If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy,\u00a02<\/sup>make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.\u00a03<\/sup>Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.\u00a04<\/sup>Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.\u00a05<\/sup>Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,<\/em> 9<\/sup>Therefore God also highly exalted him<\/em> In the Name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit.<\/em><\/p>\n When our girls were littler than they are now, and bedtime came in our house, Kathleen and I had to warm up our voices and drink a glass of water beforehand because the only way they would go to sleep is to be accompanied by singing. It was sort of like the late-night all-request hour on the radio, but the hits we were asked to sing as they lay falling asleep were such classics as \u201cTwinkle Twinkle Little Star,\u201d \u201cJingle Bells,(no matter the month or season)\u201d, but also \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d or \u201cJesus Christ the Apple Tree.\u201d Singing relaxes us, no matter our age, singing comforts us and makes us feel safe, singing lets us express love and joy and faith that it\u2019s otherwise hard for us to put into words. And Lutherans love to sing\u2014one of our members tells the story of attending a funeral at another church, and the priest stopping him afterwards, saying, \u201cWelcome, I knew you weren\u2019t one of our members, but must be a Lutheran, because you were actually singing!\u201d<\/p>\n So it should come as no surprise to us that our second lesson from Philippians today, is actually a song, is actually the first Christian hymn that we know of, that probably pre-dates the Bible, it\u2019s a song, it\u2019s a hymn, that the very first Christians sang about our Lord Jesus, a way they could put their love and faith and joy about Christ into words that were more than words, a way they could sing about all that Christ has done, and what God has for us through him.<\/p>\n This ancient hymn that today we call the Christ Hymn begins with, \u201cLet the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.\u201d<\/p>\n Jesus was equal to Father in every way, he was with the Father from all eternity, but he did not exploit that, he did not hold that over anyone, he did not hold onto and grasp that.\u00a0 If you and I were equal to God it\u2019d be like that old movie Bruce Almighty, we\u2019d use our powers to get what we want, for our own gain, to keep the spotlight on us.\u00a0 I asked our Confirmation kids once what they\u2019d do if they were God, and the first answer was that they\u2019d turn everything into ice cream.\u00a0 There you go.\u00a0 We\u2019d use our powers to make unlimited ice cream and climb up high, to stand on our mountain of Rocky Road, because we\u2019re not only addicted to sugary desserts, but we\u2019re addicted to glory, to the seeking of ourselves, and no matter how much we have it\u2019s never enough! But Christ, gloriously equal to the Father in every way, instead emptied himself, emptied himself of all glory and descended all the way down, he poured himself out to complete nothingness, and was born in a manger, in an animal feed-trough. He took the exact same form as you and me, the song says, 10 fingers, 10 toes, fully human, but the form that Philippians tells us today Christ really took on was the form of a slave, a slave to sin.<\/p>\n Slaves to sin? Not me, we say! But we just confessed it, didn\u2019t we? That \u201cwe are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves,\u201d and that our world, our everyday lives, our families, our country all show us what just living for yourself gets you, what worshipping just me and mine gets you, what our addiction to glory and putting ourselves in the place of God gets you\u2014it\u2019s empty, it\u2019s demonic, it\u2019s destructive, it\u2019s never enough, it is a living death.<\/p>\n But when Christ was found in human form, like a slave, even that wasn\u2019t low enough for him. No, the song says, he had to go lower, he had to lower himself down as far as possible, he had to renounce and lose all glory, so he humbled himself, and became obedient to the point of death\u2014even death on a Cross.<\/p>\n The one who was equal to the Father in every way emptied himself and humbled himself\u2026 becoming a friend of tax collectors and prostitutes, spending his days with the sick, the starving, the sinners, there was nowhere too low, nowhere too humble for Christ to go.\u00a0 And so he emptied himself all the way down, even to death on a Cross\u2014loving you more than he loved himself, Jesus emptied himself out for you, poured himself out, poured every drop of himself out, so that on the Cross there was nothing left. He emptied out his lifeblood, in order to save yours, he poured himself out and cried \u201cI thirst,\u201d so that your cup would overflow and your life be filled. And if that wasn\u2019t low enough, we also confess every week that he descended into hell! Christ went all the way into the deepest depths of the lowest and worst and most godforsaken place, so that wherever you are in life, however low you\u2019ve fallen, however low or far from God you feel today, Christ has been there, you are not alone; wherever you are, Christ is there too.