Paul tells the Philippians to:
“do everything without grumbling or arguing” [2:14]
Why?
“so that you may become blameless and pure” [2:15].
Here’s the point:
Our thoughts and actions are shaping us into the kinds of people we are becoming. Don’t feed the wrong fire today.
Philippians Week 2 Day 2
In the first sentence of the letter, Paul writes:
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. [Philippians 1:1]
The word translated here “servants” is also the word for slaves. (Spelled in English letters, it would be douloi.)
In the status-conscious world of 1st century Greco-Roman culture, to call yourself a servant or slave would seem crazy. And that’s exactly Paul’s point: in Christ, our old ways of gaining status or identifying ourselves have been changed. Paul is therefore proud to be a servant of Christ Jesus, and he wants the Philippians to feel the same way.
Philippians Week 2, Day 1
No Confidence in the Flesh
3 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law,faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Following Paul’s Example
15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Christ's Example of Humility
2 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,10 so 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.
Lights in the World
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
Timothy and Epaphroditus
19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. 20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. 23 I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, 24 and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.
25 I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, 26 for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. 27 Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.29 So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, 30 for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.
Paul describes this beautiful arc of Jesus, whereby he goes down before God exalts him:
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming 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 acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Go down to go up. Cross before Crown.
How can you break through a barrier or obstacle today by imitating Jesus and allowing humility to take you low, putting yourself in the position for God to lift you up?
P.S. Bonus—C.S. Lewis on “The Diver”
“In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend.
He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity; down further still…to the very roots and seabed of the Nature He had created.
But he goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him.
One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden.
He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders.
Or one may think of a diver, first reducing himself to nakedness, then glancing in mid-air, then gone with a splash, vanished, rushing down through green and warm water into black and cold water, down through increasing pressure into the death-like region of ooze and slime and old decay;”
He touches the bottom, and pushes off.
“Then up again, back to color and light, his lungs almost bursting, till suddenly he breaks surface again, holding in his hand the dripping, precious thing that he went down to recover.”
-C.S. Lewis, Miracles
We’re doing something different this time at Munger:
We’re going to read Philippians through 4 times over.
The Bible is meditation literature, and it offers its treasures up to those who read it over and over and over.
Philippians is a beautiful, sweet little letter, written by Paul of Tarsus during his time of Roman house arrest (AD 60-62?), addressed to a church he founded in the Macedonian Roman colony of Phillipi over a decade earlier.
It’s worth re-reading and memorizing, if you’re up for it. We’ll be reading through it once a week for the next 4 weeks. Philippians is 4 chapters long, so we’ll read one chapter a day, Monday-Thursday, use Friday as a catch-up day, and take the weekends off. Use your scripture journal to make notes and jot down thoughts and questions. (Pick up a scripture journal at church, or order one here.)
Let’s go!
Paul is writing to the church in Philippi from house arrest in Rome. He notes that even the members of the Imperial Guard (v. 13, lit., “praetorium”) know that he is innocent of any crime and merely imprisoned because he preached about Christ. Although Paul’s situation is serious, he shows no anxiety over it: “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (v. 21). In other words, no matter what happens, it will be good.
What if you lived that like today?
In light of the message of Easter, how else could we live?
No matter what happens, it will be okay.