Palm Sunday – March 28, 2010

Philippians 2:5-11 - Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 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.

Do you ever wonder what Jesus’ thoughts were as he rode in that Palm Sunday parade? He had no false dreams about where that ride was taking him. All the palm waving and hosanna shouting didn’t fill him with delusions of grandeur. Earlier, on the way to the parade, he had told his disciples exactly what lay ahead of him. Not a kingly mansion, but a criminal’s death. Not the keys to the city, but a cross outside it. So he enters Jerusalem, not in a Cadillac, but on a donkey.

And there is something altogether remarkable about this! He, who is by his very nature God, willingly came from heaven to earth, from glory to shame, from Master to servant, from life to death! And we must make sure not to miss the implications this has for us, the Palm Sunday worshiper. After all, it is by willingly humbling himself that Jesus lifts us up. It is by means of the cross that our forgiveness and salvation is won. In addition to this, we see that if this is the attitude our Savior displayed, should not we, his followers, exhibit the same? If the way of our Master was difficult and distressing, should not we, his followers, expect the same?

God bless our study of his words this morning as we follow Jesus from Cross to Crown.

It all seems so strange to us, doesn’t it? Victory through apparent defeat! But that is what Christ’s death on Calvary was. To the world it all looked like the inglorious end of a man who had held out such glorious hope. Many had thought he would restore Israel as a political power. They shouted their hosannas with eager anticipation, only to change their cries to “Crucify Him!” when it became apparent that he was headed for the cross. And, as Jesus was hanging on the cross, battered and bleeding, it looked like the end. And it was the end – but an end very much different from that which the suffering and shame of the cross seemed to indicate. Christ’s death on Calvary was the chief purpose for which he had come. His, “It is finished,” was not the whimper of defeat but the cry of triumph. It was “Mission accomplished!”

Jesus’ death on Calvary came as no surprise to him. He knew from eternity that this was the way God would reconcile the world to himself. The way appointed by the Father was giving, not getting. It was sacrifice and disgrace, not taking advantage of one’s position. So Paul says, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” At no point did Jesus, who is true God, hesitate to come down from his glorious home in heaven and take on a true human nature. And although he remained true God, he did not always use or demand his rights as God.

And not only did Jesus humble himself to become man among men. Not only did he live an earthly existence that was altogether humble and lowly. For man’s sake he lowered himself to depths to which no other man has ever gone or could ever go when he “became obedient to death— even death on a cross!” Now, for someone to die on a cross is not unheard of, but for one to voluntarily do it – that’s mind-boggling! For one to do it in the place of his enemies - try to wrap your mind around that! Yet, this was the Father’s plan for our salvation! God promised all this misery for his Son and the Son of God agreed that all this should take place and happen to him. And every step of the way the Son directed his footsteps so that he would go directly to the cross. So he would suffer shame, disgrace, and pain. Who ever heard of such a thing? To purposely walk to a cross filled with torture and ridicule and suffering and pain? To make a promise to your own hurt when you don’t have to and then make absolutely sure that not a bit of the hurt is left unfelt? But that is exactly what happened in the journey of Christ that ended on Good Friday. He promised that he would suffer the torments of death and hell, not because he deserved any of it but for us and in our place.

It was all done to benefit us! As the substitute for the entire human race, Jesus bore our sins and took our curse. Because Jesus took our sins, God declares us sinless in his sight. Because Jesus paid for our guilt, we are set free. In God’s marvelous plan of salvation our sins were charged to Christ and his righteousness credited to us. Now, Paul says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”

Paul wrote these words to Christians. And the very fact that he felt it necessary to write them gives the powerful impression that our attitude, even as Christians, is not always the way it needs to be - and he’s right. You see, Paul recognized that Christians still have what is called a sinful nature living with them. That is why we still need these words this morning too. Yes, we are Christians, but within each of us there still lives a very wicked sinful nature as well.

You see, there was a time that every single one of us in this building was a hardened, rebellious, stubborn unbeliever. In fact, God’s Word tells us that already at birth we had three strikes against us. As descendants of Adam, as offspring of sinful parents, we were born spiritually blind, dead and hostile to God. Our rebellious mind consisted of nothing but selfish, self-centered, self-loving and self-pitying thoughts. And just as a dead body has no power to act by itself, by nature we could not even begin to cooperate with God. In fact, worse than that, by nature we actively resisted the will of God. I know it’s hard to hear, but this was you and me at one point in our lives, no matter if it was only hours, or weeks or years before we were brought to faith. At one point in the life of every single one of us, we had reservations in hell.

