CMLC 2025-04-13 Sermon

Well, howdy Now I have to let y 'all know is

there are different TV shows that my sister I

will take turns watching But she and I have differing

views on which British shows are the ones that

are important She's of the mindset that if somebody

has not died in a British countryside, then it's

not really a good British show I'm more of the

sci -fi person or whatever Netflix ends up picking

up. And I don't think either of us watches the

great bake -offs. I don't know if they're American

or British, but they all look like the same type

of cake to me anyway. But one of the things that

I really liked was watching The Crown. I saw

all six seasons of it, and in my mind, Vanessa

Kirby is still my Princess Margaret. Always will

be. The thing about The Crown is that it's all

this discussion about the life and times, the

background of Queen Elizabeth II and everything

that went into her reign. And one of the things

with this show is to be able to see all of the

dramas that were happening behind the scenes.

And sometimes I feel like I enjoyed watching

the dramas of the British monarchy, so it keeps

me from thinking about the dramas in our own

country. But one of the interesting parts of

the story of the royal family is that Elizabeth

II's father, George VI, was never supposed to

be king in the first place. Is that originally

it had been King Edward VIII. But King Edward

VIII ended up abdicating the throne. He let it

go. He walked away from his crown after about

a year of being the king. And the reason for

this was because of whom he wanted to marry.

So he was wanting to end up marrying a woman

who had been divorced but her spouse was still

alive. Now after King Henry VIII, we would have

thought for sure that divorces were not nearly

as big of a deal in England, but apparently it's

only not a big deal if the king has taken off

somebody's head. But in looking at more modern

day times, is that King Edward VIII knew that

he would not be allowed as the head of the Church

of England to marry the woman that he loved.

So, he walked away and he left the crown and

ended up marrying her, living together for the

rest of their lives, and King George VI, the

father of Queen Elizabeth II, ended up becoming

the king. And history would soon follow. But

in seeing this is that as Edward became the Duke

of Windsor, what we saw is that he ended up leaving

the authority and going and taking on a different

title with no influence, no political position

whatsoever in England. Now, did Edward end up

changing as a person because of losing the title?

Well, no. But this idea of losing one's title

because of the love that one has ends up showing

what it was that he believed to be important.

Now, it turns out that many people who had worked

with him while he was in office would end up

saying that he never really cared that much about

being the king anyway. But it also ends up asking

the point of why it was okay for him to lay down

his crown and the influence that he had. Now,

not looking at a romantic type of love, but rather

a deeper, more of an agape type of love, the

love of God, we end up seeing Jesus who lost

his throne for the whole world. What we see is

that Jesus ends up stepping away from the apparent

glory that he had being God the Son in the presence

of God the Father in the realm of heaven. Now

it says in the scriptures some interesting terms

and it said that he had the form of God and I

want to point out a few things to you because

it can be easy in our English language to misunderstand

what they are trying to get across in this. You

see, it wasn't as if Jesus was somehow just looking

like God. That's not what form means in this

original Greek. In fact, you could translate

it to nature. having the nature of God. It would

be sort of like if you were to take clay, and

if you were to make the form of the clay into

a cup, then it would be a cup. If you were to

make the form of the clay into a horse, then

it would be a horse. form of the clay into a

vase but you would not because it's pronounced

vase and we need to tell everybody else that's

how you pronounce it it is not vase it is vase

okay clearly Europeans you need to get on the

right track and stop putting you in the word

color I don't understand that at all anyway but

in understanding that the form the Greek word

morphe it is looking at the idea of one's essential

nature Okay, so the idea is that Jesus truly

has the nature of God, but when it points out

that he has emptied himself, it is not talking

about emptying himself of his divine nature.

But what we also need to point out is that it's

also saying he took on the form of a servant,

which means he has the nature of a servant. The

only way you can have the nature of being a servant

is if you also have taken on the nature of being

a human. And that's what we end up seeing here,

is that the idea of emptying himself, it's not

about emptying himself of his divine nature,

but rather the divine privileges. The idea that

he's able to then proclaim and show in this overt,

obvious sense that he himself is God. that that

is something that He is stepping away from. You

see, emptying Himself, it's not the nature, but

maybe what might look like the attributes, what

might be the appearance. Because even though

He's the same person, He's stepping away from

the title. He's stepping away from all of the

things that might appear to come with that. But

the thing is, is that who He is, does not change

based on the way that he appears in human form.

