Philippians 2.8 - "Not what I want"...

"...and having been found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, having come to be obedient unto death, but death of a cross."

-He didn’t only take on human appearance - Christ lowered Himself.  in other words, others better.  certainly God better.  He wasn’t obeying people per se, He was listening to His Father.  He embraced ‘not what I want but rather what You want’ (luke 22.42).  He was the eternally glorious King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Creator of the entire universe, God almighty albeit in human flesh, and yet He allowed Himself to first be born as a human baby - in a stable - to poor parents to whom He submitted Himself - and later to be betrayed and arrested and beaten and abused and whipped and killed on a cross.  He of course had to go through these things as part of the divine plan but in order to go through them He had to lower Himself.  He was indeed surpassingly better than anyone around Him.  He had the power to not only protect Himself but do whatever He wanted, and yet He divested Himself of this power and authority and status and took on frail and finite human flesh and walked among us.  He was a helpless baby and an obedient child and a young man Who grew tired and hungry and cried and felt pain and betrayal and Who grieved over the utter brokenness of the world.  He simply said, ‘not what I want.’  and He let Himself be tortured and executed by people whose only power to do that to Him came from God Himself.  FOR THEM.  it was not about Him.  there was no hint of me-first, me-better.  He lived perfectly into the low-thinking which we are here being exhorted to embrace.  this is our example.

-obedient.  obedient all the way unto death.  saying no to bad choices and to His flesh and to what He wanted and saying yes to what pleased His Heavenly Father (john 8.29).  He did what was right and what was asked of Him all the way to giving His life in obedience to His Father.  death of course is the ultimate obedience - there is no greater form of love (john 15.13)(and of course there is no greater command than to love - mark 12.30-32).  and Jesus was not just dying for the ones who were following Him - He was dying for the ones who were killing Him.  and not just any death - it was death on a roman cross, an extreme, excruciating form of torture and execution.  and the cross was preceded by hours of sleep-deprivation, beating and as well as a scourging - 39 lashes with a cat-and-nine-tails that literally ripped the flesh of His back and brought Him to death’s doorstep.  you could perhaps ask the question, could the sacrifice have been accomplished with a different form of death, say, a guillotine, or a gibbet?  it is interesting to think about, however not very helpful.  the fact remains - Jesus lowered Himself (for the sake of others), said no to self and yes to God all the way to giving up His life (for the sake of others), and in so doing lived perfectly into others-first others-better.

-oh, how much of my life and heart is consumed with taking care of number one, taking care of me first and doing what i want, indulging my fleshly desires and living for the things that don’t last.  how easily i give into disobedience.  how easy it is for me to look down on someone else, to somehow think less of them, maybe because of how they talk or decisions they make or things they do or don’t do, maybe because they don’t have the same education or training or convictions or priorities that i have, maybe because the things that they do which affect me aren’t exactly how i would like them to be.  and as long as what they do doesn’t affect me, i usually don’t even care.  oh Lord, have mercy on my pride and selfishness and deliver me from this slavery of me-first me-better.  help me to think and live like Jesus.  please give me the grace today and every day to live into the cross so that Christ can truly live in and through me (galatians 2.20).  yes, the cross of Christ is more than just an historical event - it is a daily destination for those who follow Him (luke 9.23)...  i have a long, long way to go.

Philippians 2:7 - Free to be slaves...

"...but rather He emptied Himself, a form of a bond-servant having received, in likeness of men having come to be..."

-here we have one of the most amazing statements in all of Scripture, and yet this is exactly what Jesus did.  we read that Jesus emptied Himself, and one might ask, as many others have also asked, of what did He actually empty Himself?  did He empty Himself of deity?  to which we answer simply, no, He did not.  He was still God.  simply put, He emptied Himself of ‘self’.  He didn’t empty Himself of His nature, His divinity - rather, He emptied Himself of me-first.  we’re talking about an attitude, a way of understanding, one which is entirely possible for us to embrace as well.  obviously none of us are able to empty ourselves of our nature, our humanity, but we can get rid of our me-first way of living and thinking.  actually this is quite impossible humanly-speaking, but with God at work in our lives this becomes totally possible (as we will see in verses 12-13).  

