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Apr 21, 2019

Why is He Singing?

Why is He Singing?

Passage: Philippians 2:1-11

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: The Highest Good

Jesus came both to conquer and to atone for all that held us captive. He could only do so by becoming a servant of God. We live to conquer and hope our triumphs outweigh our regrets, and end up being servants of self.

Order of Worship

Call To Worship: 1 Peter 1:3-5
Apostles’ Creed
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 53:1-6
New Testament Reading: Romans 6:1-11
Sermon Title: Why is He Singing?
Central Text: Philippians 2:1-11
Drama Sketch
Benediction: Hebrews 13:20-21
Post-Service Text: Romans 5:18-19

04.21.2019 Sermon Notes

Illustrations

Paris singing while witnessing Notre Dame burn

Doctor Strange - Not About You

Readings & Scripture

Call To Worship: based on 1 Peter 1:3-5
LEADER: Alleluia! Christ is risen!
ALL: He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
LEADER: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
ALL: He has given us new life and hope. He has raised Jesus from the dead.
LEADER: God has claimed us as his own.
ALL: He has brought us out of darkness. He has made us light to the world.
LEADER: Alleluia! Christ is risen!
ALL: He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 53:1-6
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

New Testament Reading: Romans 6:1-11
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Central Text: Philippians 2:1-11
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, 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. 9 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.

Benediction: Hebrews 13:20-21
20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Post-Service Text: Romans 5:18-19
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

Related Scriptures:

  • John 3:30
  • James 4:10
  • 1 Peter 5:5, 6

Discussion Questions & Applications:

 

  1. When someone says “it’s not about you,” what do they mean by it? Aside from the likely harsh tone that accompanies it, of what value is hearing that? How does someone come to believe it’s all about them?
  2. What is humility? How is it different from modesty, or from being self-deprecating?
  3. What are all the ways Jesus demonstrated humility?
  4. What difference would it make to you right now if you deeply believed that Jesus in fact rose from the dead, and now bears the “name above all names” for His humility that meant our forgiveness and eternity? How, if at all, would that change what you are right now most preoccupied with, anxious or angry over--or even what you’re aspiring to?

Quotes

  • Finally everyone was saying, "He doesn't have anything on!" The emperor shuddered, for he knew that they were right, but he thought, "The procession must go on!” - Hans Christian Andersen, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”
  • We are not our own; therefore, as far as possible, let us forget ourselves and the things that are ours. - Calvin, Institutes
  • Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. - Thomas Merton
  • Then the lion said - but I don't know if it spoke – ‘You will have to let me undress you.’ I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it. - Eustace Scrubb in C.S. Lewis’, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
  • All of us — whatever our natural serotonin level — look around us and see plenty of reason for doubt, anger and sadness. A child dies, a woman is abused, a schoolyard becomes a killing field, a typhoon sweeps away the innocent. If we knew or felt the whole of human suffering, we would drown in despair. By all objective evidence, we are arrogant animals, headed for the extinction that is the way of all things. We imagine that we are like gods, and still drop dead like flies on the windowsill. . . . Many, understandably, pray for a strength they do not possess. But God’s promise is somewhat different: That even when strength fails, there is perseverance. And even when perseverance fails, there is hope. And even when hope fails, there is love. And love never fails. - Michael Gerson
  • Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil’s reach as humility. - Jonathan Edwards

 

Sermons/resources

Books

  • The Real American Dream, by Andrew Delbanco