December 10, 2024 • 24 mins
Christmas Special (revisited) 🌟Can you imagine a world where God is not only an abstract concept but a living presence among us? In this special Christmas edition of Whispers of Grace, I, Julie Colbeth, invite you to explore the incredible reality of "Emmanuel," which means "God with us." Our journey together begins with the prophecy of Isaiah and its fulfillment in the birth of Jesus, highlighting the intimate relationship God seeks with humanity. Through the beloved hymn "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," we trace the earnest plea for divine closeness and celebrate the joyous truth that God walks among us. This episode reflects on the broken bond in the Garden of Eden and the ultimate act of love that seeks to restore that sacred connection.
Turning the spotlight on the doctrine of kenosis, we ponder Jesus's remarkable 'emptying' of divine attributes to fully embrace the human experience. By stepping into our world, Christ shared in our trials and tribulations, from poverty to betrayal, offering us a divine understanding of our struggles. We also reflect on the incredible courage of Mary, the mother of Jesus, as she faced cultural challenges in her pivotal role. Through these reflections, listeners are encouraged to find solace in the peace and love that Christ, our Emmanuel, offers, even amidst the holiday hustle. Join us to rediscover the heart of Christmas, embrace the grace and love whispered by Christ, and celebrate the magnificent fusion of divinity and humanity in Jesus.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Julie (00:19):
Kia ora, and welcome to Whispers of Grace, a place for
women to be encouraged by God'sHoly Word.
I'm your host, julie Colbeth,and I am overjoyed to dig into
the Bible with you today.
Hello everyone, merry Christmasand welcome back to Whispers of
(00:40):
Grace.
I couldn't let the Christmasseason go by without doing a
Christmas special, so today weare going to be talking about
Emmanuel.
Every Christmas that goes by, Itry and look for a new
perspective or a new concept toponder.
Just something fresh to thinkabout helps me keep my focus on
(01:01):
the Lord and not get swept up somuch in the season.
So every time that I waspregnant during Christmas, I
really thought a whole lot aboutMary and what her experience
would have been like.
And this year the thing thatreally stuck out to me, that the
Lord kept whispering to myheart, is this concept of with
(01:21):
that, god came to be with us,and that's what Emmanuel means
God with us.
So one of my favorite Christmassongs is O Come, o Come,
emmanuel.
It says O come, o come,emmanuel, and ransom captive
Israel.
That mourns in lonely exilehere.
That mourns in lonely exilehere until the son of God
(01:45):
appears.
Another verse says O come thouday, spring from on high and
cause thy light on us to rise,disperse the gloomy clouds of
night and death's dark shadowsput to flight.
Rejoice, rejoice, emmanuelshall come to thee, o Israel.
(02:05):
And I love this song because itbegins as a plea O come,
emmanuel.
They are pleading for Jesus tocome, be God with us, ransom the
captives, but it encourages usto rejoice because he has come
(02:26):
to us.
So where did this name Emmanuelcome from?
Anyway, it actually comes fromour prophecy about the Messiah,
from the book of Isaiah thatsays therefore, the Lord himself
will give you a sign Behold,the virgin shall conceive and
bear a son and call his nameEmmanuel.
And, like I said, emmanuelmeans God with us.
(02:50):
He is not a God that is farremoved from us.
He is not a God that holds usat arm's length like a naughty
child which we can be but he isGod with us.
He is the God who abides withus.
He remains, he stays alongsideus always.
(03:13):
He's with us, step for step,breath for breath and thought
for thought.
He is the God who remains.
Even when we are not faithful,he remains faithful.
Now, this intimacy.
It needed to be redeemed fromthe curse of sin.
We needed restoration of ourbroken relationship with him,
(03:36):
and this is why he came.
Jesus came to restore thefellowship that we lost in the
Garden of Eden.
Remember how sin came in and itdestroyed everything Our
perfect life with God that hecreated in the garden.
Sin destroyed everything.
He created us to be with himalways, but of course, that lie
(03:59):
that the serpent crafted was sosmart because it caused Adam and
Eve to question the goodness ofGod and the love of God.
They weren't sure that they knewhis character.
After Satan sowed thosethoughts of deceit into their
minds, he clouded their mindsabout God's true identity and he
(04:20):
confused his intents towardthem.
This is what Satan still looksto do today to confuse us about
God's true identity and hisintent towards us, to make us
question his goodness and hislove.
Because when he did that, thatmental rift, it began a process
of severing their trust andtheir intimacy with God all the
(04:44):
way back in the garden and iscarried all the way with us
today.
