Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Let me begin with a story that some of you will get and some of you will not get. A person went to a mechanic one day because their car wasn’t working right. They went into the waiting room while the mechanic looked over their car, high and low, left and right. The mechanic walked into the waiting room, wiping his hands on a rag, and said, “It’s the muffler belt. It’s shot. You need a new muffler belt.” Some of you are going to understand that this is a joke. Others won’t quite get it. Whether you get it or not has to do with how well you understand how cars work. You’ve probably heard of cars having mufflers. You’ve probably heard of them having belts. But if you know how mufflers work and how belts work, then you will know that there can’t be any such thing as a muffler belt. Mufflers are the pipes that carry the exhaust from the engine to the back of the car. Besides carrying the gasses, they also muffle the sound of the engine that would otherwise be much louder. That is why they are called mufflers. But basically a muffler is a fancy pipe. Belts run on pulleys or wheels. They transfer energy from one part of the machine to another part of the machine. Belts do tend to break or need to be replaced, so a mechanic telling you that you need a new belt isn’t that surprising. But there’s no way that there could be any belts on a muffler. That’s like saying you could get into your car and drive across the ocean. It’s not going to happen. It can’t happen. But you can’t know that without already having a good bit of knowledge going into it. Jokes are a pretty sophisticated way of talking. If you don’t know what is being talked about, then you probably won’t get the joke. Praising, giving praise, is another sophisticated way of talking. Let’s say that someone starts singing the praises of the Ford 5.0 liter engine. They start listing off thinks like torque and horsepower. Some of you are going to get that praise. A lot of us, including myself, might start to get a little glassy eyed. The praise is meaningful to some. To others is just a bunch of blah, blah, blah. You might need to learn some stuff in order to understand why someone might be excited. Our epistle reading this morning is a hymn of praise. That makes it one of these higher levels of talking. If you don’t know what Paul is referring to, then it is going to sound like a bunch of blah, blah, blah. Just as a car enthusiast won’t take the time to explain horsepower or torque while he is singing his praises, so also Paul is not explaining the different things that he is referring to in this hymn to God the Father, about his Son Jesus Christ. So we will have to do some work before we can begin to understand what Paul is saying. Even then, I think you should take this bulletin home and carefully read through it again later today. Let’s begin by talking about the main theme of Paul’s hymn before getting into the details. The main theme is that Paul is praising God the Father. He says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Three times in these verses he refers to God’s glory. God’s glory is to be praised. Praise and glory go together. It is the glories of the 5.0 liter engine that lead some to sing its praises. God’s glory provokes praise. Let me give you a couple examples of God’s glory, before going into the glories of God are specifically talked about in this hymn. God’s creation itself is an example of God’s glory. All the things that God has made—its strength, its beauty, the joy it gives us—these are God’s accomplishments that provoke praise. Another example of God’s glory is the way that God liberated Israel who was enslaved under Pharaoh. God twisted Pharaoh’s arm to let them go. Then he destroyed Pharaoh and his chariots, throwing them into the sea. This was God’s accomplishment that calls forth praise. So it is with all of God’s accomplishments in the Old Testament. Paul, however, is focused on one multiface