THE PROMISE AND COSTS OF SELF-EMPTYING
Philippians 2:1-13
2 If, then, there is any comfort in Christ, any consolation from love, any partnership in the Spirit, any tender affection and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.4 Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.9 Therefore God exalted him even more highly and gave him the name that is above every other name,10 so that at the name given to Jesus every knee should bend,in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence but much more now in my absence, work on your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Background Context
This letter was written while Paul was in prison around 60-62 AD to a church he had founded roughly ten years before. The church was Europe’s first. Paul loved the church in Phillippi and that care was reciprocated. The church in Philippi was the first in Europe and was particularly supportive of Paul financially and emotionally.
The letter itself is written with a backdrop of conflict. The church in general, and Paul in particular, was being threatened by Rome. There was an internal debate within the wider church about the inclusion of Gentiles into the community. There was an interpersonal conflict between two church leaders, Euodia and Syntyche, within the Philippian community itself.
Paul was literally in chains at the time and though there is scholarly debate about the time line, tradition states Paul was executed a few years later in the time of Nero.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.4 Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
Our DNA is based on ‘survival of the fittest’ and when that is the primary driver of behavior, it means ‘self’ comes first. But if that is the only driver of behavior, it also guarantees polarization and conflict.
Nations have sought to rule by force for millennia and it is no different today. I love movies where the ‘good’ guy, using whatever force is necessary, defeats the ‘bad guy’. In my lifetime, each political party has used the phrase, “Bomb them back into the Stone Age.
As wonderfully satisfying and cathartic such endings are, all such victories are short lived. Eventually top dogs are defeated. Eventually the underdogs attack the underbelly of the oppressor. Inexorably, the good guys and the bad guys switch places and the cycle repeats. All empires, even mighty ones, have fallen. The famous Pax Romana was not based on collaboration and regard, it was based on the power of Rome. But even that empire has become archeological artifacts in the dust.
As far as I am concerned, we have indisputable proof that force is at best, a short term ‘victory’ and is a guaranteed long term failure. But we rinse and repeat every generation.
Our political arena is fed by fear and force. Our society is fiercely pointing fingers at each other. Each self righteously claims to be the ‘good’ guy who is trying to right the wrongs the other side is perpetrating. The absurd political defences – ‘they did it first’ or ‘they are just as bad’ – are sandbox justifications for all manner of dismissals, disrespect and demeaning attacks. As my grandmother would say, it is the pot calling the kettle black.
And of course the same pattern is intra personal. When I need to ‘right’, I cannot be in relationship. I am so busy formulating my rebuttal that I fail to listen. I end up saying “Yes, but…” instead of “Yes, and….” The conjunction ‘but’ cancels out what comes before. It ends up dismissing the other.
Jesus steps into this human swamp with the supernatural claim that we should always see the ‘other’ as a child of God. Jesus made no distinctions. He loved the person in front of him. Jesus said: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus even says “Love your enemies.” Paul says: “ … in humility regard others as better than yourselves.4 Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.”
Living in community, personal, political or national, requires a very counter intuitive way of living. Our needs are always in tension with the needs of others. In real life, loving is inconvenient and risky. In the first century, the risks included persecution and death. For us, the risk is primarily to our egos. It is really hard to live in a space where opposing views have equal value.
Jesus “…did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped (or exploited), he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.
The antidote to our natural, self-destructive, self-righteousness is to set our egos aside long enough for us to see the legitimacy of the other—even those who would harm us. Jesus did not use the prerogatives of God. It didn’t matter that he was ‘right’, there was no room for coercion in his love.
Please understand, this is a supernatural call. It is a direction for our lives. It is not a destination we arrive at. This is a standard above my pay grade. I see what Jesus wants from me but he asks far more than I am able to do in real life. Such a life is not something I, or any of us, can sustain on our own.
“…work on your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
If Jesus wants us to reach the North Pole, some of us will not make north of the perimeter. We are not measured by how far we walk. Our lives depend upon which road we choose. Jesus’ way or ours. We may be terrible at listening or showing regard for the people outside of our agreement bubble. But that is still the direction that leads to new life. Even when we know our ways fail, the enormous temptation is to stick with what we know. The fear Paul talks about is not fear of punishment, it is the awareness of our own limitations and failures in the face of awesome promise that we are loved anyway.
Jesus says “I have a better way. Try it. It leads to the only thing that is eternal—life in the confidence we are loved. Freud, of all people is quoted as saying: “How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved.” That is the safety that Jesus promises. That is safety that enabled Jesus to be ‘obedient unto death’. If you have had a taste of such love, you know it is transformational. You also know it as ephemeral as a butterfly landing on your shoulder and as solid as the ground you stand on. Both things can be true. And in this analogy, trusting the ground beneath our feet allows us to ‘walk the walk’ and allows us to wait for the Holy Spirit to land on our shoulder.
God calls us to a both/and world and away from an either/or world. One leads to life, the other to a guaranteed failure. It is a counter intuitive, difficult, inconvenient and risky way to live. Do the best you can do to keep walking North. The direction is what matters. Let it be so.