They believed the lie, adam andEve.
They were sucked in and theirrelationship with God was
fractured because of it.
They settled for something lessthan God intended and they
brought unimaginable pain tothemselves and to the rest of
humanity.
Because of this lostrelationship and the withness,
(05:09):
the togetherness, that intimacy,it was broken and fractured.
The communion that God wantedwith them was broken.
Now, this is the truth of ourhistory.
This is the truth of wherewe're at and where it began.
And it's so important to thinkabout this and to remember why
Jesus had to come at all.
(05:31):
And it's because our communionwith him was broken and only the
life and sacrifice of the HolyLamb of God could atone for that
giant chasm that opened up thisgaping hole that was now
between us and God.
But it came at such a greatcost.
(05:51):
Now God would have to come anddie.
What a thought like that's thecraziest thing to ponder that
God now had to come and die tofix what we broke.
Like.
What a concept.
That's crazy.
And it's so good to think aboutit at Christmas time.
And it blows my mind and ithumbles me so much when I really
(06:15):
take just a minute to thinkabout these things.
Because the omnipotent, theomnipresent and the omniscient
God, he allowed a portion of thegodhead to be severed from the
rest just to win back his brokenand rebellious children, this
god that is all powerful, thatcan be everywhere at once, that
(06:37):
knows everything.
The creator of the universeallowed himself to experience
pain and loss so that he couldwin back us his broken and
rebellious children.
Colossians 2.9 tells us thatall the fullness of the Godhead
came to reside in human flesh.
(06:59):
That is just the most wildthought to be the God-man, 100%
God and 100% man, something thatwe don't understand.
How can you be 100% God and100% man?
But Jesus did the mostunexpected fusion of all times.
(07:20):
Can you imagine connecting thispure, perfect and holy God with
this fragile, vulnerable humans?
It is something that theprophets foretold of the
patriarchs.
They hoped for it, but now weget to live looking back on this
divine, amazing miracle, thedichotomy of omnipotence, all
(07:44):
powerful God wrapped in thefragile frame of human flesh.
What an incredible thing.
The all powerful one now becomeweak and vulnerable as a little
child, as an infant can't evenfeed himself.
That is incredible.
Like do we grasp thesignificance of this?
(08:06):
I know I don't think about itnearly enough.
The sacrifice of our God.
He put his deity on the shelfand willingly subjected himself
to astounding vulnerability justfor us.
He was a tiny baby, placed in afeeding trough with a poor,
first-time teenage mother whowas covered in scandal.
(08:29):
That's how his life started andhe was God, the one who created
the universe.
Now skeptics will say that Jesusnever actually claimed to be
God, but he claimed his deity inso many ways.
You just need to read yourBible and pay attention and
you'll see it everywhere.
But Colossians 2 tells us thatall of the divine substance is
(08:53):
in Jesus.
He was completely God and thisis why Jesus would forgive sins
Because only God can forgivesins, which is why every time he
told someone that their sinswere forgiven, the Pharisees and
the religious leaders freakedout, because they knew only God
can forgive sins.
And here he is boldly claimingto forgive the sins of people.
(09:13):
So they knew that he wasclaiming to be God.
He also called himself the I Am, which is the covenant name of
God which we've talked about onprevious episodes before.
So the religious leaders ofJesus's day knew exactly what he
was claiming, which is why theykept seeking to kill him and
discredit him.
But just think about howfantastic this reality is Jesus
(09:38):
as the God-man.
It is so much comfort and hopebecause it means that God
himself came to earth.
A prophet or a sage, itwouldn't do for the redemption
of humanity.
It had to be the God man.
It needed to be God himself,come to claim his lost
(09:58):
possession, his beloved, hisbride.
And this reminds me ofPhilippians, chapter 2.
Paul explains a bit more aboutthe emptying of Christ.
Now this is a doctrine known askenosis.
Now, don't zone out if this allsounds deeply theological.
It is, but it's not confusingand it's definitely swimming at
(10:20):
the deep end of the pool alittle bit.
But theologians, they often usereally big words to describe
really simple concepts.
So just stick with me for aminute because I'm taking us
someplace and thinking aboutthis.
So the doctrine of kenosisessentially means the emptying
of Christ.
It's found in Philippians,chapter 2, and it just tells us
(10:40):
that in order for God to walk inhuman flesh, he needed to put
certain qualities on the shelf,so to speak.
So, for example, hisomnipresence, his ability to be
everywhere at once.
He couldn't do this as Jesusbecause he was bound to a human
body and a human body can onlybe in one place at one time.
