Incarnation

If there was ever anything that would inspire worship and devotion, it is the amazing Good News that God came near to us in Jesus. The Light of the World came into our darkness - the King of Heaven became poor for love's sake. Paul described Jesus to us in this way as he quoted a hymn of the early Church:

6Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11)

As if it weren't remarkable enough that God came near us in Jesus, the incarnation of Jesus was more than just becoming one of us. He became one of us in a very specific way. He did not hold on to any of the rights and privileges of being God but made himself nothing (kenosis) by taking the very nature of a servant. It doesn't say he became like a servant but took the nature of a servant. What is the nature of a servant? Having humbled Himself so thoroughly already, Jesus humbled Himself again by becoming obedient to a slave's death (remember He took the very nature of a servant - even to taking on that kind of death). This is why we worship Jesus, as verses 9-11 make clear.

Interestingly, Paul prefaces this hymn by saying that our attitude (or "mind") should be the same as Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5). He has called us to this same self-emptying humility and this same obedient love with the very nature of servants. Paul describes his own efforts to let go of all of his rights and privileges for the sake of knowing and serving Jesus (Philippians 3:1-14). It is important to notice that he did not consider these things as an advantage to him but instead counted them nothing as Christ had done. Each place Paul goes on his missionary journeys, he does his best to relate to those he is serving in a way that fits their context. In Athens for example (Acts 17), he uses their own poetry and religious context as a way to relate the Good News of Jesus to them. In this way, Paul was embodying an incarnational ministry as Jesus had done.

I long to have this same "mind" that was in Christ Jesus. How do I empty myself and serve my family and my neighbors in an incarnational way? Jesus, you have already showed us the way. Please teach me by Your Spirit to let go of all that could be considered profit to me (empty self - kenosis) and see every moment as an opportunity to bring Your Kingdom as a "little Christ" to my family and this world.