"Every Tongue Confess"
Sermon by the Rev. Matt Kennedy
New Year's Day: Sunday January 1st, 2006
The Church of the Good Shepherd

Philippians 2:5-11

I want to start this morning by jumping right into Philippians 2. If you turn to Philippians 2:5-11, you should see verses 6-11 set apart from the rest of the writing on the page. When you read these verses you are reading one of the first Christian hymns ever composed. It would have been well known to the Philippian church in the way “Jesus loves me” is well known to us. Paul is not the author but he uses the hymn to encourage the Philippians to do something to follow a model and that model is what we‘ll be concentrating on this morning.

Read along with me beginning in verse 5, “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 on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man.”

So what is the model you and I are to follow? Right, the model is Jesus himself. And the hymn, at least in this first few verses specifically focuses on Jesus' humility. Since God the Son in Jesus humbled himself for me I should humble myself, give myself, become nothing, for you and for my family and for my brothers and sisters here in the church. I should be like Jesus to you and to everyone in my life and so should you. Humble yourselves to one another, submit yourselves to one another. Just glancing back up at verse 3 you see Paul say, “but in humility think of others as better than yourself.”

This is such a hard thing to do in our modern world. Ours is a culture that exalts the self above all, that, like a drumbeat tells us to put ourselves first.

There was a song by Whitney Houston that they used to play on the radio over and over again in the 80‘s that captured this “self-first“ mentality perfectly. Maybe you remember it, “I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow“ and the chorus , “Because the greatest love of all is happening to me. I found the greatest love of all right inside of me. Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.”

The bible says, this hymn says, no. It's all about Jesus and after him, it's all about other people. Sure, love yourself, you were created by God and he loves you so much he died to save you, but self-love is not the greatest love of all. That is found in Jesus Christ alone. And we, as his followers are to model our lives on his. That means being humble. We'll come back to that in a moment.

The second half of the hymn seems at first totally unconnected. The second half turns to the aftermath of the victory that Jesus won through his obedient life and death. After Jesus died and rose from the dead in his body, “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.” God made him King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now, God the Son has always been all that so what's the big deal? The Son left heaven as God only. He returned as God the Son in the Person of Jesus, the human being born of Mary. A human being now sits on the throne of heaven and from there he reigns over all. He has been given a name above every name. Think about that.

I read this week that military chaplains in the Air Force have been ordered, and this is new, not use the name Jesus in their public prayers nor are they any longer permitted to tell people about Jesus or attempt to convert them to Christianity. Of course public schools have been doing their best to keep Jesus' name out for a while. I read of an incident recently where a little girl in the third grade did an art project. The kids where supposed to make a collage of all the most important people in their lives and this one little girl cut out a cross, wrote, “Jesus loves me” on it and pasted it in the center of her collage. When she got in front of the class for show and tell and her teacher saw the cross and the name Jesus on it, she ripped it out of the girl's hands and told the poor girl to redo her project without any reference to Jesus or the cross. The name Jesus is becoming more and more politically incorrect. You know the world is upside down when one of the most offensive things you can do is say “Merry Christmas”.

What has happened? Why has our society come to this point? It started with the widespread acceptance even by Christians of the idea that Christianity is just one among many equally valid spiritual paths. If that is true, if Jesus is just one way among many, then indeed, we should not expect to have any special place for him or for his name in this country or in any country. But if, in fact, as this hymn proclaims, his name is above all other names. If Jesus is God and Lord and High King above all Kings, then the attempt to remove his name from the public square is not only wrong, but treasonous. Removing and rejecting his name is open rebellion against the Lord of Creation and the God of the Universe.

This is a dangerous thing for any nation, any people, any world to do, because one day the hymn goes on to say, “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Lord.” This will not be a willing confession. Look closely at verse 10, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”

In Heaven, on earth , and under the earth . By “under the earth” the hymn implies “hell” Hell is not literally underground, but it is under heaven and under earth with respect to its proximity to Christ. It's where those who rebel against God all their life and never repent, never surrender to Jesus Christ go after they die and are judged. But, the hymn says, even there, all knees will bow to Christ Jesus but not willingly. It is the submission of a defeated enemy. Satan himself will be defeated and made to kneel before Christ.

