Take a Knee!

“so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Philippians 2:10)

“Take a knee!” Coach Richardson shouted those words at football practice back at dear ol’ Farmington High to get our full attention. Honestly, if he REALLY want our full attention, he would have us running wind sprints, but that’s another story. We would take a knee around our coach listen carefully to what he had to say. Everybody kneels. Nobody talks. It didn’t matter if it was before practice, during practice, or after practice. It didn’t matter if you were a quarterback, running back, lineman, receiver, linebacker, or kicker. At that moment, there was no doubt who was in charge. 

Here in Philippians 2, Paul lets us know at some point every single person will take a knee before Jesus. “So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (v10). If you can fog a mirror, you’ll eventually bow in worship in front of Jesus. Christ gives us the choice. We can do it willingly and gratefully on this side of eternity. Or we’ll reluctantly realize on the other side of the grave we’ve made a huge mistake by turning down His gracious offer of a relationship with the most awesome Being in the universe. As they say in the movies, we can do this the easy or we can do this the hard way. It’s not a question of who will worship. Man, woman, boy, girl, short, tall, skinny, or portly. Ethnic background won’t matter. Your income can’t buy you out. Your church attendance doesn’t exempt you. Every. Single. Person. We’ll all bow. It’s not a question “if.” There’s only when and where. In heaven? On earth? Under the earth? The choice is yours. The apostle’s bottom line: take a knee. Yeah, there will be no doubt Who’s in charge.

It would be easy to fly right past those two little words at the beginning of the verse. “So that” (v10). This is the tiny but powerful Greek word hina. It describes the purpose of a particular situation. Think of phrases like “in order that,” “as a result,” or “for the purpose of.” If that’s the case, we need to look back to the previous verse for the “so what” of the “so that.” We see Father God has lifted His Son to a place of honor and handed Him “the name that is above every other name” (Phil 2:9). So now we read there’s a method to the Father’s madness in what He’s done. Here’s the reason for all the commotion.

The result of this divine lifting and naming is the worship of Jesus. “So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (v10). Paul tells us that every single person will “bow” (Gr. kampto) in recognition of Christ as the ultimate Ruler of creation. It literally means to bow down or bend. This is a picture of worship and submission. This particular verb only appears four times in the NT. The apostle tells the church in Ephesus, “I bow (Gr. kampto) my knees before the Father” (Eph 3:14). Paul quotes Elijah’s description of an army of Israel’s best and brightest, “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed (Gr. kampto) the knee to Baal” (Rom 11:4). In his letter to Jesus’ followers in Rome, the man from Tarsus quotes the prophet Isaiah, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow (Gr. kampto) to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God” (Rom 14:11). This is almost a direct cut-and-paste from the book of Isaiah where Almighty God graciously invites our rebel-filled planet to enjoy intimacy with Him. “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By Myself I have sworn from My mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance’” (Is 45:22-23). God invites everybody to take a knee.

Just in case you didn’t catch the “every knee” part, Paul gives zip codes that cover every corner of the universe where these knee benders are living. “In heaven and on earth and under the earth” (v10). If you’re keeping score at home, that’s everybody. “In heaven” or where the Second Member of the Trinity was before heading to Earth on His supernatural search-and-rescue mission. “On earth” or every person currently residing on the third rock from the sun. And “under the earth,” which would include not only those humans who gave Christ a stiff-arm before heading to the funeral home as well as Satan and all his demonic posse. Think of this as a sort of biblical junk drawer term that covers anybody and everybody. Everybody living or dead fits into one of these three categories. And if you’re wondering about intelligent life living on other planets, Paul includes them too. Take a knee, E.T. Don’t worry about phoning home.

So what does this mean for you and me? What does it look like when we take a knee before the resurrected Rabbi/Carpenter from Galilee? We’re to recognize that He’s not just our Savior but our Lord. He’s not just our Rescuer but our Master. He’s not just our Hero but our Boss. That means we do what He says. For the longest time, I thought Christ was this cosmic killjoy that cooked up a Bible full of commandments just to make sure I didn’t have too much fun. It’s actually the other way around. He has an overflowing life of goodness ready for me if I just obey His rules for life. You want joy? True fulfillment? True freedom? Submit to Jesus (uh oh, there’s the dreaded “S” word!). We don’t humble ourselves before Him because we have to. We humble ourselves because we want to. Or as has it’s been said, we can either humble ourselves or be humiliated. I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll take a knee.