Christ’s HUMILITY is STRENGTH | Philippians 2:1-11 | Lenten Reflections

Transcript

00:00:00:18 – 00:00:21:25
Clint Loveall
Hey, friends, welcome back to the Pastor Talk podcast, finishing up our series during Lent on some of Pastor Michael and my favorite texts, some of the texts that have been important to us, things that we hope maybe would be helpful to others as well. Today, I think Michael is in many ways a classic. Certainly I know one of your favorites.

00:00:21:25 – 00:00:46:58
Clint Loveall
You’ve talked about it in other contexts, but I think this is probably for most people who have been around the church, probably for anybody who’s kind of spent some time in the New Testament, they have likely bumped into the second chapter of Philippians known both for content and structure and even among scholars as just a standout kind of passage.

00:00:46:58 – 00:00:55:04
Clint Loveall
And so certainly a lot in here to find. And so what is it that what is it that gets you about it?

00:00:55:19 – 00:01:24:23
Michael Gewecke
So a little context about Philippians, some are looking today at chapter two. You know, when I grew up, Clint, I did not love the book of Philippians. I loved Pauline Letters because they seemed to me to be the most direct books. They told me what to do and what not to do, and I felt some level of connection with that kind of Pauline way, and that was Romans and even the Corinthians, you know, it was just this kind of practical.

00:01:24:23 – 00:01:47:33
Michael Gewecke
And in that time, you know, I also would turn to the Timothy’s and that kind of thing here. Philippians I didn’t love because it just seemed a little fluffy. And as I went through undergraduate school and then graduate school where I got opportunities to really engage with these texts, this is probably among the books that have had the largest impact on me.

00:01:47:33 – 00:02:17:24
Michael Gewecke
And what I interpreted as Fluffy as a kid, I think, is the warmth of Paul’s writing to this Christian church now in Corinth. There’s so much that Paul’s trying to address that he doesn’t try to do here in Philippians. And there’s this beautiful moment, almost like someone that you love, someone that you look up to putting their arm around you and just sort of carrying you over as you’re walking together and whispering words in your ear, just words of comfort, of encouragement.

00:02:17:24 – 00:02:32:33
Michael Gewecke
And you know, those best words, Clint, when we hear them, are also words of challenge. And I think that that is the case here. There’s an inspiring note in this chapter, but it’s beautifully encapsulated in the warmth of the writing.

00:02:32:45 – 00:02:57:19
Clint Loveall
Yeah. Before we get into the text, I think you’re on to something, Michael, because the time to really encourage people to make progress is when things are going well and and as a letter, Philippians is one of the few exceptions of, of Paul’s writing in that he doesn’t really scold them for much. I mean, this is a very encouraging letter.

00:02:57:39 – 00:03:26:49
Clint Loveall
There doesn’t seem to be conflict. There doesn’t seem as though Paul has to address specific issues. If you think of a letter like First Corinthians where it’s just one thing after another of, I can’t believe you’re doing this and you have to stop doing that, it’s very hard while you’re correcting those kind of issues to also then say, and by the way, here’s how you can really take the next step, because you’re just trying to alleviate or address problems.

00:03:26:49 – 00:03:58:30
Clint Loveall
And a book like Philippians gives Paul a different starting point and I think allows him the freedom to be entirely pastoral. There’s not a lot of directive in this book in the same way of, I’m telling you, do it this way or it this is far more, as you said, that that conversation you have with your child while they’re doing pretty well and you say now that things are fairly stable, imagine right.

00:03:58:46 – 00:04:19:42
Clint Loveall
What next steps you might take. And that gives Philippians a different feeling than some of the books. And it’s interesting that to hear you say you maybe came around late to that. I think for for many people it stands out as a favorite for exactly that reason. There’s not a lot of scolding in it.

00:04:20:07 – 00:04:50:38
Michael Gewecke
Right. And well, let’s not just tell you about it. Let’s let’s go into it together. So we’re going to start here, chapter two, verse one. If there’s any encouragement in Christ and 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 the others as better than yourselves.

00:04:50:58 – 00:05:12:00
Michael Gewecke
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 you as in the form of God, did not regard equality with God. There’s something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born and human likeness and being found in human form.

00:05:12:21 – 00:05:35:25
Michael Gewecke
He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the 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.

