Reverend
Debra Cato
Peace
Presbyterian Church
Exodus
17:1-7 and Philippians 2:1-11
September
28, 2014
It’s
O.K. to Copy
Today,
the lectionary has us in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. If you
participate in the Acts Bible study that begins today, you’ll learn
that the church in Philippi was Paul’s first church plant. Just in
case you aren’t sure how Paul feels about this, his first church,
let me read you a few verses from the start of his letter.
Philippians
1:3-8 “I
thank my God every time I remember you, 4
constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of
you, 5
because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.
6
I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you
will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. 7
It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you
hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me,
both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the
gospel. 8
For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion
of Christ Jesus.”
Paul
begins his letter to the first church he planted with words like “I
thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy;”
“I long for all of you with the compassion of Jesus Christ.”
Paul loves this congregation. Philippians is filled with joy and
love and encouragement.
Philippians
is one of Paul’s prison letters – Paul writes to his beloved
congregation in Philippi from prison. It’s hard to tell from the
positive tone of the letter that Paul is writing from prison, except
for a brief mention in verse 7: “It
is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold
me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me,both in
my imprisonment
and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.”
I’ll
be perfectly honest – I don’t think I have the strength, the
courage, or the fortitude to remain joyful in the midst of the kind
of circumstances Paul found himself in while imprisoned in a first
century prison. But Paul’s faith is authentic. It is deep. His
faith does not falter. It is later in this letter that he tells the
Philippian congregation,
“12
I know what it is to
have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all
circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of
going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. 13
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
That’s the kind of faith I
want! What about you?
While
I was on vacation, I did not think about or worry about the church.
I rested and relaxed and enjoyed my family and friends. BUT – I
did continue to pray for you. It is something I do every day and
something I continued to do while I was on vacation. It is a natural
part of my life as your pastor. Yet it is from prison, not vacation,
that Paul the pastor continues to be concerned about his flock in
Philippi.
He
writes to encourage them and admonish them and remind them who they
are called to imitate. Listen to the ways that Paul lovingly reminds
his beloved congregation that they are united through Christ. Listen
as if Paul is writing directly to you – the congregation at Peace
Presbyterian.
Philippians
2:1-2 “If
then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love,
any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2
make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love,
being in full accord and of one mind.”
Do
you hear that? Do you doubt who you have in the Lord? Paul says
even though we are all very different; even though we may like
different things and have different opinions; even though we may not
be friends outside of church – Christ makes us one. Philippians
2:1-2 “If
then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love,
any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2
make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love,
being in full accord and of one mind.”
In
Christ, we have one mind. Christ brings us together.
Even
as Paul endures imprisonment and faces possible execution, he is
nourished knowing that he continues to be a part of the body of
Christ. It is a love that burns with desire for the flourishing of
others, a love whose joy is be made complete only when all are
included. Paul burns with a joy and love he desperately wants the
Philippians to share. This “joy made complete” marks the
realization of koinonia, the
fellowship of those for whom living is Christ.
But
there's more! Paul writes: Philippians
2:6-8 “[Christ]
who, though he was in
the form
of
God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7
but emptied himself,
taking
the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in
human form, 8
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even
death on a cross.” (pause)
The
celebrated pacifist Mohatma Gandhi
lived from 1869 – 1948. He
was an advocate and pioneer of nonviolent social
protest and he led the struggle for India's independence from British colonial rule .
Gandhi
is reported to have made this observation in the midst of his
non-violent struggle for justice for his people in the face of the
occupation of his native India, “I
like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians
are so unlike your Christ.”1
You Christians are so unlike your Christ.
In
2007, more than 65 years later, a pastor named Dan Kimball wrote a
book called They
Like Jesus But Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations.
Dan graduated from Multnomah Biblical Seminary and Western Seminary
– both in Portland and he received his doctorate in leadership from
George Fox University, in Newberg, Oregon. Dan interviewed over
2,000 people in their twenties and thirties – the missing
generation. In the introduction Dan says, “As
you read this book, you might get defensive at first, perhaps even a
little depressed. But after listening to the people I interviewed, I
experienced hope. Yes, they had some harsh things to say about the
church and Christians, but as the title of this book implies, they
are open to Jesus, and this give me great hope.”
