Lord of All

Good morning. If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, let me invite you to open with me to Philippians 2. We celebrate Christ on Christmas Eve. 

The many decisions we make at Christmas. I remember one Christmas Eve a long time ago, when I was a young kid. It was the common thing for me and my older brother at that point to do on Christmas Eve, to get up, as most kids do, extremely early in the morning to go down and see what was waiting for us downstairs; just at the crack of dawn before mom or dad ever wanted to get up, but we were ready to get up. 

This particular Christmas Eve, the house was full with family. All the grandparents, aunts, uncles, everybody was there, so as was normal, I got booted out of my bed and I was sleeping on the floor in mom and dad’s room in my Spiderman sleeping bag, and because of all the people and all the busyness of what was going on, I remember my mom telling me, “David, I know you and your older brother like to always get up very early, extremely early before everybody else is up. But we’ve got a lot of people in the house, so that is just not going to be able to happen this year.” She said, “You need to sleep until a certain time,” 

and she set a time. It was around 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning and she said, “If you get up before then, then you may not get any presents.” Oh yeah, that was a threat! 

So, she tucked me into that Spiderman sleeping bag and said, “Now remember, under no circumstances, unless it is a life or death situation, are you going to get up out of this sleeping bag until someone comes to get you in the morning.” 

So I zipped up the sleeping bag and I was there to stay. It was one of those nights that you are so excited that you can’t sleep, you’re just looking forward to the next morning and you can’t go to sleep. So, I’m just laying there, and about a half an hour into laying there, still wide awake, it hits me, I’ve got to use the restroom. But I’ve got a problem, a quandary in my little mind at that point, my mom has just told me, that unless it is a life or death situation, under no circumstances am I to get up out of that sleeping bag, or else I don’t get any presents. Well this is not a life or death situation, so I start thinking about it and I’ve got two options. 

My first option is to sneak out of that sleeping bag and try not to let anybody hear me as I go over to the restroom and then sneak back in, and risk at that point in my mind the possibility of not getting any presents. My second option, we’ll just leave unsaid. You realize what the second option is. So I’ve got these two options sitting in front of me on Christmas Eve and I’m trying to decide what to do. 

Now I want to ask your opinion, to take a little audience opinion poll here, imagine yourself in my situation. You’ve got two options. How many of you would take the first option and slip out and try to make it over there to the restroom? Okay, alright. Now let me ask, how many of you would take option number two? Alright, all of the kids are raising their hands! I’ll tell you what I did. I laid there as long as I could, and held it as long as I could. When I could hold it no longer, I just let it flow right there in the Spiderman bag. Not one of my prouder moments. The next morning my parents come to wake me up, they’re like, “What happened to your sleeping bag?” I said, “I don’t care! I’m going to get my presents!” A lot of decisions we make at Christmas! 

As we come to the end of this series, looking at the incarnation, I want us to come face to face with the ultimate decision that the Christmas season confronts us with. It is a decision that is far more serious and far more important than any other decision we will ever make in this life. It is a decision that causes us to come face to face with the reality of Christmas. I want us to see it in Philippians 2:9—11, the last part of this passage that we’ve been studying. 

Some of you have been working on memorizing this, so I want to give you an opportunity to say it with me, Philippians 2:5—11. If you don’t have the whole thing memorized, just try to get a word every once in awhile. But if you know it, say it with me. 

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ 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. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! 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 (Phil. 2:5—11). 

Hey! Nice work. What I want us to do is I want us to think about those last three verses. “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 (Phil. 2:9—11). 

Philippians 2 9–11 Tells Us that Jesus is Lord…

That’s where I want us to focus. This proclamation that Jesus is Lord was at the central core of the early church. In the first Christian sermon ever preached, Acts 2:36, Peter stands up and says, “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ”, and throughout the rest of the New Testament this proclamation is central over and over and over again, Jesus is proclaimed as Lord. About 750 different times in the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as Lord. 

