Philippians chapter two, we're gonna look at verses five to 11 for a sermon I've entitled The Real Meaning of Christmas. Here's what it says. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Well, today's Christmas, so millions of people around the world are celebrating the holiday, including many Japanese. That's kind of strange because Japan is historically a Shinto and Buddhist nation. And though Christianity was first introduced in the 1600s, 400 years later, less than 2% of the population identifies as Christian. While the growing popularity of Christmas, though, has little to do with the biblical faith, but rather, it came to Japan via American consumerism. It's the commercial aspects rather than the religious meaning of Christmas which captures the hearts of the Japanese. Billy Hammond in a web article points to some of the unique features of Christmas as celebrated in Japan. He writes this, although it's not an official holiday, the Japanese tend to celebrate Christmas especially in a commercial way. The Japanese celebrate Christmas Eve by eating Christmas cake which the father of the family purchases on his way home from work or his wife does in case he has to work on Christmas Eve. Now stores all over carry versions of this Christmas cake and they drop the prices dramatically on December 25th in order to sell everything out by the 26th. This has resulted in an interesting expression in which young girls are referred to as Christmas cakes. Marriageable until age 25 and requiring a heavy discount after age 25. Well, in recent years, thanks to the marketing prowess of the folks at Kentucky Fried Chicken, Christmas chicken dinners have become quite popular. Many Japanese even make reservations for the Christmas chickens ahead of time. People line up at the outlets to pick up their order, and as a result of KFC's brilliant marketing plan, many Japanese now believe that Westerners celebrate Christmas with chicken dinners rather than the common turkey or ham. Christmas Eve has been hyped up on TV and media as being a time for romantic miracles. It's seen as a time to spend time with your boyfriend or your girlfriend in a romantic setting. So fancy restaurants and hotels are often booked solid at this time. It's a time where girls get to tell of their affections for boys and vice versa. And because of this, extending an invitation to spend Christmas with a girl has all kinds of romantic implications. I recall though seeing a street interview where they asked Japanese people if they knew what Christmas meant. No one could tell its origin or its significance. All they knew was that it was a good time for giving gifts. Now you might think that because they are not from a historically Christian country, one that did have more of an influence of Christianity, the people would be more informed in the answers. Now, according to the man on the street interview that I saw from England, when asked the meaning of Christmas, one man said, well, Christmas to me is family, being close to the ones you love and remembering all the good things you have in life. Said another woman, it's about remembering people who are no longer with us, like my dad. Another said, Christmas is about happiness and presents, but mainly for kids. And another curmudgeonly old man said this, well, I have grandchildren, so it's come back a little bit, but before that, it was really quite meaningless. Of the dozens of people that were interviewed that I watched, there were only three who mentioned anything about the birth of Christ, and there was only one who could give an accurate explanation of its significance. Well, we wanna think today about the real meaning of Christmas, and to do so, we wanna look at a passage written by the Apostle Paul, found in Philippians here, where he speaks of the condescension and also the exaltation of Christ. So why don't we pray and get into the text? Father God, I do pray for grace and mercy as we look at this. This is probably one of the most profound things written in the Bible as far as. what it says about our Lord Jesus Christ, who he was, and what he came to do. I pray that you would crystallize this in our own minds and then transform us through the truth of your word. For we ask these things now in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, in the context of this passage, the Apostle Paul is calling for unity in the church. So starting in the first verse of this chapter, he says this, If there's any consolation of love, if there's any fellowship of the spirit, and any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also the interests of others. Now, think of how many fights in your family in your marriage or at your job could be avoided if everybody there were humble and considered others as more important than themselves. If rather than being so self-focused, they were also concerned about the interest of others. I mean, what a difference would that make? Now we might not be able to work that out at the workplace, and we might struggle to pull it off in the family, but this humble, selfless, genuine concern for others is supposed to characterize all the followers of Christ. Paul makes it clear in holding up the example of Jesus himself for us. And so he goes on to speak about the condescension of Christ, the condescension of Christ. Now sometimes we'll talk about a person having a condescending attitude. By that we mean that a person looks down at others that they don't see as you know, equal to themselves. And this is often done in a patronizing way. So like when one presidential candidate referred to the other's followers as a basket of deplorables, that's condescension. Well, Jesus also had a condescending attitude, but in his case, it wasn't a negative thing, it was a positive thing. Because it motivated him to leave heaven and come to earth to save a world of deplorable sinners like us. In exhorting the Christians to Christ-like humility, he writes this, not as something to be grasped, but he emptied himself, taking on the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Now I came across a recent poll that was conducted a few years ago where they surveyed people from across the countries in the world and asked them about their perception of Americans. In 11 of the 16 countries where people were surveyed, a majority described Americans as being arrogant. 