Working Preacher’s Narrative Commentary for Sunday, 1 June 2014

Working Preacher’s Narrative Commentary for Sunday, 1 June 2014
Lectionary Scriptures:
Philippians 2:1 If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, 2 make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; 3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; 4 each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
Commentary on Philippians 2:1-13 by Michael Joseph Brown
What is an interesting, even if somewhat troubling, aspect of this text is the emphasis the apostle places on like-mindedness.
He writes, “If there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind” (Philippians 2:1-2). The troubling aspect focuses on Paul’s intentions in making this statement. Is he calling for unanimity or uniformity? You may ask, “What’s the difference?”
The difference lies not in how the words are commonly used, but, I would argue, in the emphasis each one evokes. Unanimity seems to emphasize something along the lines of consensus, which may (or may not) allow for the particular commitments of each individual. Uniformity seems to emphasize a militaristic or dogmatic context in which difference is not highly valued and sometimes is openly attacked. I know it’s a narrow distinction (and there is probably a better way to express what I am attempting to communicate), but some sort of difference in emphasis needs to be negotiated, if Paul’s words are to be taken as a responsible or potentially destructive understanding of koinonia, the fellowship we share together as brothers and sisters in Christ.
The answer may be found in the next two verses where Paul denounces self-interestedness for the purpose of mutual support and community cohesion. As in last week’s passage, the question of power lies just below the surface of the apostle’s statements. Are we to see him as advocating hierarchy over against relationality? As I explained last week, power as relationally understood is our ability to receive one another into our lives, it “indicates that we are or may become large enough to make room for another within ourselves without losing our distinctive identities.” This is probably why the Christ hymn is such a powerful example for the author and ourselves as readers.
“Let this thinking [phroneite] be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” is the more literal way to translate the passage. Phronesis was a sort of practical wisdom in ancient philosophy that focused on how one conducts one’s self in the world. It might be more helpful for us to understand it as a way of being or disposition towards the world. Bryan Garsten in his 2006 book, Saving Persuasion, explains it this way, “By judgment I mean the mental activity of responding to particular situations in a way that draws upon our sensations, beliefs, and emotions without being dictated by them in any way reducible to a simple rule.”
At any rate, it is not the kind of thinking that subserviates itself to dogmatism. In the case of Christ, it was a manner of thinking that one could easily call counterintuitive. “[H]e … did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited” (2:6). Trading divinity for humanity was counterintuitive. Even more, “taking the form of a slave,” is clearly not something the average person would have desired or endorsed (2:7). Elsewhere, Paul points out such counterintuitivity. He says, “Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person -- though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8).
He also says, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29). In other words, thinking like Christ means more than adhering to established dogma or longstanding social expectations. It can, in fact, mean the exact opposite.
God acts in ways that frequently defy our norms, as God did in the Christ event. Likewise, Christ Jesus modeled this activity by choosing debasement as the vehicle for his exaltation. He did this out of humility (Phil. 2:8). This is probably the same type of humility the apostle means when he calls us as readers to take on this dispositional humility as well (2:3). Uplifting and caring for one another is the kind of mindset members of the church must have. This, I think, tilts the scale more toward unanimity than uniformity.
Yet, it is important to remember that Paul is not entertaining contemporary American ideas of individualism. His world was one in which the individual was considered vulnerable without membership in and protection from the group. Group membership was commonly considered necessary for survival. Yet, group membership did not wipe out individuality totally. In Paul’s day, not all Jews practiced the same type of Judaism, but they still considered themselves Jews. What a Jew in the diaspora like Paul did would have been different from one living in Jerusalem, for example. The point the apostle appears to be making is that the church can achieve unity without demanding uniformity by following the example of Christ and embracing a practice and mindset of humility.
Adherence to norms and dogma contradicts working “out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (2:12). When one knows the rules, then there is no need to choose. Likewise, without the burden of choice, there is no need to fear. Having the mind of Christ means embracing the ability to choose acts that seem blatantly counterintuitive. It means something as odd as not looking “to your own interests, but to the interests of others” (2:4).
PRAYER OF THE DAY:
God of love, 
With praise we celebrate Jesus Christ, who humbled himself so that every knee should bend and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.
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HYMNS:
“Like the murmur of the dove’s song” by Carl P. Daw
1. Like the murmur of the dove’s song,
Like the challenge of her flight,
Like the vigor of the wind’s rush,
Like the new flame’s eager might:
Come, Holy Spirit, come.