So I want us to unpack what that means, because I think it is at the heart of the incarnation. The fact that this baby, born in a manger, would one day be exalted as the Lord over everything, what does that mean? Even the word “Lord”, I think, kind of loses its meaning, even in our Christian vocabularies. What does it mean for Jesus to be Lord? I don’t want that to be a lifeless word for us, a lifeless title for Christ. What does it mean for him to be a Lord, especially as we prepare to celebrate Christmas? 

I want you to see four facets of His lordship that unfold here in Philippians 2:9—11, as well as the rest of the testimony of Scripture. 

He reigns in the utmost position.

First of all, for Jesus to be Lord, basically means, that He reigns in the utmost position. He reigns in the utmost position, the highest position. “Therefore God exalted Him.” Some of your translations might say, ‘God highly exalted him.’ This phrase in the New Testament, in the original language, the only time it is used throughout the whole New Testament, it literally means, ‘super exalted Him,’ or ‘super imminently exalted Him.’ There is an emphasis on the fact that He was highly exalted, exalted to the utmost position. He exalted Him in the highest place, in the utmost position, and gave Him a name above every name. We see later the name of Jesus that He is given is Lord. 

Now I want us to think about this. For Jesus to be highly exalted, exalted to the highest place, did that mean that He was greater after the incarnation than He was before He came to the earth? That after He died on the cross, rose from the grave, and ascended into heaven… Does that mean He was greater then He was before He came to become a man? Well obviously He was not greater in the sense that He was fully God before and He was fully God after. So the essence of who Jesus is has not changed. 

Well let me ask you a question. What has changed? What does Jesus have now in heaven that He did not have before He came to the earth? What does Jesus have now that He did not have before? The answer is clear based on what we have studied the last three weeks. It’s His humanity. He became a man, and He was resurrected as a man, and He ascended 

as a man. His humanity is with Him forever. He is fully God and fully man through all of eternity, through the rest of eternity. So He is exalted. 

So that leads us to see exactly what we have seen the last few weeks when talking about when Christ humbled Himself and became a man. The picture is, when we get to Philippians 2:9, He is now gone from the humiliation of man that we have talked about in the last few weeks. He has gone from the humiliation of man to the honor of God, to the exaltation of God. He has gone from the humiliation of man to the honor of God. 

Now I want you to put yourself in the mind of a Jewish person who is reading this, somebody who is very familiar with the Old Testament. You know that throughout the Old Testament as a Jewish person, the name that God has revealed Himself as, is the Lord, Yahweh, the I AM. That’s the name of God. All the majesty, grandeur, infinite greatness of God, is summed up in that name. He is the Lord. 

When you get, though, to the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Greek word that is used to describe the Lord, that title for God, is the same word that’s being used here in Philippians 2:11. What that means is, that the New Testament is equating Jesus with the Lord God of the Old Testament. Jesus, highly exalted, as the Lord, just as we see God exalted as the Lord all over the Old Testament, now we’re seeing Jesus exalted as Lord. What that means is all the praise that belongs to the most-high God in the Old Testament, now belongs to Jesus, according to Philippians 2:11. 

Let me take you on a tour, just to show you the depths of what that may mean. Turn back to the left and go to the book of Psalms with me. Look at Psalm 83. I just want to take you on a tour of a few places in the Old Testament, most of them in the book of Psalms. If you don’t know where Psalms is, just kind of open your Bible to the very middle and you’ll come to somewhere around Psalms, big book. Psalm 83. 

I want to give you a few verses, and if you’re marking in your Bibles, I would encourage you just to circle each time you see the word “Lord.” The goal here is to look at a few passages just to get a mindset of what you would think of when you hear the word “Lord.” What does that mean for Jesus to be exalted as Lord? I want us to get in the frame of reference that many of the readers here at the Church at Philippi might have been in, knowing the Old Testament, especially the Greek translation of the Old Testament. 

Look at Psalm 83. Look at verse 18. These first couple verses are talking about how God alone is exalted above all the world. He alone is exalted. Look at verse 18 of Psalm 83, “Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord”—so that’s His name, circle it there—“that you alone are the Most High over all the earth” (Ps. 83:18). 

