FIVE-FOLD PURPOSE OF CHURCH
TO EXALT JESUS CHRIST
DR. JIM DIXON
JANUARY 27, 1991
PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11
Nebuchadnezzar II was King of Babylon 2,600 years ago. And under his leadership, the Babylonian Empire, which was centered on the geographical land space of modern-day Iraq, under Nebuchadnezzar’s leadership, the Babylonian empire rose to the very heights of its power and the city of Babylon became one of the most majestic cities in the world.
According to the third chapter of the book of Daniel, it was Nebuchadnezzar II who built a statue on the plane of Dura, outside the city of Babylon, and he commanded that all of his people from throughout the empire must come and bow down to this statue. The statue was 90 feet tall, nine feet wide, and laden with gold. It rose like an obelisk towards heaven, but of course, it was not an obelisk. It was a statue with an image, and scholars and theologians and historians have often debated whose image was represented on that statue. Many scholars and historians and archeologists believe that it was the image of the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar himself. You see, he wanted to exalt himself. His ego had no limits. Even the hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, were built by Nebuchadnezzar for the manifestation and praise of his own glory.
Now, the prophet Daniel, from time to time you’ll recall, encouraged King Nebuchadnezzar to exalt God and to exalt God alone. Sometimes Nebuchadnezzar seemed to kind of grasp the beauty and the truth of this. But inevitably, he would fall back into self-exaltation, and ultimately, he fell into madness. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II was stricken with what the ancients called “lycanthropy”. He imagined himself to be an animal, and he went around on all fours eating straw like the ox.
Now it is a kind of bizarre irony that Saddam Hussein has publicly stated in our time that his desire is to be the next Nebuchadnezzar. He would like to be Nebuchadnezzar III. In fact, more than that, he imagines himself as a kind of reincarnation of the spirit of Nebuchadnezzar. And Saddam Hussein has said he wants to build the new Babylon, and his ego has no limits. And in his quest for power, there is no limit to the violence he would perpetrate on people that surround him. He killed, he murdered, not only his enemies, but he murdered his friends and even members of his own family in his ascendancy to the throne. And today, he would gladly butcher millions of his own people to attain ascendancy over the Arab world. But you see, Saddam Hussein’s destiny, his death, his destiny is defeat because the Bible says he who would exalt himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
The world is appalled at the actions of Saddam Hussein, and yet it was the world that spawned him. You see, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, they were all spawned by this world. And the truth is, this world believes in self exaltation. Of course, every once in a while, someone gets a little out of control, becomes an egomaniac, but the world believes in self, self-exaltation.
And yet for us as Christians, we have been called to be different from the world. The distinctive of the Christian is meant to be, that we do not seek to exalt ourselves. We seek to exalt Jesus Christ. This is what separates us from the world, that as Christians, we don’t live to exalt ourselves, but we live to exalt Jesus Christ. This church exists for the exaltation of Jesus Christ. We long to exalt Jesus Christ and to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
Why do we do that? I mean, why do we want to exalt Jesus Christ? I would give two answers this morning. First of all, we seek to exalt Jesus Christ for the sake of worship. You see, we want to worship God, and we know and believe that it is impossible to worship God apart from Jesus Christ. We exalt Jesus Christ that we might worship God.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the word “megalithic”. Megalithic comes from two Greek words, “megas” which means great, and “lithos” which means stone. Great stones. Megalithic. The ancient people, prehistoric people from 4700 BC to 1500 BC built megalithic monuments all over Europe. And in many parts of the world, giant stone formations, each stone weighing 25 to 100 tons, giant stone formations, sometimes arranged in circular patterns, sometimes in rows. The most famous examples being Stonehenge and Karnak. Archeologists and historians and scientists have wondered why did these ancient people build these megalithic monuments? What was their purpose? We know that sometimes these megalithic monuments were used as burial sites. We know that sometimes these megalithic monuments were used for astronomical observation. But the evidence is overwhelming. Today, there is a consensus, generally speaking among the archeological community, that these megalithic monuments were built primarily for the sake of worship. Ancient people wanted to worship, and they somehow believe that these megalithic monuments were necessary for worship. They built these megalithic monuments as worship centers, and they somehow thought that these great stones made worship possible.
This seems bizarre to us, and yet we know that throughout history, men and women have suspected that there’s a God out there somewhere. And men and women have longed to worship God, and they have tried to find ways to worship God that might please Him. Throughout history, people have looked for the key to worship. What’s the key to worship? The Bible says there’s one key to worship, and that is Jesus Christ. Worship, true worship, takes place through Jesus Christ. Today we know, and the Bible declares, and the church of Christ proclaims that the true worship of God takes place through the exaltation of his Son.
