Jesus, Name Above All Names (CC)
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SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 20 12
SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012
SERMON TEXT: PHILIPPIANS 2:9-13
"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 EARTH AND UNDER THE EARTH, AND EVERY
TONGUE CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, TO THE GLORY
OF GOD THE FATHER. THEREFORE, MY DEAR FRIENDS, AS YOU HAVE
ALWAYS OBEYED - NOT ONLY IN MY PRESENCE, BUT NOW MUCH MORE IN
MY ABSENCE - CONTINUE TO WORK OUT
YOUR SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING,
FOR IT IS GOD WHO WORKS IN YOU
TO WILL AND TO ACT ACCORDING
TO HIS GOOD PURPOSE. This is the Word of our Lord.
Let us pray: Glorious and gracious God,
may the words of my mouth and the meditation of each
of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight,
our only source of hope and comfort. Amen.
[Text taken from the HOLY BIBLE:
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, 1973, 1978, 1984,
used by permission of
Zondervan Bible Publishers.]
Dear Followers
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ:
A simple question
on a sheet when you apply for a job.
A simple question that says:
You're sitting in a room
waiting for a meeting.
Your boss walks in
with a female that you do not know.
What do you do?
What do you do?
It's an interesting thought.
And I understand that there are more questions
like this on job applications
because employers want to know that the people that they are
hiring have some kind of manners.
Some understanding of etiquette.
Who introduces people
who come into a room for a meeting?
Do you introduce yourself?
If you are a man and it's a woman, do you stand up?
Do YOU put your hand out first?
All kinds of interesting situations
that we find ourselves in,
in our daily job ... in our daily lives.
And it is important.
It's important in a business setting. It's important
in a personal setting. But yet, if you would look
at the world around us, they wanna say that those
things don't matter. There is no need for
manners or etiquette; they're there
just to entrap you and to ensnare you.
Why do you need to sit down at a table with two forks and
two spoons and not even know which one to use
if it's embarrassing you?
But manners and etiquette
are not there to embarrass people.
They're for the exact opposite
purpose. So that you know what to do
so that you will not feel uncomfortable.
That you know that you start with the outside
silverware, whichever it is. You start with the fork that's
on the outside and work your way in. The spoon,
that's on the outside, and work your way in.
And you will be comfortable in any situation.
But today we want to just
think that we should not have to worry
about those things at all.
And then I wonder, how we as Christians,
take that aspect
of manners and etiquette
when we hear what the Apostle Paul says
to us this morning about our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ.
That at the name of Jesus,
every knee shall bow.
Everything in heaven and on earth will bow
before Him because He IS the Lord ...
the Creator ... the Savior of all!
That we will bow
before Him in what we've done.
Are we truly prepared to
do that?
Because I think our sinful nature would like to think
that if God came down to talk to us or send one of His
angels to us that would be such an awesome experience.
That we could have this wonderful
exchange between our Creator
and our Savior ... asking Him all of those thoughts and
questions that we want answers to
concerning our faith and concerning His work.
But yet when we look throughout the pages
of God's recorded Word for us
when God sent His angels to people
they were terrified.
They were terrified and fell before them.
So much so that the angels always
said to them: Do not be afraid.
Imagine!
Standing in the presence then
of the eternal God!
They couldn't do anything
but fall before Him. Fall before Him mostly
in fear because of the sin
that contaminates us. To stand in the presence of the Holy
Son of God ...
the sinless Son of God
drives us to fall before Him.
Because there is no making excuses
for the behavior that we have done.
There isn't going to be any way of talking ourselves
out of the situations that we find ourselves in.
There isn't going to be any hiding
the motives of deception
to keep what's hidden in our minds away from Him.
He is all-knowing. He is
all-seeing. He looks into
our hearts and into our minds and
understands EXACTLY
what goes on there.
He knows us most intimately!
And standing in His presence,
there is nothing for us to do
but to fall before Him in fear and trembling
at His wrath at the punishment that we know
God demands for those
who break His Law.
It is a reminder to us this morning how easily
we can go through our life without that
recognition of the sin that we do.
And we've already come here this morning
hearing the words of the Second Commandment
about not misusing the Name of God.
And yet using It in ways that God
sees and wants us to that pleases Him.
And in our daily life, we can
pass by those sins without even thinking
of them sometimes. The fact
that we DO misuse God's Name.
That we do not always call on It in
grateful worship. In praise. That we don't come
and pray to Him first and foremost
for our strength and our support and our needs.
