Homily delivered
by the Reverend Rob Hartley at the North
Augusta Community Lenten Service, April 10, 2019
Philippians
2:5-11 (ESV)
5Have this mind among yourselves,
which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of
God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but
emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of
men. 8And being found in
human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even
death on a cross. 9Therefore
God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every
name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
On Good Friday, this church family
will gather in this place, as many of you will do in your churches. We will read the passion narrative from
John’s Gospel, and we will also read this beautifully moving passage from
Philippians. It is called the Christ
Hymn because it takes us the central act of Salvation History, which is the Cross
of Christ.
Historians, sociologists, or
anthropologists look at the broad sweep of human history and see it as events
stitched together, often as a result of circumstances, human effort, or just
chance, all contributing to bring humanity to where it is today. But how about us Christians? How do we view
history? From what perspective?
Hopefully, we view it from God’s perspective?
Human history is wildly chaotic and
messy for sure, but we know that God’s plan is being played out in spite of you
and me. We know that God’s providential
and redemptive hand has been upon human history from the beginning. He gives us one of His first hints to this
in Genesis 3 after the couple falls into sin and rebellion. Gao says they will
someday Crush Satan’s head; in other words, they will have victory over the
powers of darkness that have now come to inhabit creation and the human
heart. God has overlaid human history
with Salvation History. We know that this eventual and inevitable victory
belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ for it says in Scripture, “In the fullness of time, Christ came to die
for us… and as Paul puts it this morning in Philippians, “Christ being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming
obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
So, as surely as Creation has a beginning
and an end, it has a center, which is the Cross and Resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the climax of God’s great redemptive plan. And this amazing cosmic event is what we are
preparing for this Lent. Jesus has
redeemed us; we have been rescued from ourselves, which is why Paul writes this
morning- “At the name of Jesus, every
knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and
every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father! Amen.
