I invite your attention this morning to the book of Philippians the book of Philippians chapter 2 all month we’ve been talking about the name of Jesus the line of the tribe of Judah the root of David Stone that the builders rejected and we’ve been doing so because
Because when we talk about Jesus we affix synonyms and names that are appropriate but we do so not fully aware of what they mean I want us to look at a very familiar passage of scripture one that we visited before but I think will be good for us to consider
Today uh Philippians chapter 2 beginning with verse 5 ending with verse 11 let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus who though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited but empty himself taking the form of a
Slave being born in human likeness and being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even death on a cross therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name so that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bend in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father again so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and
Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father may claim your seats in the presence of the Lord on this Resurrection Sunday I simply want to lift as a subject Jesus is Lord Jesus is Lord I think it is very important for us to make
This critical yet substantial Faith claim while it seems Elementary to many of us this is a point of doctrinal anchoring simply because there are many people who do not profess Jesus to be Lord a and I’m not I’m not talking about I’m not talking about non-christians I I’m talking about church folk
Now going to church and attending worship does not mean that Jesus is Lord of your life quoting scriptures and knowing when to Buck and Shout does not mean that Jesus is Lord of your life to make the claim that Jesus is Lord is to establish not only a theological point of
Emphasis it Bes speaks not only of where you stand in your relationship with God but it is also a declaration of that which matters most to you in your life this claim orders the way by which you and I choose to live to say that Jesus is Lord is to
Authenticate that nothing in your life supplants the reality that Jesus is the son of of God that he was sent into the world to live counter culturally to show us what it means to be in relationship with God and then as the Apex of love and Devotion to God and for
Humanity he lays down his life as the Perfect final atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world died in weak Ness was raised in Victory and is Seated on the right hand of the Throne of God making intercession for us even now as we live in the reality of restored relationship with God
Jesus is Lord and yet believe it or not this is one of the most problematic statements not for the world but for the church we understand that the world rejects Christ we can see that by way of political policies that are continuously enacted we know that the world rejects
Jesus says Lord we have folks decrying abortion but as soon as black and brown babies are born form their quality of life is ignored we know that Jesus is rejected as Lord by the world but the greater problem is that Jesus is rejected as Lord by the
Church this comes into Center focus as we turn our attention along with Paul toward the church at Philippi the Apostle Paul at the time he pins this letter to the Philippian church is imprison for centuy Scholars have debated the location of Paul’s imprisonment some say that Paul is imprisoned in Ephesus While others
Contend that Paul is behind Prison Walls in Rome and while it might be inconclusive one of the things that we know with certainty is that at the time Paul pins this letter Paul is in jail Paul is confined to the grave of prison he is going through his own personal
Adversity his own personal hardship and yet he writes to the Philippian church because Philippi is full of problems Philippi has its origins in the 4th Century BCE it was taken over by Philip II Alexander the Great’s father and he named it after himself but but Philippi is more commonly known for another event
That took place in the first century B BCE when the Assassins of Julius Caesar uh were finally taken out and and we we see this around 42 BCE and so by the time Paul arrives in Philippi some 100 years later we discover uh that Rome has made it a nice comfortable place for
Retired military soldiers it is a place of great allegiance to Rome in in fact not only is it a place of of great allegiance to Rome but it is a place of of deification of Caesar uh it was understood throughout the Roman Empire that Caesar was Lord and as such to that
End Caesar was to be worshiped all of those who who were living in Philippi who were enjoying the Roman pension in retirement all of those who who were living in Roman retirement colonies at Philippi Golden Oaks at Philippi for Roman soldiers they they worshiped Caesar he was deified he was the
Exemplar of everything that was to be desired but not only that Philippi was also a Cosmopolitan Melting Pot for other peoples around the world it was a place where Egyptian god were worshiped it was a place of worship but not only that it was a place of of idol
Worship Not only was it a place of idol worship but but there were problems in Philippi that have now infiltrated the church I I wish I could tell you that the church is exempt from infiltration from the enemy but as surely as Jesus was crucified on
Friday and raised on Sunday I’m here to attest that the Church of God the ransom Church of God continues to remain imperfect and and there are some things that happen in the world that have a way of finding its tentacles leave its fingerprints yes even within the church
This has happened in Philippi Paul on his second missionary journey established the Philippian church and as he writes from prison he is concerned because word has reached him that the church at Philippi has become pompous they have become arrogant they are more concerned about the degrees that they have
