Epistle for March 24, 2024 (Liturgy of the Passion)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Philippians 2:5-11
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This passage is one of the clearest and most concise statements in the New Testament about the nature and work of Christ. This passage is believed by some to be part of an early Christian hymn.

The Apostle Paul anticipates the Nicene Creed which was written 300 years later.  The Nicene Creed says that Jesus is:

the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God….
…. for us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.

Paul rehearses what is called the kerygma (i.e., the proclamation of the saving work of Jesus Christ) about what Christ has done:

• He has come to earth for us, though he was preexistent and equal with God.
• He has been perfectly obedient by accepting death on the cross.
• He has been exalted to the highest place with God the Father.

Paul begins with an exhortation to the Philippians that they are to imitate Christ:

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus

The theme of the “imitation of Christ” appears repeatedly throughout the New Testament, not least when Jesus tells his disciples:

Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34).

Paul unpacks his exhortation to have the mind of Christ by exploring the character and ministry of Jesus.

First, Paul’s doctrine supports the doctrine established in the Gospel of John, that Jesus is the preexistent Son of God, and that he is divine.  However, Paul tells us that Jesus voluntarily humbled himself. Jesus:

existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped…

There is a paradox here — Jesus is God, and is equal with God; and yet, Jesus does not presume to exploit his divine nature, but fulfills his unique role as Son of God.  He becomes a human being.

Instead of arrogating power and position to himself, Jesus:

emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.   And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

Not only does Jesus, the divine Son of God, take upon himself human form, he takes upon himself the form of a slave!  We see this clearly in the Gospel of John in the Upper Room, when Jesus washes the feet of the disciples as an example to them of the servanthood they need to emulate (John 13:1-20).  We see it when Jesus says of himself in the Gospel of Mark:

whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant.  Whoever of you wants to become first among you, shall be bondservant of all.  For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:43-45).

And then there is the twist, the reversal that should astonish us, except that we’ve become too accustomed to the story — as low as Jesus humbles himself, even unto death, he is raised even higher!

Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

While Paul doesn’t mention the resurrection here, it is assumed.  Jesus is exalted, and given the name above every name — Lord. 

Here we are reminded of Paul’s roots in Judaism.  The name of God in the Hebrew Bible is holy and transcendent.  This is the name I AM revealed in Exodus 3.  In the Septuagint (which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), the name Lord is the equivalent of I AM.  Paul is clearly identifying Jesus as God.

So we have here the true nature of Christ. He is of the nature of God — which becomes very important in understanding the deity of Christ and the Trinity; but he humbles himself and takes on the form of a servant, which means he is also fully human.

The only Savior who can save us is one who is both fully God and fully human.

There is a cycle that is completed — Jesus is equal with the Father, but descends to the lowest place, even death; and then because he is obedient even unto death, he is exalted again to the highest place.

Therefore, those who follow Jesus and seek to emulate his servanthood will worship him as Lord.  Not only that, every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess that he is Lord!

This is an eschatological statement.  In the end all will acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus — whether they are willing to do so or not.  For some, this will be the essence of heaven — for others, who rebel against surrender to God’s authority, it will be hell.

APPLY:  

There is so much doctrine packed into these few verses!

We have here a kind of synopsis of Trinitarian theology.  Jesus Christ is the preexistent Son of God, who was present with the Father at the beginning, who shares in the nature of God.  He is fully God, and yet distinct from the Father.

We are reminded of the doctrine of the Trinity as historically taught since the church Fathers— God is one God in three persons.

And Jesus is also the Word made flesh, who empties himself and takes upon himself the form of a servant, identifying with our sin on the cross so that we may receive his righteousness in exchange.

And he is the exalted High Priest who returns to his rightful place at the right hand of the Father.

Therefore he deserves our unrestrained worship and praise.

But we mustn’t neglect Paul’s injunction, that we are to have the mind that was in Christ.  For us to have his mind requires that we worship him, study his life in the Scriptures, and imitate him.  And we become most like him when we humble ourselves and serve others.

Above all, we must remember that all this is Christ’s doing.  I love the verse from Charles Wesley’s great hymn, “And Can It Be,” that emphasizes Christ’s self-emptying love.

He left his Father’s throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
emptied himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!

RESPOND: 

St. Irenaeus, one of the early church Fathers, said something quite radical to our ears:

The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.

Isn’t this what Paul is telling us to do when he tells us that we are to have the mind that was in Christ Jesus?

However, we must remember that if this is to happen, it is Christ’s doing.  That’s what we mean by grace, that God is at work in us.

I really love C.S. Lewis’ analogy in his essay The Grand Miracle. He says that what Jesus has done follows a:

huge pattern of descent, down, down, down, and then up again. . . one has the picture of a diver, stripping off garment after garment, making himself naked, then flashing for a moment in the air, and then down through the green, and warm and sunlit water into the pitch black, cold, freezing water, down into the mud and slime, then up again, his lungs almost bursting, back again to the green and warm and sunlit water, and then at last out into the sunshine, holding in his hand the dripping thing he went down to get. This thing is human nature.

Jesus, of course, is the diver who begins his descent after diving from the very throne of God itself, and then descending into human flesh at Bethlehem, living as a Jewish man in Galilee and Judea, descending to the cross and the grave, and, according to many Christians, descending even into hell.  And this same Jesus rises from the deepest, darkest place, from death itself, and returns to heaven in the ascension.

Jesus comes into this world in order to identify with us and take our sin upon himself, and then takes us back with himself into heaven!  That is great news!

Lord, with angels and archangels, and all Christians throughout time, I join in praise of your saving work!  I am in awe of your amazing descent from the right hand of the father to the lowest point with us, and your dizzying reascent into heaven.  Help me to have your attitude of servanthood and sacrifice, knowing that without your Spirit in me that is impossible.  Amen.

PHOTOS:

“Philippians 2 Typography Gradient” by Tyler Neyens is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for October 1, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Philippians 2:1-13
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul writes to a church he knows very well when writing this letter to the Christians at Philippi. This city was a Roman colony in Macedonia on the Via Egnatia, a key Roman road that linked Asia with Europe.  Philippi was the first European city in which Paul established a church, after crossing over the Hellespont from Asia.

So when Paul exhorts the Philippians, he can see them in his mind’s eye.  He is encouraging them to unity and mutual concern for one another:

If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;  doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;  each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

Unlike his epistle to the church at Corinth (a church Paul also knows well), the Philippians don’t seem to be experiencing the deep struggles with the Christian lifestyle.  Nor are the Philippians like the Galatians, who were at risk for capitulating to the Judaizers who wanted them to return to the yoke of the Mosaic law.  Some of those concerns are here, but Paul’s tone in his letter to the Philippians is far more positive and encouraging.

In fact, he gives them an example of how they are to live like Christ himself!  He says to them:

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus…

This translation is a little ambiguous.  What he seems to be saying is “think like Jesus.”  This notion of the Imitatio Christi, the Imitation of Christ, is found elsewhere in his letters.  In Galatians 2:20 he says that he has given himself over to Christ in order that Christ may live through him:

 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.

In 1 Corinthians 11:1, he mentions a concept that will reappear several times in his letters:

Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

But what exactly is the example that Jesus is setting for these Christians?  It is the example of humility, self-emptying, and service.  Paul speaks of Christ Jesus who:

existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

There is keen paradox, as well as profound Christian doctrine here. Many scholars believe that this statement about Christ is a liturgical hymn, in which the church set forth its first credal statements for the community of faith.

First, Paul is explicitly declaring that Christ is equal with God the Father — existing in the form of God.  The word form is the Greek morphe.  This word suggests that Jesus was the perfect image of God in his manifestation on earth.  Paul makes a very similar point in Colossians (which closely parallels Philippians in some aspects), when he more carefully defines the divine nature of Jesus, who is:

the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15).

In Colossians, Paul goes on to declare that Christ created all things (like John’s Gospel in John 1:1-4), Christ precedes all things, is the head of the church, is the firstborn from the dead, and in him all the fullness of God dwells (Colossians 1:16-20).

Although Paul doesn’t explore this exalted view of Christology here in Philippians, we may surmise that he had affirmed Christ’s Godhead when he preached in the Philippian church.

