A Lowly King?
Luke 2:1-21
Christmas a special time of
year but the heart of Christmas can evade us with all the pressures and
distractions - Running around for presents, decorating the house, cooking
food. A whirlwind of activity and noise
and tradition. Many of us look forward
to after Christmas when the pace of life will settle down. In the scripture
there is the story of two sisters who welcome Jesus to their home for a
visit. Their names are Mary and
Martha. While Martha is frantic cleaning
up the house and getting the meal ready Mary takes time to simply sit at Jesus’
feet and listen to him and enjoy his presence.
Martha gets very upset with her sister and commands Jesus to rebuke her
sister. Rather than rebuking Mary Jesus
commends her, for she chose what is best.
Maybe you are a bit of a Martha right now. I believe the Savior would call you this
Christmas eve morning to spend some time with him as he is here in our midst,
to slow down and hear his voice as we listen to his timeless word. So let’s pray.
1 In those days a decree went out from
Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was
the first registration when Quirinius was governor of
Philip Yancey says in his
book, The Jesus I Never Knew, “The facts of Christmas, rhymed in carols,
recited by children in church plays, illustrated on cards, have become so
familiar that it is easy to miss the message behind the facts. After reading
the birth stories once more, I ask myself, if Jesus came to reveal God to us, then
what do I learn about God from that first Christmas?”[1]
I believe this text this morning and the heart of the Christmas message is God
the Most High became the Most Lowly that we, the beloved yet undeserving, might
know him, glorify him and enjoy him forever.
The Christmas story turns
the whole world upside down and presents us a startling life changing view of
God himself. Have you noticed how this
section starts out? “In those days a
decree went out from Caesar Augustus.” In those days the great and mighty king
of the entire civilized world, the great Caesar who brought peace to the Roman
world issued a sovereign declaration and command. At the beginning of our section we are
presented with the greatest ruler of the world, at least according to man,
wielding such power that he could force every citizen in a remote realm to make
a tedious and expensive journey merely that he might know how many people he
had in his realm. Wow! That is power! That is influence! That is sovereignty! And one might think a
fitting continuation of the story would be about some great epic battle and the
deeds of some immortal hero who wins glory for himself and his empire through
conquest and raw power.
Yet, the attention in our
story is not on this sort of hero but on a poor lowly baby, born in a
uncomfortable and smelly stable and placed in a feeding trough as a makeshift
cradle and worshipped by nobodies from no-wheres-ville. This stark contrast tells us something very
profound about God and very profound about Christmas. God is not like Caesar, he is not like the
great of this world. His glory certainly
includes infinite power and overwhelming majesty. Yet, he glories in humility. His greatness is shown in his lowness. Philip Yancey says "Before
Jesus, almost no pagan author had used "humble" as a compliment. Yet
the events of Christmas point inescapably to what seems like an oxymoron: a
humble God. The God who came to earth came not in a raging whirlwind, nor in a
devouring fire. Unimaginably, the Maker of all things shrank, down, down, down,
so small as to become an ovum, a single fertilized egg barely visible to the
naked eye, an egg that would divide and re-divide until a fetus took shape,
enlarging cell by cell inside a nervous teenager."[2]
Folks, this is amazing!
We serve an amazing God! At
Christmastime we should just pause in wonder that infinite glory, unspeakable
majesty, eternal greatness, so great that the very universe, the universe over
20 orders of magnitude in size from so small as to be impossible to detect to
so large to be impossible to fathom, can not contain him, should shrink and
become a man.
Do you know Muslims
consider it blasphemy to think God became a man? Do you know why they think so? Because God is
so great and infinite it is inconceivable that he would be contained in a
finite man. And I understand their
objection. But our story goes even
further than that – for in it we see God come to earth not only as a man but as
a man in lowly circumstances, born to lowly people and worshipped by lowly
shepherds. Shepherds were basically the
bottom of the rung socially. They had
the lowliest job of society – to watch sheep.
If you were a shepherd you probably And this baby is called a King? How could this be?? Why would this be??
