How are we doing? Church? All right. Are you guys tired of snow yet? Are you still liking it? There are way too many people that are still liking it. That's insane. I don't understand it. But hey, I'm glad you like it. That's all that matters, right? Hey, thank you guys for coming out and just braving the weather. And we think it is important to gather as God's people. And so we love that we can still gather and worship the Lord together. And so that's what we're going to do this morning. And we're in the middle of our Advent series. We're in week two of it. And throughout this series, what we're wanting to do is we're wanting to take a look at the character of God in the coming Christ, because here's what we believe. We believe that the Bible tells us over and over and over again that if you want to know God, you need to know Jesus, that Jesus is the way that we can know the Father. And if you don't want to take my word for it, let's see what the Bible has to say about it. Says, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. So we have seen the glory of the Father through Jesus putting on flesh. Let's see another one. Philip said to him, lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us. And Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me? Philip, whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does his works. And then one more for good measure. In Colossians, he, being Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. So Scripture is clear that if we want to know the Father, then we can know Jesus. That knowing Jesus, seeing Jesus shows us who the Father is. It shows us who the Father is like. And so if we want to know the Father, which I hope you do like, knowing God is the greatest thing on earth. If you want to know God and love God rightly, you need to know Jesus. And so that's what we're doing during this time leading up to Christmas, is we're looking at who does the Bible say that God is through the incarnation or through Jesus putting on flesh. And so last week Danny started us off and we looked at the sovereignty of God displayed through Christmas. That Christmas, the coming of Christ shows us the sovereignty of God, that God is in control of all things. There's nothing outside of his hand, that all things happen because of his say so. And so we looked at the sovereignty of God last week and this week we're going to look at how the birth of Christ shows us the humility of God. Now, being humble or having humility, that's something that Christians know is a good thing, right? How many of you would say humility is good, there should be more hands than that. But we know that humility is a good thing. All Christians should say humility is a good virtue. Humility is a good characteristic to have. We would all be in agreement with that. We'd all say humility is good. But I don't think all of us actually like it. I think we'd say, yeah, humility is a good thing. I know that I should have humility, I know that I should be a humble person. But deep down we don't really want to. Because you know what we like, we like people to think about us as much as we think about us, right? We want people to look at us as much as we look at us. That's what we do. But so we say we know that humility is a good thing, but the way that we practice humility shows that we don't actually want it. You know what I mean? Because people practice humility by self deprecating jokes. They do humility by like humble brags trying to just brag about themselves in a humble way saying, oh, I wasn't a very good student, I got straight A's without even trying. Like they'll do that sort of thing and think that that's humble. They'll take every situation or every conversation and try and point it back to themself. And I say they, it's like, me too, right? Like I do this. And what that shows us is that we think humility is a good thing. We just don't really like it. We think humility is a good virtue or a good characteristic to have, but we don't really want it. Why is that? I think it's because we have a wrong view of humility that we don't rightly understand what true humility is. Because if we actually understood what true humility was and we'd want it for ourself, it won't just be something that we say that we know that we need or something that we should display a characteristic we should have. But if we actually understood true humility, we'd want it. We'd understand the benefit that comes from it. And so what does Christmas show us about humility? How does the humility of Christ reframe for us what true humility is and teach us about the God that we serve? So here's where we're going this morning. We're going to take a look at Christ's example of humility. So we're going to see what true humility is, and then we're going to see not only why we need it, but why we should want it. You guys ready? Let's pray as we get ready to open up God's word together. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that you speak to us. Thank you that you reveal yourself to us as we get ready to open your word to this morning Spirit, I ask that you would speak, that you would show us what true humility looks like, that it wouldn't just be something that we know that we need, but something that we want and desire. