He Humbled Himself - Phil. 2:8

Victories: 1. Thanks for those who came to the Maundy Thursday passover Seder 2.

Prayer: Exit Church - Forrest Brown & Tyler Shirley

Missionary Prayer: PHC

In Jesus’ Name I pray.

He is Risen!

I never tire of hearing that pronouncement. It is everything that is good. It is everything that wonderful. It is all the greatness, all the majesty, and all the Good News of the Gospel all wrapped up in 3 words. HE IS RISEN!! If you don’t know me my name is Curtis Rhoadarmer and I want to welcome you here today to New Hope Baptist Church as we celebrate a Risen Savior, as we celebrate Jesus Christ our merciful Savior. As we begin our look at just who Jesus is I have asked Pastor Andrew to start us out with a poem / prayer written by an anonymous Puritan back in the 15th century. This prayer is a heartfelt plea to the Holy Spirit, acknowledging His role in convicting the heart of sin and bringing about spiritual change. It emphasizes the need for a deep and personal encounter with God's truth and grace and it is just that kind of encounter that I want us to have with the living Savior today on this Resurrection Sunday.

"The Convicting Spirit" slides

May we find all of these in Christ and may we find it through the Good news of the Gospel. It is the Death and Resurrection of Jesus that brings us this mercy and it is the fact that He did it to pay for the sins of all sinners that we worship Him today. My hope and prayer today is that you will hear the message of Jesus and you will desire His message for your very own, or that you will hear the Gospel and it will deepen your relationship with Him. The message of Christ is for both sinner and saint and it gives both Life. Today I want to point you to a passage in the New Testament that proclaims the actions of Jesus and why He chose to Humble Himself and become part of humanity. Let’s read Philippians 2:1-11 together.

Bible Reading - Phil. 2:1-11

His Death is My Death

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. “ Here is a truth of scripture, Jesus didn’t consider His life to be of such importance that it could not be sacrificed to do the will of the Father. He was God, He was the creator, He was Jesus! If anyone had the right to be puffed up to be self-important it was Jesus and yet that is not what we see here. Paul reminded the Philippians that although Jesus was in the form of God He did not consider that to be a reason to be disobedient to the plans of God. We in turn are told to look upon this act of Christ and to let it be in our mind as well.

Jesus made Himself of no reputation and came as a bondservant. If we are to follow in His footsteps we too should leave our self-importance behind. Who are we in light of Christ? Is there some reason that we should be exempt from the call of Christ to deny ourselves and to take up our cross? Is there something special about you and I that we should not become of no reputation and become a bondservant of God? Have you recieved exemption from God to be sinful and disobedient and yet still receive the promised gift of Heaven? Scripture is clear in saying that all of have sinned and fallen short of the expectations of God and that the those who have chosen the darkness over the light of Christ will be condemned. So how is it that you believe that you are exempt from this?

Jesus became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. The great preacher Charles H Spurgeon said of this scripture, “You and I can have no idea of how high an honour it is to be equal with. God. How can we, therefore, measure the descent of Christ, when our highest thoughts cannot comprehend the height from which he came? The depth to which he descended is immeasurably below any point we have ever reached; and the height from which he came is inconceivably above our loftiest thought… He never seems to stop in his descent until he comes to the lowest point, obedience unto death, and that death the most shameful of all. “even the death of the cross.”” Forgiveness and mercy given to us through the good news of the Gospel from our perspective is a repeated truth claim that has over time lost its splendor in our hearts. We repeat it and yet it does not stop our hearts in their place as it should. Even repeating the fact that Jesus, God with skin on, became obedient to death, barely registers with us. White noise at best, just a fable or myth at worst. But you would be wrong to dismiss or deny this truth.

I lack the words to describe this lowering of Christ into the form of man to you. I lack the passion to help either of us understand what it meant for Jesus to become obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. We can see in scripture that whatever the power it took for Christ to prepare for the cross; its effect was seen in Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prayed that the cup would pass over Him. The depth of anguish on Jesus in this moment was beyond our understanding for just the thoughts of what would happen over the next several hours before and after the cross brought Jesus to sweat blood. But don’t believe that the thought of the the beatings and the charges against Him were the cause of His anguish in the garden. Many have faced beatings and even false accusations some even far worse than Jesus and they did not sweat blood. Don’t believe that the mockings and the pain Jesus experienced by being nailed to a Roman Cross was the cause of Christs pain in the garden. Again many have experience this and some even worse. No. The cause of Jesus’ anguish and pain in the garden, to the point of sweating blood, had nothing to do with the physical pain and psychological torment that He would have to endure, and everything to do with that moment on the cross when God the Father would place the entirety of humanities sin onto Jesus and then God would turn His back to Jesus. This was a pain that we cannot imagine, this is a torment we have no words to describe. And I pray that we never will because if we understood even minutely the anguish that Christ experienced in this moment we would not survive that thought.