We realize that if we stood in front of God
to give an accounting, we couldn't say
that we were perfect.
We would fall before Him ...
... not bowing ... out of respect but out of fear.
But yet, we know
that God has revealed to us, by that Name,
that very Name ... Jesus.
That He is the One who would save the people
from their sins.
The importance of that Name, that we were reminded of this
morning. That when the angel came to Mary to say:
This is what you will call Him.
Repeating that promise also to Joseph:
He IS the Savior! You will give Him the name Jesus.
And Mary and Joseph willingly obeyed
that Law. That Law that God had commanded.
On the day that He was circumcised,
as well as on the day that He came and
was given that name Jesus.
Reminding us that He is the One who kept God's Law
perfectly!
In every aspect ... where we could not!
He came as our Savior ...
to live as our substitute.
To keep that Law.
To be an example; to show us in our life
what is God-pleasing behavior.
And from the moment that we see Him next in those recorded
Gospels, as a young man at the temple,
being about His Father's business ... wanting to hear
and learn and to study and to discuss that Word ...
there is our example.
Our example of keeping God's name holy
by studying that Word.
Realizing that Jesus IS our Savior.
He is the One who has given His life
so that we could have eternal life.
He gave His life over unto death
so that we could live with Him eternally.
And He has removed the punishment of our sin
so that we no longer fall before Him
in terror of His wrath.
But we bow before Him
with respect and honor
that He would be mindful of us
the lowly creatures
of creation.
That He would come for us to save us
to bring us to a knowledge of the truth.
And to be able to confess Him as our Lord
in our life. To be able to praise Him
with the voices that He has given us.
To use that Name. To share
those blessings that are ours.
To bring others to the knowledge
that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.
Our confession is a tremendous
witness of our faith.
By saying the things that we believe by teaching others.
By teaching them to our children.
By living them as examples in our home.
This is what God-pleasing behavior is.
To reach out to those people
who are still unaware that Jesus is
THE ONLY WAY to heaven!
That He is the ONLY Name given on earth
to people so that they will be saved.
How special that is!
How wonderful that is that that knowledge
has come to us and that we can confess His Name.
Not to use It in useless cursing and
damnation and false swearing and
lying and deceiving.
But to share that message.
To confess Jesus Christ as Lord. To take
hold and ownership of that precious Name.
And not allow anyone
to bring evil upon It.
Or to misuse It. To stand on our
Christian feet and stop hearing and
listening how the world misuses It,
treats It horribly ... even in our presence.
We get more excited
when someone says something
bad about US whether it's true or not than
we care about how people are misusing
the Name of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ!
Because it
doesn't matter to us
what those people say or how they use It.
But bowing in respect before our Lord
and Savior means that we will do everything
to confess Him as Lord,
to keep His Name Holy
among us. To share that Name so that others
themselves may hear It and believe
that He IS the Lord and Savior.
And God has given us the strength
and the ability to do that.
The Apostle Paul reminded the Church at Philippi that it is
God who works in us ... those good works. Those things that
He wants us to do BECAUSE He has saved us.
He has given us that strength.
He has given us that ability. That strength of
the Holy Spirit and the power of His Word
that we own and that we use
and that is a part of our daily lives.
Paul encouraged the Church at Philippi to use It.
To live their life of salvation.
To live that life of sanctification
knowing that God has saved us.
That it is the Name of Jesus Christ that we confess
as Lord. He will give us the strength. He is the One
who will carry it on to completion ...
... until we join our exalted Lord and Savior
in those heavenly realms.
Where we will be before Him, bowing in worship
and praise and adoration. Singing the glories with
the angels. And the praises with the Church Triumphant.
Reminding us that it is ONLY
through the Name and the work of Jesus Christ,
that we have heaven.
That we, have been saved.
That Name that is so sweet
in our hearing. That Name that is
so precious to us, is the ONLY Name
by which people will be saved.
And God has revealed that to us.
And we bow before Him in thanks and
in praise. In worship and adoration, we confess
that Jesus Christ
IS my Lord.
And I continue to live that
each and every day in my life.
Not doing those things that God has said
are not beneficial, but putting into practice
all of those good things. Calling on His Name in prayer.
Praising Him. And, in thanks,
each and every day. That Jesus Christ
IS
our Lord and Savior.
Amen.
Let us rise.
Now may the peace of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior
be with us and comfort us with the knowledge that
our sins are forgiven. To the glory of His Holy Name. Amen.