The great Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, used to tell the story of a young prince who was longing for a future wife and queen. One day, on an errand for his father, he passed through a poor neighbourhood of a certain town and noticed there a young peasant girl whose beauty, fairness and purity were plain to see.
Several times the prince returned to that town in the hope of catching a glimpse of the young woman for, without ever having said a word to her, he felt himself falling irresistibly in love. Day and night his thoughts were consumed by this question; how could he propose to her? He could, of course, as the king's son simply order her to marry him. But with a forced marriage he would never be sure that her love for him was true. He wasn't interested in a trophy queen, he was seeking true love.
At last, he found the perfect solution to his dilemma. He threw off his royal robes, removed his jewelled ring and disguised himself as a village peasant. He moved into the poorest part of town and lived with the local people; adopting their common dialect, sharing their simple food and working hard for a modest wage. In truth, it was more than a disguise; it was a new identity. He lived that way for three years, hoping he would get a chance to meet the young woman of his dreams.
Finally they met, and to his great disappointment, though he loved her desperately, there was no love at first sight on her part. So, ever the chivalrous knight, he courted her, and charmed her and amused her and slowly won her trust. Eventually, she grew to like his company and after a time she began to love him deeply. Ah, but he loved her first.
Christ the Ultimate Servant
Our reading from Philippians this afternoon tells us that Jesus, whose awesome divine nature is, and always has been, equal to that of God the Father, didn't pull rank or cling to status. Jesus, Son of God, just like that young prince, left behind his power and privileges and embraced the role of a simple domestic servant, becoming flesh and blood.
Have you ever noticed, reading the Gospels, how Jesus - even when falsely accused, badly treated and unjustly murdered - never brings up the subject of his human rights? Actually he could have mentioned his divine rights but never did. It says in v6 that he completely let go of status. It says ‘though he was in very nature God, he did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped.’ Have you ever watched people in the January sales? Queuing all night, running through the store, grasping the bargains... But grasping is the opposite of Jesus’ attitude and model of life. No, he became downwardly mobile, it was a riches to rags story. He lived and died as a selfless, suffering servant. It’s not that he wasn’t ambitious; it’s that his ambition was for others and not for himself. And that is the trail he blazed for us to walk.
We know what life as a servant meant for Jesus; the cross is a powerful reminder of that. But what does servanthood mean for me and you? We like the language of service and servanthood but servants have to do menial and unpleasant tasks like cleaning toilets. People talk down to servants and servants don’t really have the right to talk back.
We know servanthood doesn't literally mean for us a path of private foot washing and public crucifixion. So when Jesus said to take up our cross what does that mean practically? Of course we cannot repeat what Jesus did for us on the cross. But we can give up on selfish ambitions, self-importance and self-centredness.
The Path of Servanthood
In what ways is God calling you and me to service and sacrifice this afternoon? Part of the answer lies in verses 2-5, the verses just before our reading. God says, "Be like-minded. Have the same love. Be one in spirit. Be of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. No; in humility value others above yourselves. Do not look to your own interests, but to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same attitude of mind that Jesus had."
That's the path that God has ordained for each one of us and it’s a path we walk down in Lent. It's a life totally turned away from self-satisfaction and the all-consuming pursuit of feeling great.
It's quite surprising walking round Christian bookshops these days how many popular titles, especially from America, are about finding true happiness here on earth, achieving personal success or fulfilling your potential. I don't find those values anywhere in the Bible. "What good is it for you to gain the whole world, and yet lose your very self?" Jesus asks. "Whoever wants to save their life will lose it," he says, "but whoever loses their life for me will save it."
This is the irony that so many people tragically miss. Here's the great secret of life. C.S. Lewis put it this way; "Aim at heaven and you'll get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither."
In v5-8 the Scripture focuses on Christ's perfect obedience which led him to his gruesome death.
In our Matthew reading, Matthew shows us at this point in his gospel, a side to Jesus he hadn't mentioned before. Up to this point, Jesus avoided the public eye, gave people strict orders not to say who he was, slipped away to quiet places.
But as we begin Holy Week, let's remind ourselves that now it's different. Now is his time. The moment has come. He has resolved to set his face to Jerusalem, to allow his conflict with the religious authorities to come to a head, and to submit himself, for our sakes, as the willing victim of a judicial murder.
Five times before, they had tried to kill him. He had... slipped away. It wasn't his time. When they will finally seize him, four days from this, he will be tried, he will be flogged, he will be scourged, he will have a prickly crown pressed on his head, he will be mocked, he will be taken away and nailed to a cross to die.
And he will suffer indescribable pain. There wasn’t a word in the language capable of describing the agonies Jesus endured on the cross so they had to invent a new one; excruciating – ‘ex’ meaning ‘out from’ and ‘cruci’ meaning ‘cross’ – this is pain out from the cross and there has, in all human experience, been nothing like it before or since.
Jesus carried all our sorrows, all our iniquities, all our regrets, all our failures, all our sickness, all our disease, all our wrongs and the wrongs done to us – and he took it all on himself.
But v9 begins "Therefore God exalted him." It shows that Christ's magnificent exaltation, his brilliant triumph and awesome crowning in glory directly relates to his lowly emptying of himself.
His service and self-abasement correspond perfectly with his honour and reward. This is why "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..."
Jesus himself taught that true greatness comes from serving others, not being served as top dog. He said, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.”
He said, “Everyone who exalts themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
No act of kindness you do, no loving word you speak, no extra mile you walk, no generous gift you offer, no unnoticed menial job you accept, no hour of prayer you set aside is ever lost in God's purposes.
Jesus said, "Whoever welcomes a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever welcomes someone known to be righteous will receive a righteous person's reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of... my disciples, truly I tell you, that person will certainly be rewarded.”
The German atheist philosopher Nietzsche found out what the reward for unbelief is. He raged against God, declared that God is dead and drove himself mad imagining a world after God's funeral.
The libertine Lord Byron found that out what the reward for living for sensual pleasure is. "Cirrhosis, syphilis and regret are mine alone" he said.
Jay Gould, the American multi-millionaire found out what the reward for loving money is. "I suppose," he said on his death bed, "that I am the unhappiest and least satisfied man on earth."
Alexander the Great conquered the then-known world by the age of 30. But he then found out what the reward for power and success is. He cried in his tent because there was no land left to conquer and he died of a fever three years later.
Our reward is Christ alone and there is no other route to that great prize than the way of the cross.
Ending
So as I close, be encouraged and be blessed as you choose again to serve Christ in others. None of it is wasted. All of it is noticed by our Lord and Master. Every act, every thought, every prayer, every kind word, every gift counts in eternal terms.
And, like that beautiful bride for that love struck young prince, the reward – knowing God and living in the power of his resurrection – is beyond compare.
Sermon preached at Saint Mary's Long Newton, 17th April 2011