00:05:35:45 – 00:05:57:46
Michael Gewecke
The Father. So clear. There’s there’s a lot here. But I think to start, I want to point our attention to what we have here at the end of verse two, and we also see it again in verse five. So we’re told in verse two to be in full accord and of one mind that’s key. And then verse five, let the same mind be in you.

00:05:57:46 – 00:06:27:36
Michael Gewecke
And the invitation that Paul is offering to this community, and I think to every Christian who finds ourself in this text is to share that unity of one mind together as a community, to be united around who Jesus Christ is. And that unity isn’t just good feelings. It’s not a general sense of goodwill. It is unity that is centered in being of the same mind as Jesus and Paul.

00:06:27:46 – 00:06:57:23
Michael Gewecke
We’re going to talk about what that mind is, because this beautiful hymn that follows really shows us what the mind of Christ is. But it’s worth just starting and saying, Clint, that one of the most beautiful invitations to the church is to aspire to and strive forward. And it’s a struggle. It’s not going to come easily, but to indeed set our goal to be one minded, to share the mind of Christ that is the calling of the church.

00:06:57:23 – 00:07:04:40
Michael Gewecke
And it’s a beautifully phrased and it’s a beautifully called for discipline here in this text.

00:07:05:13 – 00:07:40:31
Clint Loveall
I think this is one of those passages, Michael, you could put verses one through five here on your refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, your car dashboard. You could read this every day and every day. I think you would find some new word in it that would challenge you. And the fascinating thing is that the essential movement here is kind of away from self and toward others, away from self-interest and toward share your mind with others.

00:07:40:31 – 00:08:16:22
Clint Loveall
Don’t do don’t have conceit, no selfish ambition, be humble, regard others as better than yourself. There is a movement here that sort of takes us out of our small selfish orbit and invites us, asks us, encourages us to something better. And what’s what’s really fascinating, I think, structurally is that you would think that maybe the approach here would be to give us this language about Jesus doing it and then tell us to go be like that.

00:08:16:48 – 00:08:51:28
Clint Loveall
But it’s very interesting that Paul goes the other way, that Paul sets us to the task, sort of realizes that we may come to to get how difficult the task is. So he ends by showing us what it meant that Christ did that very thing so that we can become imitators of it. And I don’t know, you know, it’s it’s hard to know if Paul thought about one versus the other structurally, but I would be inclined to start with the him or the poem first.

00:08:51:54 – 00:09:03:27
Clint Loveall
But I think Paul shows his wisdom in that he doesn’t he lets the task point us to the one who fulfilled it and then gives us something to live up to.

00:09:03:36 – 00:09:32:27
Michael Gewecke
I think that’s well said. There’s really a kind of ridiculousness in calling any church to these things towards the idea of compassion, sympathy, full accord, one mind. No ambition can see a practicing of humility. Don’t look after your own interests. I claim if we’re honest, we can not imagine a world in which that is the driving culture that the core center, the musculature of the church.

00:09:32:27 – 00:09:53:25
Michael Gewecke
And yet this is what Paul calls the church to. And I think you’re right in pointing out that that’s so radical, useless, that we, the reader, might think to ourselves, Well, now you’re just living in some rose color, the imaginary world, Paul. Let’s let’s get back to the real world. And Paul says No, in the real world, Jesus was in the form of God.

00:09:53:25 – 00:10:30:48
Michael Gewecke
In the real world, He didn’t consider that something to hold on to in the real world. He took on human form. And there’s this there’s this amazing movement that happens in the him in the poem, as you called it. Clint, There’s this movement from Jesus Christ being at the top equal with God, creator of all things, humbling, coming down to take on the likeness of humanity, dying, going all the way down to death itself, an unimaginable outcome for a God, and then for that humility, even to death on the cross as we see in verse eight, then God exalts him.

00:10:30:48 – 00:10:54:43
Michael Gewecke
And then that thing that was going down now comes back up. He’s above every name that everyone, every knee should ban on heaven on earth. Every tongue will confess that He is Lord to the glory of God, the Father it. That’s the necessary movement. It’s the movement going down and then the following movement of going up. And that may sound very theological, but it’s unbelievably practical.

00:10:54:43 – 00:11:17:38
Michael Gewecke
And I think a way that as we make our way towards the end of Lent, we should try to grab and hold on to it. And that is, yes, the task of looking after others and putting their interests before ourselves and sympathy and love and one mindedness. Yes, that is a heavenly calling and it is not easy, nor will it be accomplished in any one of our days fully.

