Church Sermon - April 4, 2004

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Old Testament Lesson; Deuteronomy 32:36-39
Gospel Lesson; Luke 23:32-46
Sermon Text; Philippians 2:5-11

It’s Holy Week! This week, we will go through a whole gamut of emotions. We will go from the deepest depths, to the highest heights. We will go from the darkness of Good Friday, when the sun hid its face, to the blinding brightness of Easter, with the Resurrection of our Savior from the dead! We will go from tears of sorrow on Good Friday, to shouts of joy on Easter morning! We will run the full gamut of emotions the next seven days. Our scripture reading prepares us for that, when it says, in Philippians 2:5-11

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

About four weeks ago, on a Wednesday morning, our school children were gathered together for chapel, when I told the following story.

When I was a little boy, probably about six years old, living down in southern Iowa, my three uncles came to visit our house. My three uncles, who were in their late 20s, early 30s at that time, were all carpenters. And of course, they were big, strong, muscular guys. Since it was a hot summer day, they had on their tee shirts, and I could see their big, strong muscles!

They loved, as a family, to joke around and laugh. As they were all sitting around with my dad, they somehow got onto a subject where they began to tease one another. The three carpenter brothers were saying to each other,

"I bet I can drive a nail faster than you can!"

"Takes you twenty hits, just to get a little nail in!"

Then they laughed and another one would say, "I can carry more boards that you can!"

Finally, they looked at my dad and said, "Oh Harry, you are an old city slicker now. You probably can’t beat any of us, at anything!"

Then, one of them came up with a challenge. (This was getting a little serious, now.) One of them said, "Let’s have an arm wrestling contest! Then, we’ll see who is the strongest."

As a little six year old, I was really eager to see how this would all turn out! So, here are these four, big men, having this arm wrestling contest. I could see the muscles bulging, and the veins straining in their necks.

When it was all over, Uncle Duane had won the arm wrestling contest! As a little six year old, I was so caught up in it, that I cried out, "Oh, Uncle Duane, I’ll arm wrestle you!"

He looked at me and said, "Alright, Buddy Boy. You think you can beat me?"

Duane put his big, strong, muscular arm on the table. I had to put down a phone book, just to get my hand up to the right height! So here is this big, muscular arm, and my little toothpick of an arm!

He says, "On your marks, get set, GO!"

I could see he was straining!

I could see his muscles bulging!

I could see the veins popping out of his neck!

I was pushing as hard as I could, and slowly, his arm went down. Bam! I won!!!

I said to the school children that chapel morning, "Can you believe it?! I beat my Uncle Duane!"

You should have seen the little ones’ big eyes, and their mouths hanging open!

Then I asked the question, "How do you think that happened? How do you think I could beat my Uncle Duane at arm wrestling?"

Of course, the older kids knew the answer. "Oh, Uncle Duane let you win!"

"You are right, my Uncle Duane did let me win. But, now I have another question for you. Why? Why would my Uncle Duane let me win?"

Their answer was, "Well, he loved you. He wanted you to have the joy, and you to have the glory."

And, that’s right!

On Good Friday, we are going to see somebody who looks awfully weak. On Good Friday, we are going to see a man who appears to be very, very weak. We are going to see a man who gets arrested. We are going to see a man who is falsely accused, and yet does not answer back, who appears to be very weak. We are going to see a man who is spit upon, who is mocked, who is whipped, who is beaten, who does not retaliate, who appears to be very weak. We are going to see a man who has his hands nailed to a cross, while people walk by and mock him. We are going to see a man whose head sagged in death, and died. JESUS died.

It will appear on Good Friday, as if He is very weak. Which is why on Palm Sunday, we prepare ourselves for what we are about to see on Good Friday. This is why, so often on Palm Sunday the text that I just read, is the text for the day.

Is this Man really weak? Is He really powerless? What does our text say? Our text wants you and me to know who this Man really is. It says,

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God"

Who is this hanging on the cross? This is no weakling. This is no powerless person.

There is no weakness in God. There is no powerlessness in God. Jesus is in very nature God. Jesus is the all-mighty, all-powerful King of the whole universe. He is the One, who by the simple blast of His mouth could destroy all people, of all time. Scripture tells us, He could melt the heavens and melt the earth, all by the blast of His breath. That is no weak person, hanging on the cross.

During the season of Epiphany, which just passed, we saw so many times the glory and power of Jesus. We saw Him walk on water. We saw Him calm the storm. We saw Him raise the dead. We saw Him heal the lepers. We saw the mighty, powerful miracles of God.

We saw Him transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration, when the glory of God shown through every pore of His body. His disciples fell down at His feet in fear. They knew it was God, Himself, who stood before them.

This is no weakling.

And yet, He appears in weakness, on a cross. Why? Why would He do that? Why did my Uncle Duane let himself appear to be weak? The answer is because my uncle loved me, and he wanted me to have the joy, and me to have the glory. Why did Jesus appear to be weak? The answer is the same.

Jesus

so dearly

loves you and me,

us to have the joy,

Please consider what would have happened, if Jesus had not appeared to be weak. Our scripture reading says, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped."

In other words, Jesus did not make it apparently evident, to everybody. "It is so clearly obvious, by my power, and my glory, that I am absolutely God." He hid that. He hid His power and glory.

