Aug. 21, 2016 A Great Hymn by Pastor Josh Sheldon

You think for a moment about the great hymns of the faith, the ones we so often sing right here in this place, the ones that have endured for a lot of years, over a century, some a couple of centuries, some a few centuries, great hymns of the faith.

If you think, which one comes to mind if I say to you, think of a great hymn, a great hymn of the faith, of the church.

Many of us might think of Holy, Holy, Holy, which in many opinions, mine included, is one of the closest things ever devised by man that reflects that awesome scene in Scripture of Isaiah 6 when the prophet saw the seraphs surrounding

God calling out, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, I think that comes as close to divinity as a man possibly could without being directly inspired by God.

That hymn has lasted for a long time, and that for some good reasons,

I mean the tune is amazing, it swells with the words, it takes us up and down this sort of roller coaster of praise, incorporating our emotions into that praise, but see it's not just the tune, the tune is right,

I think the tune is exactly matched to the words, but it's not just the tune, it's what it says.

Think of what this hymn actually conveys to us. Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee, to a

God who hears, merciful and mighty. Only thou art holy, there is none beside thee, who wert and art and evermore shall be.

The one we sang just a little bit ago, and can it be that I should gain an interest in my

Savior's blood? Did he die for me, or died he for me who caused his pain?

For me who him to death pursued? Amazing love, how can it be?

No wonder we sing this song over and over again. No wonder the church has always cherished that hymn.

I know whom I've believed, and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which

I've committed unto him against that day. These hymns are being cherished because they say something, and they say something that is right, and they say something that is true, and they say it with words and melody that sets them in our memory so we can fall back on them as we walk on the way.

But most important, what they say, what they remind us of, the reason they're so encouraging, they're so meaningful, they're so enduring, is because of what they say about our

Savior. What they remind us about Jesus Christ and what he did for us, and what he is doing for us.

This morning, my text is a hymn about Jesus, a hymn written by men a very, very long time ago.

I cannot tell you who wrote this hymn, I cannot tell you when it was written, I cannot tell you where it was written. I cannot tell you what melody was meant for the lyrics that we're going to put our attention to this morning.

I can tell you that whatever your favorite, most cherished hymn is, whether it's holy, holy, holy, and can it be, it is well with my soul, whatever hymn is your favorite, most cherished, this one is better.

This one's better than Amazing Grace. This one's better than any that we could sing from the hymnal.

It's undoubtedly shorter, it is beyond argument more accurate in what it says about our

Lord, and it will endure far longer than anything in our Trinity hymnal today.

In fact, this hymn will actually, literally, last forever, because the hymn which we will focus our attention on this morning is from the word of God.

It's an ancient hymn of the church in scripture. Now if you turn there with me, turn to Philippians chapter 2.

In your pew Bible that's on page 980. Philippians chapter 2, give me a moment to get there.

Verses 1 through 11 is what I will read in a moment. The first four verses are actually an introduction to our hymn.

This is the word of God from the Apostle Paul in this first letter to the

Philippians. Beginning of verse 1 there, so if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind.

Having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind, do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

That's the introduction, and now the hymn itself, beginning at verse 5. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in a form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so 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. Last week's message was the hymn in Colossians chapter 1 verses 15 -20, and like that one, this one reads like a creed.

In this hymn, in Philippians 2, 5 -11, we see the deity of Jesus Christ set forth, and the salvation that he won for sinners, what he achieved on the cross.

His submission to the Father's will is here in this hymn, as is his exaltation by the

Father, that places him above every other name, in other words, where God the Father has placed him is a position that cannot be exceeded.

This hymn confirms that Christ is, always was, and ever shall be God. His humanity is no less prominent in this hymn, nor is his humble submission to the will of God the

Father. And if that's not enough for us to digest here, these few words, so packed with meaning, so packed with theology, so packed with the sheer wonder of the

Christ event, we must also remember that the Apostle Paul, inspired by the

Spirit of God, says to us, Here is your example of mutual submission and self -sacrifice for the good of others.

Christ is that example of humility that must be seen amongst those who claim to believe in him.

Jesus Christ, who set his glory aside that he might become man, and as man, serve the needs of others.

This is a wonderful hymn, it's a better hymn than any other we could think of.

Your favorite hymn in the Trinity Hymnal doesn't come close to this, nor,

I should think, the convicting power, because this hymn is the

Word of God. It's sometimes called the Great Parabola, Jesus' starting point, having been heaven, and he comes down from heaven here to us, and having completed his

Father's design, he returns to his former exalted position at the Father's side.