And this is the paradox — that though Paul stresses Christ’s right to Godhead, Christ doesn’t grasp it. Another translation of grasp might be exploit or steal.  In a very interesting twist, Paul seems to suggest that Christ chooses not to steal his glory, but to earn it! This seems a twist because sinners cannot earn anything from God — salvation itself is a gift.  But Christ, it seems, earns salvation on our behalf!

And how does he earn it?  He empties himself and takes on another form (morphe) in complete contrast to the form that already existed as God — he takes on the form of a servant! He is the image of God, and he also is the very image and reality of servanthood!

We can make much of his self-emptying also — this word is from the Greek kenosis.   We know from Paul’s letter to the Colossians that Jesus is the fullness of God:

For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9).

But the humility of Jesus was so complete that he empties himself by becoming a human being, and putting aside all honor and glory and power.  Upon passages like these rest the church’s classic faith that Jesus is both fully God and fully human.

And in his servanthood, Jesus demonstrates his self-denial and self-emptying humility by his obedient death on the cross.  His willingness to die is a perfect illustration of his self-emptying.

Second, we see the sublime paradox as Paul continues with his credal hymn:

Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

As low as Jesus has descended — taking on humanity, taking the form of a servant, even dying on a humiliating and abasing cross — God has answered this descent by highly exalting Jesus.  His name becomes sacred, before which all will bow.  From Exodus 3, we know of the holiness and power of the name of Yahweh.  Now the name of Jesus has that same holiness and power.

We might surmise that when Paul says heaven and earth will kneel, he is likely declaring that supernatural beings such as angels, and mortals on earth will worship Jesus.  And Paul even suggests that those under the earth will bow the knee.  Does he mean the dead who are in Hades?  Does he mean to include also the demons?

Unfortunately, Paul offers no details to these tantalizing possibilities.  What is clear is that Jesus is to be confessed as Lord.  Lord throughout the Scriptures is used as the title for God himself.  Clearly, we have the beginnings of an understanding of the Triune nature of God, as One God in Three Persons.

And we are reminded that the prerequisite of salvation in Paul’s theology is a confession that Jesus is Lord: 

if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).

Following this glorious doxological credal statement, Paul continues to exhort the Philippians.  His interlude describing the dual nature of Christ as in the form of God yet also in the form of a servant is meant to be a prelude to their own lifestyle of servanthood and humility.  And he encourages them:

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

Again, we find a paradox.  He tells the Philippians to work out their salvation.

This seems a contradiction to all that we know of Pauline theology, in which he derides “works righteousness”:

We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law (Romans 3:28).

Yet here, Paul seems to call for working with fear and trembling as though we are so terrified of God’s judgment that we work ourselves to the bone!  How can we resolve this dilemma?

Actually, Paul resolves it himself.  Paul says:

it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

In fact, we might say that God is always the initiator of salvation, and we are the responder.  We are to respond with faith and obedience, but we are able to do so because God empowers us to respond.  Jesus says something that may perhaps provide illumination:

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day (John 6:44).

Paul is reminding the Philippians to live out their faith as he said in his introduction to this passage:

by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

They are able to live out these qualities because God is at work in them:

both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

APPLY:  

This lectionary passage from Philippians tells us two key things —

• First, about the unique and paradoxical nature of Jesus Christ.
• Second, what it means for us to attempt the impossible — to imitate Christ.

We are encouraged to look at Jesus as an example of humility and servanthood.  Jesus empties himself to such an extent that he dies for us!  And yet, this servant is exalted once again to his rightful place, and his name is to evoke our reverence and awe!

Obviously, we see the paradox and the impossibility implied here.  How can we imitate the Second Person of the Trinity, who succumbs to death on the cross for all humanity?  And then is once again exalted, following his self-emptying, to the right hand of God where he is worshipped as Lord and God!  How can we emulate that?

The answer is given by his paradoxical follow-up:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

Following Christ’s example of extreme humility and servanthood sets the bar so high for us that we are justifiably filled with fear and trembling.  But we can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that it is God who is at work in us, enabling us to fulfill his will for us.

God’s grace makes possible what God demands.  Otherwise it is impossible for us.

As St. Augustine says:

O Lord, command what you will and give what you command.

RESPOND: 

There is a line that I love in one of the great hymns of Charles Wesley.  The hymn, And Can It Be, describes the mysterious grace of Christ that makes our salvation possible.  In one verse, Wesley describes the downward movement of Christ from heaven to earth in terms that remind me of Philippians 2:5-11:

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

I love that line — he emptied Himself of all but love.  This suggests that Jesus gave up all of his glory, honor, and power, all motivated by his love for us.

But there’s another thing that really strikes me about the lectionary epistle for this week.  That paradox of our work and God’s work.  There seems a kind of synergism implied here:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

It isn’t so unlike what Paul says a little later in Philippians when he describes his own salvation and life as a disciple.  He makes it clear that his own works and accomplishments in following the law prior to meeting Christ were as worthless as garbage to him.  However, now that he has been found by Christ, he gives his very best effort in following Christ:

 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

Note the vivid image — he knows that he has been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.  That is a great description of grace.  He knows this is not something he has done for himself.  However, he doesn’t presume upon this, or give in to spiritual sloth — having been taken hold of by Christ, he presses on like a runner in a race to take hold of the prize that has been given him.

As one old preacher once said to me — trust as if it’s all up to God; work as if it’s all up to you.

Lord, the example that you set in your self-emptying love is daunting.  You have descended to the lowest depths of death that you might raise me up with you in your resurrection.  And in your humble servanthood I see what you mean for me to be — a servant like you.  Help me to live out my faith in fear and trembling, yet with the assurance that you are at work in me, both to work and will your good pleasure. Amen.

 PHOTOS:
"Imitation of Christ - who to trust in" by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for April 2, 2023 (Liturgy of the Passion)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Philippians 2:5-11
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This passage is one of the clearest and most concise statements in the New Testament about the nature and work of Christ. This passage is believed by some to be part of an early Christian hymn.

The Apostle Paul anticipates the Nicene Creed which was written 300 years later.  The Nicene Creed says that Jesus is:

the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God….
…. for us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.

Paul rehearses what is called the kerygma (i.e., the proclamation of the saving work of Jesus Christ) about what Christ has done:

• He has come to earth for us, though he was preexistent and equal with God.
• He has been perfectly obedient by accepting death on the cross.
• He has been exalted to the highest place with God the Father.

Paul begins with an exhortation to the Philippians that they are to imitate Christ:

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus

The theme of the “imitation of Christ” appears repeatedly throughout the New Testament, not least when Jesus tells his disciples:

Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34).

Paul unpacks his exhortation to have the mind of Christ by exploring the character and ministry of Jesus.

First, Paul’s doctrine supports the doctrine established in the Gospel of John, that Jesus is the preexistent Son of God, and that he is divine.  However, Paul tells us that Jesus voluntarily  humbled himself. Jesus:

existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped…

There is a paradox here — Jesus is God, and is equal with God; and yet, Jesus does not presume to exploit his divine nature, but fulfills his unique role as Son of God.  He becomes a human being.

Instead of arrogating power and position to himself, Jesus:

emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.   And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

Not only does Jesus, the divine Son of God, take upon himself human form, he takes upon himself the form of a slave!  We see this clearly in the Gospel of John in the Upper Room, when Jesus washes the feet of the disciples as an example to them of the servanthood they need to emulate (John 13:1-20).  We see it when Jesus says of himself in the Gospel of Mark:

whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant.  Whoever of you wants to become first among you, shall be bondservant of all.  For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:43-45).

And then there is the twist, the reversal that should astonish us, except that we’ve become too accustomed to the story — as low as Jesus humbles himself, even unto death, he is raised even higher!

Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

While Paul doesn’t mention the resurrection here, it is assumed.  Jesus is exalted, and given the name above every name — Lord. 

Here we are reminded of Paul’s roots in Judaism.  The name of God in the Hebrew Bible is holy and transcendent.  This is the name I AM revealed in Exodus 3.  In the Septuagint (which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), the name Lord is the equivalent of I AM.  Paul is clearly identifying Jesus as God.

So we have here the true nature of Christ. He is of the nature of God — which becomes very important in understanding the deity of Christ and the Trinity; but he humbles himself and takes on the form of a servant, which means he is also fully human.

The only Savior who can save us is one who is both fully God and fully human.

