One of the most beautiful passages in the whole of the Bible is Philippians 2:5-8 that talks about how Christ left heaven, how he left a throne and came down to earth, to be spat upon, beaten, killed, treated as dirt, cursed and to have his name used as a swear word. Verses full of meaning and beauty, telling us so much of his nature. But we are going to look this afternoon at the next part, verses 9-11.. It tells us what happened as a result of his descent to earth.
God hath highly exalted him
Christ brought himself down to earth. He came down on his own decision, he did not try to hang on to the equality with God that was his by right, he gave up his glory to be ill-treated. It was God who lifted him up. Highly exalted him means just that - lifted him up above everything else. The glory that was his by right and which he chose to give-up was given back to him, in double measure. He is now back on his heavenly throne, in glory, in majesty, in splendour. Nothing on this earth can match his glory and majesty. It is all his, because it was given to him by God, who alone can give it.
Unlike the passing fame and glory that people on earth can have, famous, feted and the centre of attention one minute, a complete unknown the next, the fame and glory of Jesus is eternal. In heaven he will always be the centre of attention, even in a billion years time the centrepoint of heaven will be Christ. The angels will never tyre of seeing his wounds on his hands, feet and side where he was crucified. The people saved from their sins by his coming to earth and his death will always, always, for ever and ever adore him and never get bored.
He brought himself down to earth in great humility. He will return, but not in humility, but in power and glory.
A name that is higher than any other name
The name Jesus – Yeshua in Hebrew, I]hsouj in Greek means saviour. In Matthew 1:21 Mary is told to give him this name because he would save his people from their sins.
Every knee shall bow before him
Things over the earth – angels
Things on the earth – humans alive when he comes again
Things under the earth – those who died before he returned
All the great people of history – Tutankhamen, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, William the conqueror. All the famous people of today, footballers, pop stars, Tony Blair. All the celebrities of the future. All the ordinary people of history, peasants whose name is completely unknown, us, our children and our grandchildren, will all bow down to him and acknowledge who he is on that day when he returns.
That Jesus Christ is Lord
Probably the earliest Christian creed was the very simple formula ’Jesus is Lord’. That is why the Roman Emperor in order to root out Christians, insisted that everyone sacrifice to him and say the words "Caesar is Lord’ - he knew that no Christian would be able to say that anyone other than Jesus was Lord. They paid a heavy price for this devotion to the lordship of Christ, many were killed, imprisoned, lost all their possessions and standing in society, all over three words "Jesus is Lord"
We have sung these three words throughout this meeting. Many of our songs are about it; people wear T-shirts that say it. We have become used to hearing it. Sometimes we say or sing it without thinking and miss what a revolutionary statement it is. Why all the fuss about such a simple sentence? Why did these early Christians risk so much over it? Surely they could have compromised a little bit, said "Caesar is Lord", maybe with their fingers crossed, when required to do so by the authorities, and then, when they were with other Christians, said "Jesus is Lord". But it mattered to them, and it should matter to us. In English it is three words, in Greek it is just two - Iesous Kyrios. Let’s remind ourselves of why these two words are so important.
Kyrios, the second word in the Greek statement had a range of meanings, sometimes it meant something like ’Sir’., just a way of being polite to a man that you did not know very well. But that was only if you were directly talking to somebody, not talking about somebody else. In these cases it would have a much bigger meaning than just ’sir’.
In the Greek translation of the Old Testament used in the time of Jesus and the first Christians it was used for name of God, the sacred name that was spelt with four Hebrew letters, equivalent to our YHWH and which was regarded as being to holy to be actually said. When people were reading out loud from the scriptures and came to this name of God instead of saying it, they would actually say Adonai, another name and title of God. It was therefore a pretty big claim to make, to say that Jesus was kyrios. A dictionary in which I looked up kyrios defined it as ’supreme in authority, controller’
That is why the emperor wanted to be called ’kyrios’. It was a title of ultimate authority on earth and in the whole universe. He wanted to be thought of as the most important man in the world, he wanted to be worshipped and to have control over everything. Anybody who suggested that someone else was that authority was a threat. He had seen and understood that there could only be one most powerful person, not two or three, and he wanted that person to be him.
The pagan emperor knew something that we so often forget. We say that Jesus is Lord, but then try to give ourselves that power. We sing ’He is Lord’ - then we try to be in charge of our own lives and to make our own decisions. That doesn’t work! Stating that Jesus is Lord means that he has power over everything, that he has the right to have this authority, that attempting to take this authority ourselves is rebellion and disobedience.
With live in a country where the Head of State is a Queen. The government runs the country in her name, parliament passes laws in her name, courts administer justice in her name. We say thay she is the sovereign. Officiial language is used in such a way as to make it sound like she is in charge, that she is the Lord of Britain. But in reality, of course, she isn’t. She has to act on the advice of her government, it is really the prime minister and cabinet who tell her what to do, on only a very few things is it really her that makes the decision. All important decisions are made by somebody else and she merely ratifies what has already been decided. Britain is what is called a ’constitutional monarchy’ - it has a king or a queen, but they are not in charge.
Very often we treat the Lordship of Jesus in the same way. We act as if Jesus were a constitutional monarch and we were the prime minister. We make the decisions about what we are going to do, then we expect to him to just OK them. That is a recipe for disaster. He is no constitutional king, but an absolute king. His word is law. We must obey him in everything. Our lifestyle choices, how we spend our money, how we treat each other, the sort of job we do, who our friends are, what we do with our time, what we watch on the TV, even the way we think, must all be done in obedience to him, who gave up his glory and came down, down, down for us, to save us from our sins.
We will all bow before him one day; the question is when do we do it. If we do it voluntarily now we will share his glory when he returns. If we are forced to do it when he comes again, then we will be cast out of his glory and have no part in it. He is king, and his kingdom is just for his willing subjects.
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