Ultimate Journey Number Three

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Introduction

One morning I woke up in selfish-world. I went out to my car. All the other family members had left their stuff in my car. I emptied the car by throwing it all out into the driving rain. I was about to climb in, when I noticed the neighbor's garbage-can behind my car. I smiled. I jumped inside. I started the motor. I backed-up with a screech and a loud crash, down the driveway, sparks shooting from the smashed garbage can, refuse scattering everywhere. "Hah hah hah" I thought vengefully. I spun the wheel as I backed out. I could just overhear the neighbor screaming unrepeatable words at me. At the moment I entered the street, a semi-truck was approaching at a good clip, and the driver refused to give way. He owned the road. He hit me broadside. I lay there mangled in the street. The ambulance driver was late, as he was watching an AM news show and refused to budge. Then I died. So long, selfish world.

Why would I want my approach to life to be the same as Christ's? [pause]

That little opening fiction may sound silly, but is it that different from what this world would be like without God? Is it that different from what you and I would be like without the gospel of God? But if God didn't intervene, I'm telling you, we would hardly make it out of our driveway before disaster struck

in selfish-world.

"Oh, that's a fun little story brother Larry. Hah hah. Clever. We all know that this whole battle is over-that Jesus won it all on the cross."

But hold on. Not so fast. Not so fast. We're not there just yet. Heaven is waiting for something. Its waiting for the big finish to the ultimate journey. And the last scene will focus on us!

But there are three "ultimate journeys" in our Scripture passage today. All inter-twined, all inter-related.

The first ultimate journey is presented in Philippians 2:9-11. It is the ultimate journey of the universe, of the whole created order. We might even call this journey "the great controversy."

We all listened to the Scripture reading this morning. We heard how Christ descended from on high, entered human flesh, fought with Satan, went up on that cross, and died for us. And we'll look at His journey in just a moment. But let's consider the journey of the universe. First, do we sense the meaning of this journey? Listen! Because Jesus did all this, "God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, of things in earth, and things under the earth."

Because of what Jesus did, God has exalted His name. So that when every created being hears that name-when every created being stops to think about what Jesus did-they will one day drop to their knees and affirm their full agreement that He is Lord.

Under the earth are those who have died. And in death "there is no remembrance of thee." No one who is under the earth can bow a knee to Jesus or to Satan. But there are two resurrections coming, the resurrection of the just and the resurrection of the damned. And there is a time (do you remember this?), at the very end-at the end of the 1000 years, when all the saved are resurrected and safely within the walls of the heavenly city, when the new Jerusalem has come down from God out of heaven. And all those who had lived their own lives their own ways and never answered the door when Jesus came calling-all those who insisted on going their own way, whose lives were finally classed as endorsing of Satan's way of living-all those who died lost and in the very end have come up in the second resurrection, all of them rise in that resurrection of damnation, and in the end go up and surround the new Jerusalem and attack it under Satan's generalship. And in the end, but before their attack on the New Jerusalem, there is a time when everyone who has ever lived will be there.

We'll all be standing. All be breathing. And before the lost attack the city and God destroys them forever, there will be a moment there somewhere, when all be watching. And I think that right then and there God will run a video in the sky for each person, showing them their lives; Showing them how heaven reached out again and again for them. Showing them how heaven bent over backwards a hundred-thousand times to help them to be saved and come to God. But they wouldn't. And when that video finishes and they've seen their lives all laid out in one place like that, then they'll almost be in shock.

But then God will show us all another video. In the sky will appear a representation of Jesus. Of His life. Of His struggle in the garden of Gethsemane. Finally, of His death upon the cross for us. And when we see that and take it all in, there will finally be a sound that's never been heard before. Billions of people, all kneeling at once. Everyone will reverently bow. The tears will be flowing. All who are lost will be found speechless. (Matthew 22:11-12). There is nothing to say.

Nothing but one thing: "Jesus us Lord." And down there in the front somewhere a large being whose forehead goes straight back from his eyes, whose every evil trait is fully developed, who finally looks altogether weary, the once-noble Lucifer, (See EW 152-153) steps forward, and bows down, and falls upon his face. And from that once musical voice of multiple pipes-a voice that sang in chords back when he was pure-now croaks out in breathy words the subdued confession, "Jesus is Lord." (GC 662, 670). All are up out of the graves. All are present from heaven to hear. All humans ever to live cock their ears to that terrible confession. "Every question of truth and error in the long standing controversy has now been made plain."

