Jesus went from heavenly second-person-of-the-Trinity existence to that of a baby born in the most humble of conditions. As his ministry took hold as an adult, we see Jesus constantly putting himself into the servant role — and, of course, offering the greatest sacrifice of death on a cross for the sins of the world. Demotion, self-selected or otherwise, was definitely a theme of Jesus’ life and offers lessons on humility and servanthood for his followers who want to advance the purposes of God in this world.
Read MoreTo begin today, I’d like to ask you to respond to a series of questions with the first answer that comes to your mind, just reflexively. Don’t think about the moral implications of your answer, just the first thing that comes to mind.
There’s a reorganization happening at your place of employment. Your boss says your job is going away. But good for you, there are two other positions you can apply for. One would represent a promotion. The other would represent a demotion. Which interests you more?
The promotion, right? Okay, so you get the promotion. And this means you’re going to move offices. There are two offices that you can move into. The décor is about the same. They’re on the same floor. But one is 24 square feet bigger. Do you want the bigger office or the smaller office? The bigger office, right? At this new managerial level you have access to the Executive Dining Room, which means you don’t have to eat the ordinary food down in the ordinary cafeteria. Executive dining or ordinary cafeteria? And at your new managerial level, you can fly business class instead of the back of the plane with crying babies. So when you go to the airport, which are you going to choose? We could go on in this little series of questions, but I think you see a pattern. So much so that when we experience anything that is to the right and down, we get into a funk, like there can be no peace or joy if you’re going to the right and down. That’s the worst thing that could possibly happen to anyone. Now, the writers of Scripture would want everyone to step back a little bit and question how true that analysis is. The writers of Scripture, in many places, give strong warnings to the dangers inherent in an up-and-to-the-right life. They would say prosperity has diseased many more souls than adversity ever does. The writers of Scripture would say every time you go up and to the right, you’re in increasingly dangerous territory when it comes to the health of your Spirit, your relationship with God and, sometimes, your relationship with other people. Because you get addicted to power and achievement and you think of yourself more highly than you should, and you wonder why all the other people aren’t as smart as you are. Pretty soon, you don’t need God. You don’t need that spouse who helped you get there. You don’t have time for your kids anymore. It’s all up and to the right. And it doesn’t so much lead to joy, the writers of Scripture say. Most of the time, it leads to arrogance and an independent spirit, and sometimes an ungrateful spirit. Not all the time, but much of the time. That’s why Jesus said, “If you’re starting to gain the whole world, you better be very careful. You could lose your soul along the way.” By the same token, the writers of Scripture say it’s often not the end of the world if your chart goes down. Sometimes as your chart goes down, your openness to God goes up. Sometimes as your charts go down, your reliance on other people — your willingness to engage in relationships of interdependency — sometimes that opens up a lot more when the chart is going down. And if you care about qualities like humility, vulnerability, dependence and gentleness—it’s more likely to happen when you’re going down than when you’re going up. Now, with this as a backdrop, we’re going to talk through what I think is one of the most substantial passages in all of the Bible about the incarnation of Jesus Christ. It’s a famous passage that informs us that Jesus left the wonder of heaven and he took a series of voluntary demotions to come and be the Christmas child. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! You have to have a heart of stone not to be melted by the freshly formed little limbs and fingers and toes of a brand new baby. We have two adopted children and one biological child, so we only got to witness one birth and one newborn baby, but oh man… When I saw Lily when she was only minutes old… and I saw the beauty of her little miniature body, I was astonished. I was just in awe at the miracle of a little newborn child. So you started out as an embryo. Lily started out as an embryo in my wife’s womb, and nine months later there was this miniature little person that came out and started to breathe and move and cry. Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage… Throughout the Bible, Jesus is carefully described as a full-fledged member of the Godhead — equal with God in every way. Which means when Isaiah 6 references angels hovering before the throne of God 24/7 since eternity past, singing Holy, holy, holy in full voice and perfect harmony, they were singing and glorifying Jesus every bit as much as they were God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. In Genesis 1:26, when the writer of Scripture says, “Let us make man in our own image,” he means that Jesus was fully involved and present during the entire creation miracle. In fact, I love Colossians 1:17, which says: Jesus was before all things, and in him all things hold together. Which means if you start out fully God in every way and you wind up in the womb of a fifteen-year old girl as an embryo half the size of a grain fo sand, that’s a demotion. Question: How do you respond when you experience a little demotion? And someone in first class had to move back to economy because there had been a ticket mix-up in first class. So the flight attendant had to ask a guy who was in the last row of first class to move back to the first row of economy where I was. I thought this guy was going to blow a gasket. I mean, he yelled and screamed. It was ugly. And his actual seat location, if you think about it, moved… like three feet. I thought I’d cheer him up so I said, “You know, we’re going to land the same time the people up there do.” I thought he was going to punch me in the face. Truth is, we all hate demotions. * If we get demoted