Philippians Archives - Page 13 of 13

This Mind in You

Joe Harby on May 16, 2010

Introduction

Conservative Christians know and understand that we deserve to be brought low. We know the law of God, we know our own sinfulness, and we know that the holiness of God casts us down. This is all good, as far as it goes, but we need to follow God’s purposes all the way out. God humbles us, which we deserve, but He also exalts us, which we do not deserve at all. This is often the point where we stumble.

The Text

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:5-11)

Summary of the Text

In this great hymn on the obedience of Christ, the apostle Paul urges us to have the same mind in us that Christ had in Him (v. 5). He, before the Incarnation, was in the very shape of God (v. 6), and yet did not grasp after that. Instead, He submitted Himself to the will of the Father, and took on the shape of a servant or slave, being born in the likeness of men (v. 7). As if that were not enough, once He found Himself in the form of a human, He humbled Himself even further, accepting even death on the cross (v. 8). It was for this reason that God exalted Him highly, and gave Him a name above every name (v. 9). The result of this is that every knee will bow at the name of Jesus, whether in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth (v. 10). Every knee bows, and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (v. 11).

Together With Christ

When Paul says that the mind of Christ should be in us, he is talking about the whole process. We do not just follow Christ to Jerusalem, to die with Him as Thomas said (John 11:16). We also follow Him to Heaven, where He is now seated. If we are united with Him in His death, we are also united with Him in His resurrection (Rom. 6: 4). We are crucified together with Him (Gal. 2:20), buried with Him (Col. 2:12), raised with Him (Eph. 2:6), and we ascend together with Him to be seated in Heaven (Eph. 2:7). We would say this in English by saying that we have been co-crucified, co-buried, co-raised, co-ascended, and co-seated.

The Problem . . .

Christians tend to accept all this, and to rejoice in it until we are back at square on. We are like the prodigal son who wants to be forgiven, and restored, but to be put up in the servants’ hall. He is not expecting the fatted calf to be killed, a party to be thrown, or a small jazz band to be hired. He wasn’t expecting the ring, or the best robe (Luke 15:22). He wasn’t expecting to be exalted. His older brother wasn’t expecting that either.

So this is where our faith staggers. We expect to be forgiven—that’s God’s job, right? But we don’t expect to be exalted, and when God moves to do this, we often fight Him. We throw ourselves to the floor in repentance, and when God reaches down to pick us up, we kick and bite and scratch. But it is not true humility to fight with God. If God has determined to do something, how is it abasing the creature to quarrel with His sovereignty. The Bible teaches both—we are told to humble ourselves so that God might lift us up (1 Pet. 5:6). We are to look forward to the joy, just like Jesus did. He was worthy of that joy, and we are not. So?

For Us Who Believe?

This is a truth that is infinitely bigger than our heads and hearts, and yet God wants our heads and hearts to contain this truth anyway. This is why Paul prays for impossible things with regard to the Ephesians (Eph. 3:17-21). This is the focus of Paul’s prayers for them (Eph. 1:17-18). He wants them to know the glory of God’s inheritance in them (v. 18). Think of it.

“. . . That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:17-21).

This Mind In You

Jesus is the new man. Jesus is the representative man. Everything He did is ours. Everything He said is ours. Everything He accomplished is ours. He has given us all things in Him, and He has told us to strive for all things in imitation of Him. And He did everything He did for the sake of the joy that was set before Him (Heb. 12:2). We are called to the same kind of thing.

Let this mind be in you . .

State of the Church 2010

Joe Harby on January 3, 2010

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Introduction

This is a season for personal inventories, and for resolutions. This is appropriate and fitting . . . unless one of your resolutions needs to be to rely less on resolutions and more on actually doing something. Assuming your resolutions help you get things done, you don’t want to lose ground here in order to gain ground there. Sanctification is accumulative—one virtue should not displace another.

The Texts

“Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God” (Rev. 3:2).
“Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing” (Phil. 3:16).

Summary of the Text

Our first text is taken from the admonition given to the church at Sardis, and it is a pretty stern rebuke. The church there had a reputation for being alive, but was dead (v. 1). It become apparent in the next verse that they were not completely dead (v. 2), but the remaining life there was about to die. There were just a few embers in what had been a roaring fire, and those needed to be blown back into a blaze. “Strengthen the things that remain” means that they needed to get back to first principles, they needed to go back to the word they had first received (v. 3). In the words of the admonition to the church at Ephesus, they needed to return to their first love.

