The Gift

            I absolutely love Christmas! I know some of you are rolling your eyes because I’m a pastor and I’m supposed to love Christmas. Well, I don’t love Christmas because I’m a pastor and I have to, I love Christmas because of The Gift. Try and think back to Christmas when you were a kid. For some of you, that was just last Christmas or just a few Christmases ago. However, for some of us, that was a long time ago. But I can still vaguely remember the anticipation of desperately hoped-for Christmas gifts and the realized joy of tearing through the wrapping paper to finally get to those gifts. When I became a parent, I experienced watching the anticipation of desperately hoped-for Christmas gifts in the eyes of my children and their unrestrained joy of tearing through the wrapping paper to get to those gifts. When I was a kid, the true meaning of Christmas was certainly not lost even though it wasn’t emphasized as much as it probably should have been. However, as I’ve gotten older, the meaning of Christmas has taken on greater significance.

            If you recall, last Christmas I announced that I had been sick for more than a year which served to shift my focus away from the things of this world that so easily distracted me and onto the people in my life who had always been so very important to me—all of you who so faithfully followed my lessons over the years, a few close friends and family members, and especially my wife and daughters who had endured so much to that point because of my illness. Unfortunately, this past year has been filled with more and varied health complications and setbacks that served to perpetuate the unrelenting daily pain and exhaustion associated with the illness. I’ll be honest with you, there have been times when I’ve wanted to give up. However, God has used the struggles of this year not so much to shift my focus away from all the things He brought into focus at the end of last year but to highlight the one thing that matters most—Him. In the months leading up to this Christmas season and especially during this Christmas season, I am keenly focused on not just God generally, but on God, as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. This Christmas I feel almost like that little kid again who anticipated those hoped-for gifts under the tree. Except for this Christmas, I’m not looking forward to just any gift; I’m filled with excitement and anticipation to celebrate The Gift.

Subject Text

Luke 2:4-18

            ⁴So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. ⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” ¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” ¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

Context

            We tend to forget about a few very important events that began more than a year before our Subject Text. Luke tells us in chapter one that an angel visited a man named Zechariah and told him that his wife, Elizabeth, would become pregnant and give birth to a son who was destined to be God’s servant in the same way that the beloved Old Testament prophet Elijah served God—specifically, to turn the people’s hearts back to God. Elizabeth would eventually give birth to John the Baptist who would, indeed, preach repentance of sins to clear the path for relationship with God. That path for a reconciled relationship with God led straight to Jesus who John introduced to the people. And it was John who baptized Jesus at the inauguration of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

            Six months after an angel visited Zechariah with divine news, an angel visited a young virgin girl named Mary with news that she would become pregnant and give birth to a son. But not just any son mind you, Mary would give birth to the Son of the Most High. Let that sink in for just a moment. We take so many things about the Bible for granted because we know them so well and they’ve become so familiar that they’ve lost some of their intended wonder and gravity. The angel didn’t just tell Mary that Jesus was going to be a king, the angel was telling her that Jesus would be THE King; the long-awaited Messiah. We jump to that conclusion right away because we know the entire story of Jesus. But Mary didn’t know that! Mary had to put the pieces of the angel’s proclamation together. Let me give you the key parts of the angel’s pronouncement that Mary was left to piece together:

Jesus’ name is derived from the Hebrew name Joshua and means “the Lord saves,” and

Ø  Jesus would be called “Son of the Most High,” and

Ø  Jesus would be the final King to sit on the “throne of his father David,” and

Ø  Jesus would be Israel’s (and the world’s) eternal King “forever,” and

Ø  Jesus would establish a kingdom that “will never end.”

Believers read all these things in Luke 1:31-33 in the context of the rest of the gospel of Jesus Christ and already know that He is the Savior of the world. But Mary didn’t have the context. She was a young, Jewish teenage girl who lived in the context of the Old Testament expectation of the Messiah. Imagine being a devout Jew whose country was occupied and ruled by Rome, a Gentile nation. Then suddenly an angel appears to tell you that you will give birth to Israel’s Messiah. Mary’s head had to be spinning. As unbelievable as all that news must have been, at what point do you suppose it dawned on her that she was a virgin AND she wasn’t married? For many people in our culture, being a virgin, even as a teenager, means there’s something wrong with you and becoming pregnant outside of marriage is no big deal. But in Mary’s culture, being a virgin until after marriage was non-negotiable. In fact, being sexually active outside of the marriage covenant meant, at best becoming an outcast, and at worst, being put to death. The angel told Mary that the Holy Spirit would miraculously plant the seed of God within her when she wondered how an unmarried virgin could become pregnant. No big deal, right? Well put yourself in Mary’s shoes and play that through your mind and then tell me how you would explain that to your parents. You know, something like this: “Mom, Dad, I have some exciting news! An angel visited me and told me that I would become pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Savior of the world! Isn’t that exciting?” Don’t kid yourself, Mary was in trouble, and I’m pretty sure she knew it. However, God knew exactly the challenges that Mary would face in her community, so He convinced her future husband, Joseph, not to refuse taking Mary as his wife even though she was pregnant and he wasn’t the father. Joseph’s humility to be obedient to God even though he knew what people would think of him for marrying a girl who was pregnant with someone else’s child, set the stage for the Old Testament fulfillment that prophesied the ancestral lineage and the geographical birthplace for the divine Messiah. More importantly, it is here in our Subject Text that we are introduced to The Gift.

Text Analysis

⁴So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

            Think about the prophetic significance of what happens in vv. 4-5. Approximately 700 years before the events of our Subject Text, God revealed through the prophet Micah: “But you Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler of Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times (Micah 5:2).” The Messiah was prophesied to come from the line of David and was going to be born in Bethlehem. And then without any warning, world events that don’t appear to be related in any way whatsoever to biblical events begin to unfold precisely the way they were predicted hundreds of years before. If we read past this quickly, we miss exactly what these events mean in the grand scheme of our faith. Unbelievers disparage the faith of Christians as believing in myths and fairytales because we can’t present concrete evidence that Jesus is divine and must, at some point, take it on faith that Jesus is who He says He is and did what He said He did concerning our salvation. And that is true to a large extent. However, that doesn’t mean the Christian faith isn’t based on concrete historical evidence that supports that faith. All the characters in our Subject Text are real historical figures that are represented in both biblical and extra-biblical texts. All the biblical characters that wrote about the Messiah hundreds and even thousands of years before our Subject Text were also figures represented in both biblical and extra-biblical text.