72% of Greeks thought Americans were this way. 69% of Canadians, but then again, what do Canadians know? But strangely enough, 55% of Americans themselves said this was an American trait. But I have to say, despite the fact that our culture promotes pride, we still at least acknowledge the value of humility. But that's because of the influence of Christianity. That's not the way it was in Jesus' day. Humility was looked at as a servile attitude, something only fit for slaves. I mean, the Greeks, they prided themselves on their culture. They'd given the world Plato and Socrates and Aristotle. Alexander the Great conquered the world. Sure, the Romans had conquered them, but who did the Romans hire to teach their children? Greeks. And wasn't Greek spoken throughout the Roman Empire? The Romans, on the other hand, prided themselves on the glory of their empire, their military might, their laws and their justices, much of which has been inherited by Western culture. And wasn't it the Romans who built roads that connected the entire empire? The Greek slaves may have taught their children, but they were still slaves to the Romans. And the Jews? Oh, they prided themselves on their religion. I mean, they weren't stupid pagans who worshiped gods of wood and stone and silver. They worshiped the one true God. Wasn't it true that Jewish synagogues were bringing light to the Gentile world of darkness? I mean, did the Greeks, with all their wisdom, come to know the true God? No. And the Romans, will they rule forever? No, it's gonna be a Jewish Messiah sitting in Jerusalem. who rules over the world. So Greeks, Romans, Jews, Germans, French, Americans, all of us are prone to take pride in our culture, if for no other reason than because it's our culture. But as I said, humility wasn't considered a virtue in Jesus' day, particularly among the Greeks and the Romans. Like Arab culture today, it was all about honor and shame. Like early colonial America, where people would fight duels because someone's honor had been besmirched. Or like inner city gang culture, where if a man isn't gonna show you respect, I'm gonna jack him up. Whatever you do, don't let anyone humiliate you. But when Paul exhorts Christians to be humble, he turns to the example of Jesus himself, who rather than going up, up, up, went down, down, down, not into a burning ring of fire, but into a world of sin. Look again at what Paul says here. He says, although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped. You know, it's not uncommon for people today when asked about Jesus to say, well, you know, I'm good with Jesus, I'm cool with him. I mean, I think he was a great man like Buddha, or Gandhi, or Martin Luther King Jr. But those are all patronizing statements. Because Jesus, the claims he made about himself and what his followers claimed about him, could not put him in line with those people. What Paul is claiming here in this verse is that Jesus of Nazareth not only existed before he was born, but that he existed in the very form of God, that he was in fact equal with God. Now Jewish critics of Christianity often claim there's nowhere in the Hebrew scriptures, where in the Old Testament as we call it, does it indicate the Messiah that when he comes is going to become God incarnate, that God will become man. But that's simply not the case. Do you know which verse is most quoted from the Old Testament in the New Testament? It's Psalm 110. Remember, Jesus, after religious leaders had tried to trip him up in a couple of questions, turned one back on them and asked them this. He said, what do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? And they said to him, well, he's the son of David. And he said, well, then how does David, in the spirit, call him Lord, saying, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet. If David then calls him his Lord, how can he be his son? And no one was able to answer him a word, nor did anyone dare to ask him another question from that day on, Matthew 22, 42 to 45. Now notice the one speaking as Lord, identified as Lord, that's a term of deity, but he's speaking to another person identified as Lord. Now here's the thing, if you're a Jew or a Muslim and you believe God is a monism, just one God, one person, there's no way to explain that. But if you're a Trinitarian like Christians are, it's easy to understand how there could be two people identified as Lord in this passage. Well, there's other passages that speak along this line that give indication, one that you hear all the time this time of year, Isaiah 9, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. and the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, this is about the Messiah, listen to the next line, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government or of his peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it