Jesus Is Lord! - Phil 2:5-13
Sermon by: Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - January 29, 2006
*David Dykes asks a most important question: “What is God really like?” And David goes on to say: “Some people think the most important question of life is ‘Do you believe in God?’ But a more important question is ‘What kind of God do you believe in?’
There are many religions in the world that present many differing pictures of God and they all may contain a little truth. A stopped clock is right twice a day, but actually a broken clock is worse than no clock at all, because it gives you misleading information. You can believe in God, but if you have a false conception of God, you are no better off than an atheist.
What is God really like? Is He the God of the Muslim terrorists? Is God really named Allah and does he reward murdering terrorists who highjack airplanes and kill innocent people? Does He want all the infidels killed, even if it means strapping a bomb to your body and killing yourself?” [1] Of course not.
*What is God really like?
-Look at Jesus Christ and you will see, because He is God.
1. Jesus is Lord! And we must live under the Lordship of Christ first of all, because Jesus is the Lord of love.
*We can see this in vs. 5-8...
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
1-Jesus is the Lord of love! We know that because His love brought Him from Heaven all the way down to Earth.
-He left the greatest scene in the universe for us!
*Jesus knows all about Heaven, because Heaven is His home. He knows all about God, because He is God: God the Son.
*During my late teens and early 20’s, I was a firmly committed atheist, but occasionally I would wonder about the truth. And I remember the day I asked my Dad: “Did Jesus really claim to be God?”
*Dad said “yes” and of course that’s right, but I wish he had sat me down and gone through the Word of God to show me. Here are just a few of the Scriptures I wish Dad had shown me that day:
*John 1:1-3, speaking about Jesus says:
-“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
*After Jesus miraculously healed a man, John 5:15-18 says:
-“The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father has been working until now, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”
*In John 6:37-40, Jesus said:
-“All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which sees the Son, and believes on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
*And in John 8:23-24, Jesus said:
-“You are from beneath; I am from above: you are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that you shall die in your sins: for if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins.”
*Jesus said: “You are from beneath; I am from above: you are of this world; I am not of this world.” Who could say that? No one but God!
2-Jesus is the Lord of love! His love brought Him from the greatest scene, and it made Him the greatest servant.
*In vs. 7, He made himself of no reputation, and took the form of a servant. So we see the King born in a stable, we see the King feeding others, we see the King washing feet, and we hear Jesus say that He “came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” That’s real love.
3-Christ’s love led Him to be the greatest servant, and it led Him to make the greatest sacrifice. “He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
*King Duncan tells us about a trip that Mother Teresa once made to Russia to help the survivors of a terrible earthquake. There she met a mother & baby who had been pulled from the rubble after 11 days. When Mother Teresa saw the badly crushed and nearly dead woman in the hospital, she was amazed to see a healthy-looking baby lying beside her.
*So she asked the nurses how the baby could be doing so well. They told her that the mother and her baby had been trapped in a collapsed building without food or water. The mother breast-fed her baby as long as she could. Then, she sliced her finger and squeezed her blood into the child’s mouth. [2]
*Out of her great love, that mother gave her blood, so that her baby might live. And Jesus Christ gave His blood on the cross, so that we might live forever. He died on that Cross for you. He loves you.
2. Make Jesus Christ your Lord, because He is the Lord of love, but also because He is the Lord of lords.
*We see this in vs. 9-11...
“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
*God the Father has highly exalted His Son Jesus Christ, and given him a name which is above every name: -Jesus is supreme!
*And as Paul Fritz points out, we must see that Christ is supreme because:
(1)-Jesus is the only one to make the supreme declaration that He is the way, the truth and the life. Anyone else making such a claim would either be a lunatic or a liar. Jesus not only taught truth, He was truth in human flesh.
(2)-Jesus is supreme! He alone was God in human flesh. He told His followers:
“If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him & have seen him.” When we know Jesus we know God!
(3)-Jesus is supreme! His words ring with Supreme authority. When He spoke, the crowds were amazed at “his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as one of their teachers of the law.”
(4)-Jesus is supreme! He is the only one who can deliver us from the penalty, the power & the punishment of sin. Apart from Jesus Christ there is no salvation, because there is no forgiveness.
(5)-Jesus is supreme! He is the only one who offers the free gift of eternal life to all who believe in Him. The Bible says, “As many as received Him to them He gave the power to become the children of God, even to those who believe on His name.”
(6)-Jesus is supreme! He is supreme over death. He conquered death with His resurrection, and He gives us rock-solid hope of our victory over death! “Wherefore God has highly exalted him & given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. . . “ [3]
*Every knee will bow! Howard Stern will bow. Hugh Hefner will bow. Every Christ-rejecting humanist will bow. Every Communist will bow the knee to Jesus. Osama bin Laden will bow. Saddam Hussein will bow. That fanatic Ahmadinejad over in Iran will bow. Every terrorist, every Muslim will bow down & confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
*Every knee will bow, but it makes an eternal difference when you do. Bow the knee in this life, recognize Jesus Christ as the true Lord, trust Him as your Savior, and you will spend all eternity with Him in Heaven.
