[Message MP3 coming soon ...]Summary
In her poem “Maker of the Galaxies”, Madeleine L’Engle writes:
O maker of the galaxies,
Creator of each star,
You rule the mountains & the seas,
And yet – oh here you are!
You ride the fiery cherubim
And sail on comet fall.
You teach the seraphim to hymn,
And yet - you left it all.
You left the realms of fire & ice.
Into a young girl’s womb you came.
O God! This was the sacrifice!
Nothing will ever be the same.
That poem expresses the wonder of the Incarnation: that in Jesus Christ, God came near. It also expresses part of the sacrifice of the Incarnation – that the Son of God left the glory of heaven to enter the sin of earth. He set aside His glory to be a servant.
We learned last week that Jesus came to save. This week, we learn that it is precisely because Jesus came to save that He also came to serve.
In Mark 10.45, Jesus states, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Jesus did not come to be served. Jesus did not come to demand His rightful honor and worship. He came to save us from the wrath of God (which we deserve) by giving His life for us (which we did not deserve). John 3.17 states, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Jesus came to serve by giving His life as a ransom for many. As the Lord had spoken through the prophet Isaiah, “my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.”
Now, this servant-nature of Jesus is expressed in more depth in Philippians 3.5-9. This passage reveals what theologians often refer to as the two states of Christ: his humiliation (in that He humbled himself, became nothing, taking the nature of a servant) and exaltation (in that “God exalted Him to the highest place”). For our purposes here, we will only focus on the humility. We read: “… 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!"
We learn from this passage that Jesus was and is “in very nature God”. The word behind this basically implies that which truly and fully expresses and characterizes a given reality. The author of Hebrews expresses it this way, “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being.” Jesus displayed the image and glory of God. He is, in His very nature, God.
And yet He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Many see a parallel here with Adam in Genesis, for Jesus came as a Second Adam - to do what Adam and Eve failed to do. Unlike Jesus, Adam saw equality with God as something to be grasped; something to be sought after (the word means ‘something to be seized’ even ‘plunder’). The temptation that led to the Fall was that the serpent promised, “you will be like God.” That pride – that attempt to be like God and thus to be a little god – that subversion of God’s rightful place at the center of our lives – that was the original sin. Jesus came to be faithful and obedient where Adam had failed. Jesus, though He had every right to be acknowledged as God, would not seize those rights. Living as a perfect human being, He resisted the temptation to grasp after divinity.
Jesus laid aside His rights and His glory and made Himself nothing. Literally the text says, ‘he emptied himself’. The word in the original language means “to deprive of power; to lay aside what one possesses; to make empty; take away the status or position of something.” In coming to earth as a real human being, Christ laid aside His glory in order to take on humankind’s shame. Jesus limited His glory in order that he could be born in human likeness. However, the focus of the text is not so much concerned with what Jesus took out of Himself, as it is on the fact that He poured Himself out. Jesus emptied Himself by pouring Himself out; giving Himself up for us. In Isaiah 53.12, speaking of the Suffering Servant, we read, “he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Jesus poured Himself out so we could be saved. And because He came to save, He came to serve.
And so we read that Jesus took the very nature of a servant. The word there is actually ‘slave’. The One who was in very nature God became in very nature a slave. He who is everything became nothing. Born in obscurity in a sheepfold, living humbly, homeless during His ministry, dying as a criminal and buried in someone else’s tomb, Jesus came on the level of a slave – without advantages, rights or privileges. And He came as the Servant of the Lord, to suffer and bear the guilt of our rebellion.
Being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, Jesus humbled Himself. Jesus was truly God and truly man. This truth is vital to the Incarnation, because, as mentioned before, Jesus came to succeed where Adam failed and to pay the penalty for that failure. The two main fall-outs of the Fall are sin and death. The Fall made sin and death inevitable for human beings. Therefore, in order for Christ to reverse the Fall, He had to deal with sin and death and to do that He had to be both God and man.
- Only a human being could pay the debt of human sin. Only a human being could represent other humans before God. But only God is without sin and only God can carry the weight of the world. So, to deal with sin, Christ had to be both God and man.
- Only a human being could experience death, but only God could conquer death. So again, Christ had to be both God and man. As John Calvin wrote, “since neither as God alone could he feel death, nor as a man alone could he overcome it, he coupled human nature with divine that to atone for sin he might submit the weakness of the one to death; and that, wrestling with death by the power of the other nature, he might win victory for us”.
- Only as a human could Jesus bear our sin, but only as God could He be without sin. Only as a human could He die in our place, but only as God could He rise again and now “hold the keys to death and Hades.”
To accomplish that, Jesus humbled Himself. And this humility was to the point of death. Jesus humbled Himself as a slave. And as a slave, He was obedient – obedient to His purpose of giving His life as a ransom for many. Jesus didn’t have to die, but he did so out of obedience – obedience to the plan of God to save human beings. Jesus said, “I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.”
Jesus came to serve. This passage from Philippians explains that Servant-nature of Christ. Additionally, our passage from John, presents what that Servant-nature looks like. Jesus gave His disciples, both then and now, a picture of what it means to be a servant. In John 13:1-5, we read: "It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him."