The same is true for the earth. All those nations and peoples and governments that rebel against the Kingship of Jesus will be forced to submit to his rule and his ultimate judgment. All knees will bend. All those who have given themselves to sin; all who have risen against God and his Church, all those who have rejected the name of Jesus will finally see the truth. They will hate it and they will hate him all the way to the end but they will bow and then they will be judged.

Jesus came first meek and mild, born of a virgin, submitted to earthly authorities, submitted to death, but when he returns, the tables will be turned. He will come as Lord and King, even Hell submits to his authority.

Now, maybe you can see how the two parts of this hymn tie together. Believers are all those who in this life humble themselves and bow their head and bend their knees before Jesus willingly and surrender their lives to him and follow his path in this life. Those who do, who submit willingly now and live in humility are the ones who will inherit the kingdom, the new earth that Jesus will establish. This new earth will be free of evil, free of sin, free of death. In Revelation 21 this world is described as a place where there is no more pain, no more suffering, no more weeping or heartbreak. God will bind up our wounds and he will live with us and we will be with God forever. We will have eternity set before us to explore and enjoy the universe God has made without fear.

The implicit point of this hymn is that everyone has a choice. You can bend the knee now and live in accordance with the principles of the coming kingdom or you can bend the knee then, when the kingdom comes. If you bend the knee now, if you bow to his authority in your life today, you become not just a servant but a beloved child in his kingdom and when he returns he promises that his kingdom will also be your kingdom. You'll reign with him. You become an heir and an inheritor of the world.

If you follow the way of the world, choosing to see Jesus as just one good teacher among many or one spiritual path or one way to choose but not the way. If you decide to accept and bow to the gods of this world; pleasure, money, power, relativism and deny the supremacy of the name of Jesus, the lordship of the King of Kings, you may do that, you have the freedom, but when he returns, when his kingdom comes, you will bend the knee before him and face judgment. One way or another every knee will bend and every tongue will confess that he is King and God and Lord, to the Glory of the father!

You may have missed it but there is some very practical advice here for you and I

Believers are citizens of a kingdom that is coming, but is not yet fully established. When you walk out of these doors this morning you walk into rebel territory. How much should you reject and how much should you cooperate with the world? Well Paul's introduction answers that question. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ.”

First Jesus submitted to a lot of people. He submitted to the Romans, he submitted to the Jewish Sanhedrin, he submitted to local mayor. He was treated unjustly by all of them, and yet he never rejected the legitimacy of their laws or their office. You and I should do the same with those in authority over us. You and I must submit to earthly authorities just like Jesus did even if it means being treated unfairly. Pay your taxes, all of them. Obey traffic laws. Obey all the local, state and governmental laws. Obey and respect your teachers and parents.

Second, Jesus served and was kind and loving and gentle to people who, if the world were set right, should have been serving him. That includes me. Think about how patient and loving and gentle Jesus is with you. I know that he is infinitely more generous to me than I deserve. That is our model with other people. Go out of your way to serve and love those who do not deserve it. Assume the best about people not the worst. Let go of grudges if you have any. Forgive as you have been forgiven.

And yet, third, though Jesus submitted to authority and kind and loving to all those around him, there was a limit. No one could ever force him do anything disloyal to his Father. He was willing to die rather than deny that he was his father's son. As a believer your primary loyalty is to the King of Kings. That means that when your friends are disobeying his law, you don't go along. When your government or your school or your church or your pastor urges or compels you to cooperate in something that violates the word of God, you resist. If you are told not to speak the name of Jesus or teach his word or live and worship according to his commands you and I are obligated to disobey; peacefully, respectfully, but firmly and without surrender. You resist all the way to the death, to the cross.

Home  Sermons Contact Us  Links  Article of the Week