-what Jesus did was let go of His status and His rights and privileges and all the things He could have thought He deserved due to the fact that He was God, and took on the form of a bond-servant.  instead of holding onto the form of almighty God, He freely chose to take the form of a slave, living into a supreme expression of others-first.  a slave has no rights, no privileges, no time or possessions or place of their own.  a slave deserves nothing - he exists solely for the sake of someone else, for the sake of the master.  they are owned by the master.  all their stuff and their time - everything belongs to the master.  it is not about them first or even at all - it is about someone else.  others-first.

-Christ’s example, His attitude which we are to also embrace - the same mindset which a slave would have - was one of service (luke 22.27, john 13.12-15, matthew 20.28).  the more common verb for ‘to serve’ in the NT is diakoneo, which means just that, ‘to serve’.  Christ here takes the form of a doulos, and a doulos would normally engage in douloo, but that verb for slave-service is not used much in the NT.  however, diakoneo is certainly what a doulos does - it is more a question of identity.  anyone can engage in service, but an actual doulos is also owned by the one whom they have freely committed to serve - in this case we are talking more about an attitude and an action, a lifestyle and a calling of serving others.  Christ came to serve not Himself but others first, and paul is calling those of us who follow Christ to serve our fellow Christ-followers and to do so with the mindset of a slave.  and this service is not just what i do but it is also who i am.  it is my identity.  i am a slave, and i have no rights, and i deserve nothing, and i embrace this for the sake of my brothers and sisters in Christ and for the sake of the forward progress of the Gospel.  this theme is woven throughout the NT (matthew 23.11, luke 22.25-26, galatians 5.13, ephesians 4.12, 1peter 4.10-11).  it is quite simple.  we are called to serve one another.  others first.  one who serves is called a servant.  someone who is forced to do this against their will is typically referred to as a slave, but the one who freely enters slavery and surrenders their freedom and embraces a life-calling of serving another is a bond-servant.  this is the form and the mindset that Jesus took on, and this is the example we are to follow.

-paul also points out that Jesus came to be 'in the likeness of men'.  it is the wonderful impossible miracle of the Incarnation - the eternal, infinite living Word of God, through Whom all things came to be, came to be real finite flesh and blood within the womb of a teenage girl from galilee and though veiled in glory gave us a glorious glimpse of the divine (john 1.14).  God Almighty walked among us, and lived and died as one of us, an amazing antinomy of two things which cannot both be true simultaneously and yet must both be true (being one of at least three great antinomies to be found in the Christian faith; other antinomies of note are the Trinity - where God is both three and one - and then there is the truth of predestination/free will, where the choices of a Sovereign Eternal All-knowing God and those of free human agents coexist - these truths will be addressed elsewhere, but suffice it to say that the necessary existence of these multiple antinomies at the core of the Christian faith points to divine origin of the Truth that is found therein.  a fabricated man-made religion would no doubt ignore or attempt to eliminate such apparent contradictions...).  but this Incarnation was not only necessary, as sin needed to be punished in human flesh (romans 8.3), it was also entirely advantageous, because we now have a Savior Who walked the same path that we walk, subject to our same limitations and challenges and temptations and weaknesses and yet to these He never succumbed (hebrews 2.17).  in fact, He rose above the limitations to live perfectly into others-first.  among a host of other things, He truly became our Perfect Example.  i have a long, long way to go...

Philippians 2:6 - Let go

"...Who, in [the] form of God existing, did not rule the to being equal to God something to be grasped..."

-Christ Jesus did not hold on to His rights, His wants, His status, what He deserved, what He had always been, the way things had always been.  it was not about Him.  it was not about self.  it was not about Me. 

-the context makes this lowering even more significant.  Jesus in fact was God incarnate.  He had always been God, always co-existing and co-equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.  all things were made through Him.  every single thing in the universe came into existence by Him, thus He was above all things, including every single person on planet earth.  as God, not only was He above all things and people, but He was worthy of all honor and glory and blessing and praise and love and devotion from every thing and everyone.  He deserved all of that.  but He chose to not hold onto it - He chose to not put Me first.  the incredible irony here is that it WAS all about Him.  all of history had pointed to His coming.  God’s great plan was the summing up of all things in Christ (ephesians 1.10).  He was the Way, the Truth and the Life.  and yet He chose to make it not about Him (and even in doing so He made it even more about Him, as we will see in verse 9...).