Well, I think the mystery
of Christmas, that God Most High became Most Lowly is explained in the words of
the angels that evening. So look with me
at verse 10 to 14. An angel of the Lord says,
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for
all the people. For unto you is born
this day in the city of
The angels teach us there
are two purposes in this incredible mystery of the incarnation – great glory to
God and great peace & joy to mankind.
And I would submit that these two purposes are inextricably intertwined.
First, the glory of
God. The Christmas message teaches us
something about the very nature of God.
God is so so different than the world –so, so different from you and
I. We consider greatness as measured in
terms such as wealth, popularity or position.
Who are the great ones in our culture? What would our culture say? We would name some Presidents and
international figures. We might think of
some star athletes – like Tom Brady or maybe Tadeki Dimatsui – (we will see! )
Maybe we think of some
You see, the angels were
able to worship God with great praise that very night because his incarnation alone
was a glorious mystery that shows the unfathomable depth of God’s love and
humility. Phillipians chapter 2 helps us
understand this better. Listen to what
it says: “[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 made himself
nothing, 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 on 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 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:5-11 (ESV) Did you hear that? Did you follow what Jesus has done? There are
actually four condescensions in this passage – that is, four steps of lowering
himself. First, it says he was equal
with God yet he emptied himself and became a man – that is the Christmas
condescension. Second, with becoming a
man he didn’t become a man who would present himself as one of the beautiful
people, one of the elite. He came taking
the form of a servant. He came not as
any man but as a man who came for the good of others – to serve them. That is the second condescension. Thirdly, he came as a servant who humbled
himself even to the point of death – his third condescension took him to the
point of even dying in his lifestyle of service. But, this wasn’t an ordinary death. His fourth condescension is that his death
was a death on the cross. His humility
and heart to serve led him to the point of dying on the cross. He knew, from the beginning of time, that his
birth as a tiny baby, as incredible and mind-blowing as it is, was only the
first step in four steps of gross and awesome humility that would culminate in
his sacrificial death on the cross. And
this death on the cross wasn’t just to show how much he loves us, nor just to
show us how serious God is about sin, nor to show us what good men will put up
with for the sake of the cause – no, there were specific and personal reasons
for this death that have to do with you and me.
You see, God has made us
all and placed us in this beautiful and amazing world he has made and he has
surrounded us with countless blessings and his goodness not that we might spend
our lives on our own pleasures but that we might love Him, enjoy Him and love
others around us. And we have all failed
miserably – over and over again. And we
have done that willfully and knowingly.
And his perfect justice demands that there be a penalty for this
behavior. The bible says it this way, “for
all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” and “the wages of sin is
death.” You see, Jesus ultimate step of
humbling himself was for your benefit.
He humbly volunteered to pay that wage for you, and his generous payment
of his death for your sins is offered to you, that is if you want it. I mean truly want it -not as a gift you will
throw away like an unwanted Christmas card or your great aunt Mildred’s stale
fruitcake but as a gift you will treasure.
You see, those who treasure this free and best Christmas gift express it
by believing it is true and turning from a lifestyle of sin and towards a
lifestyle of focusing their hope and trust in Jesus. I hope that describes you. That is why Jesus came at Christmas and that
is why he took these four steps of lowering himself – to show the greatness of
God and to save us from our sins.
And this is why the
angels were so excited. They knew that
this baby would continue to humble himself to the point of death on the cross
to save sinners from sin and its consequences.
And they knew that this incredible condescension displayed, unlike
anything else, the greatness of God. For
he measures greatness by humble loving servanthood and there is no greater
servant than Jesus. Therefore, God has
raised this humble servant from the dead and exalted him to the highest place that
at the name of Jesus all heaven and earth will bow and worship. Because as the humblest of all he is the
greatest of all.
And this glory is
intimately connected to the second thing the angels said – peace on earth among
those with whom he is pleased. You see,
the ones with whom he is pleased are those who recognize the reason for this
baby. They are those who receive the
Christmas gift of Jesus. These are the
ones who get to experience the peace of God.
For in receiving Jesus death for them and following him they know the
true peace of God – the peace of being reconciled with God and having eternal
forgiveness and fellowship with him. Our
peace and his glory are all wrapped up together in this baby.
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.”
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be
for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of
David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
God the Most High became the Most
Lowly
to save lost sinners & to
show his greatness
Let’s Pray