He was born a servant. He was born the lowest of the low. He is. The celebrity of the universe. But Dr.
Tony Evans says many people don't want to deal with the deity of the babe in a manger. with Christmas is people don't want that baby. Cause see, that baby is a different kind of celebrity. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.
If you ask people to name the most famous figure of Christmas, the answers might range from sentimental to commercial. But not necessarily biblical. Today, Dr. Evans redirects our attention to the only true celebrity of the season, the one whose arrival changed history forever. Let's join him as he unpacks what makes Jesus the center of it all.
We live in a world today of. Celebrity worship. Madison Avenue has done a magnificent job. in creating Celebrities. A celebrity is a person who has achieved high status.
and recognition among men. Because of their talents. as an actor or as an athlete. because of their treasures. their wealth or their philanthropic kindness Or simply because of some notable act that thrust them into the limelight.
We create and recognize celebrities. People who have achieved greatness among men. There is a problem, however, with the celebrities that we recognize. And that is Their celebrity status Wayne's Whether it's because of Time. Making an athlete slower or a actress older.
Or perhaps because of Uh Mistakes. Or even because of death. Celebrity ship. Wayne's Yes, we hold parades in the name of some of our celebrities and. We put up plaques.
And we have memorial events for them. But the reality is That there is no celebrity you know who has been able to impeccably maintain their celebrity status. That is, except one. He never wrote a song, yet there are more songs written about him than Any other person set the music? He never wrote a book, but the book about him has sold more copies.
The ninety other book. Ever written. He never traveled more than 300 miles. From the place where he was born. And yet there's no place on earth.
Where people do not know his name. Every Sunday. Millions and millions and millions and millions of people for thousands of years. Gather in his name. To remember him.
It's because of him that the Greatest holiday. In the year. is named. Salesmen depend on his birthday. for their profit margins.
Some of the best meals are cooked. Because of his entrance into human history. In fact, your calendar. It's tied to his arrival. That, brothers and sisters, is a celebrity.
Somebody whose status does not wane. With time, with age. Whose notoriety seems to only grow day by day, week by week. And year by year. Of course, we're talking about the celebrity ship.
of Jesus Christ. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke. You got the narrative of His birth. When John comes along, he cites the. Salvific reason, the saving purpose.
of his arrival. But what Paul does. This gives us a theological summary. of the celebrity ship of Jesus Christ. Briefly, let me summarize.
The three points he wants you to know. from Philippians chapter 2 about the celebrity ship. of Jesus Christ. His person? His passion.
And his praise. His person, have this mind, verse 5 of Philippians 2 says, in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. But emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant, a bondservant. and being made in the likeness of men.
He introduces in those two verses The pre-incarnate and incarnate uniqueness of Jesus Christ making him a celebrity. The reason why he's a celebrity is because You'll find nobody else like him. A great actor can find another great actor. A great actress can find another great actress. A great athlete.
Can find another great athlete, and given enough time, you can find somebody better. Not so in this case. Because there is nobody like him. If I would put it in a syllogism, I would say that Jesus could say of himself, I am what I was. I was not what I am now.
And today I'm called both. I I am what I was. I was not what I am now. But today they call me both. You see, I was not what I am because that is, I am what I was.
What I was is, I existed. in the form of God. Here you have a statement of Jesus' deity. You see, you can't exist in the form of God without being God. The Greek word morphae has to do with Essence.
Before I was born, I existed in the form of God. That's why God could say when he created man, let us make man. Because he was not doing it alone. Or, as John 1:1 puts it, in the beginning was the word. And the word was with God.
And the word was God.
Well, if that's not enough for you, John 8, 58 says, before Abraham was, I am. If that's not enough for you. Colossians 1 says he is the image of the invisible God. Colossians 2:9 says, and all the fullness of God. dwells in him.
The Bible declares in John 5, 18. Twenty-three. In John 10, 33. Jesus says, I and the Father are one. And it says, and the Jews sought to kill him because he made himself equal with God.
You see, Jesus did not hesitate to make it known who he was. He existed in the form of God. Before he was born, he was. That's why the Bible can say in Isaiah, unto us. A child is born.
But unto us a son is given. The child was born, but the son was given, for the son existed before the child was born. Yeah. He existed in the form of God. In fact, the scripture says, by him all things that have been made were made.