Jesus Christ deserves worship. If you think that Jesus Christ is just a man, even an extraordinary man, but just a man, then either you are not aware of the statements he made, or you do not believe the statements he made. Jesus said, “I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No one comes to the Father, but by Me. I am the living bread come down from heaven. He who comes to Me shall never hunger. He who believes in Me shall never thirst. I am the light of the world. He who follows Me, shall not walk in darkness. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep. They hear my voice. They follow me. I give them eternal life. Before Abraham ever was, I am. He who has seen me, has seen the Father. I and the Father are one. The father judges no one. The Father has given all judgment to the Son that all might honor the Son in the same way as they honor the Father. Do not marvel at this. The day is coming when all who are in the grave, all who are in the tombs, will hear my voice and come forth. I am the living one. I died and I am alive forevermore. I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me though he die, yet shall he live, and he who lives and believes in Me, will never truly die. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. The first and the last.”
The Bible says of Jesus Christ, “He is the image, the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation, for in Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or principalities or dominions or authorities. All things were made through Him and for Him. He was before all things, and in Him all things are held together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the first born from the dead that in everything, He might be preeminent, for in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. He didst found the earth in the beginning. The heavens are the works of His hands. They will perish. He remains. They will grow old like a garment. Like a mantle, He will roll them up and they will be changed, but He is the same and His years never end. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of His nature, upholding the universe by His word of power. He was in the beginning with God and is God. All things were made by Him and for Him, and in Him all things are held together. He is our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. The disciples worshiped him, falling down before him.”
The Bible says, “let all God’s angels worship Him.” The Bible tells us that the angels of heaven never cease to surround His throne and never cease to proclaim “Worthy is the Lamb who is slain to receive glory and honor and dominion and majesty and power”, and might we worship his majesty. And yet, as Christians, we do not simply exalt Christ to worship Christ. We exalt Christ to worship the Father, and we exalt Christ to worship the Spirit. We worship God, Father, Son and Spirit. But we realize that the Father is only pleased when the Son is exalted. And the power of the Holy Spirit is only released and only given when the Son is exalted. God, the Father is not your Father until Jesus becomes your Lord. And the indwelling Holy Spirit does not indwell you until Jesus becomes your Lord.
And in the church of Christ, the focus has always been on Jesus Christ. It always will be in order that true worship might take place. We exalt Christ not only for the sake of worship, but for the sake of the church. And this is our second and final teaching this morning. We exalt Christ for the sake of the church. We want to see the church blessed. We want to see the kingdom blessed. And there is no blessing on the kingdom of God, there is no blessing on the church, apart from the exaltation of Jesus Christ, who is the great head of the church.
Leonardo da Vinci, when he was 43 years old, was commissioned by the Duke of Milan to paint a picture of Jesus Christ and the twelve disciples in the Last Supper. It took Leonardo da Vinci three years to paint that picture beautifully, skillfully painted. After three years the picture was done, and it portrayed Christ and the twelve disciples, two sets of three disciples on Christ’s left hand and two sets of three disciples on Christ’s right hand. Jesus in the middle standing, His arms outstretched. In his right hand, he held the cup from which he drank at the Last Supper. A cup which would later be called the Holy Grail. In this painting by Leonardo da Vinci, the cup held in the hand of Christ was painted beautifully and was marvelously realistic. When Leonardo da Vinci asked for the Duke of Milan to evaluate this painting now that it was completed, the Duke said that the painting is wonderful. And you know, he said, “that cup is so real, so real that I cannot divert my eyes from it.” Immediately Leonardo da Vinci knew that he had made a mistake. It is said that with one bold stroke of his brush, he wiped the cup away. He allegedly said, “Jesus Christ must be the focus of this painting, or this painting will never be blessed.” He said that.
I do not know whether Christ so blesses paintings, but I do know this, unless Jesus Christ is the focus of the church, the church will never be blessed. Only as Jesus Christ is exalted, can the church of Christ be blessed.
You know, I recently saw a movie called Misery playing at area theaters, and some of you may have seen this movie. It is well done. It is not particularly uplifting. James Caan plays the part of a famous pop mystery writer who rolls his car in a mountain blizzard, and he is rescued by a woman portrayed by Kathy Bates. She does a brilliant job. She takes this writer to her home, and she cares for him. But as time goes by, she begins to seem more and more bizarre, and she begins to torture him kind of subtly. At first, she said to him, I’m your number one fan, but you soon realize that she’s kind of psycho and more than a little sick.
As the tension mounts in this movie, I noticed, and perhaps you did too, that throughout the movie, this woman played by Kathy Bates, the anti-hero, always wore a cross. She wore a cross. It was fairly large. It’s right there for everyone to see. And from time to time, she quoted the Bible, you might have noticed. I want to suggest to you, that’s no accident. I mean, I don’t mean to be paranoid, but you see, Hollywood determines the script. They decide what she is going to wear and what she’s going to say. And I have got tell you, Hollywood loves to kind of mock the cross. Hollywood loves to mock Jesus and His people. If you are His people, then you love to exalt the cross. And if you are His people, you love to exalt Jesus Christ. And it is only as we exalt Jesus Christ that we will be blessed and the church of Christ will be blessed.