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. So open up your Bibles to your favorite Christmas passage, Philippians Chapter two, everyone's favorite part of the Christmas story. At least maybe it will be at the end of this morning. We'll see. But Philippians Chapter two, as you're turning there, I want to just make sure you know what's going on. Anytime we just randomly jump into a portion of Scripture, we want to know what's happening. And so in this letter, this letter is known as Paul's Letter of Joy. He's writing with great joy and encouragement to the church in Philippi. And he'd just gotten done encouraging them in their faith, telling of his own persecution, his desire to minister to them, but also to be with Christ. He's just moved into encouraging them to live their lives worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And as he makes that transition, he tells them that he wants them to be of one mind, to have unity as a body. And that's where we're picking up in Philippians Chapter two. We're going to start by reading verses three through five. Says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. So Paul has this desire for them to be unified, for them to be a unified body of believers. And then he gives them this command. He says, count others more significant than yourself. Don't just look out for yourself, but look out for the good of others. And then he ends with this specific command. He says, have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. A better reading of it might be how the CSB puts it that says, adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus. So Paul says, the goal is your unity, but this is the command that's going to help you get there. He says, have the same attitude as Christ, which I don't know about you, but that seems like a lofty goal, right? That seems like a lofty command. You mean you want me, a sinful person, to have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had? Yes. And so what is that attitude of Christ? That's what Paul's going to go into. He's going to go into, what is the mindset of Christ that we see in the Incarnation, that we see at Christmas? What is the mindset of Christ that we ought to adopt? Now, before we jump in and keep reading through this passage, a lot of you already know where this is going. You're familiar with Philippians 2. That's great. You should be. It's a great passage. But I think oftentimes as we get ready to look at the Rest of Philippians 2 or these next few verses and we see the humility of Christ displayed, we jump straight to, okay, now I'm going to imitate that. Or we jump straight to, how am I going to put on the humility that Christ put on? And we start to make the shift from just looking at the humility of Christ to looking at us. And we think, what does this mean for me? How am I supposed to be humble the way Christ was humble? Because like, we're action oriented people, right? We want to accomplish something. We want to be productive. And so we read what we're about to read and we think, how do I apply this to my life? How do I apply this type of humility to myself? And that's a good desire. I want you to have that desire. It's not just a desire, it's a command. Right? Paul commands it. But I don't want us to jump to that too quickly this morning because maybe the most productive thing for you this morning isn't to consider, how can I be humble like Christ? Maybe the most productive thing for you to do this morning is just to sit and gaze at the humility of Christ is to just sit under and gaze upon the humility that Christ shows in his coming to earth. So make me a deal. Don't jump straight into how do I become humble like Christ was humble. But just let the humility of Christ wash over you and just gaze upon how good God is that he would humble himself in this way. So with that, let's keep reading. Let's read through verses 6 through 11. We'll go through 11. We'll get a running start though in verse 5. That'll be good. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but. But emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed upon him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Amen. This is such a beautiful paragraph that shows us the humility of Christ at Christmas. And so let's go back up to the top. Let's go back to verse six. And we're going to walk through because we want to rightly understand what true humility is seen in Christ. So back in verse six, it starts like this. Though he was in the form of God, Paul starts his explanation of Christ's humility by explaining who Christ is. Though he was in the form of God. If you're going to properly understand the mind and humility of Christ, you need to know who he is. And Paul is saying that Jesus is God. That's what Paul is getting at with these opening words in verse 6. Though he was in the form of God. And when we look at the word form, it in the original language, it's not the idea of like a physical form necessarily how we think about it today, but it's the nature or the essence. And so what Paul is saying here is literally that Jesus Christ, though he was in the form or the nature or the essence of God. Paul's saying that Jesus is God. He's telling us what John tells us in John 1:1, that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was, was God. That's what Paul is doing here. He's saying Jesus is God. He always has been. Even before he came to earth. Jesus Christ has always existed as God himself, pre existing, all creation, eternally existing. Guys, this is important. The Christ that you follow is not just a good teacher. He's not just a prophet, he's not just a good man. He's God. The Christ that we follow isn't just a man, but he is God himself, truly God. So we see who Christ is, that he is God, and then we see what he did. We see the mind of Christ that Paul tells the Philippians and us to adopt the mind of humility. Says who? Though he was, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Now that phrase did not count it a thing to be grasped. It can better be maybe read as something to be exploited or held onto for advantage. So what Paul is saying here is he's saying that Jesus, though he is God, for he did not count being equal with God or being God himself, as something to be held onto for his own advantage or something to be exploited. That's what Paul is getting at. That's the idea he's getting at. There. Now I don't want you to hear this as saying that he did not that he stopped being God, because I think it's easy to read those next words. But he emptied himself. And we think, oh, did he stop being God? No, Jesus has always been God, will always be God. He is God eternally. And so that phrase of emptied himself, it's not saying that God emptied himself or Jesus emptied himself of his divinity. That would be