All that changed, of course, when the good news of Jesus work on our behalf reached our hearts and the Holy Spirit worked the miracle of faith. At that very moment the old sinful nature which sat on the throne of our hearts controlling our lives was knocked off and a new person led by the Spirit was created to sit in its place. But the sinful nature didn’t leave. He is still seeking to regain control of our hearts. So, to the new man, Paul now says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”

This is an appeal to the Christian will. When we truly understand the significance of what Jesus did for us, how can we refuse to heed this admonition? How can we live selfishly when we belong to such an unselfish Lord? How can we be willing to compromise principles of God’s Word because we feel the burden on us to follow is too great? How can we trade listening to the Word for work and wealth and chasing the things of this world? How can we refuse to suffer wrong at the hands of others when love requires us to set aside “our rights”? Shall we not be willingly to serve one another for Jesus’ sake? Shall we not be willing to suffer worldly loss for Jesus’ sake? Shall we not be willing to struggle against the sinful flesh and carry our own crosses for Jesus’ sake?

The one who shuns the cross of struggle against the sinful flesh, whose aim in life is to simply have no difficulties come their way as a result of their faith and chases after pleasure as the goal of life will end up being covered in disgrace and eternal sufferings. This is what Jesus said, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? ³⁷ Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels” (Mark 8:36-38). The alternative to cross bearing, the alternative to sharing the attitude of our Savior Jesus Christ is to forfeit eternal life.

That is why Paul makes this appeal to the new man on the basis of Christ’s work. It is all that Christ accomplished for us in his lowliness, in his suffering for us, on the cross for us that moves us to an attitude and will that imitates his. And, not only his lowliness, but his exaltation too, “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.”

When Jesus mission was complete, God himself crowned the work that Jesus had done and declared it perfect by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand. By doing so he proclaimed that Calvary was the triumphant end of the Savior’s suffering. Willingly he had submitted to the cross. Freely he gave up his life. Lovingly he paid our debt in full. He was forsaken so we might never be forsaken. He endured the shame so that we might be glorified with him. So that the burdens of this life and the crosses we bear would not be a permanent thing for us.

In all of this there is application for all ages, for there are special burdens that come to the young, old, and middle alike. For the young there is the special cross of trying to fit in, and the assumption that this happiness will only be found in sin. But the attitude of Christ demonstrated on the cross answers, “You already fit in, you’re mine, no one will ever love as much as I do. When I was hanging on the cross, and all those around me said ‘Come down!’ I refused. Why? Because I thought of you at this very moment in your life.”

For those in the middle the special burdens can perhaps be summed up with one word: priorities. The business of making a living, of getting ahead, of accomplishing goals can turn our eyes away from the cross of Christ and his saving benefit. Our priorities can become altogether worldly, fixed on the temporal and the temporary. The answer to this is found in the Word, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34), and in his cross: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

For an example of burdens that those in their golden years experience, and for the answer found in Christ’s cross, listen to this quotation from “The Theology of the Cross,” written by Daniel Deutschlander: “The body is losing its ability to bounce back from sickness; sight and hearing are failing; organs that always worked before now hurt more than they work. We can get angry and…can even shake an occasional fist at God for letting us suffer [this]. Or we can look to the cross of Christ and say: ‘You embraced this pain that I feel and so much more because you loved me and desired only my salvation. I was your priority, not your own comfort and ease! Now in my pain I marvel still more at your love for me.’ We can recognize in the loss of strength and vitality God’s hand, as he sweeps away all the distractions and the noise of life, so that we can focus on that one thing needful.”

Friends, moved by the perfect example of our Savior, driven by the Spirit at work within us, gazing at the home of heaven waiting for us, may God help us strive to cultivate a Christ-like attitude, so our Christian life, like Jesus’ life, may be one that travels the path from humility to glory, from cross to glory. First traveling to his cross, which enables us to rejoice in suffering for the sake of his cross, and then to the glory his cross has won for us. Amen.