There is a cycle that is completed — Jesus is equal with the Father, but descends to the lowest place, even death; and then because he is obedient even unto death, he is exalted again to the highest place.

Therefore, those who follow Jesus and seek to emulate his servanthood will worship him as Lord.  Not only that, every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess that he is Lord!

This is an eschatological statement.  In the end all will acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus — whether they are willing to do so or not.  For some, this will be the essence of heaven — for others, who rebel against surrender to God’s authority, it will be hell.

APPLY:  

There is so much doctrine packed into these few verses!

We have here a kind of synopsis of Trinitarian theology.  Jesus Christ is the preexistent Son of God, who was present with the Father at the beginning, who shares in the nature of God.  He is fully God, and yet distinct from the Father.

We are reminded of the doctrine of the Trinity as historically taught since the church Fathers— God is one God in three persons.

And Jesus is also the Word made flesh, who empties himself and takes upon himself the form of a servant, identifying with our sin on the cross so that we may receive his righteousness in exchange.

And he is the exalted High Priest who returns to his rightful place at the right hand of the Father.

Therefore he deserves our unrestrained worship and praise.

But we mustn’t neglect Paul’s injunction, that we are to have the mind that was in Christ.  For us to have his mind requires that we worship him, study his life in the Scriptures, and imitate him.  And we become most like him when we humble ourselves and serve others.

Above all, we must remember that all this is Christ’s doing.  I love the verse from Charles Wesley’s great hymn, “And Can It Be,” that emphasizes Christ’s self-emptying love.

He left his Father’s throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
emptied himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!

RESPOND: 

St. Irenaeus, one of the early church Fathers, said something quite radical to our ears:

The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.

Isn’t this what Paul is telling us to do when he tells us that we are to have the mind that was in Christ Jesus?

However, we must remember that if this is to happen, it is Christ’s doing.  That’s what we mean by grace, that God is at work in us.

I really love C.S. Lewis’ analogy in his essay The Grand Miracle. He says that what Jesus has done follows a:

huge pattern of descent, down, down, down, and then up again. . . one has the picture of a diver, stripping off garment after garment, making himself naked, then flashing for a moment in the air, and then down through the green, and warm and sunlit water into the pitch black, cold, freezing water, down into the mud and slime, then up again, his lungs almost bursting, back again to the green and warm and sunlit water, and then at last out into the sunshine, holding in his hand the dripping thing he went down to get. This thing is human nature.

Jesus, of course, is the diver who begins his descent after diving from the very throne of God itself, and then descending into human flesh at Bethlehem, living as a Jewish man in Galilee and Judea, descending to the cross and the grave, and, according to many Christians, descending even into hell.  And this same Jesus rises from the deepest, darkest place, from death itself, and returns to heaven in the ascension.

Jesus comes into this world in order to identify with us and take our sin upon himself, and then takes us back with himself into heaven!  That is great news!

Lord, with angels and archangels, and all Christians throughout time, I join in praise of your saving work!  I am in awe of your amazing descent from the right hand of the father to the lowest point with us, and your dizzying reascent into heaven.  Help me to have your attitude of servanthood and sacrifice, knowing that without your Spirit in me that is impossible.  Amen.

PHOTOS:

“Philippians 2 Typography Gradient” by Tyler Neyens is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for April 10, 2022 (Liturgy of the Passion)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Philippians 2:5-11
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This passage is one of the clearest and most concise statements in the New Testament about the nature and work of Christ. This passage is believed by some to be part of an early Christian hymn.

The Apostle Paul anticipates the Nicene Creed which was written 300 years later.  The Nicene Creed says that Jesus is:

the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God….
…. for us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.

Paul rehearses what is called the kerygma (i.e., the proclamation of the saving work of Jesus Christ) about what Christ has done:

• He has come to earth for us, though he was preexistent and equal with God.
• He has been perfectly obedient by accepting death on the cross.
• He has been exalted to the highest place with God the Father.

Paul begins with an exhortation to the Philippians that they are to imitate Christ:

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus

The theme of the “imitation of Christ” appears repeatedly throughout the New Testament, not least when Jesus tells his disciples:

Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34).

Paul unpacks his exhortation to have the mind of Christ by exploring the character and ministry of Jesus.

First, Paul’s doctrine supports the doctrine established in the Gospel of John, that Jesus is the preexistent Son of God, and that he is divine.  However, Paul tells us that Jesus voluntarily  humbled himself. Jesus:

existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped…

There is a paradox here — Jesus is God, and is equal with God; and yet, Jesus does not presume to exploit his divine nature, but fulfills his unique role as Son of God.  He becomes a human being.

Instead of arrogating power and position to himself, Jesus:

emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.   And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

Not only does Jesus, the divine Son of God, take upon himself human form, he takes upon himself the form of a slave!  We see this clearly in the Gospel of John in the Upper Room, when Jesus washes the feet of the disciples as an example to them of the servanthood they need to emulate (John 13:1-20).  We see it when Jesus says of himself in the Gospel of Mark:

whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant.  Whoever of you wants to become first among you, shall be bondservant of all.  For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:43-45).

And then there is the twist, the reversal that should astonish us, except that we’ve become too accustomed to the story — as low as Jesus humbles himself, even unto death, he is raised even higher!

Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

While Paul doesn’t mention the resurrection here, it is assumed.  Jesus is exalted, and given the name above every name — Lord. 

Here we are reminded of Paul’s roots in Judaism.  The name of God in the Hebrew Bible is holy and transcendent.  This is the name I AM revealed in Exodus 3.  In the Septuagint (which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), the name Lord is the equivalent of I AM.  Paul is clearly identifying Jesus as God.

So we have here the true nature of Christ. He is of the nature of God — which becomes very important in understanding the deity of Christ and the Trinity; but he humbles himself and takes on the form of a servant, which means he is also fully human.

The only Savior who can save us is one who is both fully God and fully human.

There is a cycle that is completed — Jesus is equal with the Father, but descends to the lowest place, even death; and then because he is obedient even unto death, he is exalted again to the highest place.

Therefore, those who follow Jesus and seek to emulate his servanthood will worship him as Lord.  Not only that, every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess that he is Lord!

This is an eschatological statement.  In the end all will acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus — whether they are willing to do so or not.  For some, this will be the essence of heaven — for others, who rebel against surrender to God’s authority, it will be hell.

APPLY:  

There is so much doctrine packed into these few verses!

We have here a kind of synopsis of Trinitarian theology.  Jesus Christ is the preexistent Son of God, who was present with the Father at the beginning, who shares in the nature of God.  He is fully God, and yet distinct from the Father.

We are reminded of the doctrine of the Trinity as historically taught since the church Fathers— God is one God in three persons.

And Jesus is also the Word made flesh, who empties himself and takes upon himself the form of a servant, identifying with our sin on the cross so that we may receive his righteousness in exchange.

And he is the exalted High Priest who returns to his rightful place at the right hand of the Father.

Therefore he deserves our unrestrained worship and praise.

But we mustn’t neglect Paul’s injunction, that we are to have the mind that was in Christ.  For us to have his mind requires that we worship him, study his life in the Scriptures, and imitate him.  And we become most like him when we humble ourselves and serve others.

Above all, we must remember that all this is Christ’s doing.  I love the verse from Charles Wesley’s great hymn, “And Can It Be,” that emphasizes Christ’s self-emptying love.

He left his Father’s throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
emptied himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!

RESPOND: 

St. Irenaeus, one of the early church Fathers, said something quite radical to our ears:

The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.

Isn’t this what Paul is telling us to do when he tells us that we are to have the mind that was in Christ Jesus?

However, we must remember that if this is to happen, it is Christ’s doing.  That’s what we mean by grace, that God is at work in us.

I really love C.S. Lewis’ analogy in his essay The Grand Miracle. He says that what Jesus has done follows a:

huge pattern of descent, down, down, down, and then up again. . . one has the picture of a diver, stripping off garment after garment, making himself naked, then flashing for a moment in the air, and then down through the green, and warm and sunlit water into the pitch black, cold, freezing water, down into the mud and slime, then up again, his lungs almost bursting, back again to the green and warm and sunlit water, and then at last out into the sunshine, holding in his hand the dripping thing he went down to get. This thing is human nature.

