HAVE THE ATTITUDE OF CHRIST

Philippians 2:1-30

Key verse 2:5 “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus”

Good evening!  Thank God for helping us study the Philippians in the New Year conference.  The Philippians is one of my favorite books in the Bible and in the past. I often chose some of its passages as my new year key verses. At least I remember three key verses. For example, when I was spiritually very young and I didn’t know much, I liked 4:13 “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Later, when I was spiritually more ambitious, 3:10-11looks great “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Wow.  But when my faith is recently foggy and ambiguous, I chose 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Today, we’ll focus about Chapter 2. I never chose any my key verses from Chapter 2, which seemed much more complex.

As we all know, this epistle was written by Apostle Paul probably in the Roman prison to the Philippian church. I think Paul wrote this Epistle about AD 61, approximately 10 years after his pioneering work in the city.  Luke the Historian described in detail in Act 16 how Paul and his coworkers pioneered the Philippian Church during his second missionary journey.  The Philippian church was the first church in Europe pioneered by Paul with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. From this, we know who some of the Philippian church members were.  He met his first convert from Europe, Lydia, who was a purple fabric dealer. She was a godly woman seeking for God and probably affluent. Apostle Paul also saved the evil spirit possessed girl, whom I don’t know if she became a Christian. Furthermore, he was severely beaten and imprisoned because he cast the evil spirit from the girl.  During his imprisonment, Paul saved the jailer in his prison cell and the Jailer and all his family became believers. Since that time, they had developed a beautiful relationship for God’s ministry, keeping touch each other. Among many Gentile churches Paul had pioneered, the Philippian church became an unique partner of Paul’s mission work and they had faithfully stood by him as he went forth preaching the gospel throughout the world. They were mentioned as an exemplary church who volunteered to participate in the offering for Jerusalem Church (2Co 8:1-5).  When they heard about Paul’s imprisonment at Rome, they were grieved and in sorrow.  Normally, Paul was a self support missionary, but when he was in prison, he could not support himself.  So they decided to send Epaproditus as their emissary to him with some money and wanted him to take care of him in his imprisonment. They alone helped Paul financially at the time of his extreme difficulty among many Gentile churches.

As we see, the primary purpose in writing this letter was to thank the Philippians for the support they had given him.  However, Apostle Paul makes use of this occasion to fulfill other purposes such as to report for the God’s work while he was in prison (1:12-26, 4:10-19), to encourage the Philippians to stand firm in the gospel faith in the midst of persecution or false teachings and rejoice regardless of circumstances and to exhort them to  imitate Jesus’humility and have the unity. It is a kind of mission report of Paul to who supports his ministry.  Especially in this chapter, we can see the profound depth of Paul’s understanding of Jesus Christ and his core belief of nature of Jesus, which is one of the most important passage in the New Testament in Pauline theology. In order to discuss this passage, we need at least several hours, but probably I don’t have enough time to discuss all its aspect.  

In chapter 1, Paul reported that his imprisonment served to advance the gospel. Paul became very famous prisoner among the emperor’s palace guard. His indomitable spirit in prison influenced most of hardened palace guard and had them acknowledge the righteous cause of his chains (1:13). Furthermore, when they heard Paul boldly testified the gospel of Jesus even in the prison, most of the brothers had been greatly encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly(1:14). However, some of Paul’s opponents took advantage of this and worked hard to preach the gospel mainly out of envy and selfish ambition so that they may stir up angush and trouble for Paul. Was Paul angry for their their mean spirits?  No, Apostle Paul rejoiced instead because Christ was preached any way. Although he did not know what verdict would wait for him, he determined to rejoice in any way. Rejoice or joy is the repeated theme throughout the Philippians.  Today’s passage in chapter 2, Paul leads us to have the attitude or mind of Jesus Christ. How can we imitate Jesus and have the same attitude of Christ? May the Holy Spirit open our eyes to see the mystery of Christ.