Did you know that there are more than 300 prophesies about the Messiah going all the way back to the first chapters of Genesis? We have a handful of them in the first two chapters of Luke’s gospel. Do you want to know the probability of Jesus being the fulfillment of all those prophecies? Well just to give you an idea of how certain you can be that Jesus is the Messiah, the probability of Jesus fulfilling just eight of the Old Testament prophecies would be 1 x 10²⁸. Maybe that doesn’t paint the picture clearly enough for you. Here’s what the probability figure looks like: 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000! That’s the fulfillment of just eight prophecies, and two of them are right here in our Subject Text! Yes, it still requires faith to believe that Jesus is who He says He is and did what He said He did but it doesn’t take blind faith. Verses 4-5 demonstrate to us that God was always in complete control of all the events of history even though He appeared to be uninvolved for hundreds of years. “From the universal, we now move to the particular. To this point, it would appear that Augustus is sovereign over the whole world; he issues a decree and the whole populace travels here and there in order to participate in the Empire’s tax burden. Now, however, we learn not only how the census related to the unfolding of the angel’s words, but also that a still higher purpose is at work than that of the emperor…this is the first time in the Lukan account of Jesus’ birth that Joseph does anything, though even here he is introduced to us primarily in his relationship with Mary and his inherited status as a Davidide. Both the description of his journey as a ‘going up’ and the designation of his destination as ‘the city of David’ invite the reader to speculate that he is traveling to Jerusalem. Luke upsets such expectations by identifying Joseph’s destination and identifying the city of David as Bethlehem. In this narrative aside, Luke intrudes briefly to render explicit that Joseph is fulfilling the Scriptures and, thus, fulfilling God’s own purpose…As often in biblical narrative, then, we find here a conjunction of intentions. On one level, Joseph’s journey is the consequence of the almighty decree of Augustus. On another, even the universal rule of Augustus is conceived as subordinate to another purpose, the aim of God. One may call this ironic, as if Rome is made unwittingly to serve a still greater Sovereign. But it is also prophetic, for it reveals the provisional nature of even Roman rule.”[1]

⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

            Travellers during the time of our Subject Text could usually cover about 20 miles a day if they were healthy and didn’t run into trouble along the way. Considering Mary was probably nine months or close to nine months pregnant at the time, it probably took them a week to make the journey. After traveling the 80 or so miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph finally arrive in the city according to vv. 6-7. Unfortunately, so did all the other people who originated from the town of Bethlehem or were passing through on their way to their own town of birth. It seems clear that neither Joseph nor Mary had any relatives or acquaintances in town because they sought public accommodations when they arrived. And to make matters worse, Mary went into labor. Imagine this scene now—the small city is overrun with countless visitors from who knows where in the Roman Empire. Private homes are filled with visitors (relatives and/or acquaintances) and public accommodations are filled with everyone else. Joseph and Mary are on the outside looking in with “no room at the inn,” and Mary was in a bad way. I’ve been through the birth of two children and I’ve tried to put myself in Joseph shoes. Let me try and explain, in one word, what I would be experiencing at that moment: Panic! The only thing left for Joseph to do was improvise. So he found and prepared a place for Mary in a stable. A stable! Joseph fixed up a place for her to give birth to the Savior of the world in a dirty barn among the animals. And it gets worse. The text says that after Mary gave birth, she wrapped Jesus in some cloth and “laid him in a manger.” Do you know what that is? You know that little manger scene you have in your children’s books or that cute little manger scene some of you have set up under your Christmas tree? Yeah, it’s nothing like that. A manger is a feeding trough for livestock; donkeys, horses, cows, pigs, etc. The stable was filthy, disgusting, and smelled of dirty animals and their waste. But this is where we find the Son of God, the Savior of the world, the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6).” “The promised king came to his people but did not have enough power to secure a resting place for his birth. The descendants of David descended to a stable to find a place to lay the head of the King of kings. This is how God used earth’s lowest to bring salvation from heaven’s highest.”[2]

⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

            I love these verses. This year especially because I feel like they are speaking to me personally. I think it is telling that the angels announce the greatest news in all of history to those who were generally considered to be the lowest in the culture. This isn’t just any news. Verses 8-14 represent the Good News! You would think that this kind of world-changing news would be reserved first for the most influential people of their times; people who could leverage the Good News using their power and influence for the greatest possible good, but time and again we learn that God doesn’t work that way. Whether it’s a young, unmarried girl from a small town who becomes the mother of the Savior of the world, or the selection of a consortium of unlikely partners like a tax collector, fishermen, and even a former Pharisee to tell the world about that Savior, or whether it is the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ that started with His birth in a dirty manger in a small, backwoods town and ended with His death on the cross between two criminals atop a hill known as “the skull,” God doesn’t do things the way we would do them. In His wisdom, God knows best the people who will advance His plan of salvation for the world. God knows that the rich and famous; those who are happy, healthy, and comfortable can’t always appreciate important gifts. But the poor and the outcast; the forgotten and the marginalized; the sick and the lame; the lost and the lonely; the homeless and the destitute—these are the people for whom gifts are few and far between who can still appreciate the value of a priceless gift. So the angels visit a bunch of lowly shepherds out in the field watching their sheep and announce the coming of The Gift of Jesus Christ.