-what are you holding onto today?  what am i holding onto today?  in what ways am i living into me-first?  what rights am i grasping at others’ expense?  what privileges or status am i holding onto at all costs?  what is it that i feel i deserve?  paul reminds us here that Jesus deserved to live as God and be treated equally with God the Father, but He let it all go and lived into others-first.

-in our case, it might be helpful to remember that we actually deserve two separate outcomes, and both are different than what we get in this life.  for those who are in Christ, we simultaneously 'deserve’ both heaven and hell.  we were designed for and are now once again destined for paradise - and it is instinctive for us to feel that life for us should be perfect.  at the same time we really deserve something far worse than what we ever get in this life - we deserve to pay the penalty for our sins by being forever separated from God and excluded from paradise.  these polar extremes create a context that can and should inform how we think and how we hold onto various expectations and the things that we think we deserve in this life.  

-do i think i have the right to my privacy and my own time and to not have to mess with the messes and complexity and warts of others?  the right to a perfect job or boss or spouse or kids or church or place to live?  the right to live in a clean home and have my food ready for me whenever i want it?  the right to justice and equal treatment while driving a car or when purchasing something?  the right to paradise?  do i deserve to not be sick or hungry or have things break down on me?  do i think and act as though i deserve some kind of paradise here on earth?  as we will see, all complaining and grumbling is actually rooted in this reality.  we grumble and complain when things aren’t right because we were designed and are destined for paradise.  so there is an understandable instinct in play, and yet this life will never live up to those expectations, and we are in fact called to lay aside all those expactations for the sake of others and for the Gospel, just like Jesus.

-at the same time, living into me-first and expecting life to be perfect fails to take into consideration that what i actually deserve is hell.  yes, i was designed for paradise, and it is perfectly understandable that we want and feel like we do deserve life to be perfect, but what i really deserve is to be forever separated from anything and everything that is Perfect and breathtakingly Good and able to thrill and satisfy my deepest needs and desires.  living into others-first and letting go of my expectations and what i think i deserve will be a challenge, to be sure, but it will never be as hard or as bad as getting what i ultimately deserve.  so i must let go of my expectations today.  let go of my perceived rights and the things i think i deserve.  live into and embrace a life of others-first.  i have a long way to go...

Philippians 2:5 - Our Supreme Example

’This be thinking in you what also [was] in Christ Jesus...’

-paul is still talking about the phrén, our mind as it relates to understanding.  but now he sets the bar as high as it can go, giving us the perfect example of how to be focused on others.  we are to be thinking and having the same perception and understanding that Jesus Himself had.  He is our supreme and primary example when it comes to living into others-first others-better.  He is the Author and Perfecter of our faith on Whom we must fix our eyes (heb 12.2).  which points out the fact that in order for us to be able fix our attention on the needs and interests of others, we must first make sure that we are focusing on Jesus.  in order for others to increase, He must increase (jn 3.30).  me-reduction begins with Christ-production, with God’s Spirit producing and re-producing more and more of the life and character and mindset of Christ within me (cf gal 2.20).  me in Christ and Christ in me (col 1.27-28).  and so we must talk about death.  death of self.  death to me, dying to the things of me - this is the journey i must undertake not only just to follow Jesus but also in order to attain to others-first others better (lk 9.23).  i must walk the calvary road, each and every day.  we’re not talking about a scaffold or a gallows, a place of public execution.  no, this execution chamber is my mind.

-it is the ultimate paradox.  we come to Jesus to find life.  we were never made to taste death, we want desperately to avoid death, and we come to Jesus because He is the One Who conquered death and offers us life forever (jn 11.25-26).  and yet the path He invites us to follow is the via dolorosa, the road that led to golgotha, the place of the skull, the hill of execution to where Jesus dragged the very cross on which He would die and in doing so gave us the ultimate example of dying to self and living into others-first others-better.  He understood that true life is found not in trying to hold on to it but rather in losing it, in giving it away (lk 17.33, mk 8.35). 

