1. Three facts about the Baby
a. What the Baby came from
b. What the Baby came to be
c. What the Baby came to do
2. Three responses to the Baby
a. The Father’s response
b. Creation’s response
c. What is your response?
Do you realize that it’s only a little over a week till Christmas? It seems like we just got finished with Thanksgiving leftovers and it’s time for Christmas already. You have to be in the right mindset to celebrate Christmas, don’t you? As soon as we hit the first Sunday of this month, that’s when it started to happen. The decorations came out in the church. Ladies, you began to all wear your Christmas sweaters. Men, we all started to dread Christmas shopping. But the kids—it seems like they’re the first ones to get in that Christmas mindset. A week before Christmas, there were two little boys who were spending the night at their grandparents’ house. They spend the day playing in the snow and wrestling around the house. Then in the evening, they came in and helped Grandma with some of her baking. Finally, after a long day, it was time for bed. When they got settled down, they both knelt beside their bed to say their prayers. The youngest one started first. At the top of his lungs, he shouted, “I pray for a new bicycle.” “I pray for a new video game.” “I pray for a new BB gun.” The way he was shouting, it nearly scared his older brother to death. Finally, he elbowed him and said, “Why are you shouting, God isn’t deaf!” The little brother opened up one eye and looked at him and said, “I know—but Grandma is!” There isn’t much better than seeing the joy of a child when they’re opening their presents is there? Of course, that quickly gets overshadowed by cleaning everything up and putting everything together. If the joy of getting and giving gifts is all there is about Christmas, it sure wouldn’t last long would it? Tonight, we’re having our Christmas play that Debbie and Jessie and everybody has worked so hard on. And you’ll notice that with tonight’s play, just like every Christmas play, the focus is on the Baby Jesus in the manger. Any time you see a manger scene like the one we have on the Lord’s Table this morning, what’s the focus? The same as the focus of our play tonight. The focus is on the Baby Jesus in the manger. That’s where our focus will be this morning. In our passage this morning, Paul is encouraging the Philippian church to be unified. And then he gives them the only way that is possible. The only way it is possible for them to be truly unified is for each of them to have the mind of Christ. But what is the mind of Christ? Paul uses that word “mind” throughout the first two chapters of Philippians. In each case, he’s not using it like we typically would. When we use the word mind, we usually are only talking about some sort of mental exercise. Some type of study or brain power. The way it’s used here is much deeper. Here it goes beyond just a mental exercise and includes your whole attitude, your demeanor, your mindset—the whole way you live your life. It includes both your internal thoughts and attitude as well as your external actions. It involves how you think, feel, and act. In a nutshell, it’s your attitude that effects your actions. And our passage this morning is telling us that we need to fix our attitudes. We need to fix our mindsets. We need to fix our attitudes by having the same attitude that Jesus did. We need to have His mind. That sounds good in church, but what does it mean in our day-to-day lives? If Jesus is God, how can we as mere people be expected to have His attitude—His mind? Because Jesus came as a person just like we are. And because He came as a person just like we are, we know that we can strive to have the same attitude that He did. That’s what I want for us this morning. As we look at the Baby Jesus in the manger this morning, I want each of us to see the kind of mind He has. But I not only want us to see that kind of mind, I want each of us to have that kind of mind this morning. The kind of mind that it took for the Son of God to come into this world as a Baby. In order to do that, we’re going to look at two things. First, we’re going to look at three facts about the Baby that came. And second we’re going to look at three responses to the Baby that came. First, let’s look at the facts. What did this Baby come from? Look with me at verse 6:
PHILIPPIANS 2:6