Jesus, of course, is the diver who begins his descent after diving from the very throne of God itself, and then descending into human flesh at Bethlehem, living as a Jewish man in Galilee and Judea, descending to the cross and the grave, and, according to many Christians, descending even into hell.  And this same Jesus rises from the deepest, darkest place, from death itself, and returns to heaven in the ascension.

Jesus comes into this world in order to identify with us and take our sin upon himself, and then takes us back with himself into heaven!  That is great news!

Lord, with angels and archangels, and all Christians throughout time, I join in praise of your saving work!  I am in awe of your amazing descent from the right hand of the father to the lowest point with us, and your dizzying reascent into heaven.  Help me to have your attitude of servanthood and sacrifice, knowing that without your Spirit in me that is impossible.  Amen.

PHOTOS:

“Philippians 2 Typography Gradient” by Tyler Neyens is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for March 28, 2021 (Liturgy of the Passion)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Philippians 2:5-11
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This passage is one of the clearest and most concise statements in the New Testament about the nature and work of Christ. This passage is believed by some to be part of an early Christian hymn.

The Apostle Paul anticipates the Nicene Creed which was written 300 years later.  The Nicene Creed says that Jesus is:

the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God….
…. for us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.

Paul rehearses what is called the kerygma (i.e., the proclamation of the saving work of Jesus Christ) about what Christ has done:

• He has come to earth for us, though he was preexistent and equal with God.
• He has been perfectly obedient by accepting death on the cross.
• He has been exalted to the highest place with God the Father.

Paul begins with an exhortation to the Philippians that they are to imitate Christ:

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus

The theme of the “imitation of Christ” appears repeatedly throughout the New Testament, not least when Jesus tells his disciples:

Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34).

Paul unpacks his exhortation to have the mind of Christ by exploring the character and ministry of Jesus.

First, Paul’s doctrine supports the doctrine established in the Gospel of John, that Jesus is the preexistent Son of God, and that he is divine.  However, Paul tells us that Jesus voluntarily  humbled himself. Jesus:

existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped…

There is a paradox here — Jesus is God, and is equal with God; and yet, Jesus does not presume to exploit his divine nature, but fulfills his unique role as Son of God.  He becomes a human being.

Instead of arrogating power and position to himself, Jesus:

emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.   And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

Not only does Jesus, the divine Son of God, take upon himself human form, he takes upon himself the form of a slave!  We see this clearly in the Gospel of John in the Upper Room, when Jesus washes the feet of the disciples as an example to them of the servanthood they need to emulate (John 13:1-20).  We see it when Jesus says of himself in the Gospel of Mark:

whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant.  Whoever of you wants to become first among you, shall be bondservant of all.  For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:43-45).

And then there is the twist, the reversal that should astonish us, except that we’ve become too accustomed to the story — as low as Jesus humbles himself, even unto death, he is raised even higher!

Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

While Paul doesn’t mention the resurrection here, it is assumed.  Jesus is exalted, and given the name above every name — Lord. 

Here we are reminded of Paul’s roots in Judaism.  The name of God in the Hebrew Bible is holy and transcendent.  This is the name I AM revealed in Exodus 3.  In the Septuagint (which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), the name Lord is the equivalent of I AM.  Paul is clearly identifying Jesus as God.

So we have here the true nature of Christ. He is of the nature of God — which becomes very important in understanding the deity of Christ and the Trinity; but he humbles himself and takes on the form of a servant, which means he is also fully human.

The only Savior who can save us is one who is both fully God and fully human.

There is a cycle that is completed — Jesus is equal with the Father, but descends to the lowest place, even death; and then because he is obedient even unto death, he is exalted again to the highest place.

Therefore, those who follow Jesus and seek to emulate his servanthood will worship him as Lord.  Not only that, every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess that he is Lord!

This is an eschatological statement.  In the end all will acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus — whether they are willing to do so or not.  For some, this will be the essence of heaven — for others, who rebel against surrender to God’s authority, it will be hell.

APPLY:  

There is so much doctrine packed into these few verses!

We have here a kind of synopsis of Trinitarian theology.  Jesus Christ is the preexistent Son of God, who was present with the Father at the beginning, who shares in the nature of God.  He is fully God, and yet distinct from the Father.

We are reminded of the doctrine of the Trinity as historically taught since the church Fathers— God is one God in three persons.

And Jesus is also the Word made flesh, who empties himself and takes upon himself the form of a servant, identifying with our sin on the cross so that we may receive his righteousness in exchange.

And he is the exalted High Priest who returns to his rightful place at the right hand of the Father.

Therefore he deserves our unrestrained worship and praise.

But we mustn’t neglect Paul’s injunction, that we are to have the mind that was in Christ.  For us to have his mind requires that we worship him, study his life in the Scriptures, and imitate him.  And we become most like him when we humble ourselves and serve others.

Above all, we must remember that all this is Christ’s doing.  I love the verse from Charles Wesley’s great hymn, “And Can It Be,” that emphasizes Christ’s self-emptying love.

He left his Father’s throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
emptied himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!

RESPOND: 

St. Irenaeus, one of the early church Fathers, said something quite radical to our ears:

The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.

Isn’t this what Paul is telling us to do when he tells us that we are to have the mind that was in Christ Jesus?

However, we must remember that if this is to happen, it is Christ’s doing.  That’s what we mean by grace, that God is at work in us.

I really love C.S. Lewis’ analogy in his essay The Grand Miracle. He says that what Jesus has done follows a:

huge pattern of descent, down, down, down, and then up again. . . one has the picture of a diver, stripping off garment after garment, making himself naked, then flashing for a moment in the air, and then down through the green, and warm and sunlit water into the pitch black, cold, freezing water, down into the mud and slime, then up again, his lungs almost bursting, back again to the green and warm and sunlit water, and then at last out into the sunshine, holding in his hand the dripping thing he went down to get. This thing is human nature.

Jesus, of course, is the diver who begins his descent after diving from the very throne of God itself, and then descending into human flesh at Bethlehem, living as a Jewish man in Galilee and Judea, descending to the cross and the grave, and, according to many Christians, descending even into hell.  And this same Jesus rises from the deepest, darkest place, from death itself, and returns to heaven in the ascension.

Jesus comes into this world in order to identify with us and take our sin upon himself, and then takes us back with himself into heaven!  That is great news!

Lord, with angels and archangels, and all Christians throughout time, I join in praise of your saving work!  I am in awe of your amazing descent from the right hand of the father to the lowest point with us, and your dizzying reascent into heaven.  Help me to have your attitude of servanthood and sacrifice, knowing that without your Spirit in me that is impossible.  Amen.

PHOTOS:

“Philippians 2 Typography Gradient” by Tyler Neyens is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for September 27, 2020

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Philippians 2:1-13
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul writes to a church he knows very well when writing this letter to the Christians at Philippi. This city was a Roman colony in Macedonia on the Via Egnatia, a key Roman road that linked Asia with Europe.  Philippi was the first European city in which Paul established a church, after crossing over the Hellespont from Asia.

So when Paul exhorts the Philippians, he can see them in his mind’s eye.  He is encouraging them to unity and mutual concern for one another:

If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;  doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;  each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

Unlike his epistle to the church at Corinth (a church Paul also knows well), the Philippians don’t seem to be experiencing the deep struggles with the Christian lifestyle.  Nor are the Philippians like the Galatians, who were at risk for capitulating to the Judaizers who wanted them to return to the yoke of the Mosaic law.  Some of those concerns are here, but Paul’s tone in his letter to the Philippians is far more positive and encouraging.

In fact, he gives them an example of how they are to live like Christ himself!  He says to them:

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus…

This translation is a little ambiguous.  What he seems to be saying is “think like Jesus.”  This notion of the Imitatio Christi,  the Imitation of Christ, is found elsewhere in his letters.  In Galatians 2:20 he says that he has given himself over to Christ in order that Christ may live through him:

 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.

In 1 Corinthians 11:1, he mentions a concept that will reappear several times in his letters:

Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

But what exactly is the example that Jesus is setting for these Christians?  It is the example of humility, self-emptying, and service.  Paul speaks of Christ Jesus who:

existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

There is keen paradox, as well as profound Christian doctrine here. Many scholars believe that this statement about Christ is a liturgical hymn, in which the church set forth its first credal statements for the community of faith.