However, while the words and passions might fail us; our obedience to them is what is expected. We cannot fathom the steps that Jesus took to become man nor the anguish experienced in taking on sin but we can live our life in light of them. We are commanded by Jesus to die to ourselves and to take up our cross daily and follow Him. When I long for my will to be done, I must repent of my selfishness and I die to myself, crucified with Christ and risen again. When I long for the sin that entangles my life, I must take the cross of Christ and I allow it to change my path. His death was for my sin and I need my sin to stay crucified. When I am tempted, I learn to take up the cross and am crucified with Christ. When I am prideful, I take up the cross and am crucified with Christ. When I want to cling to the things of this world, I take up the cross and am crucified with Christ. If this mind is in me which was also in Christ Jesus then His death is my death.

His Life is My Life

However, while we remember the Death of Christ this day it is not His death that we celebrate but I say it again, HE IS RISEN! Oh the Joy in hearing those words. Oh the wonder it is that our God whose love is beyond our comprehension, whose mercy is deeper than depth of all the oceans, whose wrath is fearsome, whose Son is highly exalted and His sinless life is beyond our understanding.

Once again if this mind is to be in us as it was in Christ Jesus then His resurrection is our resurrection. The Gospel of Luke gives us this very contrary statement through the words of Jesus, Luke 9:24 “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” Jesus’ words make no sense to our ears because we so value the life that we have that to give it up sounds like death but what we are unable to understand is that in order to truly live we must lose our so-called lives. We must allow Christ’s resurrection to be our resurrection as well.

Jesus spoke to the Pharisee Nicodemus in John 3 and called this kind of resurrection a rebirth. John 3:5–7 “Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” Jesus told Nicodemus that we would not be born of our mothers again but that we would have a rebirth from our flesh into spirit so that our physical death will not bring about our spiritual death.

This is the new life that we are to receive. His death is the death of our old life and His resurrection is our rebirth into a new and living hope. Only Jesus can bring us that kind of hope. What is that new hope? If we are to be in the same mind as Christ then we too are to receive the glories of Christ. We are beloved of God, called God’s children just as Christ was God’s son. The first part of Phil. 2:15 states just this, Philippians 2:15 “that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God...” We are given mercy by God just as Jesus was resurrected by God. We are to be highly exalted by God as His children just as Jesus was Highly exalted in verse 9. Philippians 2:9 “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,” We too are to be raised up, Philippians 2:15 “...children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,” We get to shine. Because Jesus is alive we are alive, because Jesus is raised up we have the promise of our own raising to our eternal home in heaven.

Does it matter that Jesus is God? It matters to me but you have the make that decision for yourself. So a better question is: Does it matter to you? Will you allow it to change you? Jesus Humbled Himself for you. Will you allow His death to be your death? Will you allow His life to be your Life?

Let us remember He did all this for you. He Humbled Himself.

Gospel

Jesus died for our sins and because He did we can place our belief in that sacrifice. 1 John 1:9 says, “we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We have the promise of God that if we ask for forgiveness and believe in the saving power of Jesus we will be saved. And from the saving power of Jesus, we become new creations. 2 Cor. 5:17 states, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” This means that as Christians we get a fresh start we aren’t who we used to be and we have the power of God behind us to change who we are becoming. Glory to God in the highest for He has saved my soul and He can save yours to if you will let Him. If you aren’t sure then you can confess Him as your savior. If that is your desire today you can say this prayer with me. Bow your heads.

Dear Lord, I know that I’m a sinner. I’m sorry for my sin, and I ask you to forgive me. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I repent of my sins and I ask you to come into my life and take control. I make a commitment to follow you, and I trust you as my Lord and Savior.

Friend if you prayed that prayer today I ask that you come and speak to me after the service.

Benediction: Colossians 3:16–17 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”