“All Hail King Jesus!”
Philippians 2:9-11; Psalm 2
Introduction: Election Day is just
over seven weeks away, Americans will be making an important decision. By all means, be informed on the issues, and prayerfully vote consistently with your Christian values. But
ultimately, the most important question we must all answer is “What will you do
with Jesus?” Psalm 2 begins with a question that has echoed throughout the
course of human history:
“Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising
a vain thing? 2 The kings of
the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the
LORD and against His Anointed…”
Resistance against the rule of God and His Anointed is
the essence of sin. Contrast the scene
that is pictured in Isaiah’s vision, recorded in Isaiah 6:1-4…
Seraphim covering their faces and feet in humility,
worshipping the exalted Lord! Where are we on the continuum as we gather on
Sunday morning? Are our hearts set on worship? Our text today stands almost as a doxology at
this point in the letter. There is no
more important subject than that which it addresses: the worship of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus himself
rebuked the superficial worship of many of the religious leaders of his day
when he said in Matt 15:7-9,
"You
hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:
8 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS
FAR AWAY FROM ME. 9 'BUT IN
VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"
He told the Samaritan woman at the well, in John 4:23,
"But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will
worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be
His worshipers.” The word “worship”
in both Greek and Hebrew has the idea of prostrating oneself before another in
reverence… We come to church for a
worship service, right? Did you come here to worship the exalted Christ? John had a vision of the exalted Lord, he described
what he saw in Revelation 1:13-17…
13 …in
the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man... 14 The hairs of his head were
white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished
bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many
waters. 16 In his right hand
he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face
was like the sun shining in full strength.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he
laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the
last, 18 and the living one.
I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and
Hades.
That is the One who took on a
human nature, came in the form of a servant, and went to the Cross. He is the
exalted One, worthy of all praise, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus’ obedience in carrying
out the Father’s plan He has been exalted to the Father’s right hand. As we worship the Son, which is our only
fitting response to Him, the Father is glorified.
The BIG*
Idea: One
day all will bow, either in worship or in defeat. Is Jesus your Lord? We’ll consider,
1) Why Jesus was exalted; 2) The ways He was exalted, and finally we’ll reflect
on 3) “what now” – our response to the exaltation of the Son.
I. WHY
Jesus was exalted by the Father and deserves our worship: "Therefore God has highly exalted him…." (9a). Let’s
initially consider this first phrase. The context ties God’s action in exalting
Jesus with the preceding context…
When you see a “therefore” ask what its
“there for.” The NASB translates: “For this reason also, God highly exalted
Him….” Why has God highly exalted Jesus? Because, as
we read in Philippians 2:6-8,
"…though he was in the form of
God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even death on a cross…”
The
Son of God, God the Son, became a man, the Holy One came to die as our
substitute, bearing our sins in His body on the Cross… “Therefore [because
he did that, carrying out the plan conceived in the Godhead in eternity past] God
has highly exalted him..." He exalted Jesus because of who He truly
is, and because of what he freely did.
The Father loves the Son, the Father has an infinite delight in the Son,
because the Son esteemed the Father so highly that he chose to die the worst of
deaths to carry out the eternal plan of the Godhead to redeem humans.
It is an idea often seen in Scripture:
God loves to exalt the humble. "For though the Lord is high, he regards
the lowly" (Psalm 138:6). "Thus says the high and lofty One
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: 'I dwell in a high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit'" (Isaiah
57:15).