I.   Be one in Christ (1-4)

Let’s read verses 2:1-2. “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.”  In verse 1, Paul mentions the blessings we have in Christ—encouragement, comfort, fellowship with the Spirit, tenderness and compassion. When we are united with Christ, we have fellowship with the God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Christ, the love of God fills us with all encouragement and comfort. Because of the Lord’s encouragement, we can grow in hope regardless of ourselves. With the comfort of God, we can overcome any sorrow, loneliness, or suffering. Due to our sinful nature, we often fail to live up as God’s children. Nevertheless the God never condemn us or abandon us. Instead, He embraces us with his tender compassion. From the deep within, God is compassionate on our failure and always takes us up with his arms so that we may stand up again.

After reminding the Philippian Christians of the blessings in Christ, the Paul appeals to them to make his joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Like many human communities, the church is also consisted of the fallen men and women, or the forgiven sinners.  We are not perfect and still many traces of our sinfulness are not completely erased even after our conversion. We are all different, in age, gender, ethnicity, character and language, so on. Humanly, it is impossible to be one.  Probably, the Philippian church had the same problem. Lydia and jailer’s wife had completely different background. They could not get along.  Apparently, in the heart of the Pilippian church’ problem were two strong women leaders—Euodia and Syntyche (4:2). In 4:3, Paul commends the two women for contending at his side for the sake of the gospel. But they did not agree with each other. We don’t know what the issue was between them.  Euodia may have thought she was much older than Syntyche,  and she demanded some respect from her, but Syntyche thought that she was much more spiritual and had more spiritual fruits than her and she needed more recognition from Euodia.  

When believers are united in love, they are all happy, the joy spread and God’s work also flourishes. On the contrary, when believers are divided, many grumbles and arguments arise and there is no peace of mind. Not only that, but God’s work also greatly suffers and it would be the great source of discouragement to many people in church and becomes mockery to outside church. So the Apostle Paul appeals to the Philippians to remember God’s grace and have God’s heart toward one another. It is difficult for us, who are all different, to be one.  However, we can be one in spirit and purpose because we gather together by the grace of Jesus. We all tasted his saving grace and we are all called to follow and obey Jesus’ great commission.  That’s why we can become one in spirit and for this purpose. Apart from Jesus, we can be total strangers.

Why does God want to see unity among his people?  Because this is the nature of God.  God is one in three persons.  We can see perfect harmony and coworking in three persons in one God.

Eternal love is in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for one another. By giving themselves to one another, the Three Persons are perfectly One. 

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all equally God. But the Son voluntarily submits to the Father; the Holy Spirit voluntarily submits to the Father and the Son. Yet the Father does not do anything by himself, but consults and does everything with the Son and the Holy Spirit. While on earth, the Son glorified the Father; the Father and the Holy Spirit encouraged the Son to complete his mission. They shared the important things in them with one another. Together they loved and thought of the fallen mankind. And they worked together for the same purpose of saving mankind and restoring God’s kingdom on earth. The Son of God agreed to come to earth as a man to save mankind; the Holy Spirit agreed to come to dwell in the people for whom the Son gave his life. Due to the self-giving and self-sacrificing love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we are here as God’s dear children.          

On the other hand, what is the mind of sinful man? Most of the time, our interest is not compatible with other’s need. We want first to be accepted and recognized before accepting others. When believers have the mind, love, and purpose of Christ, there is no division in a church. Such a church manifests God’s glory. How can we change? Apostle Paul gives us practical directions for changing ourselves. Let’s read verses 3 and 4; “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

 First, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.” Selfish ambition is a strong desire to achieve power, honor, or recognition for self-glory. It is very poisonous to the unity.  We know how ambitious the disciples were when they followed Jesus. They had a great competitive spirit. Even when Jesus was teaching about his death on the cross, they did not listen and argue one another  who was the greatest.  If one does God’s work with selfish ambition, the fruit is corrupted and divisive. Vain conceit is thinking oneself bigger than he or she really is. Pride breaks the creation order. It breaks relationships. Nobody likes a proud man.  It makes us stubborn, narrow minded, and jealous. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (Jam 4:6).

