Let everyone confess.
Philippians 2:5-11
10so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).
Aubree, Cashton and Jax intend to do jut that on this day of
their confirmation. Those of us who have been confirmed in years past, had this
opportunity to confess our belief that Jesus Christ is Lord. That becomes one
of the most important memories of our youth.
But the way it sounds in Philippians 2, this is not a one
day, one time thing. This is life of faith, a life of confessing that Jesus
Christ is Lord. It says in Philippians “Have this mind among yourselves” – This
is a daily thing; it is a constant state of mind.
Jesus Christ is Lord! This is our statement of faith.
Jesus Christ is Lord! To a lot of people this sounds
burdensome, oppressive even. “We’re Americans. We don’t have lords, or dukes,
or kings.” So many picture this statement “Jesus is Lord” like he’s got all the
power, and that he forces us to bow the knee to his law. He, as Lord, demands
our obedience.
But this is a Lutheran Confirmation. So let’s have our clear
Lutheran confession of the beautiful Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the jewels
of the Lutheran Confession of the faith is the distinction of the Law and the
Gospel, and the Gospel is always prominent. A good example of the value and truth
of our Lutheran Confession is here in the way we confess Jesus Christ is Lord,
as we have it in the catechism’s explanation of the 2nd Article of
the Creed. “Jesus Christ is my Lord, who has redeemed me, purchased and won me
from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil.” We say that he has
done this with “his holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death.” He
rescued us out of the dominion of sin, the dominion of death, and the power of
the devil. He took us out of sin and brought us into His Kingdom of forgiveness,
righteousness and goodness. He took us away from death and placed us into His
kingdom of resurrection and life. He took us out of the devil’s control and
brought us into His Father’s love. We say Jesus Christ is my Lord, because he
is my Savior, my Redeemer, my Friend who died for me.
On Palm Sunday the crowd of pilgrims sang “Hosana to the Son
of David” and shouted, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Prophet Zechariah foretold this: 9Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of
Jerusalem!
behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation
is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a
donkey.
Rejoice! Shout aloud!
When Christians confess Jesus Christ is Lord, it is the
natural response of their faith and salvation. It is a function of honesty and
integrity – integrity meaning that oneness of head and heart and mouth and
life.
It comes from a confidence that outweighs fears and the
apprehension of what other people might think. It comes from the joy of
salvation that outweighs laziness and apathy and the distraction of this world’s
cares.
We confess Jesus Christ is Lord with our words. And we
confess with our actions, when we do what shows our Love for God with all our
heart and our love for our neighbor as ourselves. We confess with our lives,
with our “walk” as the Bible often calls the manner of our doing things at work
or at play. We confess with our posture, our body language: “Every knee should bow,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
A person’s posture and body language show what’s on their mind
and what’s in their hearts. Experienced investigators can get a hint if someone’s
telling the truth or lying, if they’ve got something to hide by the shift of
their posture and the movement of their head and eyes. They can’t prove anything
in a court of law by it, but it lets them know what questions to ask next and where
to look next in the investigation. Even subconsciously we get hints from others
about what they’re thinking and what they’re feeling by their position and
movements.
Examples of bad body language could be turning a cold
shoulder to someone who needs you, versus extending a helping hand.
Every knee should bow. We do so in our worship in the
presence of Jesus Christ, especially at the altar where we confess that He is
really present in the body and blood of His Communion.
It’s a posture of prayer. Jax, Aubree, Cashton, aspire to be
God’s people of prayer. You might from time to time feel guilty for wasting
time with screens, or other bad habits or laziness. But there is no guilt for
moments spent in prayer. You have time every day.
Philippians 2:5 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is
yours in Christ Jesus. . .“ Our mind and our heart is in Christ Jesus. We find
the mind of Christ in the words He says, words of grace, like “Come to me” and “I
forgive you all your sins”; words of salvation like “whoever believes will not
perish but will have eternal life.”
But consider also His body language: , though he was in the
form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a
servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8And
being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point
of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2).
For us and for our salvation Christ our Lord came down from
heaven and was made man. As such he had a body and so He used posture and body
language. He had hands that reached out to touch the untouchable leper and heal
him. He had arms that stretch out on the cross, as he was obedient unto death,
even death on a cross.
His words and actions show what is on His mind: His love for
you, his care for your salvation.
The mind of Christ is in the sacraments. He commanded Baptism
where he forgave you your sins and made you His own. And Holy Communion where you will receive that
true body broken for you and the life-giving blood shed for you. This communion,
we now invite you to. Amen.