It's a great parabola. Paul's purpose in placing it here in this letter, where he did, is found in the introduction, the first four verses.

The apostles' joy is to be found in their unity. He says, be of the same mind, the same love, in full accord, and of one mind, speaking to all the church.

And then he tells us how this plays out. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility, humility obviously is going to be a theme here, in humility, count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look out, not only for his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Desire to be right, desire to be heard, demand to be respected.

We gotta have our own way, our rightful position. I want the honor due my name, my status, my titles, my certifications, my degrees, whatever it might be.

How do we tamp all that down and obey the apostles' instruction? How do we put all that aside and deal with one another in true humility of spirit?

Look at this other person who doesn't have my status, my advancements, my degrees, and think this one's interests are more important than mine.

How do we manage that? The instruction is clear enough. How do we do it?

Well, one thing we could start with, a very simple way,

I think, would be to sing this hymn to ourselves over and over and over again.

We don't know how to sing it, we don't know the words to it, excuse me, we don't know the tune that went with it.

Sing this hymn in your mind over and over again, meditate on what it says about Jesus.

Because ultimately what the apostle is telling us here, when he says to set others' interests as more important than you, look at this other person and say this is a person more significant than me, this one for whom

Christ also died. Understand, it's not about you.

It being this Christian life is not about you. And in a very real way, if it's about Jesus, it's about this other person.

It's about a church, it's about a body of believers who are going out of their way to put the other person's needs as more prominent than their own, a higher priority.

I need food on my table, but this one needs clothes on their back. So we're going to eat a little bit less, a little less fancy, in order to provide with this need, because I see that need is more important than what

I have to have. All comes about from humility of spirit, it all comes about from the example of Jesus.

Verse six, he was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. There's a few issues here.

His form, his equality with God, his refusal to grasp after that, that equality with God.

Form is our Greek word morphe, and there's a lot of wrong ways to take this word. The worst come from the

Latter -day Saints and the Jehovah's Witness cults. They take form to mean only an outward appearance.

This falters on a lot of grounds, and the simplest one it falters on is the next verse, verse seven, where he comes in the likeness of man.

That translates to the word schema, where we get scheme. That's his outward appearance, in verse seven.

But in verse six, the form of God means something quite different. Paul means that Jesus didn't cling desperately to his equality with God, because that's what form means.

He was in his innermost being God. He was that in himself.

As I like to put it, all that God is, all that it means to be God, holiness, omniscience, power, mercy, whatever attribute, all that it means to be

God, Jesus is as well. And to this, he did not cling on to, he did not hang on desperately to it.

Against the JWs, against the LDS, Jesus in his deepest being, what he is in himself, is

God, and that's what this hymn teaches us. Now one objection you get to this, again going back to those other cults, is they say it's hardly humble for Jesus to think of himself as being equal to God.

Now of course that's because they don't think of him as God, they think of him as a created being, as the ultimate man, that sort of thing.

But they say that this destroys Paul's argument for our humility, because here you have a man grasping after becoming like God, or wanting to be like God, he's merely a man.

They say that's not humble at all. But I think Paul's point is a call to humility that is staggeringly beyond anything we can imagine, because what does he say?

He says to leave behind rivalries, but leave behind conceit, and instead clothe ourselves in mutual humility.

And the model we're directed to is not just a good man. We're directed to the

God -man, Jesus, who for the sake of others, emptied himself of his glory.

This is humility. This isn't a man arrogantly trying to be like God, and that destroys the argument that Paul gives us to be humble with each other.

No. This is God who humbles himself to even notice the things of creation, that God humbling himself to be like man, in order to accomplish his father's will.

It doesn't destroy Paul's argument for humility. It magnifies it beyond belief.

If Jesus set that aside, this is Paul's question here, if Jesus set that aside, the question we need to ask ourselves immediately is, what do we have to divest ourselves of?

Not only what must we, what do we have to divest ourselves of that compares to that? Let this question resonate for a moment.

Jesus Christ emptied himself of his glory, of his divine prerogatives, of his rightful place at the father's right side.

That was laid aside. What can we lay aside that even approaches that?

It's a guilt -inducing question, but it's one we should ponder from this hymn. What do we have to divest ourselves of?

What high position could you or I possibly have that compares to Christ's? You or I don't condescend when we serve one another.