(11:01):
So that's just one example ofhow he took one of his divine
attributes and willingly kind ofput it on the shelf in order to
become a man.
There are other things.
If this is interesting to you,please study it.
All of the divine attributesthat God willingly put on the
shelf so that he could draw usnear.
(11:24):
He denied those things inhimself for us.
All right, so I'll read to youthis little section that I'm
talking about, about the kenosisof Christ.
Here it's in Philippians,chapter 2, verses 5 to 11.
I'm going to read it in the NewLiving Translation, just
because it kind of breaks itdown and explains it well.
For though he was God, he didnot think of equality with God
(11:48):
as something to cling to.
So here's that emptying right.
So even though he was equalwith God, he didn't cling to
that equality.
Instead, he gave up his divineprivileges.
He took the humble position ofa slave and was born as a human
being.
When he appeared in human form,he humbled himself in obedience
(12:11):
to God and died a criminal'sdeath on a cross.
Therefore, god elevated him tothe place of highest honor and
gave him the name, above allother names, that at the name of
Jesus, every knee should bow inheaven and on earth and under
the earth, and every tonguedeclare that Jesus Christ is
(12:32):
Lord, to the glory of God theFather.
So here in Philippians, ittells us that that he gave up
his privileges.
He chose to become a slave, asimple servant, vulnerable and
able to be bruised and harmed,just so that he could be with us
(12:54):
, to redeem us, to offerhumanity a way back to him from
this broken world.
Now, jesus didn't empty himselfof his deity, but he emptied
himself of his glory, hisglamour, so to speak, so he
could be in our presence.
It's kind of like when youspeak to a child and you get
(13:17):
down on one knee so they canlook you in the face and you
make your sentences reallysimple and you show them a lot
of time and patience.
It's that kind of idea and thathe is God.
But he stooped down to speaklove to us.
And this Jesus is God.
Come to find you because youare his lost sheep and the
(13:43):
incarnate God is coming to saveyou.
This is our Emmanuel.
Oh come, oh come, emmanuel, andransom us.
We are captives.
This is our savior.
He has come with freedom in hiswings through his sufferings.
Now, when Jesus came atChristmas, he didn't come with
(14:05):
the sword in his hands.
He came humble, to save, tocorrect the things that we broke
.
Jesus is truly and fully Godand truly and fully human.
That is something that we thinkabout at Christmas, that we
celebrate at Christmas, becausethe suffering that he bore made
(14:27):
him like us.
The book of Hebrews tells usthat he is our high priest and
he is acquainted with oursorrows.
He came to know our sufferings,to know them by living them, by
experiencing them, so that hecould console us in all of our
sufferings.
Think about it, jesus.
(14:48):
He knew poverty.
He knew family and howdifficult family can be.
He knew betrayal and mockery.
He knew friendship.
He knew vulnerability and love,but he also knew torture and
death.
These are things that he walkedthrough.
Did you ever stop and considerlike what the vibe of Jesus's
(15:09):
family was?
Think of it.
His teenage mother, as Imentioned earlier, she lived in
a shame and honor society thatwas the time that she grew up in
.
So everything was aboutbringing honor to your family or
bringing shame to your family,and it was patriarchal.
So men were the leaders and shewas just a teenage woman that
(15:30):
was betrothed to a man that gotpregnant.
She was a teenager that waspregnant out of wedlock, and
everyone in town knew All thepeople that knew her and her
family and Joseph.
Everyone knew that Mary waspregnant before she was married,
so that brought an incredibleamount of shame to herself, to
Joseph, to her family.
(15:51):
I don't know what Mary's familydid with her after they found
this out.
Did they reject her?
Did they distance themselvesfrom her?
That's very common in the timethat she grew up in her.
That's very common in the timethat she grew up in so Jesus.
He was probably gossiped aboutfrom the day of his birth.
He was always thought of aspoor and disrespected by some
(16:11):
people.
He was considered proof of hismother's shame.
Can you imagine, our savior,the amazing things that he
walked through?
He knows what it's like to havepeople talking bad behind his
back.
He knows what it's like to havepeople saying lies about him
and not understanding hissituation.
But he walked through this.
(16:33):
He walked through these brokensituations so that if we are
broken and when we suffer, whenwe're covered with shame, then
we can come to him.
And Christmas is all about that.
He clothed himself in humanityso that he could enter into our
experience.
And Christmas is when wecelebrate that, when we
(16:56):
celebrate the intimacy that heoffers us in that manger God
with us.
It means relationship.
The vulnerability that he hadon himself was just so we could
have relationship with him.
That's so beautiful.