2. To the members of Christ’s body,
To the branches of the vine,
To the church in faith assembled,
To her midst as gift and sign:
Come, Holy Spirit, come.
3. With the healing of division,
With the ceaseless voice of prayer,
With the power to love and witness,
With the peace beyond compare:
Come, Holy Spirit, come.
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“That priceless grace” by Emmanuel F. Y. Grantson, Ghanaian traditional
1. That priceless grace, that priceless grace, 
that priceless grace, which gave me life: 
Jesus' life is priceless grace. 
That priceless grace is life for me.
2. That priceless blood, that priceless blood, 
that priceless blood was shed for me: 
Jesus' blood is priceless grace. 
That priceless grace is life for me.
3. That painful death, that painful death, 
that painful death took sins away: 
Jesus' death is priceless grace. 
That priceless grace is life for me.
4. That precious word, that precious word, 
that precious word, which brought me light: 
Jesus' word is priceless grace. 
That priceless grace is life for me.
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“O day full of grace” by John Michael McCluney
1. Oh day full of grace, which we behold, 
Now gently to view ascending;
Thou over the earth thy reign unfold, 
Good cheer to all mortals lending,
That children of light in every clime 
May prove that the night is ending.
2. How blest was that gracious midnight hour,
When God in our flesh was given;
Then flushed the dawn with light and power,
That spread o'er the darkened heaven;
Then rose o'er the world that Sun divine
Which gloom from our hearts hath driven.
3. Yea, were every tree endowed with speech,
And every leaflet singing,
They never with praise His worth could reach,
Though earth with their praise were ringing.
Who fully could praise the Light of life
Who light to our souls is bringing?
4. As birds in the morning sing God's praise,
His fatherly love we cherish,
For giving to us this day of grace,
For life that shall never perish.
His Church He hath kept these thousand years,
And hungering souls did nourish.
5. Pass on to thy close, O Whit-Sunday,
With sunlight about thee beaming,
And scatter thy blessings on thy way,
As brooks through the meadows streaming
E'er leave in the wake the woods and fields,
In beauty and fruitfulness dreaming.
6. With joy we depart for our fatherland,
Where God our Father is dwelling,
Where ready for us His mansions stand,
Where heaven with praise is swelling;
And there we shall walk in endless light,
With blest ones His praise forth telling.
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CHORAL:
“Children of Peace” by Anne Kilsofte
“WE ARE CHILDREN OF PEACE”
VERSE ONE: PEACE 
We are children of peace.
We are the children of the world. 
We are children of peace. 
We are the children of the world 
VERSE TWO: FRIENDSHIP 
We are children of friendship. 
We are the children of the world. 
We are children of friendship. 
We are the children of the world 
VERSE THREE: WAR 
We don't want war anymore. 
We are the children of the world. 
We don't want war anymore. 
We are the children of the world. 
CHORUS: 
Listen people everywhere - hear our song. 
Come and take somebody's hand, sing along. 
The choice is ours - what will we do? 
It's up to me, it's up to you. 
VERSE FOUR: JUSTICE 
We are children of justice. 
We are the children of the world. 
We are children of justice. 
We are the children of the world. 
VERSE FIVE: COMPASSION 
We are children of compassion. 
We are the children of the world. 
We are children of compassion. 
We are the children of the world
VERSE SIX: LOVE 
We are children of love. 
We are the children of the world. 
We are children of love. 
We are the children of the world. 
CHORUS: 
Listen people everywhere - hear our song. 
Come and take somebody's hand, sing along. 
The choice is ours - what will we do? 
It's up to me, it's up to you. 
VERSE SEVEN: MUSIC 
We are children of music. 
We are the children of the world 
We are children of music. 
We are the children of the world. 
VERSE EIGHT: LOVE 
We are children of love. 
We are the children of the world. 
We are children of love. 
We are the children of the world. 
CHORUS: 
Listen people everywhere - hear our song. 
Come and take somebody's hand, sing along. 
The choice is ours - what will we do? 
It's up to me, it's up to you. 
VERSE NINE: WAR 
We don't want war anymore. 
We are the children of the world. 
We don't want war anymore. 
We are the children of the world. 
FINAL CHORUS: 
Listen people everywhere - hear our song. 
Come and take somebody's hand, sing along. 