Amassed they are concerned about their so social status they they they they are concerned about who’s wearing the latest fashions and who’s driving the latest model and who just secured the latest contract they they are consumed with themselves they have exalted themselves they think more of themselves than they
Ought and even though they are called to be the Church of God through Jesus Christ even though they are called to emulate the humility of Jesus Christ they have gotten pompus in their own right and this has caused problems for Paul so much so that while Paul is
Dealing with his own stuff while Paul is wrestling with his own problems while Paul is dealing with the reality of his own imprisonment Paul has to stop dealing with himself and get the church at Philippi together and so Paul Paul writes to the Philippian church he says you all do some good
Things you are a people of means you you live in northern Greece in the province of Macedonia you are a people of means and you have a rich history and you are connected it to power and and when the church in Jerusalem needed some money you were generous enough to send some
Money you’ve done some good things but the good that you’ve done does not eclipse what I’m hearing about you you know sometimes we have a way of of trying to barter with God of trying to negotiate with God that that a good deed over here and a good act over
Here will kind of erase the silliness and the foolishness that I do over here but Paul says no you got to be consistent and while you’ve done some good things I’m also hearing some things that trouble me I’m hearing some things that concern me and so Paul begins to
Write to the Philippian church and he says to them I hear that you’ve gotten a little arrogant but allow me to bring Jesus back into full View allow me to remind you of who it is that we are called to serve and emulate and and in a space where where Nero the
Emperor is being worshiped in a space where where Egyptian gods are being deified and glorified Paul says allow me to put Jesus back in center and full View and so at the time of our text we have what Scholars call the christological hymn the Christ hymn this
Is a song that was commonly sung among the churches it was anchored in Doctrine and it reminded them of who they serve and why and how he came and why God has now glorified him and why his life and witness is worthy of emulation I’m trying to help us to understand early in
This message that while people in Philippi both within the church and outside of the church have forgotten about Christ or have ignored Christ Paul reminds them no we don’t worship Nero we don’t worship Caesar we don’t worship the emperor nor do we worship any fertility Gods any sun Gods any rain
Gods but no we worship the Son of God we worship the lion of the tribe of Judah and while the politics of the day may try to convince you that Caesar is Lord I’m writing to remind you that even while behind Prison Walls that Jesus is
Lord Paul helps us to see that it doesn’t matter where we find ourselves in life’s experience it doesn’t matter what we’re going through or what we’re facing where we are does not change who God is and somebody came to church on Resurrection Sunday sad because you thought that Jesus is not Lord because
Of your local I come to let you know that wherever you are and whatever you’re going through whether you are in prison in De Cab County or you are in the prison of your mind Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father a a and so while while the folks
In Philippi are concerned about their own heess and social standing while they are concerned about their fraternities and their sororities and and their country clubs Paul says that that while you are are are shooting to be well thought of in the community while while you are
Shooting to to keep up with the Joneses The Jacksons and the Jenkins allow me to bring Jesus back into full view he here here’s what Paul says a as he ushers in the Christ hymn he says let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus here here’s here’s
Where Jesus was who though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited but emptied himself taking the form of a slave being bored in human likeness and being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient to the point
Of death even death on a cross here here here’s the first thing that Paul wants to bring in full view to the folk at Philippi I I if you are going to understand that Jesus is Lord you must first consider his humiliation his his humiliation th this this seems
Paradoxical and and contrary to who we know Jesus to be the anointed one the Messiah the revealed Christ yeah he he was humiliated but but but here’s here’s what I love I love how PA bark posits this he offers this as the road that Jesus elected to
Take I I I think I think I think we missed it the Christ hymn tells us that although he was in the form of God he did not regard equality with God to be something to to be exploited in in other words Jesus in scripture we’ll find I I know I got some
Some critics and some agnostics here although Jesus never explicitly said he was God it was understood that the hearers of his day clearly understood that Jesus was identifying himself as equal with God the father and I are one he was in the form of God that’s why
John in his theological gospel says in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and
Truth he was equal with God but did not think of that as something to be exploited what does that mean that means that while Jesus was 100% human and 100% Divine Jesus did not use it to his Advantage Jesus did not exploit his divinity while being in wrapped in
Humanity this would have been a great point of contention for those who were in Philippi because sometimes we like to think that we are all that a bag of chips and then some we we we like to quote our resumés do you know anybody every time