Imagine the most powerful man that could possibly exist. Now make this all -powerful man also the most humble of men, sort of like a

Moses who is more meek and mild and humble than any other man. Now imagine one who is the opposite, a powerful man, maybe, but conceited, pugnacious, selfish devoid of anything admirable, filled with everything detestable.

The difference between the two would seem to us to be enormous. But in fact, when compared to Christ, if this hymn is ringing in our ears as we walk by the way and we think of the difference between the finest man we could devise in our imagination versus the worst, we compare them to Christ, the difference is pretty infinitesimal, isn't it?

And so when we're looking at each other, brothers and sisters who we love, who we know, who we've wept together and rejoiced together with, how small is that difference?

And always comparing what it means to deal with each other in this humble way. When Christ laid that aside in order to deal with us.

That's really the paradigm that Paul is setting before us. The JWs are wrong that Jesus' equality with God ruins

Paul's call to humility, it intensifies it. But really what they're doing, that's all part of what they're objecting to.

And really what they're doing is what they're saying is wrong, but they're doing it. They're grasping after equality with God.

Their doctrine is the attempt to become like Him by bringing Him down through the misuse of the Scriptures or by raising man up by the same means.

We need to look at this very carefully, this idea of grasping after. What Jesus didn't do, we need to look ourselves and ask, do we?

Man has always sought to turn this parabola on its head, to go from here, there, and back again.

And then we're ready to what? To lord it over others? This was the error at Babel when they said we'll build this high tower, we'll make a name for ourselves.

This was Adam's error, this was his sin, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God, knowing good and evil.

Man, trying to be like God. He thought to immediately transcend his humanity and his limitations and become divine.

Some theologians think we see Lucifer in Isaiah chapter 14, verses 12 to 14.

This idea of trying to be like God. How you are fallen from heaven, O day star, son of dawn.

How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid nations low. You said in your heart, and I hear this, you said in your heart,

I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God, I will set my throne on high, I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north,

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the most high.

Where Adam tried to become like God, Jesus willingly became like man.

Where Adam's disobedience brought dishonor, Jesus' obedience brought him exaltation.

Where the day star, some translations call it, say, Lucifer, where the day star tried to assert

God's glory, Jesus set it aside. Where the builders at Babel thought they'd take heaven for themselves,

Jesus sojourned away from there, from heaven, trusting his return to his father. This is the great emptying, the kenosis, we'll speak about it a little bit later.

This is what the Lord Jesus Christ set aside, divested himself of in order to deal with us.

Verse seven, he made himself nothing. This is that thing I was referring to, the great kenosis from the

Greek word keneo, or emptying. The question is, what did he exactly empty himself of?

We've talked about this a little bit. Was it his omniscience? We'd object to this idea when

John says things in his gospel like he knew all men, he knew what was in a man, or how he saw

Nathanael under the olive tree. So not omniscience, did he empty himself of his omnipotence, of his power?

That would make his miracles hard to explain, walking on the water, that sort of thing.

Could a man who is not omnipotent God have called Lazarus out of the tomb?

If he emptied himself of his power, that would make the angels who are ready to interpose themselves at his command pretty hard to explain.

Verse seven tells us more than just that he emptied. He emptied, but he took on. Emptied himself of his glory, of his divine prerogative.

What did he take on? He took on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Now form is the same word we had earlier, but here it doesn't refer to his eternal being as the second person of the trinity, it refers to his humanity.

His nature as a man was as a servant. Jesus said for the son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

His appearance, his schema, was fully human in his incarnation. His form, his morphe, was as a servant.

That's speaking of the incarnation, because his eternal form is as God.

Now this has to devastate our egos, does it not? Does this not equalize us all and make humility just a bit more natural?

If it could possibly be natural to fall in humanity, to be humble? Now think about this.

The voice that thundered from Sinai, if any animal touched the, any living thing touched the mount while he was there, it died.

That voice, that pillar of fire that led the children of Israel by night, that one who held back the

Red Sea while they crossed over it, and then commanded its return, that's the one we're speaking of here, who became like us.

This has to do something to our egos, and it's the opposite of inflating them.

When we serve, we somehow want it known that I've stepped down from my high and lofty place, and you should be ever so grateful.

But how can we even think that way when Jesus, eternal, equal to God, and in the form of God, when he descended as he did, how could we possibly think that way?

I mean, brethren, think of this. He washed feet. Think of this a moment.

The Lord who spoke it into creation washed their feet.

The Son of God did that. What does this do to our rivalries?