The second text assumes that those reading the exhortation have been faithful, and the call is not to repentance. At the same time, there is no sense of “having arrived.” Paul does not consider himself as having “apprehended” but he continues to press on toward the goal (v. 13). The mark that he strives for is the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (v. 14). Anyone who is mature should think the same way, which shows us that maturity is not complacency (v. 15). Let us continue to do what got us here (v. 16). Let us live up to what we have already attained.
If we have wandered off the path, let us return to it. If we have stayed on the path, by the grace of God, let us keep on.

Time and Obedience

In this world, time is not an automatic friend. We have just passed one of our culture’s milestones for time, going from the year 2009 to the year 2010. This is good . . . or it is not. Time deepens wisdom, but it also hardens folly. Time is given so that we might have time to repent, but it also given so that we might be without excuse. Time allows the grain to ripen, and it allows the weeds to grow. Time allows the meat to roast in the oven, and is also what causes it to burn.

Keeping the Gospel

God is triune, and reveals Himself to us as triune. The principle way He chose to do this is through the Incarnation of Jesus. In other words, the doctrine of the Trinity was made necessary by God’s complete identification with us—which seems counterintuitive. How can the fact that the eternal Logos became a human being forever and ever lead us to the a complex doctrinal formulation that makes our heads hurt? Well, if it makes our heads hurt, then perhaps we are not as Trinitarian as we might like to believe. It is a given that the infinite God cannot be comprehended by finite minds. That much even unbelievers can know. But our glory is that this infinite God who cannot be comprehended took on human flesh forever, and has assumed a dwelling place among us. The relationship we have with Emmanuel, God with us, is not a relationship with a figure of speech. This is gospel; this is what God has done—a perfect man, living a perfect life on our behalf, and then offering up that life in blood sacrifice, so that we might be put right on the basis of His resurrection from the dead. Put right? Put right with what? With everything . . . put right with ourselves, put right with the creation, put right with our neighbor, and put right with our God.

Keeping the Gospel Fresh

This gospel, in its experienced reality, is transformative. It changes things, and, as it happens, it often changes things that didn’t want to be changed. Over time, one of two things will happen. The first is that we persevere in staying on the path, just as we ought to have done. If this is the case, then we need to be encouraged to “keep on keeping on,” as we used to say. The other option is that we slide back into the ways of death, as the saints at Sardis did, all while keeping relics of the gospel around. We revert to the sin while keeping this very fine catechism. As time progresses, that catechism becomes a large pebble in our shoe, one that makes us walk funny.

The way we deal with this is that we objectify the truth, putting it “out there,” giving credence to it “in its place.” Thinking that we have created a safe house for the truth to live in, we are actually killing it. The truth is meant to be lived, and if it isn’t lived it isn’t our truth. The truth is meant to be loved, and if it isn’t loved it isn’t our truth. Now truth is objective, but we must not objectify it. That is what Paul is talking about when he says that the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. Paul is not hostile to letters—he wrote “the letter kills” with letters. His words are objectively true, and by this we mean that they are not made true by our applause, and they are not falsified when we withhold our applause. But we objectify truth when we say, “Yeah, uh huh, I heard that before.” Or “I knew that once.” For those in this position, they must either come to their first love, or they must return to it.

Keeping It Simple

This year our congregation will be 35 years old. During that time, children born in the first years have grown up, married, and are bringing up children of their own in this same congregation. Things we knew and learned have been successfully passed on—let us continue to live up to what we have already attained. Some have joined the conversation part way, and feel like they are always catching up. Some other things we have drifted away from, and so let us return to the basic things, the simple things—love God and hate sin. Love His Word, despise the world, and learn to love the world.

A fitting conclusion is provided by a couple songs—the old gospel song Sweet Jesus says, “Everybody talking about heaven ain’t goin’ there.” And as the song Denomination Blues puts it, “Ya gotta have Jesus, and that’s all.”

Colonies of Heaven

Christ Church on May 4, 2008

Introduction:
On Ascension Sunday, we mark the glorious coronation of the Lord Jesus. After His resurrection, He established to His disciples that He was in fact alive forever, and then He ascended into the heavens. When He did this, He was received by the Ancient of Days, and was given universal authority over all the nations of men. Earth now has a new capital city—heaven—and we are called to learn how to live in terms of this. And as we learn, we are to teach.Earth now has a new capital city—heaven—and we are called to learn how to live in terms of this. And as we learn, we are to teach.

The Text:
“For our conversation [lit., citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Phil. 3:20-21).

