Sunday, December 6, 2009 - Philippians 2:1-13 Advent 2
Each week Pastor Grant posts the sermon text for the coming Sunday, some of his research for reflection, along with some conversation starters for you to comment on. You are invited to share your thoughts on the text by commenting on this post. To share a comment, “click” the title of this post, or the link at the end of the post (COMMENTS), and you will be directed to a page where you can share your thoughts, reflections, questions, illustrations and/or applications.
NIV Philippians 2:1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed– not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence– continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Research for reflection…
“The implications for Christian living are spelled out by the Philippians passage. The point is clearest if one includes the two verses that precede it. “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit…. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. ” Our task, Paul is saying, is to have the mind of Christ, not the mentality of all those who helped sentence him to death. They were grasping after power; he was not. The task of Christians is to keep our attention firmly fixed on those “falling through the cracks” so that there is someone present to watch out for their interests.” Darrell Jodock in Christian Century, March 22, 1995: “Standing with the Victims”
“It is this willingness to lay aside all rights of personal privilege, to submit in the spirit of servanthood to the needs and concerns of others, that is the heart of this letter. From Paul’s side we see it as one who is a faithful servant following the Servant-Christ. From the Philippians’ side it is as those who are obligated to exhibit that servanthood as followers of Christ. To show Christ as a servant, then, is to illustrate what being “in Christ” entails.” Dennis Bratcher in The Poured-Out Life: The Kenosis Hymn in Context
“Whatever else the Christian faith is, and whatever Christian life is all about, it finds its central focus every and always on Christ. Here we have spelled out before us in living color both the what and the why of Paul’s affirmation, ‘for me to live is Christ.’ This narrative puts it into focus: Paul believed that in Jesus Christ the true nature of the living God has been revealed ultimately and finally. God is not a grasping, self-centered being, but is most truly known through the one who, himself in the form of God and thus equal with God, poured himself out in sacrificial love by taking the lowest place, the role of a slave, whose love for his human creatures found its consummate expression in his death on the cross. That this is God’s own nature and doing has been attested for all time by Christ Jesus’ divine vindication; he has been exalted by God to the highest place by having been given the name of God himself: The Lord is none other than Jesus Christ. This is therefore why for Paul ‘to live is Christ.’ Any faith that falls short of this is simply not the Christian faith…(There) is no genuine life in Christ that is not at the same time, by the power of the Holy Spirit, being regularly transformed into the likeness of Christ. A gospel of grace, which omits obedience, is not Pauline in any sense…To be sure, the indicative must precede the imperative, or all is lost; but it does not eliminate the imperative, or all is likewise lost.” Gordon Fee in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (NICNT)
“Martin Luther King didn’t have political power, but he changed America. Mahatma Gandhi didn’t have political power. He never commanded an army. He changed a nation. I tell you that they understood Jesus better than most church people do. They understood that the way to change the world is not to impose your will on others but to lovingly sacrifice and earn the authority that when you speak, they will listen. They said of Jesus: He’s not like the religious leaders. He’s not like Herod. He’s not like Pilate. When this man speaks he speaks with authority. Would to God, we learn from Jesus.” Tony Campolo in “Earning the Right to Be Heard”
“Manipulative power and unconditional love are diametrically opposed. In any relationship, as love increases, power decreases; and likewise as power increases, love decreases. That raises a very probing question during this Advent season: In my interpersonal relationships, am I playing power games or love games? I am convinced that many of us never come to know love in any significant way because we’re always on power trips.” David Busic in “The Preposterous Exchange: Humility”
Questions for conversation…
What questions does this text raise for you?
Some biblical scholars think that verses 6-11 were an early Christian hymn. Read verses 6-11 again. Can you think of any Christmas carols that reflect the structure or language of this “hymn”?
In light of the whole passage, what do you think Paul means when he says: “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling” in verse 12?
What games are you better at: power games or love games (see comment by David Busic)? Where do you play power games? love games? (home, work, school, church, neighborhood, etc…)
December 1st, 2009 at 3:43 am
I really appreciated the quote of Darrell Jodock’s: “The task of Christians is to keep our attention firmly fixed on those “falling through the cracks” so that there is someone present to watch out for their interests.” The question it raises for me is, what is the task of Christians who ARE falling through the cracks? A lot of our sisters and brothers are, both here and around the world…what is it to which Christ calls them?
December 1st, 2009 at 10:25 am
Interesting question Kadee. Darrell is writing to those at the center of society. What about those on the margins?
Paul is writing from the margins (sitting in a Roman prison) to a church at the margins of Greco-Roman society/culture, to people who not only are falling through the cracks, but who live and dwell in the cracks. So perhaps the wider context of the book of Philippians addresses the question.
Yet, even among the ‘crack dwellers’ there are power grabs and abuse, divisions and conflict, each looking out for their own selfish self interest. Paul seems to be addressing some specific examples of this in the congregation at Philippi.