I mean, think about it. The baby in the manger created his mother. Yeah, so The baby in the manger created his stepfather. The baby in the manger created the animals that were in the barn. The baby in the manger created the wood that the barn was made out of.
The baby in the manger created the earth upon which. The event took place. The child was born, but the son... was given. For the son existed before the birth of the child.
Right. You see, we're talking about A different kind of celebrity. When we continue our message in a moment, Dr. Evans will share why the King of Kings chose to be born the lowest of the low. Right now, though, he's here to share a holiday thought with us.
I am so excited to think about Christmas. Because time is centered on Jesus Christ, and life is centered on Jesus Christ, and most importantly, eternal life. Is centered on Jesus Christ. And you know, that's at the heart of the message that we teach and preach here at the Urban Alternative: that Jesus Christ is the center of hope. for life in time and hope for eternity.
and you, with your support, help us to take that message worldwide. We want to see people come to Christ and we want to see people grow in their faith. And with your prayers and generous financial support, we're able to get that truth out. And we get letters every day of people whose lives have been changed, people who've gotten saved, or people who have adjusted their lives as followers of Christ.
So, as you think about this Christmas and Jesus being the reason for the season, would you remember the urban alternative with your generous financial support, knowing that people are hearing the good news through this ministry? As we've said so many times before, none of our outreach efforts would be possible without the ongoing generous investments of listeners like you. And that's why, if you make a donation right now to show your support of our work here at The Alternative, We'll say thanks by sending you messages from the manger. Dr. Evans' brand new devotional and prayer guide.
written for moments when life feels heavier than usual. or when you simply are ready to experience Christmas with a deeper sense of gratitude and awe. Messages from the Manger offers daily encouragement, scripture, and prayer to help you meet Christ here in the middle of the holiday season. And to make the offer even sweeter, we've paired this devotional guide along with When the King Came to Town. The nine-lesson celebration of Jesus' arrival drawn from Dr.
Evans' Christmas messages across the years. Both are yours as our thank-you gift. when you make a year-end contribution to support the alternative. Do that today at tonyevans.org. or by calling one of our helpful resource team members at 1-800-800-3222.
I'll repeat that information after the second part of today's lesson. Here's doctor Evans once again. In the most unique event in human history. God became a man. Emmanuel.
God with us.
Now he could have been born in a palace. Given his kingly nature. He was born the lowest of the low. If he was born only in the upper echelon, then some of us would feel like he couldn't relate to us. But he went as low as you could go so he could cover everybody.
He was born a servant. He is. The celebrity of the universe. God set in motion a plan. A plan to bring salvation to men.
But that was a problem. The problem is The wages of sin is death.
So in order for sin to be addressed, somebody's got to die. But the problem is Everyone would have to die for themselves unless an acceptable substitute were found. The substitute has got to be perfect. Because they cannot have any sins of their own. But they've also got to be human.
Or else it's not an equal substitute. God is a spirit.
So you can't kill God. But there is no perfect man. Who can satisfy the perfect demands of a perfect God?
So we've gotta Problem. Yeah, that's it. Sin must be judged. The cinema must die. unless there is a substitute for sin that qualifies.
But the substitute for sin cannot have sin of their own or else they become disqualified.
So I need a man who's perfect, who's also human. But I can't find a man who's perfect. Who's also human?
So God decided to become a man.
So that there would be perfection that was also human qualifying to be a substitute. And that's why his passion is so important. He says in verse 8. Being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself.
By becoming obedient to the point of death. even death on a cross. God was so preoccupied with you and me in eternity past. That he refused to lobby in heaven about why he should leave. He didn't think equality with God was something to be grasped.
or held on to. He didn't lobby and say, I Can't go down there. He humbled himself. And he became obedient. To death.
Even the worst kind of death. Even death. On a cross. The cross was the worst kind of death you could die. You saw the movie The Passion of the Christ.
You saw the brutality, and even that didn't fully give realization of all that Jesus Christ went through on the cross. But guess why he went through it? He didn't go through it because he needed it. He had you in mind. Me and my, he was preoccupied with us.
From eternity past. And so God to carry out his just wrath. had to either carry it out on his son or carry it out on us. But the beauty of Calvary is we have a substitute. Everybody in this room today who's on their way to heaven, you're on your way to heaven because you have a substitute.
He who knew no sin became sin for us. That we might become the righteousness of God in Him. We are on our way to heaven. for a substitute.