The way he has taken on a human servant nature

alongside being truly God. But that's what we

end up discovering about what it is for Jesus

to humble himself for us, is that in humbling

oneself, it is not about losing who you truly

are. Because think about all the things that

Jesus continued to do all the things about who

Jesus continued to be as the Messiah sent by

God Because none of that changed in being a servant

see that's something that we oftentimes lose

sight of is the idea that who you are and that

the true power and strength of what it is to

have your character and nature does not change

because of what you've stepped away from. We

wonder sometimes, I wondered when I was a kid,

how long that some people had as influence. in

our world and one of them was George Washington

and I always thought it was very strange that

George Washington is a very popular person, very

popular at the time with the revolution, very

popular as a military leader and then it's very

popular going into the presidency and that he

was there for two terms and that people continued

to want him in that position and he deliberately

said no. Why? That's what I think about this

is that Washington was not looking to serve himself

or his ambitions is that instead Washington leaves

after two terms because he knows that if he were

to stay there longer It would become more about

him Than it would be about the people If he were

to be there for longer than that amount of time,

is that it would become more about a nation shaped

in his image. But a nation is never supposed

to be in the shape of one human's image. And

that's the thing what we end up seeing here,

is that stepping away from a role, from an appearance,

from a title, is oftentimes what is needed in

order to truly do what is right for the people.

And that's what we end up seeing with Jesus.

Jesus is coming in today on this Palm Sunday

into Jerusalem. And all the people are crying

out, Hosanna! And yet with this realizing that

the King has come is that Jesus is not there

to now make himself the one to dominate and to

lord it over the Roman government. or even the

people of Israel. Why is He there? He's there

to serve. The thing with making it about the

people is that when He comes into Jerusalem,

He knows that He's going to be giving His life

because He knows that the leaders, the teachers,

the law scholars, they are the ones who are going

to be looking to make sure that one man dies

for the people in the words of Caiaphas. And

so as he comes into the city, he knows what is

to come, but he also knows how important that

is going to be. Because unless a leader is willing

to sacrifice and to be humbled, then that leader

will never truly be able to do what is right

and needed for the people. Even as we were the

ones who needed our sins. our death taken away

by God Himself. See, obedience is not meant for

glory. It's not meant for power. As Jesus is

obedient to the Father, we wonder, you are God

Himself. Why is this so important? Because of

the role that is needed to do what is needed

for us. See, sometimes we have to step away from

the very thing that might make life easy because

we know what our calling is truly meant to be.

One of those that comes up is Mother Teresa.

Because Mother Teresa ended up stepping away

from where she had been in order to pursue what

it was that she knew was needed. Is that as much

as we may think about how those who would spend

their life in monasteries and convents and to

think, well, they've already left all of the

fun and the joy and all of the ease and luxury

of the world to serve God. But let's be honest.

Convents and monasteries are really not that

bad. I remember a friend of mine in St. Louis

spending a week with some men at a monastery

just on the other side of the river and finding

out that apparently monks in East St. Louis really

enjoy watching the Simpsons. No, I was surprised

as you are as well. But the truth is that...

We don't have to always easily walk away from

everything. I know how blessed I am to have a

vehicle, to have a home, to have opportunities

to go to Taco Bell, and then to spend the evening

regretting it. And it's so important to realize

that that's something that's easy to step away

from, but at the same time to realize what Teresa

was going toward. Because as she was leaving

an easy teaching job at the convent, she was

moving toward the slums of Calcutta. As she is

founding the Missionaries of Charity, what we

see in her is that she knows that it's more important

to do what was needed than it was to stay in

what was comfortable. And that's a question that

I think we all need to pause and to ask. Have

you discovered anything that requires you to

empty yourself to live out your true calling?

