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.

Take a Knee

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father (Eph 3:14). 

Have you ever been knocked to your knees?  Have you ever been so stunned by what you've witnessed that you couldn't stand any longer?  Paul knows EXACTLY what that's like.  "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father" (v14).  He lets his friends back in Ephesus know that Father God has completely bowled him over.  After witnessing what Jesus has done and is doing in and through the Ephesian church, the apostle is driven to his knees.

Why is our buddy Paul so astonished and amazed?  What is "this reason" (v14).  There are a couple of things.  First of all, Paul prays for his Ephesian friends because he has "boldness and access with confidence" (Eph 3:12) to God because of Jesus.  Christ has literally torn the curtain that separates sinful from his holy God (Lk 23:45).  Each one of Jesus' followers can now approach the heavenly throne with confidence to get divine (Heb 4:16).

But "this reason" is more about what Paul started talking about earlier.  This is really a continuation of what he began to write back in Eph 3:1.  It's the apostle's way of saying, "Meanwhile, back at the ranch..."  He's trying to get back to his original point after being completely distracted by who Jesus is and what He's done.  And it's not the first time either.  It happened in the opening lines of the letter.  The first time that our author has gotten swept away when writing about Jesus, he explodes in a fabulous run-on sentence of worship (Eph 1:3-14).  In a Tsunami of Blessing, Paul simply can't stop himself from being overwhelmed by God's grace.  And it's happened again!

So what is "this reason"?  He continues to be blown away by God's stunning and controversial inclusion of non-Jews into His kingdom.  Jesus has obliterated the racial, cultural, socio-economic and religious walls (Eph 2:14).  He's handpicked this former Pharisee as His spokesman to Gentiles around the world (Acts 9:15; Eph 3:1).  He might be doing hard time in Rome (Eph 3:13) but it's for an incredible cause.  So every ethnic group on the planet can hear about Jesus.  This Gentile inclusion is spiritual dynamite for the early church.  Remember, the church was almost exclusively Jewish in its early days.  Jesus came first as the long-awaited Messiah to God's chosen people.  But suddenly He began saving non-Jews everywhere.  There was a HUGE controversy.  Some believed Gentiles should have to convert to Judaism first.  But the Apostle Peter argued that this wasn't something humans should decided.  Who were they to try to put up a roadblock in what God is doing among non-Jews (Acts 11:17).  This even led to a big confab at the home office over the dispute (Acts 15).  Once again, church leaders decided that if Jesus is bringing Gentiles to the party, they don't have to become Jews to follow Jesus.  

"This reason" is why Paul came to Ephesus in the first place (Acts 19).  "This reason" is why he stayed there for three years telling folks about Jesus.  "This reason" is why unbelieving Jews started a riot in the city to shut him up.  "This reason" is why the apostle sits in a Roman slammer waiting for his appeal.

Jesus' shocking inclusion to save every ethnic group on the planet knocks Paul to his knees.  He says, "I bow my knees before the Father" (v14).  The verb here is kampto.  It means to bend, bow in worship and show honor.  While the apostle most certainly is describing his posture of prayer, this really has more to do with an attitude of submission, reverence and passion for God (Ps 95:1-6; Dan 6:10; Acts 20:36).  More than once, Paul talked about that day when "every knee shall bow (Gr. kampto)" before King Jesus (Rom 14:11; Phil 2:10).  God's utter holiness and His miraculous move among non-Jews drives His apostle to his knees.  In prayer.  In worship.  In submission.  In awe.  This is a reminder that the best thing we can do is take a long look at "Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith" (Heb 12:2).  

Take a knee.

There's an interesting thing going on in the original Greek text.  The verb in this sentence is actually in the present tense.  What's the big deal about that?  Well, it tells us that this is a continual, ongoing action.  It's not a one-time things. "I am bowing my knees."  Not just once.  But again.  And again.  And again.  Who Jesus is and what He's done is a HUGE source of encouragement to the imprisoned Paul.  You can bet that when the prison guards peaked through the bars to check on this inmate they regularly found him kneeling in his cell.  This clearly had an amazing impact for the Gospel on both the corrections officers as well as the other prisoners (Phil 1:12-14).  No wonder this particular prisoner was on his knees all the time!

Make no mistake that Paul is praying while down on his knees.  While this has become a modern day posture of prayer, Jesus usually prayed standing up (Mt 6:5; Lk 18:11-13).  But throughout Scripture, we see folks falling to their knees and crying out to God in times of desperation (Ez 9:5-6).  Our Savior dropped to His knees that dark night in the garden (Lk 22:41).  In his final moments during his assassination, Stephen fell to his knees and pleaded for the forgiveness of his attackers (Acts 7:59-60).  In a very similar way, Paul takes a knee in worship and humility before God.

How often does God's goodness, God's holiness and God's love knock me to my knees?  Excuse me.  I think I need to take a knee.