At 10:30 am on December 7, 2014 we had a Christmas worship service. The worship took place at the bible center located at 1021 Solano Ave, Suite B Albany, San Francisco.
Pastor Mark Moran served a Christmas message entitled, "The Best Christmas GIFT", based on Philippians 2:5-8. The message will be posted here when the manuscript becomes available. Mark has a presidential look. He teaches 9th graders full time yet he found the time to prepare such a heart-moving message. I wish the whole world would hear the message. (See below for the message.)
Kara his second daughter supplemented the message by coming out of the children's compound and jumping up on the daddy. Lovingly he held her up in his arm just like Joseph holding the baby Jesus, and he continued on speaking on the baby Jesus.
Pastor Mark Moran served a Christmas message entitled, "The Best Christmas GIFT", based on Philippians 2:5-8. The message will be posted here when the manuscript becomes available. Mark has a presidential look. He teaches 9th graders full time yet he found the time to prepare such a heart-moving message. I wish the whole world would hear the message. (See below for the message.)
Kara his second daughter supplemented the message by coming out of the children's compound and jumping up on the daddy. Lovingly he held her up in his arm just like Joseph holding the baby Jesus, and he continued on speaking on the baby Jesus.
THE BEST GIFT
Philippians 2:5-8
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ
Jesus. 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with
God something to be used to his own advantage; 7rather, he made himself
nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled
himself by becoming obedient to death. even death on a cross!
Merry Christmas! Christmas might be the best-loved holiday in the United
States. So, why do we like Christmas so much? There are two great Christian holidays.
Christmas and Easter. As Christians, we might expect Easter to be more
loved, since on Easter we celebrate our Savior’s victory over sin and death on our
behalf. In the greater American society, however, Christmas is much more popular.
For example, at Christmas, most students get two weeks of vacation, while at Easter
they get a week or a day. The Christmas shopping season begins before Thanksgiving
and continues after New Year’s Day, but people do not shop for “Easter
presents”. I would like to think that people like Christmas because they want to
celebrate Jesus’ birth into the world, but in reality, the modern-American Christmas
is more accurately represented by Santa Claus. As children, we like Christmas because
of Christmas presents, Christmas cookies and Christmas decorations. As
adults, we enjoy those same things and add Christmas parties. Intellectually, we
know that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season”, but we connect more emotionally
to the cultural trappings of Christmas rather than its spiritual foundation. As we
studied Philippians this year, we found that it contains Paul’s most personal testimony
about his love relationship with Jesus. Therefore, Philippians 2:5-8 is a wonderful
passage for us to study for our Christmas worship service, as we pray to restore
our deep, personal love relationship with our Savior.
I. Jesus gave himself for us
We try to teach our children how to receive a gift by teaching them the phrase,
“It’s the thought that counts.” It means that they should not value a gift on the basis
of how much they like it, but rather on the basis of the love it represents from the
giver. As a father, I would prefer that my daughter spent two hours making a birthday
card as the expression of her love for me than to spend $20 on a professional
card. This aspect is also reflected in “the best gift” we can receive. Jesus’ sacrificial
love for us can be represented in the phrase, “Jesus gave himself for us.”
Read Philippians 2:5-8. “In your relationships with one another, have the same
mindset as Christ Jesus. 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality
December 7, 2014
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with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7rather, he made himself
nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Paul
is taking about Jesus’ sacrifice for us, but he barely mentions Jesus’ suffering and
death on the cross. Paul knew that Jesus’ physical suffering and death were very
important; they were essential for the gospel he preached.Yet, when thinking of Jesus’
sacrificial love, Paul saw Jesus’ suffering and death as a smaller sacrifice compared
to the greater sacrifice of his incarnation. The Son of God put aside his divinity.
his equality with God. and became flesh making his dwelling among us.
How wonderful that our Creator God came to visit us on earth! Yet, he did not
come in his heavenly glory to receive the honor, praise and tribute that he deserves.
No! He put aside his glory and power. not using it to his own advantage. but
made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness.
The word ‘servant’ (or ‘slave’) implies Jesus’ sacrificial love for us. Our Creator,
our Lord and our King put aside his superior nature and took on the nature of a servant.
