Jesus: The Ultimate Hero - Philippians 2:6-8
📖 Scripture:
“Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be exploited, but emptied Himself of divine prerogative, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even, death on a cross.”Philippians 2:6–8
🔎 Examination:
Advent isn’t sentimental nostalgia about a baby in a manger; it is the decisive irruption of the eternal Son into the cesspool of ruined humanity. Philippians 2 rips away all the domesticated Christmas packaging and confronts us with the shocking descent of the KING of kings. He “existed in the form of God”—truly, eternally God the Son—yet “emptied Himself,” not of His deity, but of divine prerogatives. He refused to cling to entitlement. Jesus chose the path of humiliation and death for the sake of His people.The first Advent announces the ULTIMATE HERO who did not wait to be summoned by our need; He authored… and then entered history by His own sovereign choice. He did not come to congratulate or enable us in our sin, but to demolish Satan, sin, and death… along with our godless autonomy… to unite us to Himself. Let this ADVENT season begin, not with vague “holiday cheer,” but with trembling gratitude that the eternal Son, Jesus, stepped into the pit of your guilt, your depravity, and your death… as “the way, the truth, and the life.” The only fitting response is WORSHIP: surrender, thanksgiving, and adoration. Those who are in Christ don’t decorate their lives with religious rituals; they lay themselves down as living sacrifices.
Sunday’s SERMON reminded us that every culture, every mythic hero-story, carries a broken echo of this indelible pattern: a world shattered, a crisis that demands a hero, and a journey into danger for the sake of others. Yet in every human story, the hero is forced into the conflict—war, tragedy, loss, or threat compels them into action. Only one story breaks the pattern: the GOSPEL. King Jesus didn’t get pulled or propelled into our disaster; He authored and embraced His mission before He created the material cosmos (Rev 13:8).
The eternal Son chose to descend. He did not arrive as a pampered ruler or brutal tyrant, but as a slave, born in an animal pen, laid in an animal trough, stepping into the filth and hostility of a rebellious, idolatrous, hate-driven race. Philippians 2 makes this clear: His incarnation and crucifixion were not accidents of history, but the outworking of His voluntary obedience—“He humbled Himself and became obedient to death…” The manger is inseparable from the cross. King Jesus’ first Advent was the first step of that descent… and ultimate victory by the ULTIMATE HERO.
This exposes how warped much of so-called “Christianity” has become. Cultural religion sells a “Christmas Jesus” who exists to spread and sprinkle positivity over our lifestyles, to furnish sentimental warm-fuzzies and nostalgic traditions once a year, only to get packed away with the decorations. But the Jesus of Scripture is the Lamb who came to die. He came, not to affirm “good people” (of which Scripture reveals there are none (Mark 10:18; Rom 3:10-12; Ps 14:1-3; Isa 64:6; Eccl 7:20), but to rescue enemies—“dead in…transgressions and sins” (Eph 2:1). If people are not spiritually dead, the incarnation is unnecessary overkill and the cross of Christ is not “the” way, but merely “a” way. But since Scripture is 100% true and trustworthy—that none is righteous, none seeks God—Advent is the only hope for condemned rebels.
Advent, then, isn't just about remembering that Jesus came; it is about remembering how and why He came the first time, and being prepared for His second ADVENT. At His first Advent, He took the “form of a servant”—literally a slave—choosing the lowest position. He entered our ruin, bearing our shame, taking on the form of the very humanity that had spit in God’s face. The Holy Spirit uses this to crucify our pride. We want a Jesus who endorses our autonomy; the Father sends a King who annihilates our autonomy by calling us to die with Him (Gal 2:20).
Regeneration is not a religious upgrade; it is supernatural resurrection. When the Holy Spirit unites us to Christ, we are bound to this pattern: descent, death, trials, and then glory. Union with Christ means that His humiliation and earthly suffering become the pattern of our redeemed lives. Our identity is no longer “self-fulfilled individual,” but crucified and raised co-heir (Rom 6:3–5). Advent exposes the fraud of decisionistic religion that treats Jesus as an accessory to self-rule (Judges 21:25). The Advent King did not descend so we could remain on our own thrones.
