We are now approaching the Christmas season. Folks are beginning to decorate for the holiday, and are busy planning their celebrations. We all are thinking in terms of what we might give to that special someone, and if we will be honest, we are also thinking of what that special someone might be giving us.
The Christmas season is indeed a special time of year. But is this all there is to Christmas? Is Christmas all about us, or it about someone else? Actually, it is about a certain someone else and His relationship to us. The certain someone is Jesus Christ.
Christmas is all about how He came to this earth in order to make it possible for you and me to have a relationship with him, the “one and only” Son.
This is the term that the apostle John coined to describe Jesus Christ, the One whose birth we celebrate at Christmas time.
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” - John 1:14 (NIV)
In the first chapter of John’s Gospel, he refers to Jesus as the “Word,” that is, He is the wisdom by which the universe is made to make sense.
He also refers to Jesus as the “light,” the One who illumines our hearts and delivers us from darkness.
“In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” - John 1:4 (NIV)
Illumination can occur from a great distance, as the light of the sun shines on us from afar. But John tells us an astounding fact: the “Word” became flesh and lived among men. This is something absolutely unique to human history.
In the pagan religions, the “gods” supposedly came down to the earth in some form, but never was there an incarnation like that of our Lord.
So too, in some false religions, men are promised that they will become gods, but never that God would take on humanity as John describes here.
This means that Jesus Christ is the unique person of the universe.
When He walked upon this earth He was completely human. But at the same time, He was completely divine. In fact, Paul tells us in our text that our Savior was before we ever were.
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The celebration of Christmas should be, for the Christian, a time in which we bow our knee and confess that the babe born in Bethlehem is worthy to be exalted, praised, and worshipped. Today and the next couple of Sundays, I want us consider why this is so.
In verse 6, of our text, Paul speaks to us about the deity of Christ.
Notice again what he says: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.”
At this point it might be helpful to look at this verse in a few different translations.
“He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what.” (The Message)
“Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God.” (NLT)
“Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.” (NASB)
1. Jesus Christ is the eternal God of the universe.
The Bible is very clear concerning the fact that Jesus Christ is the eternal God of the universe.
“We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels - everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment.” - Colossians 1:15-17 (The Message)
Despite the clear teaching of Scripture, some deny the deity of Christ. Many of whom claim they have discovered a fresh slant on the “truth.” But make no mistake about it, it is impossible to declare the truth if you do not believe the truth about the One who said, “I am the truth!”
Some get hung up on the phrase “firstborn over all creation” in Colossians 1:15. That phrase is found in the NIV, and the KJV.
They contend Jesus Christ was created before everything else that God made. But they demonstrate a misunderstanding of what Paul is saying.
While the term “only begotten” or “one and only” refers to the uniqueness of Christ (God in the flesh), the term “first born” refers to the victory of Christ over sin and death. “Only begotten” refers to His incarnation, while “first begotten” refers to His resurrection. This is made clear by simply comparing Scripture with Scripture.
“He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” - Colossians 1:18 (NIV)
“Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” - Revelation 1:5 (NIV)
Jesus Christ was not created, He is the creator!
“Through him all things were made without him nothing was made that has been made.” - John 1:3 (NIV)
Let there be no confusion. Jesus is the eternal God of the universe!
2. Yet He chose to lay aside His eternal rights.
“He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity.” - Philippians 2:6-7a (The Message)
The NASB says that He “emptied Himself,” Just what does this mean? We know from other Scriptures what it cannot mean. It cannot mean that our Lord set aside His deity, that He ceased to be God when He took on human flesh, or even that He diminished His deity, becoming less God (however that could be). Our Lord did not set aside any of His divine attributes. What He set aside, so to speak, was the pursuit of His personal interests, interests that would have been in competition with the Father’s plan for providing salvation for the human race.
Let’s suppose that a very successful businessman is elected President of the United States. You can imagine how he could seize the power of the presidency to further his business interests. He could insist all government agencies use his products. He could punish foreign countries (trade agreements, tariffs, customs inspections) for not using them. He could use his position and power to destroy his competition.
This is why one who runs for office divests himself of his business interests, leaving decisions and control to someone else, making it difficult (if not impossible) to misuse of his position and power as a public official. The businessman does not give away all that he owns, he simply divests himself of the power to profit from his position.
So it was with our Lord’s “emptying” of Himself. He did not cease to be God; He divested Himself of self-interest, so that He could glorify the Father and bring about the salvation of lost sinners. Our Lord did not reduce His deity by taking on human flesh; instead, He added
perfect, sinless humanity to His deity.
3. He did this, in order to accomplish His eternal purpose.
You see, each member of the trinity has a hand in providing for the salvation of a sinful world. The Father planned our salvation; the Son provided our salvation; and the Spirit personalizes our salvation.
When I choose to place my faith in Christ, the plan of the Father, that was made possible by the sacrifice of the Son, is made real to me by the Holy Spirit. This is the true significance of Christmas. This is what we are called to celebrate. The fact that God became flesh and dwelt among us.
That He came to sacrifice Himself on our behalf so that we might have a personal relationship with Him, the eternal God of the universe, and so that through that relationship, we might be blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places!
“Praise God for Christmas. Praise Him for the incarnation, for the word made flesh. I will not sing of shepherds watching flocks on frosty nights, or angel choristers. I will not sing of a stable bare in Bethlehem, or lowing oxen, wise men trailing star with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Tonight I will sing praise to the Father who stood on heaven’s threshold and said farewell to his Son as he stepped across the stars to Bethlehem and Jerusalem. And I will sing praise to the infinite, eternal Son, who became most finite, a baby who would one day be executed for my crime. Praise him in the heavens, Praise him in the stable, Praise him in my heart” - Joseph Bayly.
Conclusion:
“How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few, his precepts! O! ‘tis easier to keep holidays than commandments.” - Benjamin Franklin
