Few portions of Scripture have such power to move me and bless me and humble me. These words do all of that and then some. But the Bible does that. It is "like a stream in which elephants must swim and lambs may safely wade." (St. Jerome) No matter where you are in your life with Christ, these verses will give you all you will ever need.

Paul gives us a glimpse of two persons of the Trinity. Father and Son are united to show the world the love that can be received from God. Jesus - fully God - yet becomes fully man like us! Early Church Fathers could not adequately explain the Trinity, nor can we. We must experience God before we can try to explain Him.

These words were not written as a theological treatise. Paul captured the truth of Jesus, who is the answer to our arrogance and selfishness: "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit..."(v 3,4) Those two enemies can ruin a person or a church.

Paul identified Epaphroditus (v 25), Timothy (v 19), and himself (v 17), who tried to live like Jesus. But Paul always points us to Jesus Himself, who would show us - no...be a new model for us...give us a SECOND LANGUAGE, that the world will never learn.

So, Paul wrote a song! We do not know the melody. We do know the words captured the hearts of believers in Philippi. We too, are captured by the mystery of God who became like us to save us to be with Him. Our dear Savior entered into the very life in which we struggle, delight, and make our way. Modern song writers put part of this passage to music. I printed the refrain right under the title of this, so that we can sing it. After all, this is A SONG ALL WILL SING!

We all will be on our knees. How will we sing? Joyfully! Thankfully! Many of us will be glad, overjoyed to sing Those are some of the feelings many of us will have- glad we can sing, JESUS CHRIST IS LORD. Many, however, will sing this song another way: Grudgingly, Regretfully! How will we sing this song? The song couples high praise with bowed knees- the best posture to deal with selfishness and arrogance!

I will touch only two truths in this text - though there are so many! EMPTIED - EXALTED are the words...Jesus the Son emptied Himself to be with us...God the Father highly exalted Him, so that we can be with Him! Without Jesus Christ, the world knows how to soar in the skies like the birds...or go around the world underwater like the fish, but "we cannot walk in peace...we send guided missiles, but they are often launched by misguided men and women." (WS Coffin) Left to ourselves, we are disgusting. One comedian observed, "Doctor, every time I look in the mirror I get sick and throw up." "Well," responded the doctor, "At least you can say your eyesight is perfect." We have only one answer to selfish living and arrogant ways. That answer is Jesus Christ. Look how He came to us.

I

"Have this attitude in yourselves that was also in Christ Jesus, who although He existed in the form of God....(did not keep it)...but emptied Himself..." I find this incredible that God laid aside everything we hold dear...to be with us. Jesus humbled himself! That is where He began. We can do no better than that! Jesus entered into our world and showed us how to live...how to serve and serve some more, until we are completely spent for God. The more successful Western missionaries identified with the people they were trying to reach. Hudson Taylor of the China Inland Mission broke with the traditional white clothes of the British missionary. He grew his hair long, braided it as the men did. He wore the common clothes of the Chinese people...and reached many for Christ. Taylor understood the way of His Master.

Jesus walked the dusty and dirty roads of life before us, and now with us. He has experienced and He understands isolation, rejection, humiliation, hurt, pain, and even ... death. "God could, had He pleased, have been incarnate in a man of iron nerves, ...but...He chose to be incarnate in a man of delicate sensibilities- He wept at the grave of Lazarus and sweat drops of blood in Gethsemane. Otherwise, we should have missed the great lesson that it is by His will alone that a man is good or bad, and that feelings are not, in themselves, of any importance." (Lewis) A young girl summed up her reading of this passage: "Jesus is the best picture of God ever recorded or penned in human history." "Although He existed in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself..."

When we see Jesus like that...we too must POUR OUT OURSELVES- to defend against our own selfishness, and TO EXPERIENCE LIFE IN CHRIST! I find it interesting to go into the various Christian bookstores and just read book titles. The hottest books are those that reflect a "rag-to-riches" life for those who welcome Christ into their lives. Few titles call us to do what Jesus did...go from riches to rags...even a burial cloth! But that was exactly what Jesus did with His life. Can we do any less?

We need a new way, a new model, a new language, if you like, to be gripped by God!. Paul did just that! I like the story of a mother mouse knew it was time to teach her young brood about the larger world that awaited them in the farm house where they lived.

Leading them out of their den, they crept quietly down the hall, turned right, then right again, and confronted the family cat. She was sleeping. Mother mouse and brood started past, but the cat opened one eye, then the other. She lifted a paw ready to strike. The mother mouse did not run. Instead she stared at the cat and with her loudest voice, barked. The cat, startled, ran off. The mother mouse passed on good advice. "Children, sometimes it’s good to know a second language."

Our culture teaches us the language of power, prestige, titles. The world calls us to come down to their standards. God calls us to a life of His standards. Remember Satan’s attitude before he was thrown out of heaven? "I will ascend to heaven." But Jesus said, "Thy will..." Jesus did not pretend to be a servant. He was a servant. Are we pretending...or are we being ... servants?

The real beauty of the life in Christ is always found in the scratched and nail-scarred hands of God! We see those hands with a parent who stays up all night nursing a sick child. We see them with a father, as he bails out his son from the county jail. Stay with a neighbor whose wife cannot remember where she is, nor who her husband is. Robert McQuilkan saw his wife enter into Alzheimer’s disease. "I am praying for a miracle in her," he said quietly, "or, if not in her, a miracle of grace in me."

Our God - EMMANUEL - is the wounded healer for us. He sat where we sit. He knows rejection - like some here. He knows, because He emptied Himself of what He had...and poured out Himself for us to give us what we cannot do on our own!! He died for us...to make a way to heaven possible for us!

II

"Therefore also God highly exalted Him...bestowed the name .. above every name...at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow...and every tongue confess JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, to the glory of God the Father!" (9-11) Today He walks the corridors of our lives. He offers healing and hope, as He extends His hands to us. Don’t slap them away, or scratch them...welcome Him and His healing touch. He makes us whole. He lifts us up into His life. He gives us a song to sing. He becomes our song of praise! What else can we do, but bow down our pride and lift up our voices that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Some will fail to sing the song, for they could not give up what they have for what He gives. They reject the giver and miss His gift! Make your voices instruments of praise and your lives instruments of service in His name. Then, you will know that the song all will sing burst from your hearts and fill this room and community with the wonderful truth of God’s love. Sing this song before we eat this meal...See Him! Then become His song in a world needing His love and healing and hope and joy! Come to the table...come singing and rejoicing, for HE IS LORD, HE IS LORD, HE IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD AND HE IS LORD; EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW, AND EVERY TONGUE CONFESS, THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!