Palm Sunday, The Sixth Sunday in Lent, 2018. Philippians 2:5-11

Palm Sunday, The Sixth Sunday in Lent, 2018

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10AM Central Daylight Time

The Hymn #160         All Glory, Laud             

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual          

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 162                 Ride On                 

The Love of Christ

The Communion Hymn # 42            O Thou Love Unbounded  

The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #341                Crown Him with Many Crowns                          

KJV Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

KJV Matthew 21:1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, 2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. 3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. 4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. 6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, 7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. 8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

Palm Sunday

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast caused Thy beloved Son to take our nature upon Himself, that He might give all mankind the example of humility and suffer death upon the cross for our sins: Mercifully grant us a believing knowledge of this, and that, following the example of His patience, we may be made partakers of the benefits of His sacred passion and death, through the same, Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

The Love of Christ

KJV Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

Luther:

1. Here Paul again presents to us as a powerful example of the celestial and eternal fire, the love of Christ, for the purpose of persuading us to exercise a loving concern for one another. The apostle employs fine words and precious admonitions, having perceived the indolence and negligence displayed by Christians in this matter of loving. For this the flesh is responsible. The flesh continually resists the willing spirit, seeking its own interest and causing sects and factions. Although a sermon on this same text went forth in my name a few years ago, entitled “The Twofold Righteousness,” the text was not exhausted; therefore we will now examine it word by word. “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”

I noticed in reading about mainline apostasy that they loved to use the term "the mind of Christ." They were always citing "the mind of Christ," but what they really meant was - nevermind. In their own thoughts, these great scholars assumed that Jesus was an invention of Paul and the disciples, so we really need to honor the Messiah as an ordinary man. That is the overwhelming consensus of the modern Biblical professionals and the hip translators, so they have no connection with the text at all.

Paul teaches in this passage about the way the mission of Christ should influence all of our thoughts and deeds. The setting for this passage is what precedes it - 

2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Verse 5 is a transition into verses, whether poetry, a hymn, or a creed that they already know. I think of these passages as all three, poetic and hymnic and credal. Moreover, Paul is reminding them of what they already know by heart.

People memorized a lot in those days because paper, leather, and scribes were expensive. The more we save on a computer or printed in a book, the less we remember. My computer instructor bought one of the first smart phones because he could not remember his appointments.

Passages like this are anchors for our thoughts and behavior. Knowing the personality of Christ gives us a model of our own. Attributes of Christ should be our attributes.

Instead of arguing against factions and selfishness, Paul says in the clearest words - Christ was and is God in essence. There are many ways to try to express this. The fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Him, so He was/is not one third of the Trinity but God Himself. He exists from eternity and He is the Creating Word of Genesis 1.

Let me give a teeny-tiny example of authority. The postman began talking about roses with me because I was working on mine in the front yard. His wife did not like to prune them. He knew better. I got him Creation Gardening and said, "The roses in the book are my roses from this garden." That was a way for him to say, "If you want roses like this, prune them." The book necessarily says, "If you want roses like this, follow the principles of Creation."

So when Jesus was addressing the crowds and His opponents, He was doing so as the Creating Word. That is what Paul means by "not robbing God." How can God rob God? Therefore, since Jesus was and is God, we should first of all consider all He did for us and imitate His example, His words, His attitude toward others.

As the eternal Son of God, the I AM of the Burning Bush, Jesus carried out His mission to show us the true, gracious, loving character of God.

Verse 6 introduces the majesty of the Son of God. That belongs to Him from eternity, but the form of of a servant is a mission He willingly took upon Himself, in obedience to the Father's will.

 Norma A. Boeckler

7 But made himself of no reputation (a),  and took upon him the form of a servant (b), and was made in the likeness of men (c):

We do not have any claims of our own, although many people assert special roles. That is always amusing when someone mentions a predecessor who was known for something - or should be. What does the grandfather's life have to do with the grandson? Is this a royal dynasty? I found that amusing when a high school graduate said, "You don't know who my mother is?" I almost said, "Do you know who MY mother is?" 

This is why the great and powerful ignore and even hate Jesus, because His divine form challenges their pretensions - and worse - He willingly gave up all claims to be our Savior. Faith in Him as the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 and the crucified in Psalm 22 - that is the essence of the Christian Faith. This truth offends the liberal philosophers who like Jesus as a liberal philosopher but not as their Savior. 

