Let
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, being
born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled
himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross. 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
should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father.
Philippians
2:5-11
I don't know about you, but I've gotten addicted to political news shows. Love 'em or hate 'em, you have to admit John McCain, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, and... the other guy have made this election the best reality show on earth. Except that it's not a show. Whether or not it's reality is for people smarter than I to judge. And that, I think, is why I and so many others are addicted to the news, to the analysis, and the fact-checking. We're trying to find out who's saying what that's real reality, what's truth and not just truthiness. We want to know what's reality and not just show. We want to know who understands the truth. We want to know who's right and who's wrong, and who's going to lead our nation back to prosperity, health and honor. In other words, we want to find out who's the real winner, and then back the winner, so we'll be winners, again. We all want our guys (and/or gal) to be number 1.
Jesus is number one, isn't he. The Bible tells us so. "God... highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." It's right there in scripture. Jesus is number one, the name above all other names, the most highly exalted in heaven, on earth and under the earth, too. Number 1. In real reality, Jesus is the winner of all winners, the victor of all victors. And best of all, he's the one who makes all of us winners, too. Our guy is number 1. We believe in him. We vote for him. Which means we're also number one.
Except that a funny thing happened on the way to the inauguration. Jesus lost. Jesus was humiliated. Jesus died. Jesus went from being number one to being a big zero. The Bible says:
though he was
in the form of God, [Jesus] did not regard equality with God as something to
be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being
born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled
himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross.
In real reality, we lose. We get humiliated. We die. And I think this is why so many people are disappointed with God. I think this is why so many people can't pray. I think this is why more people don't go to church than do. Not because they're evil, but because the ideal of Jesus as the number one winning candidate has let them down. Jesus hasn't answered their prayers, hasn't put a chicken in every pot, and hasn't bailed them out of a faith foreclosure. Jesus as the number one winning candidate hasn't brought them prosperity, health and honor, so they figure: he must not really be a winner. They think, Jesus is a loser. And who wants to waste their vote on a loser?
The Bible knows people think things like this. The Bible is not afraid of our doubts. And Jesus is not afraid of our disappointment. Instead of shaming us, instead of denying reality, God embraces our depression and guides us to a place of true change we can believe in.
---
If you're following along in the scriptures - and I hope you are - preachers always need fact-checking - If you're following along in the scriptures, you've noticed that I'm working backward through Paul's letter to the Philippians. I've started at the end, where Jesus is named King of kings and Lord of lords and every knee bows and every tongue confesses. Why start there?
Take a walk down main street Gatlinburg - if you dare. The T-shirt capital of the world. You'll see an ever-widening variety of promotional T-shirts, for Jesus. There's the Tennessee-themed, "Jesus: The Ultimate Volunteer." There's the beer-gut-covering, "For all you do, His blood's for you." Perhaps today, beneath your fancy clothes, some of you are wearing one of these. In one way or another, we all are. And that's the point. In America, we're so ingrained in thinking that anyone worth anything is worth wearing T-shirts about, or bumper-stickering on our car, or sign-posting in our yard. Why? Because those people are, in our minds, number one, and we want to help them stay number one, and become number one for everyone. So we promote them. It's only natural, then, if Jesus is our guy, to want to help him get a promotion. We start out by wanting to promote Jesus to King of kings and Lord of lords and make sure everyone else knows he's the number-oneyest of all.
In our thinking we start out where the Bible ends up. And we never trace back to see how we got there. Yes, Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords and to him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. But if that's all of Jesus we know - Jesus the winner - then what happens when we lose? What happens when we're torn away from the coattails of our winning candidate when he's off winning somewhere else, and we're stuck, losing? Did we do something wrong? Is he ignorning his voting base? Are all those T-shirts worth nothing?
Sometimes, as a pastor, I feel as though I'm supposed to be God's spin doctor. I say things like, "Well, you know, it's all part of God's plan and we don't know what that is." Sometimes those words are helpful. But they're not enough. What those words are really saying is, "I'm just as mystified and disappointed as you are." If we start with trying to promote Jesus, if we start trying to keep him on the pedestal of King of kings and Lord of lords, then our faith is always going to be defensive. We turn into God's angry defense attorneys. We'll definitely get to the end, Jesus will be number one, but if we start at the end we've jumped over the vast beginnings of faith. And when push comes to shove, we won't have the legs to stand.
---
If being number one is your goal, where do you have to start? What's the only number before one? Zero. Step back in the scripture to the place before the end.
though he was
in the form of God, [Jesus] did not regard equality with God as something to
be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being
born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled
himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross.
Jesus doesn't start out King of kings and Lord of lords. Maybe we, in our faith, should start out by not trying to promote him too soon.
If you look at the front of the sanctuary, we don't have a giant Number One up front. We have a cross.
Philip
Rieff, the sociologist, said, “Any church or any
preacher who keeps preaching on the cross is not going to grow. The
preacher will not be a success and the church will not grow, because
in our culture what we are interested in is success, not sacrifice.”
One giant church in California told their architect, “We don’t
want any crosses on the church building, either inside or outside.
None. We don’t want anybody thinking failure and weakness.” Another
very successful pastor one Sunday morning told his church, “The cross
has
been the symbol of sacrifice and the acceptance of pain and
suffering, and we are tired of it. We are not going to be a part of
this anymore.” And he got up and tore down the cross from the
sanctuary.
Those are extreme examples. More often, we ignore the cross. More often, we just accept it as part of the landscape. Or we try to spin it into another promotional tool. But in both cases, either by ignoring or changing the cross of Jesus Christ, we deny its meaning. In our race to make Jesus number one, we make the cross less than zero, we strip it of all it represents.
When we're in those places of doubt and darkness, when we're wondering why Jesus hasn't saved us, it's not because we've been bad. And it's not because Jesus is somewhere else. It's because we're trying to race ahead when, instead, like Jesus, we need to be taking a step back. Scripture says,
Let
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, being
born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled
himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross.
In coming to earth, Jesus went from being Number One to being a big Zero, just like us. In Jesus becoming a Zero, God gave the zeroes value. Your dark and empty times are not a sign that you're worthless. That Jesus would step back, would step down, would step into those times is a sign of their infinite value. You don't have to win, you don't have to be Number One, if you're of the mind of Christ.
---
A few years ago, in Seattle, they were holding the Special Olympics. Nine runners assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash, all of them in some way physically or mentally handicapped. At the starting gun they all came out sprinting as fast as they could, except for one little boy in the middle of the pack who stumbled as he took his first few steps. He fll onto the track and began to cry in disappointment and embarrassment. A few steps ahead of him, the other eight runners heard hin; they slowed down and stopped and then turned around and came back to where he was. A little girl with Down's Syndrome bent down to help him up; she kissed his cheek and said, "this'll make it better." And then all nine held hands and walked across the finish line together. The crowd was silent at first. And then they cheered for a long, long time. People who saw it are still telling the story.
In our presidential politics, I have no idea who's going to win the race. But I know a Lord who chose to do something other than winning. I know a Lord who does something other than race. I know a Lord who walks back to us when we stumble, and helps us go where we need to go, together.
Let
the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.
