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Mills River SDA Church

Cory Reeves

The God Who Stepped Down

You see, we're almost to the Christmas holiday, and I want to talk this morning about the greatest gift ever, ever was or ever will be.

I wanna talk through this idea of our creator God, this God who stepped down from heaven to save you and me.

Before we get into that too much, I want to talk about Christmas a little, reminding you of a sermon I preached last year.

There's strong evidence that a lot of us know that Jesus' birth was probably not even actually this time of year.

I've also received many comments that isn't Christmas pagan.

So we gathered last year and we asked a practical question.

We, we scoured the Bible but we also scoured Spirit of Prophecy because Christmas wasn't a thing except for Jesus' birth in the Bible.

So I want to remind you of 5 points we discussed last year.

Christmas is great for Christians because it is an immense opportunity to witness.

It is a time of the year when the world is curious about a Savior.

Even if they have the message slightly wrong, it gives us the opportunity or the door to introduce the Savior we all know.

It's a great time to help the poor, to look outward, not inward.

White is really clear that we should not scare the youth, that we should give them a picture of Jesus that is inviting them.

Number 4 was, like the wise men, give for God's cause.

And number 5, it was a specific time, and I'll read a quote at the very end of today's sermon, that she uses a very specific time for all of us to reflect on what Christ has done in our lives.

So yes, Christmas can be a lot, but it is a great opportunity for us to witness, to reflect on this great gift of Jesus.

So my first challenge for you today, are you taking time, This time when many of us have more time off or a break, are you taking time to reflect on the gift of Jesus?

Are you taking time to witness by reflecting Jesus that you've received to others?

That is how we celebrate, but today I want to talk about why we celebrate.

Why is the Christian life about giving, serving, and sacrificing?

Let me suggest it is because we worship the God who stepped down.

My best bet would be Joseph in here, but I don't think he knows them either.

It's Johann Dober, and I'm going to mess up this next 1 really bad, David Nitzeman.

In the early 1700s, they were a part of a group of Christians in Germany known as the Moravians.

Count Zinzendorfer, their leader, had instilled in them a burning passion for mission.

Larry spoke of missions already, didn't he?

But these guys, he instilled in them this burning passion for mission.

These 2 young men, Johan and David, heard about an island in the West Indies, St.

Thomas, where there was a massive population of African slaves.

These men and women were working on sugar plantations in miserable conditions.

But the worst part was not the physical labor.

It was that the slave owner strictly forbid any preacher from speaking to the slaves.

These young men felt the Holy Spirit on them, telling them to go.

The only way they could reach the slaves was to become slaves themselves.

A free man could not live among them or work beside them.

They went to the slave company and offered to sell themselves into slavery.

They were willing to forgo their freedom, their rights, and their future to become property just so they could work and toil in the fields alongside these lost people.

They wanted to tell them of Jesus as they cut sugar cane.

And as the story goes, the company was confused and they didn't know how to make that deal acceptable.

Somehow, they wouldn't buy them into slavery, but somehow these young men went anyway, and they lived as if they were slaves.

They weren't officially slaves in the end.

Why would anyone in their right mind do that?

Why would you go from a free man to a slave, from comfort to chains?

You see, we have an example these men chose to follow.

Have you ever pondered that everything in our human nature tells us to go up?

We want the promotion, we want the better job, we want the better office, we want more pay, we want the bigger house.

We tend to have a desire for more and more, more for me.

You will see today that the spirit of the world and the spirit of Satan is self-promotion.

It's about climbing the ladder, but the kingdom of God is a divine contrast.

Jesus came down the ladder for you and me.

Many times, we try to climb up to God, but the birth of Christ that Christmas represents is God climbing down to man.

We either focus too much on presents or other elements that the world has brought in, or we focus on cozy elements.

Isn't the nativity scene a warm hay, singing angels and a bright star?

But if we look at Christmas through the lens of the great controversy, we realize that the Nativity wasn't a sweet moment.

It was God taking on the helpless form of an infant into a broken world full of sin.

The miracle of Christmas isn't just that Jesus was born.

It was where he came from to come and save you and me.

Jumping into our text, Philippians 2 starting with verse 5, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God." I'm gonna pause.

Let's focus for a moment on where Jesus started from.

I want to also jump into the commentary on verse 6 to clarify the word robbery.

It defines it as something to be grasped or clutched.

The text says he thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

Just for a moment, imagine a child holding a toy, and you've never heard any of the children here do this, I hope, none of you kids, saying, it's mine!

Jesus had all the glory of all the universe, but he didn't clutch it.

He held out his divinity with an open hand willing to let go of the privilege of God to save you.

This text also shows that Christ was equal to God.

It places the Father and the Christ side by side, then it gives us a picture of Christ, willing to let go, to step down for your salvation.

Our Creator side by side with the Father.

Now Satan, speaking in Isaiah 14, 13 through 14, shows the contrast.

For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High." What word do you hear over and over and over again?

While we see Jesus willing to go down the ladder, Satan is clearly wanting to do what on the ladder?

I love how the desire of ages says this on page 436.

Lucifer desired God's power, but not his character.

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The God Who Stepped Down

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