with righteousness and justice, for then, from then and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord will accomplish this. Or Micah 5,2 where it says, but as for you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah. From you will go forth one from me who will be ruler in Israel. Listen to what it says. His goings forth are from long ago, from days of eternity. How can they be from days of eternity if he's not an eternal being? And who's the only eternal being? It's God. So Jesus was very conscious and spoke often about the fact that he was from above, from heaven. Well, If he came from heaven, that means he had to first be in heaven. And unlike the Jehovah Witnesses, who believe that Jesus was a super angel, a created being, we know that the Bible says that he was the very son of God, who shared the same nature as God. John opened his gospel with these words, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, meaning Jesus, and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In him was life, and this life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. We don't have to wonder what God was like, because he revealed himself not only in the written word, but also in the incarnate word when his son came to our planet. As it says in Hebrews 1, 1 to 3, God, after he spoke to our fathers through the prophets in many ways and many portions in these last days, he's spoken to us through his son. whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world. He, the Son, is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature, and he upholds all things by the word of his power. Remember when one of his disciples said, Lord, just show us the Father and it's enough. And Jesus said, Philip, how long have you been with me? And you say, show us the Father? Don't you understand that if you've seen me, you've seen the Father? Notice though he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped. The Greek word for grasp here has the idea of to eagerly claim or conspicuously exercise. I mean, think of the old Western movies, where you've got the bad guy racing off with a stagecoach. He's got the lute next to him, and he's got poor Polly in the back. And a good guy's riding up on the horse, and he jumps onto the stagecoach, and he tries to grab the reins from Black Bart, but Black Bart whips him, tries to push him off the speeding stagecoach. You know, that's kind of the way it is with politicians and dictators, isn't it? Through some coup or revolution, they come to power, and then they speed off with the country's loot, and they try to beat back anyone who would seize the reins of power from them. I mean, think of Venezuela under Chavez, or its successor, Nicolas Maduro. I mean, though the economy was in a free fall and the people were near starvation, they grasped even more tightly to the reins of power. Well, Jesus, even though he was in the form of God, did not grasp hold of his advantages, as one commentator said, Christ, as God, used his position to give rather than to get. Notice what it says, it says he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of man. What does it mean that he emptied himself? Well, it certainly doesn't mean that he stopped being God. He can't change his nature, he was the God-man, and as soon as he was incarnated, he will remain that forever. He remains God even as he became man. But sometimes, you know, like the story of one of the Disney stories, if you've got a prince who wants to know how the commoners are living, so he exchanges his royal robes for rags, and then he ditches his gilded carriage, sets off on foot to travel among his people incognito. But all that time, doesn't he still remain the prince? Well, in the same way, Jesus, the Prince of Heaven, left behind his throne, all the angels that attended him, all the glory that he had, and he came and he took the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of man, he traveled among us incognito, as it were. Now, Jesus made claims and performed enough miracles to make it clear who he was, God who had become man. But most people at that time would not or could not accept what really was. I mean, listen to the words of John in his first gospel, or any of the gospels. It says this, he was in the world, and the world was made by him, but the world did not know him. Our creator visited us, and yet we didn't know him. It says he came to his own, meaning his own people, Israel, and those who were his own did not receive him. Of course, that was predicted, wasn't it, by the prophet Isaiah many centuries earlier when he said this. Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up like a tender root and shoot before him, and like a root out of a parched ground, he had no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, no appearance that we should be attracted to him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their face, he was despised, and we did not esteem him. I mean, Jesus did not have a glowing halo around him. There was nothing that made him stand out from other people. He might have been handsome, he might have been considered homely. He didn't look like the king of Israel, and no one would have thought that this one here is the creator of the universe. That was all part of his humiliation, and notice that it says that he humbled himself. Born in a stable to a young peasant girl, laid in a manger, he was raised in a backwater town of Nazareth, a carpenter by trade. He never owned a home. He didn't attend a top-notch school. He gave up being worshiped by angels to come to earth to be despised and