This is a divine principle which Jesus repeatedly
taught His disciples: "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and
whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Matthew 23:11). And it is
fitting that the one who humbled himself most deeply, the one whose obedience
cost the most, the one who was without sin, being made sin for us, that He should
be most highly exalted. The word “highly-exalted” is a compound word that
appears only here in the New Testament – “super-exalted” or “raised to the
loftiest degree.” He humbled himself in the incarnation, taking the form of a
servant, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross… He
became “…a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief…”
Therefore, God has highly
exalted him… He started this chapter saying, Have this mind in you…
there is a mandate for us to follow the Master, to take up our cross and follow
Jesus. For most of us, that will mean taking the attitude of Christ, and
serving others in His name right where we are. Do you think it is just by
chance that you are where you are right now? Your home, your family, your
workplace or school? The sovereign Lord of the universe has strategically
placed you exactly where he intended you to be. For a few, he may redeploy you
in ministry or in missions. The pioneer missionaries invested their lives for
the sake of the nations, that those who had not heard might hear the glorious
truth of the gospel. Imagine Hudson Taylor saying, after a lifetime of toil and
suffering in China, "I never made a sacrifice"! Because he understood
the "therefore" of Philippians 2:9. Or as Paul said in Romans 8:17, "If
we suffer with him, we shall be glorified with him"! By grace we all have
a part in His plan.
Whether there or here, the word “therefore…”
in this text evokes the power to serve quietly behind the scenes, without the
limelight, often seemingly unnoticed or unappreciated, but consistently serving
because you don’t do it for attention, but for Him. What a privilege to be
called God’s child, a servant of the King! After all, its not about us, He is Lord! And
know this: *One day all will bow, either in worship or in defeat. Is He your
Lord? He alone is worthy of our worship!
II. The
Ways Jesus was exalted by the Father: "Therefore
God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him a name which is above every name…" (9). This statement describes
how Jesus has been exalted by the Father in the past.
In
Acts 2:36 Peter says, "Let all the house of Israel know assuredly
that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."
It was his lordship and Messiahship—his messianic lordship—that was
bestowed on him at his exaltation. Not that he wasn't Messiah and Lord before
his resurrection. He was. But he had not yet fulfilled the mission of Messiah
until he had died for our sin and risen again. And therefore, before his death
and resurrection, the lordship of Christ over the world had not been brought to
full actuality. The rebel forces were not yet defeated, and the power of
darkness held the world in its grip. In order to be acclaimed Messiah and Lord,
the Son of God had to come into human history, defeat the enemy, and lead his
people out of bondage in triumph over sin and Satan and death. And that he did
on the Cross, and in His resurrection. Writers point out at least four
aspects of the exaltation of Jesus:
1. The
resurrection – Paul spoke of the exaltation of Christ when in the opening
of Romans he said of Him, “…who was
declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according
to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord…” (Rom 1:4).
2. The
ascension In John 20:17, after the
resurrection Jesus said, "Stop clinging
to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say
to them, I ascend to My Father and your
Father, and My God and your God.'"
3. His honored position as High Priest,
interceding for believers (Rom 8:34, cf. v.26; Heb 7:25,26). The writer to Hebrews said
it clearly,
25
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God
through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For it was indeed fitting that
we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from
sinners, and exalted above the heavens… (Heb 7:25-26).
4. His coronation,
seated at the Father’s right hand Jesus
himself said “All authority is given unto me in heaven and on earth…” (Matt
28:18); I think that is an allusion back to Psalm 2 when Yahweh says to his
Anointed, “Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance,
the ends of the earth for you possession…” Paul also wrote in Ephesians:
“He raised Him from the dead and seated
Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,
and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to
come. 22 And He put all
things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to
the church…” (Eph 1:21,22);
The
writer of Hebrews said in 1:3 of that epistle,
“And He is the radiance of His glory
and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the
word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at
the right hand of the Majesty on high…”
Peter
said in Acts 5:30,31,
"The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. 31 "He is the one whom God
exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to
Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”
Jesus took the form of a servant and was
made in the likeness of men. He became obedient to the point of death, even
death on a cross. Did Satan actually think he had the upper hand? When Jesus
died on the cross, making atonement by his blood for our sins, Satan was
defeated. Christ disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public
example of them, triumphing over them in the cross (Colossians 2:15). The
sting of death was removed, the power of sin was broken, and the triumph of the
Church was secured. We know how this story ends: Jesus wins! And so, His is the
Name above all names, worthy of all worship and praise. Jesus IS Lord, and *One
day all will bow, either in worship or in defeat before the exalted Son of God.