The choice is ours - what will we do? 
It's up to me, it's up to you.
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John Wesley’s Notes-Commentary:
Philippians 2:1-13
Verse 1
[1] If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
If there be therefore any consolation — In the grace of Christ.
If any comfort — In the love of God. If any fellowship of the Holy Ghost; if any bowels of mercies - Resulting therefrom; any tender affection towards each other.
Verse 2
[2] Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Think the same thing — Seeing Christ is your common Head.
Having the same love — To God, your common Father.
Being of one soul — Animated with the same affections and tempers, as ye have all drank ill to one spirit.
Of one mind — Tenderly rejoicing and grieving together.
Verse 3
[3] Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Do nothing through contention — Which is inconsistent with your thinking the same thing.
Or vainglory — Desire of praise, which is directly opposite to the love of God.
But esteem each the others better than themselves — (For every one knows more evil of himself than he can of another:) Which is a glorious fruit of the Spirit, and an admirable help to your continuing "of one soul."
Verse 4
[4] Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Aim not every one at his own things — Only. If so, ye have not bowels of mercies.
Verse 6
[6] Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Who being in the essential form — The incommunicable nature.
Of God — From eternity, as he was afterward in the form of man; real God, as real man.
Counted it no act of robbery — That is the precise meaning of the words,-no invasion of another's prerogative, but his own strict and unquestionable right.
To be equal with God — the word here translated equal, occurs in the adjective form five or six times in the New Testament, Matthew 20:12; Luke 6:34; John 5:18; Acts 11:17; Revelation 21:16. In all which places it expresses not a bare resemblance, but a real and proper equalitg. It here implies both the fulness and the supreme height of the Godhead; to which are opposed, he emptied and he humbled himself.
Verse 7
[7] But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Yet — He was so far from tenaciously insisting upon, that he willingly relinquished, his claim. He was content to forego the glories of the Creator, and to appear in the form of a creature; nay, to he made in the likeness of the fallen creatures; and not only to share the disgrace, but to suffer the punishment, due to the meanest and vilest among them all.
He emptied himself — Of that divine fulness, which he received again at his exaltation. Though he remained full, John 1:14, yet he appeared as if he had been empty; for he veiled his fulness from the sight of men and angels. Yea, he not only veiled, but, in some sense, renounced, the glory which he had before the world began.
Taking — And by that very act emptying himself.
The form of a servant — The form, the likeness, the fashion, though not exactly the same, are yet nearly related to each other. The form expresses something absolute; the likeness refers to other things of the same kind; the fashion respects what appears to sight and sense.
Being made in the likeness of men — A real man, like other men. Hereby he took the form of a servant.
Verse 8
[8] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
And being found in fashion as a man — A common man, without any peculiar excellence or comeliness.
He humbled himself — To a still greater depth.
Becoming obedient — To God, though equal with him.
Even unto death — The greatest instance both of humiliation and obedience.
Yea, the death of the cross — Inflicted on few but servants or slaves.
Verse 9
[9] Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Wherefore — Because of his voluntary humiliation and obedience. He humbled himself; but God hath exalted him - So recompensing his humiliation.
And hath given him — So recompensing his emptying himself.
A name which is above every name — Dignity and majesty superior to every creature.
Verse 10
[10] That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
That every knee — That divine honour might be paid in every possible manner by every creature.
Might bow — Either with love or trembling.
Of those in heaven, earth, under the earth — That is, through the whole universe.
Verse 11
[11] And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And every tongue — Even of his enemies.
Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord — Jehovah; not now "in the form of a servant," but enthroned in the glory of God the Father.
Verse 12
[12] Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Wherefore — Having proposed Christ's example, he exhorts them to secure the salvation which Christ has purchased.
As ye have always — Hitherto.
Obeyed — Both God, and me his minister.
Now in my absence — When ye have not me to instruct, assist, and direct you.
Work out your own salvation — Herein let every man aim at his own things.
With fear and trembling — With the utmost care and diligence.
Verse 13
[13] For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
For it is God — God alone, who is with you, though I am not.
That worketh in you according to his good pleasure — Not for any merit of yours. Yet his influences are not to supersede, but to encourage, our own efforts.
Work out your own salvation — Here is our duty.
For it is God that worketh in you — Here is our encouragement. And O, what a glorious encouragement, to have the arm of Omnipotence stretched out for our support and our succour!
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