First, Paul is explicitly declaring that Christ is equal with God the Father — existing in the form of God.  The word form is the Greek morphe.  This word suggests that Jesus was the perfect image of God in his manifestation on earth.  Paul makes a very similar point in Colossians (which closely parallels Philippians in some aspects), when he more carefully defines the divine nature of Jesus, who is:

the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15).

In Colossians, Paul goes on to declare that Christ created all things (like John’s Gospel in John 1:1-4),  Christ precedes all things, is the head of the church, is the firstborn from the dead, and in him all the fullness of God dwells (Colossians 1:16-20).

Although Paul doesn’t explore this exalted view of Christology here in Philippians, we may surmise that he had affirmed Christ’s Godhead when he preached in the Philippian church.

And this is the paradox — that though Paul stresses Christ’s right to Godhead, Christ doesn’t grasp it. Another translation of grasp  might be exploit or steal.  In a very interesting twist, Paul seems to suggest that Christ chooses not to steal his glory, but to earn it! This seems a twist because sinners cannot earn anything from God — salvation itself is a gift.  But Christ, it seems, earns salvation on our behalf!

And how does he earn it?  He empties himself and takes on another form (morphe) in complete contrast to the form that already existed as God — he takes on the form of a servant! He is the image of God, and he also is the very image and reality of servanthood!

We can make much of his self-emptying also — this word is from the Greek kenosis.   We know from Paul’s letter to the Colossians that Jesus is the fullness of God:

For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9).

But the humility of Jesus was so complete that he empties himself by becoming a human being, and putting aside all honor and glory and power.  Upon passages like these rest the church’s classic faith that Jesus is both fully God and fully human.

And in his servanthood, Jesus demonstrates his self-denial and self-emptying humility by his obedient death on the cross.  His willingness to die is a perfect illustration of his self-emptying.

Second, we see the sublime paradox as Paul continues with his credal hymn:

Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

As low as Jesus has descended — taking on humanity, taking the form of a servant, even dying on a humiliating and abasing cross — God has answered this descent by highly exalting Jesus.  His name becomes sacred, before which all will bow.  From Exodus 3, we know of the holiness and power of the name of Yahweh.  Now the name of Jesus has that same holiness and power.

We might surmise that when Paul says heaven  and earth will kneel, he is likely  declaring that supernatural beings such as angels, and mortals on earth will worship Jesus.  And Paul even suggests that those under the earth will bow the knee.  Does he mean the dead who are in Hades?  Does he mean to include also the demons?

Unfortunately, Paul offers no details to these tantalizing possibilities.  What is clear is that Jesus is to be confessed as Lord.  Lord throughout the Scriptures is used as the title for God himself.  Clearly, we have the beginnings of an understanding of the Triune nature of God, as One God in Three Persons.

And we are reminded that the prerequisite of salvation in Paul’s theology is a confession that Jesus is Lord: 

if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).

Following this glorious doxological credal statement, Paul continues to exhort the Philippians.  His interlude describing the dual nature of Christ as in the form of God yet also in the form of a servant is meant to be a prelude to their own lifestyle of servanthood and humility.  And he encourages them:

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

Again, we find a paradox.  He tells the Philippians to work out their salvation.

This seems a contradiction to all that we know of Pauline theology, in which he derides “works righteousness”:

We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law (Romans 3:28).

Yet here, Paul seems to call for working with fear and trembling as though we are so terrified of God’s judgment that we work ourselves to the bone!  How can we resolve this dilemma?

Actually, Paul resolves it himself.  Paul says:

it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

In fact, we might say that God is always the initiator of salvation, and we are the responder.  We are to respond with faith and obedience, but we are able to do so because God empowers us to respond.  Jesus says something that may perhaps provide illumination:

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day (John 6:44).

Paul is reminding the Philippians to live out their faith as he said in his introduction to this passage:

by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;  doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;  each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

They are able to live out these qualities because God is at work in them:

both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

APPLY:  

This lectionary passage from Philippians tells us two key things —

• First, about the unique and paradoxical nature of Jesus Christ.
• Second, what it means for us to attempt the impossible — to imitate Christ.

We are encouraged to look at Jesus as an example of humility and servanthood.  Jesus empties himself to such an extent that he dies for us!  And yet, this servant is exalted once again to his rightful place, and his name is to evoke our reverence and awe!

Obviously, we see the paradox and the impossibility implied here.  How can we imitate the Second Person of the Trinity, who succumbs to death on the cross for all humanity?  And then is once again exalted, following his self-emptying, to the right hand of God where he is worshipped as Lord and God!  How can we emulate that?

The answer is given by his paradoxical follow-up:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

Following Christ’s example of extreme humility and servanthood sets the bar so high for us that we are justifiably filled with fear and trembling.  But we can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that it is God who is at work in us, enabling us to fulfill his will for us.

God’s grace makes possible what God demands.  Otherwise it is impossible for us.

As St. Augustine says:

O Lord, command what you will and give what you command.

RESPOND: 

There is a line that I love in one of the great hymns of Charles Wesley.  The hymn, And Can It Be, describes the mysterious grace of Christ that makes our salvation possible.  In one verse, Wesley describes the downward movement of Christ from heaven to earth in terms that remind me of Philippians 2:5-11:

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

I love that line — he emptied Himself of all but love.  This suggests that Jesus gave up all of his glory, honor, and power, all motivated by his love for us.

But there’s another thing that really strikes me about the lectionary epistle for this week.  That paradox of our work and God’s work.  There seems a kind of synergism implied here:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

It isn’t so unlike what Paul says a little later in Philippians when he describes his own salvation and life as a disciple.  He makes it clear that his own works and accomplishments in following the law prior to meeting Christ were as worthless as garbage to him.  However, now that he has been found by Christ, he gives his very best effort in following Christ:

 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

Note the vivid image — he knows that he has been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.  That is a great description of grace.  He knows this is not something he has done for himself.  However, he doesn’t presume upon this, or give in to spiritual sloth — having been taken hold of by Christ, he presses on like a runner in a race to take hold of the prize that has been given him.

As one old preacher once said to me — trust as if it’s all up to God; work as if it’s all up to you.

Lord, the example that you set in your self-emptying love is daunting.  You have descended to the lowest depths of death that you might raise me up with you in your resurrection.  And in your humble servanthood I see what you mean for me to be — a servant like you.  Help me to live out my faith in fear and trembling, yet with the assurance that you are at work in me, both to work and will your good pleasure. Amen.

 PHOTOS:
"Imitation of Christ - who to trust in" by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for April 5, 2020 (Liturgy of the Passion)

Note from Celeste:

Before we look at today’s lectionary reading, I’d like to draw your attention to my Holy Week Bible Study book.

Go and Find a Donkey is the latest installment of the Choose This Day Multiple Choice Bible Studies series.

The daily devotionals take 10-15 minutes and include:

• Scripture passage (World English Bible)
• Fun, entertaining multiple choice questions focused directly on the Scripture passage
• Short meditation that can be used as a discussion starter.

Use them on the suggested dates, or skip around.  Designed to be used during Holy Week, this nine-day Bible study takes you from Palm Sunday through Easter Monday.

Use this book personally during a coffee break or with the family in the car or at the breakfast table.

Order Go and Find a Donkey  today to prepare your family for this year’s Easter season!
CLICK HERE for Amazon’s Kindle book of Go and Find a Donkey.
CLICK HERE for Amazon’s Paperback of Go and Find a Donkey.

AND NOW, BACK TO TODAY’S LECTIONARY READING:

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Philippians 2:5-11
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This passage is one of the clearest and most concise statements in the New Testament about the nature and work of Christ. This passage is believed by some to be part of an early Christian hymn.

The Apostle Paul anticipates the Nicene Creed which was written 300 years later.  The Nicene Creed says that Jesus is:

the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God….
…. for us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.

Paul rehearses what is called the kerygma (i.e., the proclamation of the saving work of Jesus Christ)  about what Christ has done:

• He has come to earth for us, though he was preexistent and equal with God.
• He has been perfectly obedient by accepting death on the cross.
• He has been exalted to the highest place with God the Father.

Paul begins with an exhortation to the Philippians that they are to imitate Christ:

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus

The theme of the “imitation of Christ” appears repeatedly throughout the New Testament, not least when Jesus tells his disciples:

Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34).

