Every Tongue Confess: Jesus Christ is Lord

Palmarum - March 20, 2005

Philippians 2:5-11

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

What a great day today is in the kingdom - God's kingdom that is. Today, not only do we celebrate Palm Sunday but, we also receive into fellowship, 6 adults and their children. Today's text speaks of what these people are doing today.

Are these people joining Zion Lutheran Church? Many of us would say yes. And of course this is true. But there is something deeper than their becoming members of Zion Lutheran Church of Embarrass, Wisconsin taking place.

Today, six people are coming forward and confessing that Jesus Christ is their Lord, and that they have faith in what Christ has done for their salvation.

They are also proclaiming that the teaching and preaching and the administration of the sacraments in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, and namely Zion Lutheran, are in accordance with what God has set forth in His Holy Scriptures. This they believe to the exclusion of other church bodies.

Today's text speaks about the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord - about who this Jesus Christ is, and what He has done. But, this is not the first confession spoken of in the Bible.

Our pre-service Gospel reading also had a confession in it. Those people gathered on the streets of Jerusalem were shouting out a confession about Jesus, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!"

These people were gathered because they had heard Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. They knew He had power, so their confession about Jesus was what they wanted to be true about Him. They desired Jesus to be a king and to save them from the tyranny of the Roman rule. They wanted another Moses, one who did miracles a freed them from their slavery!

These people confessed the right confession, but their understanding of that confession was confused. We see the same thing happening today. People today confess Jesus Christ, but they confess Him on their own terms.

What are we to see in Christ? What does our text today tell us about our confession? What is our confession to include?

Whether we admit it or not, we are all imitators. Consciously or unconsciously, we conform our lives to a standard of behavior patterned after people we admire, or who have had a great influence in our life - we follow their example, and even idolize their words and behavior.

Don't believe me? Look at the children in your life. They imitate their role models, good or bad. Certain phrases come and go because they are popular with some celebrity.

Now look to your own life, who do you imitate? I couldn't believe it when after we’d been married for a couple years, and then went to visit my parents and Pauline said to me, "Now I know where you got that from, your father does it." These were words that wounded me to the quick. I had always said that I was never, ever going to be like my dad. I look at my life and how I do things, and Pauline is right, I am in many ways, just like my father.

Since to one extent or another, we all look to others, follow their example, and even idolize their words and behavior, it should be an easy transition for us to follow Paul's exhortation in our text as he encourages us to be imitators of Christ. To confess Jesus Christ as our Lord - we should also be imitators of Him.

Christ is to be our example in humility. Here is God from eternity - He denies Himself the use of His Divine powers and abilities for what? To become one of us. As our text puts it, "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."

Not only did He become man, but He became a servant of mankind. As He told His disciples, "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." Not only did Jesus take on human flesh, but was a servant to all in that flesh. He obeyed the Father's will in all things. But, most importantly, He obeyed the Father's will to the point of death - even death on a cross, the lowest degree of humiliation.

The cross was a scandal to the world, "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles." The cross was separation from God, for whoever is hanged on a tree is accursed by God. (Deuteronomy 21:22-23) But, for God to have us enter into eternal life, someone needed to take our place in death, for by our sins we deserve eternal separation from God.

That God should stoop so low to become human flesh and die in our place is beyond our comprehension. But God's love cannot be rationalized and understood; it is to be believed by faith. His example of humility and obedience is not just to be admired; it is to be imitated. Jesus Himself gives us the desire and the ability to imitate Him. Our imitation of Him, is to confess Him as Lord.

His life of love is one for us to emulate. God the Son gave His very life for miserable sinners, we therefore ought to love and give all that we have for those in need around us. His love, given to us in our forgiveness, gives us the power to love in this manner.

We imitate and confess Him as the object of our worship. God exalted Him on high for Christ was victorious over sin, death, and the devil in His suffering, death, and resurrection. He is a hero with whom we proudly identify.

He saved us from death and we owe Him our life. God has given us the command to give our lives in thankful service to others. Our confession is our life, selflessly given to others.

As we are gathered here this and every Sunday morning, we are reminded of what our God has done for us. More than that, we are given the gifts which He won for us in real and physical forms. Christ is our Lord, and through Him we have the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Our gathering together is a confession to the world around us of what we believe.

Today, in that confession, we are joined by brothers and sisters who believe that Jesus Christ is their Lord. They believe that Jesus Christ has redeemed them, lost and condemned creatures, and that He has established His church through the workings of the Holy Spirit to keep people in that faith.

Today we sang "All glory, laud, and honor to You, Redeemer, King, to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring." We, as those on that first Palm Sunday make a verbal confession of our faith. We believe that Jesus is our Lord and Savior from sin.

Our God comes to us and gives us of Himself in His Word and His Sacraments. He builds and strengthens our faith that we may gather around Him on bowed knee and receive the gift of His own precious Body and His own precious Blood to life everlasting.

We will confess the words of the Nicene Creed together, but it is our individual confession. Did you pay attention to the words, for you said, "I Believe."

We each have believed for ourselves, and still it is in this confession of who Christ is and what He has done, that we gather together as the Body of Christ, His church. For it is in Christ's church that every tongue confesses Jesus Christ is Lord, and it is He Himself who comes into our midst and gives to those confessing, His gifts. Hosanna in the Highest, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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