            “Luke quickly shifts scenes from the king lying where animals eat to burly men protecting animals in their natural homes. Shepherding had changed from a family business in David’s time (1 Sam. 16:11) to a despised occupation. Many shepherds were accused of robbery and using land they had no rights to. Shepherding was also a lonely occupation, particularly at night, as a shepherd stood his watch, making sure sleeping sheep did not wake up and wander and that prowling predators did not attack and devour the sheep. Only God would visit those in such a low occupation and raise them to witness to his salvation…

            “Shift the spotlight once more from earth’s lowly shepherds enduring a dark night to heaven’s most glorious messenger…As with Zechariah (1:12-13) and Mary (1:29-30), gazing at God’s glorious angel terrified the shepherds and brought quick reassurance: Do not be afraid. Gospel is coming, good news. Gospel elicits joy, not fear…Joy centers not in something you earn or possess. Joy comes from God’s gift, a tiny baby in a feed trough.”[3]

¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

            Here is the perfect example of what I was trying to explain from the previous verses. In the previous verses, I said that God always seems to know who will advance His plan of salvation and here vv. 15-18 confirm that. Go back and read the previous verses and you’ll see that nowhere do the angels instruct them to drop everything and go to Bethlehem and see for themselves. This is the first illustration that these men understand the value of The Gift. The shepherds weren’t at home lounging around watching TV. They were at work! And work to shepherds meant more than earning a little money. For many of them, it was the difference between eating or starving for them and their families. I know for a fact that hits very close to home for many of you. It hits very close to home or me. You know that if you miss even a day of work, you won’t have enough money to pay your bills. Well, it is likely that these shepherds were not too different in that they couldn’t afford to leave their flocks for fear of losing any of them. Nevertheless, these verses tell us that when the angels left them, they “hurried” off to Bethlehem to see for themselves what the angels told them. Look, I don’t know for sure but I’m guessing they didn’t “hurry” off to Bethlehem because they were curious—they had too much to lose to simply satisfy a curiosity. No, I’m guessing they “hurried” off to Bethlehem because they and their ancestors had been anticipating The Gift of the Messiah for generations and now He was here and they knew what that meant for them and they weren’t going to miss out even if it might cost them a few lost sheep.

            I know I keep doing this but think back again to Christmases when you were a kid. What was one of the things you did in the days following Christmas, especially when you went back to school? You and your friends sat around and told each other what you got for Christmas. When you received something truly amazing, you were instantly in awe by your friends and you couldn’t wait to tell everyone who would listen about the awesome gifts you received for Christmas. Well, these shepherds are essentially doing the same thing. After they were introduced to The Gift, they immediately went out told everyone about Jesus. These shepherds often get lost in the shadows of Jesus’ selected Apostles, Paul, and the other disciples but these are really some of the first evangelists who spread the Good News of Jesus Christ long before Jesus’ formal earthly ministry began. Can you see God’s wisdom in announcing the advent of Jesus to a bunch of shepherds? Think about it, what are the chances some wealthy aristocrat or religious leader would have left the warmth and comfort of their home to “hurry” off to Bethlehem to see for themselves? I’ll grant you that there may have been a few but then how many would have run off and announced that news to the shepherds out in the fields? Let’s not kid ourselves—it’s unlikely that even the few who may have “hurried” off to Bethlehem would have taken the time to intentionally reach out to the lowest in their culture with the Good News of the Messiah’s birth.

            “In a real sense, the story of Jesus is our story, told to us and for us just as if we had been among the angels on that night near Bethlehem. What the angels announced to the shepherds that night is announced on behalf of all humanity. Their journey to see these things should be every person’s journey to see what God is up to in Jesus. When people see that everything happened according to what God had told the shepherds, they and we should sense that God does what he says. Their sense of amazement should be matched by our own. The best way we show our amazement is with the response of a grateful, faithful walk that has ample donations of praise…

            “The response of the shepherds and Mary involves both praise and obedience. Mary’s obedience extends to her naming of the child. When God spoke, Mary listened. The testimony to her obedience is short, but telling. Similarly, the announcement of the sign leads the shepherds not only to follow where God has led them, but also to share what God has shown them when they arrive to see God’s word come to pass. So also we should follow where God leads and with grace testify to his direction in our lives.”[4]

Application

            I have to tell you that my level of anticipation and excitement for Christmas has risen exponentially while preparing this lesson. I so appreciate that God’s angels announced the coming Messiah to the lowly and despised shepherds first. Being especially sick while preparing this final lesson of 2017 has infused in me with an added sense that God has come to me personally to remind me that soon I will experience the joy of celebrating The Gift. I know how hard life has been for some of you this year. You too are struggling with serious health issues, you lost a child or someone you loved deeply, you just can’t make ends meet financially, you lost your job and can’t find a new one, you’re stuck in a job that is killing you slowly every day, your marriage has come to an end, or your child has rejected the faith and values he or she grew up with. You labor under a weight that you are certain will crush you. You are convinced that God either despises you, has rejected you, has forgotten you, or just doesn’t care about you. My heart breaks for you and I wish I could put my arms around you and tell you to hold on because a day of celebration is coming. The Gospel is coming! Good News is coming! The Gift is coming!

            Maybe like you, the shepherds had no real reason to hope that that fateful night would be any different than any other night. They had no reason to hope that their lives would be any better the next day. They had heard the stories of the Messiah, but when life beats you down far enough and hard enough, hopeful stories tend to become wishful fairytales. But when the angels showed up that night to announce the coming of the King, a wishful fairytale; a distant and vague memory, became a tangible reality that changed their world. I am thankful that we celebrate the coming of the King every year because even though it may be difficult to be excited about the struggles in your life, Christmas is the opportunity for you and me to focus on what God has done in the world generally and what He has done in our lives specifically through Jesus Christ. My hope and prayer for you this Christmas season is that you can side-step all the obstacles that life has placed in your path and can anticipate with great excitement the coming of our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—The Gift!

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[1] Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke—The New International Commentary of the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), pp. 126-127.

[2] Trent C. Butler, Luke—Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2000), p. 29.

[3] Trent C. Butler, Luke—Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2000), 29.

[4] Darrell L. Bock, Luke—The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 89.

(Audio version; Music--"Prince Of Heaven" and "Arrival" by: Hillsong Worship; Music Coordination by: Meagan Seredinski)

Does God Really Love Me?