Paul unpacks his exhortation to have the mind of Christ by exploring the character and ministry of Jesus.

First, Paul’s doctrine supports the doctrine established in the Gospel of John, that Jesus is the preexistent Son of God, and that he is divine.  However, Paul tells us that Jesus voluntarily  humbled himself. Jesus:

existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped…

There is a paradox here — Jesus is God, and is equal with God; and yet, Jesus does not presume to exploit his divine nature, but fulfills his unique role as Son of God.  He becomes a human being.

Instead of arrogating power and position to himself, Jesus:

emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.   And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

Not only does Jesus, the divine Son of God, take upon himself human form, he takes upon himself the form of a slave!  We see this clearly in the Gospel of John in the Upper Room, when Jesus washes the feet of the disciples as an example to them of the servanthood they need to emulate (John 13:1-20).  We see it when Jesus says of himself in the Gospel of Mark:

whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant.  Whoever of you wants to become first among you, shall be bondservant of all.  For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:43-45).

And then there is the twist, the reversal that should astonish us, except that we’ve become too accustomed to the story — as low as Jesus humbles himself, even unto death, he is raised even higher!

Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

While Paul doesn’t mention the resurrection here, it is assumed.  Jesus is exalted, and given the name above every name — Lord. 

Here we are reminded of Paul’s roots in Judaism.  The name of God in the Hebrew Bible is holy and transcendent.  This is the name I AM revealed in Exodus 3.  And in the Septuagint (which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), the name Lord is the equivalent of I AM.  Paul is clearly identifying Jesus as God.

So we have here the true nature of Christ. He is of the nature of God — which becomes very important in understanding the deity of Christ and the Trinity; but he humbles himself and takes on the form of a servant, which means he is also fully human.  The only Savior who can save us is one who is both fully God and fully human.

There is a cycle that is completed — Jesus is equal with the Father, but descends to the lowest place, even death; and then because he is obedient even unto death, he is exalted again to the highest place.

Therefore, those who follow Jesus and seek to emulate his servanthood will worship him as Lord.  Not only that, every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess that he is Lord!

This is an eschatological statement.  In the end all will acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus — whether they are willing to do so or not.  For some, this will be the essence of heaven — for others, who rebel against surrender to God’s authority, it will be hell.

APPLY:  

There is so much doctrine packed into these few verses!

We have here a kind of synopsis of Trinitarian theology.  Jesus Christ is the preexistent Son of God, who was present with the Father at the beginning, who shares in the nature of God.  He is fully God, and yet distinct from the Father.

We are reminded of the doctrine of the Trinity as historically taught since the church Fathers— God is one God in three persons.

And Jesus is also the Word made flesh, who empties himself and takes upon himself the form of a servant, identifying with our sin on the cross so that we may receive his righteousness in exchange.

And he is the exalted High Priest who returns to his rightful place at the right hand of the Father.

Therefore he deserves our unrestrained worship and praise.

But we mustn’t neglect Paul’s injunction, that we are to have the mind that was in Christ.  For us to have his mind requires that we worship him, study his life in the Scriptures, and imitate him.  And we become most like him when we humble ourselves and serve others.

Above all, we must remember that all this is Christ’s doing.  I love the verse from Charles Wesley’s great hymn, “And Can It Be,” that emphasizes Christ’s self-emptying love.

He left his Father’s throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
emptied himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!

RESPOND: 

St. Irenaeus, one of the early church Fathers, said something quite radical to our ears:

The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.

Isn’t this what Paul is telling us to do when he tells us that we are to have the mind that was in Christ Jesus?

However, we must remember that if this is to happen, it is Christ’s doing.  That’s what we mean by grace, that God is at work in us.

I really love C.S. Lewis’ analogy in his essay The Grand Miracle. He says that what Jesus has done follows a:

huge pattern of descent, down, down, down, and then up again. . . one has the picture of a diver, stripping off garment after garment, making himself naked, then flashing for a moment in the air, and then down through the green, and warm and sunlit water into the pitch black, cold, freezing water, down into the mud and slime, then up again, his lungs almost bursting, back again to the green and warm and sunlit water, and then at last out into the sunshine, holding in his hand the dripping thing he went down to get. This thing is human nature.

Jesus, of course, is the diver who begins his descent after diving from the very throne of God itself, and then descending into human flesh at Bethlehem, living as a Jewish man in Galilee and Judea, descending to the cross and the grave, and, according to many Christians, descending even into hell.  And this same Jesus rises from the deepest, darkest place, from death itself, and returns to heaven in the ascension.

Jesus comes into this world in order to identify with us and take our sin upon himself, and then takes us back with himself into heaven!  That is great news!

Lord, with angels and archangels, and all Christians throughout time, I join in praise of your saving work!  I am in awe of your amazing descent from the right hand of the father to the lowest point with us, and your dizzying re-ascent into heaven.  Help me to have your attitude of servanthood and sacrifice, knowing that without your Spirit in me that is impossible.  Amen.

PHOTOS:

“Philippians 2 Typography Gradient” by Tyler Neyens is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for April 14, 2019 (Liturgy of the Passion)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Philippians 2:5-11
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This passage is one of the clearest and most concise statements in the New Testament about the nature and work of Christ. This passage is believed by some to be part of an early Christian hymn.

The Apostle Paul anticipates the Nicene Creed which was written 300 years later.  The Nicene Creed says that Jesus is:

the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God….
…. for us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.

Paul rehearses what is called the kerygma (i.e., the proclamation of the saving work of Jesus Christ)  about what Christ has done:

• He has come to earth for us, though he was preexistent and equal with God.
• He has been perfectly obedient by accepting death on the cross.
• He has been exalted to the highest place with God the Father.

Paul begins with an exhortation to the Philippians that they are to imitate Christ:

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus

The theme of the “imitation of Christ” appears repeatedly throughout the New Testament, not least when Jesus tells his disciples:

Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34).

Paul unpacks his exhortation to have the mind of Christ by exploring the character and ministry of Jesus.

First, Paul’s doctrine supports the doctrine established in the Gospel of John, that Jesus is the preexistent Son of God, and that he is divine.  However, Paul tells us that Jesus voluntarily  humbled himself. Jesus:

existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped…

There is a paradox here — Jesus is God, and is equal with God; and yet, Jesus does not presume to exploit his divine nature, but fulfills his unique role as Son of God.  He becomes a human being.

Instead of arrogating power and position to himself, Jesus:

emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.   And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

Not only does Jesus, the divine Son of God, take upon himself human form, he takes upon himself the form of a slave!  We see this clearly in the Gospel of John in the Upper Room, when Jesus washes the feet of the disciples as an example to them of the servanthood they need to emulate (John 13:1-20).  We see it when Jesus says of himself in the Gospel of Mark:

whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant.  Whoever of you wants to become first among you, shall be bondservant of all.  For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:43-45).

And then there is the twist, the reversal that should astonish us, except that we’ve become too accustomed to the story — as low as Jesus humbles himself, even unto death, he is raised even higher!

Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

While Paul doesn’t mention the resurrection here, it is assumed.  Jesus is exalted, and given the name above every name — Lord. 

Here we are reminded of Paul’s roots in Judaism.  The name of God in the Hebrew Bible is holy and transcendent.  This is the name I AM revealed in Exodus 3.  And in the Septuagint (which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), the name Lord is the equivalent of I AM.  Paul is clearly identifying Jesus as God.

So we have here the true nature of Christ. He is of the nature of God — which becomes very important in understanding the deity of Christ and the Trinity; but he humbles himself and takes on the form of a servant, which means he is also fully human.  The only Savior who can save us is one who is both fully God and fully human.

There is a cycle that is completed — Jesus is equal with the Father, but descends to the lowest place, even death; and then because he is obedient even unto death, he is exalted again to the highest place.

Therefore, those who follow Jesus and seek to emulate his servanthood will worship him as Lord.  Not only that, every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess that he is Lord!

This is an eschatological statement.  In the end all will acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus — whether they are willing to do so or not.  For some, this will be the essence of heaven — for others, who rebel against surrender to God’s authority, it will be hell.

APPLY:  

There is so much doctrine packed into these few verses!

We have here a kind of synopsis of Trinitarian theology.  Jesus Christ is the preexistent Son of God, who was present with the Father at the beginning, who shares in the nature of God.  He is fully God, and yet distinct from the Father.