You talk to them they have to name drop somebody that they know to show how important they are this is what was happening in Philippi and yet Paul in his letter says I know you think you’re all that I know that you got it going on I
Know that Rome still gives you a pension every month I know that every Monday at 700 a.m. you still tea off I know that your score is a 44 I know that you can travel whenever you want to and wherever you want to and you got it like that and you want
Everybody else to know that you got it like that but as awesome as you think you are let me remind you of somebody who has more power than you do more influence than you do more resources than you do don’t forget about Jesus who was in the fall form of God but thought
It not beneficial to exploit it for his own gain I want to bring Jesus and his humiliation into full view notice notice the delineation the distinction I did not say his humility I said his humiliation he emptied himself Greek term kosis he lowered himself he made himself less than what he actually
Was he could have walked around professing and declaring who he was but he made himself like us he could have showed himself as just 100% divine all the time but he made himself like us he felt pain like us bled like us cried like us lived among
On us and ultimately took our punishment for us he emptied himself and while he could have taken the possession that I am God he lowered himself took on the form of a doulas took on the form of a slave took on the form of somebody who owed somebody else when he owned everything
Being born in human likeness and being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even death on the cross I said consider his humiliation for nobody wanted to be associated with anybody who had been crucified consider how profoundly this would have resonated with those in
Philippi they were beneficiaries of Roman Life they had it made they had it easy upstanding people of good reputation and yet their model was antithetical to everything that modeled the Roman way of life to be executed on a Roman Tree meant that you were an Enemy of the
State there was a Rome’s Most Wanted sign on your head nobody wanted to be associated with anybody who had been crucified he consider his humiliation nobody wanted to be the parent of somebody who was crucified crucifixion was reserved for the worst of the worst that Society produced and
Yet the Bible says that Jesus while he was in the form of God decided to lower himself and take on a prisoner’s punishment that’s good news to us that’s good news because the Bible tells us that we have not such a high priest who cannot be touched by our infirmities do
You know why I love being a Jesus follower I love being a Jesus follower because when I pray I know that I’m praying to somebody who understands the kind of hurt that I feel the kind of trauma that I’ve experience I have somebody who hears me and understands me
And knows my social local i i i with with all due respect to all other Faith Traditions I thank God that that I got somebody who’s walked the life that I’ve lived I got somebody who knows what it is to be lied on cheated talked about
And mistreated I thank God that I got somebody who although they could have been in the form of God emptied thems and took on my humiliation so that now I can walk upright so that now I can be in restored relationship with God the Father consider his humiliation but then
You can’t stop there because then you’ve got to consider his exaltation Carl Bart says that that the pivoting verse in the Christ hym is found in verse number nine he says it’s not a nevertheless it’s a therefore it it it is conjoined to the first few verses of the
Christ hymn let let me say it this way that the exaltation the lifting of Jesus is tied to his humiliation his exaltation is tied to his humiliation I’ll say it again for the people in the balcony his exaltation is tied to his humiliation what Paul is trying to help
The church at Philippi to understand is that the Way Up Is Down that if you want God to lift you you got to learn how to lower yourself I never shall forget I was I was attending an event and I learned a very valuable
Lesson I saw um I saw some of my friends sitting at at the head table and I had an assigned seat it was kind of in the back uh but all my friends were at the head table and and so I walked down front because
I KN I knew the folks at the head table these are these are my guys these are my people and so I had my good suit on and my shoes were shining I walked down to the front and I I greeted all of my friends and they were kind to me they
Were gracious and and I saw that there was a seat that nobody was sitting in and so I said well these are my friends I’m just going to was GNA sit here who going to check me so I sat I sat down and about about 5 minutes later the director of the
Program came to me and said hey uh what’s up and I said hey what’s up how you doing uh I’m doing fine how you doing that’s what they said to me I said I’m good how are you uh they said I I’m fine but I would be better if you move from
The seat up here to your seat back there I said but all of my friends are up here and the the person said but all of these seats are accounted for and I know that it looked empty but guess what the person that’s going to occupi this seat is on
The way I said but they ain’t here yet and the program has already started they said I understand that but let me help you understand something it is better to be asked up than to be asked down and so I politely put my church
Finger up and I went and I took my seat and I learned that day to allow people to invite you up because if you lift yourself life has a way of bringing you back down but when you allow the Lord to lift you after you have humbled yourself
God will exalt you to a place where nobody can bring you down that’s why the New Testament writer said humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and he’ll exalt you in due season his exaltation came after his humiliation and because he took on the form of a slave be because he was