in an organization, we usually leave it. The apostle Paul wrote, “Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.” Really? Are you kidding me? I mean, if you were enjoying all the privileges of heaven, would you voluntarily open up your hands and let go of them for any reason? Would you relax your grip on all the pleasures of heaven and let them slip through your fingers? He had only ever known splendor and beauty, worship and adoration, the very presence of God since eternity past. That’s all he had ever experienced since eternity past. Wrap your head around that. I think the best description of heaven in Scripture is 1 Corinthians 2:9 which says: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” There has never been and there will never be a demotion that dramatic in all of recorded history. But let’s go further. Jesus was more than simply willing to leave heaven and become an embryo. He later endured the indignity of being born in an animal stable. Surrounded by filthy livestock. Wrapped in used rags to keep him warm. Laid in a feed trough. And if that weren’t enough indignity, an earthly king named Herod engineered a baby genocide so that before Jesus could walk or talk, he and his parents were running for their lives. They became refugees in a neighboring nation. His parents ran for their lives to another country. So now the second person of the Trinity is on the run in a foreign land. Can you get demoted more than that? Yes you can. He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant. That’s what it means to take on the nature of a servant. Jesus would teach his heart out for hours at a time, giving truths from heaven to people on planet Earth, and people with third-grade educations would mock him. Yes. But you can’t get demoted further than that, can you? Philippians 2:8 says yes, you can. You can become obedient to death—even death on a cross! What that means is that the second person of the Holy Trinity, who had only ever known sinlessness his whole experience from eternity past, had the full weight of the sins of the world, including yours and mine, piled on his shoulders. And I have quite a pile. And maybe you do too. Then if you want to ask can it get worst than that … You could be stripped of your clothes. And you could be pounded to a cross of crucifixion and left to suffer in total humiliation until you die. The author of life, the one who breathed life into Adam and Eve in the very beginning, submits himself to the ultimate weapon of evil, the bane of all humanity, which is death. Now I know what you’re thinking — you’re like, “Hey, Matt, did you forget this is Christmas Eve?” We have a party to go to later. We have presents to open. We’re going to put on our pajamas and watch Will Farrell Christmas movies. Whatever you’re going to do, you’re like, “Lighten up a little bit.” But for some reason, I wanted you to be in awe at the miracle of the incarnation before Christmas slips past us. I just felt that Jesus deserved one more “Wow!” from us before we move on. I want you to realize when you see that little baby in the nativity scene, it’s a miracle baby. He didn’t just come from an embryo; he came from heaven. And he didn’t have to leave that. And he certainly didn’t have to endure the serial indignities of a dozen or more demotions ending in death. But he agreed to vacate heaven. He agreed to each of those indignities. And he couldn’t stand the thought of ascending back into heaven a few weeks after his resurrection and spending eternity without you. That thought was unacceptable to him. I hope that makes you feel a sense of awe, because Christ deserves one more “Wow!” from us before we just go do our normal Christmas thing. A strange thing happened to me while I was studying and writing this message a couple weeks ago. The enormity of the miracle of the incarnation hit me in a fresh way. I was in my office studying and I had to fight off getting emotional on several occasions. And it goes back to the enormity of the love of God who couldn’t stand the thought of you living life without the love of Christ. He couldn’t stand the thought of you spending it in eternity apart from him, so he did everything to make this all possible for you and for me. Before we’re done here today, and certainly before this holiday is over, I hope you’ll get that feeling of awe in your spirit about what Jesus left, what he endured, and the serial indignities he went through to win you, to show his love for you. To reclaim you. To restore you. To make it possible for you to be with him forever. Let me give you one application from this passage in Philippians. Paul said in Philippians 2:7 that Jesus took on the nature of a servant. Question: Can the purposes of God in this world be advanced in any significant way without the followers of Jesus taking on the nature of a servant? How do the poor receive any kind of help or hope in this world unless a serious-minded follower of Jesus puts a serving towel over his or her arm and serves the poor? Prays for them. Feeds them. Writes a check that will help them. How do wayward people who have wandered way off the path ever find their way back home? Some busy Christ-follower has to lay aside his or her carefully laid plans, put a servant towel over their arm, and actually seek out those who are lost. Not get annoyed by them, but actually see their need and move toward them. And then actually take the time to listen and to pray. To love. To understand. To build into them and point them gently to the arms of Christ. Someone’s got to put on that serving towel like Jesus did and do that, or people just go further and further away. How do churches like our church function and become unstoppable forces for good in this world? How does it ever happen that we, a church, become a force for good? And when followers of Christ reflect on the example of Jesus’ humility and servanthood, and then they’re moved to mimic it in their own life — around the house, at work, in the neighborhood, at school, and around the church — then and only then do the purposes of God advance in this world. If all of us in this church were to mimic Jesus’ example of humility and servanthood each and every day, then we would become the kind of people and the kind of church that the gates of hell cannot prevail against — an unstoppable force for God and for good in our community and the