heresy, right? There's an old heresy called kenoticism which uses this to say that when Jesus came to earth and became a man, he. He took off his Godness, that he ceased to be God. That's not true. We believe that Jesus is God eternally, eternally past and eternally in the future, that Jesus is God. And so him saying that he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself isn't him saying that he stopped being God, but it's him saying he laid aside the privilege, an advantage of his divinity. He didn't lay aside divinity itself, but he laid aside the privilege of divinity. There's an old creed that says it like this, that Jesus is truly God and truly man. He's completely God and completely man. Christ is two natures united into one individual, without confusion, change, division or separation. So Jesus doesn't cease to be God himself, but he empties himself. He takes off the privilege and advantage of his divinity and comes and lives the human experience. I've heard someone Illustrate it in this way and maybe it will be helpful. Let's imagine that there's a CEO of a really large company, all right? Millionaire, billionaire, I don't care. Put whatever alienaire you want on there. That's the CEO we're talking about. So this massive CEO, he has so many employees, his company makes a ton of money. He lacks nothing in that regard. So you have the CEO, but he's not just a CEO, he's also a dad. And so he comes home and when he gets home, his five year old son comes up to him and is like, daddy, can we wrestle now the CEO, because he has a lot of money and he can afford a lot of things, he could look at his son and say, excuse me, do you know who I am? I am a CEO. I am chief Executive officer. Okay, you want me to wrestle like you want me to get down on the ground? You want me to do that? You know how many people I could have come here and wrestle you right now and you want me to do it? He could do that. But do you think that's what the CEO does? No, because he's a good dad. The CEO takes off his suit jacket, puts his phone down, gets on the floor, wrestles with his son and puts him in a full nelson right? Now, did he cease to be the CEO of the company at that time? No, but he laid aside, he emptied himself of the privilege of being a CEO to wrestle with his son. Now that just kind of scratches the surface of what Paul is saying that Jesus did that Jesus 100% God, fully, completely, truly. God doesn't let his divinity be used to his advantage, but instead stoops down to the earth he created, empties himself of the privilege of his deity, and says, I'm not going to use my divinity to my advantage, but to yours. I'm not going to exploit my deity. Instead, I'm going to come in the form of a servant. And it says that he took the form of a servant and was born in the form of man. Guys, that's Christmas. That's Christmas. That Jesus, fully God, truly God and truly man, would step down into earth and be born in the form of man, would be born in the form of a servant. He emptied himself of the privilege of his godness and put on the form of the servant. The one who deserves to be served by all, came down to serve. He emptied himself. Jesus, being in the very nature of God, said, I'm not using this to serve myself, but instead I'm using it to serve the world. And look at how he did that. He did that by being born. By being born. Like, I can imagine a hundred different ways that the King of the universe could come into Earth. Being born is not the most spectacular way. And we see in Revelation that he's going to come back and it's going to be big, like, it's going to be awesome. But for his first coming, he comes humbly. He's born just like you and me. Creator, God supreme, mighty, all knowing, all powerful. God doesn't just appear. He doesn't come in as this warrior. He comes as a baby, just like you and me. And not just. I think the most amazing thing about this is it's not just that he came as a baby, but he came in the same way that every baby comes, birth and all. And if you've given birth, you understand what that means, right? Like, that's a crazy thought. That God himself would come into Earth the exact same way that we would. That's the humility of Christ coming to Earth exactly like us. Not in a pretty showboaty way, but humbly being born of a woman, that's how we chose to come. The one who is with the Father in eternity past chooses to step into humanity by being born as a baby, completely needy of his mother. Isn't that just an amazing thought? We see the humility of Christ not just in that he came to us, but how he came to us. Luke 2 colors this in a little bit better for us. Luke 2. Starting in verse 1, it says, in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria, and all went to be registered, each to his own town. And. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and the lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn. The King of the universe was born into the earth, just like us. He wasn't just born into existence. He came to humble people. Mary and Joseph, a humble carpenter and his fiance. Nothing special. He was born in Bethlehem. Nothing special about Bethlehem. When Achim comes, you would expect him to be born in Rome or Jerusalem, but he comes to Bethlehem and even in Bethlehem, they couldn't even get a guest house. They couldn't even get a guest room in a house. But they're born in a lowly place where the only place to lay the Savior of the world was a feeding trough for animals. Then we see a few verses later as it talks about the birth of Christ being announced. Who is he announced to? First? Shepherds, Lowly, humble shepherds. Typically you would expect a king to get announced to royalty, to kings and to princes, maybe even to priests and to religious leaders. But instead it gets announced to humble shepherds, the bottom rung of society, the outcasts, the have nots. Jesus didn't just humble himself. He came as a humble baby to humble parents in a humble town, laid in a feeding trough and announced first to humble shepherds. The whole scenario