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The Mind of Christmas
A Christmas Eve Meditation
Philippians 2:5-11
Focus Text: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ...." [Philippians 2:5]
I grew up in a small mining town in Northern Ontario and having tried to "go home" a couple of times, I knew that I could never make that little town my home. But, I have to tell you in my heart of hearts that every year at Christmas time, I have a great nostalgia and longing in my heart for Christmas in Virginiatown.
Now our town existed solely because of the Kerr Addison Gold Mine and was full of hard living, hard drinking, hard rock miners. Nevertheless, there was no crime to speak of, no urban blight, no apprehension of the future and no drug problem. (Unless of course you consider Canadian beer a drug - and for sure there was plenty of trouble with that drug; it was just that for us kids we simply assumed that this was the way life was. The boys went through eighth grade then went to work in the mine where they spent their days and nights were spent in the beer parlor.)
Christmas, however was a wonderful time of year. On the morning of Christmas Eve, all the boys in town went out into the bush with their Dads to cut a fresh Christmas tree which was decorated that night. The women and girls baked Christmas goodies which seemed to fill the town with the aroma of a magical bakery shop. NO one told us that we all needed to be liberated from such old fashioned chauvinistic roles and so we were content with it all – I mean we were the Norman Rockwell painting. Christmas week from the Eve of Christmas to New Years Day was one giant open house and adults and children freely visited from house to house. The mine erected a huge Nativity scene in the center of town and even old Gabby the hermit went to church. As far as I remember, the whole town was filled with a certain mystical joy. We were even nice to the French kids that week, which was quite magnanimous on our part.
There was one Christmas, however, that shattered my peaceful notions of Christmas and opened my innocent eyes to the fact that not everyone had the same joy I did at that time of year.
Just about noon on Christmas, Jimmy Turner would knock at my door and cry, "Bijou [french for Jewell] what did you get for Christmas?" Then we went to his house and from therefrom house to house asking all our friends, "What did you get for Christmas?" On this particular Christmas day I’m talking about, we went to Russell's house and said, "Merry Christmas Russell - what did YOU get for Christmas?" Russell had tears in his eyes and showed us a plastic ring from a Corn Flakes box.
'"That’s it?" Jimmy Turner exclaimed in surprise. "A plastic ring?" He didn't mean to be mean, he was just surprised. Russell’s parents had divorced that year and his new Step Father didn't like him at all. The other children in the house were rejoicing in their Christmas "haul", but Russell had been left out.
I never knew until then that there were people who were left out at Christmas. I never told my friends afterward, but I went home that Christmas day and cried for Russell and wondered how it could be possible that a young boy should be so unhappy on Christmas day.
"How come," I wondered, "Nobody gave Russell something nice for Christmas?" As far as I can recall, that was the last year we went running all over town on Christmas Day asking, "What did you get for Christmas." Getting things for Christmas lost its magical joy that year.
Now that I'm all grown up [at least my children think I am..., and now that I am self consciously Christian, the whole idea of Christmas has been turned upside down. The question that is most on my heart this year is "What did you give for Christmas.
Christmas. of course originated in the heart and mind of God. I am struck this year by the "God-side" of Christmas. On that night when the angels cried, "Peace on earth" and "Joy to the world", it occurs to me that there must have been an incredible sense of loss on heaven's side of things!
What is really the "Mind of Christmas. Look with me at Philippians 2:5-8:
(5) Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, (6) who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, (7) but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, {and} coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to {'the point of} death, even the death of the cross.
The "mind" of Christmas is the "mind" of Christ. Verse 5, properly and fully translated would be, "Let the inner attitude of Christ be the attitude which dominates your common life."
The mind of Christmas is actually the attitude of Jesus Christ growing and taking shape within our lives every day of every year. What exactly is that attitude? Verses 6-8 tell the story:
* Servanthood: The King of Kings who was served by a host of heavenly angels became a servant.
* Humility: The Lord of Lords who was worthy of worship, stripped Himself of Divine glory to come in the likeness of sinful men.
* Obedience: The Lord of Glory who was life within Himself, became obedient to the point of suffering a criminal's death.
These three qualities are the heart of the mind of Christ, the mind of Christmas and the mind which is to dominate our life together - a servant attitude, a humble heart and an obedient spirit.
As we look back to that very first Christmas, ask yourself: "What did Jesus get for Christmas?" – and – "what did you get for Christmas?"
- Jesus got a barn for His birth so that you could be born to an eternal home in heaven.
- Jesus got the likeness of sinful flesh so that you could gain the likeness of Christ.
- Jesus got to take on your sin so that you could take on His salvation.
- Jesus got rejection so that you could gain redemption.
- Jesus got a cross so that you could gain a crown.
- Jesus was stripped of His few earthly garments so that you could be clothed with heavenly glory.
- Jesus got a world of darkness so that you might gain a world of light.
- Jesus got death so that you might gain life.
What did Jesus get for Christmas?
Jesus got "put down" so that you might get "lifted up".
The mind of Christmas which is the mind of Christ - which is the mind we are to embrace will cause us to ask, "What can I give?" rather than "what can I get?". It will cause us to let go rather than to grasp selfishly. But while the result may be earthly insignificance, it results in eternal impact. Look with me at the result of Jesus' sacrifice in
Philippians 2:9-11:(9) Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ~ 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, (11) and {that} every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ {is} Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Our world has Christmas thinking turned inside out and upside down. But for Jesus Christ and those who follow Him, heaven's greatest loss was our greatest gift. For those who follow Jesus Christ, defeat is turned into victory, hopelessness is turned into joy and death has been banished forever!
So... "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus ..."