<\/p>\n Therefore, the song says, God also highly exalted him. Super-exalted him, is the literal translation. Because the last shall be first, because the meek shall inherit the earth, because God is close to the brokenhearted, because God brings light out of darkness and life out of death, because Christ lowered himself and made himself nothing, God highly exalted him and made him everything! God raised him up and gave him the name that is above every name, Jesus, the name that charms our fears and bids our sorrows cease, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend, in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, so that at the name of Jesus everything, everywhere should bow down and worship, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.<\/p>\n So the one who started off at the right hand of the Father, equal to the Father in every way, and came down for us, as low as he could go, is now back at the right hand of the Father, back to where he started in the first place, but he\u2019s back there having emptied himself in love for you and me and the world, he\u2019s there having borne the sins of the world, he bears the scars of the nails in his hands, his feet, and his side, he is seated in glory, but it\u2019s a glory that has paid the price, it\u2019s a glory that has sacrificed everything in love in order to fill everything with love.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s the life you and I now get to live, one overflowing with his grace and glory and love.\u00a0 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, this amazing hymn began: let his grace which has claimed you and shaped you get to work in you! You are called to follow him, you can start to live like Jesus Christ lived! How?<\/p>\n With this hymn in our ears, filled with the grace of Christ who emptied himself for us and has been raised for us, well, now the way up is down. The late Pastor Tim Keller once said, \u201cThe way up is down. Now to be rich is to give your money away. Now to have power and influence is to sacrifice your power for other people. Now to be happy is stop thinking about your own happiness but to help others be happy. Now to rule over others is to serve others.\u201d[1]<\/a> The way up now is down, let the same mind me in you as Christ Jesus, who emptied himself.<\/p>\n This past week we said goodbye to our brother Todd\u2014Todd who was a beloved part of this congregation, always ready with his greeting of \u201cHappy Sunday to you!\u201d\u00a0 Todd who emptied himself, gave himself away as a good husband, a good father, a good grandfather, and who died at peace and fearless, full of faith in his Lord Jesus.\u00a0 As we gathered this past weekend for Todd\u2019s last rites, the Commendation of the Dying, we got to the end and kind of sat there in silence, when you, Bettina, his beloved daughter-in-law, said, \u201cCan I sing?\u201d\u00a0 And you started singing hymns for him, to praise our God, to soothe his soul, to invite God\u2019s closeness and comfort and peace, singing him into the Kingdom.\u00a0 Thank you for doing that.<\/p>\n As we come to our time for Communion now, we\u2019ll sing our faith here, we\u2019ll sing about how God, his Son not sparing, sent him to die, and to empty himself for us.\u00a0 Empty himself into one last meal, empty himself into the bread and wine. So that you can be filled. Filled with his forgiveness, life, and salvation, filled with his peace, filled so that our cups runneth over, filled so that we can empty ourselves out for our neighbors, so that we can give ourselves away like He did, we are filled to the brim this morning so that we can empty ourselves out for those around us, following Christ who emptied himself for us and became obedient to the point of death, even to death on a Cross.<\/p>\n
\n6<\/sup>who, though he was in the form of God,<\/em>
\ndid not regard equality with God<\/em>
\nas something to be exploited,<\/em>
\n7<\/sup>but emptied himself,<\/em>
\ntaking the form of a slave,<\/em>
\nbeing born in human likeness.<\/em>
\nAnd being found in human form,<\/em>
\n8<\/sup>he humbled himself<\/em>
\nand became obedient to the point of death\u2014<\/em>
\neven death on a cross.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nand gave him the name<\/em>
\nthat is above every name,<\/em>
\n10<\/sup>so that at the name of Jesus<\/em>
\nevery knee should bend,<\/em>
\nin heaven and on earth and under the earth,<\/em>
\n11<\/sup>and every tongue should confess<\/em>
\nthat Jesus Christ is Lord,<\/em>
\nto the glory of God the Father. <\/em>
\n12<\/sup>Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;\u00a013<\/sup>for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:1-13, NRSV).<\/em><\/p>\n