Proper etiquette of that time required that guests, upon entering a home should have their feet washed by a servant. Foot washing was a menial task – so low that it was listed among tasks that an Israelite servant should not have to do. And yet as Jesus’ last Passover supper with the disciples commenced and no one had their feet washed (and evidently no one was willing to wash the feet of their peers), Jesus got up took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. Jesus, (interestingly, knowing His position and power) in an incredible act of humility, thus identified Himself as a slave.
And He did this, we are told, to show “the full extent of his love.” Jesus loved His disciples to the very end. Even as Jesus washed their feet, Satan was approaching. His betrayer was sitting in front of Him. His trial and abuse and crucifixion would take place within hours. And yet, Jesus took the opportunity to show His love. And His actions expressed and foreshadowed the extent of His love. This foot washing illustrated Jesus’ entire ministry and mission. He came to serve. He came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. And it foreshadowed what would soon take place: Jesus would be poured out as a sacrifice so that all who believe would be saved. He made Himself a servant and washed their physical feet, but soon He would, through His death on the cross, wash their sins away. As the hymn states, “Here is love, vast as the ocean, loving kindness as the flood when the Prince of Life our ransom shed for us His precious blood.”
And so, it is precisely because Jesus came to save that He also came to serve; for He came to give his life as a ransom for many. He made Himself nothing, humbling Himself to the point of death. He came to show us the extent of God’s love – what love is – who God is.
But it’s Christmastime, not Good Friday. It’s time for lights and angels, animals and shepherds and a little baby. I understand that sentiment, but we miss the point of Christmas when we fail to see that the cross is why the baby came. Jesus came to die. He took on human flesh in order to show us the extent of God’s love. He identified with us in life so that we could be identified with Him in His death, as He took our place. He lived among us so we could have life: that is the message of Christmas. And He lived among us so that we would know how to live: that is our mission as Christians.
O maker of the galaxies,
Creator of each star,
You rule the mountains & the seas,
And yet – oh here you are!
You ride the fiery cherubim
And sail on comet fall.
You teach the seraphim to hymn,
And yet - you left it all.
You left the realms of fire & ice.
Into a young girl’s womb you came.
O God! This was the sacrifice!
Nothing will ever be the same.
That poem expresses the wonder of the Incarnation: that in Jesus Christ, God came near. It also expresses part of the sacrifice of the Incarnation – that the Son of God left the glory of heaven to enter the sin of earth. He set aside His glory to be a servant.
We learned last week that Jesus came to save. This week, we learn that it is precisely because Jesus came to save that He also came to serve.
In Mark 10.45, Jesus states, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Jesus did not come to be served. Jesus did not come to demand His rightful honor and worship. He came to save us from the wrath of God (which we deserve) by giving His life for us (which we did not deserve). John 3.17 states, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Jesus came to serve by giving His life as a ransom for many. As the Lord had spoken through the prophet Isaiah, “my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.”
Now, this servant-nature of Jesus is expressed in more depth in Philippians 3.5-9. This passage reveals what theologians often refer to as the two states of Christ: his humiliation (in that He humbled himself, became nothing, taking the nature of a servant) and exaltation (in that “God exalted Him to the highest place”). For our purposes here, we will only focus on the humility. We read: “… 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!"
We learn from this passage that Jesus was and is “in very nature God”. The word behind this basically implies that which truly and fully expresses and characterizes a given reality. The author of Hebrews expresses it this way, “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being.” Jesus displayed the image and glory of God. He is, in His very nature, God.
And yet He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Many see a parallel here with Adam in Genesis, for Jesus came as a Second Adam - to do what Adam and Eve failed to do. Unlike Jesus, Adam saw equality with God as something to be grasped; something to be sought after (the word means ‘something to be seized’ even ‘plunder’). The temptation that led to the Fall was that the serpent promised, “you will be like God.” That pride – that attempt to be like God and thus to be a little god – that subversion of God’s rightful place at the center of our lives – that was the original sin. Jesus came to be faithful and obedient where Adam had failed. Jesus, though He had every right to be acknowledged as God, would not seize those rights. Living as a perfect human being, He resisted the temptation to grasp after divinity.
Jesus laid aside His rights and His glory and made Himself nothing. Literally the text says, ‘he emptied himself’. The word in the original language means “to deprive of power; to lay aside what one possesses; to make empty; take away the status or position of something.” In coming to earth as a real human being, Christ laid aside His glory in order to take on humankind’s shame. Jesus limited His glory in order that he could be born in human likeness. However, the focus of the text is not so much concerned with what Jesus took out of Himself, as it is on the fact that He poured Himself out. Jesus emptied Himself by pouring Himself out; giving Himself up for us. In Isaiah 53.12, speaking of the Suffering Servant, we read, “he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Jesus poured Himself out so we could be saved. And because He came to save, He came to serve.
And so we read that Jesus took the very nature of a servant. The word there is actually ‘slave’. The One who was in very nature God became in very nature a slave. He who is everything became nothing. Born in obscurity in a sheepfold, living humbly, homeless during His ministry, dying as a criminal and buried in someone else’s tomb, Jesus came on the level of a slave – without advantages, rights or privileges. And He came as the Servant of the Lord, to suffer and bear the guilt of our rebellion.
