Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2006 : April 9, 2006

Theme: Be Christ-like Christians

Church year occasion: Palm Sunday / Friendship Sunday

I'm glad I'm not in high school anymore. There was plenty of pressure just trying to figure out who I was, let alone trying to keep current on the latest technological gadget available. Are MP3 players and iPods old news now? What's the latest gadget -- something that has a digital video camera, cell phone, and computer all wrapped up into one?

Technology is moving so fast that morality is trying hard to keep up. Now we're not just talking about cloning or stem cell research, but about how parents can pick different traits for their children. But it's not limited to hair and eye color or whether it will be a boy or a girl, but choosing athletic ability and intelligence of their unborn children.

So here's a moral question for you -- suppose you are a parent choosing what your next child will be like. Would you use modern technology to choose certain advantages for your child, or would you just leave the choosing to God? I think most of us would let God decide, wouldn't we?

But what if God would come to you in a dream and say, "You can choose anything for your next child, and I'll make it happen." Wow, would that be neat! You could choose if it would be a boy or girl, if he'd be as dumb as a rock or make Einstein look like a moron, if she'd have looks that could curdle milk or she'd be drop-dead gorgeous. I think it's safe to say that if God gave us the choice, we'd like to see our child get the best of everything so that life would be that much easier.

Now look at it from a totally different perspective -- God's. He did have the choice of what his Son would be, but we need to thank God every day that he wasn't thinking about what would make his Son's life easier. In fact, that didn't even cross his mind. He had only one thought on his mind when he brought his Son into this world -- how our lives could not only be easier, but blessed -- now and forever. He only thought about how he could keep us from suffering forever for our many sins against him, and instead be in heaven with him. But the only way that could happen was if his Son endured the most horrible pain imaginable. He would have to endure the punishment of hell that we deserved -- because sin still had to be paid for. And that's why we see Jesus riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Yes he came amidst the praise of thousands, but he knew that in only five days he would be forsaken by them all as well as forsaken by his heavenly Father himself.

So this morning we'll look at the amazing love Jesus had for us on Palm Sunday, what Palm Sunday means for us, and how it encourages us to have the mind of Christ as we strive to be Christ-like Christians.

The Apostle Paul starts out by saying: "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." In humbling himself, Jesus is the perfect pattern for us to follow if we want to be Christ-like Christians. Today is the first day of Holy Week, Palm Sunday, the day on which Jesus rode into Jerusalem in fulfillment of prophecy on a donkey. Thousands were singing his praises. They laid palm branches in his way which signified that he was a conquering hero.

It always reminds me of ancient Rome, when a curious thing would happen when a victorious general would return to Rome from a successful military campaign. The would parade the prisoners he had taken while on his campaign before the Roman Emperor to show the many people he had subjugated to Roman rule for the glory of Rome. Then all of the spoils of war -- the gold and silver and precious objects that the general had confiscated -- would be shown to the emperor. Finally, the victorious general himself would ride into Rome amid the shouts and celebration of the Roman people. But as the conquering hero rode up to the emperor, a slave had a very important duty to perform. He would stand just behind the conquering general in his chariot and whisper in his ear continuously, "Remember, you are mortal. Remember you are mortal." He would say this because the Romans actually believed their emperor was a god and also immortal. So if the victorious general would let all the praise of the people go to his head and try to become emperor himself by force, he would really be trying to make himself a god. The slave would remind the victorious general that the place of being emperor and a god was not his to take.

It's important for us to see who this was riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Most of them had no idea who it was and what he had come to do. The Apostle Paul makes sure there is no doubt in our minds. Jesus, "being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing." A conquering Roman general was reminded that he wasn't a god and should never say that he was, but Jesus actually is God himself. Contrary to The DaVinci Code and scholars who want you to think otherwise, Jesus is the actual almighty God, the maker of heaven and earth and everything in them. But although he was God, what didn't he do? He didn't think for a moment of holding onto that precious position while he would deal out his judgment against our sins. No, when sinners sinned against him, his first thought was to save them. Jesus would become our substitute. In doing so, Jesus would not receive the full glory and honor and praise due the almighty God when he became a man; instead, he would make himself nothing. The Greek word for this phrase literally means, "he emptied himself." The picture that might come to mind is of a glass filled with water. When you pour out the water, the glass remains. So Jesus poured himself out for us when he became a human being and suffered and died, but Jesus was still completely true God in every respect. He simply chose not to make full use of his divine power.

By emptying himself, Jesus didn't just become one of us, he actually became our servant. In John 13, Jesus demonstrates this in a visible way by washing his disciples' feet. This was something that only the lowest servant of the household would do, yet Jesus did it for his disciples. Then Jesus told them in verses 14 and 15: "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you."

But God's love for sinners did not stop with him becoming a man or even a servant of mankind, but he humbled himself even to the point of death. Jesus never sinned; therefore he would not die. But he willingly died for us. In fact, his love was so deep that he, the almighty God, even died the death on a cross. It was one of the most humiliating and painful deaths ever devised by man, yet Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God, suffered that death and eternal death for each and every sinner bound for hell. Again, Jesus always put our best interests before his own.

Because of our sinful nature, whom do we often put first in our lives? Ourselves, right? Many times we hear what someone else's idea on an issue might be, and our sinful pride rises up inside us and has us thinking that we have the best idea of how to do things. Many times we look down on others and we might think that they are inferior to us in some way. Just think where we would be headed if God thought this way about us and left us to find our own way to heaven. We would be headed straight to hell. Jesus suffered and died for every one of our sins of selfishness and pride and often thinking we are better than others or deserve better in this life. Obviously Jesus deserved better in his life, but he chose to take all our sins upon himself and to suffer for them instead. Jesus' death reveals his utter self-sacrifice and the depth of this love for us.

The Apostle Paul goes on to show God's reaction to Jesus' perfect life and his sacrifice for all sin. "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Jesus carried out his Father's plan of salvation to perfection. Therefore God gave him his rightful place in heaven: one of equality with the Father and Holy Spirit. Jesus can be compared to that glass of water again. Now the glass is filled again: Jesus again makes full use of his power and glory as God because he is triumphant. God the Father shows that he accepted Jesus' sacrifice for sin by restoring his place in heaven. And because God the Father accepted Jesus' work of redemption, we know that when we die we also will rise to meet our conquering hero in heaven. All or our sins have been completely forgiven.

What a great blessing to know that we are on the side of a winner. On Judgment Day everyone -- believers, unbelievers, good angels and demons, and even the devil himself, will say, "Yes, Jesus, you won." Jesus is the perfect pattern of unselfishness and humility and giving to others. How can we hope to follow such a perfect example? We know that we could never follow Jesus' example perfectly, but Jesus' perfect pattern of self-sacrificing love gives us the proper motivation for serving him and others with our entire lives as Christ-like Christians.

Remember back to the time when you were a child. Everything seemed to be so big to us at that time because we were so small. But as we got older, things didn't seem so daunting or amazing anymore as we grew larger and as things were explained to us. But there is one thing that will always continue to amaze us our entire lives and which we will never be able to understand fully: how God could love sinners so much that he died for us. Yet, by the Holy Spirit's work, we believe it. As Christians, we strive to live up to that grace everyday as we strive to live as Christ did. We'll never be able to live that perfectly -- always thinking of others instead of ourselves. But think of it this way -- instead of the devil whispering in our ear, "Remember, you are mortal and will die eternally," the Holy Spirit tells us through faith in Jesus, "Remember, you are immortal because Christ has earned and given to you eternal life." What better reason could we have to be Christ-like Christians?