-Fail to make Jesus Lord in this life, and you will still bow the knee one day, but you will suffer forever in a place called hell.
“God has given Jesus Christ a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
*David Holwick tells of a young man in Germany some years ago. He was lying on an operating table, waiting for surgery to begin. He had cancer of the tongue.
*The surgeon stood nearby, with a group of medical students. Then, as kindly as he could, the surgeon bent toward the young patient & said, “My friend, if you wish to say anything, you now have the opportunity, but I must warn you that your words will be the last words that you will ever utter. Think well, therefore, what you wish to say.”
*The young man paused in deep thought. The students bent forward to hear. And then they heard him say, "Thank God, Jesus Christ!" [4]
*What would you have said? Now is the time for us to give glory to God, for every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
3. Make Jesus Christ your Lord, because He is the Lord of lords, but also because He is the Lord of life.
*And we see this in vs. 12-13...
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
*Jesus Christ is the Lord of life, and in these verses Paul is talking to people who have that life, eternal life. He is talking to saved people, people who have received Jesus Christ as Savior & Lord. So Paul is not talking about earning salvation in vs. 12, when he tells us to work out our own salvation.
*We don’t work to be saved. We do good works because we are saved! As Paul told the Christians at Ephesus: “By grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”
*We are saved by putting our faith in the Lord who died on the Cross for our sins and rose again. We are saved by receiving Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. We receive eternal life by receiving the Lord of life, but how does this new life work? Paul really gives us some good insight here.
*First of all church, good news! God is at work in our lives. Every day, in every situation, believers, God is at work in you both to desire & to do His good pleasure.
*God works this new life in, but then, we have to work it out. That’s the message of verse 12, where Paul says, “Now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear & trembling.”
*Now is the time to live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It will surely make a difference in the end.
*I saw that tomorrow night A&E is showing a movie on the heroes of Flight 93, the flight that crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside on 9-11. I hope they do it justice, and I mention it because one of those heroes, Todd Beamer, surely knew Jesus as Lord. After passengers were herded to the back of the jet, Beamer called the GTE Customer Center in Oakbrook, Illinois. He told supervisor Lisa Jefferson about the hijacking, told her that they were planning to jump the terrorists, and then he asked her to pray with him.
*Todd said: "I don’t think we’re going to get out of this thing. I’m going to have to go out on faith."
*Todd cried out to the Lord that day more than once. An article in Newsweek told that he “kept a Lord’s Prayer bookmark in his Tom Clancy novel, but he didn’t need any prompting. Todd began to pray and Lisa Jefferson joined him: ‘Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. . .’ As they finished, Todd added, ‘Jesus, help me.’"
*Then Todd & his fellow passengers prayed a prayer that has comforted millions down through the centuries, David’s prayerful testimony in the 23rd Psalm: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. . . Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me.”
*And then the famous last words: "Are you guys ready? Let’s roll." [5]
*If Todd Beamer could speak from Heaven today, he would say: “Now is the time to live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.” It will surely make a difference in the end, and it should make a difference every day.
Conclu: Jesus is Lord, but is He your Lord?
*Is He the Lord of your eyes? -The things that you see.
*Is He the Lord of your ears? -The things that you hear.
*Is He the Lord of your hands? -The things that you do.
*Is He the Lord of your mouth? -The things that go in, and the things that go out.
*Is Jesus Christ the Lord of your checkbook?
-Is He the Lord of your time?
-Is He the Lord of your talents & abilities?
-Is He the Lord of your heart?
*Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Have you ever bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ? How long has it been? Now is a great time to bow your knee before Jesus Christ. If you’ve never done it, or if it’s been a long time, or if you feel the need to renew your commitment to the Lordship of Christ, I urge you to come down front & bow your knees during our time of invitation.
*And if you have never received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can do that right now & you should, because Jesus Christ is the Lord of love, Lord of life, and Lord of Lords.
[1] Adapted from SermonCentral: What Is God Really Like Sermon by David Dykes - Luke 15:11-24
[2] Original source unknown - Found in Sermon: SO, YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT LOVE? - Sermon by King Duncan - John 13:31-35 - Dynamic Preaching - AMJ 2001
[3] Adapted from SermonCentral: Supremacy of Christ - Sermon by Paul Fritz - Col 1:15-17
[4] KERUX ILLUSTRATION COLLECTION - ID Number: 15372 - SOURCE: Fredericksburg Bible Illustrator Supplements - TITLE: His Last Words
[5] KERUX ILLUSTRATION COLLECTION - ID Number: 9462 - SOURCE: BreakPoint Commentary - TITLE: Jesus, Help Me: The Faith Of Todd Beamer - AUTHOR: Charles Colson - DATE: 11/28/01