Yes friends. The whole universe has been on a journey. Its ultimate journey. Seventh-day Adventists call it the great controversy. Thousands of years ago Satan charged that God was unfair to have a law that He expected all to obey. And he didn't like that law. The very first commandment especially bothered him. You know that commandment, the first of the ten: "Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me." Satan said he would ascend into the clouds, that he would receive the worship of other created beings, that he would become like God (Isaiah 14:12-14). And there was war in heaven over this (Revelation 12:7-9). And you know, all the universe has been paying very close attention to it all. Because there are some heavy questions in the great controversy.

Is God fair, or arbitrary? Does he expect of other beings that which He Himself is unwilling to live by? Are His laws fair? Is it right that some people will be lost forever? Is it right that Satan will finally be burned to a crisp? Can God give man free will and let him keep it through all eternity, and even so, will sin never rise up again? Can God render the universe secure, so that never again is poured out another torrent of suffering? Can He do it? Not only we, but He is on trial (Romans 3:4). You know here in this church we've looked at these questions. There has been no la-di-da religion around here.

But yes, a day finally comes when the universe-man, woman, seraphim and cherubim, righteous and wicked-will fall to their knees, and finally seeing the whole matter stretched out before them, call out together, heads bowed, "Jesus is Lord," and they will do so "to the glory of God the Father" Philippians 2:11.

But that's just the first ultimate journey we are here to look at. Let's consider another ultimate journey. It is the ultimate journey of God in Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8). But how is He the same? If you look at some more verses on this you find out how. Hebrews 1:10-12 says "And thou Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: they shall perish, but Thou remainest; and they shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail." Comparing this with Isaiah 51:6-8 shows that the ultimate journey of this earth and this universe in the great controversy is a temporary experience, an event lasting only for a limited period of time. But What will last forever is God's salvation. Yes, God is fixing this thing once and for all.

But what a price He pays!

To make sure heaven's solution will stick, God Himself embarked on an ultimate journey of His own. The Infinite Creator, expressed in the three persons of the godhead-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-devised a plan from before the foundation of the world. Before He built this place, God had a plan in case man rebelled. He had a plan A, a plan B, and I'm sure a plan C too. He gave free choice to all, but within the boundaries of a moral universe. Could He see ahead, that somehow man would cross the line and fall into sin? Sure. He's all-knowing. He knew it could happen, and more, that it would happen. Did He force it to happen? No. To pre-know what will happen is not the same as to cause it. So God was ready when it did.

What was this plan? It was a plan to end sin in the universe once and for all. It didn't need to rise up. If Adam and Eve had been obedient, they could have learned, grown steadily in maturity, and never sinned. But in their infancy, they sinned. Before they gave God time to present to them the fullest instruction, they disobeyed. They chose against their Maker. Without realizing the full implications of what they did, they endorsed Satan's plan. They ruined the human race. They broke it so that no one could fix it.

But God intervened with a plan of salvation. And Satan was ready with his charges. "You can't do that, God. You can't save these people. If you save them, you'll have to take me back too. You are just making all these rules up. Even You won't keep them. You just want us to be Your slaves. Why, if You were one of us, You'd see. You'd sin too. Hah. It'll never happen."

You see, Satan called into question the mind of God. "He won't deny Himself." But there was a mind in Jesus Christ filled with love, and ready to act. So although He was fully, authentically, absolutely God, He refused to cling to all His inestimable divine privilege, but when the time was ripe, He stepped down from the throne. He gave His sceptre into His Father's hand.

I don't know how it was. I wonder if there was a giant angelic worship service, the very arches of heaven vibrating, straining at the rising anthems of praise, when Jesus stood up, raised His hands, and said, "Father, I'm going to go now. As soon as I am old enough to understand what prayer is, you'll hear from Me. Goodby." And in that moment He disappeared, gone from heaven. And maybe the angels looked kind of nervous, and gulped, and hushed their voices, and quietly dispersed to await the birth of Jesus nine months from then. I wonder how it was there in heaven. I don't know. But someday we'll know.

But what did Jesus do on this journey? Philippians 2:7 says that He "made Himself of no reputation." But that translation really doesn't begin to suggest the giantness of what is said in this text. The literal word here is ekanesin, a Greek word that says that "He emptied Himself." And the big question is, of what did He empty Himself? But see the text? It says there that when He emptied Himself, He took something else. What was it? "And took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." He was in the form of God-actually God, and He took upon Him the form of a man-actually a man. The Infinite God limited Himself to finite humanity. And not just some pristine, pure, factory-fresh pre-fall humanity. No! He took the form of a servant, of a slave. And He lived in this humanity, and finally died upon the cross.

