CWC- Epistle Lesson - Palm Sunday - KBKuschel
Philippians 2:5-9
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
What did the Palm Sunday crowds say about Jesus?
Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD.
What did the crowds say about Jesus on Good Friday? Crucify Him. A contradiction.
What are we as humans? Sinners.
What does God consider us because of Jesus? Holy, forgiven people. A contradiction.
Today we want to look the contradiction of Christ and Christians. Attitude seems like a contradiction to exaltation.
IA1 People in high positions frequently exploit every privilege they can get. They squeeze out every advantage for themselves that they can find in their positions. Not Jesus. Paul wrote: Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.
2 7 Rather, he made himself nothing. He was God. But He didn’t use His almighty power all the time. It was there, He just didn’t use it. He was God. He could have looked like He did on the Mt of Transfiguration all the time. But He didn’t. He looked like a lower level social classed human being.
3 “Taking the very nature of a servant.” Instead of doing things for His own advantage, He served. He taught people the truths they needed to know for their spiritual well-being. He gave them the help they needed for their physical well-being.
4 Being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man.” If you had been there to watch Jesus of Nazareth during His life, most of the time what would you have concluded about Him? He was a real human being. That of course is true. He was made a human through conception and birth. He looked like a human throughout His life.
5 “He humbled himself.” He allowed Himself to be ridiculed as just Joseph the carpenter’s son. He allowed Himself to rejected and almost thrown over a cliff. He allowed Himself to be captured by humans who were much weaker than He. He allowed Himself to be judged guilty of blasphemy and deserving of death.
6 Why? By becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! All of this was about obedience. He took on humanity in obedience to the Father’s plan for the salvation of humans. He lived and obeyed all the commandments of God perfectly so He could cover us with His holiness. He obediently died on the cross to wash away our sins and to take the punishment of death and hell on Himself which we deserved, so that He could rescue us from it.
B1 Paul’s directive to us is: 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. Don’t use your position for your own advantage. It’s easy to do, isn’t it. I am the leader so I can make the people under me do things for me that they don’t really have to do.
2 Make yourself nothing. If you are a very influential person, why does anybody need to know that? If you are a very wealthy person, why does anybody need to know that? If you are very high up on the social ladder of society, why does anybody need to know that?
3 Take the nature of a servant. Get down on the floor and help the little one with her boots. Get down on the floor and pick up what the aged one dropped. Reach up on the top shelf of the grocery store for the short one.
4 Humble yourself. It’s OK if people ridicule you for being a wimp when you don’t join along when the group is ganging up on somebody. It’s OK if people declare you to be weird for being respectful to your teacher. It’s OK when people attack you for doing the best you can at the task before you.
5 Become obedient. It’s all about obedience. We want to obey God to thank Him for giving us forgiveness, holiness and eternal life because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We want to obey God because we know that what He tells us is intended to benefit us. We want to obey God because we want others to be pointed to Him as the Savior. We want others to have the correct answer to the question, “Why are you dealing with other people this way?” The correct answer is: “Jesus is our Savior. We want to act the way that Jesus acted. That is the way Jesus would have acted.” The Christian life is all about attitude. The attitude of Christ. Paul’s words are: 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.
IIA1 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place. On Palm Sunday Jesus was exalted. People acknowledged Jesus was above them. They praised Him. Nobody thought He was ordinary. 2 But the verse before us says, “9 Therefore God exalted him. Therefore. Because He took on Himself our humanity, because He humbled Himself, because He took our place in life, because He took our guilt and took our punishment, in other words, because He obediently did everything God told Him to do, therefore God exalted Him.
3 God said, “Go ahead and use Your power again. Declare Your victory over Satan. Conquer death. Don’t be subject to the limitations of this earth anymore. Begin to rule over all things again. And then judge everyone.”
B1 On Palm Sunday the crowd verbalized their exaltation. They called Him “Son of David.” A member of the royal family. They called Him “One who comes in the name of the LORD.” He had a special purpose and mission in life. They said, “Hosanna in the highest,” calling on Him to give them salvation.
2 In these verses Paul says God verbalized His exaltation of Jesus too. 9 God gave him the name that is above every name, Jesus Christ is Lord. Lord is God’s personal name. God was saying, “It’s right to assign my personal name to this Jesus of Nazareth and to give Him the same glory that you give me, because He is LORD.”
3 Because God exalted Jesus, Paul wrote at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. Angels do this now in heaven. Believers do this now on earth. But Paul says, Every knee including those under the earth. Most likely he is referring to Judgment Day when all unbelievers and even the devil and His evil angels will have to grudgingly admit that Jesus is LORD, ruler over all things, and in complete control even of them.
4 Did you notice the last phrase in this section? At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Angels say God is great and God is good now in heaven. Believers do the same on earth. But unbelievers and the devil will have to say on Judgment Day, “God is great and God is good for offering eternal life to all creatures, but we were so foolish that we didn’t think we needed it.”
C1 The Father exalted Jesus because of what He did. The Father exalts us because of what Jesus did for us. The Father says to us, “Because of Jesus go ahead and exercise your power over the devil. Go ahead and conquer death. Go ahead and be released from the limitations of this earth. Go ahead and join Jesus in His power position.”
2 Our exaltation is reflected in what we are called. Christians. Children of the loving God. Saints. Brothers and sisters of Christ. Loved by God. We have the honor of wearing those names now on this earth. But greater honor and glory will be ours when we wear those names in perfection with the LORD.
3 God gives us the name of Jesus to wear. He also gives us the commission to acknowledge that Jesus is LORD to the glory of God the Father. When we acknowledge to others that Jesus is LORD, we are sharing with them the truth that can lead them to acknowledge that Jesus is LORD. When we acknowledge to others that Jesus is LORD, we are sharing with them the truth that can cement them in their relationship with Jesus. When we acknowledge to others that Jesus is LORD, we are sharing with them the truth that can equip them to acknowledge that Jesus is LORD. What an important, let’s say, exalted position He has given us.
Conc: God gave Jesus an exalted position. He gave Jesus an exalted name. That is the opposite of His attitude. Because of Jesus God has given us an exalted name and an exalted position. That is the opposite of our attitudes. Christians and Christ are contradictions. Praise the LORD.