Being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, Jesus humbled Himself. Jesus was truly God and truly man. This truth is vital to the Incarnation, because, as mentioned before, Jesus came to succeed where Adam failed and to pay the penalty for that failure. The two main fall-outs of the Fall are sin and death. The Fall made sin and death inevitable for human beings. Therefore, in order for Christ to reverse the Fall, He had to deal with sin and death and to do that He had to be both God and man.
- Only a human being could pay the debt of human sin. Only a human being could represent other humans before God. But only God is without sin and only God can carry the weight of the world. So, to deal with sin, Christ had to be both God and man.
- Only a human being could experience death, but only God could conquer death. So again, Christ had to be both God and man. As John Calvin wrote, “since neither as God alone could he feel death, nor as a man alone could he overcome it, he coupled human nature with divine that to atone for sin he might submit the weakness of the one to death; and that, wrestling with death by the power of the other nature, he might win victory for us”.
- Only as a human could Jesus bear our sin, but only as God could He be without sin. Only as a human could He die in our place, but only as God could He rise again and now “hold the keys to death and Hades.”
To accomplish that, Jesus humbled Himself. And this humility was to the point of death. Jesus humbled Himself as a slave. And as a slave, He was obedient – obedient to His purpose of giving His life as a ransom for many. Jesus didn’t have to die, but he did so out of obedience – obedience to the plan of God to save human beings. Jesus said, “I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.”
Jesus came to serve. This passage from Philippians explains that Servant-nature of Christ. Additionally, our passage from John, presents what that Servant-nature looks like. Jesus gave His disciples, both then and now, a picture of what it means to be a servant. In John 13:1-5, we read: "It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him."
Proper etiquette of that time required that guests, upon entering a home should have their feet washed by a servant. Foot washing was a menial task – so low that it was listed among tasks that an Israelite servant should not have to do. And yet as Jesus’ last Passover supper with the disciples commenced and no one had their feet washed (and evidently no one was willing to wash the feet of their peers), Jesus got up took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. Jesus, (interestingly, knowing His position and power) in an incredible act of humility, thus identified Himself as a slave.
And He did this, we are told, to show “the full extent of his love.” Jesus loved His disciples to the very end. Even as Jesus washed their feet, Satan was approaching. His betrayer was sitting in front of Him. His trial and abuse and crucifixion would take place within hours. And yet, Jesus took the opportunity to show His love. And His actions expressed and foreshadowed the extent of His love. This foot washing illustrated Jesus’ entire ministry and mission. He came to serve. He came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. And it foreshadowed what would soon take place: Jesus would be poured out as a sacrifice so that all who believe would be saved. He made Himself a servant and washed their physical feet, but soon He would, through His death on the cross, wash their sins away. As the hymn states, “Here is love, vast as the ocean, loving kindness as the flood when the Prince of Life our ransom shed for us His precious blood.”
And so, it is precisely because Jesus came to save that He also came to serve; for He came to give his life as a ransom for many. He made Himself nothing, humbling Himself to the point of death. He came to show us the extent of God’s love – what love is – who God is.
But it’s Christmastime, not Good Friday. It’s time for lights and angels, animals and shepherds and a little baby. I understand that sentiment, but we miss the point of Christmas when we fail to see that the cross is why the baby came. Jesus came to die. He took on human flesh in order to show us the extent of God’s love. He identified with us in life so that we could be identified with Him in His death, as He took our place. He lived among us so we could have life: that is the message of Christmas. And He lived among us so that we would know how to live: that is our mission as Christians.
The Philippians passage begins with these words: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus …” We are to have the attitude or better yet mindset of Christ Jesus. Jesus did nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit. In humility He considered others and looked to the interests of others. He poured Himself out for others in obedience to the Father. He fulfilled the two greatest commandments: to love the lord with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. And we are to have the mind of Christ.
The passage from John’s Gospel states, “When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." Jesus gave us an example of humble service to follow – actually, of love. As we follow Christ, we must love one another not simply with words or in sentiment, but with actions and in truth. That is the message of Christmas and the model of mission.
Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Therefore, we are to live, not to be served but to serve and give our lives for the sake of others. In other words, we are to love others as we have been loved.
And as we have seen, to love is to give yourself away.
The passage from John’s Gospel states, “When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." Jesus gave us an example of humble service to follow – actually, of love. As we follow Christ, we must love one another not simply with words or in sentiment, but with actions and in truth. That is the message of Christmas and the model of mission.
Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Therefore, we are to live, not to be served but to serve and give our lives for the sake of others. In other words, we are to love others as we have been loved.
And as we have seen, to love is to give yourself away.
*******
SCRIPTURE TO CONSIDER
(linked to the English Standard Version on Bible Gateway)
He came to serve - Mark 10.45
The nature of a Servant - Philippians 2.3-11
Poured out - Isaiah 53.12; Psalm 22
He gave His life - John 10:14-18
An example to follow - John 13:1-17
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