Overview:
Caesar Augustus established the Roman colony of Philippi after the battle of Philippi in 42 B.C. and the battle of Actium in 31 B.C. He did this by settling his veterans there, who were Roman citizens. This is the backdrop for Paul’s comment to the church that was located at this same Philippi. The Roman citizens of Philippi were there as Roman colonists, intended to extend the force of Roman influence throughout the Mediterranean world. They were not there in order for them to leave Philippi in order to come back to Rome for retirement.
In this passage, St. Paul is using this striking metaphor for a reason. He says that our citizenship is in heaven (v. 20). We look toward heaven because that is where Jesus went, which means that heaven is the place He is going to come from when He returns to earth. The metaphor translated, this means that Jesus was going to come from “Rome” to “Philippi.” He was not going to take “Philippi” to “Rome.” And when the Savior, the Lord Jesus, comes, He is going to transform our lowly body so that it becomes like His glorious body (v. 21). What He does in this final transformation is in complete accord with the authority He is exercising now as He brings all things into subjection to Himself (v. 21). In multiple places, the New Testament tells us that He is doing this.

The Line of the Story:
If we take this simple metaphor of Paul’s, it clears up a great deal for us. Christians now are living in the colonies of heaven. Now colonies are not established as feeder towns for the mother country—just the opposite actually. The mother country feeds the colonies.

How you take the line of the story matters a great deal. Many Christians believe the cosmos has an upper and lower story, with earth as the lower and heaven as the upper. You live the first chapters of your life here. Then you die, and you move upstairs to live with the nice people in part two. There might be some kind of sequel after that, but it is all kind of hazy. The basic movement in this thinking is from Philippi “below” to Rome “above.”

But what Paul teaches us here is quite different. We are establishing the colonies of heaven here, now. When we die, we get the privilege of visiting the heavenly motherland, which is quite different than moving there permanently. After this brief visit, the Lord will bring us all back here for the final and great transformation of the colonists (and the colonies). In short, our time in heaven is the intermediate state. It is not the case that our time here is the intermediate state. There is an old folk song that says, “This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.” This captures the mistake almost perfectly. But as the saints gather in heaven, which is the real intermediate state, the growing question is, “When do we get to go back home?” And so this means that heaven is the place that we are just “passing through.”

The Image of God:
The ideas here—Jesus the Savior, Jesus the Lord, citizenship, a return that transforms—are all regal and political images. And what this means is that the emperor is coming here, and we are the advance team. But though Paul draws on this imagery from certain concepts in the Roman Empire, there are places where the analogy (obviously) breaks down. The pagan emperors did not elevate the people they ruled, but rather just sat on the top of a mountain of peons. But Christ intends to transform our lowly bodies so that they become like His. This means we are becoming royalty. And the colonies will become as glorious as the motherland.

Representing and establishing royalty on earth has been God’s design and purpose from the beginning. One of the indicators of this purpose and intent that is frequently missed is that famous phrase, “image of God.” The phrase image of God was one in the ancient world that indicated a divinely-imparted royal status. But unlike the pagan use of this, this royalty in Genesis was bestowed on all men and women, and not just a solitary ruler. Through our sin, we succeeded in marring this royal image, but God never relinquished His determination to establish it among us regardless. This is why Jesus came in the way that He did—to restore the image of God in man. This is why Peter can say that we are a royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9), and it is also what Paul is talking about in this place. Christ is going to transform our lowly bodies so that they become like His glorious body.

Heaven Misplaced:
Christ is going to come from heaven when He returns. And until He returns, He rules from heaven—which we know on the basis of the Ascension. Consider what was given to Christ when He came back into the throne room of God. “Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Ps. 110:1). “Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). “And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7:14). And so we wait and work in preparation, patiently, knowing that our labors here are not in vain. In this hope, we take care not to “misplace heaven.” The kingdom comes; the kingdom does not go. So Christ is going to come from heaven, and in the meantime, He rules from heaven.

The Great Descent:
Our faith when we consider the Ascension is the basis for our faith in the coming Descent. If you stop the story at the Ascension, you are misplacing the point of heaven. If you stop the story when we follow Christ to heaven at the time of our deaths, you are misplacing the point of heaven also.
Christ has ascended, and this is why the earth is going to be redeemed. And the whole creation is groaning, longing for this to happen. We who have the Spirit long for this as well.

A More Excellent Way

Christ Church on April 13, 2008

Introduction:
We are continuing to consider the problems posed by desire, envy, competition, and ambition. We have now come to competition, something dear to the heart of most Americans. But because of this we must guard our step. You have heard many times that we must repent of our virtues, and this subject is a good place to start.

The Text:
“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Phil. 2:3-4).