Now let me ask you. Before Adam sinned, could He die? Not if He obeyed God. He had what can be called "conditional immortality." As long as He obeyed God, He couldn't die. His nature was a humanity that God called "very good" at the end of the creation week. But after he sinned, Adam could die. In fact, after he sinned, Adam could only live based upon God's promise to die for man. Someone equal to the value of God's law had to die to meet the penalty of that law. But only three Persons in the universe could do that. God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit. But they were all God, and God has life within Himself. He cannot die. He alone hath immortality.

And there was more. In order for the penalty of sin to be paid on man's behalf, it couldn't be just anyone that would die for man. For the sacrifice to be valid, someone of the same family as man must die. He must be kin to be a kinsman redeemer. He must be human to legitimately act to redeem-to buy back-humanity. He didn't have to be human to own us by creation, but He had to be human to buy us back for recreation.

And since fallen humanity was lost, he had to bear the same nature to be a valid sacrifice. Anything else would call forth the charge "God cheated." And if, through this sacrifice the validity of the law was upheld, then fallen humanity would still be expected to live in obedience to that law. So an even bigger challenge faced God. He not only must be God in order to provide a character equal to the law for sacrifice, He not only must be fallen man in order to die, but if He was to uphold that law and redeem man, He must also provide man with a valid example to copy. He must live in the very condition of fallen man. Either that, or man would have no real example of how to obey, and Satan would say, "Doesn't count. You used your divine powers. Regular people can't do that. Errrrrrh [buzzer sound]"

So Jesus came and lived and fought and scrapped with Satan. Day by day, He trod this world in our flesh as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. (Isaiah 53:3). By living through it never sinning, always victorious no matter how closely pressed, He condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3). His ultimate journey was no put-on fakery. He didn't walk through this world as a bored, pre-fall person merely biding His time until the crucifixion. He fought His way through. Real temptations. Real infirmities. Real tugs and pulls to the wrong assailed Him.

But although He came with a human body just as broken as ours, He never indulged its brokeness; although He took on the form of a servant of sin (John 8:34; Romans 6:6, 16-18), He never served sin (Hebrews 4:15; 7:26); He maintained continuous linkage to the heart of His Father, and always did that which pleased Him. John 8:29. And just that which He was in humanity, we may be.

St. Gregory of Nanzian wrote that "what Jesus has not assumed, He has not healed." And really, its true. And because He was one with us-in total solidarity with our broken humanity--He is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters. (Hebrews 2:11) And so He could go to the cross for us and in our place. And this is why with His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5.

Because He descended and then ascended, we may go up from degeneracy, and start the trip now. We never need to wait in line for a soup-kitchen sized hand-out of God's power for victory; He is ready now to give you all that you need-there's no waiting. For the infinite God, it is as if we, each one, are standing at the front of the line. We're next!

And that brings us finally to ultimate journey number three.

Listen now to Philippians 2:12-13:

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Paul here presents Christ's experience of becoming incarnate-of His becoming as human as we are-as a model for our own Christian experience. But how can this be a model for us? We do not, as Christ did, start as a God and then lay aside our divinity in exchange for the sinful nature of a fallen race. We do not start with infinite all-knowledge, emptying ourselves of it and becoming finite. We do not start with the power to create worlds, and exchange it for dependence upon Another. These are all things that Jesus did. So how can His experience be a model for me?

The essence of what Jesus did is to exercise self-limitation. As God, He limited Himself to humanity. He chose to set aside the powers of His godhead, of His divine nature, and come to live as we must live. He could turn rocks into bread-or the whole planet into bread-were He merely to call into use His divine power. Satan knew that. He knew of Jesus' power. Satan did not leave heaven willingly. Jesus threw Him out forcibly by the use of His deity. He was cast down to this earth.

But now Jesus had come down and emptied Himself of the power by which He had cast Satan out. He came on an important journey. He came to the tempter's prison house with its very keys. If Satan could lead Jesus to use His own divine power to resist him, Satan knew that his charges that God would not limit Himself-would not deny Himself-would be proved, and that the example of Jesus' life for man would be disqualified. Christ didn't dare dip into the cookie-jar of His divinity, for then heaven would lose in the great conflict between good and evil, and Satan would win. Satan came to Christ in the wilderness to take away the keys from Christ. And he could only get those keys by provoking Jesus to cross the line. He must get Jesus to fill Himself with His divinity again. But no matter how closely provoked, Jesus never did it. The cup of woe trembled in His hand. In the garden He struggled to stay the course. His will was in conflict with God's will. But He prevailed.