Sunday’s SERMON confronts and destroys that man-centered lie head-on. The KING of kings did not come to stroke our sense of being “basically good.” He came because we are not good, not neutral, not spiritually sick, but dead and hostile (Col 1:21). Dead people do not need a life coach; they need supernatural CPR and resurrection. Advent is the announcement that the ULTIMATE HERE, Jesus, willingly plunged into the blackest, deepest, foulest abyss that we not only inhabit, but created… and He did this to give life to those the Father has given Him (John 6:37–40).
This is why, at its most basic level, every religion hates the Jesus of Scripture. A safe, sentimental “holiday Jesus” readily coexists with sinful autonomy, entertainment-driven “church,” and depraved lives that treat Christ as a seasonal ornament and a blessings PEZ dispenser. But the Jesus of Scripture (Phil 2; Heb 9:28) shatters these lies and illusions. Jesus is the willingly humiliated King who came to claim His Bride, to crucify self-rule, to unite the redeemed into His Body, the local church, where our entire pattern of living is reoriented—glorifying our King in gathering, growing, giving, and going in the power and unity of the Gospel.
Advent, rightly understood, forces a deep and probative question (2 Cor 13:5): Am I still trying to make Jesus a guest star in my story, or has the Holy Spirit united me to Him so that my life is now a small subplot in His? The eternal Son did not descend so we could keep running our own sin-riddled show. He descended to make us His own, to conform us to His cross-shaped pattern of obedience, and to integrate us into His divine rescue mission via the GOSPEL: “Jesus is King!”
To celebrate Advent without surrender is hypocrisy. To sing of Bethlehem but refuse the cross in our own lives is treason. To admire the humility of Christ while clinging to entitlement, comfort, and self-preservation exposes lips that have never truly confessed… a heart that has never truly believed… and knees that have never truly bowed. Advent is not the season to pretend; it is the season to intentionally look back to the first ADVENT… while looking forward to the second… and submit to the ULTIMATE HERO in worship. The manger is the necessary throne of humility for the crucified King, and all those who are truly born again—those in resurrection union with Him—will bear the indelible marks of His descent in our lives… as devoted members of His Body and Bride.
🤺 Action:
Test your view of humanity – “Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.” (Lam 3:40) Do you functionally treat people as “basically good,” or as Scripture declares—dead without Christ and utterly dependent on the Gospel?Examine your Advent expectations – “I have considered my ways and turned my steps to Your testimonies.” (Ps 119:59) Are you looking for seasonal holiday sentiment, or for crucifixion, suffering, humility, and surrender to the ULTIMATE HERO who descended to rescue and redeem you?
Test your humility – “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” (2 Cor 13:5) Where is entitlement and self-worship still ruling your choices, instead of cross-shaped humility and obedience?
Expose decisionistic “Jesus + personal comfort” – “Test all things. Hold fast to what is good.” (1 Thess 5:21) Are you clinging to Christ alone, or to Christ plus a comfortable, unchallenged, unregenerate life?
🧠Reflection:
The first Advent announces the ULTIMATE HERO who did not wait to be summoned by our need; He authored… and then entered history by His own sovereign choice. He did not come to congratulate or enable us in our sin, but to demolish Satan, sin, and death… along with our godless autonomy… to unite us to Himself. Let this ADVENT season begin, not with vague “holiday cheer,” but with trembling gratitude that the eternal Son, Jesus, stepped into the pit of your guilt, your depravity, and your death… as “the way, the truth, and the life.” The only fitting response is WORSHIP: surrender, thanksgiving, and adoration. Those who are in Christ don’t decorate their lives with religious rituals; they lay themselves down as living sacrifices.
Blessings & love,
Kevin M. Kelley
Pastor
Click the following link for a short video version of today’s devotional:
Click >>HERE<< for Sunday’s full sermon.
Comments