            If you’re shocked that a pastor would ask that question, then you haven’t read many of my lessons. I’ve already confessed that I’m really no different than you are when it comes to the questions and struggles I have in this life. I may be better equipped to find the answers, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have the questions. So if you’re like me and you’re life isn’t always filled with rainbows and unicorns, you’ve probably wondered, Does God Really Love Me? If you’ve ever spent any time reading the Psalms, you’ll soon realize that not a few psalmists seemed to wonder the same thing when they lamented their life circumstances. Job lost absolutely everything—his possessions, his family, and his health. He demanded God explain why He allowed his suffering. He never asked the specific question, but if he believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that God loved him, then he probably wouldn’t have demanded that God explain why his life was in shambles. I might be wrong, but I suspect all Christians have doubted God’s love for them at some point in their life. I know I’ve wondered it more than once in my life. Growing up in the home of an abusive alcoholic I doubted God’s love after every beating. Throughout my life, there have been times when I have doubted God’s love for me. And recently, that same doubt found its way into my thoughts as I continue to struggle with health issues.

            Whether you are struggling with personal health issues, or you’ve lost someone you love, or your marriage has come to a painful end, or your marriage is just painful, or you’re terrified that marriage will never come to you, or having a child continues to elude you, or you’ve been devastated by the loss of a child, or your job is sucking the life out of you, or you simply can’t find a job, or you’re being crushed by financial struggles, or you continue to grieve for a child who has walked away from his or her faith, or daily you fear for your life simply because you are a faithful follower of Christ, at some point even the most steadfast believer’s resolve and belief in God’s love is tested. If that describes you right now or has described you at some point in the past when you just stuffed your doubt in the closet because someone at some point told you that doubting God means you’re not a very good Christian, let’s just be honest and ask the question, Does God Really Love Me? and together try and work through what that means.

Subject Text

Zephaniah 3:15-20

¹⁵The LORD has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm. ¹⁶On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. ¹⁷The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” ¹⁸“I will remove from you all who mourn over the loss of your appointed festivals, which is a burden and reproach for you. ¹⁹At that time I will deal with all who oppressed you. I will rescue the lame; I will gather the exiles. I will give them praise and honor in every land where they have suffered shame. ²⁰At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes,” says the LORD.

Context

            Zephaniah is one of the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament. His message is a short three chapters, but they are filled with a powerful and dire warning to Israel if they continued along their path of willful disobedience. Zephaniah was a prophet in Jerusalem from around 640 B.C. until around 621 B.C. Israel went through a period of being led by a succession of kings most of whom 2 Chronicles refers to as “evil.” During the time of Zephaniah, Josiah became the king of Israel. He was preceded by Manasseh who ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-five years. Manasseh reintroduced all the pagan religious practices that his father, Hezekiah, had removed from the land. As a result, the people were led into gross disobedience. Manasseh defiled the Temple and the Temple courts by building altars and phallic images for the sex god Baal and sex goddess Asherah. He also led the people to worship cosmic powers and sought guidance from the constellations. Manasseh burned his sons as sacrifices and practiced witchcraft and fortunetelling. He held séances and consulted spirits from the underworld. Why is it important that you know this, because as the leader goes, so do those who follow him. Manasseh was the model that the nation followed. It’s no surprise that God was furious. And this is precisely the context in which Josiah became king and Zephaniah prophesied. Josiah was a good king, but he had some hard work ahead of him, and Israel was staring into the teeth of God’s judgment according to Zephaniah’s warning. Zephaniah’s prophecy is frightening in its prediction of judgment. However, his message also contains one of hope when judgment leads the nation to repentance. What is important in the context of our Subject Text is the very clear message of God’s love for His people. During the coming judgment, the people could easily reach the point of despair that might lead them to wonder, Does God Really Love Me? and our Subject Text answers that question.

Text Analysis

            ¹⁵The LORD has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm.

            The first half of Zephaniah’s prophecy predicts “the great day of the Lord” that will “sweep away both men and animals…the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. The wicked will have only heaps of rubble when I cut off man from the face of the earth (1:3).” He describes that day as a day of distress, anguish, trouble, ruin, darkness, gloom, a day of clouds, and blackness (1:15). And if that isn’t frightening enough, Zephaniah tells them that they will stumble around like blind people when their blood is poured out like dust and their entrails like filth (1:17). Yikes! That certainly paints a hopeless picture. However, v. 15 shines a bright ray of hope into the darkness of Zephaniah’s bleak judgment. Notice what the prophet says—the Lord “has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy.” The judgment hasn’t even occurred at this point yet Zephaniah is already telling them that God has put an end to their distress and suffering.

What does this tell you about God? First and foremost, it tells you that God isn’t soft on sin. You can’t just go through life thumbing your nose at God and think He will close His eyes to it. Eventually, God will judge and punish all those who refuse to repent of their sins. “The Lord urges the people to repent because otherwise, their ‘iniquity will become to them their stumbling block.’ The Lord will clearly intervene, but from another perspective, it is the people’s sin that brings them to ruin because it prompts divine intervention. Divine sovereignty and human responsibility are held in delicate balance.”[1] “The unchanging love of God toward his people cannot rest apart from a completed redemption, despite the necessity of punishment for sins.”[2] Second, God is merciful and always ready to save those who repent and turn back to Him. Finally, when you combine the first two things, we learn that God is always sovereign; nothing is beyond his control. God has the power to judge and the power to save. We see this when Zephaniah describes God as the King of Israel. Remember I said that Josiah was the king in Israel. So what is Zephaniah saying? He’s saying that no matter who we think is in control over our lives, God is ultimately in control of everything.

