In A Few Words

The Rev. Joseph Winston

March 28, 2010

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ.1
It only takes a few words to describe you. Retailers understand this well. They
take small bits of publicly available information about you and transform this
knowledge into targeted advertising that makes them money. They stuff your mail-
box full of direct mail with the hope you will open at least one of the fliers and buy
something from them. Someone from a boiler-room calls you during dinner. They
play off your fear that you just might miss something important and you quickly
pick up the phone. Right away, they start on the scripts that addresses who you
are. Conservative? Can you help out the state troopers during this difficult time of
the year? Liberal? The time for change is now. Go out and vote in a new genera-
tion of leaders. Rural? A timeshare condo is a great way to see the world. Come
this weekend up to the lake and see for yourself. Urban? Support the environ-
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3.

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ment. Buy a green car. And so it goes. The search giants on the Internet make
their fortunes based on the undeniable truth you look for things that interest you.
In exchange for providing the service, they will gladly give you a few targeted
advertisements. You never know, you just might want to but it from someone else.
If you have ever watched someone’s house, you know what I mean. When you
pick up their mail, you see that it is not quite the same as yours. Answer the phone
and hear that the telemarketers bring a slightly different sales pitch to their phone.
And if you look for something on their computer, more than likely, you will see
ads that do not pop up on your machine. That is the power found in a couple of
words. They capture the essence of an idea.
Songwriters use this fact to their advantage. With a couple of well-chosen
words, they construct a line. Add a tiny bit more and then they have a verse.
String together some more lyrics and the song is completed.
About in the middle of Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, we have a song
(Philippians 2:6-11). From the few words preserved for us by Paul, we can tell
that it is a hymn. The rhythm of the words shows the lines and it naturally falls
into two verses. The same structure along with the vocabulary used seems to point
to another author besides Paul. There are other things we do not know besides
the author. We cannot tell if everyone was so familiar with the hymn that they
could not help themselves when they heard it and broke out in song like “Twinkle,
Twinkle, Little Star,” “Happy Birthday,” or even “A, B, C, D” does for us today.
The original title is long gone. Today, we generally call this the “Christ Hymn”
since the song speaks of Jesus but as you soon will hear, this hymn also paints for

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us just as important picture about God.
One of today’s leading bands sings out on their latest album, “Only love, only
love can leave such a mark.”2 With these few words, the authors of these lyrics
capture the spirit of the first verse of the “Christ Hymn.” Jesus loves you.
Love causes Jesus to change. And it is not some New Year’s resolution that
He breaks right after the memory of the night fades away. All by Himself, Jesus
single-handedly redefines what it means to be God. The poet in a handful of words
tells you that Jesus will not take advantage of you (Philippians 2:6). In the distant
past, this phrase simply meant that Jesus did not want your sacrifices. He does
not desire your children, your spouse, your home, or even your money. He needs
nothing you have. Today, we rarely imagine any god that would act like this. That
is how good of a job Jesus has done. But His work is not finished yet. We no
longer see Jesus here with us. We put Him in some world way off there that we
call Heaven. Maybe before Jesus, God could not stand to be with people. After all,
we are so human. We sleep. We hunger. We thirst. We love. We age. We die. Throw
in our bad behavior and it is hard for us to even like ourselves. Jesus changed all
that. His passion is for you. No matter what you do, He never leaves you. That is
how much love changes every thing.
Love makes Jesus give up all of His rights, powers, and privileges. That is
what the poet means when he says, that Jesus “emptied himself (Philippians 2:7).”
Before Jesus, a cross word would never injure God since there was a huge barrier
between God and us. Not anymore. Jesus is one of us. Threats pierce His heart,
2
Adam Clayton et al., Magnificent, (No Line on the Horizon, February 2009).

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just as much they do yours. When you do not take the time to talk with Him, His
feelings get hurt. Do not you feel the same? Power allowed God to be above of all
the problems found in this life. He never got sick. He simply would not allow it.
That is no longer the case. Jesus suffered every childhood illness. Jesus continues
to be miserable. When you are sick, He experiences it. In fact, when anyone at
all is ill, He knows every one of their aches and pains. Gods have the privilege of
setting all the rules. One of the most important ones was immortality. Literally,
God decided that He was not a mortal. He would last forever. Jesus knows death.
Not in some abstract sense, but a concrete one. He died: completely and totally
died. Not even the memory of His own suffering on the cross will keep Him away
from your deathbed. He loves you that much.
Love empowers Jesus. It gives Him the strength to change God. We used to
imagine God as the biggest One. The strongest and the smartest, the One everyone
serves. That how the world looked at God because that is what God demanded.
Serve the L ORD your God (e.g. Exodus 23:25; Deuteronomy 11:13; Joshua 24:15;
18-21; 1 Samuel 12:20). That is what the law says, not once, not twice, but over
and over. Jesus inverts the familiar equation. In Christ’s world, the sign of strength
is now service. God comes to wait on you. To be sure, there are practical ways.
God causes the seasons to run, sends the animals their food, and gives you daily
bread. But a waiter cannot take your order from a distance, a server cannot clear
your table unless He is near, a slave cannot do their master’s bidding from afar.
That is the reality now. Jesus is always here. He will take care of your every need
even if it requires Him to suffer and die. Love moves Jesus to be your slave.