world. In studying this passage, several times I thought, man, I want to be more like Jesus. And my guess is, if you study his life and teaching, you’ll come to the conclusion that you do too. Which, by the way, we will be starting a teaching series in January on the sermon on the mount. This will be the best teaching series I’ve ever taught, simply because it’s the best teaching that has ever been taught by the best teacher who has ever lived… Jesus himself. This is what Matthew, the writer of the gospel of Matthew said after Jesus finished teaching the sermon on the mount: When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. Eugene Peterson wrote a paraphrase of the bible. I love what he said after Jesus was done teaching. When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying—quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard. I think we’re going to have a similar experience in 2022. And I hope you invite someone to join you in January. I think we’ll all agree after study the sermon on the mount — Jesus is the best teacher who has ever lived… and we need to be more like him. In closing — which means absolutely nothing — I want to read Philippians 2:9-11, these beautiful words that follow the text we’ve been looking at. I love this passage. Therefore [which means ‘therefore, because of Christ’s willingness to endure all these demotions and so.’ Therefore—what did the Father do after Jesus achieved his role and did what he was asked to do? What did God do? It says in the text:] Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 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. And, normally, we think of Jesus as being the only one who’s exalted in this whole process, but the writers of Scripture actually teach that everyone who humbles himself and takes on the role of a servant will be lifted up. God will honor your life. His answer — those of you who are servants. Those of you who humbly put the serving towel over your arm and mimic what Jesus taught will be lifted up. You will be honored. You will have that same kind of blessing on your life that God put on Jesus. That’s the promise. So here’s my final challenge for you, because the Philippians passage said, “Have this same mindset in you that was in Christ Jesus, who took all of these steps down because love required it.” Well, we want to be more loving people this Christmas, don’t we? Love is going to require some downward steps, so here’s the challenge to you. Between now and the rest of this holiday season, I want to ask you to do a step or two of intentional demotion. I want to ask you, between now and the end of the year, to take a step down, put a serving towel over your arm and serve someone. In a very practical way, serve someone — someone who can’t pay you back, someone who doesn’t necessarily deserve it even. Serve someone. If you do this, you will live with a higher level of joy and you will feel a greater kinship with the one who took a series of demotions for you. This is the life we’ve been called to — servanthood, downward mobility, putting others in front of ourselves, so that we wind up the blessed ones… the great ones. Blue Oaks Church
Executive dining, right?
Business class, right?
And so we’re oriented up and to the right. It’s very deeply ingrained.
Philippians 2:5-8
Again, in my view, this passage of Scripture captures the full weight of the miracle of the incarnation more than any other single passage in the entire Bible.
Half the size of a grain of sand.
Stay with me here.
Before you were an embryo, you were nothing. You might have been a gleam in your parents’ eyes, but you were nothing.
But before Jesus was an embryo, he was the second person of the Trinity, existing from eternity past.
Philippians 2:5-6
Did you catch that? — equal with God.
I don’t know about you, but I think most people think of Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, as kind of like an assistant to God. Vice president in the C suite. Junior partner. Back-up quarterback.
But the writers of Scripture never teach that.
Colossians 1:17
Any way you slice it, that’s taking a step down… or a hundred.
He was mad. Sat down next to me, hyperventilating.
He hated that demotion. He hated when they pulled the curtain and he was behind it.
* If we didn’t get the table we thought we were going to get in a restaurant, that we made a reservation for, we usually go to a restaurant that will take care of us.
* If the rental car company asks us to drive a compact car instead of the full-size car that we reserved, we just go to the next counter and give them our business.
1 Corinthians 2:9
We can’t even comprehend it.
And Jesus, having resided there since eternity past — get this — left it. Checked out. Voluntarily. To become an embryo one-half the size of a grain of sand inside a young girl’s womb.
Philippians 2:7 says:
Philippians 2:7
So Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, takes off his robe, puts a serving towel over his arm, gets a water basin, and he washes the filthy, stinking feet of each one of his disciples.
* You can be betrayed by someone you poured three years of your life into.
* You can be deserted by all your followers in your greatest moment of need.
* You can be falsely accused of a crime you didn’t commit.
* You can be beaten, flogged, and slapped around like a common criminal by the very people you created and were coming to redeem.
And that was the ultimate demotion — when the giver of life gives up his life and dies.
And I get it. I know you have some wonderful plans. Our family has some wonderful plans too.
He could have called ten thousand angels and stopped it all, but he didn’t — for the single, profound, and mysterious reason that he loves you. He loves you.
He wanted to redeem you. It was God’s only plan.
So when the Father asked him to leave heaven and do this redemptive mission, he said: “I’ll go; I’ll go gladly. I’ll go for individuals. I’ll go for everyone.”
Think about that.
Someone’s got to be a little demoted to serve.
It simply happens when every single follower of Jesus in the church looks at the example of Christ, who volunteers to be demoted from heaven to a feeding trough, from a feeding trough to a wooden cross — all the time serving everyone who crossed his path.
Matthew 7:28-29
Matthew 7:28-29 MSG
Philippians 2:9-11
I just love this section of the Bible.
Pleasanton, CA
