Life Together

 

Philippians 1:12-30 (CEB)

Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the things that have happened to me have actually advanced the gospel. The whole Praetorian Guard and everyone else knows that I’m in prison for Christ. Most of the brothers and sisters have had more confidence through the Lord to speak the word boldly and bravely because of my jail time. Some certainly preach Christ with jealous and competitive motives, but others preach with good motives. They are motivated by love, because they know that I’m put here to give a defense of the gospel; the others preach Christ because of their selfish ambition. They are insincere, hoping to cause me more pain while I’m in prison.

What do I think about this? Just this: since Christ is proclaimed in every possible way, whether from dishonest or true motives, I’m glad and I’ll continue to be glad. I’m glad because I know that this will result in my release through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. It is my expectation and hope that I won’t be put to shame in anything. Rather, I hope with daring courage that Christ’s greatness will be seen in my body, now as always, whether I live or die. Because for me, living serves Christ and dying is even better. If I continue to live in this world, I get results from my work. But I don’t know what I prefer. I’m torn between the two because I want to leave this life and be with Christ, which is far better. However, it’s more important for me to stay in this world for your sake. I’m sure of this: I will stay alive and remain with all of you to help your progress and the joy of your faith, and to increase your pride in Christ Jesus through my presence when I visit you again.

Most important, live together in a manner worthy of Christ’s gospel. Do this, whether I come and see you or I’m absent and hear about you. Do this so that you stand firm, united in one spirit and mind as you struggle together to remain faithful to the gospel. That way, you won’t be afraid of anything your enemies do. Your faithfulness and courage are a sign of their coming destruction and your salvation, which is from God. God has generously granted you the privilege, not only of believing in Christ but also of suffering for Christ’s sake. You are having the same struggle that you saw me face and now hear that I’m still facing.

 

We continue this morning our journey through Philippians, after taking a little side road last week as we celebrated the kick-off of our 200th Anniversary celebrations.

As I was working on this sermon, I was struck by how contextual scriptural interpretation becomes.

What I mean is, one does not read scripture in a vacuum. 

Scholarly commentators attempt to do that --- but often times, even in their analysis one can perceive what was going on in the world at the time of their writing.

Hence, the issues of today, that are in my head and on my heart cannot help but creep into my understanding of the text.

And that is true not only for the pastor or commentator of the text --- it is true of the text itself. 

The stories of Jesus or Paul is reflecting what was going on in their world.

That is why it is unavoidable for me to see in the text the social justice issues that are on my heart

          Whether it is inclusion of all of God's children into the full life of the church

          or Justice for the disenfranchised

                   --- especially people of color

          or The economic disparities in our society today

All of those creep in whether we want them to or not.

Just as these and other current issues creep into your understanding and interpreting of the text

After the greeting Paul begins an exhortation for us to focus on the things that matter

And for Paul it is a call to us to focus on the matters of the Kindom of Jesus

          Love for each other

          Service to all of God's children

          Sacrifice with Jesus

          To be intentional about how we live our lives

          To be filled with the fruits of the Spirit

But the first section all comes down to a call for us to love God

If there is no love, there will be no sense of what is vital.

          If there is no sense of what is vital, there will be no pure and blameless life.

          If there is no pure and blameless life, there will be no glorifying God.

You see, it all begins with our love for God.

As we continue into the second half of this first chapter Paul begins with sharing that regardless of the circumstances one finds oneself in --- we can and must glorify God and live out kindom values

Paul is in prison as he writes this letter

          but he is not feeling sorry for himself

          or bemoaning his plight ---

instead he is looking for an opportunity to proclaim Christ.

Paul writes:

I want you to know that the things that have happened to me have actually advanced the gospel.

And he knows that while his imprisonment is not what he wants --- he understands that he still has work to do.

Paul looks forward to being called home to Christ, but he says:

it’s more important for me to stay in this world for your sake. I’m sure of this: I will stay alive and remain with all of you to help your progress and the joy of your faith, and to increase your pride in Christ Jesus through my presence

He wants to help us grow in our love and relationship with God.

And he wants us to do that by our living together in a manner worthy of Christ.

I have pondered long and hard this week about what that might mean.

This past Monday, well before the sun had risen, I was on my way to Midway Airport in Chicago to catch a flight to Phoenix.

For only the second time in my life, one of my parents had implored me to COME.

The first time was when Stewart was dying

And this last one took place a couple of weeks ago when my cell phone rang and it was my mom asking me if I could come to Phoenix and help her bring my father home to Chicago.

"Live together in a manner worthy of Christ’s gospel"

Live together Paul implores us

Last month a group of us read Dietrich Bonhoeffer's little book LIFE TOGETHER.

For Bonhoeffer, the community that he was referring to was a subset of Christians --- specifically the members of a small underground seminary that he was a part of.

Their Life Together was insolated and separate from many of the horrors that were beginning to happen around them as Hitler was consolidating his power and getting ready to unleash his evil on the world.

When Paul talks about living together who is he including in this community?

          That is a hard question to answer

Because he does not explain himself here in this letter 

We do know who Paul included in his letter to the Colossians and to the Galatians

There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

But the really important question is --- Who are WE including --- or maybe even more challenging ---- who are we not including?