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 The singer tells us, “Only love can leave such a mark.”3 There is truth in these
few words. Christ’s passion for you and people just like you has altered reality
along with changing God the Father. In the past, God demanded that all who hang
on the tree be cursed (Deuteronomy 21:23). That is what the law says. We know
that they deserved it (Deuteronomy 21:22). This is no longer the case. Jesus, the
One who hung on a tree, is raised up by the Father as the only example for all to
follow (Philippians 2:9).
Service means one must be ready to do whatever the master requires. Scrub-
bing the floor never is easy. You need to be on your hands and knees to do a good
job. Pulling weeds is the same. Get down on all four and do it. When you hear
the name of Jesus, God the Father expects you to drop to your knees (Philippians
2:10). It cannot be for the reason that Jesus is above you. After all, He is your
slave. You kneel because it is time to pitch in and help your fellow worker Jesus.
When the poet writes, “in heaven and on earth and under the earth,” he is
speaking of all of creation (Philippians 2:10). The living and the dead, the angels
and archangels, the demons and the devils all join with God the Father is saying
that Jesus is the King who serves. You cannot imagine that Jesus would force
anyone to make this statement. After all, He is just a slave. He lives to help you.
You can pray that this confession saves all those who do not know Jesus.
If all this talk about the power of love has not been amazing enough, then
there is still one chance to show you what love will do. God the Father turns over
His thrown to His Son. How else could the Father say, “Jesus is Lord (Philippians
3
Clayton et al., ‘Magnificent’

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2:11)?” In giving Jesus the keys to the kingdom, the Father unquestionably says
to all of the universe, this is what I believe is right: life is service and love makes
all the difference in the world.
When the wrong mail is delivered to your house, you know it. The address
does not match yours and the message it brings does not make any sense to you.
The same can be said about misdialed phone numbers. You do not recognize the
voice on the line and you are not all that interested in what thy have to say. Mis-
takes in filling out a search form might bring a message that simply asks, “Do you
mean?” Or it could send you off to a site that you never meant to use. This shows
you the importance of using the right words.
Yet, the Church and Her members continue to find the wrong words to describe
Jesus and God the Father.
Power fascinates us so that is the song we like to sing. Control is the word we
want to use. Destiny just about sums it all up.
The “Christ Hymn” does not lift these terms up as positive examples. Instead,
the opposites are used. Jesus gives up all access to force. He lets others tell Him
where He needs to be. He places His life in their hands. That is about all a servant
can expect.
The seventy-six words that Paul quotes from the “Christ Hymn” all point to
one amazing fact. Jesus loves you. There are no qualifications on that love. You
do not have to come from the right family. You need not have the correct income
level. Age and sex also do not matter. No matter what, Jesus loves you. Remember
there are no limits to what Jesus will do for you. The entire power of the Trinity is

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behind Jesus on this one. You hear it in the hymn. Time and distance do not matter
to Jesus. He will come. Problems you might be facing do not faze Him. He will
come. What you have done in the past or might do in the future do not keep Him
away. He will come. Jesus loves you that much.
What does it cost Jesus to prove His point that love changes everything? His
life.
It only takes a few words to sum up our lives. Advertisers know this. They are
always on the lookout for those phrases that accurately describe you. Once they
have them, they will use them to their advantage. That is why your mailbox is
full of junk mail, why you cannot enjoy a quiet evening without interruptions by
telemarketers, and why find advertisements just for you on the Internet.
That is exactly what the world wants. They hunger for your last penny. Finally,
when you can no longer give them exactly what they desire, they will get rid of
you.
Jesus does not want your time. He does not hunger for your money. He had no
need for you skills.
He wants to give you something instead. Love says it all.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”4
4
Philippians 4:7.

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References

Clayton, Adam et al., Magnificent, (No Line on the Horizon, February 2009).