I want you to go with me on a journey for a few minutes. A journey that will take every bit of your imagination and wonder. I want you to picture heaven with me for a few minutes. Not the lame excuse for heaven that we’ve created in books and on TV. I’m not talking about fishing holes and golf courses and clouds and harps and things. I’m talking about the real, eternal dwelling place of almighty God. Revelation 21 describes the beauty of what the New Jerusalem will one day look like when God creates it. John describes its indescribable beauty by putting it in terms we can relate to. He describes things like a street of gold. Twelve gates made of one pearl a piece. Foundations and walls constructed of every gemstone imaginable. What a wonderful place that will be. It will be a wonderful place that God will provide for us after the present heavens and earth are passed away. But when you look there on your own, I want you to notice something. The beauty of the place isn’t the focus. As a matter of fact, John uses those words to describe the New Jerusalem for a very specific reason. He is telling us that even the most beautiful, costly and rare precious materials we can experience here on earth. Those things are common compared to the real, true, precious beauty we will experience there. The most precious thing you can imagine here on earth will barely be noticeable in the New Jerusalem. Why? Because we will be in the presence of true beauty. We will be in the presence of the triune God. Revelation 21:23 says, “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” Picture the most beautiful scene that you can imagine. Now, imagine that scene so overwhelmed by the beauty of the glory of God that it’s not even noticeable. The song says it best, “the things of earth will go strangely dim—in the light of His glory and grace.” The glory of God is an unimaginably beautiful thing. Now imagine willingly giving that up. Not only giving up the beauty of dwelling in God’s glory, but giving up the fullest, most complete relationship possible. If you’ve ever had to spend time away from your spouse or your kids, you know how hard that can be. If you’ve ever lost a child or a spouse, you know how hard that is. But no matter how good our relationships are here on earth, they are all far from perfect. Now imagine the most perfect, intimate relationship possible. Three perfect, infinite beings, united fully and completely. United so fully and completely that they are one essence. One God, three Persons united in perfect relationship one to another. Eternally unbroken, unhindered, unchanged, unlimited. Until one quiet night in Bethlehem. The words, “thought it not robbery” in verse 6 literally mean, “thought it not something to be grasped for or desperately held onto.” All the unimaginable beauty of dwelling in the glory of God. The perfectly complete and intimate Trinitarian relationship. Jesus said, “I’m willing to let it all go.” It’s the complete opposite picture of what Satan did, isn’t it? What did he do? He said, “I will be like the Most High.” Out of his pride, he tried to grasp something that wasn’t his. But out of Jesus’ humility, He thought it not robbery and willingly gave up what was rightfully His and His alone. That’s what that Baby in the manger came from. Now let’s see what He came to be. Look with me in verse 7:
PHILIPPIANS 2:7
The words “made himself of no reputation” literally mean “emptied Himself.” Jesus willingly chose to empty himself of His position in Heaven. He willingly chose to empty Himself of His dwelling place in the glory of God. He willingly chose to empty Himself of His completely intimate relationship. As God in the flesh, He willingly chose to limit His divine attributes. He limited His omnipresence. He was not everywhere at once. He limited His omnipotence. He became tired and hungry according to the limits of flesh. He limited His omniscience. While He was in flesh, He didn’t know everything. Because He had willingly emptied Himself, He did not know the day of His return. God the Son, God incarnate, God in flesh was still God. But He chose to empty Himself. He chose to make Himself of no reputation. He left His rightful place in Heaven and traded it for a dirty, smelly barn. He traded being clothed in the glory of God to being clothed in scraps of material we poetically call “swaddling clothes.” He traded His omnipotence for the utter helplessness of a baby. He traded His omniscience for the mind of a baby. He traded his omnipresence for only being moved when someone picked Him up. The One who spoke the universe into existence had to learn how to talk. The One who fills everything with His presence had to learn how to walk. The One who sustains creation with the power of His might had to build the strength to even hold up His head. He felt pain. He felt hunger. He felt thirst. He was hot at times and He was cold at times. He was tired. He wept. He was even tempted. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Did that mean that the baby in the manger was no longer God? Most definitely not. What it means is, God the Son didn’t selfishly grasp onto His place in heaven in the presence and glory of the Trinity. He emptied Himself of that position and place. He made himself of no reputation by limiting His divine attributes and became as we are. Still fully God. But He limited Himself to being fully man at the same time. When you look at the nativity scene, that’s what the Baby in the manger came from and what He came to be. Why in the world would He do that? Let’s look at verse 8 to see what the Baby came to do.
