Philippians 2:1-11 [NLTse]
Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from His love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, 8 He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on Earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
America has gone through many changes since September 11th, 2001: Bombings, shootings, poisonings, and threats of more; and, to make it all worse, a news industry that brings it all into our living rooms with constant replays and endless commentaries!
If you are struggling with fear right now, it is important to keep a sense of perspective. When things like this happen and every news program is rolling the footage again and again and again we can be tempted to believe that such events are more prevalent and more threatening than they truly are. The fact is, in the real world there is not a bomb on every corner. Thousands of planes take off and land safely every day.
We Christians talk much about the “special grace” God has shown those of us who have been saved through Jesus Christ, but all people – saved and unsaved alike – receive countless blessings from God: The sun rises every day, rain waters the earth and brings forth the crops we eat, children get on buses and go to school and return home at the end of the day, bankers and teachers and check-out clerks and computer technicians go to work every normal day. Kids play ball outside and the worst thing that happens is a scraped knee. Such universal, daily blessings are what’s called the “common grace” of God.
The events of this past week draw our attention and can make us more sensitive to the realities of death and darkness around us, but God’s common grace continues: It drives people to a sense of right and wrong and a need for truth; it provides material blessings to many; it restrains the power and effect of sin in the world… God’s common grace…
With the events of this past week in mind, however, the apostle Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians reminds us that “we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (6:12) And these spiritual enemies, along with their physical counterparts, seem to intend for their random acts of violence to not only frighten us, but to harden us and bring us back from life here in God’s Kingdom to their dark domain. So not only must we refuse to give in to fear, but we must refuse to let our hearts be hardened, and we must refuse to respond to these kinds of happenings the way those in the world around us would have us to.
The Lord Jesus told a parable about a Pharisee and a Tax-Collector who went one day to the Temple to pray. In Jesus’ parable, the Pharisee prayed, “I thank you, God, that I am not a fanatic or a terrorist. For I don’t plant bombs, I don’t shoot people, and I don’t send dangerous letters around. I’m certainly not like those Russians!” But Jesus taught that God didn’t listen to that man’s prayers. But that the Tax-Collector went away forgiven by God, because he prayed, “O God, be merciful to me, for like all people, I, too, am a sinner.” (See Luke 18:9-14)
We need to keep praying humbly for forgiveness to keep our hearts soft-enough for the Holy Spirit to continue shaping us, to keep us from bitterness, to keep us from vengeance, and to keep us from self-righteousness in the face of other people’s sins.
As far as not responding to such things as the world would have us respond, I think about the “honor” we spoke about last week, and how events like this – but even things far more mundane – can change the ways we interact with our neighbors – those around us – each day: People are disrespectful towards us, so we’re disrespectful towards them; those around us don’t honor us so we don’t honor them; others prove themselves untrustworthy and so we close ourselves off from them; they don’t love us so we don’t love them.
But, you know, Jesus was Jesus everywhere He went, with whomever He was with: He was the same with Judas when Judas was skimming out of the disciples’ treasury; He was the same when He was before Herod and Pilate when they were telling Him how much power they had; He was the same with sinners and tax-collectors… He was always Who He was. The sinful behaviors of others didn’t change Him.
So we must be respectful towards others no matter how disrespectful they have been towards us! We must honor all people, no matter how dishonorable they are or how dishonorably they treat us. We are going to love our neighbors – all those who come into our sphere of influence – no matter how unloving or how unlovely they are. We are going to be trustworthy, open, and honest no matter how untrustworthy those around are seeming to be. Are you an Elder? Are you a child? Are you a fanatic or a terrorist? I’m going to treat you the way a son of Light, the way a child of the Most High God, the way an ambassador of righteousness, the way the Light of the World would treat you: No matter who you are; no matter how you treat me!
Mother Teresa is reputed to have put it this way:
People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.
Because in the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
My brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ: Let us not be overcome by evil but overcome evil by doing good!