In the early days of Berkeley ministry, one young woman came to meet Jesus
through Bible study. She really wanted to support our humble Sunday worship service,
so she asked, “What can I do to help? I will do anything!” I was very foolish
and ignorant, so I asked her, “Could you clean the bathroom before worship service?”
To my surprise, she was (rightly) grievously offended. When Jesus came to us,
however, he put aside his heavenly glory and honor and power and took on the
very nature of a servant. Can you imagine if President Barack Obama came to visit
our worship service? What an honor! Do you think he would clean the bathroom
before worship service?
As humble as it is that our Lord took on the very nature of a servant, it was even
more humiliating for him to be “made in human likeness”. Little children love baby
Jesus, because they love babies, but it is an unfathomable sacrifice that our Creator
came to visit us. not just as a man, limited in time and space; not just as a man
who gets hungry and must eat or he will die, who gets tired and has to rest; not just
as a man who has to go to the bathroom. No, our Creator and Lord came to us as a
weak and helpless baby, who had to depend on a man to protect him and a woman
to feed him. a helpless baby who soiled his diaper and had to be changed. Think
about what he sacrificed for us! Why? So that he could be with us.
When I was young, I didn’t know how to make friends. My best friend was the
person who came up and invited me to play with him. When my best friend
moved away I became friends with the boy who moved into his house. He was
kind of weird, but he was my best friend for many years. In high school, however, I
decided to stop eating lunch with him, because I wanted to eat at the “Popular Table”.
He became jealous, but instead of apologizing to him, I was cruel to him. I
was angry and I was afraid that my new so-called “friends” would think that I was
weird, so I separated myself from him. However, our holy, Creator God humbled
himself, gave up his honor, glory, prestige and power and made himself nothing.
helpless, humble and shameful. being made in human likeness. What a sacrifice
he made for us!
Read verse 8. “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death. even death on a cross!” We might think that the
word ‘death’ represents the greatest extend of Jesus’ sacrifice, but there is another
word that represents an even greater sacrifice: the word ‘cross’. Jesus’ death for us
is a great sacrifice, but he made an even greater sacrifice by dying on a cross. Jesus’
cross represents the humiliation, shame and guilt of our sins and the curse of God
that he endured in our places.
I’m willing to suffer physical pain for a friend or for someone I love. I am willing
to die for my wife or my daughters, but I am not willing to accept blame for something
I did not do. I pray for my mother to know Jesus as I have come to know him,
but I argue with her a lot on the telephone, because I feel that she accuses me of
things that are unfair or unjust. In my mind, I know that I should follow in Jesus’
footsteps and accept her small criticisms in order to help her spiritually, but it
seems impossible for me to do. In contrast, our Lord Jesus Christ. who is perfect in
holiness and righteousness. who never committed even one sin with his mind or
body. took on all the shame and guilt of our sins upon himself so that we could
be declared righteous, innocent and holy in his name! What sacrifices he has made
for us!
The title for today’s message is “The Best Gift”. The best gift includes Jesus’ sacrificial
love for us, but that is not all. It is wonderful that Jesus sacrificed so much for
us, but the purpose of that sacrifice is even more wonderful. I am willing to sacrifice
anything for my daughters. Once, my wife dreamed that there were spiders in
our bedroom, so in the middle of the night I had to turn on all the lights and search
the bedroom for spiders before she would go back to sleep. I was a little upset with
her. On the other hand, when my daughters were younger, I was willing to get up
in the middle of the night to do something for them. We make many sacrifices for
our children, but what is the purpose of our sacrifices? We sacrifice to protect them,
to teach them what they need to know and to train them to be good, honest and
hard-working. Most of all, we sacrifice for them so that they may know how much
we love them. What is the purpose of Jesus’ sacrifice for us?
(2) Jesus Gave Himself to Us
.
Jesus loves us with a sacrificial love: He gave himself for us. He also gives himself
to us. Jesus suffered and died on the cross in order to cleanse us from our sins
and to give us the gift of eternal life. What is it so great about eternal life?