forsaken by men on earth. And all that and so much more was part of him humbling himself. Now, if it stopped there, it would be amazing enough. But Paul doesn't stop there. Rather, he goes on to say this. Being found in the appearance of man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. You know, in the Old Testament, a person sinned. An animal would be offered up as a sacrifice to atone for their sins. The animal died in the place of the one who was guilty, but all those sacrifices only pointed ahead to the true sacrifice of Christ, who alone can pay for the sins of the sinner. And that's why when John the Baptist saw him, he said, behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. And Jesus himself said, no greater love is any man than this, than he would lay down his life for his friends. You know, there's stories that come out of World War II and Vietnam, where a soldier will sacrifice his own life to save his buddy. And we'll hold soldiers up like that as heroes. But what soldier ever sacrificed his life for an enemy soldier? And yet Paul marvels at the extent of God's love and grace for us when he writes this, for while we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one would hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. But God demonstrated his own love for us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. through whom we have now received this reconciliation, Romans 5, 6 to 11. Out of the ivory palaces into a world of woe, only his great eternal love made my Savior go. If you're a Christian, he came for you. You know, I think about this every now and then. I think, what in the world did the angels think when they saw the Son of God hanging on a cross? But their amazement should never, ever exceed that of the children of God who received Christ's death as a payment for their sins. You know, that the Son of God would come to earth is an amazing act of condescension. That the Lord of life should be willing to die for sinners is a staggering thought, but at the bottom of this humiliation is found not just that he died, but how he died, even death on a cross. Listen to what the writer F.F. Bruce in his commentary says. It's difficult for us, after so many Christian centuries during which the cross has been venerated as a sacred symbol, to realize the unspeakable horror and disgust that the mention or indeed the very thought of the cross provoked. By Jewish law, anyone who is crucified died under God's curse. In polite society, the word cross was an obscenity not to be uttered in conversation. Even when a man was being sentenced to death by crucifixion, an archaic formula was used to avoid using this four-letter word as it was written in Latin, C-R-U-X, crux. And Jesus was most likely crucified naked. And if you're familiar with the Old Testament, you know that for a Jewish people, the most shameful thing that could happen is to be stripped naked. Truly, the cross was an emblem of suffering and shame. But more than what was seen on the outside was the suffering and shame that he bore on the inside, when on that cross, God placed the sin and guilt and shame of all who would ever believe in him on Christ, and Christ was punished in their stead. And that's why we sing songs that say, when I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my greatest gain I count but loss and poor contempt on all my pride. The Bible says whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled. Well, considering who he was, the son of God, and where he started in heaven, no one ever humbled himself more than Jesus Christ. And so God determined to exalt him to the highest place. And that brings us to our second point, the exaltation of Christ. You know, when I was a kid, my sister had a record album. Some of you remember what a record album was? You know what that is. I guess they're becoming popular again. I'm not sure why that is. But one that she had was the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. It's a musical that, you know, was done in the 60s, 70s, so it's got that hippie flavor to it, and they really try to psychoanalyze all the characters, especially Judas, who's portrayed as a sympathetic figure, but in the end realizes that God was using him as just a mere pawn to crucify Jesus. But looking back now at that musical, I realize how blasphemous it was and how it mischaracterized much of the biblical narrative. But even as a 10-year-old boy, as an unbeliever, I knew there was something wrong with that musical because it ends with Jesus' death on the cross. There's no triumphant resurrection, no ascension to glory. Jesus is presented as a loser. But Jesus wasn't a loser, he was the ultimate winner. And for those who trust in him, they are all winners as well. For after he humbled himself, and especially because of the way he humbled himself, Paul says this, for this reason God highly exalted him and bestowed on him a name which is above every name. So that at the name of Jesus, every knee would bow and every, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now here I believe Paul, in his phrase, God highly exalted him, has in mind not only the resurrection from the dead, but also Jesus' ascension into heaven, being seated at the right hand of God. For as it says in Hebrews 1, 3 to 4, it says, for when he had made purification for sin, meaning Jesus, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become more, as much more better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than them. And the name that he inherited is a title. which is the Lord. Remember Peter when he was