 Second, “Consider others better than yourselves.” How can we consider our coworkers better than ourselves when their shortcomings and immaturity are so evident? Can we really consider the youngest of us as better than ourselves? Yes, we can.  We can when we find at least one thing in others that is better than ourselves. In our Bible study material committee, our members consist of the young and the old and Korean missionaries and American Shepherds.  I learned a lot from Anthony Mancini for his fresh perspectives. While we debate one question more than 15 minutes, many times his simple suggestion resolves this in a minute.  I am a kind of old fashioned, big picture oriented guy and missionary Paul Lim is a detail oriented person. Sometimes, I can’t stand his persistent questions of seemingly trivial points again and again, but it makes our Bible material much better.  Therefore it is important for each of us to recognize the outstanding quality in ourselves as well as in others. Then we can work together in harmony for our community and for God. We have to find a quality of our coworkers which is better than ourselves.

Third, “Look to the interests of others.” We all can be self centered, which seems natural in the sinful man.  Then, how can we have other-centered mind? The first step is to put ourselves in others’ shoes. When we see others by our standards, it is hard for us to understand or accept others. When the missionaries try to see our shepherds in their shoes, we can understand why they think and behave the way they do.  They work full time in supporting their families, their kids are very young who need lots of care and time.  In addition, they have to prepare for the Sunday message and they serve campus ministry and feed the sheep. In order to do all of these well, each of them need to be a superman.  Then we can have compassion for them and find what they need. This is how God sees each of us and has compassion on us. If one needs encouragement, give encouragement. This is what God did and what the Holy Spirit is doing for each of us.    

So far, Apostle Paul emphasized Christians’ unity by growing after God’s character. Humanly it is not easy.  Who is our role model?  Now he points to the highest maturity a Christian can attain through the example of Christ.

II.   The example of Christ (5-11)   

Perfect coworking and unity are revealed in oneness of God in Trinity. Most of all Christ shows the perfect example for us.  Look at verse 5; “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” Here “attitude” was translated as “mind” in verse 2. What was the attitude or mind of Christ?  Paul pointed out the principle of oneness of God in Trinity is the nature of Jesus Christ. I may not understand fully the mystery of Trinity of God, but I will try my best.

First, he emptied himself.  Look at verses 6-7a; “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing.”  Here, “very nature” means “in essence, or very substance”. Jesus is not created, but begotten son from God. Jesus is the same divine nature of God.    Jesus is the eternal God along with the Father and the Holy Spirit. As God, he deserves the highest glory, honor, and privilege. We all struggle hard to achieve things like titles, positions, fame, and wealth. Especially, missionaries are all insecure in this country, so they want to secure any position in the world or even in Church.  Then whenever the opportunity arises, they don’t hesitate to seize them and want to be recognized accordingly, claiming their rights. According to my experience, this does not always result in a happy ending.  But Jesus did not consider equality with God as something he had to grasp. He emptied himself from supreme glory and made himself nothing. We think renouncing our positions, titles and rights is offending our prides. Among us, in the early days, some of our coworkers gave up their comfortable positions or honors and became missionaries.  Missionary Jose Ahn was a promising Korean diplomat and same level of a current UN secretary general, Ban ki-moon, but he gave up his diplomat position and became a bilingual teacher in the Chicago elementary school. We know missionary Isaac Kim also gave up his privileged position of powerful prosecutor job in Korea and one time he became a janitor in the LA apartment.  When we had so many such sacrificial servants in our ministry, our ministry has been growing and full of spirit, but nowadays, it seems rare.  Rather, there are more grumblings and arguments.

Second, he became a servant. Verse 7 reads, “…taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”  Here “the very nature” is the same word used in “the very nature God.” This tells us that the true God became a true human being, a servant. He did not pretend to be a servant; he became a very nature ‘human’ and became ‘a servant’. This is beyond our human reasoning and it is mystery of our Lord. He is very nature God the son and at the same time, very nature, a man, a servant.  I don’t pretend to understand this fully and have not enough time to delve this mystery here.   However, I understand that God’s incarnation to be a man is more than a man becoming a roach. But God the Son became a man to communicate his gospel to men and serve them. God the Son knew that God the Father so loved the world that he willingly became a man and took the very nature of a servant in order to save us. I wish I knew missionary John Kwon’s desire and heart so well and I wish we become like one.  Contrary to Jesus, how about Satan?  He was ‘very nature’ a created being, not god, but he assumed to be like a god. Not only that but he seduced the man to be like a god. This is the source of the selfish ambition or vain conceit.