We are reminded of the doctrine of the Trinity as historically taught since the church Fathers— God is one God in three persons.

And Jesus is also the Word made flesh, who empties himself and takes upon himself the form of a servant, identifying with our sin on the cross so that we may receive his righteousness in exchange.

And he is the exalted High Priest who returns to his rightful place at the right hand of the Father.

Therefore he deserves our unrestrained worship and praise.

But we mustn’t neglect Paul’s injunction, that we are to have the mind that was in Christ.  For us to have his mind requires that we worship him, study his life in the Scriptures, and imitate him.  And we become most like him when we humble ourselves and serve others.

Above all, we must remember that all this is Christ’s doing.  I love the verse from Charles Wesley’s great hymn, “And Can It Be,” that emphasizes Christ’s self-emptying love.

He left his Father’s throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
emptied himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!

RESPOND: 

St. Irenaeus, one of the early church Fathers, said something quite radical to our ears:

The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.

Isn’t this what Paul is telling us to do when he tells us that we are to have the mind that was in Christ Jesus?

However, we must remember that if this is to happen, it is Christ’s doing.  That’s what we mean by grace, that God is at work in us.

I really love C.S. Lewis’ analogy in his essay The Grand Miracle. He says that what Jesus has done follows a:

huge pattern of descent, down, down, down, and then up again. . . one has the picture of a diver, stripping off garment after garment, making himself naked, then flashing for a moment in the air, and then down through the green, and warm and sunlit water into the pitch black, cold, freezing water, down into the mud and slime, then up again, his lungs almost bursting, back again to the green and warm and sunlit water, and then at last out into the sunshine, holding in his hand the dripping thing he went down to get. This thing is human nature.

Jesus, of course, is the diver who begins his descent after diving from the very throne of God itself, and then descending into human flesh at Bethlehem, living as a Jewish man in Galilee and Judea, descending to the cross and the grave, and, according to many Christians, descending even into hell.  And this same Jesus rises from the deepest, darkest place, from death itself, and returns to heaven in the ascension.

Jesus comes into this world in order to identify with us and take our sin upon himself, and then takes us back with himself into heaven!  That is great news!

Lord, with angels and archangels, and all Christians throughout time, I join in praise of your saving work!  I am in awe of your amazing descent from the right hand of the father to the lowest point with us, and your dizzying re-ascent into heaven.  Help me to have your attitude of servanthood and sacrifice, knowing that without your Spirit in me that is impossible.  Amen.

PHOTOS:

“Philippians 2 Typography Gradient” by Tyler Neyens is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for March 25, 2018 (Liturgy of the Passion)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Philippians 2:5-11
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This passage is one of the clearest and most concise statements in the New Testament about the nature and work of Christ. This passage is believed by some to be part of an early Christian hymn.

The Apostle Paul anticipates the Nicene Creed which was written 300 years later.  The Nicene Creed says that Jesus is:

the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God….
…. for us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.

Paul rehearses what is called the kerygma (i.e., the proclamation of the saving work of Jesus Christ)  about what Christ has done:

• He has come to earth for us, though he was preexistent and equal with God.
• He has been perfectly obedient by accepting death on the cross.
• He has been exalted to the highest place with God the Father.

Paul begins with an exhortation to the Philippians that they are to imitate Christ:

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus

The theme of the “imitation of Christ” appears repeatedly throughout the New Testament, not least when Jesus tells his disciples:

Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34).

Paul unpacks his exhortation to have the mind of Christ by exploring the character and ministry of Jesus.

First, Paul’s doctrine supports the doctrine established in the Gospel of John, that Jesus is the preexistent Son of God, and that he is divine.  However, Paul tells us that Jesus voluntarily  humbled himself . Jesus:

existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped…

There is a paradox here: Jesus is God, and is equal with God; and yet, Jesus does not presume to exploit his divine nature, but fulfills his unique role as Son of God.  He becomes a human being.

Instead of arrogating power and position to himself, Jesus:

emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.   And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

Not only does Jesus, the divine Son of God, take upon himself human form, he takes upon himself the form of a slave!  We see this clearly in the Gospel of John in the Upper Room, when Jesus washes the feet of the disciples as an example to them of the servanthood they need to emulate (John 13:1-20).  We see it when Jesus says of himself in the Gospel of Mark:

whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant.  Whoever of you wants to become first among you, shall be bondservant of all.  For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:43-45).

And then there is the twist, the reversal that should astonish us, except that we’ve become too accustomed to the story — as low as Jesus humbles himself, even unto death, he is raised even higher!

Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

While Paul doesn’t mention the resurrection here, it is assumed.  Jesus is exalted, and given the name above every name — Lord. 

Here we are reminded of Paul’s roots in Judaism.  The name of God in the Hebrew Bible is holy and transcendent.  This is the name I AM revealed in Exodus 3.  And in the Septuagint (which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), the name Lord is the equivalent of I AM.  Paul is clearly identifying Jesus as God.

So we have here the true nature of Christ: he is of the nature of God — which becomes very important in understanding the deity of Christ and the Trinity; but he humbles himself and takes on the form of a servant, which means he is also fully human.  The only Savior who can save us is one who is both fully God and fully human.

There is a cycle that is completed — Jesus is equal with the Father, but descends to the lowest place, even death; and then because he is obedient even unto death, he is exalted again to the highest place.

Therefore, those who follow Jesus and seek to emulate his servanthood will worship him as Lord.  Not only that, every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess that he is Lord!

This is an eschatological statement.  In the end all will acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus — whether they are willing to do so or not.  For some, this will be the essence of heaven — for others, who rebel against surrender to God’s authority, it will be hell.

APPLY:  

There is so much doctrine packed into these few verses!

We have here a kind of synopsis of Trinitarian theology.  Jesus Christ is the preexistent Son of God, who was present with the Father at the beginning, who shares in the nature of God.  He is fully God, and yet distinct from the Father.

We are reminded of the doctrine of the Trinity as historically taught since the church Fathers— God is one God in three persons.

And Jesus is also the Word made flesh, who empties himself and takes upon himself the form of a servant, identifying with our sin on the cross so that we may receive his righteousness in exchange.

And he is the exalted High Priest who returns to his rightful place at the right hand of the Father.

Therefore he deserves our unrestrained worship and praise.

But we mustn’t neglect Paul’s injunction, that we are to have the mind that was in Christ.  For us to have his mind requires that we worship him, study his life in the Scriptures, and imitate him.  And we become most like him when we humble ourselves and serve others.

Above all, we must remember that all this is Christ’s doing.  I love the verse from Charles Wesley’s great hymn, “And Can It Be,” that emphasizes Christ’s self-emptying love.

He left his Father’s throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
emptied himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!

RESPOND: 

St. Irenaeus, one of the early church Fathers, said something quite radical to our ears:

The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.

Isn’t this what Paul is telling us to do when he tells us that we are to have the mind that was in Christ Jesus?

However, we must remember that if this is to happen, it is Christ’s doing.  That’s what we mean by grace, that God is at work in us.

I really love C.S. Lewis’ analogy in his essay The Grand Miracle. He says that what Jesus has done follows a

huge pattern of descent, down, down, down, and then up again. . . one has the picture of a diver, stripping off garment after garment, making himself naked, then flashing for a moment in the air, and then down through the green, and warm and sunlit water into the pitch black, cold, freezing water, down into the mud and slime, then up again, his lungs almost bursting, back again to the green and warm and sunlit water, and then at last out into the sunshine, holding in his hand the dripping thing he went down to get. This thing is human nature.

Jesus, of course, is the diver who begins his descent after diving from the very throne of God itself, and then descending into human flesh at Bethlehem, living as a Jewish man in Galilee and Judea, descending to the cross and the grave, and, according to many Christians, descending even into hell.  And this same Jesus rises from the deepest, darkest place, from death itself, and returns to heaven in the ascension.

Jesus comes into this world in order to identify with us and take our sin upon himself, and then takes us back with himself into heaven!  That is great news!

Lord, with angels and archangels, and all Christians throughout time, I join in praise of your saving work!  I am in awe of your amazing descent from the right hand of the father to the lowest point with us, and your dizzying reascent into heaven.  Help me to have your attitude of servanthood and sacrifice, knowing that without your Spirit in me that is impossible.  Amen.