In comparison, while we don't limit ourselves from divinity to humanity, we do limit ourselves and resist the clamors of our fallen nature. When God made humankind in His image, we were made godlike. But Adam after the fall begat children in his own image (Genesis 5:3). Yet the divine image is still there ("Sin has marred and well-nigh obliterated the image of God in man" PP 595). The real significance of the divine image is our capacity to distinguish between right and wrong, and to choose to align ourselves with right. The moral area is the area of choice. This is why we need to choose to obey, but God can supply the power. Who supplies the power is not a moral issue, but a practical one. Man has no power within Himself, so He must get it from God. But our choosing remains our responsibility.

Just here is where Jesus is our model. When He emptied Himself and became as human as we are, He laid aside His divinity. He came to this dark earth and lived among darkened beings. His light shined in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not (John 1:5). He lived continuously connected to His heavenly Father. He had a T-1 line. More than that, He was hooked to His Father's power. And so often we get caught right here. Because we want to remain just about what we already are, but still overcome. But God can't trust us with His blessings while we remain selfish-while we refuse to limit ourselves-while we refuse to crucify self. And so we get spiritually stuck. And right here is where Christ is our model. Although it was not robbery for Him to be equal with God, He took upon Him the thoroughly limited existence of fallen humanity. He entered a broken vessel. He came with the keys onto the very ground that Satan declared was his. But through reliance on His heavenly Father, He became obedient unto death-the ultimate self-denial-the death of the cross.

And He did "become" obedient unto death. There was something that happened in His human experience that is so very troubling to those who want to hold God out and so apart from us that He is never touched by anything impure. They say they want to protect God, but they are really protecting a leaky, unbiblical theological structure. What shall we make of Hebrews 5:8-9: "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him." In Desire of Ages Ellen White wrote that "He gained knowledge as we may do" pg. 70. He gained knowledge? Heresy! But no. Luke tells us that "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature" Luke 2:52.

So when we hear this Word to us in Philippians 2:12: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," we understand from the pattern of Jesus Christ that we too are called to "become obedient unto death." Elsewhere Paul writes "I die daily" (1 Corinthians 15:31; Galatians 2:20). The Bible calls us to take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23). And here again Jesus is our pattern. What was His experience? Was He just tempted at the cross, or every day? Listen:

The Holy Spirit was promised to be with those who were wrestling for victory, in demonstration of all mightiness, endowing the human agent with supernatural powers, and instructing the ignorant in the mysteries of the kingdom of God. That the Holy Spirit is to be the grand helper, is a wonderful promise. Of what avail would it have been to us that the only begotten Son of God had humbled Himself, endured the temptations of the wily foe, and wrestled with him during His entire life on earth, and died the Just for the unjust that humanity might not perish, if the Spirit had not been given as a constant working, regenerating agent to make effectual in our cases what had been wrought out by the world's Redeemer." Ms. 1, 1892.

Jesus wrestled with Satan not just once or twice, but "during His entire life on earth."

And what of us? We do the exact same thing. We wrestle with Satan during our entire life on earth. So Jesus had to be an example, not just for ten or eleven minutes in the wilderness and a few hours on the cross. No. He had to be our example for our very lives. Day in and day out, Christ wrestled, and day in and day out we wrestle. We "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling." We fear, lest we might come short of the promise of entering into Christ's rest. The gospel was preached to Israel in the wilderness, but it did not profit them. It was not mixed with faith. Do not expect to meet too many of the Hebrews that lived during the wilderness experience to be in heaven. Apparently a vast number will be lost. The gospel did not profit them.

But you and I must profit from it.

Entering into Christ's rest does not mean a passive Christianity. You know the old TV commercial that pitched a product with the slogan "Clap on. Clap off." It turned on or off the lights in your home when you made a clapping noise. But heaven knows that it will take more than a clapping experience for us to see the face of Jesus in peace one day. So we are admonished to experience an active Christianity. Roll-up-the-sleeves and do it, says Paul. Jesus is truly our pattern or model for the gaining of eternal life. He didn't merely desire to do the things which pleased His Father, but He did them actually, factually. (John 8:29). "I have kept My Father's commandments," (John 15:10) said Jesus. And in the end heaven points to us, and says "Here are they that keep the commandments of God" (Revelation 14:12). The only people who keep God's commandments in the end will be those who believe that God can empower them too, and who receive the power to. They will be people who have modeled their lives on Jesus. They will have emptied themselves, through heaven's power, of all the footholds that Satan is used to. They still bear fallen nature, but their characters will have been fully purified by the blood of sprinkling. (Hebrews 12:24).