You may be familiar with Psalm 84:10 from a popular song: “Better is one day
in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the
house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” In his letter to the Philippians,
Paul said the same thing: “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better
by far” (Php 1:23b). At one point in our ministry, we had a young shepherdess and
a young shepherd who were always fighting with each other and with me. At the
same time, I was struggling to pass my qualifying exams. We were studying Philippians
through Daily Bread, and when I read this verse I thought, “O yes! I desire to
depart!” My desire was just to run away from my problems in this life, but Paul’s
desire is very different. His desire was not to run away from his problems in this
life, but to go to be with Christ, “which is better by far”. Paul might have paraphrased
Psalm 84:10 by saying, “Better to be in prison with Jesus than in a palace
with anyone else!” When Paul was in Philippi, he was unjustly arrested for doing
the work of God. He and Silas were stripped and beaten with rods. Then they were
severely flogged and thrown into prison. The jailer put them in the inner cell. with
no windows or light. and fastened their feet in the stocks (Ac 16:16-24). At first,
Paul and Silas must have been confused, frustrated and afraid, but as they prayed,
they found that Jesus was still with them. They experienced Jesus’ presence with
them. He comforted them and encouraged them. He assured them that he was
working out his good purpose through these terrible events. So they began to sing
hymns of praise to God. Paul knew from experience that it was better to be in
prison with Jesus, than to be in a palace with anyone else! How much better it will
be to be with Jesus in his kingdom!
My favorite Christmas verse is John 1:14a: “The Word became flesh and made
his dwelling among us.” Wow! How wonderful! Not only that Jesus left his heavenly
glory and power and honor and came to earth, and not just that he was made in
human likeness, not just that he died for me, but that he came to be with me. he
made his dwelling among us. When I was young, I was always lonely. I really understood
what it means to be “alone in a crowd”. I always felt separated and disconnected
from the people around me. until I met Jesus. He forgave me from my
sins and took away my shame and guilt. He took away my fear of death. Best of all,
he satisfied my thirsty heart: I was not lonely anymore! After I graduated from college
I planned to go to UC-Berkeley for graduate school. At first, I only thought
about which school I should attend. After I decided, however, I realized that I
would be going far away from everyone I knew. I decided to live in my own apartment
without a roommate, so that I could have Sunday worship service. At one
point, my Daily Bread books failed to arrive on time and I thought, “Maybe I’ve
.
been expelled from UBF for some reason.” I was truly all alone, but I did not feel
lonely anymore because Jesus was with me!
To say that Jesus gave himself to us means that he came to be with us, but it also
means he came to be within us. Look at verse 5 again. “In your relationships with
one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” At first, I only included this
verse in the message, because I needed the words “Christ Jesus”. However, as the
message progressed, I realized that this verse also captures the wonderfulness of
Jesus’ gift in giving himself to us. This verse is extremely challenging: Can we really
be expected to have the same attitude as Christ Jesus? Is it really possible for sinners
like us to have the same sacrificial love for others that Jesus has toward us. not
just to suffer for someone else, but to die for them, to bear their shame and humiliation
and guilt, to give up our power, position and glory for them, to become weak
and helpless for them? Humanly, it’s impossible! But in Christ all things are possible!
In Galatians 2:20, Paul expressed how it is possible for him. and for any believer.
to have the same attitude as Christ Jesus: “I have been crucified with Christ
and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by
faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Also, in his letter
to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his
grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them.yet not I,
but the grace of God that was with me” (1Co 15:10). Paul was not a self-made man;
he was a grace-made man. Here, when Paul says, “the grace of God that was with
me”, he means the living Jesus, dwelling in him through the Holy Spirit. We cannot
separate Jesus’ sacrificial love. that he gave himself for us. from the result of that
love. that he gave himself to us. Jesus gave himself as the best gift so that he might
be with us to fill us with his love and to transform us into his holy image. He gave
himself to us so that we may love others with his love.
We think that the longer we know Jesus the more we can grow in his image, but
the reality is that our “old self” never changes. This week, I yelled at my daughter
many times and I even yelled at my wife. That was my “old self”, reminding me that
it never changes. We can be completely transformed, however, as we allow Jesus,
who is already living in us, to fill our hearts, to fill our minds, to fill our souls with
his love, with his thoughts, with his grace. Let’s read our passage one more time together.
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.
6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something
to be used to his own advantage; 7rather, he made himself nothing by taking
the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in
appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death. even
death on a cross!”
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