Why? Because, if He had used His full divine power and glory, in His human nature, in His human body, at all times,

Consider that Maundy Thursday evening, when Jesus was arrested. I think it is so profound! When they came to arrest Jesus, the crowd came up to Him and Jesus asked them a question. Do you know what He asked them? He asked them, "Who are you looking for?"

They responded, "Jesus of Nazareth."

Jesus answered, "I am he."

Do you know what happened next? The Bible tells us, Boom! They all fell over! All of them fell over! What was He doing? He was showing them, "I am God. I am God! I have the power to blow you all away, in a moment, and you have no power over me."

Then, they all stood back up. And Jesus asked them another question. Do you know what He asked them? The same thing! He asked, "Who are you looking for?"

And you know what they answered? The same thing! "Jesus of Nazareth."

To which He responded again, "I am He."

Only this time, the Bible tells us, they tied Him up and led Him away.

What was Jesus clearly showing there? He was clearly showing, "If I wanted to, I could use my full, divine, power and glory, and no one could arrest me, no one would have any power over me."

But He showed them, "I am holding back. I am holding back on my strength, as God. I am going to appear to be weak."

Jesus was thinking, "I love you so much." He knew what you deserve for your sin, but He loved you so much, that He thought to Himself, "I am going to go. I am going to be spit upon. I am going to hold back on my full, divine, power and glory, so they can spit upon me, because that is what you deserve and I don’t want that to happen to you. I want it to happen to me."

He was thinking about you and His profound love for you! He knew that you deserve to be mercilessly whipped and flogged, to the point of death, because of your sin, but He loved you so dearly that He thought to Himself, "I am going to hold back on the full use of my divine power so that they can whip me, instead, in your place, so that you don’t have to suffer that. I love you so dearly."

When they nailed Him to the cross, when they walked by and mocked Him and said, "Come down from the cross if you are the Son of God." He could have burst forth from that cross in a moment, but He was thinking about you. He was thinking, "That is what you deserve for your sin." But He did not want you to have to suffer that. So, He willing held back on His divine power in His human nature, so that He could suffer and die for you, and pay the full price, including the price of an eternity in Hell, for all of your sin!

That is the kind of Savior we have! That is why our scripture reading says, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!"

His attitude, for you, was that He was not going to do anything for His own advantage.

He did

everything

for your advantage,

so that you could have the joy,

you could have the glory!

Our scripture reading goes on, "Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place." Having won our salvation, having suffered what we deserved for our sin, having fully humbled Himself on the cross, and having become obedient to death, to wipe away our payment for sin, having accomplished all, scripture says, "Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place."

On Easter morning, we see our Savior, Jesus, holding back on His full divine glory and power in His human nature no more! But now, we see Him use it all, in His human nature. He burst forth from the chains, which no man can burst forth from! He burst forth from the very chains of death itself!

And, now for the rest of eternity, we see Jesus exalted to the place that is above every place. We see Jesus, even in His human nature, doing things that you and I cannot do with our human body, soul, and mind.

"God exalted Him

to the highest place

and gave Him the name that is

above every name."

"The name that is above every name", means a reputation that is above every reputation. What is the highest reputation that a person could have? Is it being the most valuable player of the National Football League? Is it being the President of the United States? Is it being the Secretary General of the United Nations? No. Jesus has a name far above every name, a reputation far above every reputation. Scripture tells us that salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved. He alone, Jesus alone, has the power, the authority, the grace, and the mercy to save us for eternity.

Brothers and Sisters, we come before Him and we bow the knee before Him. We confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is LORD. We humbly come before Him, with our sin. We lay our sins at His feet. There, we receive from Him the full and complete forgiveness for all of our sins, and salvation is ours. The scripture reading goes on and says,

"God exalted Him to the highest place and

gave Him the name that is

above every name,

that at the name of Jesus,

every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth, and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord,

to the glory of the Father."

Today it is God’s People, it is believers in Jesus, who bow the knee and confess that Jesus Christ is LORD. But a day is coming when every knee will bow, whether they want to or not. Every tongue will confess, those in Heaven, the angels in Heaven, those on earth and those under the earth, even the devils, will have to confess He is LORD. He is LORD! He is the almighty, all loving, all gracious Savior.

What a range of emotion we will go through, this week, from the deepest depths to the highest heights.

I want to conclude with this thought. Our scripture reading says, "Your attitude, YOUR ATTITUDE, should be the same as that of Christ Jesus"

What was Jesus’ attitude? His attitude was that He held back on the full use of His divine power, in His human nature, because He loves you. He was seeking your joy and your glory, by His attitude. Our attitude should be the same. Our attitude should be: "Jesus wanted to give me the glory. I want to give Him the glory. I do that by looking out, not for my own advantage, not for my own glory, but for the advantage and joy of those around me."

When you go home today, I really encourage you to sit down and look at everything in your life. Look at your house. Look at your car. Look at your checkbook. Look at your job. Look at what you do with your friends, and ask yourself this question: Am I using those things for my advantage? Or, am I using those things for the advantage and joy of others, and so, bringing glory to Jesus my Savior, who humbled Himself, for me.

Amen.

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