of Christ's birth on this earth shows us the humility of Christ. And here's the good news about how Jesus came. The good news of his coming is that it shows that God Almighty is not above stooping low to his people. He's not above coming down to his people. And the fact that God would come to the least of these shows that he came for the least of these. Not the proud, not the royal, not the arrogant, but the poor, the lowly and the humble. This is the greatest act of humility the world has ever seen. Christmas is the greatest act of humility that the world has ever seen. But we see the humility of Christ not just in him coming to earth, but the life he lived on earth. Keep looking. In Philippians 2. Go back to verse 8. It says, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient. Underline that phrase, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Humility isn't just seen in that Jesus came to earth, it's not just seen in how he came to earth, but it's seen in the way he lived when he came to earth that his humility is seen that he came to earth being found in human form. He was humble by becoming obedient. He lowered himself not just by becoming man, but by becoming obedient to atone for the sin of man. That's where we see the humility of Christ on display, not just in his birth, but in his obedient life leading to his obedient death. Guys, I think this shows us something about humility that we miss that humility. I think sometimes we over complicate it. Like you want to know if you have humility right Are you being obedient to God? Because that's how it says that Jesus showed his humility. Says that being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient. You want to know the true test of humility is your obedience to God. You want to be humble, be obedient. Your humility doesn't start with you looking to serve others. It looks like you being obedient to God, that's the start of humility in your life. That's what we see Christ display for us, that Jesus was humble by being obedient. And what did his obedience lead to? What did his obedience lead to? Death. His death on the cross. And what did his death lead to? Our life. He was obedient to the point of death, and his death accomplished our life, our good, our benefit. You see, humility isn't just a nice characteristic for you to have, but a requirement for your salvation. It's just not a virtue for you to display, but it's needed for salvation. Your salvation required the humility of Christ putting on flesh and coming to earth and going to the cross. Humility is grounds for worship because it's how your salvation was accomplished. God put on flesh. He came to earth. He lived a perfect life, put himself on a cross so that you could have life. The humility of God accomplished your salvation. I think that's pretty good news, guys. The humility of Christ accomplished your salvation. It's how you were saved. And not only that, it's through humility that salvation was accomplished. And it's through humility. Humility that salvation is received. Because your salvation requires your humility. You proclaiming your need, you proclaiming your lack, you proclaiming your sinfulness. You proclaiming that you need a savior, you proclaiming that Jesus is the only one who can actually save. As I was thinking about that, I was thinking of Revelation, chapter 3, verses 16 through 18 says so. Because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich and in white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. It requires salvation to see Jesus as the Savior that you need. It requires humility to see salvation found in Christ. Your salvation requires humility. Salvation was accomplished through it. And salvation is received by it. See, Christ's humility leads to your life. Him emptying himself of the privilege of his divinity so that you could have life. See, it's in this work of Jesus that we find ourselves a definition of humility. The humility is the giving of self for the good of others. Humility is the giving of self for the good of others. That's what we see in Christ, that he gave of himself. He emptied himself for the good of mankind, for the good of his people. And that's really good news. But what if there's more? What if there's something even better than that? And you might be thinking better than my salvation, like Christ's humility, accomplishing something better than my salvation, like what could be better than that? There's more. We see that as we finish out this passage. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed upon him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. How does this passage end? Jesus is exalted. He's lifted high. He's given the name above every other name. At his name, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of the Father. To the glory of the Father. You want to know what's better than humility that accomplishes salvation? And it's humility that accomplishes salvation. For the glory of God. For Jesus, humility wasn't the goal. The goal wasn't just saving his people or setting a good example. The end goal of Christ's humility was God's glory. The road of humility ends in the glory of God. So why do we want humility? Why do we see it not just as something that we should have, but something we want? Because it's through humility that God is glorified. It's through humility that we make much of our Savior. It's through humility that Christ's name is exalted and God's glory is lifted. So we can add to our definition that humility is the giving of self for the good of others with God's glory in mind. With God's glory in mind. Or put more simply, humility is the preoccupation with God's glory and the good of others. That's what we see in Christ. That's what we see at Christmas. That Jesus was preoccupied with the glory of his Father and the good of his people, that he stepped off of his throne, was born in the likeness of man, lived an obedient life, putting him on the cross so that we could have life found in him. And he was raised, he was exalted, he was