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Continuing our Lenten theme of walking as Jesus did toward the
Cross and the empty tomb, we are reminded in this text that our journey requires
crossing certain bridges and burning others. Paul exhorts those in his audience
(the Church at Philippi) to follow his example as he follows Christ (a common
theme in Paul’s work). Also, they are to follow the examples of others
whom God has placed in their path: those whose lives exemplify the “Jesus
walk.” Paul distinguishes between two ways to live by talking about
two kinds of examples. The unhealthy examples in their midst are those whom
he describes as “enemies of the cross of Christ.” This not only
implies their denial of the significance of the Cross and Resurrection, but
also their unwillingness to sacrificially follow the example of Christ through
humility, self-denial and active love of others. Those who are negative examples
are those whose “god is their stomach,” whose “glory is
in their shame,” and whose “mind is on earthly things” instead
of the things of God (vv. 18-19).
The examples we are called to follow are those who walk as Jesus
did and who eagerly await the coming of Christ, not as spectators, but as
those who actively follow Him until He returns. The call of this text then
is to “stand firm” in the active faith God has granted them in
Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit (4:1).
The greatest need that this text brings to light is discernment.
Discernment is the ability to consistently distinguish between right and wrong
in our actions and attitudes. With the plethora of models all around, it is
easy to become distracted. Paul reminds the Church that this is exactly the
reason why Christianity is “done” in community. William Willimon
wrote, “Good pastors keep building up the Christian community, keep
wondering what it takes for this conglomeration of individuals to become the
Body of Christ.”1 It seems here that this need for direction from the
community of faith. Those faithful and consistent examples of what it means
to follow Christ, is the need that Paul wants to remind this local congregation
at Philippi about. This also implies an urgent need of the Church to reproduce
authentic disciples of Christ, so that more “signposts” that point
to God’s way are available to non-believers, new believers and struggling
believers.
In the vast array of choices before us regarding which bridges
to cross over and which ones to burn behind us, God’s answer is (and
has always been) the community of faith. God gives us the ultimate model in
His Son Jesus Christ, and then surrounds us with those who have decided to
follow Jesus in this new life He provides.
Relationally, we Christians have to make choices in our lives.
We come to a place where we say we will follow Jesus with our whole lives:
we will trust Him with our past, seek His guidance in the present and trust
Him to guide us into our future. God promises to use the Body of Christ, the
Church, as part of this process of growth in grace. Along the way Paul reminds
us that God can grant us discernment in regard to which voices we are to follow.
Those worth aligning with will be those who, like Paul and those Paul admonishes
the Church to follow, are “citizens of heaven” (3:20). This does
not mean that God makes us, “so heavenly minded that we are no earthly
good.” Rather, God bestows upon us a new kind of citizenship that outranks
any worldly ties we have, so we constantly seek and follow God’s will,
which is the only way that leads to life.
Randy Maddox sums up a Wesleyan understanding of our relationship
with God as a product of “responsible grace.”2 The implication
is that God’s grace is given freely and included in that grace is an
invitation to respond. Paul seeks for the Church to respond to God’s
grace not by living on an island of separation with their own holiness kept
in check, but by living in community—being “in the world and not
of it” as Jesus says in John 17. And while in that community, we allow
God’s grace to guide us into proper discernment regarding which examples
to follow and which ones to shun. We respond to God’s grace responsibly
by choosing to follow those who follow after Christ. When we choose to follow
those who are “enemies of the cross” by their actions and attitudes,
we make choices that hinder the work of God’s grace in our lives. Bob
Dylan’s classic line, “You’re going to have to serve somebody,”
comes into play here: it will either be the devil (i.e. those whose “god
is their stomachs” and so on), or it may be the Lord (those like Paul
whose goal is to be a “citizen of heaven” and a true follower
of Christ).
(For the full manuscript
of this sermon go to www.preachersmagazine.org and click on “Sermons”.)
In my sermon on this text, I have chosen to draw dividing lines
in a way that parallels Paul’s in the text using the concept of bridges.
For example, as Christians, there are new “bridges” in our lives
that we choose (by God’s grace) to cross when we say yes to Jesus, and
there are other bridges that we hope to burn behind us so that we are not
tempted to stray back into an old way of living. It would be easy to put forth
a separatist kind of notion in preaching this text regarding the world by
over-spiritualizing Paul’s words, especially in verses 20-21. However,
in the greater context of this passage, Paul does not seem to be saying that
we are to be people who burn bridges between us and people who need to encounter
people who know Jesus. Likewise, we are not to simply await the “transformation
of our lowly bodies” (v. 21) in some sort of retreat from our world,
thereby treating God’s gift of salvation as “fire insurance.”
Instead, the text seems to want us to be active participants in the Kingdom
of God by daily choosing to follow Christ in love, humility and other ways
that express the mind of Christ. Our transformation that is to come is more
than just the “instant” transformation at the return of Christ.
It is the ongoing transformation that occurs when we follow Christ together,
learning from the Holy Spirit and from each other, as God’s power and
love changes us from the inside out. Any presentation of this text that misses
this point will risk missing Paul’s point altogether.
1. William Willimon, Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained
Ministry (Nashville: Abingdon, 2002), 277.
2. cf. Randy Maddox, Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1994). “