Overview:
This passage is taken from the chapter in which the perfect humility of Christ was exalted to the highest place. This is not presented to us as a striking anomaly, but rather as being central to what we as Christians are called to imitate. How many things are we allowed to do because of our striving (v. 3)? Nothing. How about vainglory (v. 3)? Nothing again. What should our mindset be toward others? St. Paul replies we should consider them “better,” that is, more important than we do ourselves. This is to be our central disposition. This is to be characteristic of how our mind goes. Paul then says that we are not to look on our own things (v. 4), but also on the things of others (v. 4). This word in the second half of the phrase helps us to understand what is meant in the first half. This is a comparative statement, not an absolute statement. It is similar to when Paul tells each of us to carry our own burden (Gal. 6:5), carry his own weight. This is fully consistent with his exhortation for us to carry one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2). Only the mind of Christ can sort this out.

Devil Take the Hindmost?:
There is a laissez-faire approach to competition that is very important for the civil magistrate to remember when it comes to the question of him restricting, regulating, organizing, or otherwise botching economic activity. But, as you have been reminded many times, there is a difference between sins and crimes. And just because something ought not to be criminal, with penalties attached, does not mean that it is healthy and automatically non-sinful. Lust ought not to be against the law, but that doesn’t make it okay. The civil magistrate is not competent to outlaw greed either, and all messianic attempts to do so have been disastrous. However . . .
There are Christians who see this, and who conclude from it that a “let ‘er rip” attitude should be allowed everywhere. But the civil magistrate is not prohibited from addressing greed because it is an invisible sin. It is not invisible, and other governments are required to deal with it. A family can see and identify what their problem is. “He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live” (Prov. 15:27). The church is required to exclude from ecclesiastical office men who are greedy. “Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous” (1 Tim. 3:3; cf. 3:8). The civil government must not give way to this sin itself (Ex. 18:21). The Bible requires us not to elect officials unless they hate covetousness. We have taken this to mean that we shouldn’t vote for them unless they are steeped in it. Our political parties taken together constitute a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Money.
Now the fact that even a good civil government is not competent to outlaw greed does not mean that no entity is competent to deal with it. The family and church must deal with it.

Better How?:
In our text, the word “better” is a rendering of hyperecho. What does lowliness of mind require of us in this? Remember we are trying to build the mind of Christ, which cannot be done out of two-by-fours. We tend to read the English here as requiring us to believe that the other person is better at doing whatever it is we might be comparing, which is obviously crazy. Having run into this superficial roadblock, we dismiss the entire problem from our minds. But this is dangerous. The word hyperecho can also be rendered as “to be above, to stand out.”

That does not make the other person automatically right, or superior in his abilities. Remember that the one we are imitating in this is the Lord Jesus—when He became a man, He did so because He believed we were “better” (in this sense) than He was. This obviously has to means the sense of “more important, more valued.” Jesus did not die for us because we were better than He in some moral sense. He died for us because He loved us more than He loved His own life. So the issue is humility and love, and nothing in this requires us to embrace absurdities.

Bearing Burdens:
Now our task is to learn how to bear our own burden (providing for our own family, meeting our own responsibilities) at the same time we are careful to bear one another’s burdens (holding to a true fellowship of goods). The early Christians kept their own property (Acts 5:4) and they held all things in common (Acts 4:32-33). Here are a few basic principles as we pursue the mind of Christ, as we long for “great grace to be upon us all.”
We began this series with desire and envy, which run down the middle of every human heart. Deal with all the big problems there first. And don’t think that thirty seconds reflection or mere intellectual assent is going to do the trick.

Secondly, learn how justice fits into grace. Don’t go the other way, trying to fit grace into justice. Grace corrodes when stored in justice. Justices thrives and grows strong in grace. It is better to be taken to the cleaners because you loaned money, expecting nothing back (Luke 6:35) than to have an evil eye, tight fist, and wary heart (Mk. 7:22).
Third, work hard and intelligently, expecting your work to not only provide for your family, but also to be a blessing to any brother who is “competing” for the same customers you are. That’s impossible, you say. Tell it to God, who traffics in impossibilities. Zero-sum thinking is the logic of unbelief—where more for you means less for me.

Living in a Cut-Throat World:
Keeping ourselves free from strife and vainglory seems like an overwhelming task sometimes. What are to do about the outside world, which does not appear to be functioning with this calculus at all? What grasping and ravenous entities are out there? Besides Microsoft, the U.S. Government, assorted televangelists, the Republicrats, the United Nations, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and more? What should we do about all that? First, we must not envy them (Prov. 3:29-32; 23:17-18). Second, we must not imitate them or their ways (Matt. 20:25-26). And third, we should live in our communities such that we teach them a more excellent way (1 Cor. 12: 31)