Think of the sacrifices thatyou have made for a really good
(17:20):
friend or for a family member orfor love, the sacrifices that
we make.
This is the sacrifice that hemade and I know lots of us like.
We like to put our best on forChristmas and stuff in all the
holiday feels.
I'm very much included in thatthe Christmas cookies, the
gingerbread, houses, thepresents, the parties, all the
(17:42):
new dresses and the photos andthe food and the feels just all
the Christmas things.
We love the Christmas spiritand the holiday.
But it's so easy to lose theheart of Christmas and I've
heard so many messages on thisvery thing.
But I need them every yearbecause I need to be reminded
that the goal is him.
(18:04):
He is our prize, he is oursacrificial, suffering savior.
Don't lose this miracle in thehype of the season.
Are you being with him?
Because he gave everything tobe with you and truly that is
(18:25):
all that we need to celebrate agenuine Christmas, to have a
successful season.
It's not about the tree or thelights, or the holiday, or the
food, or the people or theplaces or the things.
It's about the relationship.
A genuine Christmas means timewith Jesus.
(18:46):
Remembering that that is why heopened the door was to be with
Jesus you.
Back in the book of Philippians,I love that Paul encourages
people of this exact thing.
Philippians 3, verse 7 through10, says this but whatever gain
I had, I counted as loss for thesake of Christ.
(19:08):
Now think of this in the lightof Christmas, with all the
things that I just mentioned and, as I'm reading through this,
think about that.
But whatever gain I had, Icounted as loss for the sake of
Christ.
Indeed, I count everything asloss because of the surpassing
worth of knowing Christ Jesus asmy Lord.
(19:31):
For his sake, I have sufferedthe loss of all things and count
them as rubbish in order that Imay gain Christ and be found in
him, not having a righteousnessof my own that comes from the
law, but that which comesthrough faith in Christ, the
righteousness from God thatdepends on faith that I may know
(19:56):
him and the power of hisresurrection and may share in
his sufferings, being like himeven in his death.
Jesus came down, he stepped intoour skin, he lived amongst us,
he saw the pain that sin hadcaused.
And he came for you.
He wants you.
You are his pearl of greatprice.
(20:19):
You are his beloved bride.
You are his prize and his joy.
And Christmas is supposed toremind us of that sacrifice, of
how precious our relationship iswith him, of how important it
is.
Don't allow anything to blockyour relationship with him.
(20:40):
Don't get too busy ordistracted.
To take time to ponder thegreat sacrifice of this God-man.
Think about what it cost him tobe born in that humble stable
2,000 years ago, to a terrifiedcouple kneeling in the hay and
praying for divine guidance.
See him there, stripped of hisglory, bound to a tiny little
(21:05):
body.
Divinity wrapped in flesh.
What a savior, what a friend.
And he wants you just as youare.
What a friend.
And he wants you just as youare.
You don't need to have it alltogether on Christmas to be
loved and accepted by Christ.
He came for the broken, he camefor the mess, he came for you.
(21:26):
So if you feel like this yearyou are just struggling under a
weight of all of these idealsthat you've set up for yourself,
let them all fall away andremind yourself why we do all of
this, or at least why we should, because it gets so lost and
all the glitz and glamour weforget that there's a humble
(21:48):
child sleeping in a manger whogave his life to meet your needs
, to bind you to him forever, tomake a way for that
relationship to be mended.
This is our God, this is oursavior.
I encourage you, remindyourself, encourage your heart
(22:08):
when you forget.
There's a song that I've lovedthe past couple of years.
It's kind of a play on come allyou faithful, except it says oh
, come all you unfaithful.
I'm going to read the lyricsjust as we wrap up here, to
encourage your heart.
I know every time I hear it itencourages me.
It says oh, come all youunfaithful.
(22:31):
Come weak and unstable.
Know that you are not alone.
O come barren and waiting ones,weary of praying.
Come See what your God has done.
Christ is born for you.
O come bitter and broken.
Come with fears, unspoken.
(22:53):
Come taste of his perfect love.
Come with fears, unspoken.
Come taste of his perfect love.
O come guilty and hiding ones.
There is no need to run.
See what our God has done.
Christ is born.
Christ is born for you.
He's the lamb who was givenslain for our pardon.
His promise is peace for thosewho believe.
(23:16):
He's the lamb who was givenslain for our pardon.
His promise is peace for thosewho believe.
He's the lamb who was givenslain for our pardon.
His promise is peace for thosewho believe.
So come, though you havenothing, come, he is the
offering.
Come, see what your God hasdone.
Christ is born.