Again, how shall we "work out our own salvation?" Look at Philippians 2:13: "For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure." The power comes from God. And God gets all the credit-all the merit-for saving us. We harmonize with David's statement of his own utter incapacity to give back anything of a saving quality to God: "For all things come of Thee, and of thine own have we given Thee" 1 Chronicles 29:14. Nor is this truth forgotten in the New Testament. Luke 17 reminds us that when it comes to earning our own salvation, "we are all unprofitable servants," that when we meet the conditions, we have only done what it was our duty to do.

But what is the impact of the gospel upon us when God works in us? He works "BOTH," "to will and to do of His good pleasure." You know, I cannot improve upon this brief remark by Ellen White here. Listen:

The Lord does not propose to perform for us either the willing or the doing. This is our proper work. As soon as we earnestly enter upon the work, God's grace is given to work in us to will and to do, but never as a substitute for our effort. Our souls are to be aroused to cooperate. The Holy Spirit works the human agent, to work out our own salvation. This is the practical lesson the Holy Spirit is striving to teach us. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. TM 240

Here we see plainly why Paul gives us "work out your own salvation" as well as "for it is God which worketh in you." God will not will or do for us. But when we will and do, then He gives grace empowering the willing and the doing.

Was it any different for Jesus? Has He left us a plain pattern-a valid, applicable pattern-to follow?

The only begotten Son of the Infinite God has, by His words, His practical example, left us a plain pattern which we are to copy. By His words He has educated us to obey God, and by His own practice He has showed us how we can obey God....We are ever to be thankful that Jesus has proved to us by actual facts that man can keep the commandments of God, giving contradiction to Satan's falsehood that man cannot keep them. Ms. 1, 1892.

Our ultimate journey is our day by day journey of salvation. As we walk in the steps of our father Abraham (Romans 4:12), living out life through the same active expression of faith, we take our ultimate journey.

Perhaps it has become clear that all three of these journeys are necessary to close, once and for all, selfish-world:

• If the universe refused to take its journey and hear God's case, God couldn't show why Satan's charges against Him are false.
• If Jesus refused to take His journey, then God would not have proved His willingness to deny self, would not have made a valid, like-for-like redemption, and would not have left humankind with a satisfactory example for living. We'd be no closer to resolution of the fall than we were 6000 years ago. And finally,
• If we refuse to take our journey and allow heaven to show through our lives that God's laws are just and keepable through His strength, then God cannot finish presenting His case. The universe will remain insecure, and sin could rise up all over again.

How is your ultimate journey going?

Conclusion

Think of what Jesus endured. Consider how He descended from heaven and underwent infinite sacrifice. Ponder on why He undertook His ultimate journey for you.

He must think you're really something. But it's Him whose really something.

See how the whole attention of the universe has been bound up in this conflict between good and evil for so long. Weigh the ultimate journey that the universe is on, with us and Jesus at its very center.

Recall your own decisions, your own choices. Have there been any recently that haven't honored God? What steps can you take day by day to honor the ultimate sacrifice your Lord has undergone

for you?

Will it be easier to "die daily," to empty yourself daily of self, if you start every day with prayer and Bible study? Maybe doing it a bit more regularly than you have been? Is there anything that you are taking into your mind, maybe on TV or in the music you listen to, that unfits your heart to be God's dwelling-place? Are you praying regularly day by day for your family? for your spouse? your children? Are you doing that every day? And let's get real honest: who does your life endorse day by day, Jesus or Satan? Will you endorse today Jesus' world, or selfish-world? And if not selfish-world, then what can we do individually now, today, with no further delay, to make it more possible for heaven to give us the mind of Christ?

I must confess, I don't have any fancy new short-cut solutions for you. This is all the real thing. Its no carnival ride-its ultimate journey #3.

I want to make a suggestion today. In a moment, we'll have a brief period in which you can pray to God. And my suggestion for you is, if you are ready to purpose so in your heart, that you take up just one or two points here. Just ask God to help you. Highlight one point. And make that point one that you especially renew yourself on. Maybe there is something else that I have not mentioned. I plead with you, whatever it is that you need to have the mind of Christ, today, in this moment, as we are all gathered here and the doors of heaven are opened,

ask and receive.

That at the name of Jesus, you may bow and you may confess, among the throng of the saved, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Amen. And now, in this silent hall let each one pray for their soul need. Oh, Father, may Your ears be open to our cry! Hear our prayers and send rich answers to this people gathered in this place...

Last Modified 23 March 2000