What does this do to our conceit, to our egos, to our agendas? I mean, how dreadful must be the

Lord's words when we consider ourselves in the light of these things, when he said, if I then, your

Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do to one another just as I have done to you.

You know, most of us find these words fairly humbling, and they should be. But I want to caution us a little bit here that we remember that this hymn is in here in order to give us a basis for our mutual and our humble service.

Don't set them aside. Don't do a self -kenosis by emptying yourself of the conviction that this might bring.

Paul didn't quote this ancient hymn just to stretch our minds or to prove his theological skills. It sets before us the example of Jesus Christ in his incarnation as our own, our own example.

It reminds us of the fact that Jesus, who the psalmist says humbles himself to even notice us, actually became like us in order to serve us.

So don't weaken this by saying, well, but you know, as you've said a couple of times here, he was

God. A little bit higher than me, right? So that example,

I mean, that's sort of theoretical. That's sort of a conceptual, abstract, and I'll think about it.

I'll ponder it. No, no, no, no. Let these words sink down into your ears, as Jesus says.

God became man. God, the second person of the

Trinity, laid it all aside as an example to us.

And if we still don't get it, he disrobed himself and washed the disciples' filthy feet.

And he says plainly that he's given us an example that we should do as he has done.

So let us not set this aside. Let us not keneo, empty ourselves of the conviction by saying, well, but he's

God. Of course he can do that. No, he's God, and that's true, and we stand on that.

But the hymn makes it clear. When he lived on this earth, he was no less human. We're speaking of the man,

Jesus Christ, who did these things. If what has already come, if that's not humbling and convicting enough, what comes next should be enough to make us almost pass out.

Verse says, verse 8 says, And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

It's not enough that God should become man and dwell among us? The word becomes flesh and tabernacles with man?

Is that not enough to make us bow down in adoration before him?

It doesn't even begin to stop there. He humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a cross.

You see, you and I, by practice, by determination, by spiritual discipline, by the help and power of the

Holy Spirit, we can become nothing, and at least we can become less than we think we deserve.

You and I are able to, at some level, imitate Jesus and be servants to each other. You and I might even be able to become somewhat less competitive and less conceited.

We can and we must follow Jesus in all this. But in verse 8, all imitation ends.

Verse 8 is the end of imitating. The example of humility remains, but only

Jesus could die on the cross for others. Only Jesus could die a death that is efficacious to bring anyone else any good.

Only of him was obedience to the cross required. He died as a man.

Let no one persuade you that he only seemed to be a man or that his place was taken by Judas or that he swooned and was revived in the cool of the tomb.

Jesus, in the form of the humanity he came to serve, died. In time and space, in history, in an event,

Jesus, serving humanity, died on the cross.

You and I can, most likely will die, a fate we can only avoid if the Lord returns first, but we cannot die to the benefit of others, not as Jesus did.

So here, finally, is the height of our motive to be what Paul demands of all of us. We as a church, individually and together, are founded on this act of ultimate, humble obedience.

The cross. And it's fair of us to ask, if Jesus would do that in order to obey the

Father, what is too much for me? If Jesus Christ, after this great kenosis, this great emptying of himself, and then the cross, what's too much for me?

What is too precious in me that I need to hang on,

I need to grasp onto it? When Jesus Christ himself, he is our example in this hymn, didn't grasp upon, didn't grasp after his equality with God himself.

And now this might make some better sense to us. Let us each of you, let each of you look not only for his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Does that make a little sense now? Do we see why this hymn was put where it was?

Do you hear that and breathe a sigh of relief that your own interests come first?

Or at least are covered? Look out not only for your own interests, okay, that comes first, my interests, but also the interests of others.

But I get to take care of mine first, right? Isn't that what he's saying here? Are you thinking along those lines?

I would suggest just be glad that your interests are in there at all. Just be glad that he even acknowledges them.

It's in its proper light when we consider it from two aspects. First, how Christ set aside his own interests.

He was in heaven at the Father's side with angels before him singing his well -deserved praises, and that became small to him, that became negligible to him in order to serve our interests.

He did, though, he followed the order Paul lays out for us. Before he looked out for our interests, he looked out after his own.

Not only his own, but the interests of others. But what was his interest that he looked to first?

What was that interest? It was to accomplish the Father's will. That was it.

What comes before you and me? The Father's will. Why was he obedient to death on the cross?

Because that was the Father's will. For the salvation of sinners. Well, just a couple of more thoughts.