If we go back and look at the words that Paul chose --- the phrase that is translated "Live together" is taken from a word drawn from the political arena and means "live as citizens"

Remember, Philippi is a Roman colony and the residents of Philippi were Roman citizens --- they would not have missed this reference that Paul is making.

When Paul was first in Philippi, and was in jail there, he had made practical use of the fact that he was a Roman citizen (Acts 16:35-40).

          Later in Acts we see him doing that again. (Acts 22:25-29).

But in our passage this morning --- Paul is reminding the Philippians that their true citizenship and his,

          their ultimate allegiance,

                   was to King Jesus, not to Caesar in Rome.

As Morna Hooker, in The New Interpreters Bible writes:

Those members of the church in Philippi who were citizens of that city would also have been Roman citizens; thus they would have been well aware of the privileges and obligations of citizenship.  Paul has probably chosen this particular verb (politeuomai) because he thinks of Christian behavior not simply as something undertaken by individuals, but as the expression of the life of the whole community.  His meaning is, "let your life as a community be worthy of the gospel of Christ."

What Paul is asking us today is our community worthy of the Gospel of Christ?

Is Christ who we put first in all that we do?

Paul is asking the Philippians: do you pledge your allegiance to God, or to Rome?

Today he would be asking us:  do you pledge your allegiance to God, or to the United States of America?

And maybe what we need to wrestle with is how those two kindoms look different.

          In God's kindom --- no one is excluded

          In God's kindom there is an economy of sharing

          In God's kindom we are united to God through the mystery of suffering.

Those are not the values of our earthy citizenship in the USA.

We by the color of our skin --- and the opportunities of education and wealth set the rules for who is in and who is out.

          Rights are based on where you are born --- and to whom you are born to

I have to admit --- I struggle with what it means to be a citizen of God's kindom.

Remember what Paul says in this passage

God has generously granted you the privilege, not only of believing in Christ but also of suffering for Christ’s sake.

Our world does not view suffering as a privilege --- but God does.

He is reminding us once again that we need to focus on what really matters.

And what is that?

          God --- and our living a life worthy of God

So in this --- life together --- who did God exclude?

Who is not welcome at God's table?

          Who comes to mind that Jesus excluded?

Jesus, through his life, demonstrated the answer to this --- all are welcome.

We love to say: Hate the sin, love the sinner.

It's a Christian cliché that has been used with increased frequency in recent years because it is often invoked in debates about the LGBTQI community and gay marriage.

Many who use this phrase don’t intend to harm others but wish to express love for another at some level.

Justin Lee writes,

“The basic point of the phrase is true. But “love the sinner, hate the sin” feels very different depending on which side of the table you’re sitting on. To the person doing the “loving,” it feels very generous: Even though this person is a sinner, I’m going to treat them with love and compassion!”

“I’m a good person,” the phrase implies, “because I’m loving you in spite of your sin.”

However, to the person on the receiving end of “Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin,” it can sound frustratingly judgmental, condescending, and manipulative.

“Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin” highlights the virtues of one person against the perceived sinfulness of another, conveniently placing the ‘Lover’ in a position of moral superiority over the ‘Sinner.’

It’s not compassion, and it’s definitely not grace.

And it also isn't biblical --- Jesus NEVER said that.

Peter Rollins in The Orthodox Heretic, writes,

“Jesus’ understanding of forgiveness was so radical because he did not need people to repent before he accepted them. He did not require a change in behavior before he loved, respected, and related to them. Yet, it was precisely this unconditional love and forgiveness that seemed so potent and transformative, often being the very act that drew people to repentance.”

The closest use of this phrase in Christian history is a letter from St. Augustine to a group of nuns encouraging them to have “love for mankind and hatred of sins”.

It was Mahatma Gandhi in his 1929 autobiography who said:

          “Hate the sin and not the sinner.”

But Gandhi’s full statement has a bit different flavor:

“Hate the sin and not the sinner is a precept which, though easy enough to understand, is rarely practiced, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world.”

Gandhi correctly observed that it is difficult --- perhaps impossible --- to see someone else primarily as a “sinner” and then to focus on “hating their sin” without developing some level of disdain for the person.

Perhaps this is why Jesus did not ask us to love “sinners” but to love “neighbors” and “enemies.”

Adam Hamilton writes:

I think Jesus knew that if he commanded his disciples to ‘love the sinner,’ they would begin looking at other people more as sinners than neighbors. And that, inevitably, would lead to judgment. If I love you more as a sinner than as my neighbor, then I am bound to focus more on your sin. I will start looking for all the things that are wrong with you. And perhaps, without intending it, I will begin thinking about our relationship like this: “You are a sinner, but I graciously choose to love you anyway.” If that sounds a little puffed up, self-righteous, and even prideful to you, then you have perceived accurately.

"Live together in a manner worthy of Christ’s gospel"

We can't do it until we put God first and accept and love our neighbor

I love what Fred Rogers once said,

“To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.”

May we work to become full members of Christ's community of love ---

          not only for ourselves

                   but for our neighbors

                             all our neighbors!