Now turn over to Psalm 97. I want you to see the same thing said there. Psalm 97, look with me at verse 5. This Psalm starts off talking about how the Lord reigns—“let the earth be glad, let the distant shores rejoice because the Lord reigns.” Now circle each time you see the word “Lord” here. Look at verse 5, it says, 

“The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before”—who? The LORD— “before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols—worship him, all you gods! Zion hears and rejoices and the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments, O Lord. For you, O Lord, are the Most High over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods” (Ps. 97:5—9). 

The picture we’re seeing here is that the Lord is not just great among many gods, He is in a class by Himself. Now remember, we’re equating Jesus with Him, with the Lord here. That, Jesus is in a class by Himself, He is the incomparable one, He is exalted far above all gods, they all bow down to Him, He is exalted. 

Look back, go to the left two chapters, go to Psalm 95. Look at what it says there, how He is Lord not just over all the earth, but that He is literally the Lord over everything in creation. Look at verse 3. You can circle it each time you see the word “Lord.” “For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands 

formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care” (Ps. 95:3—7). 

Go over to the right and go to Psalm 103. We’re getting a picture of what might come to your mind when you see the word ‘Lord’ equated with Jesus. Look at Psalm 103, look at verse 19, you’ll see “Lord” repeated over and over and over again. See how He is exalted not just above creation, but how He is exalted in the heavens above all the angels. Look at what it says, verse 19, “The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. 

Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, O my soul” (Ps. 103:19—22). 

Let me show you just a couple more. Look at Psalm 113. All the heavens praise Him. Not just the heavens though, all the nations give glory and honor and praise to the Lord. Look at Psalm 113, let’s start off in verse 1, “Praise the Lord. Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised” (Ps. 113:1—3). Look at verse 4, “The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth” (Ps. 113:4—6). 

So the Psalms are giving us a picture of the Lord being exalted above the heavens, exalted above all the world, exalted above creation, exalted above all nations and all rulers on the earth. That is the picture of the Lord. Let me show you two verses in Isaiah now. Go to the right, to Isaiah 42. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, then you get to Isaiah. Look at Isaiah 42. I want you to see just two passages that will show us a picture of God’s zeal for His name as the Lord. Look at this, Isaiah 42:8. This is God, and He’s beginning to talk about His servant, the Lord who calls in righteousness. Listen to verse 8, Isaiah 42:8, hear the zeal for God’s name, He says, “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” 

God does not share the glory of His name. Let me show you one more – Isaiah 45, this will be the last one here in the Old Testament. Look at Isaiah 45, this is a passage upon which Philippians 2:9—11 is undoubtedly based. Listen to what it says; see if you can see how familiar it is. Isaiah 45:21, see how the Lord is mentioned here. “Declare what is to be, present it— let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the Lord?” (Is. 45:21)—now listen close— 

And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. 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. They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength.’ All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. But in the Lord all the descendants of Israel will be found righteous and will exult (Is. 45:21—25). 

Philippians 2 9–11 Reminds Us that God has Authority Over Everything 

Okay, now that’s the picture of the Old Testament. Over and over again, just to get us a little grasp on what would come to our mind when we picture the word, “Lord,” when we hear that title. The One who has authority over everything. He is exalted above all powers in heaven and on earth, all nations and all rulers on the earth. He is zealous for His name, and all people, all nations bow down to Him. That’s what’s pictured when we hear the word ‘Lord.’ 

So when you get to Luke 2, and the angelic host comes, and says—you know the passage, you read it over Christmas—‘today is born to you in the city of David,’ who? what’s His name? His name is “Christ the Lord”, Luke 2:11. Get the magnitude of that proclamation! 

The baby born in this manger is the Lord of all creation! He is the Lord of the heavens! He is the Lord over the nations! He is the Lord of all the heavenly beings! He is the Lord over everything, everywhere! He is exalted above all gods! He is therefore the object of all of our worship! He is therefore worthy of all of our praise! He is Christ the Lord! 