Now you see, the problem with Christmas. is people don't want that baby. They want a baby. They don't want that baby. Cause see that baby is a different kind of celebrity.
That baby will affect your shopping habits, your spending habits, your plans. That baby will interrupt your life. See, Herod understood if I take that baby seriously. He gonna mess with my kingship. If I take that baby, I got to kill every baby under two, because that baby is going to mess stuff up for me.
That is not a normal baby. That's why today people may across many realms want to get rid of Jesus on Christmas and just make it a holiday because that baby will mess up your holiday plans. That's a God man.
So that baby born to die, his passion, his suffering. That's why he was born. He was born to die. He would spend 33 years perfectly satisfying the righteous standard of God, saying along the way, my time has not yet come. My time has not yet come.
Until that day. when he was brutally murdered. Going through six trials. All of them kangaroo courts. Designed to force an issue of guilt upon an innocent man.
In order to fulfill the statement, we will not have that man rule over us. But the story's not over. Verse 9. For this reason also God hath highly exalted him. And bestowed on him the name which is above every name.
I'm talking about celebritieship.
So that at the name of Jesus. Every knee will bow. Of those who are in heaven. On earth? and underneath the earth.
And every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. God poured deity into man. And called the man Jesus. God poured God. For he existed in the form of God.
God poured God. Let me explain. God is a triune being. He exists in three persons. We call it the Trinity, the Triunity.
There is. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. There is only one God. But the one God exists in three co-equal persons.
Sort of like a pretzel. You got hole number one, hole number two, hole number three, all tied together by the same dough. It's one pretzel, but there are three distinct holes making up the one pretzels. There's one God composed of three co-equal members. The second number, poor deity.
into a casing called humanity. And they called his name Jesus. Please note what he says. He says, at the name of Jesus. The word Jesus means deliverer or savior.
At the name of Jesus. Savior. Everyone must bow. He says Every knee will bow. Above the earth.
That's angels and folk who've already gone to heaven. Yeah. Every knee will bow. On the earth. That's the folk living Now.
Every knee will bow. Underneath the earth. Those are the demons and the unbelievers. Boy and how? Let me explain something.
There are no atheists in hell. Yes. There are no agnostics in hell. There are no people wondering, is God real and is Jesus the Messiah in hell? Let me tell you right now what's happening in hell, worship.
Every knee is going to bow to the man, Jesus Christ, because God took deity, poured it into humanity, born of a woman in order to be savior of the world. And God says, I did not go through all of that for nothing. Every knee is going to bow over the earth, on the earth, and under the earth. Yeah. Every knee is going to bow.
The only question is. When? Yes, The question is not whether, the question is when. You get to bow now voluntarily or you get to bow later mandatorily. But at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow.
And at the point of bowing, what will they say? He says, at the point of bowing, they will confess. That Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. If you'd like to choose now to say yes to Jesus, stay with us. Dr.
Evans will return in a moment to explain how you can do that. But first, be sure to request your copy of Messages from the Manger. Dr. Evans' brand new devotional and prayer guide created to help you reclaim Christmas as a season of worship. Along with the book, you'll also receive our current Christmas message collection called When the King Came to Town.
It's a compilation of nine audio messages from Tony. filled with biblical insight and encouragement for your holiday season. These resources are our way of thanking you for your generous support of the alternative. To get the details and make your donation, stop by TonyEvans.org today or call one of our friendly team members at 1-800-800-3222. That's online at tonyevans.org.
or by phone at 1-800-800-3222. As we continue to celebrate during this Christmas season, Dr. Evans invites us back to Bethlehem. back to the night when holiness stepped into human history. Tomorrow he looks at what was happening behind the scenes of that first Christmas.
Right now, though, he's back with a final question for you today. Your pilgrimage on this earth gives you the choice to answer the question: what will you do with Jesus who is called the Christ? For those who have chosen to bow now. God has given the gift of eternal life. For those who refuse to bow now, there is no gift of eternal life, but there still will be bowing.
Because forever God has declared. that he is glorified by the recognition of Jesus. Who is the Christ? If you've not given recognition to the sun. Would you do that right now?
To find out how, just visit tonyevans.org. and click the link at the top of the home page that simply says Jesus. There you'll find clear, practical resources to help you begin a new life in Christ. This is why the babe was born in a manger. This is what Christmas is all about.