00:11:17:40 – 00:11:42:07
Michael Gewecke
Yet we are called to lesson to continue to humble ourselves as Christ humbled himself far beyond what we are able in the hope and promise that at the end we too will be raised with him, that we will be exalted not by power, not by our own strength, but by His grace. We will get to share in the life that he has inaugurated for us.

00:11:42:07 – 00:11:56:11
Michael Gewecke
That is a beautiful gift and I think at its best point, its surge is underneath the surface of the faith. It gives us the energy and the motivation and the strength that we need today to do these things, which on their surface may seem impossible. All tasks.

00:11:57:05 – 00:12:23:13
Clint Loveall
We should probably just make sure that we don’t, you know, jump into assumptions. Michael Bible Scholars, if you are reading this, if you have your Bible open, you’ll notice that this this section verses six through 11 are kind of typeset and the leading thought is that this was some part of a liturgy, possibly a hymn of the early church, and that Paul is using it.

00:12:23:27 – 00:12:53:36
Clint Loveall
And clearly Paul can’t be exhaustive here. There’s no way Paul can say everything that can be said about Jesus, nor is he attempting to. But it is fascinating that what he says about Jesus here is not miracles. It is not even sort of redemption. But what he says to the the church in Philippi about Jesus highlights Jesus service.

00:12:54:01 – 00:13:26:43
Clint Loveall
His emptying himself, his giving of himself, his obedience, even to the point of death. And then we move to his exaltation. But but to your point, Michael, as high as he is exalted, it is because he has correspondingly lowered himself first, that he has given himself this Greek word that he emptied. He he gave everything in him to the task, to the salvation of others.

00:13:27:36 – 00:13:56:20
Clint Loveall
And therefore, that’s the that’s the movement in verse nine. Therefore, God has exalted him. And then there’s, you know, a little bit connected to that idea that we we talked about in our last session, that scene from the end or the Book of Revelation, the end of the New Testament. Michael Every knee should bend in heaven, earth under the Earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

00:13:56:20 – 00:14:29:24
Clint Loveall
And a nice reminder that when we call Jesus Lord, we don’t just mean our Lord, we mean the Lord, we mean creation’s Lord, we mean everyone’s Lord. And there will be a day when all people, of all places, all languages, will recognize that, will will profess that. And I think, you know, there’s a cosmic nature to the way that this this poem, this song ends that I think is helpful.

00:14:29:52 – 00:15:07:13
Michael Gewecke
In the Gospels. Jesus is regarded as saying to his disciples that the servant will not be greater than the master. And we read a text like that. We read texts like the, you know, carry your cross, and it’s easy to miss the life changing, the life altering kind of commitment that that calls and requires of us. And Clint, when you read this text, when you read six through eight and you see what Paul describes Jesus as having given up, it puts in perspective the reality of our lives.

00:15:07:13 – 00:15:40:04
Michael Gewecke
And we live in a culture that celebrates more advancement and self exaltation in both maybe positive and also negative senses. And I think what this makes clear is there’s only one road towards the ultimate encounter with the living God. There’s only one path towards the one mindedness of Jesus. And we if we’ve been in church for long at all, know how many different paths are vying for our attention.

00:15:40:04 – 00:16:10:51
Michael Gewecke
We are aware, we’ve experienced competition and jealousy and pride and conceit and, you know, all of these things. We could go on and we’ve experienced these things, but at the end of the day, the one road towards that day that we all look forward to. To your point that our image from last week being circled around that throne, the throne being the center of all the road to that is humbling.

00:16:11:07 – 00:16:32:43
Michael Gewecke
Is giving up it is that that equality with God to not be cherished or held on to in fact you know, we are not going to put ourself in the position of Jesus. But to say if we receive the gospel, if we believe that Jesus has good news for us, then far be it from us to hold that to ourselves.

00:16:32:43 – 00:16:51:41
Michael Gewecke
I mean, we are now always recipients of that giving, and so therefore, our lives must be defined by their giving that this is a very specific, and I argue, concrete way of understanding what it means to be Christian. And if we are going to hear it and take it seriously, it demands everything from us.