Is Jesus your Lord? Will you trust, and obey?
III.
What Now? The Response to the exaltation of Jesus by the Father: The name that is above every
name, The Lord Jesus Christ—victorious over all his enemies; the
Lord who has purchased a people from every tribe and tongue and nation.
“Every
knee will bow…” At the end of the age, when the mission of the Church
reaches its glorious conclusion, the name of Jesus will be sounded around the
world, and at that name every knee will bow, whether of angels in heaven, or of
the living on the earth, or of the dead under the earth—every knee will bow,
and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father. Don’t be mistaken about what this is saying. It does not mean
that all will ultimately be saved. The Bible clearly says “Whoever believes
in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God remains on him” (Jn 3:36). Jesus said, “The way is
narrow that leads to life, and few there are that find it. The way is broad
that leads to destruction…”Both believers and unbelievers will acknowledge
in that day that Jesus is Lord—believers, to their everlasting joy, and
unbelievers, in the terror of eternal judgment.
So, “…every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord…” Not simply “master” or even “king.” In the context of the New Testament,
quoting from the Septuagint, “Lord” often substitutes the divine name, “Yahweh”
in citations from the Old Testament. Jesus is Lord, He is God. The word “confess” here is an intensive form,
refers to an open, public confession.
This is not a confession of faith, at this moment people are either
saved or are not. All however will bow
the knee and publicly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.
At
Jesus’ birth, the angel announced: “…today in the city of David there has
been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord” (Lk 2:11). Jesus told his disciples “You call me
teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am” (John 13:13), and
after the resurrection Thomas confessed, “My Lord and My God”. At Pentecost Peter proclaimed, “Therefore
let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord
and Christ - this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36). Paul told the Romans “If you confess with
your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from
the dead, you will be saved” (Rom
10:9).
“…to
the glory of God the Father…” Here we see a hint of the intimate fellowship
within the Godhead: To proclaim the sovereign Lordship of the Son gives glory
to God the Father. As Jesus is
recognized as Messiah and King, as he is worshipped as our Savior and our God,
the Father also is glorified! Because of Jesus’ obedience in carrying out the
Father’s plan He has been exalted to the Father’s right hand. As we worship the Son, which is our only
fitting response to Him, the Father is glorified.
What
is God saying to me in this passage? One day all will bow, either in worship
or in defeat. Is He your Lord? Then
worship Him! To God be the glory!
How
then should we live? What is our response? We regularly gather to
worship, right? That is a good thing.
But know that…
1. We meet for worship, but worship
isn’t only for Sunday! A proper attitude about ourselves will come out of our
proper attitude toward God. Father, Son, and Spirit, three persons, eternally
existent as one God. There is mystery in that, we can’t know God exhaustively,
but we can know Him truly, we can take Him at His Word. And if we know
Him, we will love Him, we express that in our worship.
2. When we gather, we need to come
expectantly, coming to meet with Him, to hear from Him, to worship the exalted
Lord, Jesus Christ.
3. In Isaiah 6, as the prophet saw the
Seraphim worshipping the exalted Lord, he said “Woe unto me, I am undone”!
He saw himself in the light of the holiness of God, he knew he was a guilty
sinner. The closer we get to God, the more clearly we see Him through his Word,
the more clearly we’ll see our desperate need for grace. Our sins separated us
from God. Yet, He bore our sins in his own body on the Cross.
Human sin brought death. The sinless God-Man, Jesus Christ, brought life and
light, restoration, through the Gospel. How should we respond? Think back a
few verses… Have this attitude in yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus…
He must increase, I must decrease. All hail King Jesus! AMEN.
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