THIS IS LOVEPhilippians 2:5-11 & Luke 2:4-7

December 22, 2013

INTRODUCTION Fourth week of Advent – Love Christmas not the easiest time of year for everyone The first Christmas was not all happy times either,

though it is a story about love Philippians 2 – not a common Christmas reading

It embraces the challenging part of what Christmas is all about – the incarnation

It is a profound statement about what love is

INTRODUCTIONPhil 2:5-11 "… Christ Jesus who, being in very nature

God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!"

Tells us the great lengths to which God went in order to show us his love

1. THE INCARNATION Jesus did not grasp or hold onto his power, authority,

control or omniscience He freely gave them up God to choose to make himself a human being God became a part of creation in order to reach us The Creator of the Universe entered His creation Analogies:

A girl entering the world of her doll house

1. THE INCARNATION Analogies, continued:

Poem by Madeleine L’Engle… Think. If I were to be born,

out of compassion, as one of the small wood licein the doorsill of our house, limit myself to the comprehensionof those small dark creatures, unable to know sea or sun or songor John’s bright words; to live and die thus utterly restricted,it would be as nothing, nothing to the radiant Wordcoming to dwell, for man, in man’s confined and cabined flesh.

1. THE INCARNATIONDarrell Johnson on the incarnation (from If the Real Story Be Told.

Available at www.firstbc.org/resourcesdec2013):

1. THE INCARNATION The ultimate form of love – one that sacrifices

everything for the beloved. Jesus gave up “equality with God” (Phil 2:5) in order

to save us Jesus gave up all things we would greedily try to gain This is love, this is the good news of Christmas-time.

2. THE NATURE OF A SERVANT What kind of human being would God become?

A prince or king, a successful business leader, a political leader? Surrounded by riches?

Birthplace, Bethlehem – small insignificant town Terrible circumstances – Luke 2:4-76 …While they were there, the time came for the baby to be

born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

God choose to arrive in “mean estate where ox and ass are feeding” = the terrible circumstances of a stable where animals live

No!

2. THE NATURE OF A SERVANT God became a human being, was “made in human

likeness” A low status person with crude beginnings He did not come as a rich, distant, lofty ruler He came humbly, to be accessible and

understandable to everyone This is love!

2. THE NATURE OF A SERVANTPhil 2:7 “he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of

a servant” The Creator of the universe gave his life for the sake of His

creatures – us! In our “me, me, me” culture this is unusual & incredible!

Christmas ads – all about giving gifts to yourself Our culture makes the message of God’s love even more

incredible, and more needed He took on our limitations, problems, emotions, physical

form in order to serve us! This is love!

CONCLUSION Just as Jesus came to serve us in unexpected and

extreme ways, as His followers we do the same for those around us.

A story by Dina Donohue called “No Room”

CONCLUSION The good news this Christmas: everything we wouldn’t do, Jesus did

for us. Though there was no room at the inn, Jesus invites us into His own

room, His family, His love. Finally… Darrel Johnson:"The One who made the world had entered the world in person! The

One who created the world had become a creature – a human being! God became a man!" …That is the real story that seldom surfaces in the holiday celebrations. That is the good news worth printing on the front page of every newspaper in the world. That is the arresting news that ought to be sweeping across the Internet tonight. Every person on the planet ought to hear the news at least once. Tweet it around the globe: “The Living God has become one of us!”