¹⁶On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. ¹⁷The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

            I want to clarify a couple of things because of the way I split up vv. 16-17. To what day is “that day” referring? It is the day when God turns back Jerusalem’s enemies. And to whom is “they” referring. It is referring to all the enemies of Israel. So on the day when God turns back Israel’s enemies, their enemies will literally encourage them not to fear. Hands hanging limp is an idiom that signifies hopelessness and despair. Israel’s enemies are signaling their surrender at the hands of God, the “Mighty Warrior” who has come to save Israel. Of course, God coming to Israel’s rescue is a theme that is often repeated throughout the Old Testament. But I really want you to focus on what the prophet says in v. 17. Whether God rescues Israel from four hundred years of slavery in Egypt or from the brutality of the Babylonians, or the Assyrians, or the Persians, we are mistaken to believe that God did so just so that He had someone on hand to worship Him. Instead, look at how God feels about His people. Make no mistake, followers of Jesus Christ, His Church, are not just part of what is understood to be God’s people, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are a child of God (Jn. 1:12)! Having said that, God takes great delight in you! Not only does God take great delight in you, He rejoices over you with singing! I want you to close your eyes and think about this for a moment. Doesn’t this describe what you do? You take delight in God, don’t you? Isn’t your worship music an illustration of rejoicing over God in song? Most sincere Christians do this regularly, and it comes perfectly natural to us. But how does your perspective of God change when you realize that He does that over you or more accurately because of you—not because He worships you in any way but because He loves you so deeply? I can’t even begin to tell you how meditating on this verse has moved me and comforted me because I have done this with my own children, so it is very, very real to me personally.

            “The verse speaks tenderly of God’s love for his people. ‘Three parallel lines each containing three phrases express the deepest inner joy and satisfaction of God himself in his love for his people…that the Holy One should experience ecstasy over the sinner is incomprehensible.’ [Theologian, O. Palmer Robertson,] called the verse the John 3:16 of the Old Testament. Here we have the ‘reasons for their deliverance,’ namely God’s satisfaction with the remnant and Yahweh’s own power to save…

            “The general sense of the verse is plain: God delights in those who he has redeemed…God delights, he quiets, bursts into song over you…‘To consider Almighty God sinking in contemplations of love over a once-wretched human being can hardly be absorbed by the human mind.’ But that is exactly the point of the verse—God delights in you. The verb is most often intransitive, depicting the inward condition of the subject rather than depicting quietness conveyed to another. Yahweh joins the people’s singing and soothes them by expressing love. This amazing love of God for human beings is inexplicable. Human minds would never dream up such a God. Human actions or human character could never deserve such love. God’s love comes in his quiet absorption because this is who God is. In the core of his being, God is love (1 Jn. 4:8). Zephaniah thus sings the prelude to the cross king of love Jesus reveals, a love that ‘surpasses knowledge’ (Eph. 3:19). How can this not cause God’s people to praise! ‘surely the greatest reason for them to offer praise is found here. They are to rejoice in Him because He, their gracious King and Savior, rejoices in them.’”[3]

¹⁸“I will remove from you all who mourn over the loss of your appointed festivals, which is a burden and reproach for you. ¹⁹At that time I will deal with all who oppressed you. I will rescue the lame; I will gather the exiles. I will give them praise and honor in every land where they have suffered shame. ²⁰At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes,” says the LORD.

            Part of the prophetic doom predicted by Zephaniah about Israel is that they will be stripped of everything—their ability to formally practice their faith, their homes, their land, and all their possessions. If you think about it, Zephaniah is predicting that Israel will be stripped of its identity. God’s people were identified by all the commandments, and religious practices dictated to them by God Himself and by the land, homes, and possessions they took from the Canaanites who possessed the land before God handed it to Israel almost literally on a silver platter. Before that, they were basically refugees wandering around in the desert for forty years on their way out of Egypt. They practiced their faith but they didn’t become a nation of people until they took possession of the land. Zephaniah was saying that they were going to lose all that set them apart from everyone else—everything that made them special. However, just as devastating as that revelation must have been to them, vv. 18-20 must have been a relief that their identity as the people of God wouldn’t be lost forever.

            “For an exiled people, no set of promises carries more hope. To be gathered home, to have what was lost restored, and to be honored by other peoples of the earth are the normalcy and health for which every culture longs. For believers in Zephaniah’s Jerusalem, hearing the promise before any of this is lost will expand their view to the greater good God desires for them. Their culture will pass first through the great Babylonian crucible of purification. Then the people will understand that their previous cultural successes have come only through God, who gives all good things.”[4]

Application

            Does God Really Love Me? I fully realize that this question never even enters many, even most, of your minds. But I know some of you are like me and have asked this very question because I’ve talked with you, I’ve sat with you, I’ve wept with you, and I’ve prayed for you when your spouse was abusing you, after your marriage ended, after you lost your job, after your doctor told you had cancer, after you lost your loved-one, as you watched your grown child exchange his Christian faith for a life of willful sin and disobedience. As followers of Christ, we know the answer to that question academically. In other words, we know it in our head because most of us know John 3:16 by heart that God so “loved” the world that he gave his Son to die for us. We see that God loves us because we see images of Jesus hanging on the cross. So we know it is true in our heads because God says so in His Word and we can see it with our eyes. But there’s still something missing—do we know it in our heart? That’s it isn’t it?

When you struggle long enough, and your pain and/or grief is deep enough, what you have known and seen often gets crowded out by what you feel, and during those times, it really doesn’t feel like God loves you. The problem is that the cross is a one-sided event that only God could accomplish. When you think of the cross, what do you usually think about? You think of judgment, punishment, sin, penalty, and death. We usually don’t immediately associate the cross with love even though that’s precisely what motivated Jesus to willing go to the cross. Again, we know that in our head and we see it with our eyes, but it doesn’t always immediately touch our heart in the context of love especially when it feels like we are being crushed under the weight of our struggles. What we want; what we need is for God to convey love to us the way we would convey love to us; the way we convey love to others. Although dying for our friends and family may be the ultimate show of love, we normally show our love for friends and family when they know we delight in them; when we spend time with them; when we talk with them; when we laugh with them; when we celebrate with them. Now, look at how Zephaniah says God shows His love for you—God delights over you; He rejoices over you with singing! Wow! That image of God blows my mind! Be honest, do you normally picture God this way? I know I haven’t. I usually picture God as serious; all business. Perhaps reservedly delighted but not rejoicing and certainly not singing and never any of those things because of me! If you’re like me and find good news about your life to be in short supply right now and you’re pushed by pain and grief into wondering, Does God Really Love Me? You can know it in your mind because you’ve read it in His Word and see it with your eyes because you’ve witnessed the power of the cross but Zephaniah’s words should speak right to your heart with the answer, YES! God loves you expressed by His delight and joy over you with singing!

