Yes, this past Sunday was another bad stormy day. I remember in 2007 when it was nice all week long and then the weekend came and it the weather turned bad for 9 weeks straight. We are working on 2 weekends of bad weather so far. I just hope and pray that it is not so bad this weekend as we gather for a wonderful Christmas weekend.
One thing that this weekend did do though was to help us to experiment on putting our services on the web. We have heard some good feedback on this and we are going to explore what we need to do in order to get our services on our website in the not so far away future.
While this season is all about the birth of the Christ Child, Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth was not to give us the sweet picture of a baby in a Bethlehem manger. The little baby was born to die for you and for me and thus pay for the forgiveness of our sins. He was born to die so that we might be reconciled to God.
So while we are out and about going from one party to the next, from one family gathering to the next, don’t just think of a baby in a manger. Christmas is much more than that. It is about God coming to earth in human flesh so He could die on the Cross to pay for your salvation and destroy the works of the devil in our lives! That is what Christmas is all about!
In Philippians 2, Paul connects the birth narrative with the cross narrative. As he writes about God becoming a man, he goes on to express the ultimate reason God chose to take this amazing action. Paul says in verse 8, “And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
The word fashion is the Greek word schema. It is the same word that was used to describe a king who exchanged his kingly garments for a brief period of time for the clothing of a beggar. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to use this word which describes what we celebrate at Christmas. Jesus comes to earth, sheds His glorious appearance and exchanges it for the clothing of human flesh. Although man is wonderfully made, it cannot be compared to the eternal and glorious appearance of God. However, for the sake of our redemption, God laid all of the glorious things aside and made in the likeness of a human being.
The story doesn’t stop there. Not only did Jesus take on the clothing of a servant, but He loved us so much that He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross! The word “humbled,” is being willing to stoop to any measure that is needed. This describes the attitude God had when He took upon Himself human flesh. The Creator became like His creation with limitations put on Himself. The fact that He had to become obedient in the flesh shows that it was not an easy task. He humbled Himself to the point of dying a humiliating death on a Cross to purchase the debt we could not pay.
So as you celebrate Christmas this weekend, be sure to remember the real purpose of Christmas. Let me encourage you to get in a discussion with someone about the greatest gift of life that we received because God entered our story with the purpose of taking our place on the Cross.
I’m looking forward to celebrating Christ with you this weekend at our Christmas Eve Service at 4 or 6pm, and on Christmas Sunday morning at 10:45am.
Joy in Jesus!
Pastor Mike
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