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Dr. Rodney
Plunket |
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Life Within God’s Family
Philippians 2:1-11
Today’s sermon is the final one in our three part series on Paul’s letter
to the church in Philippi. In the first lesson we looked at the joy motif which
is an extremely important motif in this letter. In fact, the "joy
word-group" occurs more often in this letter than in any other of Paul’s
writings. In the second lesson, presented last week, we looked at the suffering
motif in this letter, and we noticed that Paul transforms suffering into a
privilege that deepens our relationship with Christ and provides us with an
opportunity to exalt Christ.
This morning we will conclude this series by hearing the letter’s
description of "Life Within God’s family." Paul’s description of
that life has enhanced power because the passage in which he presents it is
nothing short of beautiful. That passage is Php 2:1-11, the passage which served
as our Scripture Reading this morning. To apprehend fully that passage’s point
we must look at the short passage which precedes it, a passage that we looked at
last week with regard to suffering. If you have your Bible, please open it to
Php 1:27 and follow along as I read that verse and the first line of verse 28.
There Paul says,
Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so
that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know
that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one
mind for the faith of the gospel, and are in no way intimidated by your
opponents
Paul follows these lines by talking about the opponents and the suffering
which they bring upon the Philippian Christians. We gave attention to that
message last Sunday. Today I want us to notice that Paul begins this
paragraph by calling upon his readers to "live . . . in a manner worthy of
the gospel of Christ."
Now let’s look at the passage which served as our Scripture reading this
morning. Let me first tell you that an important element of this passage is
obscured and even hidden by some of our English Bibles. In Philippians 2:1 the
Greek text has the little word ou™n;
a word which is commonly translated into English as "therefore." For
some reason, however, most English Bibles do not render this particular
occurrence of ou™n
as "therefore." The NIV, for example, has no word to indicate that ou™n
is even present here. The NRSV does a bit better by rendering it as
"then." But surely Paul used the word "therefore" because he
wanted his readers to know that what he was about to say was connected in a
meaningful way to what he had just said. And what Paul had just said had
everything to do with living in a way that revealed the worth and the value of
the gospel in a context of suffering.
So let’s listen again to Php 2:1-4. Let’s hear Paul describe the kind of
solidarity that should exist in the church. As we hear his words, let’s
realize that Paul wants Christians to live that way because it shows forth the
worth, the value of "the gospel of Christ." And Paul wants Christians
to live that way even in a context of suffering. Please follow along either in
your Bible or in the worship bulletin as I read just the first four verses of
Php 2.
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love,
any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete:
be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one
mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard
others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own
interests, but to the interests of others.
In the English language the word "if" conveys doubt and
uncertainty. The Greek equivalent often moves much closer to our word,
"since," and here that sort of meaning is quite obvious. A person does
not have to read many of Paul’s writings to know that he believed that there
was "encouragement in Christ," there was "consolation from
love," there was "sharing in the Spirit," and there was
"compassion and sympathy" that flowed from and through the Christian
faith. Peter T. O’Brien in his commentary on Philippians well conveys Paul’s
intent here when he translates the relevant Greek term as "if" but
then places after it in brackets the phrase, "as is the case." Hear
the force of his rendering, "Therefore, if [as is the case] there is any
comfort in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any . . ." and the
passage goes on (Commentary on Philippians, New International Greek
Testament Commentary, p 163).
Paul is confident that his readers know that forces of encouragement,
consolation, sharing, compassion, and sympathy flow forth from the central
realities of the Christian faith. In these first four verses, Paul calls upon
his readers to employ those forces to become a people that have a dynamic
solidarity. His way of describing that solidarity must be noted. Paul calls upon
them to "be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord
and of one mind" (Php 2:2). Notice that he begins and ends the description
with references to the "mind." The phrases "the same mind,"
at the beginning of this description, and "one mind," at its end, have
back of them different forms of the same Greek verb––not a noun,
believe it or not, but a verb. That verb is frone/w.
Gordon D. Fee in his commentary on Philippians well conveys Paul’s use of that
verb when he says,
the word does not mean "to think" in the sense of
"cogitate"; rather it carries the nuance of "setting one’s
mind on," thus having a certain disposition toward something (e.g., life,
values, people) or a certain way of looking at things, thus
"mindset." What he means by the "same" mindset will be
explained in vv. 6-11, where Paul points them to that of Christ (v. 5). The
emphasis is thus on the Philippians’ unity of purpose and disposition, unity
with regard to the gospel and their heavenly citizenship . . . not on their
all having the same opinions about everything" (Paul’s Letter to the
Philippians, p 185).
In verses 5-11 Paul makes clear that the "one mindset" is achieved
by all of the believers focusing on the same role model. That role model is
Christ Jesus.
But before focusing on verses 5-11, let’s spend a bit more time with this
first section of Php 2. In between the two mindset verb forms are elements with
which Paul directs his readers to love and to being in full accord. Christian
solidarity, then, involves having a mutual mindset and a mutual love and being
in one accord with one another.
In verses 3-4, Paul describes the kind of personal attitudes that believers
will need to achieve this kind of solidarity. He says,
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others
as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but
to the interests of others.
Paul knows that the greatest obstacles to Christian solidarity are our attitudes,
our attitudes toward ourselves and our attitudes toward others. I believe that
the Bible teaches that we have not really learned to love until we love others
and place others above ourselves. In Matthew 23:11 Jesus says, "The greatest
among you will be your servant." Greatness in God’s kingdom is found in
service, in humble service that places the interests of others above ourselves.
Then Paul looks to Christ Jesus as the role model for all that he has
described. He puts the flesh of Christ on the abstract bones of the portrait he
has only begun to paint in verses 1-4. The second word of his focus upon Jesus
is a form of the same verb that he used twice in verse 2, the Greek verb frone/w.
But here he used it to describe the mindset of Christ. By using this same verb
Paul is clearly connecting what he said earlier about the Christian’s mindset
to the mindset of Christ Himself.
What was the mindset of Christ? Listen again to Paul’s description.
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in
the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be
exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in
human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became
obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above
every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and
on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Let those words soak in. They need no explanation. Jesus is divine. Jesus
"was in the form of God" but he emptied Himself, took on the form of a
slave in human form, and He humbled Himself and was obedient to the point of
death, even death on a cross. How did God feel about His chosen Lord over all
becoming humble a humble and lowly and crucified Lord? Did it discredit Christ
in God’s eyes? No. Because of Christ’s extreme sacrifice God exalted Him and
gave Christ the Name that is above every name and one day every tongue will
"confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Paul pleads with us to be a community of faith that reflects the humble,
obedient, sacrificial example of Christ Jesus. Let’s take hold of that
example. Let’s commit ourselves to being like Christ. Let’s commit ourselves
to being a church that fleshes out the gospel by living like the Christ
of that gospel. Let’s be like Him; let’s adopt His standard of humble,
obedient service. Let’s truly be a church that is Ever Becoming a People of
Love. Let’s shine to the glory of our Savior and Lord.
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