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[1] Mark J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville, eds., Dictionary of the Old Testament Prophets, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 672.

[2] O. Palmer Robertson, The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, (Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), 336.

[3] Kenneth L. Barker and Waylon Bailey, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah—The New American Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1998), 496-497.

[4] James Bruckner, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah—The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004), 332.

(Audio version; Music: "Seasons" by: Hillsong Worship and "O Come to the Altar" by: Elevation Worship--Music Coordination by: Meagan Seredinski)

Take A Knee

A few years ago, we had a young man by the name of Tim Tebow playing quarterback for the Denver Broncos, our American football team. He was a great athlete but not a very good quarterback. He was eventually traded to another team and bounced around a bit after that and eventually washed out of the league. To give you an idea of how good he is as an athlete, he won the college Heisman Trophy, two college football national championships, was a professional football player for four years, and he now plays professional baseball in the New York Mets organization. However, he’s not known that much for his great athleticism. Instead, he’s most famous for his outspoken Christianity and his unashamed witness as a follower of Jesus Christ. In interviews, he never fails to give credit to God for all the blessings in his life. He is particularly known for taking a knee in prayer while on the field before the game and after scoring touchdowns. Now if you’re a Christian who prays regularly (yes, there are actually Christians who do not pray regularly, but that will have to wait for another lesson), seeing a brother or sister in Christ take a knee in prayer is hardly an earth-shaking image. However, for the media and unbelievers, you would have thought the world was coming to an end. When Tebow bent his knee and bowed his head, they lost their collective minds and implored the National Football League to do something about his offensive {read: sarcasm} display of devotion to God claiming that his religious beliefs have no place on the football field and the public shouldn’t be forced to endure his overt references to Jesus Christ in interviews or barraged with images of him kneeling in prayer. After all, they would say, the football field isn’t the time or place for personal statements. It’s a place to play the game, and that’s it. It was comical at times how foolish his critics looked and sounded complaining about something they either don’t understand or simply abhor.

            Ironically, the National Football League (“NFL”) is embroiled in yet another kneeling controversy. This time, players are kneeling during the national anthem as a protest against what they believe to be racial injustice in our country. After eight years of the most divisive presidency in my lifetime, it’s no wonder our country is so horribly divided. Former President Obama was our first black President, and he had the perfect opportunity to be the most positive force in race relations in our country than perhaps any United States president in modern history. Instead, his stated objective, to “fundamentally transform” the country, required division—rich vs. poor, old vs. young, men vs. women, Christian vs. non-Christian, and a particularly insidious weapon in his arsenal was pitting blacks against whites (really any non-white group against whites). His administration’s divisiveness led to the murders of a number of white police officers by black militants and thugs who believed they had an advocate for their abhorrent behavior in the President of the United States. Thankfully the assault against police officers has subsided under the leadership of our new President. However, the fundamental transformation inspired by the previous administration had significant momentum, and racial division in America has a new foothold. Now, liberal Hollywood actors and actresses, liberal universities, the National Football League, and the National Basketball Association seem intent on keeping the fires of racism raging that were kindled by the previously divisive presidential administration. Athletes are protesting what they perceive to be an America that is racially and socially unjust by kneeling during the country’s national anthem. Hypocritically, the same media and unbelievers who so vociferously voiced their disdain when Tim Tebow kneeled to honor what he believed in—Jesus Christ, applaud today’s athletes who kneel during the national anthem to honor what they believe in—protesting racial injustice.

            I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that I think Tim got it right. Specifically, what or who we bow our knee to says something about us and as Christians should be reserved for one thing and one person—humble devotion to Jesus Christ. Racial injustice, provided it’s a real problem and not manufactured by race-baiters who benefit in some way from continued racial division, deserves sincere attention and corrective measures whenever or wherever it might occur. However, humble devotion to Jesus Christ is always appropriate. One day, it will be obvious to all people that devotion that bends a knee belongs only to Jesus Christ, not to any other person or cause no matter how important that cause may seem. It is only before that King of kings that we are to Take A Knee.

Subject Text

Philippians 2:1-11

¹Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. ⁵In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ⁶Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; ⁷rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! ⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Context

            Paul planted the church in Philippi with Timothy and Silas during his second missionary journey through the region. His letter to the Philippians is probably one of the four prison epistles written by Paul while being imprisoned in Rome (cf. Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon). That’s important to remember because, ironically, the epistle to the Philippians is often referred to as the “Hymn of Joy.” The Philippians had sent Paul a gift while he was in prison and he wanted to thank them and comfort them about his situation as a prisoner. However, Paul never missed an opportunity to teach and this letter was no exception. Paul wanted them to be very intentional about the way they behaved in relation to each other. Paul expected them to humble themselves and put others before themselves and their own interests in the context that we should follow the example of Jesus. Jesus had every reason to insist that people worship Him. Instead, he humbled Himself, didn’t demand devotion, or even attention for that matter, and became a servant to humanity and ultimately a sacrifice for humanity.

Text Analysis

¹Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

            If you read through Paul’s letters, it won’t take long before you realize that one of his primary themes is unity. Paul picks up on that theme in our Subject Text in vv. 1-2. Paul recognized that division of any kind is horribly destructive. As brothers and sisters in Christ, there is no room or justification for division. As Christians, we worship the same Lord and Savior and are united with one another through our common devotion to Jesus Christ. True believers share in common the Holy Spirit who resides in each of us. Therefore, if we are willing to humble ourselves and allow the Spirit to guide us, then we should be like-minded concerning our unmitigated devotion to Jesus Christ alone as Lord and Savior and our commitment to love one another.

