Sermon 02222012 Ash Wednesday

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

Let us pray, Lord Jesus Christ as God’s only Son, You came to serve Him and bring salvation unto us all.  As we remember Your life here on earth, may we understand that without Your being lifted up and exalted, the plan of Salvation would not have been fulfilled.  But through Your sacrifice, we are grafted into the promise of eternal life for all of the Saints gathered here at Emmanuel.  AMEN.

Tonight, Ash Wednesday, as we embark upon our journey through the season of Lent Isaiah the great prophet of the Old Testament will be our guide and he will help us understand, explore and learn more  how Jesus Christ is seen and understood to be the suffering servant. 

Raising a daughter that likes Alvin and the Chipmunks can be challenging.  With the addition of the Chipettes now there are both guy and girl Chipmunks.  In the second movie, entitled, “The Squeakuel” Alvin, joins the football team as the ‘secret weapon’.  On the very last play of an away game, Alvin is used to score the winning touchdown that ‘wins’ the game for the Eagles.  As they carry him off the field, he is placed on top of a football and Alvin’s comment is that he is ‘king of the world’, being exalted as the one who won the game for Eastman High.  Tonight’s passage is taken from Isaiah 52:13, “Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.”  Unlike Alvin who was lifted upon the football and exalted as the one who won the game, Jesus Christ is God’s Son and servant Who will be exalted when He is lifted up on the Cross of Calvary for you and for me.

First, Jesus Christ is God’s Son.  We confess this in the Apostle’s, Nicene and Athanasian Creed’s.  Our confession is clear, Jesus Christ is the only Son of the Father and came down from heaven to earth with one purpose in mind, to fulfill the plan of salvation for all of mankind.

Second, Jesus Christ came to fulfill the plan of salvation by serving at God the Father’s pleasure.  As the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ came as Romans 13:4 says, as “God’s servant for our [your] good.”  Jesus Christ came to fulfill all righteousness and serve at God’s the Father’s pleasure.

Lastly, what was required?  That Jesus Christ innocent Man, Who is God and God’s only Son, will be exalted.  In going to the Cross of Calvary to make atonement for our sins, Jesus Christ humbles Himself and as Jesus reminds us in both Matthew and Luke, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted”.  And Jesus exaltation requires His suffering as a humble servant and enduring the humiliation and dying an innocent death on Calvary for the sins of mankind.  For Jesus Christ is the suffering servant Whom Isaiah prophesied about and our Lenten messages will look deeper at how Jesus Christ is exalted for all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel during this Lenten season as our suffering servant.  AMEN.