Good News for Everyone
Jesus is the telos or ultimate aim of the Law, and our cruciform connection to him allows his love, the greatest commandment, to be fulfilled in our own lives.
In the letter to the Philippians, Paul uses a Confession of Christ, which takes the form of a hymn known by all of the communities of faith he planted. To this community especially, to talk about having the mind of Christ.
5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6 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 servant
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.
Now the history of the Philippian community as a Roman army base, meant that the readers of this letter had certain expectations of their gods. 1 god didn’t die. 2 gods didn’t HUMBLE THEMSELVES. 3. gods didn’t expect worshipers to change how they did things. But this God DID DIE, HE DID HUMBLE HIMSELF and we are being asked to change our minds to be like Christ. For the Philippians community, it meant letting go of the social order the community had established and someone of high class having the same place in the community of faith as someone of low or no class. For us, perhaps it is letting go of our judgments of others, or giving our own opinions a rest for the sake of a relationship. To humble ourselves as an act of service to another is what Christ did.
and gave him that name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Church this confession is our history, it is our present and our future. Our willingness to go beyond boundaries and to understand what God has made clean we can’t call unclean is all tied up in having the same mind as Christ. We have been given life by Christ offering for us, his humble act of service to all humanity. All of this makes it our honor and privilege therefore, to have open hearts, open minds, and open doors for the glory of God the Creator, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
Now the history of the Philippian community as a Roman army base, meant that the readers of this letter had certain expectations of their gods. 1 god didn’t die. 2 gods didn’t HUMBLE THEMSELVES. 3. gods didn’t expect worshipers to change how they did things. But this God DID DIE, HE DID HUMBLE HIMSELF and we are being asked to change our minds to be like Christ. For the Philippians community, it meant letting go of the social order the community had established and someone of high class having the same place in the community of faith as someone of low or no class. For us, perhaps it is letting go of our judgments of others, or giving our own opinions a rest for the sake of a relationship. To humble ourselves as an act of service to another is what Christ did.
The second verse of the hymn continues,
Therefore God also highly exalted JESUSand gave him that name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Church this confession is our history, it is our present and our future. Our willingness to go beyond boundaries and to understand what God has made clean we can’t call unclean is all tied up in having the same mind as Christ. We have been given life by Christ offering for us, his humble act of service to all humanity. All of this makes it our honor and privilege therefore, to have open hearts, open minds, and open doors for the glory of God the Creator, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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