I read Dan's book in 2010
and it's everything Dan promises it will be. It's exciting! It gave
me great hope. It changed the way I think about the church. Young
people say they don't come to church because they don't see Jesus in
the church. They see hypocrisy, judgment, unloving attitudes,
exclusion, harsh political agendas – things that don't represent
Jesus. Young people say they like Jesus. They are just turned off
by the church.
Nearly
2,000 years ago, Paul wrote: Philippians
2:3-8 “Do
nothing from selfish ambition or 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, “who,
though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as
something to be exploited, 7
but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human
likeness. And being found in human form, 8
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even
death on a cross.”
We
are called to be imitators of Christ, to live in a way that allows
other people to see Christ in us. Paul is telling us that it is
O.K. to copy Jesus.
Now
an imitator is different than an impersonator and I think that's what
the young people that Dan Kimball interviewed are saying – that
when they see Christians, they see a bunch of impersonators.
Impersonators take great pains to make people believe they are who
they are not. I imagine that impersonators of Christ are members of
church (members of the body of Christ), they sing the hymns and pray
the prayers and mouth the words but perhaps they hold harsh judgments
about those who are different; they are unwelcoming to newcomers –
particularly those who look and act different; believe differently;
come from a different social class, racial class. Pehaps there is a
lot of infighting. Perhaps a Christian impersonator is kind in
church but in the business world is harsh to employees or co-workers,
rude or even cruel to neighbors. You get the picture. I think there
is bit of an impersonator in all of us; trying to be someone we
aren't; trying to be better than we are.
Imitators
know that they strive to live up to the challenge of being a
reflection of someone they look up to. It's hard to walk in the
foosteps of others – particularly when the other is God! The
standard is very high. We know that we will fall short. That's O.K.
Paul isn't expecting perfection, he's telling us we must adopt
Christlike attitudes in all aspects of our life.
So,
what does it mean to be called a reflection of Christ? It is not a
call to perfection, but rather an invitation to be honest with
ourselves and to understand that God is doing something unique and
special in each and every one of us. This is God's challenge for us
to live in a manner that is counter-cultural. Paul is reminding the
Philippians – and us, of the reality in which we live as believers.
“Do
nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility regard
others as better than yourselves.”
Understand
that you are no better and no less than anyone else. You and each
person around you was created in the image of God. If Christ – who
is God himself could empty himself so completely that he took the
form of a slave; that he took on flesh and was born in human
likeness; that he completely and totally humbled himself even to the
point of death; then surely Paul says, we can humble ourselves enough
to think of others before ourselves.
If
we could do just this – think of others before ourselves, we would
indeed
reflect
the love and compassion of Christ
live
out the justice and redemption of the gospel
transform
the world because we ourselves would be transformed.
I
read recently that if we want to change the world, we have to be
changed first.
I
think this is what Gandhi was talking about. I think this is what
the young people crave to see when they say they like Jesus but not
the Church. Genuine people trying to live out the call. We have to
become like Jesus and Paul tells us it's O.K. to copy Jesus. He's
our model.
Christian
living is a process. God's timeline for each one of us is unique,
and only God knows what the final product is going to look like. We
can not expect an instantaneous transformation of our life's
attitudes and actions, but we should expect an ongoing process of
change that results from the ever-growing awareness
of
our need to be at a different place if we are truly Christ followers.
The process begins with our conscious decision to become reflections
of Christ in our actions and reactions to life.2
There's
no such thing as a perfect church because every church is full of
people like us. Trying hard but still human, messing up from time to
time and learning as we go. But what if we decided that we were
going to take our name seriously? That we were going to do more than
sing “Shalom” at the end of each worship service that we were
going to be a community of “Shalom”? It makes Paul's words of
encouragement, consolation from love, compassion and sympathy, and
joy mean all that more. It makes you sit up and take notice of his
admonition to “do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in
humility regard others as better than yourselves.” Shalom means
more than peace – it means completeness,
wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility,
prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of
agitation or discord.
In
a world with so much violence – that would be counter-cultural!
Can
the world see Christ in us? Can people see Christ in you?
May
His kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven. Amen
