The humility of the manger.
Heads Up!! – The Perfect Gift is this Saturday, and we could use your help!
Over the years, different traditions and activities have prompted me to be present to the joy of the Christmas season. For our church, the Perfect Gift has long been a way to bless our community with the joy of the Christmas season. And a winsome way to share the gospel story with them. On December 9th, we will once again host the Perfect Gift, and it will again be a chance for our church to radiate the joy of Christmas and the truth of Jesus with our community.
Are you excited about this opportunity? I am!
Let’s invite our friends and neighbors to come and experience a taste of the joy of Christmas.
Want to use your time and talents to be a blessing? We are still in need of about 40 volunteers. Spots to serve are only for about 2 hours at a time, so you can come, serve, and still enjoy going around The Perfect Gift. You can show up Saturday and go to the Welcome Center to see where we need help or sign up to help here: https://ccames.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/1052977
The Christmas story is one that is deeply familiar to so many of us. Even if we are not particularly religious or did not grow up in a Christian home, we likely have encountered the Christmas story and are familiar with its elements. This familiarity can do two things for us: we either breeze right past the familiar things, or we intentionally slow down to discover and rediscover their richness. My hope for us is the latter.
One of those familiar elements is the manger. We hear in Luke, “She gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7) This manger was not just “port in a storm” per se, it was a sign and symbol of who this little child was and would be. It doesn’t take a degree in New Testament language for us to understand the implied humility that comes with being born in a manger. Luke helps us to know that this was not a normal practice, even in the first century. The manger is a sign of humility. Yes, this child, as Matthew would tell us, “will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21) But, for this moment in time, he was a poor child, born to a poor family, and his first crib was a manger. Yet this is fitting for Jesus, he would tell us that he is gentle and lowly. (Matt. 11:29). Yes, he is the rightful King of the universe and author of creation. But, when he came to earth he did so clothed in humility, not thinking of himself, instead, thinking of you and me. Pastor John Piper helps us to understand the humility of the manger and how it foreshadowed the humility and utter emptiness of the cross. He writes,
“The Calvary road is downhill. Not because it gets easier, but because it gets lower. The Savior’s life starts low and ends lower. This is the point of Philippians 2:6–8:
Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant [starting his life lower than servants — in a feeding trough] . . . he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
This is how the Savior saves. This is how the Messiah fulfills all the promises. This is how the Lord reigns: from infinite deity, to feeding trough, to final torments on the cross.
“This is how the Lord reigns: from infinite deity, to feeding trough, to final torment on the cross.”
For those who have eyes to see, the message of the angels makes sense. Yes, we must follow him! “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). It is a lowly road. A hard road. But there is no greater joy than to be on this road with this Savior.
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10). This is no moderate joy. This is Great Joy. “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:10–14). Great joy to us. Great glory to God.”[1]
This Christmas, when we look at the manger, let us also see the cross. When we see a small baby, let us see the one who brings us great joy through his humility.
[1] Jon Piper via – https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-meaning-of-the-manger