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We Are to Be A United, Humble, Selfless, Obedient, Holy Community Whose Attitude Makes Us Stands Out From The World
Rabbi Paul was one of the greatest men who ever lived. Member of the Chosen People, scholar, theologian, prophet, representative of the Risen Messiah, apostle to the Gentiles, God-inspired author of much of the New Testament. Paul was one of the greatest leaders of Messiah’s Community. He had been arrested while in Israel and sent to Rome and imprisoned while awaiting trial. There were Christians and Messianic Jews who stepped into the vacuum left by Paul’s imprisonment who were trying to take advantage of Paul’s situation to get something out of it for themselves. They were operating out of bad motives – selfish ambition and rivalry. They saw Paul as their competition, and so the worse it went for him, the better, they thought, it would go for themselves. They were envious of the great Rabbi, and thought that with Paul out of the way, they could step into the vacuum, and gather more people, power, position and prestige for themselves.
Paul did not want Messiah’s Community in Philippi to operate from those bad attitudes. He wanted them not to selfishly advance themselves, but to be a loving, united community. Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Messiah, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete (make me happy) by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
Because of the Fall, human beings are broken. It’s hard for us to get along with one another. But the sons and daughters of God can be different. We can be united. We can love one another and be friends with one another get into agreement and work together to serve the Lord. Why? Because we have gotten so much from following Yeshua; because His love has made a huge difference in our lives; because we are all part of a very special community where the Spirit of the Living God lives in all of us; because the Lord has given us a new nature with a new heart to love people.
Paul wanted the Philippians to be different from broken, selfish people that populate this fallen world. He wanted the Christians and Messianic Jews to be a united, loving, humble community. He wanted them to love one another, to be united in their thinking, serving each other, building each other up, not tearing each other down. It’s not easy for human beings to live that way, but Paul knew that it was possible for Messiah’s Community in Philippi. And, I believe it’s possible for us. We can become that kind of community by getting our identity from God and by looking to the example of Messiah.
Here’s the problem with being part of a united, loving, humble community: Human beings have been terribly damaged by the Fall. One of the consequences of Eden’s catastrophe is that we are insecure. We feel inadequate. We rarely feel good about ourselves. And why should we? Our minds, bodies, souls, spirits have been corrupted and our relationships with God, people and nature damaged. We are dead in our trespasses and sins, alienated from our Creator, who is the Source of Life; we are headed to Hell, not Heaven; death, not life.
We try to feel better about ourselves, but we go about it in wrong ways. If we are admired by others, we think we can feel better about our inadequacies. If we are in a higher position than others; if we can control others, we must be more important than them and can feel better about ourselves. So we seek more success than others, more wealth or a better job than others, a more beautiful wife or car than others. But this kind of self-centeredness, pride, boasting, arrogance, empty conceit isn’t the answer to human inadequacy. There is a better way, the true way to overcome our feelings of insecurity and inadequacy – and that is by getting our identity from God; by understanding that we are precious and valuable because we are made in the image of God; and that we become adequate and secure if we get into a right relationship with the Three-In-One God; that Christians and Messianic Jews have redeemed from the satanic slave-market of sin and death by the Son of God; that God the Father and Messiah the Son love us – deeply, intensely, and want to live with us forever; that the Spirit of God loves us and lives in us.
We need our identity rooted and grounded in God. If it is, our godly identity frees us from feelings of insecurity and inadequacy; liberates us from selfish ambition, pride, arrogance and the need to boast. And, it frees us to help others and be our part in a loving, united community. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Forget yourself long enough to lend a helping hand.
Paul, one of the greatest men who ever lived, lived that servant-like way, and we should imitate his example. But the supreme example of humility and helping others get ahead is that of the Son of God. The One who is the greatest, humbled Himself the most, at the greatest cost to Himself, in order to help the many become the most they could be. His is the example we are to constantly think about. His is the example we are to follow. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Messiah Yeshua: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!
Messiah was and is in very nature God. The Son of God is equal to God in nature. Distinct from the Father as to His person, but one in nature with the Father – eternal, uncreated, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, all-good, all-love. Before the Incarnation, from that place of equality with God, the Son of God ruled over all things – over all of the various angels; over all created beings, forces and powers. But, from that most exalted and honored place the Son of God humbled Himself. He emptied Himself of some of His attributes of divinity, like being all-powerful, all-knowing and all-present. From that highest place with the greatest status, the Son of God lowered Himself. The Creator took on the form of a creature. The One through whom the universe was made became a small, frail human being. But, the Son of God did not become any kind of human being. Although He could have become a mighty lord of men, He chose to become an ordinary human being whose mission was to serve, not to be served.