00:16:51:57 – 00:17:28:39
Clint Loveall
Absolutely. And it’s outside the scope of this passage, perhaps. But Jesus wasn’t remembered and celebrated because he said things about himself off or because he claimed think he was remembered, celebrated and ultimately worshiped and understood by how he acted by it, by his love, by his giving, by his spirit. And that’s what we see here. You know, we we live in a day and age in which many Christians are tempted to think that we gain a hearing because of what we say, because we we tell people we have the truth.

00:17:28:39 – 00:17:56:38
Clint Loveall
We argue we are combative with our theology. In our opinion. This is a nice corrective to that, that ultimately, in the midst of that, we should not forget that while we are certainly to speak truth and speak for truth, we are to do so as the humble followers of one who gave himself, even for the people we might be arguing with.

00:17:56:38 – 00:18:29:54
Clint Loveall
And he chose that becoming obedient to the point of death. And I think, you know, that is Christ’s true greatness, as we seek to follow him, is the humble way in which he served that that he lowered himself to do that on behalf of others. And that should be a compass point, a guiding star, so to speak, for the Christian life.

00:18:29:54 – 00:18:36:23
Clint Loveall
And I don’t know of a place that says that probably any better than this part of Philippians.

00:18:36:39 – 00:19:08:47
Michael Gewecke
It’s certainly always been one of my favorite texts in the latter part of my life. And I think part of that being is because I’ve learned how many alternative options they are, then the vision of a life lived here. I think there are so many different ways to live our life which are glorified, and we’re told this is the best life if you have the resources, if you have the acclaim, if people point to you that that is easy to want.

00:19:08:47 – 00:19:29:36
Michael Gewecke
This is in many ways another path. And ultimately, when we talk about being people of faith, when we talk about being followers of Jesus Christ, this is what we mean. And I’m not certain that one can overdose on attacks like this. I think that this is a way of shaping who we are and who we’re called to continually become.

00:19:29:51 – 00:19:34:55
Michael Gewecke
And I certainly hope that there’s something encouraging and even challenging for you in that as well.

00:19:35:20 – 00:20:04:31
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I don’t want to make this dark, but I guess we are in Lent. Michael So as we finish up this series, you know, there will be a day for each of us when our loved ones gather around after our death to, to celebrate and think about our life. And on that day, if people who knew you could say something like he wasn’t selfish, she was humble, She looked after others.

00:20:05:24 – 00:20:42:41
Clint Loveall
He didn’t only care about his own thing, they humbled themselves in service to other people. Your witness will have gone a long way toward the service of Jesus Christ, in my opinion. Those are those are beautiful words to be said in a eulogy, too, to have someone be able to claim those things about the way that you lived would certainly be reflective of the way that Christ lived and that that, of course, is our ultimate goal as those who seek to follow him.

00:20:43:37 – 00:21:07:46
Michael Gewecke
We are grateful, as always, that you might spend time with us. Hope that you have enjoyed this Lenten series. I know I have. As we’ve explored these texts together, I certainly would love if you have questions or other texts that you know, at some point maybe you’d like us to cover. Please put that in the comments or send that to us and we look forward to seeing you on the other side of Lent as we kick off another series in the near future.

00:21:07:57 – 00:21:30:30
Clint Loveall
Thanks, everybody. Hey, we want to thank you for listening to this broadcast. We’re grateful for the support and the connections, the relationships we get to make through some of these offerings. We hope that they’ve been helpful. We know that there are lots of choices that you have, lots of things you can listen to. We want to make you aware of some of what we’re doing, and we greatly appreciate you being a part of it.

00:21:30:45 – 00:21:49:37
Michael Gewecke
Absolutely. We want to just thank you for being one of our audio podcast listeners. It’s amazing to have you with us in the midst of our conversations. Of course, I hope you know that you can find the whole archive of all of these conversations at Pastor Taco. We would love for you to join us there. You can find options for subscribing by email.

00:21:49:51 – 00:22:23:15
Michael Gewecke
You can easily share things there with other people who you think might appreciate recordings like this. And of course, we just want to welcome you. If you’re ever interested in joining us for the video podcast, you can do that on YouTube. It is YouTube.com slash AFP Spirit Lake. There you can comment and engage with us or if you would prefer to do that without going to YouTube, you can actually just click the link in the description of this podcast where you will be able to send us form and information and reach out to us.

00:22:23:27 – 00:22:40:21
Michael Gewecke
We’d love to hear from you. An engaging conversation with you. Thanks again for taking time to be with us. We look forward to our next conversation and can’t wait to see you then.