lifted high, and God was glorified. That's what we see at Christmas. Humility is the preoccupation with God's glory and the good of others. So, church, what are you preoccupied with this Christmas? What's on your mind? What are those thoughts that keep coming every single day, multiple times a day? Is it the Christmas bonus you're trying to work for? Is it all the hosting that you're doing, all the food that you're cooking? Maybe you're just so focused and so preoccupied on making it a magical experience for your kids this year. Maybe holidays are really hard for you and you're just preoccupied with pushing through and getting on to the new year. Church, there is something better to be preoccupied with. Get the attention off yourself. Get the focus off yourself. Become preoccupied with the glory of God. Be preoccupied with the name of Jesus Christ. Exalt him, not yourself. Be focused on him, not you. That's what we see displayed in Christ, a preoccupation with the glory of God and the good of others. If you truly believe that God is the prize of this life and the next, if you truly believe that all of life is all about the glory of, then you will gladly be preoccupied with Him. And if you're preoccupied with other things, maybe you just have a small view of God. Maybe somewhere along the way you've confused just how big God is, how good he is, how great he is, how glorious he is. This Christmas, be preoccupied with the glory of God, realizing and remembering that when we display humility, we are declaring that life is not about us, but about the God who made us and the God who saved us. That's what we display when we display humility. And if we had more time this morning, which we don't, don't worry. But if we had more time this morning, I would love to show you, like, the benefits of humility for you. I would love to take you to James 4, 10 and 1st Peter 5, 6, to show you that your humility is ultimately what leads you to your exaltation. I'd love to show you second Corinthians 8, where it tells us that for your sake, Christ, though he was rich, became poor so that in his poverty you might become rich. That humility is actually what makes you the richest. You could ever be. I'd love to take you to those places. And maybe some other time we will. But here's what I want you to just walk away with this morning. I just want you to have a greater appreciation for the humility of Christ. I want you to gaze upon God, that He would humble himself coming to earth so that you could be reconciled to Him. I want you to see the beauty of humility. And I want, as you see the beauty of the humility of Christ, I want you to worship Him. That's what I want for you this morning, to be so preoccupied with the glory of God that it leads you to worship Him. So this morning I want you to see that the humility of Christ leads you to the worship of Christ. The humility of Christ leads you to the worship of Christ. All I want for you this morning is to gaze in wonder at the humility of Christ Jesus and worship Him. Give him the praise that he is due. That this Christmas, as you think about Jesus coming to earth and you consider his humility, that it leads you to worship. Because that's not only what I want you to do, but that's what this text wants you to do. Because Philippians 2, verses 5 through 11 is widely known as one of the earliest Christian hymns. The humility of Christ isn't just something we look at and read. It's something we sing about. It's something that we praise God for. And so, as we end our time, this morning, we're going to celebrate the work of Christ that He emptied himself, that he came to earth to save his people, that he was exalted, lifted high, all to the glory of God the Father. We're going to celebrate that. We're going to sing about that, and we're going to celebrate that. As we celebrate baptisms this morning, we have 34 people being baptized, which is awesome, right? Yeah. And so as we celebrate baptism, we're going to do it as a part of our worship. We're going to sing together. We're going to sing to Jesus because He's worthy of our songs. And we're going to celebrate baptisms in worship. Because ultimately, it's not about the person in the tank, but it's about the one who saved them and put them there. And so as we celebrate baptisms, here's what I want you guys to know. Here's what I want you to remember, that them being baptized this morning, they are declaring the humility of Christ. They are declaring that God left His throne, came to earth in the form of man, emptied himself, was obedient to the point of death, death on the cross, and then was raised and exalted, given the name above every names that every knee should bow, every tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of God. That is what they are declaring in their baptisms this morning. And they're also displaying their own humility. They're displaying that their knee has bowed to Jesus Christ as Lord. Their tongue has confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord. And so as you look at them in the tank, they're not saying this is about me. They're saying that this life isn't about me. It's about the one who saved me. And I have aligned my life with his. And so, as we sing and celebrate baptisms, we're not celebrating them. We're celebrating the God who saved them. The God who displayed humility to save his people. Let's pray. Father, you are great. You are glorious. You're worthy of all praise. You're worthy of all honor. You're worthy of all worship. And we want to give that to you this morning. God, help us to see that humility isn't just something that we ought to have, but. But it's something that we want. Help us to see the beauty of the humility of Christ which accomplished our salvation. May we remember that. May we dwell on it. May we sit in it. Not because it's about our salvation, but it's because it's about the name of Jesus being lifted high. And it's about your glory. So God, we love you. Help us to love you more. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.