At The Name Of Jesus
Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 28th June service and hymns are below.
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Our principal verses are:
Php 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Php 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Php 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
At The Name Of Jesus
It is of great comfort and joy to God’s people that our precious Jesus, following His humiliation by men and obedience to death, is now raised up to glory and is forever highly exalted. Paul has been encouraging believers to practise humility and emulate lowliness of mind towards their brethren in like-mindedness to Christ. Now he beautifully sets forth our motivation to do so.
Christ in us
Believers are new creations made in Christ’s image. We are converted into His likeness and filled with His Spirit. It is true that sin continues in this body of flesh and as yet we see as through a glass, darkly. Yet, Christ’s people delight to imitate their Saviour out of gratitude for their great salvation. They marvel to be able to bring praise to God their Father for His love and mercy towards them in Jesus Christ. Even in these bodies, a glimpse of God’s grace thrills our hearts, fuels our wonder and provokes our praise.
The glory of God
This should be no surprise. The glory of the Godhead is the great object of God’s grace. The glory of God His Father was the first cause of the Son’s assuming suretyship for the elect, taking upon Himself the form of a servant and coming into this world. So, too, the glory of the Son was the first cause of the Father’s eternal love to the elect in the council of peace and the covenant of grace. Everything in the plan of redemption works towards the glory of God. In it God the Father glorifies His Son and God the Son glorifies His Father.
Above every name
Because the Lord Jesus, ‘humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross’, God the Father has highly exalted Him and given His Son ‘a name that is above every name’. Because Our Saviour successfully accomplished, with His own blood, every requirement of God’s eternal purpose, every tongue in heaven, on earth and in hell will be compelled to ‘confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’.
Christ’s precious blood
We shall never plumb the depths of the Father’s pleasure or discover how supremely precious was Christ’s blood in that moment when our Saviour became obedient unto death. The cross of Christ stands forever as the heart and substance of the Son’s loving obedience to His Father. His blood has unlimited value in the currency of heaven, infinite importance in the economy of God. In the midst of the throne stands a Lamb as it had been slain and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him (Rev 5:6, 13:8).
All-worthy
Christ’s name is exalted above every name because the Man, Christ Jesus, is exalted above every other. There is none in heaven, earth or under the earth whose glory, majesty or honour exceeds that of our Lord and Saviour. He alone is worthy and it is His Father’s will that He be worshipped. So agrees the angelic host and so declares the gathered church in heaven. He is worthy to receive all ‘glory and honour and power’.
Christ exalted
Christ was exalted when He was raised from the dead. He was exalted when He was carried into heaven and set down in glory at the right hand of the majesty on high. He shall be endlessly exalted as He is worshipped and adored through eternal ages. No one will be excused from acknowledging the God-Man’s highest glory. Every knee shall bow. Angels will stoop to honour Him, men will cast themselves down at His feet, devils in hell will crouch and cower at His sight. All will confess the merits of Christ’s blood and the fitness of His honour and majesty.
One with Jesus Christ
Paul has been leading the church to view the wonderful and exemplary humility of the Saviour in veiling His glory and coming into the world. He has also opened a window upon the infinite merit of the Saviour’s death and the accomplishments of His blood; what another apostle calls, ‘the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow’ (1Pe 1:11). These are lessons to inspire conformity and generate praise in the heart of every child of God. We are the happy beneficiaries of the Son’s obedience for the glory of His Father, and, being united to Christ, we are the undeserving joint-heirs of the Father’s glory for His Son.
Amen
Hymn 122
The Offices of Christ Glorious. Phil. 2. 9; Col. 3. 11
I. Watts 148th
1
Join all the glorious names
Of wisdom, love, and power,
That ever mortals knew,
That angels ever bore;
All are too mean to speak his worth,
Too mean to set my Saviour forth.
2
But O what gentle terms
What condescending ways,
Does our Redeemer use
To teach his heavenly grace!
My eyes with joy and wonder see
What forms of love he bears for me.
3
Arrayed in mortal flesh,
He like an angel stands,
And holds the promises
And pardons in his hands;
Commissioned from his Father’s throne,
To make his grace to mortals known.
4
Great Prophet of my God,
My tongue would bless thy name;
By thee the joyful news
Of our salvation came;
The joyful news of sins forgiven,
Of hell subdued, and peace with heaven.
5
Be thou my Counsellor,
My Pattern, and my Guide;
And through this desert land,
Still keep me near thy side;
O let my feet ne’er run astray,
Nor rove, nor seek the crooked way!
6
I love my Shepherd’s voice;
His watchful eyes shall keep
My wandering soul among
The thousands of his sheep;
He feeds his flock, he calls their names;
His bosom bears the tender lambs.
Hymn 122
The Offices of Christ Glorious. Phil. 2. 9; Col. 3. 11
I. Watts 148th
7
To this dear Surety’s hand
Will I commit my cause;
He answers and fulfils
His Father’s broken laws.
Behold my soul at freedom set;
My Surety paid the dreadful debt.
8
Jesus, my great High Priest,
Offered his blood and died;
My guilty conscience seeks
No sacrifice beside.
His powerful blood did once atone,
And now it pleads before the throne.
9
My Advocate appears
For my defence on high;
The Father bows his ears,
And lays his thunder by.
Not all that hell or sin can say,
Shall turn his heart, his love away.
10
My dear, almighty Lord,
My Conqueror and my King,
Thy sceptre and thy sword,
Thy reigning grace I sing;
Thine is the power; behold, I sit,
In willing bonds, beneath thy feet.
11
Now let my soul arise,
And tread the tempter down!
My Captain leads me forth
To conquest and a crown.
A feeble saint shall win the day,
Though death and hell obstruct the way.
12
Should all the hosts of death,
And powers of hell unknown,
Put their most dreadful forms
Of rage and mischief on,
I shall be safe, for Christ displays
Superior power and guardian grace.
The God-Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, has been given a name a name above every name. He has been glorified by His Father above all things in heaven, on earth and under the earth because He finished the work He was commissioned to do. Christ glorified His Father by coming to Redeem His people from their sins and His Father glorified His Son for accomplishing that work.