So when we get to the book of Psalms and it starts talking about praising the Lord, we praise Christ. 

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights above. Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and maidens old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens (Ps. 148:1—13). 

That is the identity of the baby in the manger. He is Christ the Lord, and He is worthy of all of our praise. He is exalted to the utmost position. This is an incredible picture, and we’ve got to get a hold of it at Christmas. From the humiliation of man to the honor of God. 

Don’t miss the context though. The picture is not just of One who is the object of all of our worship. This is Paul in Philippians 2, and he is writing to a group of believers that were engrossed in themselves, and they began to take advantage of each other for their own sake. They began living to exalt themselves, to assert themselves. He starts off in Philippians 2:3—4, he says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of”—who? Others. 

Don’t miss it! Not only is Christ the object of our worship, but He is the pattern for our lives. What we’re seeing here in Philippians 2:9—11, is that Christ, yes, has gone through the humiliation to the honor of God, but He is also showing us that the path to success before God is paved with selflessness before man. Let me say that one more time, we’ve got to get a hold of this. The path to success before God is paved through selflessness before man. 

Now this goes against everything in the Philippian culture in chapter 2, and it goes against everything in our contemporary culture today. Everything in our culture is developed, built upon building up yourself, asserting yourself, defending yourself, defending your rights, and in Christ we have sacrificed our rights, we have sacrificed ourselves so that we not will be asserted, but that we will be humiliated so that others might know He is good. 

That’s the pattern throughout Scripture. God’s servants go through selfless humiliation and God exalts them. Philippians 2:9. Who exalted Jesus? God did. God exalted Him. Once He was humbled and He gave Himself, God exalted Him. 

It’s the same story we see in the book of Genesis with Joseph. He goes through 13 years of suffering and of service, and then God exalts Him. David, yes he is anointed as king when he is very young in life, but he goes through much suffering before he is given the reign as king. We see him go from suffering humiliation to glorious exaltation. That’s the story in all of Jesus’ teachings. In the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”—humiliation—“for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”—exaltation. We see it all throughout Jesus’ teachings. He always talks about, whoever humbles himself will be what? Exalted. In His life, in the way He lived, He Himself was baptized, He Himself was tempted, He Himself became like us so that He might be exalted. That’s the picture and it’s the message of Christmas for us today. 

We do not live to assert ourselves, to defend ourselves, to defend or exalt our name, we do not live for that. We live to sacrifice our lives, so that the glory of Christ may be known around us. We let God do the exalting for us. I am convinced that if The Church at Brook Hills in the year 2007, if we will sacrifice ourselves and risk it all to show His grace and His mercy in Birmingham and all nations, God will use us to declare His glory in ways we could never have imagined. That’s the message of Christmas we’ve got to get a hold of here. He is exalted to the highest position; that is where He reigns. 

He holds unending power.

The second facet of the Lordship of Christ, not only does He reign in the utmost position, but second, He holds unending power. He holds unending power. Now, we’ve taken this idea of Lord from the Jewish mindset, now let’s come into a more Greek/Gentile mindset. Maybe if you’re not familiar with the Old Testament, but you are a Gentile and you’re hearing this, you’re not a Jew and you’re hearing this in Philippians 2, that He has exalted Jesus as Lord and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. 

Well for the Gentiles, this was a word that was used to describe a master or an owner, an owner of slaves was called a “lord.” This is an incredible picture here even when you think about Philippians 2:5—11, He who became and took on the nature of a slave, became the owner of all things. The picture here is One who has absolute power and absolute authority over others. That’s what it means to be Lord, and that’s the picture we’re seeing of Christ, Him being exalted. He has absolute power and authority. 

Once He died on the cross and rose from the grave, you get to Matthew 28:18, what does He say? How much authority has been given to me? “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” If He has all authority, what is not under His authority? That little three-letter word pretty much covers it. He’s got it. He has allL authority. I want you to think about His dominion, His authority on two levels. 

