Plow
Creek Mennonite Church
Sunday
Meditations
Disclaimer - meditations are the personal reflections of the worship leader, not official church doctrinal statements.
Unity, in Love and Humility
Jim Foxvog
Disclaimer - meditations are the personal reflections of the worship leader, not official church doctrinal statements.
Unity, in Love and Humility
Jim Foxvog
September
25, 2005
I find this to be a very powerful scripture. We are directed to unity, in love and humility. The example given is Jesus, and it then gives a beautiful Christological summary. The conclusion returns to our Christian life.
It starts "If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy..." Paul is clearly about to make a request of the highest importance. If Jesus, the church, or Christianity mean anything to you...
THEN
Be of the same mind, Agree with each other, think the same way, have the same thoughts, Live in harmony by showing love for each other. Love each other, sharing the same love, being in full accord and being one in soul and mind. Be united in what you think, share the same feelings, as if you were only one person. Be deep-spirited friends. Focus on one goal.
Do nothing from selfish ambition, rivalry or conceit, from a desire for praise or a cheap desire to boast. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Don't be jealous or proud, but in humility regard others as better. Be humble and consider others more important than yourselves.
Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead.
Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Care about them as much as you care about yourselves.
WHY?!
Because that is being like Jesus.
Jesus Christ was truly God. He always had the nature of God, with equal status as God. From this most lofty position he took the lowest position, a servant being put to a shameful death. He did this out of love and obedience. He loved us, loved and was obedient to his Father God.
So, Jesus will be most highly exalted. We celebrated this in song, and is certainly something we could profitably consider for a long time. Jesus exaltation, his be acknowledged Lord of all, is is a real joy to reflect on - it seems Paul rightly may get a little carried away with the glories of our Lord Jesus and get a bit distracted from the point he is making. Maybe this is a hint at our own reward, but that is not what is stressed, not even really made clear.
The point is simply to keep on doing what you've done from the beginning, living in responsive obedience. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, live out your salvation by living as God has shown us.
But it is God's power that even enables us to want to serve God. It is God who both gives us the desire and the ability to act to serve and please him.
Who Jesus is, what Jesus did, is intimately connected with us living a life of loving service. We are not to just spend our time in verbally expressing our praise of God, but neither are we to ignore praising Jesus and only live lives of sacrificial love. God desires us to do both, and neither is complete without the other.
Philippians 2:1-13
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. 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.
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
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. 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.
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
I find this to be a very powerful scripture. We are directed to unity, in love and humility. The example given is Jesus, and it then gives a beautiful Christological summary. The conclusion returns to our Christian life.
It starts "If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy..." Paul is clearly about to make a request of the highest importance. If Jesus, the church, or Christianity mean anything to you...
THEN
Be of the same mind, Agree with each other, think the same way, have the same thoughts, Live in harmony by showing love for each other. Love each other, sharing the same love, being in full accord and being one in soul and mind. Be united in what you think, share the same feelings, as if you were only one person. Be deep-spirited friends. Focus on one goal.
Do nothing from selfish ambition, rivalry or conceit, from a desire for praise or a cheap desire to boast. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Don't be jealous or proud, but in humility regard others as better. Be humble and consider others more important than yourselves.
Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead.
Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Care about them as much as you care about yourselves.
WHY?!
Because that is being like Jesus.
Jesus Christ was truly God. He always had the nature of God, with equal status as God. From this most lofty position he took the lowest position, a servant being put to a shameful death. He did this out of love and obedience. He loved us, loved and was obedient to his Father God.
So, Jesus will be most highly exalted. We celebrated this in song, and is certainly something we could profitably consider for a long time. Jesus exaltation, his be acknowledged Lord of all, is is a real joy to reflect on - it seems Paul rightly may get a little carried away with the glories of our Lord Jesus and get a bit distracted from the point he is making. Maybe this is a hint at our own reward, but that is not what is stressed, not even really made clear.
The point is simply to keep on doing what you've done from the beginning, living in responsive obedience. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, live out your salvation by living as God has shown us.
But it is God's power that even enables us to want to serve God. It is God who both gives us the desire and the ability to act to serve and please him.
Who Jesus is, what Jesus did, is intimately connected with us living a life of loving service. We are not to just spend our time in verbally expressing our praise of God, but neither are we to ignore praising Jesus and only live lives of sacrificial love. God desires us to do both, and neither is complete without the other.