            “Paul’s joy would be complete when they stood together in unity. His references to joy here suggested the anticipation of presenting a mature group of Christians to the Lord. His joy was that his life work would amount to something in God’s economy and in the lives of other people. This personal appeal, therefore, was a way of encouraging them onward for the glory of God.

            “The content of his exhortation is that they be ‘like-minded.’ The verb used here occurs ten times in Philippians (of twenty-three times in the in the Pauline corpus). It speaks to the intellect (i.e., a way of thinking), but it goes beyond that. It incorporates the will and emotions into a comprehensive outlook which affects the attitude. With this word and the contexts in which it occurs, Paul spoke of the values and ambitions which surface through the mind. This is unity. It is not found in an identical life-style or personality. It occurs when Christian people have the same values and loves. Paul sought that in this church.”[1]

³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

            Although vv. 3-4 are not the pivotal verses in our Subject Text, can you imagine a society that functioned according to these two verses? It’s almost impossible to imagine a society filled with people who are only interested in looking out for the welfare of others. However not just looking out for the welfare of others first but doing so without bringing attention to themselves in the process (cf. Mt. 6:3). That attitude is rare in our churches let alone in our society at large. But this is precisely what Paul is demanding of the Philippian believers and by extension all of us.

While I recognize how hard that can be in a society where you are surrounded primarily by unbelievers or Christians who behave like unbelievers, it is something we can all practice in our own homes. Once we have resolved to practice it in our homes, we can bring that attitude to our churches, and once we have committed to practicing it in our churches then we can bring it to our schools, to work, and to the public square. In any event, as sincere and committed Christians, caring for others above ourselves and doing so without the need for personal attention or recognition isn’t an option—it is part and parcel of who we are as followers of Jesus Christ who set the example for us.

            “After revealing the positive way for believers to behave toward one another, Paul gives negatives to avoid. Unity in love means selfish ambition and vain conceit have no place in the Christian life. Such characteristics arise from pride, not from love. Instead, humility is to characterize the Christian. We are not to exalt ourselves above others…Biblical love is selfless. The opposite of this kind of love is selfishness. Humility does not mean putting ourselves down but rather lifting others up.

            “Looking out for our own interests comes naturally. We need, and receive, no instruction for that. We are instructed to look out for the interests of others. We are to keep an eye out to discover ways we can help others even when they do not see they need such help.”[2]

⁵In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ⁶Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; ⁷rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

            Some of the clearest Christology in all of the New Testament is right here in vv. 5-8. These verses describe Jesus “as he existed before the creation of the world—that is, his preincarnate state. Jesus Christ was God. Everything God is, Christ is; the equality is in essential characteristics and divine attributes…When Christ was born, God became man. Jesus was not part man and part God; he was completely human and completely divine. Christ is the perfect expression of God in human form…In his full humanity, we can see everything about God’s character that can be conveyed in human terms.”[3] Although these verses tell us very clearly that Jesus is God, that He became incarnate as a man, and that He allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross for us, don’t miss something else very important about these verses—it’s v. 5. Specifically, it’s Paul’s stipulation that we are to have the same mindset of Christ, “In your relationships with one another.” After Paul makes it clear the Jesus is God, he tells us that we can do the same things Jesus did. “Christ voluntarily gave of himself, making himself nothing…What appeared on earth was not a prince in a palace, or a royal king, or a wealthy and scholarly teacher; instead, Jesus’ entire life was devoted to serving others.”[4] I want to explain vv. 6-8 by breaking them down into the categories of—POSITION, POWER, and POSSESSIONS.

POSITION—Jesus is God. However, Paul tells us that Jesus didn’t allow His POSITON to dictate how He would relate to us. He was superior but He didn’t have a superiority complex. He was clearly in charge but He wasn’t bossy. He was clearly above everyone else but never looked down on anyone.

            POWER—Jesus is God. John tells us that through Jesus all things were made and that without Jesus nothing would exist (Jn 1:3). Jesus walked on water, healed the sick and the lame, gave sight to the blind, gave hearing to the deaf, and raised the dead back to life. He could have come to us and demanded anything He wanted. He could have come as the conquering Messiah the Jews expected. He had the POWER do and be whatever He wanted but He came to us as a man—but not just as any man, He came to us as a servant. Imagine that; God came to us as a servant!

            POSSESSIONS—Jesus is God. We tend to think that the things we purchase; the things we own—our POSSESSIONS, actually belong to us. Well, in a sense they do, but only as tools to use during this life. ***News Flash*** -- You can’t actually take anything with you when you die! In reality, everything belongs to God for our joy and to use for His purposes. Nevertheless, we must be prepared to give up everything if He asks us to because He gave up everything for us—even His life.

            Jesus had the POSITION, POWER, and POSSESSIONS, to get what He wanted by force but He didn’t do that. Instead, He gave up all those things to get what he wanted—a relationship with us by our own free will. Paul is saying that Jesus gave us an example to follow in our relationships with one another. Like Jesus, we must be willing to set aside or give up whatever benefits we enjoy from our POSITION, POWER, and POSSESSIONS if they create an obstacle in our relationships with one another.

⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

            Of all the words contained in vv. 9-11, don’t overlook the very first word, “therefore.” As you probably know, most of the time there isn’t an immediate payoff for sacrifice. We can set aside our position, our power, and our possessions in this life over and over and over and never get anything in return. That’s why it’s important to remember that when we do that, we aren’t investing in this life, we are investing in the life to come. What we do by setting aside our position, power, and possessions in this life is invest in one another. That’s what Jesus was doing and that’s what we must do as well. “Therefore” God exalted Jesus to the highest place and “therefore” we will be rewarded as well.