The almighty, all-present, all-knowing, all-glorious Son of God emptied Himself, limited Himself, lowered Himself, humbled Himself – not for Himself, but for us; to help us, to serve us, to benefit us. And what kind of help did we need the most? Not more money or education; not better politics or even something as noble as justice among men. Our greatest need was atonement – to be reconciled to God from whom the whole world has been estranged. And, there was only one way that could happen – by having our sins forgiven; by the Greater exchanging His life for the lesser; by the Innocent giving His life for the guilty. So the Son of God humbled Himself even further by becoming obedient to death – a horrible, painful and humiliating death on a cross!
That kind of humility and sacrificial love is what God the Father is like. That is His nature. That’s who He is. And that kind of humility and sacrificial love in others pleases the Father. And the Father highly rewards that kind of humility and selfless service. Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, in Heaven and on Earth and under the Earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Messiah Yeshua is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Because of His self-humbling and selfless service and sacrificial love that went all the way to a horrible death on a cross, God the Father made sure that Messiah the Son was high and lifted up and greatly exalted – far beyond anyone or anything, so that one day all created beings in Heaven and on Earth, even those long ago dead and buried, will bow, acknowledging the superiority and the supreme lordship of Yeshua the Messiah. This is appropriate and will please and honor God the Father.
And if the One Who Was The Highest willingly lowered Himself to serve others, and God the Father will make sure that He is greatly rewarded – you can be sure that if you humble yourself and serve others, you will be greatly rewarded too! Messiah’s example of humility and serving others is what we want to imitate. So, like the Son of God, humble yourself. Those who humble themselves now will be raised later. Those who give their lives in service to others now, will be rewarded later. But those who, through selfish ambition and pride, raise themselves higher now, will be lowered later.
Paul wanted the Philippians to be a united community and a humble and selfless community. He also wanted them to be an obedient community. Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose. When the cat’s away the mice will play. When the Lord’s representative was living among the Philippians, they lived the right way. They were obedient. Now that Paul was separated from them, he wanted them to keep it up; to do the right things; to have the right attitudes. He wanted them to be energetic in their life of salvation, reverent and sensitive to God. He wanted them to try really hard to live the right way. Even though it is very difficult to live an obedient, God-honoring life in a fallen world that is satanically controlled and is in rebellion against God and under a curse, they could do it because they were not on their own! God was working in them! He was living in them by means of His Spirit, and that Spirit was helping them want to do the right things, and then helping them do what God wanted them to do.
Hasn’t that been your experience? Before you knew the Lord, you did what you wanted. You lived the way you wanted to live, and if you were like me, being obedient to God’s standards was not your highest priority. But, after you understood that Yeshua is the Messiah and the Savior that the Father sent to save the world; after you ended your part in the great rebellion against God; after you transferred your loyalties to the Father, Son and Spirit – you found that you had a new interest to do the right things? You wanted to please God. You wanted to obey the Lord who created and redeemed you, not disobey Him. You had a new desire to serve the Lord and to do His will. That was God working in you, transforming you from within, empowering you to want what is right and then empowering you to do what is right. What a tremendous gift, a gift that the world does not have!
Along with wanting them to be a united, humble, selfless and obedient community, the Lord’s representative wanted them to have a positive attitude that stood out from the world. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Because of the Fall, it’s natural for us to grumble, to complain, to bicker and quarrel; to focus on what we don’t have rather than on what we do have; to focus on what we don’t like about someone else rather than what we do like. This kind of negative, complaining attitude is so very common in people of the world. The sons and daughters of the King are to be different. We are to have a good attitude, to do everything without bickering, or complaining.
If we are able to be uncorrupted in a corrupt world; if we are able to be a breath of fresh air in a polluted society, we will stand out from a dying world and point people to truth. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. I want to be a little point of light in the dark night of the world, pointing people to God, to salvation, to eternal life. How about you?
Paul wanted the Philippians to carry the light-giving Message into the night so that he would have reason to be proud of them on the day that Messiah returns. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Messiah that I did not run or labor in vain. He wanted them to be humble, united, obedient, different from the world, living proof that he didn’t put in all that work for them for nothing.
Paul was happy about them, knowing how well they were doing in the areas that are most important – knowing God, serving God, obeying God, suffering for God. He wanted them to be happy for him for the same reasons – no matter what happened to him. The Philippian community was serving God and they were suffering for their loyalty to the Three-In-One God of Israel. Paul too was serving God and suffering for it. Paul compares the suffering of this community to a sacrifice at the Temple that pleased God. He compares His suffering to wine that was poured out, accompanying that sacrifice. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me. This great Rabbi is telling them, using the language of the temple and sacrifice, that even if he is put on trial and executed, he will be happy. His life will have been a great success. He will have pleased God. He will have helped many others find God and please God. If death is the outcome, he doesn’t want them to feel sorry for him, but be happy for him.
And that is what I want for our community – to be united, humble, selfless, obedient, uncorrupted, pure, holy; to have a good attitude that stands out from people in the world, even if we are called upon to suffer; pointing a dark world to God and Messiah and the only way of salvation. Amen?