That's hard to say in our nation. We are a place

where we continue to talk about the American

dream and about all the things that we want to

make sure that we achieve. But in reality, has

it actually made us better as people? Maybe wealthier

than other nations. Maybe making sure that things

are prettier and we have a McDonald's in every

neighborhood, but has it made us better as people?

Because truly if we are to ask what it is to

follow after God, to be people who follow Christ

Jesus even into Jerusalem, is that it means that

we have to be the people willing to empty ourselves.

Because we have to know and to trust them to

believe that even emptying ourselves of what

might appear great of the titles of the things

that give us some level of comfort and joy Is

to realize that it doesn't change our being doesn't

change who we are in the eyes of God That is

something that we need to have this week Before

we can get to Easter, we have to have the time

of empty. We have to have the opportunity to

see that as much as the people may praise the

man coming into the city on the back of a donkey,

we remember that it's not on top of a giant steed.

It is on an animal that is lowly, one that has

continued to work. and to slave and to push.

That instead of being the one who takes on the

glory is instead it is the one who takes on the

humility. Because Jesus was exalted because of

humility. See, that's the thing about the exaltation.

Was Jesus already exalted being God the Son?

Yes. But it wasn't the type of exaltation that

would bring us life. As long as we are serving

a God who is exalted up on a throne that never

comes down to be with us and to go through everything,

then we are a people who are forever to be pitied

because we are a people whose God has not brought

us salvation. But the exaltation of who Jesus

is now is as God the Son who is also our Savior.

See, being comfortable in all of this. It's not

the idea of comfort that we might look for. There

was a book that was saying, I believe it was

called The Subtle Art of Not Giving a, well,

a word that I can't say in church. But one of

the things about it is how to just let go and

stop worrying about the things that don't really

matter. And what it says is the idea of have

we Become comfortable with the idea that each

of us will someday die Because if we think about

the things that we truly put our time and attention

on that truly make life so difficult It's the

things where we want to try to somehow make life

Comfortable or avoid our mortality or somehow

have a legacy that makes us look good in the

future Something where we can try to hold on

to this world no matter what Then what we end

up doing is making life harder for ourselves

and for the people around us when we realize

the things we can't control. When we realize

the things that are truly bogging us down and

harming us. But when we pause, we're willing

to be comfortable with the fact that each of

us is going to a place where life will not have

its light upon us. Then we realize what it is

that truly matters. We discover the things that

are important, that at each and every moment

in this life, we're asking this question of,

where am I going because of where Christ has

gone before? See, Jesus embraced death, but it's

also because he knew that there would be hope,

that there would be life beyond the things that

were right there. how difficult it must have

been to follow and obey the Father, with how

many times people kept chasing Him and pushing

Him and taking away from Him what little He may

have already had. But He also knew what the purpose

was. And that's my question to you. Do you know

what it is that you are meant to pursue now?

Are you willing to realize that your life is

not about the comforts and the ease that we have

at this very moment, but to know that our future

does not lie here? Are you willing to admit that?

Are you willing to see that? Are you willing

to realize that we need to stop trying to avoid

the pain that comes from being a disciple of

Christ? We need to stop trying to avoid the pain

that comes as a disciple of Christ as those who

follow after God in Christ Jesus We need to stop

being so afraid Whenever we don't always get

our way We need to stop being afraid whenever

we don't think that we have power. We need to

stop being afraid Whenever we have to let others

Take the glory instead of ourselves. We have

to be stop being afraid when we don't get the

credit We need to stop being afraid of letting

go Letting God be the one to determine our future

Because the more we cling The more damage we

do and the only hope that we have of proclaiming

Christ to a world that truly needs him is if

we're willing to let go and go to the cross with

Him and to let Him be the one to give our future

and our hope. So whatever it is right now that

you are afraid of pursuing because you don't

know how difficult it may be or how much you

may lose in going to it, my hope and prayer is

that you are no longer afraid and that you'll

be willing to let go of this life so that we

can gain the one. that is truly eternal. Thanks

be to God.