PHOTOS:

“Philippians 2 Typography Gradient” by Tyler Neyens is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for October 1, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Philippians 2:1-13

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul writes to a church he knows very well when writing this letter to the Christians at Philippi. This city was a Roman colony in Macedonia on the Via Egnatia, a key Roman road that linked Asia with Europe.  Philippi was the first European city in which Paul established a church, after crossing over the Hellespont from Asia.

So when Paul exhorts the Philippians, he can see them in his mind’s eye.  He is encouraging them to unity and mutual concern for one another:

If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;  doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;  each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

Unlike his epistle to the church at Corinth (a church Paul also knows well), the Philippians don’t seem to be experiencing the deep struggles with the Christian lifestyle.  Nor are the Philippians like the Galatians, who were at risk for capitulating to the Judaizers who wanted them to return to the yoke of the Mosaic law.  Some of those concerns are here, but Paul’s tone in his letter to the Philippians is far more positive and encouraging.

In fact, he gives them an example of how they are to live like Christ himself!  He says to them:

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus…

This translation is a little ambiguous.  What he seems to be saying is “think like Jesus.”  This notion of the Imitatio Christi,  the Imitation of Christ, is found elsewhere in his letters.  In Galatians 2:20 he says that he has given himself over to Christ in order that Christ may live through him:

 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.

In 1 Corinthians 11:1, he mentions a concept that will reappear several times in his letters:

Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

But what exactly is the example that Jesus is setting for these Christians?  It is the example of humility, self-emptying, and service.  Paul speaks of Christ Jesus who:

existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

There is keen paradox, as well as profound Christian doctrine here. Many scholars believe that this statement about Christ is a liturgical hymn, in which the church set forth its first credal statements for the community of faith.

First, Paul is explicitly declaring that Christ is equal with God the Father — existing in the form of God.  The word form is the Greek morphe.  This word suggests that Jesus was the perfect image of God in his manifestation on earth.  Paul makes a very similar point in Colossians (which closely parallels Philippians in some aspects), when he more carefully defines the divine nature of Jesus, who is:

the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15).

In Colossians, Paul goes on to declare that Christ created all things (like John’s Gospel in John 1:1-4),  Christ precedes all things, is the head of the church, is the firstborn from the dead, and in him all the fullness of God dwells (Colossians 1:16-20).

Although Paul doesn’t explore this exalted view of Christology here in Philippians, we may surmise that he had affirmed Christ’s Godhead when he preached in the Philippian church.

And this is the paradox — that though Paul stresses Christ’s right to Godhead, Christ doesn’t grasp it. Another translation of grasp  might be exploit or steal.  In a very interesting twist, Paul seems to suggest that Christ chooses not to steal his glory, but to earn it! This seems a twist because sinners cannot earn anything from God — salvation itself is a gift.  But Christ, it seems, earns salvation on our behalf!

And how does he earn it?  He empties himself and takes on another form (morphe) in complete contrast to the form that already existed as God — he takes on the form of a servant! He is the image of God, and he also is the very image and reality of servanthood!

We can make much of his self-emptying also — this word is from the Greek kenosis.   We know from Paul’s letter to the Colossians that Jesus is the fullness of God:

For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9).

But the humility of Jesus was so complete that he empties himself by becoming a human being, and putting aside all honor and glory and power.  Upon passages like these rest the church’s classic faith that Jesus is both fully God and fully human.

And in his servanthood, Jesus demonstrates his self-denial and self-emptying humility by his obedient death on the cross.  His willingness to die is a perfect illustration of his self-emptying.

Second, we see the sublime paradox as Paul continues with his credal hymn:

Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

As low as Jesus has descended — taking on humanity, taking the form of a servant, even dying on a humiliating and abasing cross — God has answered this descent by highly exalting Jesus.  His name becomes sacred, before which all will bow.  From Exodus 3, we know of the holiness and power of the name of Yahweh.  Now the name of Jesus has that same holiness and power.

We might surmise that when Paul says heaven  and earth will kneel, he is likely  declaring that supernatural beings such as angels, and mortals on earth will worship Jesus.  And Paul even suggests that those under the earth will bow the knee.  Does he mean the dead who are in Hades? Does he mean to include also the demons?

Unfortunately, Paul offers no details to these tantalizing possibilities.  What is clear is that Jesus is to be confessed as Lord.  Lord throughout the Scriptures is used as the title for God himself.  Clearly, we have the beginnings of an understanding of the Triune nature of God, as One God in Three Persons.

And we are reminded that the prerequisite of salvation in Paul’s theology is a confession that Jesus is Lord: 

if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).

Following this glorious doxological credal statement, Paul continues to exhort the Philippians.  His interlude describing the dual nature of Christ as in the form of God yet also in the form of a servant is meant to be a prelude to their own lifestyle of servanthood and humility.  And he encourages them:

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

Again, we find a paradox.  He tells the Philippians to work out their salvation.

This seems a contradiction to all that we know of Pauline theology, in which he derides “works righteousness”:

We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law (Romans 3:28).

Yet here, Paul seems to call for working with fear and trembling as though we are so terrified of God’s judgment that we work ourselves to the bone!  How can we resolve this dilemma?

Actually, Paul resolves it himself.  Paul says:

it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

In fact, we might say that God is always the initiator of salvation, and we are the responder.  We are to respond with faith and obedience, but we are able to do so because God empowers us to respond.  Jesus says something that may perhaps provide illumination:

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day (John 6:44).

Paul is reminding the Philippians to live out their faith as he said in his introduction to this passage:

by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;  doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;  each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

They are able to live out these qualities because God is at work in them:

both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

APPLY:  

This lectionary passage from Philippians tells us two key things —

• First, about the unique and paradoxical nature of Jesus Christ.
• Second, what it means for us to attempt the impossible — to imitate Christ.

We are encouraged to look at Jesus as an example of humility and servanthood.  Jesus empties himself to such an extent that he dies for us!  And yet, this servant is exalted once again to his rightful place, and his name is to evoke our reverence and awe!

Obviously, we see the paradox and the impossibility implied here.  How can we imitate the Second Person of the Trinity, who succumbs to death on the cross for all humanity?  And then is once again exalted, following his self-emptying, to the right hand of God where he is worshipped as Lord and God!  How can we emulate that?

The answer is given by his paradoxical follow-up:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

Following Christ’s example of extreme humility and servanthood sets the bar so high for us that we are justifiably filled with fear and trembling.  But we can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that it is God who is at work in us, enabling us to fulfill his will for us.

God’s grace makes possible what God demands.  Otherwise it is impossible for us.

As St. Augustine says:

O Lord, command what you will and give what you command.

RESPOND: 

There is a line that I love in one of the great hymns of Charles Wesley.  The hymn, And Can It Be, describes the mysterious grace of Christ that makes our salvation possible.  In one verse, Wesley describes the downward movement of Christ from heaven to earth in terms that remind me of Philippians 2:5-11:

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

I love that line — he emptied Himself of all but love.  This suggests that Jesus gave up all of his glory, honor, and power, all motivated by his love for us.

But there’s another thing that really strikes me about the lectionary epistle for this week.  That paradox of our work and God’s work.  There seems a kind of synergism implied here:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

It isn’t so unlike what Paul says a little later in Philippians when he describes his own salvation and life as a disciple.  He makes it clear that his own works and accomplishments  in following the law prior to meeting Christ were as worthless as garbage to him.  However, now that he has been found by Christ, he gives his very best effort in following Christ:

 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

Note the vivid image — he knows that he has been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.  That is a great description of grace.  He knows this is not something he has done for himself.  However, he doesn’t presume upon this, or give in to spiritual sloth — having been taken hold of by Christ, he presses on like a runner in a race to take hold of the prize that has been given him.

As one old preacher once said to me — trust as if it’s all up to God; work as if it’s all up to you.

Lord, the example that you set in your self-emptying love is daunting.  You have descended to the lowest depths of death that you might raise me up with you in your resurrection.  And in your humble servanthood I see what you mean for me to be — a servant like you.  Help me to live out my faith in fear and trembling, yet with the assurance that you are at work in me, both to work and will your good pleasure. Amen.

 PHOTOS:
"Imitation of Christ - who to trust in" by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.