Jesus said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto myself.” You know, in the city of Rome you can find the catacombs. Perhaps some of you have been there. Barbara and I went there years ago, and the Roman catacombs were built by Christians in the first, second, third and fourth centuries. The catacombs are underground, 600 acres of connected corridors and rooms. The early Christians painted frescoes and pictures on the walls in the corridors, and they used the catacombs for burial. Christian brothers and sisters were buried down under the earth in the catacombs. The early Christians also used the catacombs for worship. They would go underground and they would conduct worship services in many of those rooms under the earth. And then in times of persecution, the early Christians lived in the catacombs because the Roman armies were afraid to desecrate burial sites, which they viewed as sacred.
But you see, by the year 400, Christianity had spread throughout the Roman Empire and had basically conquered the Roman Empire. Christianity had become the official religion of the state, and these catacombs were no longer needed. They were abandoned and no longer used, and they were soon forgotten. So much so that for a millennium, for literally a thousand years, they were lost to the world until they were rediscovered by an archeologist in the year 1578.
When the archeologists discovered these catacombs by the city of Rome, they initially thought that these were the ruins of ancient civilizations. Only later did they discover that they had been built and used by Christians. When archeologists saw the outlines of fish throughout the corridors and throughout the rooms, they wondered what all of this represented because there were hundreds of fish portrayed on the walls of the catacombs, and you can see them there today. Initially the archeologist thought, well, you know maybe this somehow is connected with the Biblical story of the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and the fishes. And only later did they understand that this was the primary symbol of the early church. The fish, a fish, was the primary symbol of the early church. And why? Because the Greek word for fish was the word “ichthus”. The word “ichthus” in the Greek consists of five letters, and they form an acrostic. So those five letters represent five Greek words, which mean Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, and I hope you know and understand that this was indeed the very focus of the early church. Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. That was their message to the world. Jesus Christ is deity. He is the Son of God, and by His cross, He offers to save the world of sin from sin. As the early church focused on the person of Jesus Christ and sought always to exalt Christ, the early church went forth in power, and literally by the gospel, conquered much of the civilized world as the power of the Holy Spirit was released through the exaltation of Him, of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Tragically today, many churches are no longer “Christo centric”. In many mainline Protestant denominations, Jesus Christ is no longer honored. He is not exalted. Many mainline Protestant denominations have theologians who now question the very deity of Christ. And you can go to many mainline Protestant denominational churches and never hear, never hear about the opportunity to be born anew through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord of life and Savior from sin. You can go to a lot of churches where you hear a lot about God and almost nothing about Jesus. And the mainline Protestant denominational churches wonder why they are shrinking. Why are we shrinking? Literally, they are losing hundreds of thousands of people a year, and it is clear where Jesus Christ is not exalted, the church is not blessed.
Now, last week I was watching the NFC championship game on TV, and one of the teams was kicking a field goal. And as the camera focused on a shot that went right through the goal post, you could see the fans, and a group of the fans were holding a banner which said, “God is Jesus”. You may have noticed that. I’m not sure how much good banners like that do, probably very little. But how strange it is that you can watch a football game and get the message, “God is Jesus”, but go to hundreds and thousands of churches and never hear those words said, never hear Christ exalted. Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. Only Jesus Christ died for sin. Only Jesus Christ offers forgiveness of sin. Only Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Only Jesus Christ offers victory over the grave. Only Jesus Christ offers eternal life. Only Jesus Christ is king of heaven, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And only Jesus Christ will ultimately judge the world.
We proclaim Him. We exalt Him. Without Him, there is no worship. Truly without Him, the church cannot be blessed. “If I be lifted up” He says, “I’ll draw all men unto myself.” He was lifted up on a cross, lifted up to heaven. We lift Him up in Word. Hopefully we lift Him up. Indeed, King of Kings and Lord of Lord. So, let’s close with a word of prayer.
Lord Jesus, we do praise you, Lord, and we exalt you, Lord Jesus. you came into our world and it is so hard for us to understand you Lord, your humility, your willingness to leave your throne of glory, and come and be one of us. But Lord, we thank you. Thank you that though you are God, you are willing to become man. And as a man, you went to Calvary’s cross, and you died for us. And Lord, you rose from the dead because death could not hold you, and you live forever more. And you are indeed the hope of the world. Lord, help us to be faithful to honor you. We live for the praise of your glory. Help us to be faithful Lord, to proclaim you to a world that is dying, to a world that has fallen. Lord Jesus, we know that the Father is only pleased when we exalt you, Lord Jesus. We know that the Holy Spirit is only released in power when we exalt you, Lord. We know that the church is only blessed, worship only takes place when we exalt you. We love you. We pray these things in your great and matchless name. Amen.