-so, what was Jesus thinking exactly?

-regardless, to the extent that i am to be thinking the same as Jesus, i definitely have a long ways to go...

Philippians 2:4 - Look out!

’...not the [things] of themselves each watching but rather each the [things] of others.’ 

-here’s the deal.  practically every modern translation modifies what paul wrote to say, 'don't only look out for yourselves but also look out for others.'  but that dumbs down the impact of the original language.  the greek does not have the word ‘only’ or ‘merely’, and the oldest manuscripts do not have the word ‘also’.  the use of those words in this verse have the effect of creating space for the reader to pay attention to themselves.  apparently the folks who copied the earliest manuscripts and those who have later worked on our various modern translations of the New Testament felt it necessary to add these words.  which is understandable to a point, because really, who can be expected to not look after their own interests?  it is only reasonable to allow that people need to take care of their own interests while they also look after the interests and needs of others.  but those who have handed down this text to us have truly lowered the bar.  look at the rest of Scripture - the bar is set quite high.  gal 6.2 simply says ‘carry each other’s burdens’ - it doesn’t add the word ‘also’.  rom 15.1-3 tells us to ‘please our neighbor for his good, to build him up, for even Christ did not please Himself’.  it does not say, ‘ALSO please your neighbor’ (the word ’just’ in v. 1 in the NAS - ‘not JUST please ourselves’ - has also been inserted there gratuitously by the translators).  but really it is quite simple - there is no also or and.  the language here is not, watch others AND yourselves.  to be sure, we must take care of ourselves to a certain extent.  but me-first is already our default position, and in this we generally go above and beyond.  we are experts at taking care of our own interests.  for many it is only children and elderly parents who tend to be the primary levers that pry us out of me-first mode.  but here we are simply being exhorted to get our eyes OFF of ourselves.  it’s not ‘merely’ one eye on us and ‘also’ one on others - that is not what paul says.

-the word is skopeo, which is the verb for skopos, which gives us our english word, scope.  it can be a goal or a target, something on which we focus intently.  picture someone with a rifle or a drawn bow, or perhaps a scout or a lookout on a wall with an enemy in sight, and they are looking closely and fixedly at one thing, and it is not themselves.  this is what we are instructed to be doing, getting our gaze off our navels and onto others.

-even the conjunction paul uses points out the contrast.  it means 'but rather' or 'instead'.  not focusing on me, BUT RATHER focusing on others.  INSTEAD of focusing on me, focusing on others.

-it’s like when Jesus is telling peter to follow and love Him and to take care of His sheep, and peter asks Jesus, ‘but what about john?’  and Jesus says don’t worry about him (jn 21.17-22).  don’t worry about that other thing.  right now i want you to focus on this one thing, this one thing i am asking you to do.  paul is making no concession whatsoever about looking out for ourselves.  he is simply saying, you don’t need to worry about your own interests right now - don’t look at them.  just get your eyes off yourself and think about others, look at them and at their needs instead.  and if the whole body of Christ actually did this - look out!

-practically speaking, why would someone even want to consider jettisoning their me-first mindset?  me-first not ony bars my access to heaven, it also shuts down the encroachment of heaven upon the earth.  me-first can suffice in solitary confinement or on a deserted island perhaps, at least for a short while, but one is definitely the loneliest number, and as long as i make it all about me in a broken world, i will ultimately be sadly disappointed.  and once i throw in other people who are also wired for me-first, things spiral downward in haste.  we all want paradise, peace and love, those peaceful easy feelings, those good vibrations, right?  ‘they were naked and unashamed’, no hiding, no hurling - that was paradise.  not merely a place of beauty but one of beautiful relationships - encouragement, giving, helping, sharing, patience, honesty, acceptance, forgiveness, faithfulness, trust, kindness.  but me-first shuts down every last drop of that.

-Lord, please don’t let me move beyond this passage and forget about it, such that it just fades into the background like so many of the great truths i have read about and studied and filed away.  don’t let me look away unchanged and just keep on living as the same old self-centered, me-first me-better donkey i’ve always been.  please work in me today, and tomorrow and the next day.  yes, God, do what it takes to reduce me so that i can truly see and focus on the needs of my fellow believers and really live into others-first others-better.  i have a long, long way to go...

