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Having the Mind of Chirst - Pastor Stiemke |
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Palm Sunday, (4-1-07)
Sir, we would see JESUS!
Emmanuel, Asheville, NC
Philippians 2: 1-11
In the Name of JESUS!
“Having the Mind of Christ Jesus”
Beloved in the Lord, please pray with me:
O Christ, Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
O Christ, Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
O Christ, Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us Your peace. Amen.
In the name of Jesus, our humble Savior and glorious Redeemer, dear friends:
Do
you hear that sound of great rejoicing? What is it? It’s the rustle of
palm branches and people shouting, “Hosanna!” as they also throw their
outer cloaks upon the road in front of that Man from Nazareth riding on
the donkey. What’s happening? Ah, the King is coming! What an awesome
event that was! It was so astounding that we try to replicate it each
year as we celebrate Palm Sunday. So shout it out, dear friends,
“Hosanna! Hosanna! The King is coming!” Yes, join me as we lift our
praises to heaven, “Hosanna! Hosanna! The King is coming!”
As
you shout your “Hosannas,” you are both lifting up a word of praise, as
well as the cry to God that pleads, “Save, we pray!” And we join the
first Palm Sunday crowd in adding, “Blessed is the King who comes in
the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” This
joyous victory parade is even meant for us today, for it did not happen
by mere chance on the whim of the people.
Five centuries before
that day, God through Zechariah foretold this event when he wrote,
“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, O Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and
riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” [9: 9] Our
heavenly Father had set this victory parade in place as one of His
great saving acts by His Son, Jesus Christ. Incidentally, since it took
500 years finally to take place, this is a vivid reminder that God’s
time-clock and our own are often not the same. Thus Scripture reminds
us over and over to, “Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage. Wait for
the Lord.” [ Psalm 27:14]
But is Christ the King the crowd said
He was? Look again at the scene. There’s no charging white stallion,
the normal mode of transportation for kings of that day – only a lowly
donkey, and then one that no one had ever ridden before, but
subservient nevertheless to its rider. There’s no royal purple robe –
only the unbleached linen cloak of a poor man. No jewels deck His
garment, but there will be ruby red blood stains in just five days.
There’s no crown, except a crown of thorns that awaits Him, too. No
golden scepter does Jesus hold in His hand. Instead there would be a
lowly reed placed in His hands by mocking soldiers. No earthly throne
awaits Him except two rough hewn, notched wooden members forming a
cross, the instrument of the cruelest form of execution devised by
mankind.
Who is this Jesus of Nazareth that receives the crowd’s
adoration? Hidden beneath of the fa?ßade of the lowly carpenter‚Äôs son is
none other than the eternal God, come to rescue His people. Plainly He
could tell His disciples, “I and the Father are One.” [John 10: 30]
Years later, St. Paul, who started out in life as an enemy of Jesus,
after his conversion could testify, “In Him dwelt all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily.” [Colossians 2:9} The Apostle reminds us in today’s
Epistle that Jesus, “being in the very nature of God, did not consider
equality with God something to be grasped.” [2: 6] Thus, today on the
basis of Holy Scripture’s witness, we confess concerning Jesus that He
is “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not
made.” Christ is our heavenly King.
However, to those living in
His day, our Lord had no resemblance to an earthly king. In fact, Jesus
told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, My servants
would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But My kingdom is from
another place.” [John 19: 36] Outwardly Christ’s realm has no likeness
to worldly kingdoms. Thus our Epistle reading for the day reminds us
that He “made Himself nothing,” i.e., He emptied Himself, “taking the
very nature of a slave, being made in human likeness. And being found
in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto
death – even death on a cross!” [2: 7-8] Days before the crucifixion
our Savior told His friends, “The Son of Man came not to be served, but
to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.”
The great
paradox in God’s Kingdom is that humiliation is the path to glory.
Jesus Himself saw that His shameful death on the cross was the very
moment of His greatest glorification, when He told His disciples about
His impending death and said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God
is glorified in Him.” [John 13: 31] Paul repeats that same truth in
today’s text, Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave
Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.” {2: 9-11}
If we meditate on all this
prayerfully with the Lord’s help, there’s a powerful, pointed lesson in
all we’ve considered together. The path chosen by our fallen world and
that by our loving God to glory and honor is radically different. The
world’s path is in seeking status, prestige, accumulating the most
riches and things and pleasures, and in having the most servants. One
can gain the world’s applause that way for a time. One can almost hear
the world shouting, “There’s a great man! Let him be the one you
imitate.” Tragically, our sinful nature is such that we all get easily
caught in that mindset and deathtrap at times.
But where is
God in that picture and what will be the end of such a person without a
radical change? Our Lord plaintively reminds us, “What shall it profit
a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” [Mark 8: 38]
It is just because we too often follow the pattern of the
world that Christ entered Jerusalem that day with His eyes set firmly
on His impending glorification in His death for our sins. He humbled
Himself and became obedient unto death – even death on a cross that in
the shedding of His blood He might wash all our sin away and reclaim us
as the forgiven children of our heavenly Father. The hymn writer
correctly penned his words on the basis of Scripture concerning Jesus,
“His blood can make the foulest clean. His blood avails for me!” Thank
God! That’s true – eternally true!
However, in our text today,
Paul is telling us that not at some future point, but even now, “Your
attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: . . . who humbled
Himself!” Beginning with today we are to have a very different mindset
– the mindset of Christ. We are to have different motives than the
world, a whole new outlook. That is to be our goal each and every day.
But
how do I acquire this even if I see it as most desirable both for time
and eternity? In asking that question, I’m in deep trouble. For notice
where I’m looking! – At myself! That’s not humbling myself as Christ
emptied Himself. That’s looking to the “BIG I” to bring about the
change. No, this mindset will become ours more and more only as we flee
to our Lord and plead with Him to create and nourish this new outlook
within us and daily to purge us of the old way of looking at and doing
our own thing. We can only flee to the Rock that is higher than
ourselves, Jesus Christ, and to stand in wonder and awe at the vastness
of Christ’s love which led Him to the cross. That immeasurable love
caused our merciful God to empty Himself and become obedient unto death
– even death on a cross, so that we are not only forgiven, but have His
help, the guidance of His Word and Spirit, and the precious body and
blood of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper to grow in being imitators of Jesus
Himself to the glory of God the Father. And so we cry out with the Palm
Sunday children and adults who were Jesus’ friends, “HOSANNA! Save,
Lord, we pray!” Amen.
To GOD alone be glory!
© The Reverend Frederick A. Stiemke, Vacancy Pastor
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