Christ is born for you.
(23:38):
What a beautiful song, becauseit reminds us that Christmas is
about Jesus coming to you.
He is our Emmanuel, god with us.
Not God removed from us orapart from us, but God with us.
He so desires to draw you tohimself, to remind you of his
(24:02):
great love and sacrifice pouredout for you.
Don't be distracted by all themess of Christmas, but come back
to the heart of it and beencouraged that Christ has so
much to say as you kneel by thatmanger.
He wants to whisper grace toyou.
So, as we move forward in thisChristmas season, I pray that
(24:25):
you would take every opportunityto quiet yourself down and
ponder the God-man wrapped inflesh, as a little baby in a
manger.
Kia ora, and welcome to Whispers of Grace, a place for
women to be encouraged by God'sHoly Word.
I'm your host, julie Colbeth,and I am overjoyed to dig into
the Bible with you today.
Hello everyone, merry Christmasand welcome back to Whispers of
(00:40):
Grace.
I couldn't let the Christmasseason go by without doing a
Christmas special, so today weare going to be talking about
Emmanuel.
Every Christmas that goes by, Itry and look for a new
perspective or a new concept toponder.
Just something fresh to thinkabout helps me keep my focus on
(01:01):
the Lord and not get swept up somuch in the season.
So every time that I waspregnant during Christmas, I
really thought a whole lot aboutMary and what her experience
would have been like.
And this year the thing thatreally stuck out to me, that the
Lord kept whispering to myheart, is this concept of with
(01:21):
that, god came to be with us,and that's what Emmanuel means
God with us.
So one of my favorite Christmassongs is O Come, o Come,
emmanuel.
It says O come, o come,emmanuel, and ransom captive
Israel.
That mourns in lonely exilehere.
That mourns in lonely exilehere until the son of God
(01:45):
appears.
Another verse says O come thouday, spring from on high and
cause thy light on us to rise,disperse the gloomy clouds of
night and death's dark shadowsput to flight.
Rejoice, rejoice, emmanuelshall come to thee, o Israel.
(02:05):
And I love this song because itbegins as a plea O come,
emmanuel.
They are pleading for Jesus tocome, be God with us, ransom the
captives, but it encourages usto rejoice because he has come
(02:26):
to us.
So where did this name Emmanuelcome from?
Anyway, it actually comes fromour prophecy about the Messiah,
from the book of Isaiah thatsays therefore, the Lord himself
will give you a sign Behold,the virgin shall conceive and
bear a son and call his nameEmmanuel.
And, like I said, emmanuelmeans God with us.
(02:50):
He is not a God that is farremoved from us.
He is not a God that holds usat arm's length like a naughty
child which we can be but he isGod with us.
He is the God who abides withus.
He remains, he stays alongsideus always.
(03:13):
He's with us, step for step,breath for breath and thought
for thought.
He is the God who remains.
Even when we are not faithful,he remains faithful.
Now, this intimacy.
It needed to be redeemed fromthe curse of sin.
We needed restoration of ourbroken relationship with him,
(03:36):
and this is why he came.
Jesus came to restore thefellowship that we lost in the
Garden of Eden.
Remember how sin came in and itdestroyed everything Our
perfect life with God that hecreated in the garden.
Sin destroyed everything.
He created us to be with himalways, but of course, that lie
(03:59):
that the serpent crafted was sosmart because it caused Adam and
Eve to question the goodness ofGod and the love of God.
They weren't sure that they knewhis character.
After Satan sowed thosethoughts of deceit into their
minds, he clouded their mindsabout God's true identity and he
(04:20):
confused his intents towardthem.
This is what Satan still looksto do today to confuse us about
God's true identity and hisintent towards us, to make us
question his goodness and hislove.
Because when he did that, thatmental rift, it began a process
of severing their trust andtheir intimacy with God all the
(04:44):
way back in the garden and iscarried all the way with us
today.
They believed the lie, adam andEve.
They were sucked in and theirrelationship with God was
fractured because of it.
They settled for something lessthan God intended and they
brought unimaginable pain tothemselves and to the rest of
humanity.
Because of this lostrelationship and the withness,
(05:09):
the togetherness, that intimacy,it was broken and fractured.
The communion that God wantedwith them was broken.
Now, this is the truth of ourhistory.
This is the truth of wherewe're at and where it began.
And it's so important to thinkabout this and to remember why
Jesus had to come at all.
(05:31):
And it's because our communionwith him was broken and only the
life and sacrifice of the HolyLamb of God could atone for that
giant chasm that opened up thisgaping hole that was now
between us and God.
