:53,055 --> 00:39:57,045 It's a compound word in the Greek it means to put on a super high place, and 720 00:39:57,045 --> 00:39:59,775 that's what the father did with the son. 721 00:40:00,435 --> 00:40:04,155 And not only did he exalt him, but he bestowed upon him the name 722 00:40:04,155 --> 00:40:06,495 that is above every other name. 723 00:40:07,904 --> 00:40:11,535 So here we have Christ being restored to his position that he enjoyed with 724 00:40:11,535 --> 00:40:13,274 the Father before his incarnation. 725 00:40:13,515 --> 00:40:17,174 But there's even more than that because now he's given this new position 726 00:40:17,174 --> 00:40:21,794 in this new title, and many believe that this is the name Lord, because 727 00:40:21,794 --> 00:40:26,475 of verse 11, which says that every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is 728 00:40:26,475 --> 00:40:29,504 Lord to the glory of God the father. 729 00:40:30,210 --> 00:40:33,810 It's important to note something here when it says that he gave him 730 00:40:33,810 --> 00:40:36,480 the name that is above every name and, and we're saying that, that 731 00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,360 it's more than just the restoration to the position that he had before. 732 00:40:40,140 --> 00:40:43,590 Nothing is changing inherently about the character of or person of 733 00:40:43,590 --> 00:40:46,799 Jesus, Jesus as God is immutable. 734 00:40:47,220 --> 00:40:48,690 He is the same yesterday, today. 735 00:40:48,694 --> 00:40:48,725 And. 736 00:40:49,845 --> 00:40:53,415 And so it's not as though he lacked something that now he has in a sense 737 00:40:53,415 --> 00:40:55,424 that is qualitatively making him better. 738 00:40:55,694 --> 00:41:00,225 Rather, he's being given a name in relation to us in relation to 739 00:41:00,225 --> 00:41:04,845 creation, such that we now relate to him and subject ourselves and submit 740 00:41:04,845 --> 00:41:11,174 ourselves to him as Lord and exalt his name to the glory of God the Father. 741 00:41:11,355 --> 00:41:12,674 See from the. 742 00:41:13,230 --> 00:41:17,790 The, the resurrection of Jesus and then his ascension to seated, being 743 00:41:17,790 --> 00:41:20,040 seated at the right hand of the Father, which is where he is today. 744 00:41:20,490 --> 00:41:25,530 He has been made the object of our affection as Christians, as the church. 745 00:41:25,530 --> 00:41:28,260 We are the bridegroom or we are the bride of Christ. 746 00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:30,030 He is our bride groom. 747 00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:32,490 And you may say, what about the father? 748 00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:37,355 Well, the father is exalted, is glorified as we worship the son. 749 00:41:38,310 --> 00:41:42,330 And so Jesus becomes the chief object of our affection as the church now, and 750 00:41:42,330 --> 00:41:46,620 we want to acknowledge him that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in 751 00:41:46,620 --> 00:41:50,460 heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that he's 752 00:41:50,460 --> 00:41:52,920 Lord to the glory of God the Father. 753 00:41:53,070 --> 00:41:56,340 We wanna make sure that we've done that here and now, and one of the ways that we 754 00:41:56,340 --> 00:41:58,620 do that is through our obedience to him. 755 00:41:59,805 --> 00:42:05,115 And so we have this mind amongst ourselves so that we would be those 756 00:42:05,115 --> 00:42:09,435 that are participating in Exalting the Son and glorifying the Father. 757 00:42:10,245 --> 00:42:13,875 This sheds light on our goal for how we love one another. 758 00:42:13,875 --> 00:42:18,375 This Christmas we talked about recalibrating our heart, our motivation 759 00:42:18,375 --> 00:42:22,785 for horizontally, our relationships that we have with one another is that we love 760 00:42:22,785 --> 00:42:23,940 them because of how much we've been loved. 761 00:42:24,825 --> 00:42:28,455 But now we talk about our goal for why we wanna love them that way, and 762 00:42:28,455 --> 00:42:31,575 it's ultimately, it's not about them. 763 00:42:31,754 --> 00:42:32,924 It's not about us. 764 00:42:33,194 --> 00:42:38,174 The reason, the goal we should have is to exalt Christ this Christmas 765 00:42:38,174 --> 00:42:39,645 and how we live like Jesus. 766 00:42:40,065 --> 00:42:41,024 Third and final point is this. 767 00:42:41,024 --> 00:42:43,154 Let the incarnation reframe your goals. 768 00:42:44,745 --> 00:42:47,115 Let the incarnation reframe your goals. 769 00:42:54,375 --> 00:42:59,535 Christ has been exalted by the Father and given the name Lord, so that 770 00:42:59,535 --> 00:43:04,275 the name of Jesus, every single knee will bow before him in subjection. 