preaching in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost? After he had shown from the Old Testament that the death and resurrection of Jesus was predicted, he then concluded by saying these words, therefore let all the house of Israel know that for certain that God has made him, both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. I've watched a number of videos where people from Jewish backgrounds share how they came to believe Jesus was the Messiah. Almost all of them said that growing up, they're always told that Jesus was for the Gentiles, not for the Jews. And many of them said that it was a forbidden subject in their house. One girl said that one time she asked her father who Jesus was and he reached over the dinner table and slapped her across the face and said, we don't use that word and name that name in our house. Well, there's another name that Orthodox Jews don't use. It's the name Yahweh, or as we often say, Jehovah. It's the name of God in the Old Testament. Now the reason they don't pronounce this name is because they don't wanna blaspheme, take the Lord's name in vain. So instead of referring to him as Yahweh, they refer to him as Hashem. Ha means the and Shem means name. So instead of calling him by his name, they call him the name. What's ironic is this name that they will not pronounce, Yahweh, is the name of the same person they're not allowed to mention, Jesus. But someday, not only Jews, but all people will acknowledge the truth of who he is. For God has bestowed on Jesus the name which is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Now by every knee, Paul means every person who's ever lived. Not just humans, but angels, demons, Satan himself. Everyone, whether they're in heaven, Earth, or under the Earth, meaning hell. Every Neo-Obama. Every world conqueror who ever lived. Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, will all be made to concede that they've been conquered. Every corrupt political leader will have to admit they've been outmaneuvered. Every Supreme Court justice will acknowledge the authority of a greater judge. Plato and Socrates and Aristotle will confess that despite all their wisdom, they showed themselves to be fools. Every one of your family members, every one of your coworkers, along with you and me, will someday stand before Jesus Christ and declare that he is indeed Lord of all. What a staggering thought. What a tremendous thought if you're a believer trying to faithfully live for and witness for Christ. What a terrifying thought if you're an unbeliever still in rebellion against God. You see, Jesus is safe and sweet if he stays a plastic figure in a manger, but he'll be fierce and terrifying when he returns as the warrior king. And yet there's good news. This great king has offered amnesty, full and free pardon to all outlaws who will call off the rebellion and turn from their sins. If you will swear allegiance to this king sent into the world and trust in his death as the payment for your sin, God will not only freely forgive you, but he will make you his child. You see, family and friends, presents and decorations, they're all nice, but that's not what Christmas is all about. Christmas is all about God becoming a man in the person of his son, humbling himself even to the point of death on a cross. so that you can be reconciled to God. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. That's the real meaning of Christmas, whether you're in Japan, England, or any other place in the world. Now for some of you, you've heard this so many times you could recite it. But has it become real in your life? Have you received the gift of forgiveness offered to you by your creator at the cost of his son's life? You're not gonna be able to say, as some people will, I never heard the name. And even they will be judged because they've known that there was a God and they didn't seek him out. But what shall become of us if we've heard week after week, year after year, this offer, and turn up our nose to it? You know, Suzanne and I are talking. She's been looking in the news stories. And week after week, day after day, four, five, six, seven people die, all from unknown causes. And they're all dying young. One of these years, you're going to be looking forward to Christmas, and you're not going to make it. Because you're going to be taken into eternity. Are you going to be ready for that day? because it's coming quickly. There's a gift under the tree for you if you're not a Christian. You have to open it by faith and receive it as the grace says is. May God give you the grace to do just that. Let's pray. Our Father in God, you know, I was thinking to myself that, you know, the peanuts cartoon where Linus gives the story of the shepherds in the field. I was thinking most kids could probably even recite that, watch that cartoon that many times. But have they understood? Have we understood? Our father in God, this is what the whole universe is about. You created as a stage for your son to perform a drama of redemption, that he might call people to you through his death and resurrection. Father, I thank you that we can hear this message even now in our country. There's places where we would be arrested for doing what we're doing here. And it may come very soon in our own country that that happens. But Father, I pray that we'll be ready whatever happens because we've trusted in your son and found him as a rock for our life and our hope and salvation. So we pray a blessing for each one here, Lord. And for those who are gonna listen over the radio today, we ask this in Jesus' name.