First of all, He has the power to save. Philippians 2:9, starts off with that word, “therefore.” It literally means, “that is why,” and it’s referring to everything that has happened in verse 6 through 8, because He became obedient to death, even death on a cross, therefore, that’s why He is now exalted to the highest place. He is given the name above every name. He has the power to save. 

He alone is Lord over sin. Who else in all of history can make the claim to be lord over sin? Anyone? Is there anyone in this room who has conquered sin completely? Is there anyone in all of history, any of the greatest religious teachers in the history of the world? Not one of them can claim to be lord over sin. Let’s take it a step deeper, there’s no one in all of history that can claim to be Lord, not just over sin, but over death itself. Who has conquered death apart from Jesus? Absolutely no one has conquered death apart from Jesus. He alone has the power, the dominion, the authority to save. That is exactly why Hebrews 2:14 tells us that He took on our humanity so that He might destroy him who holds the power of death. 

I know that every Christmas, for many families, it’s a painful time, especially when you remember loved ones, who maybe over the last year that have passed away. The pain of death just seems to open up at holidays sometimes, and I want to remind you that in the incarnation we see a picture of the One who is Lord over death. He has all authority over death, therefore, we need not fear death, because of who He is. That is good news at Christmas. 

Who else will save you from your sin? Who else will you look to, to give you power over death? Who else could do it? He alone has the power to save. 

Not only the power to save, but He alone has the power to rule. He is the owner, He is sovereign, “He is” basically means He is in control over all things, He is sovereign over everything. That’s the picture we’ve got of Jesus here. He is the ruler. Colossians 2:9—10 talks about how He is head. It talks about how all the fullness of God dwells in Christ, and it says He is the head over every power and every authority. So that’s the picture we’ve got. He has the power to save and the power to rule. 

Now, I want us to pause here for a second and I want us to think about how we have a dangerous tendency to separate these two. It’s at this point that we come face to face with a couple of things that I hear people say all the time that are far from biblical. But either we say them, or we believe them, or we live like we believe them and we need to come face to face with the fact that they’re untrue. 

The first thing we often say when it comes to this idea is, “Well I have accepted Jesus as my Savior, but I have not surrendered to Him as my Lord. Jesus has saved me from my sins, but He is not the Lord of my life every day.” And we separate His power to save from His power to rule. “I’ll take the power to save, and I’ll bypass the power to rule.” So we pray a prayer and we sign a card, as we say, “I’ve asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins.” Then we live our lives that are far from under the Lordship of Christ, but our lives look just like everyone else in the world, there’s no difference, there’s no fruit of Christ in our lives. He’s not the Lord but we call Him our Savior. This is not an option for us biblically. If you look throughout the book of Acts, 92 times you will see Jesus referred to as Lord. Two times you will see Him referred to as Savior. We cannot separate who Jesus is, “I’ll take Him as Savior but I won’t take Him as Lord.” We cannot use Him as our Savior if we refuse Him as our Lord. Let me say that one more time, we cannot use Him as our Savior if we refuse Him as our Lord. He is Lord that is who He is. 

So I want to invite you, not to come before Christ this Christmas with any patronizing nonsense, singing about how He is Christ, the Lord of all, if that truth is far from a reality in our lives. God help us not to play games with the Lordship of Christ. This is too important. He is Lord. 

The second misconception we often think, some people say, “I’ve decided to make Jesus Lord of my life.” Well, let’s think about that statement in light of what we’re studying here. You’ve decided to make Jesus Lord of you life? Well you didn’t really have a choice in the matter. He is Lord. We’ve got to see this. He is Lord regardless of what you or I think. You and I don’t have the privilege of redefining who Jesus is, or determining who He is. He is Lord. That is true. The question is not, “Have you made Jesus Lord of your life?” He is Lord of your life. The question is, “Have you submitted your life to His Lordship?” In the phrases in Philippians 2:9—11, they ask this, “Have you bowed a knee to His Lordship?” Because the truth of Scripture is, one day every single knee will bow. One day, every single tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. The real question is, will you bow now or will you bow when it’s too late? That’s the decision with which Christmas confronts us. It is the reality on this Christmas Eve day that we have all got to come face to face with. 

