Experiencing the Glorious Exaltation of Christ

Philippians - Under Pressure • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

0 ratings

· 6 views

Notes

Transcript

Today’s scripture is all about lifting up the Name of Christ as high as we can. This idea of lifting the Name of Christ… At the Olympic podium, the athlete who stands on the highest step is the one who performs and does the best. The whole idea of a first-place podium is that the athlete stands taller than all the rest because they deserve recognition for being the best, so we lift that athlete up to the very top and give them the recognition they are due. Their names become recognitions of greatness. When you say that champion’s name there comes an immediate recognition of elite athlete.

We elevate those athletes and names and people because we recognize greatness.

I’ve titled the sermon today, “Experiencing the Glorious Exaltation of Christ.” Exaltation. What is exaltation? It’s exactly what we do with those Olympic athletes. When we put them up on the podium and celebrate them, we are exalting them.

Now. On to Christ… When we exalt the name of Christ, it’s similar to the way we lift up our winning athletes. When we recognize Christ, we are to lift up His Name as the greatest human to ever walk the earth. We lift up His Name as the only one who could save us. We lift up His Name as the only one worth following and obeying. We lift up His Name because He is worthy! So I hope you’ll lift up His Name in worship worthy of the King this morning.

Exalt the Name of Christ! Higher than we lift up the names of our favorite athletes.

---

Paul wanted the Philippians to emulate Christ’s humility so that they would receive a similar exaltation when He returns, remembering that Christ deserves all the praise and glory the world has to offer.

In today’s sermon we’re going to start at the end and work our way back to the beginning! A little different, but it’ll make sense why we’re doing this as we go along. So let’s go to the very end and see what the end of the Christ Hymn has to say to us.

All Will Worship Christ

Philippians 2:11 (ESV)

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Here at the end of the Christ Hymn, Paul points out that there will be a day when all people will come to the recognition that Christ is Lord over all creation.

He will be worshipped! He will be confessed as Lord! Worship is giving God the recognition and praise He deserves.

What does it mean to worship Jesus? How do we worship Him more deeply and fully? It comes through knowing and experiencing Him.

We seek to know Him more so we can worship Him better. This one hits me hard because I’m a learner. I love to learn about things. Especially when it comes to story backgrounds. I could get lost in the background of a story. Lore, they call it. When you begin talking about the lore of something, it’s knowing the world in which a story is set. So, you may be familiar with the Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings… Those worlds… Narnia, Middle-Earth, both have background stories of how the different kingdoms and characters interact, what their relationships are like, etc. I can get so lost in learning all the background to these kinds of stories. Because they make the story that’s being told make so much more sense! It’s by knowing the world and the context in which the story sits that one can truly understand what’s going on.

Well, knowing Jesus and worshiping Him is like that. A lot of times, we get caught up in our me-and-Jesus story. That’s good and well! We should be absolutely caught up in our personal walk with Christ! We should always have an eye out for how He is moving about in our lives! However, our personal lives with Christ should first be informed by who Christ is in the Bible. This is how we know we’re worshiping Christ, and not just some idealized versions of our own desires.

Transition: If we don’t have the knowledge of who Jesus truly is, then we can fool ourselves into thinking we’re following Christ, and all the while we’re just satisfying our own desires. Now, listen, I don’t want to leave you here, but I think sometimes it’s spiritually healthy for us to pause, reflect, and consider if the trajectory of our lives is pointed toward Christ or away from Him. Chances are, if you’re in church consistently, you’re headed in the right direction of obedience. So don’t be too hard on yourselves.

All Will Serve Christ

But let’s look at v. 10 and consider…

Philippians 2:10 (ESV)

so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

The scripture is clear… Every knee will bow to Jesus. The act of kneeling is a display of submission to a ruler. And when the Scripture says that we will bow the knee, it shows that we stand at the Lord’s disposal to do His will. And it’s not just limited to humanity. The Scripture says EVERY knee. Those above the earth… The angels… those on the earth… Humanity… and those under the earth… the deceased. I think it’s important that we keep in perspective that “Under the earth” is not the realm of the demonic, but simply those who are deceased. The realm of the demonic, at this point in time, is at war IN CREATION with the real of Heaven. Satan has yet to be thrown into the Lake of Fire. That time is to come. It is not yet. And he won’t rule over hell, much to the dismay of the comic strips you see on facebook. Rather, he will face intense punishment in hell, along with others who refuse to acknowledge Christ as Lord.

