About the Hymn
In Philippians 3, Paul warns against the Judaizers, who insisted that obedience to the Old Testament ceremonial law—primarily circumcision—was necessary for salvation. Paul’s argument is that he could outdo every Judaizer on their own terms; he was “a Hebrew of Hebrews,” fully compliant with the ceremonial law.
But he could never be righteous through the law. Even his best attempts to obey the law could not earn God’s favor. His righteousness came from Jesus Christ alone, who lived a righteous life and died an innocent death is his place.
Because we still battle legalists today—sometimes in our own minds—we need constant reminders that we cannot earn eternal life by our good works, our obedience to the law, our family’s religious heritage, or our church membership. We come to our King with empty hands. There’s nothing we can bring him to earn his favor or a place in his paradise.
Only when our hands are empty can we take hold of our King’s hands and appreciate the scars that memorialize the price he paid for our redemption. By faith, we cling to him and his cross! We forget ourselves and our past. We do not gloat about our so-called righteous deeds nor do we ruminate on the countless times we have missed the mark. Instead we press ahead, our only goal to know and love Christ our King more and more.
It’s important to note that the text consciously omits the thought that we come to our King with faith in our hands, that we offer it to him as if it were a good work or a key that would open heaven for us. Of course, it’s not. Faith is “not from ourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Finally, what a comfort to know that even as we cling to our King, in fact it is he who has taken hold of us (Philippians 3:12). At times we may feel spiritually weak and distant from our King, especially when we’re battered by the enemies of faith: the devil, the world, and our own sinful natures. At those times, when “peace departs and prayers are few”—when we feel as if we are barely holding on, our King is still holding onto us!
The hymn should be performed at a confident♩= ca. 63.
Text
1. Come to your King with empty hands.
Bow low before his holy throne.
There’s nothing you can bring to him
to win his favor on your own.
Count everything you have as loss.
Cling to your King! Cling to his cross!
2. You King extends his hands to you.
Come trace the scars, those lines of love.
They mark the price he paid on earth
to earn your place with him above.
Count everything you have as loss.
Cling to your King! Cling to his cross!
3. Hold fast to him with hands of faith
and press ahead to heaven’s door.
Forget your past, your only aim
to know and love him more and more.
Count everything you have as loss.
Cling to your King! Cling to his cross!
4. And if your grip of faith grows weak,
if peace departs and prayers are few,
if you cannot hold onto him,
then know your King holds onto you
Count everything you have as loss.
Cling to your King! Cling to his cross!
© 2017 Laurie F. Gauger
Lectionary Reading
Year A, Proper 22 (27): Philippians 3:4b–14
Year C, Fifth Sunday in Lent: Philippians 3:4b–14
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