It’s the question that I would ask every single individual one on one if I could. Here’s the question I want to put before you, have you bowed the knee to His Lordship? Have you bowed your knee to His Lordship? Not, have you accepted Christ? Not, have you prayed a prayer? Not, have you believed in Christ and bought into the Christmas message, even the demons believe the Christmas message. Have you, in your life, bowed the knee to His Lordship? That is the core question, and it is the core question upon which our eternity is based. What do I mean? Romans 10:9, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” 

That’s the gospel. Bow the knee to His Lordship, confess Him as Lord. That is the picture here, that is the driving stake upon which all of our lives revolve, and upon which all of our eternity is based. Have we bowed a knee to His Lordship? Because the decision we’ve got is that either we bow the knee today, and the result of that is salvation; if we bow the knee today, if we trust in Christ and call Him Lord, submit to His Lordship in our lives, and our lives come under His Lordship, then we experience the salvation by His grace and by His mercy that is salvation. The other option is to wait until this life is over, and bow the knee then. If that is the option we take then the result is not salvation, if we bow the knee then, the result is condemnation. 

You say, “What do you mean Dave? I thought Jesus said, ‘I came into the world not to condemn the world but to save the world, to show grace and mercy to the world?’” That is absolutely right, He came to the world to bring salvation. That’s absolutely right, Romans 8:1, says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” 

Philippians 2 9–11 Reminds Us that Christ Saved Us from Sin

For all who trust in His salvation, there is absolutely no condemnation anymore. But for all who don’t come under the Lordship of Christ, then we stand before God soaked in our sins with no one to take the payment of that sin upon them, and so we stand guilty for our sins, and then we experience the condemnation that our sins bring. 

This is huge. So I want us to pause here. I want us to pause at this point and I want us to reflect on that one question, “Have I bowed the knee to His Lordship?” This is too important to just pass by and get on to Christmas activities the rest of today and tomorrow. This is huge. I want to invite and urge people, for the first time to bow the knee to His Lordship. 

Communion is the act by which we reflect on the meaning of Christ’s death for us, His resurrection, and His victory over sin and death for us. If you are a Christ follower, I want to give you the opportunity to reflect over what it means for Him to be the Lord of your life, and where your life stands under His Lordship. At the same time I want to invite people, if you cannot say, “I have bowed the knee to His Lordship,” then I want to invite you during these moments to do that for the first time. In your heart, just say, “I confess that you are the Lord, you are the God and the Ruler and the Owner of my life and I need you to forgive me of my sins, and I’m not just going to believe in you, I am going to trust you with all my life.” 

Then once you’ve done that you have the opportunity to take communion as well. Communion is an act by which we, as Christ followers, remember what Christ has done as the Lord of our lives. If you are not a Christ follower, if you are not at a point where you are ready to become a Christ follower, then I would invite you just to observe during this time as we celebrate communion. For all those taking communion, as you come, let’s come face to face with the reality of who Christ is, and ask ourselves the question, honestly, ‘Is my life submitted to His Lordship?’ and answer that question as we go to one of these tables. 

Dear God, we bow before you and confess that you have exalted Jesus and given Him the name that is above every name. He is the Lord over all creation, all the heavens, all the earth, and all of our lives. God, I pray that on this Christmas Eve day, that people would receive your gift of salvation by confessing you as Lord. I pray that you would bring our lives under your lordship. We pray that the reality of your death and resurrection, the reality of who you are, would come home to our hearts in new, and meaningful, and life-changing ways. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. 

[Communion and Singing] 

Let me invite you to open your Bibles back up with me, as we draw this picture of the incarnation to a conclusion. He is reigning in the utmost position and He holds unendingpower as Lord over all of our lives. He is in control. Let me remind you, it is good that He is in control! Because He has all authority and all power, He is able to protect and watch over His people with the power of the creator of the universe. It is a good thing that He is Lord. 