But it came at such a greatcost.
(05:51):
Now God would have to come anddie.
What a thought like that's thecraziest thing to ponder that
God now had to come and die tofix what we broke.
Like.
What a concept.
That's crazy.
And it's so good to think aboutit at Christmas time.
And it blows my mind and ithumbles me so much when I really
(06:15):
take just a minute to thinkabout these things.
Because the omnipotent, theomnipresent and the omniscient
God, he allowed a portion of thegodhead to be severed from the
rest just to win back his brokenand rebellious children, this
god that is all powerful, thatcan be everywhere at once, that
(06:37):
knows everything.
The creator of the universeallowed himself to experience
pain and loss so that he couldwin back us his broken and
rebellious children.
Colossians 2.9 tells us thatall the fullness of the Godhead
came to reside in human flesh.
(06:59):
That is just the most wildthought to be the God-man, 100%
God and 100% man, something thatwe don't understand.
How can you be 100% God and100% man?
But Jesus did the mostunexpected fusion of all times.
(07:20):
Can you imagine connecting thispure, perfect and holy God with
this fragile, vulnerable humans?
It is something that theprophets foretold of the
patriarchs.
They hoped for it, but now weget to live looking back on this
divine, amazing miracle, thedichotomy of omnipotence, all
(07:44):
powerful God wrapped in thefragile frame of human flesh.
What an incredible thing.
The all powerful one now becomeweak and vulnerable as a little
child, as an infant can't evenfeed himself.
That is incredible.
Like do we grasp thesignificance of this?
(08:06):
I know I don't think about itnearly enough.
The sacrifice of our God.
He put his deity on the shelfand willingly subjected himself
to astounding vulnerability justfor us.
He was a tiny baby, placed in afeeding trough with a poor,
first-time teenage mother whowas covered in scandal.
(08:29):
That's how his life started andhe was God, the one who created
the universe.
Now skeptics will say that Jesusnever actually claimed to be
God, but he claimed his deity inso many ways.
You just need to read yourBible and pay attention and
you'll see it everywhere.
But Colossians 2 tells us thatall of the divine substance is
(08:53):
in Jesus.
He was completely God and thisis why Jesus would forgive sins
Because only God can forgivesins, which is why every time he
told someone that their sinswere forgiven, the Pharisees and
the religious leaders freakedout, because they knew only God
can forgive sins.
And here he is boldly claimingto forgive the sins of people.
(09:13):
So they knew that he wasclaiming to be God.
He also called himself the I Am, which is the covenant name of
God which we've talked about onprevious episodes before.
So the religious leaders ofJesus's day knew exactly what he
was claiming, which is why theykept seeking to kill him and
discredit him.
But just think about howfantastic this reality is Jesus
(09:38):
as the God-man.
It is so much comfort and hopebecause it means that God
himself came to earth.
A prophet or a sage, itwouldn't do for the redemption
of humanity.
It had to be the God man.
It needed to be God himself,come to claim his lost
(09:58):
possession, his beloved, hisbride.
And this reminds me ofPhilippians, chapter 2.
Paul explains a bit more aboutthe emptying of Christ.
Now this is a doctrine known askenosis.
Now, don't zone out if this allsounds deeply theological.
It is, but it's not confusingand it's definitely swimming at
(10:20):
the deep end of the pool alittle bit.
But theologians, they often usereally big words to describe
really simple concepts.
So just stick with me for aminute because I'm taking us
someplace and thinking aboutthis.
So the doctrine of kenosisessentially means the emptying
of Christ.
It's found in Philippians,chapter 2, and it just tells us
(10:40):
that in order for God to walk inhuman flesh, he needed to put
certain qualities on the shelf,so to speak.
So, for example, hisomnipresence, his ability to be
everywhere at once.
He couldn't do this as Jesusbecause he was bound to a human
body and a human body can onlybe in one place at one time.
(11:01):
So that's just one example ofhow he took one of his divine
attributes and willingly kind ofput it on the shelf in order to
become a man.
There are other things.
If this is interesting to you,please study it.
All of the divine attributesthat God willingly put on the
shelf so that he could draw usnear.
(11:24):
He denied those things inhimself for us.
All right, so I'll read to youthis little section that I'm
talking about, about the kenosisof Christ.
Here it's in Philippians,chapter 2, verses 5 to 11.
I'm going to read it in the NewLiving Translation, just
because it kind of breaks itdown and explains it well.
For though he was God, he didnot think of equality with God
(11:48):
as something to cling to.
So here's that emptying right.
So even though he was equalwith God, he didn't cling to
that equality.