Jesus’ sacrifice means that at some point all of creation will kneel before Him and confess that He is, in fact, Lord of all. When I say, all will kneel before Him, I mean all people—believers and unbelievers alike—will acknowledge Him as Lord of all. However, for unbelievers it will be too late. They will be judged for their unbelief and condemned to be eternally separated from God. Yes, by choosing to reject Jesus in this life they will have chosen to accept an eternity in hell in the next life. However, believers will finally receive their reward—eternity in the presence of the One they already kneeled before during this life. They will hear the words all faithful followers of Christ long to hear: “Well done good and faithful servant (Mt. 25:23).” Look at that word “servant.” When Jesus recognizes you as His servant, it means you were faithful to follow His example because He too came to us as a servant. And your reward is being glorified for eternity in heaven with Him.

            “Kyrios, Lord, is Paul’s title par excellence for Jesus. This is ‘the name which is above every name’ given to Jesus in his exaltation, so called because it is God’s name. It is the word frequently employed in the LXX (the LXX refers to the Septuagint which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament by seventy (LXX) Jewish scholars. The Greek title for the translation is “The Translation of the Seventy.”) to render the name of God, and the Philippians passage is based on Isaiah 45:23 [“By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.”], transferring to Jesus words originally referring to Yahweh. For Paul kyrios was the only term which could adequately express what he had come to understand as the person and work of Christ…

            “For Paul kyrios is a title of majesty reflecting the regal lordship of the risen Christ over the living and the dead. God made Jesus Lord at the resurrection, as a consequence of which he now shares with the Father dominion over all creation and the right to universal adoration.”[5]

            “In keeping with Jesus’ exaltation and power, one day every knee will bow before him. In heaven refers to the angels; on earth means all humanity; under the earth refers to the underworld—possibly to unsaved people who have died or to demons. Those who love Jesus will bow in adoration and worship; those who refused to acknowledge him will bow in submission and fear. This will take place at Jesus’ second coming when the forces of evil will be completely defeated and God will form a new heaven and new earth…Every tongue will confess the basic truth of Christianity: Jesus Christ is Lord. This does not mean that eventually everyone will be saved. Every tongue in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will recognize Jesus as Lord, either because of belief or because of mere acknowledgement of the undisputable fact. No tongue will be silent; no knee will remain unbowed. All of creation will recognize Jesus Christ as Lord.”[6]

Application

            To whom or to what you bend your knee is no small matter. The professional athletes here in America are trying to use their POSITION, POWER, and POSSESSIONS, to get their way. They didn’t bend a knee to honor Jesus Christ; they bent their knee in honor of their grievances. They did, and are doing, the exact opposite of Paul’s instructions on unity and like-mindedness. They aren’t acting in service to anyone. They are simply using their POSITION, POWER, and POSSESSIONS to draw attention to themselves. Their actions on the field do nothing to help those they claim to need help. Instead, their actions have created division between them and those who are not of the same mind as they are. However, Paul’s instruction is specifically directed at the church and not at humanity in general so it should come as no surprise that something like this is happening outside the confines of the church. Nevertheless, I know that some of the players involved have publicly professed their belief and put their faith in Jesus Christ so it is sad that those players would bend their knee to someone or something other than their Lord and purposely create division between themselves and their brothers and sisters in Christ who disagree with them and would only bend their knee to their Lord Jesus Christ.

            So what’s the big deal about what or to whom we bend our knee? Well for Tebow it was an acknowledgement that all his many accomplishments, awards, and notoriety weren’t about him, they were about what Jesus was able to do through him. Tim acknowledged what Jesus had done for him and his response was to kneel before Him regularly throughout his life. I have always assumed that Christians understood that only Jesus deserves the kind of devotion that calls for us to kneel before him. However, there are clearly some Christians in the NFL (and some Christian fans who agree with them) who either don’t know that or have forgotten it. So let me recommend some interesting reading for you. Pick up a copy of Jesus Freaks by DC Talk and Voice of the Martyrs and read through the countless stories of Christians who refused to bend their knee to any cause or person other than Jesus Christ. They paid for it with their lives but they were faithful to the end. That should suffice as an example for all Christians to follow who think it’s ok to bend their knee to some political cause.

But what I really want to focus on is Paul’s instruction that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord in relation to those who still refuse to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Paul’s instruction in our Subject Text is a tremendous encouragement for believers but it foretells an ominous doom for unbelievers. I’m not a huge advocate of trying to scare people into believing in Jesus primarily because I don’t think it works. Therefore, I’ll resort to begging (biblically it’s called “imploring,” but that feels to sanitized for me). I’m begging you to reconsider your unbelief. You are gambling with an eternity separated from God; an eternity in hell because of your unnecessary refusal to believe. If you would simply open your mind and your heart to the possibility that Jesus is who He said He is and did what He said He did, God will reward that little bit of faith and the Spirit will enlighten your mind to a fuller truth of God’s revelation of Himself. It does, however, require that you bend your knee before Jesus Christ and acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior of your life.

There’s really no magic to it but if you need help you can click on the tab at the top of the page title “The Sinner’s Prayer,” and it will walk you through the process of asking Jesus for forgiveness of your sins and what to do after that. As I said, it’s not magic and it doesn’t have to be the way I’ve laid it out for you. You can simply ask Jesus to save you and be your Lord and it’s done! You can be confident that provided you follow Him faithfully you will spend eternity with Him when you die or when this age comes to an end and Jesus returns before you die. For those of you who have put this decision off, now is your time, now is your opportunity, now is your chance to make the most important decision of your life—now is your chance to Take A Knee before Jesus in humility and ask Him to be your Lord and Savior.

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[1] Richard R. Melick, Jr., Philippians, Colossians, Philemon—The New American Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1991), 93-94.

[2] Max Anders, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians & Colossians—Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1999), 224-225.

[3] Bruce Barton, Philip Comfort, Grant Osborne, Linda K. Taylor, and Dave Veerman, Life Application New Testament Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), 851.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid, Eds., Dictionary of Paul and his Letters, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 277.

[6] Bruce Barton, et al., Life Application New Testament Commentary, 851-852.

(Audio version: Music--"Yahweh" by: Elevation Worship and "Love Has A Name: by: Jesus Culture--Music Coordination by Meagan Seredinski)