He deserves universal praise. 

Jesus is Lord. The final two things that that means. Third, He deserves universal praise. We’re going to fly through this, but we’ve got to get the picture. “Every knee will bow.” This is a picture from the Old Testament of worship, adoration, of falling before someone who is worthy of honor and glory and worship, not even being able to stand in the presence, but that you fall on your knees. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess literally means, to declare openly that Jesus Christ is Lord. 

Now that’s in heaven and on earth and under the earth. What do each of these mean? Well I could take you on a journey and we could examine all of the biblical scholarship of what “in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,” means and the differentiation between the three. But the conclusion I’ve come to after studying over what everybody has to say, is that it just means everybody. Okay? So, that’s what we’re going to assume at this point. It doesn’t really matter who it’s talking about in heaven or on the earth or under the earth, the point is, all of us fall in there somewhere. In fact, all of everybody falls in there somewhere. 

What this means is, every angel, whether it’s in heaven or under the earth, the picture is of angelic beings in all creation who worship Christ and who bow to His Lordship. He deserves universal praise from every angel. Now that means holy angels, and fallen angels. The devil and all his demons bow the knee to the authority of Jesus Christ. He deserves universal praise from every angel. 

Not just from every angel, but from every people. From every people whether living or dead, whether in this continent or that continent, all over the world, all throughout history, every person bows the knee, every tongue will confess. He deserves universal praise from every angel, from every people, and from every language. 

When it says “every tongue will confess,” that’s a word that’s used to describe the proclamation of the mouth every tongue will confess, but this word is used throughout the New Testament to sometimes refer, not just to tongues, but to nations, tribes, and languages. Let me show you just a couple of verses that will help you understand tongues. Go to the last book of the Bible, Revelation. Seven different times, this word “glōssa,” in the New Testament is used in the book of Revelation. Let me show you two of them. Look at Revelation 5. This is a song to Christ, a proclamation of who He is. Listen to what it says, verse 11: 

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!’ (Rev. 5:11—13) 

He deserves the praise of all peoples from all tongues. You saw it even in verse 9, it says, “You were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” That’s the same word that is used in Philippians 2, verses 10 and 11. Let me show you one more, one of our favorite verses here at Brook Hills, Revelation 7:9, 

“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’” (Rev. 7:9—10). 

Every angel, every people, every language will one day bow before the throne and sing His praises. This drives us as a church. The universal praise, the infinite worth of Christ, drives us. Why are we going to give ourselves to the mission of Christ with complete and total abandon? Because of the infinite worth of Christ, and because He deserves universal praise. Why are many of our RBFs (Relational Bible Fellowship) going into housing project communities and Hispanic communities sharing the love of Christ? Because He deserves universal praise. Why are nearly 1,200 of us signed up over the next year to go overseas on mission trips? Why are so many people going? Because He deserves universal praise. 

Why are we going to risk it all at this church to make the glory of Christ known to the ends of the earth? We’re going to risk it all because there are a million people in metro Birmingham and Jesus deserves every single one of their praise. Why are we going to go to places like Africa? Because there are 3,000 tribes there that are worshipping animistic religions that are completely devoid of God, and Jesus deserves all their praise. Why are we going to go to Japan and Laos and Vietnam in the years to come? Because there are 350 million Buddhists who are following Buddha’s rule and Buddha’s regulations and Jesus Christ is worthy of universal praise. 

Why are we going to go to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Maldives? Why are we going to go to South Asia? Because there are 950 million Hindus there that worshipping more gods that you or I could even fathom, and Jesus alone is the God who is exalted above all others, and He alone is worthy of all their praise! 

