SCRIPTURE | Luke 2:6–20 “Now it happened that while they were there, the days were fulfilled for her to give birth. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guest room. 8In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9And an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people. 11For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12“And this will be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” 15And it happened that when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” 16So they went in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. 17And when they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. 18And all who heard it marveled at the things which were told them by the shepherds. 19But Mary was treasuring all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as was told them.”
OBSERVATION | Glory to God, point number one. Baby Jesus humbled Himself and became a man. Not only a man, but an infant of insignificance and poverty. On that day few knew that the Creator God entered into His creation, and few saw the immeasurable distance of the One high God lowering Himself. We see humility in the manger, which has become an icon of Christmas. Today the manger has become a trinket in some setup in the yard or as a centerpiece on the table. Yet if we stop and remind ourselves, the manger was nothing more than a wooden structure used to put feed in for animals. In fact, it was the absurd uniqueness of a baby lying in a feeding trough that was to be the sign indicating to the shepherds that they had found the right newborn (Luke 2:12).
Who today would go into a smelly, dirty barn and lay a newborn into the place the animals receive their feed? This is unheard of. It’s insanely humiliating. And yet this baby in the manger is the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords (1 Tim 6:15; Rev 19:16). In this position, we see in Jesus one of the greatest acts of humility possible. The one who deserves the highest honor and praise, taking on human flesh in the lowest place of a manger.
How does His humility bring God glory? Philippians 2:7 says “although existing in the form of God… taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men…. He humbled Himself.” These words point to the humility of the birth of Jesus. They speak to us of what we celebrate at Christmas. The fact that the true God gave up His high position and came down to be a man. Then in verse 9 we read of the Father’s response to His Son’s humility. “Therefore, God also highly exalted Him.” In other words, Jesus’ humiliation brings exaltation. Because the greater our God lowers Himself for the sake of His creation, the greater He deserves the response of wonder, praise and glory.
No one can rightly fault God for sitting on a throne over all creation; it is the position He deserves, and He deserves glory and praise for being in that position. No one can rightly fault God for commanding all of our love (Deut 6:5; Matt 22:37), for commanding us to be pure and holy in all of our conduct (Lev 11:44f; 19:2; 20:7; Matt 5:48; 1 Peter 1:15). He deserves such obedience. All of these realities are in order, so to speak, for a righteous and exalted God. What is out of order, is that He would degrade Himself and empty Himself of the honor He deserves.
Glory to God, point number two. Because he humbled himself, we ought to lift Him high in our thoughts, words and deeds. His humility deserves us giving Him glory. Such an infinitely extreme measure of humility gives us every reason to exalt Him in our own lives to the same infinite degree. His humility commands us to be humble, just as Philippians 2:5 says “Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus…” who “emptied Himself…” (v.7) who “humbled Himself…” (v.8) So, ask yourself, are you expecting others to treat you as you think you deserve? Then follow in Jesus’ example and empty yourself of such expectation. Humble yourself and accept that you truly deserve nothing.
It has helped me in my pursuit of humility (a lowly way of thinking of self) to remind myself that simply because of one sin, all I deserve is hell (Rom 6:23). That not only do I deserve eternal punishment from God for just one act of disobedience, but the fact that the righteous Judge doesn’t give this punishment to me now is His extreme grace. In other words, to humble my thoughts and expectations I remind myself, “You deserve hell, right now, and anything better is God’s mercy and grace.” We could endure much so-called mistreatment if we only realized that the only treatment we deserve is hell.
How does this tie in with Christmas? Because Jesus humbled himself when He came down, and therefore deserves all honor and praise. How much more than does he deserve praise through our own humility and why? Because when we follow His example, when we become low minded of ourselves, it also reveals the greatness of our God. When we exalt ourselves, we lower the greatness of the Lord. When we lower ourselves, we lift up the greatness of the Lord. Just as in Jesus’ incarnation, your humility brings God glory.
APPLICATION | This Christmas, let’s turn away from pride, self-exaltation, thinking “I deserve…” anything. Let’s give this one who was born in a lowly manger before lowly shepherds the exaltation and glory He deserves, by living like Him. So lower yourself in your thoughts, words and deeds. So that He alone, as the One alone who deserves it, will receive all glory.
James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
Luke 14:11 “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
PRAYER | Lord, I repent of my pride, and my thinking that I deserve anything better then hell. Forgive me and cleanse me of such worldly ways of living and thinking. Make my every thought, word and deed humble and lowly. Let me follow the example of Your Son. So that You will receive the greatest glory from my life. Amen
HYMN | We enjoy singing along to this group in our family worship. May it bless you this Christmas and lead you to give God much glory!