For us, we must serve Christ as Lord. And Christ alone as Lord! He is the only One who is worthy of our bowing the knee. There is no other.

The Philippians had this problem in their town. They had a group of people going about worshipping the emperor…

Now that doesn’t mean there are not authorities on the earth to whom we submit. In other words, following Jesus does not get you out of traffic tickets, you understand. Those authorities are set up by God for human flourishing. Up until the point that they demand you disobey God, you follow them.

On the other hand… Don’t be a people pleaser. There are those who would demand you serve them over serving Christ. This is wrong. Believer, you are first and foremost to follow Christ. There are people in your life who would have you bow to their authority over and above Christ’s authority. When that time of abuse comes, you leave it and follow Christ.

The tricky thing about someone who would take advantage of you and your humble state is that these types of people manipulate you into thinking that serving them means serving God… This is the nature of spiritual manipulation. When someone has you convinced that if you do not submit to them, you are somehow being disobedient toward God.

Spiritual manipulation, while often rare, is one of the most heinous sins, because it seeks to usurp God’s throne in someone’s life and places the manipulator on that throne. And God does not share his throne… With anyone.

Paul has an answer to this:

Galatians 1:10 (ESV)

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Serving God and helping others can sometimes come to a crossroads. Namely, when someone abuses your help. Choose the path of serving God. Hear me clearly… Submitting to an abuser is not an act of godliness. It’s an act that comes as a result of being manipulated. It’s an act of submitting to another person’s sin. If you believe you are suffering under an abuser, my counsel to you as your pastor is to do whatever you can to get out of that abuse.

But the problem is, is that it takes a long time for someone who is abused to recognize that they are being abused. This is the unfortunate nature of submitting to abuse. So many times the abused takes on the guilt of being abused. They think they chose to be abused. They think they are the ones to blame. Such is the nature of abuse and neglect. The abused all too often cannot see the nature of abuse for what it is. It takes years for people to recognize it.

So do not submit to a false Christ. No mortal man. Not a false version of Christ. Submit to the Jesus you read about and hear from in the Word of God.

Finally, we come back to the beginning:

Step Down to Move Up

Philippians 2:9 (ESV)

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

Now, this “therefore...” I always heard the joke, “when you see the therefore, you gotta figure out what it’s there for!”

So, because of this.. Because of what? Because Christ has humbled Himself to the point of death!

This is the great irony of this passage. Christ was made the least of all people, dying a criminal’s death in exchange for a sinless life. And because of this great act of humility, God raised Him up to have a Name higher than any other name! It’s crazy!

Mark 10:29–31 (ESV)

Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

You don’t ascend the corporate ladder by changing trash bags. You don’t achieve through self-deprecation. But yet, Christ did.

And, so do we. This is why Paul told the Philippians to have this mind among themselves. Because there is coming a day where we will be lifted up with Christ. We will not be on His level, but we will be considered co-heirs with Him. the Lord is quite clear. Those who are the least of these will be made first in the kingdom of Heaven. I believe there are some pompous preachers who will be scrubbing the floors of the quiet saints who humbly follow Jesus in Heaven. Those who seek to make much of themselves will be made the least in Heaven, and those who make the most of Jesus will be made great in Heaven.

Y’all, we don’t have time for the Parable of the Talents today, but maybe soon. For now, here’s what the Lord says to the servant who is given 5 coins and made 5 more coins with those coins for when the Master returned…

Matthew 25:21 (ESV)

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

What God has given you… Use to make much of Him.

If you do not know Christ, humble yourself and know Him today.

Related Media

Related Sermons