Sunday, April 1st, 2007
Sixth Sunday of Lent,
Brief devotional after Choral Musical Performance
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Philippians 2:1-11
1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.
4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
9Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
We have heard the words of the central story of our faith related in song, and now through scripture. As we move through this next week, this week of remembrance, and reflection, this week during which we remember the events of the last week of Jesus’ life – his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his cleansing of the Temple, the Last Supper with his disciples, his arrest, trial, beating, crucifixion, death and burial, let’s please also try to remember the perspective from which we are viewing history.
Our Gospel is not an easy Gospel. It comes with a price. You’ve seen that price reflected in this service in the observance of the ordinance of baptism, which reminds us that WE are to die to ourselves and be born again into a new life in Christ, just as he died and was buried and rose from the grave on the third day to the life he lives now Glorified and through us – because you see, in simply calling ourselves ‘Christian’ we are claiming – and PROclaiming – something about the person of Jesus Christ – that he is Lord over us – our lives, our thoughts, our actions. That is to be understood as a daily endeavor, not a completed action. We know too well from our own individual experience that claiming Jesus to be Lord and LIVING the REALITY of the Lordship of Christ can be two VERY different things.
But our Gospel IS a free Gospel. Free in the sense that it is intended FOR everyone – no matter what their background, no matter what their baggage, no matter where they are on this road that we travel together – it is not for US to decide who ‘gets in’ – it IS for us to obediently and diligently proclaim the good news that God so loved the world that God came to us in the person of Jesus, so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. It’s that simple. It’s that hard, and it’s that easy.
Paul tells us to have the same attitude in US that was in Christ, realizing and understanding that we ARE a little lower than the angels, do not take that and exploit it, but HUMBLE ourselves … become slaves … and obediently follow God throughout our lives, in every aspect … to the point of death … we do THAT today by identifying that part of our lives, our makeup, our personality, if you will, that we consider to be inviolable – that is, that we let NOTHING touch … and surrender it to the Lordship of Christ.
It can be anything, really. Our sense of accomplishment in some particular area of expertise. Our pride in being completely self-reliant. Our dedication to our work – WHATEVER THAT WORK MAY BE – and I include myself in that – as well as anyone who fills their week with church activities. Those of us who are so engrossed in church activities can very easily drift into the mindset that of COURSE what we are doing is the will of God because it is FOR THE CHURCH, when in reality that devotion that may have started out pure has now replaced in our hearts our relationship with Christ. And it is weighing our spirits down just as any other idol would.
We need to always remember just exactly who IS Lord – WHO it was that God exalted and gave the name that is above all names – that at the name of Jesus every knee will bend, no matter WHERE that knee is – above, on, or beneath the earth – did you catch that? Every single one of our knees will bend – arthritic, replacement or otherwise.
And not only will we find ourselves bowing, we will find ourselves speaking, shouting, yelling, whispering, singing, sobbing the words we heard earlier – all of us, together: JESUS CHRIST IS LORD.
But we DO need to get through Thursday, and Friday, and Saturday before we get to Sunday.
Let’s pray.
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