PHILIPPIANS 2:8
Christ did everything that He did for one purpose. He willingly left His glorious place in Heaven for one reason. He emptied Himself and became a man for one reason. Was it to die? Ultimately, yes. But it was really more than that, wasn’t it? Because if that was the only thing, He could have just appeared on the scene right before He was crucified. What is the main focus of this verse? Yes, Jesus humbled Himself. That’s important, but it’s not the focus. Yes, Jesus died on the cross. Yes, that’s very important, but it’s not the focus of the verse. The focus of the verse is why He humbled Himself. Why He went to the cross. Because He was obedient. He was obedient to the will of the Father. He humbled the will of His humanity and subjected it to the will of the Father when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane. You remember that time right before He was betrayed and led away to be crucified. The time when He prayed, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Jesus lived His life on earth in perfect submission and obedience to the Father. Even when that obedience led Him to death. Even when it not only led Him to death, but led Him to the most cruel, inhumane death you could even imagine. Even the death of the cross. The Father’s will is made clear in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” It’s also clear in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God’s love for you is so overwhelming that the Father willed for the Son to die so you wouldn’t have to. Isaiah 53 tells us that it pleased the Lord to bruise His Son. That word bruise literally means crush. Verse 11 says, “He [the Father] shall see of the travail of his [the Son] soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.” Jesus did everything He did out of obedience to the Father. He emptied Himself. He was born of the virgin Mary. For 33 years He lived a perfect, sinless life. He willingly allowed Himself to be beaten, bruised, cursed, mocked and hung on a tree. All out of obedience to the Father. All because God loved you so much that He wanted you to be reconciled to Him. Those are the facts of the Baby that came so long ago. He came from the glories of perfect Trinitarian relationship and presence in and with God. He came to be fully man and everything that entails. And he came to be obedient to the Father. Even though that obedience meant His death on the cross. Those are the facts. But what are the responses to the Baby that came? The first response is the Father’s response. Look at verse 9:
PHILIPPIANS 2:9
Because God the Son didn’t think that His position in Heaven was something to be desperately held onto. Because He was willing to empty Himself of His position and glory and become a man. Because He was willing to humble Himself in obedience, even to the point of dying the cruelest death imaginable. Because of that, the Father has bestowed on Him ultimate glory. Because of His perfect obedience, from all of eternity, Jesus Christ is exalted. His name is above every name that ever has been or ever will be. From swaddling clothes, hay and a feed trough. To dirty feet, sandals and no where to lay His head. To a crown of thorns, humiliating nakedness, and a cross. To being seated at the right hand of the Father. A place of honor. A place of exaltation. A place of glory. Because of His obedience, the baby in the manger is highly exalted by the Father throughout eternity. That’s the Father’s response, but creation has a response too. You can see it in verses 10-11:
PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11
When Jesus came the first time, He emptied Himself. He came in humility. He came in probably the most humble form possible. He came as the Baby in the manger. John 3:17 says, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” And how has the world received Him? Isaiah 53:3 says, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Is it any different today? Does the world receive Him any different today? How about you? Do you receive Jesus any different today? Or do you hide your face from Him? Do you reject Him? Do you fail to give Him the esteem He requires? There was a big difference between the way Jesus came the first time and the way He’s coming back. When He comes back it’s going to look like it does in verses 10-11. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The Lord gave John a beautiful picture of this in His revelation. Turn with me to Revelation 5:8-14:
REVELATION 5:8-14
What a beautiful picture that is of the way it’s going to be in heaven. What a glorious time it will be for all who have already bowed their knee to Jesus and confessed Him as Lord during their lifetimes. But our passage says that every knee will bow. It says that every tongue will confess. What about the ones who have not accepted Jesus during their lifetime? Look over a few verses to Revelation 6:15-17:
REVELATION 6:15-17
You see, by the grace of God, He has given each of us a choice. Each person in here this morning will bow their knee before Christ. Each person in here this morning will publicly confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord. That is a fact. There is no doubt about it. You have no choice in that matter. But, by God’s grace, you do have a choice as to how and when you will do that. If you resist the call of His Spirit and you leave this place without having confessed Jesus as Lord. If something happens and you die on the way home. You will confess Him when you experience His wrath. And Scripture says that it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. But on the other hand, you can listen to His Spirit’s prompting. He’s given you the opportunity today to confess the name of Jesus as your Lord and Savior. If you do that today, you will escape the wrath to come. You will be able to experience His peace here on earth that the angel proclaimed at His birth. You will be able fall down and worship Him with the saints in glory. When Jesus came to this world as a baby over 2000 years ago, He came in obedience. And His obedience brought on response. Response from the Father and response from creation. What is your response? Will you bow before Him today in obedience? Or will you bow before Him later as He pours out His wrath? The choice is clear. The choice is yours. What is your response to Him today?