Philippians 2:3 - A Radical Me-Reduction

’...nothing according to self-seeking nor according to vainglory but rather by lowmindedness ruling one another [as] exceeding themselves...’

-me-first, me-better.  that is the default position for the sons of adam and daughters of eve.  in this verse, self-seeking is eritheia, a base self-seeking which is unable shift its gaze to higher things.  this person is only in it for themselves.  me first.  paul used it in phil 1.17 to describe those who were only thinking of themselves as they thought to cause him trouble somehow by preaching the Gospel.  vainglory is kenodoxia, from kenos (empty), and doxia (glory).  it is a delusional and overblown sense of self-worth.  me better.  as we consider the importance of the understanding mind (phren) in relationships and functioning within the Body, paul is calling out any attitude of me-first-me-better, and saying, get rid of any hint of such thoughts, understand that there is no place for that mindset in the Body of Christ. 

-and the greek simply says ‘nothing’.  most versions render it as ‘do/doing nothing’.  some commentators suggest it should be ‘thinking nothing’.  but it is simply nothing.  ‘nothing from me-first-me-better...’  there is to be no room or quarter given to any hint of me-first, me-better in our thoughts or actions.  and in order for this to happen, each one of us definitely needs some radical soul-surgery, a me-ectomy.  not a full ectomy per se - more of a me-reduction... a radical me-reduction.

-yes indeed, because instead there is to be lowmindedness.  the word is tapeinophrosyné, from tapeinos, which describes something lowly or even servile, and phrén, which we have already seen denotes our mind and understanding.  this lowly perspective must take the lead (hégeomai, which is the initiative/decision of a leader - cf mt 2.6, lk 22.26) to decide to relate to others as though they are better than me.  the word is hyperecho, which means to hold over.  it describes something that towers over or stands out above something else, particularly in an elevated position or in one of power.  it is the position of a king or others in authority (rom 13.1, 1tim 2.2, 1pet 2.13).  we are talking about a conscious attitude of considering my fellow believers in Christ as being better than me, relating to them as though they are a king or queen, treating them with respect and courtesy and deference.  what if Christ-followers treated each other like royalty?  and it’s not that i treat them like a fellow monarch.  it is as though they are the monarch, and i am not.  others better.

-one might ask, to what extent am i to extend this royal treatment to unbelievers?  paul gives us no hint here.  elsewhere in Scripture we see that believers are to be good loving neighbors who meet needs, defending the defenseless, helping the helpless, respectful and submitting to all those in authority, honoring others esp the king (1pet 2.17, rom 13.7).  and yet we don’t really find the same level and quality of self-abandonment.

-but the paradox in the greek here is really fascinating - i am to make a ruling (in my mind at least) - just like a king or queen would - that my fellow Christ-followers are the real kings and queens.  i get off my throne and put them on it.  others better.  i have a long, long way to go...

Philippians 2:2 - One-souled

’...fill up my joy in order that you may be thinking the same, the same love having, souls together, the one thinking...’ 

-we know that paul has joy.  he told us about the joy he has in thinking about the philippians involvement in the Gospel and as this Good News about Jesus is being proclaimed.  so we have already seen that paul’s joy was tied to the spread of the Gospel.  here he exhorts the philippians to fill up his joy.  this is the main command of this particular section.  and it is totally safe to assume that what will give him full joy is tied to the forward progress of the Gospel in hearts and lives of these in philippi and elsewhere as well as among people(s) who haven’t heard or have no access to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

-now if paul’s joy is connected to how these believers in philippi are doing and on how the Gospel is moving forward, it makes total sense that what will fill up his joy is for these believers to channel all the things he just mentioned in the previous verse towards each other such that their own relationships show off the magnificent power and goodness of the Gospel and its ability to transform lives.  it’s not just about them having their fire insurance or having a good mano-a-mano vertical relationship with God.  paul is saying that they need to let the Lord make their relationships with each other so full of encouragement and love and sharing and caring that it totally enhances the way in which they come together and work together for the cause of Christ.

