Christ lived in the form of God. He enjoyed absolute freedom, perfect serenity, the worship of Angels, the Blessed Smile of His Father, and a life immune to pain. He emptied himself of all that, he did not grasp onto it, but released it to take the form of a servant.

He left freedom to be a slave. He left serenity to be hounded by his followers and hunted by his enemies. He left the worship of angels to be scorned, insulted and spit upon by men. He left the smile of his father to be betrayed by his best friends. He left immunity to pain, to suffer all the pains of this life and the shameful death of the cross.

In his perfect freedom, he left perfect happiness to experience utter suffering in order to bring those who deserve to suffer into his perfect happiness. And he found that sacrifice utterly consistent with being God.

Question of the day – why would he do that? What kind of God is Jesus? When you think of the incarnation, do you think – I would have never expected the God of the Bible to do that. Or do you think, of course God would do that, that is the kind of God he is.

Becoming a poor human and suffering reveals the kind of God he is. God is humble.

Many of us have never thought of God this way before. I want this sermon to primarily change the way you think about God.