Sermon Tone Analysis

Prayer

Intro

When you think of a king, what image pops into your head?

For me, an initial thought is of King Arthur or Beowulf, but I also imagine a good king to be fabulously wealthy and well-known throughout his kingdom and even in faraway lands.

As I began to prepare for this message, I wanted to see who the richest king was.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - King Tut

I figured it would have been King Tut, but I was way off.

I found out that he wasn't even among the wealthiest Pharaohs.

His burial was rushed, and they didn't have time to prepare a proper tomb, so the one he was buried in is thought to have belonged to an advisor or someone of nobility.

That said, he was still buried with nearly 5,000 items, and one of the three coffins he was laid to rest in was hewn from a piece of solid gold valued at 1.6 million dollars!

It turns out the wealthiest king is thought to have been Mansa Musa, a king from the Mali Empire in the 1300s.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Mansa Musa

He stabilized the empire's expansion, annexed Timbuktu, giving access to more trade routes, and quite literally put Mali on the map.

He once took a pilgrimage to Mecca, and along the way, he gave out so much gold that he caused massive inflation in Cairo and tanked their economy!

Imagine going on such a big spending spree that you actually hurt the economy!

It is said that his caravan stretched as far as the eye could see and that fanfare, excitement, and gold followed everywhere he went.

Fascinating.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Title slide

Well, as we begin our time in the word this morning, please turn with me in your Bibles to Luke's Gospel.

We'll see a different kind of King as we study verses 1-16.

As we continue our series on the Signs of Christmas, today we're going to study the Humility of Christ.

Luke wrote his gospel and dedicated it to Theophilus, a man we cannot accurately identify.

Luke's intention in writing was to give his readers certainty about what they've been taught, starting with Theophilus.

As one commentary aptly puts it, "Written Scripture gives believers more certainty than the memory of an oral proclamation can give."

Like a good historian or biographer, Luke gives the context surrounding the birth of Jesus by detailing the foretelling of John the Baptist's birth, Mary's visit to Elizabeth, her song of praise, and Zechariah's prophecy that John would prepare the way for the Lord.

Tucked in among the details is the account of an Angel of the Lord, Gabriel, explaining to Mary that she would soon have a child.

The angel appeared to her and said:

"Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

Some important details to understand are that this child would be a great king, being of the line of David, and his kingdom and reign would never end.

And yet, He would arrive with such humility.

There would be no fanfare, no royal couriers racing out to announce his birth to the members of high society, and no nationwide celebrations.

Instead, the King of kings and Lord of lords was born in anything but fancy or royal fashion.

Let's turn our attention to the word, again in Luke 2:1-16.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Scripture slides

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Humility of Christ’s Birth

The Humility of Christ's Birth

According to Merriam-Webster, the word humble means three things: "not proud or haughty," "reflecting, expressing, or offering in a spirit of deference or submission," and "ranking low in a hierarchy or scale; not costly or luxurious" (Merriam-Webster, s.v.

"humble," https://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/humbleness).

It only makes sense, then, that the very first bed Jesus ever slept in was just as humble as he is.

Nowadays, parents are very particular when determining what sort of crib their baby gets; the color, size, and brand are all considered.

Then, when it's time for a big kid bed, the options are seemingly limitless: racecars, pirate ships, princess 4-posters, to you name it!

But Mary and Joseph did not have that luxury; they only had a manger to put Jesus in, as Luke tells us there was no room for them.

Jesus was laid in a manger, sometimes used as a feeding trough, and sometimes used to lay infant calves and sheep in just after birth.

Surely, God's Son deserved a high-profile birth in the most elegant of surroundings.

But, instead, God's own Son made His appearance on earth in the lowliest of circumstances.

This humble birth conveys an amazing message to creation: the transcendent God condescended to come to us.

Instead of coming to earth as a pampered, privileged ruler, Jesus was born in meekness, as one of us.

He is approachable, accessible, and available—no palace gates bar the way to Him; no ring of guards prevents our approach.