-what paul gives us is an application of phil 1.27, where the philippians are to be competing together in one spirit and one soul for the faith of the Gospel.  we’re talking about lives and conduct which are worthy of this Great Message and which are conducive to its spread.  now all the divine resources which the Lord has put at our disposal in the previous verse are to be employed to safeguard and grow unity of minds and hearts and focus among believers.  remember that oneness in the Body of Christ is produced automatically by God’s Spirit and must be guarded and preserved by God’s people (eph 4.3, 1cor 1.10), who determine to love each other in spite of their differences (1cor 8.1, col 3.14).  this is completely consistent with the new command which Jesus gave in jn 13.35 - ‘by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’  like Jesus, paul here is linking the forward progress of the Gospel to a manifestation of the selfless agapé love that those who follow Him show to one another.

-so, what does this love actually look like in the body?  does it look like absence of conflict?  everybody just getting along and being surfacy-nice to each other one day a week?  on the contrary, there is a shared passion for Jesus and a united commitment to the spread of His Gospel.  there is readiness to give and a mutual concern for the well-being of other believers, particularly those within our local assembly.  there is life-involvement that produces an awareness of needs and results in generous giving of time and sharing of resources to eliminate them.  there is Holy Spirit-empowered encouragement and comfort and speaking words that give life and build up and spur others on to love and good deeds.  it is people who really care about each other, people who love to be with each other (more than just a couple of hours a week), people who believe in each other and give grace to each other and forgive each other and who come together to get through hard times together.  it is people who really love Jesus working tirelessly side by side to help others learn to love Jesus, to give them a glimpse of His unbelievably breathtaking goodness, to be a blessing to their neighbors and to the nations.  it is people who put aside what they want or think they deserve and put the needs and wants of others before their own.  like Jesus did, as we shall read.

-so paul is saying, you guys are in the game with me, and the Gospel is going forward, and this is great, but now, fill up my joy by letting the Lord totally transform your relationships with one another, SO THAT you can really be united and focused on loving the Lord and on living to make Him famous.

-take note of the role of the mind, our thought life.  paul twice here uses the verb phroneo, which refers to the activity of the phrén, the perceiving mind or understanding (as opposed to the nous, which is the thinking mind).  the verb will be used again in phil 2.5 where paul exhorts us to have the same phroneo as Jesus.  it is important for us to understand the significance of the phrén both as it relates to the progress of the Gospel as well as the role it plays in all of life.  the activity of the phrén is certainly core to following and devotion to Christ (phil 3.13-15, col 3.1-2).  but for the greek, good phroneo (i.e. the act of perceiving and understanding well) is THE source of virtue.  plato actually considered phronésis (understanding) to be the chief virtue.  all culture is linked to it, to our mind and the proper/healthy exercise thereof.  it is a divine gift that should guide society and leaders and which directs the mind toward immortality.  for His part, God’s phronésis is unsearchable (is 40.28).  phroneo is how He set up the universe.  and while humans should certainly strive towards good phronésis, phronésis apart from God (fear and awe of Him) becomes arrogance (rom 11.20, rom 12.3), and faulty phroneo (bad understanding) and a-phrosuné (not understanding) are seen as the most elemental of sins (cf phil 3.19, lk 11.40, lk 12.20, mk 7.21-22, mk 8.33, eph 5.17, 1pet 2.15, ps 14.1)(cf gen 6.5, 1chr 28.9, ps 10.4, ps 139.23-24, prov 12.5, prov 23.7, is 55.6-9, is 57.11, is 65.2, lk 2.35, act 17.29, rom 2.14-16, rom 14.5, rom 14.13-14, rom 14.22, 1cor 14.20, 2cor 10.5, heb 4.12-13).  paul repeatedly urges unity of phroneo for those who follow Christ (rom 15.5, 2cor 13.11).  but the outcome of encouraging and comforting and loving and fellowshipping with one another should definitely increase our ability to really unite and focus on making Jesus famous.  one-souled.  we all want most what Jesus wants most, for us to love the Lord with all our hearts and to love each other and our neighbors really well.  i have a long, long way to go.