Why are we going to go to tough nations like China or Laos or other communist nations? Because there are over a billion people in those nations that have grown up in atheistic philosophies that have absolutely no concept of God and there is a God; His name is Jesus, and He is worthy of all of their praise! Why are we going to go to the tough places? Why are we going to go to the dangerous places, into the Middle East in the coming days? Because there’s 1.2 billion Muslims who are fasting and giving alms and making holy pilgrimages to Mecca and praying five times a day to a false god, and Jesus Christ alone is worthy of universal praise! He is worthy and His worth drives us as a church. He is worthy of universal praise; He deserves it all. He has died on the cross for us. 

Some of you are thinking, “Only you, Dave, could take Christmas and turn it into a missions message!” But that’s the point. That’s the point of this whole thing. He’s worthy. 

He fulfills the ultimate purpose. 

Last one, He fulfills the ultimate purpose. He fulfills the ultimate purpose. Don’t miss this. When you get to Philippians 2, God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above every name. Why did God exalt Him? That’s the question I want you to think about. The ultimate purpose, why did God exalt Him? So that every knee will bow? Well no, go a little further. So that every tongue will confess? No, go a little further. That Jesus Christ is Lord? Well, go a little further, why did God exalt Jesus? He did all this to the glory of, who? God the Father. God exalted Jesus to bring glory to Himself, that’s the ultimate purpose and the purpose for which Christ came to the earth, died on the cross, rose from the grave, and ascended into heaven, so that God the Father would be exalted to the glory of God the Father. John 1:14, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” 

That’s what it means for the Word to become flesh. So what we’re seeing here as the ultimate purpose at Christmas, we look back to His revelation of the Father’s glory. That is the picture of Christ. When we think about Christmas, when we think about Christmas, we see the Father’s glory in Christ. We behold His glory, John 1:14, we reflect on His glory, we are captivated by His glory. 

John 12, before Jesus is about to head to the cross says, “What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”—John 12:28. “I came to bring glory to your name.” John 13:31, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.” 

That’s the picture. So at Christmas we look back to the revelation of the Father’s glory in Christ, but that is not where we stop. That’s not the only picture. Yes, we look back to revelation of the Father’s glory in Christ, but at Christmas we also look forward to His return with the Father’s glory. Wow! We can’t miss this. 

Yes, Christmas is a celebration of the fact that Christ came to the earth, undoubtedly, and for that we rejoice. But our rejoicing does not stop there, we do not just rejoice that He came, we rejoice that He is coming back! He is coming back for His people, He will return and show the fullness of the Father’s glory. 1 Corinthians 15, says, “All things under His feet, so that God may be all in all.” Then you get to the end of 1 Corinthians 15, and it says then the trumpet will sound and the last shall be first and we will be raised with Christ and we will say, “Death where is your victory? Death where is your sting?” Sin and death have been conquered thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ who is coming back. 1 Corinthians 16:22, says, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.” 

At Christmas, let’s not just look back, let’s look forward to the fact that He is coming back for you and me. We talked about how He gives victory over death, death is not a guarantee for you, it’s not a guarantee for me, because the Lord has promised that one day He is coming back. We will be with Him forever, and that’s the beauty of the incarnation. 

Our Prayer This Christmas …

The bottom line, our prayer this Christmas is simple.

God, open our eyes that we may see the magnitude of your glory. Open our hearts that we may feel the weight of your grace. God, open our mouths that we may declare the wonder of your gospel today, and tomorrow, and throughout 2007. 

I think the most appropriate thing for us to do in light of Philippians 2:9—11, is to give Him praise and honor and glory. So I’m going to pray for us and I’m going to invite us stand and we’re going to sing of His greatness, and we’re going to call Him Lord and great and mighty. We’re going to turn our mind’s attention and our heart’s affection completely to Him and we’re going to sing out with all of our hearts. 

God, we praise you. We praise you for your plan of redemption, that you sent your Son and now have exalted Him to the highest place. So we bow our knees today and we call you Lord. Lord, we long for your return. We look back on this Christmas Eve day to what you did when you came to us, and we look forward, oh God, to what you will do when you come back. God, we pray that until that day, that our lives would show the glory of our Lord in everything we do as individuals and as a church so that it would be said of us that you worked among us to the glory of God the Father. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.