Instead, he gave up his divineprivileges.
He took the humble position ofa slave and was born as a human
being.
When he appeared in human form,he humbled himself in obedience
(12:11):
to God and died a criminal'sdeath on a cross.
Therefore, god elevated him tothe place of highest honor and
gave him the name, above allother names, that at the name of
Jesus, every knee should bow inheaven and on earth and under
the earth, and every tonguedeclare that Jesus Christ is
(12:32):
Lord, to the glory of God theFather.
So here in Philippians, ittells us that that he gave up
his privileges.
He chose to become a slave, asimple servant, vulnerable and
able to be bruised and harmed,just so that he could be with us
(12:54):
, to redeem us, to offerhumanity a way back to him from
this broken world.
Now, jesus didn't empty himselfof his deity, but he emptied
himself of his glory, hisglamour, so to speak, so he
could be in our presence.
It's kind of like when youspeak to a child and you get
(13:17):
down on one knee so they canlook you in the face and you
make your sentences reallysimple and you show them a lot
of time and patience.
It's that kind of idea and thathe is God.
But he stooped down to speaklove to us.
And this Jesus is God.
Come to find you because youare his lost sheep and the
(13:43):
incarnate God is coming to saveyou.
This is our Emmanuel.
Oh come, oh come, emmanuel, andransom us.
We are captives.
This is our savior.
He has come with freedom in hiswings through his sufferings.
Now, when Jesus came atChristmas, he didn't come with
(14:05):
the sword in his hands.
He came humble, to save, tocorrect the things that we broke
.
Jesus is truly and fully Godand truly and fully human.
That is something that we thinkabout at Christmas, that we
celebrate at Christmas, becausethe suffering that he bore made
(14:27):
him like us.
The book of Hebrews tells usthat he is our high priest and
he is acquainted with oursorrows.
He came to know our sufferings,to know them by living them, by
experiencing them, so that hecould console us in all of our
sufferings.
Think about it, jesus.
(14:48):
He knew poverty.
He knew family and howdifficult family can be.
He knew betrayal and mockery.
He knew friendship.
He knew vulnerability and love,but he also knew torture and
death.
These are things that he walkedthrough.
Did you ever stop and considerlike what the vibe of Jesus's
(15:09):
family was?
Think of it.
His teenage mother, as Imentioned earlier, she lived in
a shame and honor society thatwas the time that she grew up in
.
So everything was aboutbringing honor to your family or
bringing shame to your family,and it was patriarchal.
So men were the leaders and shewas just a teenage woman that
(15:30):
was betrothed to a man that gotpregnant.
She was a teenager that waspregnant out of wedlock, and
everyone in town knew All thepeople that knew her and her
family and Joseph.
Everyone knew that Mary waspregnant before she was married,
so that brought an incredibleamount of shame to herself, to
Joseph, to her family.
(15:51):
I don't know what Mary's familydid with her after they found
this out.
Did they reject her?
Did they distance themselvesfrom her?
That's very common in the timethat she grew up in her.
That's very common in the timethat she grew up in so Jesus.
He was probably gossiped aboutfrom the day of his birth.
He was always thought of aspoor and disrespected by some
(16:11):
people.
He was considered proof of hismother's shame.
Can you imagine, our savior,the amazing things that he
walked through?
He knows what it's like to havepeople talking bad behind his
back.
He knows what it's like to havepeople saying lies about him
and not understanding hissituation.
But he walked through this.
(16:33):
He walked through these brokensituations so that if we are
broken and when we suffer, whenwe're covered with shame, then
we can come to him.
And Christmas is all about that.
He clothed himself in humanityso that he could enter into our
experience.
And Christmas is when wecelebrate that, when we
(16:56):
celebrate the intimacy that heoffers us in that manger God
with us.
It means relationship.
The vulnerability that he hadon himself was just so we could
have relationship with him.
That's so beautiful.
Think of the sacrifices thatyou have made for a really good
(17:20):
friend or for a family member orfor love, the sacrifices that
we make.
This is the sacrifice that hemade and I know lots of us like.
We like to put our best on forChristmas and stuff in all the
holiday feels.
I'm very much included in thatthe Christmas cookies, the
gingerbread, houses, thepresents, the parties, all the
(17:42):
new dresses and the photos andthe food and the feels just all
the Christmas things.
We love the Christmas spiritand the holiday.
But it's so easy to lose theheart of Christmas and I've
heard so many messages on thisvery thing.
But I need them every yearbecause I need to be reminded
that the goal is him.
(18:04):
He is our prize, he is oursacrificial, suffering savior.
