Paul didn't know about Christmas, but he did know well the event that Christmas should be all about: the Incarnation of the eternal God in the person of the Son. The truly striking thing is that this marvelous telling of Christ's story exists not for theological reasons — an attempt to demonstrate his deity — but for very practical ones, to offer a divine model in contrast to the selfish ambition and vain conceit in verse 3. The Incarnation part of the story (vv. 6-8) is thus told in two sentences, the basic elements of which tell us: as God he poured himself out by taking the form of a slave (vv. 6-7a, vis-à-vis "selfish ambition"); as man he humbled himself by obediently going to the cross (vv. 7b-8, visa-vis "vain glory"). And this is the only God there is (!) — in stark contrast to all the grasping, rapacious deities of the pagan cultures into which he was born. The good news is that God is not like us, selfish creatures that we are; rather, he is most fully revealed in the Son taking the role of a slave, dying for us out of love. And all of this so that we, by his grace, might get our act together!
"This is our God, the Servant King, He calls us now to follow Him, to bring our lives as a daily offering of worship to the Servant King."