771 00:43:04,275 --> 00:43:07,665 Doesn't it follow that we as his followers should be doing that here and now? 772 00:43:08,775 --> 00:43:13,245 And the way that we do that is not just in a posture, it's in a life that we 773 00:43:13,245 --> 00:43:17,415 live, and that life that we live should be characterized by this love for others. 774 00:43:19,500 --> 00:43:22,529 Seeing the one whom God has now exalted lying in the manger this Christmas 775 00:43:22,529 --> 00:43:27,210 should remind us that our ultimate goal in this life is to exalt him too. 776 00:43:28,500 --> 00:43:31,470 The father looked at the humiliation of Jesus and exalted him and gave 777 00:43:31,470 --> 00:43:32,490 him the name above all names. 778 00:43:32,669 --> 00:43:35,310 We should look at the whole humiliation of Jesus and say, what does it 779 00:43:35,310 --> 00:43:36,480 look like for me to exalt him? 780 00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:39,540 One of the ways we do that is what we're talking about this 781 00:43:39,540 --> 00:43:41,819 morning, loving like He's loved us. 782 00:43:42,944 --> 00:43:47,475 Sacrificing for the good of others, pursuing those in our family, loving 783 00:43:47,475 --> 00:43:50,834 in a way that that goes above and beyond, because that's how God loved us. 784 00:43:51,015 --> 00:43:55,124 That's one of the ways that we can exalt him during this time. 785 00:43:56,774 --> 00:44:01,185 When we refuse to serve one another, when we refuse to humbly love those, God 786 00:44:01,185 --> 00:44:04,785 has put in our lives, we are refusing to exalt Christ and to submit to Him is Lord. 787 00:44:06,975 --> 00:44:07,995 So when you think about. 788 00:44:08,580 --> 00:44:12,540 Attending that, that family get together, your extended family is getting together 789 00:44:12,540 --> 00:44:14,759 and, and your wife has said, Hey, I want you to come and be a part of that. 790 00:44:14,759 --> 00:44:17,310 And you're just thinking to yourself, man, I don't want to 791 00:44:21,209 --> 00:44:26,009 you showing up at that is more than just about you keeping peace with your wife. 792 00:44:26,580 --> 00:44:29,009 It's also more than just you loving your wife. 793 00:44:30,359 --> 00:44:35,939 It's you exalting Christ through serving her by showing up. 794 00:44:38,730 --> 00:44:41,580 Or when you think about that awkward conversation that you need to have with 795 00:44:41,580 --> 00:44:46,770 your brother-in-law about whether or not he believes in God this Christmas, you 796 00:44:46,770 --> 00:44:48,390 may not want to have that conversation, 797 00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:54,030 but it's not just an obligation that you have as a Christian. 798 00:44:55,500 --> 00:44:58,980 That conversation is about the exaltation of Christ as you implore him to be 799 00:44:58,980 --> 00:45:00,450 reconciled to the Father through the son. 800 00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:11,040 At the end of the day this, this is not Paul saying, Hey, you know what? 801 00:45:11,040 --> 00:45:13,500 It'd be really swell if you had this mind amongst yourselves. 802 00:45:15,270 --> 00:45:17,130 And this last section is why. 803 00:45:18,510 --> 00:45:22,410 If he is Lord, then this isn't optional for us. 804 00:45:23,460 --> 00:45:28,500 Loving this way, loving like this isn't optional for us, but I do 805 00:45:28,500 --> 00:45:30,750 wanna offer you a cookie at the end of the stick, not a carrot. 806 00:45:30,780 --> 00:45:32,460 'cause nobody wants a carrot at the end of the stick. 807 00:45:32,850 --> 00:45:33,510 It's the worst. 808 00:45:33,510 --> 00:45:34,830 I don't know who invented that saying. 809 00:45:35,654 --> 00:45:39,285 I don't, it's, it's not, even if it's about horses, I think a horse would 810 00:45:39,285 --> 00:45:41,505 still want a cookie if they knew what a cookie was instead of the carrot. 811 00:45:41,835 --> 00:45:42,465 I want a cookie. 812 00:45:42,495 --> 00:45:43,785 Double stuffed Oreo end of the stick. 813 00:45:43,785 --> 00:45:44,384 Here it is for you. 814 00:45:44,384 --> 00:45:44,685 Ready? 815 00:45:46,725 --> 00:45:49,695 Jesus made it clear during his earthing ministry that if we wanna be 816 00:45:49,695 --> 00:45:51,255 exalted, we have to first be humbled. 817 00:45:51,915 --> 00:45:54,255 Whoever wishes to be first needs to become servant of all. 818 00:45:54,975 --> 00:45:55,245 Okay? 819 00:45:55,515 --> 00:45:56,654 God validates that. 820 00:45:56,654 --> 00:45:59,235 I think through Jesus' own example. 821 00:45:59,384 --> 00:46:01,995 Jesus humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. 822 00:46:02,025 --> 00:46:03,225 Therefore, God exalted him. 823 00:46:04,424 --> 00:46:08,595 James then later is gonna write, humble yourselves before the 824 00:46:08,595 --> 00:46:11,475 Lord and he will exalt you. 825 00:46:12,944 --> 00:46:13,725 So here's the cookie. 