I know I've left a lot of details undone here. The theology of this hymn is so densely packed, we could come back to it over and over again and still not finish it.

I want to look at the closing verses. Verse 9 through 11. The summary is really almost half of the hymn here.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that in 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. You see, therefore has a sense of for this reason.

Because Jesus' humility and obedience extended even to the cross, because of that,

God the Father has exalted him, God the Son. This is the line of the parabola that extends back to the original height.

This is his resumption of his former position seated on the throne of power, filled with all glory and ruling over the church that he created.

It's as if his glory, which he divested when he became man, is a robe that had been hung there in a closet waiting for him, and now he's put it back on.

You see, a gospel is a humbling thing in its core truth that in Christ, God became man.

That by the incarnation of our holy God entered into the human experience. And this has to be our motive towards true interpersonal, one -on -one humility.

Let's remember that there is more here than his condescending to become what we are. Here also is the down payment on Christ's promise.

When the Lord found his disciples being distinctly less than humble, arguing about who would be greatest in heaven.

Do you remember what he said? If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.

Peter, after his bitter experience in denying the Lord, he broke off these sharp edges of egoism and conceit.

And he's the one who wrote, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.

James chapter 4, verse 10 says exactly the same thing. Take this as a promise. God will exalt the humble.

His word assures it. Just as Jesus is the first fruit from the dead whose resurrection assures are, so his post -humility exaltation is a foretaste of our own.

There's a duel that's often fought over the word morphe, this idea of form of God and what it says about Jesus' eternal deity.

What we just read at the end of this hymn, it incontrovertibly asserts a core truth that is assumed throughout this hymn that Jesus is

God. See, what Paul quotes when he says, every knee shall bow to him, to Jesus, to the glory of God the

Father. He's quoting Isaiah 45, verse 23. That's why I had Steve read it for you.

God says, to me, every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall swear allegiance to me, who's speaking,

God the Father. To me, God, every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall swear allegiance, and this is what

Paul's quoting. But what does he say? He says, every knee shall bow to Jesus.

If he's not God, it's impossible. Every knee says

God through Isaiah. Every knee says God through Paul. What God prophesied through Isaiah, who fulfilled in Jesus.

Jesus is the one who will see every knee bend because he is God. And as we come to a close in our thoughts about this hymn,

I do have to tell you that when God says every knee shall bow, he means literally every knee.

Every soul that ever lived will stand before him, and every knee shall indeed be bowed.

But I would suggest to you that that mass of bowed -down people is divided really into two groups.

It's like Jesus, when he took, he divided the goats from the sheep, and he told the goats to go to the left side, which is condemnation, and brought the sheep to his right side.

Your knee shall bow to Jesus. And if then, that great and dreadful day, if that is the first time your knee has bowed, if that's the first time that you are forced to acknowledge his sovereignty and the salvation he won on the cross, and you need to repent of your sins and go to him, if then is the first time, then you're on his left side.

Bow your knee now. Be one who when it says every knee shall bow, you can say my knee is bowed.

I do fall down in humble adoration and gratitude before Christ, God, who on the cross answered my sins and saved my soul.

The great hymns of the faith, we have some great ones, don't we? Like the ones

I cited, it is well with my soul, amazing grace, and can it be, holy, holy, holy.

Aren't they wonderful? Encouraging. I can memorize them, sing them.

When I got my last MRI, and I was terrified by the closeness of that tube and the noises going back and forth,

I sang hymns, like the ones I just cited to you, and they calmed my soul because they reminded me of God.

They reminded me of Jesus Christ, my Savior. They reminded me of his sovereignty, of his goodness, of his omniscience.

Things like this. The great hymns are just plain great, but brethren, this one is greater.

This one comes to us from the pages of Scripture, and this one presents to us the model, the very model, for how we must deal with one another in a humility that mimics none other than God the

Son, who emptied himself of his glory and left that behind to humbly serve man, even at the point of the cross.

May he always be our model. May he be seen amongst us in the way we deal with one another in this place.

Amen? Heavenly Father, thank you for this day that you've given us, for this word that you've given us, and I pray,

Father, that we would be that people, be that church that would respond to the gospel in the way that the apostle here, by the

Spirit of God, requires of us. Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ and for this great kenosis, this laying aside of his glory and coming and being like us.

We thank you, Father, that not for a moment did he cease to be God, that he cease being what he always has been, always shall be.

Father, we do thank you that for that time he did become man, became like us, came in the form of sinful flesh in order that by that he would save sinners.