Obedient to death even death on the cross because he lowered himself God lifted him God God exalted him I think it’s it’s important for me to put a coin in the meter and park right here for a minute because quite often we we we repeat things that we have heard in
Church and and Easter Sunday is one of the worst times where we do it we we we get excited and and all of our excitement we say he got up he he he got up and and and while Jesus did rise from the dead he did not just get
Up that’s not the doctrine of the Apostles and that’s not the record that we find in scripture nowhere in scripture will you find that Jesus got up on Sunday that’s not what the text says mother Stone but the text says that God raised him I I know Pastor what what
Difference does it make whether he got up or God raised him well he did not get up under his own power but because he humbled himself God exalted him by raising him he took the stone that Rome put in front of the Grave tossed it to the side and early Sunday morning God
Reached down and raised him with all power in his hand I’m trying to tell you that when you lower yourself God will raise you up and here’s here’s how he exalted himself you going have to give me about seven more minutes he exalted him not just by raising him Lord help me
Here but he exalted him by giving him a name that is above every name Nero the emperor he has a name Julius Caesar Julius Caesar had a name Alexander the Great had a name Philip II of Macedon had a name every Pharaoh in Egypt had a name every God on the pantheon of
Egyptian Gods had a name but because he who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God he who was in the form of God but thought it not something to be exploited the one who lowered himself allowed himself to be humiliated
But was exalted was raised and given a name that is above every name that’s why I love what one old Apostolic preacher late Bishop David Ellis used to say he said I don’t care what name you call if you don’t call Jesus you ain’t got a
Name yet he gave him a name that is above every name well how expansive is the name well at the name of Jesus sir every knee should bend in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth you got to understand brothers and sisters that this has its anchoring in Old Testament
Scripture this would not have been original to Paul nor to the Christ hymn that is circulating but once again within the words of this Christ himym we find scripture being fulfilled that at the name of Jesus every knee in heaven that’s one tear every knee on Earth that’s another tear and every KNE
That is in sh the Abode of the Dead even the dead have to bow down and acknowledge that Jesus is Lord you’ve got to consider his humiliation you’ve got to consider his exaltation but then thirdly and finally happy Resurrection you got to consider God’s glorification I’m just trying to tell
You that Jesus is Lord that every knee should bow and every tongue should confess I I love that word confess it it does not mean simply to acknowledge but if you were to break that down in the original biblical language it does not simply mean confess it means
Agree reread it and put agree in there that every knee should bend in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and every tongue shall agree every tongue shall come to the same conclusion what about those who called the name name of Muhammad what about those who practice
Hinduism and Daoism what what about those who profess no faith Tradition at all every knee and every tongue shall agree that Jesus Christ is Lord what is that term Lord mean Lord was a term commonly used for respect for a superior but here it is used as a
Proper noun to show Supremacy over all of creation this is not to just simply acknowledge respect but this is to denote that everything and everybody else is under subjection to the governance of Jesus Christ as given authorization by God the Father every knee shall bow I’m done every tongue
Shall confess in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth that Jesus is Lord here it is to the Dua to the glory of God the Father I got to leave you here but everything that Jesus went through everything that Jesus endured and everything that you and I go through is
Ultimately for the glory of God I got to sign off now may the Lord bless you real good but perhaps you’re here today and you’re feeling as if I’ve endured my own Friday afternoon I’ve endured my own crucifixion experience I know what it feels like to have emotional Nails
Driven through my hands I know what it feels like to be betrayed and Disturbed deserted by those who are closest to me but I’ve come to let you know that everything that you have gone through is for the glory of God in your life I know
That it doesn’t feel good I know that you might not like it but you ought to lay hands on yourself and encourage yourself you ought to remind yourself that everything that I’ve gone through and everything that I’m in is so that the name of God will be glorified don’t
You know that’s what happened on Friday after Jesus commended his Spirit into the hand of God the Centurion Soldier said surely this must be the Son of God God has a way of allowing our experiences no matter how painful to bring glory to his name I know that it’s
Rough right now but it’s getting ready to bring God glory that’s why the New Testament writer said this light of fles is but for a moment but it works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory got to sign off now but I wonder what was going through Jesus’s
Mind as he suffered blood and died how is it that I could have lived my life in obedience to you I was just like you these three in heaven bear record I was there in Genesis when you consulted me spoke the cosmos into existence hung the sun to shine in