The King of kings came humbly, and His first bed was a manger.

Christ was humble in His birth and also in the manner in which He lived His life.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Humility of Christ’s Life

The Humility of Christ's Life

Later in his Gospel, Luke records an interesting moment when someone claimed to want to follow Christ.

Luke 9:57-58 - 57 And as they were going along the road, someone said to Him, "I will follow You wherever You go." 58 And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

As He began and carried out His earthly ministry, Jesus was functionally homeless; He and His disciples stayed in the homes of those who would take them in.

The scribes were among the wealthier citizens.

It was as if Jesus were saying, "Are you sure you want to be homeless with Me?"

Even the animals have a place to stay—foxes have holes, and the birds have nests—but Jesus literally had "nowhere to lay his head."

He wanted the scribe to count the cost of his proposal.

It is always wise to count the cost (Luke 14:28).

To follow Christ means to accept a life of humility.

It does not always mean a life of poverty, as we know that some of Christ's close friends were, in fact, quite wealthy.

Instead, every believer must consider and give up any item or idol that stands in the way of following Christ wholeheartedly.

If we're honest, we know what that is in our lives and how difficult it is to leave it behind.

However, the heart that loves Christ will ultimately dismiss the things that pull us away from Christ, despite the genuine pain and anguish of doing so.

Again, foxes have dens, and birds have nests.

Still, in this world, we may have to do without while we await "a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands," as Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 5:1.

While we share in Christ's humility here on earth, we will find a place to lay our head there, with Him in Glory.

I read of a particular missionary's first experience on the mission field: She wrote, "We all went on the mission field with ideas of grandeur—perhaps we would reach millions for Christ or start an orphanage or Bible college or become a great evangelist.

But when we arrived, to our surprise, we were assigned to 'great' jobs—cleaning toilets, chipping paint, washing dishes—and other similar high-ranking services."

For her, it was amid washing dishes that she discovered the mission field was about humbly serving the people around her.

By humbling herself, she could open herself to God and the lessons he had for her (Przybylski, "How Jesus Modeled Humility").

Christ's birth and life showed great humility; it only makes sense then that His death would also.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Humility of Christ’s Death

The Humility of Christ's Death

Jesus is the ultimate example of humility.

He taught us through a spirit of submission, willingness to be seen among the lowest in society, and forgoing the luxuries of the wealthy.

His humility was expressed most in His taking on the form of a man and obediently dying on the cross.

Although he committed no crimes, broke no laws, and engaged in no sin, he was arrested, put on trial, beaten and bloodied, and eventually laid down His life on the cross before being buried and resurrected three days later.

At no point did He insist or demand that His rights and privileges be honored, understood, or even viewed rightly; instead, he emptied Himself of His reputation.

Jesus was content to be seen as ordinary and did not seek popularity or prestige in His life.

Our Savior, indeed, had a gentleness and lowliness of heart.

In His death, Jesus gave Himself up as an expression of love and was willing to lower Himself to express that love.

He is the supreme example of love and humility—as Jesus Himself put it, no one has greater love than to give his life for another (John 15:13).

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Title slide (Conclusion)

So, learning from Christ’s example, how do we apply this to our lives?

Thankfully, the Apostle Paul instructs us in Philippians 2: 5-11, saying:

Paul is challenging his readers to think like Christ, that is, to be willing to lower themselves for the benefit of others.

That is how they could "be of the same mind," maintaining the same love and intent on one purpose by being willing to make their own interests and purposes secondary to the other person's good.

As one commentary shares, Humility is a fundamental and necessary aspect of the Christian life, and we have the perfect model of humility in Jesus Christ.

Further, as James recounted, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6, ESV).

God sees when people respond to Him and each other with humility, and He is gracious.

Peter adds that we should humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and at the right time, He will exalt us (1 Peter 5:6).

Any anxieties we might have about the implications of humility we can cast upon Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

Having the biggest house, the most excellent car, the most prestigious title, the most popular social media handle, etc., should never be our primary focus.

Our primary task in this life is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.