The Thrill of Hope: Week 4, December 16, 2018

It’s a rare thing, particularly in our American culture, to fall on our knees, isn’t it?  It is reserved for very special occasions.  And rightly so.  It is not something to be done lightly.

 

I remember one occasion when I knelt before another.  It was a beautiful spring evening, lit by the glow of a full moon.  I knelt before a beautiful young woman named Nell.  I knelt there as a sign of my respect and love for her.  On bended knee I made a commitment to her that night that now spans more than thirty years.

 

There is someone else before whom every one of us should gladly fall on our knees.  Because of who he is and what he has done on our behalf, we should willingly kneel before the Lord Jesus as a sign of our respect and love for him.  We should make a commitment to him that will span all of life and eternity.

 

The beloved Christmas carol, “O Holy Night,” reaches a crescendo as it calls on all to “fall on your knees” before the Savior.  This Sunday we will hear the challenge of that carol and the scripture 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. 2:10b-11). 

 

Join us at Istrouma this coming Sunday as worship on bended knee and with humble heart the newborn King!

 

The Thrill of Hope

“Fall on Your Knees”

Philippians 2:5-11

 

1. Because of Jesus’ equalitywith God

 

. . .Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped(2:5b-6).

 

1. He is God

 

1. He is gracious

 

2. Because of Jesus’ emptyingas God

 

but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c]being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (2:7-8)

 

1. He became our servant

 

1. He became our sacrifice

 

3. Because of Jesus’ exaltationby God

 

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (2:9-11).

 

1. He is sovereign

 

1. He is savior