The morning and the moon to give her evening Twilight I was there when you flung The Stars into their silvery sockets and they danced like diamonds on Black Velvet I was there when you separated the sky from the water and the land and the sea I was there when you
Would cause vegetation to sprout from from the ground commission the fish to swim in the sea and the birds to fly in the air I was there when you took the dust of the ground and you form man and you into his nostrils the ruach the
Breath of life and Man became a living soul I was there when Moses lifted his rod and you sent an easterly wind down the Red Sea and the of Israel walked across on dry ground in fact I showed up as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar
Of Fire by night I showed up as Samson strength I showed up as David’s music I showed up at Solomon’s wisdom I showed up in Gideon’s Army I was there I showed up in the mouth of the prophets as the one whom they for told I was there and
When that wasn’t good enough I emailed myself through 42 Generations born on the backside of a barn in Bethlehem I was there gave sight to the blind gave healing to the lepers open blind eyes unstopped death ears stopped funeral processions I was there and yet here I am suspended on calvary’s Mountain Crow
Of thorns on my head spikes in my wrists spikes in my ankles sword in my side the Buzzard are swirling over me ready to eat on my body how is it that I’ve been obedient and yet I find myself between two Mal factors is there anybody here
Who’s ever looked at your life and said God I’ve tried to be faithful I’ve tried to live like you called me to live and yet here I am suffering and struggling but I’m so glad that he humiliated himself and in so doing God exalted him gave him a name that’s above every name
Got to leave you here but there is a name I love to hear I love to sing its worth it sounds like music music in my ear is the sweetest name on Earth I got to leave you here for the fourth time but I come to tell somebody just how God
Exalted him died on Friday late there Saturday but early Sunday morning no need for an alarm clock early Sunday morning God raised them with all power in his hand I’ve come to testify and give one word as you leave here today I don’t have a sophisticated message I’m
Just come to tell you one thing that Jesus is Lord find somebody who looks like they need to be encouraged and tell your neighbor neighbor Jesus is is Lord I don’t care what happens in November Jesus is Lord I don’t care who takes the oath of office Jesus is Lord he’s
Risen from the dead he is Lord every knee shall bow every tongue shall confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father living he loved me dying he save me buried he carried my sin far away but Rising he justified freeing me forever and one day he’s coming back glorious
Day is there anybody here who can testify he’s he Lord over my life he’s Lord over my experience and because God raised him I can shout I can celebrate I can WIP my tears because he’s getting ready he’s getting ready he’s getting ready to lift me up is he all right is
He over your life say yay y y y don’t let anybody fool you he’s Lord I don’t care what society says that message is outdated somebody told me just the other week I was getting a haircut and you too smart and you too educated to believe that silly
Stuff to believe that fairy tale they asked me with all that education you got with all the scholarship that you know and have written why is it that you still believe Jesus is Lord I smiled to myself I said because he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells
Me doors of the church are open he’s Lord nobody above him nobody before him nobody beside him he’s Lord to the glory of God the father if you’re here today perhaps you’re wondering why Paul could be so sure while riding from prison if anybody would have had the
Right to question the lordship of Jesus certainly it could have been Paul if you’re really Lord why is it that I’m where I am and my life but your location does not denounce his lordship he’s Lord on the mountain and in the valley in the city and in the
Field in the sunshine and in the rain if I were you today and had not yet given my life over to the lordship of Jesus Christ I would would not leave here today without putting my life in his hands if you’re here today main floor balcony worshiping online this invitation is for
You maybe you’re here you need to make some changes you want to start fresh you want to start new don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can order your steps and orchestrate the Affairs of your own life if you’re here today you want Christ you want the King of Kings and
The Lord of lords you can be saved today just come on wherever you are come on I see you if you’re here just come on today don’t wait don’t worry about who’s beside you just come up today God bless you come on come on are you here
Today every knee shall bow every tongue every T confess come on come on come on come on this is your day he is Lord he come on I see you worshiping online tape your knees baptism new member if you’re here come on God bless you come on everything every tongue
Confess we bless your name today maybe you’re here today you’re saying pastor I’m saved I know that I’m saved he’s Lord over my life but maybe you’re here today you don’t have a church home you don’t have a place to connect a place to plug in where you can work out your soul
Salvation in fear and trembling if you’re here today you are a church home no better day than today no better Church than Fairfield we’d love to be your family I’d love to be your pastor if you’re here come on come on come on come on God bless you come on God bless you
God bless you come on BL we got time today come on am I waiting on you he is Lord he is Lord yes you are yes you are come on come on today every KN shallow my brother my sister come on today we’re going to sing it one more
Time for you if are here today he is Lord
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