Sermon for
Lent 6, Palm Sunday, April 29, 2026
Mercy and
peace to all of you
who are in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
Philippians 2:5-11 5Indeed,
let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. 6Though he was by nature God, he
did not consider equality with God as a prize to be displayed, 7but
he emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant. When he was born in human likeness, and his
appearance was like that of any other man, 8he humbled himself and
became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. 9Therefore God also highly exalted
him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the
name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and
every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father. (EHV)
In
equal attitude, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Dear fellow redeemed,
He
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, died and was buried. Who
could have imagined that this Jesus, riding into Jerusalem to cheers of praise
and vast crowds shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”,
would just a few days later suffer this great indignity which we confess in the
Apostles’ Creed? Who could have imagined
that these same cheering people would soon cry out “Crucify Him!”
Yet,
if we are being truly honest with ourselves and before God, we would have to
see ourselves in that crowd, because we all have been guilty of wanting God to
do things for us that maybe don’t align with His plan. We all have at times questioned whether God
really knows what He is doing in this world.
Who among us could claim that we have never had a selfish thought or
wished for something to be different than it actually is? How many of us haven’t wanted life to be a
little easier for ourselves, and maybe even harder for some who have offended
us in some way?
Paul
wrote, “Indeed, let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” To understand this sentence, we really should
refer back to Paul’s words immediately preceding it: “Let each of you look
carefully not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
(Philippians 2:4) Just as Jesus 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.” (Matthew 20:28) Thus, the command of the Holy Spirit, here,
is that we live in the same unselfish attitude that drove our Savior, and if we
do this faithfully, we will In equal attitude, confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord.
If
we compare the scene on Palm Sunday to any political campaign in our times, how
many candidates for office would enter a town to such cheers and celebration but
be thinking only of those people who need his service? I suspect that the answer could only be
none. Every person who has ever lived
has been infected with the desire for self-promotion, self-enrichment, or at
least, for self-preservation.
Indeed,
the natural mind cannot comprehend a Man like Jesus. The prophet, Isaiah, confessed, “From
ancient times no one has heard. No ear
has understood. No eye has seen any god
except you, who goes into action for the one who waits for him.” (Isaiah
64:4) There is only One like Jesus,
being both true God as well as true Man.
There is only One Man who walked this earth only so that you and I might
be forgiven of all sin and live rather than suffer eternal punishment in hell. There is truly only one Man who lived His
complete life doing perfectly holy things only so that we could be counted
righteous before God. I challenge anyone
to name any other person like Jesus.
Yet, that is our instruction, also, so what must we do?
Rather
than immediately answer my question, consider how Paul continued. Speaking about Jesus, he wrote: Though he
was by nature God, he did not consider equality with God as a prize to be
displayed, but he emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant. When he was born in human likeness, and his
appearance was like that of any other man, he humbled himself and became
obedient to the point of death—even death on
a cross.” In reality, Jesus is God from all
eternity, begotten of the Father and the source and conduit of all
creation. Jesus truly owns the universe
and everything in it, even those people who mock and jeer Him.
By
right, Jesus could do as He wished with the world. In fact, God sent the prophet, Jeremiah, to
observe a potter making his clay pots and when the pot didn’t turn out the way
he wished, the potter would mash the clay and start over making something
new. Our Lord could have done that with
the world and everything in it after sin corrupted all things. However, God chose instead to make us new
through His Son. Therefore, Jesus made
Himself equal to us in every way except without sin. At the same time, not content with becoming
like us, “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that
we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Counted as sin to God in our place, Jesus was
delivered to the punishment and death we all deserved.
Now,
taking the attitude of Christ doesn’t mean that we all have to suffer and die
for the sins of others. Jesus’ sacrifice
was a once and done, sufficient for all time and all people, sacrifice. The writer to the Hebrews said, “By this
will, we have been sanctified once and for all, through the sacrifice of the
body of Jesus Christ.” (Hebrews 10:10)
It was God’s will that his Son would bear the cost for the sins of
mankind. It was not disgust for His Son
that moved God, but rather love for us who are unlovable that motivated the
Father and Son to make this great exchange of sin for righteousness. At no cost to any of us, God transferred our
guilt to Jesus and Jesus’ righteousness to those who believe in Him.
There
is a bit more to know here. In
consideration of what Jesus has done for us, “Therefore God also highly
exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name
of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and
every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.” This is God’s glory—His
mercy granted to us through the love and sacrifice of His Son. And in the end, every knee will bow in humble
submission before Christ. Those who have
loved and believed in Jesus will bow before Him in gratitude and praise for
eternal salvation granted freely through the blood of Jesus.
On
the other hand, those who have not believed in Jesus will finally know the
truth. They will never again be able to reject
Jesus as God and Lord, for when St. John received a vision directly from Jesus
after His ascension to heaven, he reported “Look, he is coming with clouds,
and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him.” (Revelation
1:7) Jesus, Himself, quoted the prophet,
Hosea, to warn, “Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’
and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’” (Luke 23:30)
Judgment
Day for the unbeliever will be a horrible experience leading to an eternal
separation from God in the place prepared for the devil and his angels. There will never be an escape from that
eternal prison, nor any slight relief from the everlasting torment of
separation from God’s kindness, as well as finally knowing that Jesus died even
for those who rejected Him, but refusal to believe in Him cost them everything
good.
So
where does that leave us? Our text
convinces us that we should In equal attitude, confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord. That is our work as Christian believers, to
live our lives in service to our neighbor by setting aside selfish desires in
order to help others hear the Good News of all Jesus has done for us. That means that we will bring up our children
“in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4) It means that our concern will not be just
for material gains but for what we can do to help our neighbor both in earthly
things but especially in the hearing of the Gospel.
Like the Good Samaritan,
this unselfish attitude displayed on our behalf by our Savior will motivate
hearts to be willing to help even when danger or inconvenience might militate
against a willing spirit. In fact, in
many ways, it is not our decision or the strength of our faith that will
accomplish the good works, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance so that we would walk in
them.” (Ephesians 2:10)
Dear friends, throughout
the various epistles, there is much instruction about how we should live in the
Christian faith, and it can feel like we often fall short of what we should be
doing. When it comes down to the truth,
we know and confess that nothing good has its source in us. It is the Father’s love that motivates us the
same way it motivated Jesus to give Himself for the sinners of the world.
We know and confess that
it is by grace that the Word of God has reached our ears, and the waters of
Baptism have flowed over us and cleansed our souls of all guilt. We confess and know that it is Jesus’ love
that flows through those the Spirit has claimed as children of God. We, likewise, know and confess that our Lord
Jesus has lived for us the perfect righteousness that only He can give. We know and confess that in Jesus we have
peace and rest for our souls so that we don’t have to merit the righteousness
of God, for it is God’s gift to those under the care of His Son.
At the same time, knowing
what Jesus has done for us, what joy is ours that we may devote our lives to
living for Him, as the prophet exclaimed, “How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of a herald, who proclaims peace and preaches good news, who
proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God is king!’” (Isaiah 52:7) When we examine this text from the letter to
the Philippians, what it comes down to is love, the unselfish kind of love that
puts the needs of others ahead of our own.
The apostle, John, wrote, “This is love: not that we have loved God,
but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our
sins.” (1 John 4:10) Therefore, to
friend and foe alike, it is in the love of God for us that we In equal
attitude, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.
May the LORD our God be
with us, just as he was with our fathers.
May he never leave us or abandon us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all
his ways. Amen.
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