Philippians 2:5-11 *
Dear Friends in Christ,
Reader’s Digest magazine used to publish a series of “condensed” books. I don’t know if they still do it, but as a boy I can remember seeing their colorful spines line a bookshelf in our house. These “condensed” books were just what they said they were: within one book four or five larger novels were condensed, crystallized and trimmed down to the bare essentials necessary for understanding the whole story. And while the reader may not have gotten all the details, you got enough to see how everything fit together.
This thought comes to mind because both Palm Sunday, which we celebrate today, and this portion of God’s Word from the book of Philippians presents us with a sort of “condensed version” of the entire life and ministry of Jesus Christ. In the events of Palm Sunday as well as this text we find the essentials of the Christian message.
For instance, just moments ago we heard in our Gospel lesson
that Jesus rode into
But equally telling is how he entered the city. On a donkey, a symbol of lowliness and humility. And as for those full throated shouts… well, we know that the “hosannas” of today would do a complete 180 and turn into cries for His crucifixion. This aspect of Palm Sunday foreshadowed the reality of the cross that would come on Good Friday.
On the one hand, the cross. On the other hand, the crown. In our text the Apostle Paul addresses and condenses these two extremes in the life of Christ. He shows us how the two fit together in both our present and eternal lives as he discusses
THE CROSS AND THE CROWN OF OUR KING
And what he says can be further condensed into these two statements:
1. The cross secures
2. The crown assures
In the verses that immediately precede our text Paul speaks
to the Philippian Christians on the topic of Christian humility. He ends his thoughts with this statement: “Each
of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of
others.” Paul then holds before them
the ultimate example of selflessness, an example we are to emulate, imitate and
pray that will continually be developed within us: 5
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.
What is the attitude Christ Jesus? At no time does this become more evident than during Holy Week. We might describe it in this way: when it came to attaining our redemption, He held nothing back for us. The encouragement for us, then, is to hold nothing back for Him. With that pronouncement, Paul now launches into his beautiful discourse on the cross and crown of Christ…
6 Who,
being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be
grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in
appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even
death on a cross!
The celebrated American author Mark Twain once wrote a book about two English boys. One was named Tom Canty. He was born to a poor family who had neither the means nor the desire to take care of him. The other was named Edward Tudor. When he was born the whole nation celebrated because he would someday become King of England.
Tom and Edward had nothing in common except this: they shared almost identical looks. And the entire story line of Twain’s book, entitled “The Prince and the Pauper,” is how these two boys from two very different worlds ended up exchanging places with each other. The prince became a poor pauper, and the pauper became a privileged prince.
If we magnify that exchange by the highest exponent possible we can still only begin to understand the about-face that Jesus did for us. Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, became a pauper so we might become princes. In separate and succinct phrases, our text outlines the nature of this great demotion. Let’s work our way through them…
Who, being in very
nature God… In the opening words of the Lutheran Catechism explanation to
the Second Article we say: “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from
eternity, is my Lord.” In the
Apostle’s and Nicene Creed which we confess together most every Sunday, we make
equally strong statements about the divinity of Jesus Christ. And the magnificent opening verses of the
Gospel of John state: “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and
the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.”
The point is simply this.
The person riding into
He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing… With the exception of His miracles, for the most part of His life on earth Jesus voluntarily put aside His divine power. Theologians refer to this as Jesus’ “state of humiliation.” Jesus became one of us to rescue us from the fate we deserve for breaking God’s rules. Compared to what and who He is, He “made himself nothing” is really an understatement.
Think of what Jesus gave up.
From the majesty of heaven He moved to ridicule on earth. He exchanged the adoration of angels for the
persecution of men. A Christmas hymn
puts it this way: “Sacred infant, all divine, what a tender love was thine, thus to come
from highest bliss down to such a world as this.” To such a world as this He came and “made himself nothing.”
The description continues: Taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness… Another strange twist: He who is master of all became servant of all, willingly doing for others. A good example will be this Thursday, when Jesus washes His disciples’ feet as an example of humble servant leadership. The only person in the universe who had the legitimate right to assert His authority waves off the privilege to become a servant.
And being found in
appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even
death on a cross. To what extent did
He humble Himself? He “became obedient to death” as our
substitute, because the wages of sin is death.
But this was no ordinary death – “even
death on a cross.”
It will not be necessary to develop the nature and
ramifications of this kind of execution other than to say that the
Yet Jesus Christ was hung on one. And every Christian knows why. This was the plan to undo our sin. In condensed form, the story goes like this: God says don’t disobey Me, don’t sin; but we do. God says if you do the crime, you do the time. And the time is eternal death in a very real hell. No parole. No bail. No time off for good behavior.
God is justice. But God is also love. So to spare us from the punishment we rightfully deserve He came up with an arrangement called Jesus. He lived the perfect life as our substitute and then died on the cross in our place. Because of Him and His work, the sentence is reversed. Heaven is ours by holding on to this truth with the hand of faith.
In other words, the cross secures our salvation.
How do we know that for sure? That question is answered in the second half
of our text where we have some very different language and images. From the cross we move to the crown. What the cross secures, the crown
assures. 9 Therefore (meaning, because of Jesus’ life and
sacrifice) 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 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father.
The wonderful thing about Holy Week is the way it ends. One week from today Good Friday will be in the past and replaced by Easter Sunday. And with that exchange the pauper once again becomes the prince He rightfully is.
On that day Jesus moved from dishonor to honor; from a name that was mocked and ridiculed to a name that is confessed and at which every knee will bow. Christians do this now, but everyone will do it on the Last Day when Christ comes again. And when He comes again, God will be glorified.
Christ’s resurrection and resumption of the glory and power and might that is His as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (theologians refer to this as Jesus’ “state of exaltation”) proves His humility in our place was sufficient payment for our salvation. What the cross secures, the crown assures. That’s the message of our text for today. As applied to us this means our eternal salvation is both secure and assured. And that’s a pretty good place to be.
But I believe there is something else that we can glean from this text and apply to our lives. In a sense, the whole sequence of the cross coming before the crown also describes the general pattern of the Christian life.
Nobody has to tell us that we live in a sinful world. God blesses us and keeps us and allows us enjoyment of life, but there are also enough reminders within our lives to let us know we’re not home yet. So we sometimes talk about the crosses we have to bear. The Apostle Peter in his first epistle tells us that these things shouldn’t surprise us, but that we should rather expect them.
Maybe they come in some physical or emotional form. Maybe they come in the form of pet sins and weaknesses we struggle with – and sometimes lose to. Maybe we find ourselves feeling weary with the ups and downs of life. Or maybe we unwittingly and unintentionally get caught in the crossfire of a world that is moving more and more away from God. I would guess that all of us have things we could do without and would never choose to bring into our lives. But they’re there, and we have to deal with them.
And one constructive way of dealing with them suggested by this text is taking the long view and understanding that although our troubles and crosses may bother us, they’re temporary. And they certainly don’t define us. What defines us is who we are and whose we are and the crown of life that awaits us in heaven.
And that – condensed to its bare essentials – is what this week is all about, isn’t it? The cross leads to the crown. For Jesus, and because of Jesus, for us as well.
Another Holy Week is now upon us. Having followed Jesus into