826 00:46:14,355 --> 00:46:16,665 Another motivation for our humble and sacrificial love 827 00:46:17,714 --> 00:46:18,825 for our family and for others. 828 00:46:18,825 --> 00:46:22,214 This Christmas is the knowledge that God is gonna honor that Christ likeness 829 00:46:22,245 --> 00:46:24,585 and exalt us one day to be with Jesus. 830 00:46:25,995 --> 00:46:29,174 If we love like him here, we'll be in glory with him there. 831 00:46:30,359 --> 00:46:32,160 Paul talks about this in Ephesians chapter two. 832 00:46:32,160 --> 00:46:35,879 I don't have time to get there with us, but it's so amazing that that in, in 833 00:46:35,879 --> 00:46:39,930 Ephesians one, he talks about the fact that God has has raised Christ and seated 834 00:46:39,930 --> 00:46:43,259 him far above and given him the name that is above all names, just like we 835 00:46:43,259 --> 00:46:44,520 read about in Philippians chapter two. 836 00:46:44,549 --> 00:46:47,580 And then he says in Ephesians two, that God is gonna raise 837 00:46:47,580 --> 00:46:50,160 us to and seat us with Christ. 838 00:46:51,750 --> 00:46:56,250 So if you're like Christ and serving one another here and now, you're gonna get 839 00:46:56,250 --> 00:46:58,589 to be with Christ in glory than in there. 840 00:46:59,910 --> 00:47:01,799 And so that's part of the, that's that's the cookie. 841 00:47:01,799 --> 00:47:02,759 There, there it is for you. 842 00:47:03,299 --> 00:47:06,240 Hopefully it's as satisfying as a double stuff or more satisfying even. 843 00:47:08,370 --> 00:47:11,339 It's such a, a good thing for us to do this because as we love one 844 00:47:11,339 --> 00:47:14,459 another this way, not only does it give us that confidence to say, man, 845 00:47:14,459 --> 00:47:18,299 I am the same Christian around my family, that I am around anybody else. 846 00:47:18,299 --> 00:47:24,149 I, I am a true, full, fully devoted follower of Christ, but it's, it's that 847 00:47:24,240 --> 00:47:26,069 exaltation of the Lord as we do this. 848 00:47:26,805 --> 00:47:29,084 It's that comfort to say, man, God is being glorified through the way 849 00:47:29,084 --> 00:47:30,314 that I'm loving my family right now. 850 00:47:32,624 --> 00:47:35,865 The Christian your family knows you to be is the Christian you truly are. 851 00:47:37,214 --> 00:47:40,185 So this Christmas, be reminded when you look at the baby and the manger of Paul's 852 00:47:40,185 --> 00:47:44,234 Christmas story here from Philippians two, five through 11 and his call 853 00:47:44,234 --> 00:47:46,935 for us to love like we've been loved. 854 00:47:48,285 --> 00:47:51,075 I pray this chrisman, that you'll let the incarnation remove your 855 00:47:51,075 --> 00:47:54,674 excuses, recalibrate your heart, and reframe your goals as you consider. 856 00:47:55,049 --> 00:47:58,350 The time that you spend with those closest to you, let's pray together. 857 00:48:02,040 --> 00:48:02,279 Heaven. 858 00:48:02,279 --> 00:48:09,060 Father, we thank you that your plan was for your son to take on flesh and to come 859 00:48:09,060 --> 00:48:14,459 for us to be born in the likeness of men, to add true humanity to his true deity, 860 00:48:14,459 --> 00:48:16,439 such that he might be our true savior. 861 00:48:17,460 --> 00:48:19,620 But we thank you that that was part of your plan, A plan that 862 00:48:19,620 --> 00:48:21,930 none of us would've come up with, none of us would've invented. 863 00:48:21,930 --> 00:48:24,810 We thank you that part of your plan was for that baby to then grow up 864 00:48:24,810 --> 00:48:28,170 and live a perfectly obedient life to you and die on the cross so 865 00:48:28,170 --> 00:48:29,880 that our sins might be forgiven. 866 00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:30,990 That he took our place. 867 00:48:30,990 --> 00:48:32,220 He was our substitute. 868 00:48:32,220 --> 00:48:37,290 He bore your wrath against our sin and gave us his perfect righteousness. 869 00:48:37,290 --> 00:48:38,845 Lord, we thank you that that was part of your plan. 870 00:48:40,005 --> 00:48:42,675 We thank you that part of your plan was that humiliation that then 871 00:48:42,675 --> 00:48:47,865 resulted in the exaltation of Christ being returned to his rightful place 872 00:48:47,865 --> 00:48:49,425 and given the name above all names. 873 00:48:49,425 --> 00:48:52,605 And we as a church Lord now want to go from this place and live a life 874 00:48:52,605 --> 00:48:54,585 of submission and obedience to him. 875 00:48:54,585 --> 00:48:57,975 We want to exalt him with how we live our lives. 876 00:48:58,005 --> 00:49:01,845 And so we thank you so much for the gift of Christ this Christmas I pray. 877 00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:04,700 That it would cause us to stop and think about how we love one 878 00:49:04,700 --> 00:49:06,230 another as we've been loved. 879 00:49:06,230 --> 00:49:07,460 We pray this in Jesus' name. 880 00:49:07,940 --> 00:49:08,570 Amen.