Third, he obeyed to the point of death. Verses 8 reads, “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” Here we learn that humbleness is prerequisite to obedience.  Jesus not only knew God’s desire and heart, but also he became obedient to the point of death. The Son had to take the humiliation and sacrifice his life on the cross. It is true that he took this greatest sacrifice because he loved us. But what does the text say? He did it in obedience to the Father.  I know God’s will most of time and struggle to obey to God’s will, but rarely succeed. Most of time, my rebelliousness succeed.  Here we learn that true humility comes from obedience to God’s will. Absolute obedience to God’s will is a true humility. Trust in God and trust in Christ are a true humility.

What did God do for Jesus who obeyed him to the point of death? God raised him from the dead and exalted him to the highest place. This is the principle of God’s kingdom.  Whoever lowers himself most will be exalted to the highest.  Jesus told us “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all (Mark 10:43, 44).  Jesus sacrificed most and lowered himself to the lowest point, so God gave him the name that is above every name and made him King of kings and Lord of lords. (9-11) What does these verses say about what God honors most? As God exalted Christ with highest honor for his humility, servantship, and obedience, wouldn’t God honor each of us most for our Christ-like character?  God’s utmost purpose is to transform our sinful character into that of Christ. And God will honor everyone for the character of Christ he or she has attained in this life.    

III.     Work out your salvation (12-18)   

Let’s read verse 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”  In this part, Paul tells us to continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (12). We were saved through faith in Jesus. The fulfillment of our salvation is becoming like Jesus. Working out our salvation means to grow in the image of Jesus. God works in us to will and to act for this good purpose (13). For this, God leads us to certain circumstances, certain people, even sufferings and trials. When we meet adversities, a question that comes to our minds is “Why me”? We can deny ourselves and submit when we accept God’s sovereignty and good purpose. In all things, we must obey God out of reverence fear. When we keep this attitude, we can do everything without complaining or arguing. In verse 15, Apostle Paul calls the world “a crooked and depraved generation.” The characteristic of a crooked and depraved generation is complaining and arguing. In this noisy generation, we can be blameless and pure children of God through Christ-like submission and obedience. When we are submissive and obedient, the worldly people will see us as strange people. But  Paul said that we are like stars shining in the universe. Stars in God’s eyes are not movie stars, or sports stars, but the Christians who bear Jesus’ image.

In verse 17, Paul said, “But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.”   Paul was once a man far from Jesus’ image. He was very narrow minded and stubborn with hot temper.  However, through his faith and obedience, he was transformed into one of the most loving and sacrificial servants of Christ. As shepherd of the Philippian Christians, his desire was to pour his life like a drink offering on the Christ-like life of the Philippians. Here we learn that our Christ-like life is the sacrifice and service that glorify God most and it should be our supreme purpose in life.

IV. Timothy and Epaphroditus (19-30)

In this passage, Paul suggested two exemplary servants of God, Timothy and Epaproditus.  Apostle Paul introduced Timothy and Epaproditus side by side.  Their roles were different.  Timothy was a well known and faithful coworker of Paul and Paul wanted to send him to the Philippi as his emissary what was going on there.  Epaproditus was sent by the Philippians to take care of Paul. Paul wanted to send him back to them. However, both of them have proved themselves as a humble, obedient and sacrificial servant of God and Paul urged the Philippians to welcome them with great joy and honor.  I like missionary John Kwon because he is humble and patient, much more patient than me.  I greatly respect him because he sacrificed his career and his life for God’s work in the Downey ministry and has faithfully coworked with missionary Isaac Kim more than 20 years and proved himself as a faithful man of God. It is not easy task for any ordinary man with a selfish ambition like me. I pray that God may bless and honor him greatly this year.

One word: Have the same attitude of Christ

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