Don't lose this miracle in thehype of the season.
Are you being with him?
Because he gave everything tobe with you and truly that is
(18:25):
all that we need to celebrate agenuine Christmas, to have a
successful season.
It's not about the tree or thelights, or the holiday, or the
food, or the people or theplaces or the things.
It's about the relationship.
A genuine Christmas means timewith Jesus.
(18:46):
Remembering that that is why heopened the door was to be with
Jesus you.
Back in the book of Philippians,I love that Paul encourages
people of this exact thing.
Philippians 3, verse 7 through10, says this but whatever gain
I had, I counted as loss for thesake of Christ.
(19:08):
Now think of this in the lightof Christmas, with all the
things that I just mentioned and, as I'm reading through this,
think about that.
But whatever gain I had, Icounted as loss for the sake of
Christ.
Indeed, I count everything asloss because of the surpassing
worth of knowing Christ Jesus asmy Lord.
(19:31):
For his sake, I have sufferedthe loss of all things and count
them as rubbish in order that Imay gain Christ and be found in
him, not having a righteousnessof my own that comes from the
law, but that which comesthrough faith in Christ, the
righteousness from God thatdepends on faith that I may know
(19:56):
him and the power of hisresurrection and may share in
his sufferings, being like himeven in his death.
Jesus came down, he stepped intoour skin, he lived amongst us,
he saw the pain that sin hadcaused.
And he came for you.
He wants you.
You are his pearl of greatprice.
(20:19):
You are his beloved bride.
You are his prize and his joy.
And Christmas is supposed toremind us of that sacrifice, of
how precious our relationship iswith him, of how important it
is.
Don't allow anything to blockyour relationship with him.
(20:40):
Don't get too busy ordistracted.
To take time to ponder thegreat sacrifice of this God-man.
Think about what it cost him tobe born in that humble stable
2,000 years ago, to a terrifiedcouple kneeling in the hay and
praying for divine guidance.
See him there, stripped of hisglory, bound to a tiny little
(21:05):
body.
Divinity wrapped in flesh.
What a savior, what a friend.
And he wants you just as youare.
What a friend.
And he wants you just as youare.
You don't need to have it alltogether on Christmas to be
loved and accepted by Christ.
He came for the broken, he camefor the mess, he came for you.
(21:26):
So if you feel like this yearyou are just struggling under a
weight of all of these idealsthat you've set up for yourself,
let them all fall away andremind yourself why we do all of
this, or at least why we should, because it gets so lost and
all the glitz and glamour weforget that there's a humble
(21:48):
child sleeping in a manger whogave his life to meet your needs
, to bind you to him forever, tomake a way for that
relationship to be mended.
This is our God, this is oursavior.
I encourage you, remindyourself, encourage your heart
(22:08):
when you forget.
There's a song that I've lovedthe past couple of years.
It's kind of a play on come allyou faithful, except it says oh
, come all you unfaithful.
I'm going to read the lyricsjust as we wrap up here, to
encourage your heart.
I know every time I hear it itencourages me.
It says oh, come all youunfaithful.
(22:31):
Come weak and unstable.
Know that you are not alone.
O come barren and waiting ones,weary of praying.
Come See what your God has done.
Christ is born for you.
O come bitter and broken.
Come with fears, unspoken.
(22:53):
Come taste of his perfect love.
Come with fears, unspoken.
Come taste of his perfect love.
O come guilty and hiding ones.
There is no need to run.
See what our God has done.
Christ is born.
Christ is born for you.
He's the lamb who was givenslain for our pardon.
His promise is peace for thosewho believe.
(23:16):
He's the lamb who was givenslain for our pardon.
His promise is peace for thosewho believe.
He's the lamb who was givenslain for our pardon.
His promise is peace for thosewho believe.
So come, though you havenothing, come, he is the
offering.
Come, see what your God hasdone.
Christ is born.
Christ is born for you.
(23:38):
What a beautiful song, becauseit reminds us that Christmas is
about Jesus coming to you.
He is our Emmanuel, god with us.
Not God removed from us orapart from us, but God with us.
He so desires to draw you tohimself, to remind you of his
(24:02):
great love and sacrifice pouredout for you.
Don't be distracted by all themess of Christmas, but come back
to the heart of it and beencouraged that Christ has so
much to say as you kneel by thatmanger.
He wants to whisper grace toyou.
So, as we move forward in thisChristmas season, I pray that
(24:25):
you would take every opportunityto quiet yourself down and
ponder the God-man wrapped inflesh, as a little baby in a
manger.
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