Thus the unbelieving world, made up of many outwardly religious people, will always be offended by Jesus. Those Messianic claims are more than offensive in our sense of the word - they are death-triggers that expose the lack of faith and the lack of humility in those people. They want people to tremble at their word - they do not tremble at God's Word.

Here is a three-part step down from divinity, like The Prince and the Pauper. Giving up His royal form, He:

1. Surrendered any reputation He might have as the Son of God. He performed miracles to verify His Word, but He refrained from constantly proving this and becoming a walking wonder-man. The fakes pretend to slay people with their divine, spiritual power.
2. He willingly took on the image of a servant, such as washing His disciples feet, an act Peter found astonishing. He walked from town to town, became thirsty, did not use His divine power to make things easy for Him.
3. Because of His Incarnation, people saw an ordinary man, not the great Messiah mounted for war. It was like dressing up as a hobo and walking into a bank, asking for a personal banker. How far would that go?

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

This is the great miracle of the Bible. I find it odd that people choke on Creation, or the Genesis Flood, or any given miracle. The Word becoming flesh is the greatest miracle of all because the Son willingly gave up the form of divine majesty in order to serve us by dying on the cross for our sins. He remained God in every sense of the Word but appeared to be an ordinary human being. On several occasions, being surrounded by angry crowds did not limit Him at all, because of His divinity (the non-reciprocity of the second genus). His human nature did not limit His divine nature, but the crowds only saw the human form most of the time.

When waves crashed around the boat, the disciples thought of Jesus as a man. But He walked on the water and stilled the storm. 

This is our conundrum today. We have God revealed to us and all His attributes are displayed in Christ, but we comprehend only human attributes. How could God pay for our sins? How could God help us in time of need? Both require and enact the Word of God, which can move mountains and raise the dead in an instant.

We can see three steps in this poetic credal hymn

1. And being found in fashion as a man, 
2. he humbled himself, 
3. and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

This brings us to a two-part transition, from the mission of the Suffering Servant to His exaltation as the King of Kings. This is a classic Old Testament style of verse. The same truth is revealed two different ways:

1. God has highly exalted Him.
2. God has given Him a Name above every name.

These proclamations support and strengthen faith. The great truth of the Atonement is that Jesus allowed Himself to be the bait on the hook (an early church comparison) so that Satan seized the bait - "I will kill this usurper of my power!" and found himself caught by the Gospel. His wealth, weapons, and power which he Satan trusted are taken away. As the loser, the spoils go to the army of Christ, no longer enslaved but given great wealth and freedom. The believer is so powerful through the Word of the Gospel that no Satanic attack can defeat him.

What about persecution and death for believing in Christ? Since the beginning, the Gospel has grown and thrived through persecution and death. People forget that the greatest empire on earth was knocked into the dustbin by the Gospel. The martyrs in the stadiums took their deaths so well that Imperial Rome was shocked and shaken by their ancient pagan beliefs. The Christian Faith thrived in Rome where it was most persecuted, and Constantine created a new capital for the Empire to get away from pagan influence. He took the grand features of Rome and moved them to Constantinople for a Christian city, a Christian Empire that preserved the manuscripts and Greek culture for 1100 years, spreading into Europe (by persecution, the Ottoman Muslims) to create the Renaissance.

The attributes of Christ - meek, lowly, and willing to die for others - became the attributes of Christians. These actions and attributes were repeated during the Reformation when the new Rome burned Lutherans at the stake and rejoiced at their deaths.

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 

Even now, people bow and curtsy before royalty. But this will be an action that will be appropriate for all people alike. At the return of Christ, there will be no doubt and every knee will bend to acknowlede His divine majesty. Even the devils will confess to that truth.

11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This is why people think of this passage as a credal hymn. What the Son of God has done is objective fact. But not everyone confesses this truth. Many have their own ideas and spend their lives attacking this truth, one way or another.

Confessing this truth comes from faith, and faith is a creation of God through the Holy Spirit in the Word. As Luther said about Easter, since Jesus has done everything for us, there is nothing else to do (alternatively, the greatest thing we can do) - but take this Gospel to our neighbor. That is done with art, books, worship, hymns, and conversation. "Be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is within you." We do not have to go to pagans, since paganism surrounds us. Pagans come to us - sometimes knocking on the door to attack the Gospel. Pagans offer up reasons why they are against the Christian Faith, but this is like chess. Every attack opens up a weakness to exploit.

We are New Creations through the Word of God. We know that when the Gospel makes us joyful, relieved, at peace, and eager to  serve Him.

 Altar design and graphic by Norma A. Boeckler