Philippians 2:1-13 "Becoming Christ-like"

 

Over the past two weeks, several hundred clergy from various Christian denominations - some evangelical, some mainstream, some progressive - have signed a statement calling on their fellow clergy to preach on issues related to the upcoming election, with a focus on the type of leader we as Christians should vote for. 

Pastors and other religious leaders who act with integrity generally do not tell you who you should vote for. On the other hand, it is appropriate and even necessary for religious leaders to lift up biblical values, and to hold leaders accountable to biblical calls for justice and compassion, especially as these things pertain to those who are most vulnerable in our society.

One suggestion that was made to pastors was to preach on Philippians, chapter 2, and highlight the qualities of a leader that are mentioned there - qualities exemplified by Christ himself.

But I thought: No, I want to get back to the lectionary. I took a detour from the lectionary when I stuck with the story of Moses at the burning bush for four weeks, and I really want to get back to the lectionary. 

Using the lectionary is a good practice for me, it unites our church with thousands of other Christian congregations who also use the lectionary in their weekly worship services, and it prevents the preacher from only ever preaching on their favorite verses and neglecting other passages that might be more challenging.

So I went and looked up the scriptures for today, September 27, 2020, the 17th Sunday after Pentecost in year A of the three-year lectionary cycle… and guess what was listed there?

Philippians 2. So here we go!

Philippians was written by the apostle Paul to the church in Philippi - hence its name.

And the church in Philippi was having a hard time. There were divisions in the church - divisions that threatened to split the church apart.

And Paul was concerned.

Paul was concerned because too many had joined the church hoping to get something good out of it for themselves. They thought that joining the church would make them look good. Maybe they had difficulty gaining influence and power in government, but the church - maybe the church could help them move up in society.

Unfortunately, when you get too many people thinking these thoughts, power struggles ensue. We see that in churches today; too many congregations find that their ministry has taken a backseat to the struggles for power, as too many people in those congregations seek glory not for Christ, but for themselves.

And, certainly, pastors are not exempt from this. We’re human, too! Pastors want respect, at least; pastors want affirmation. At least. And some want even more: adulation. Influence. Wealth. Power. Glory.

In boy scouts, the scout with all the power and all the glory is the Senior Patrol Leader. At least, that’s what I thought when I was a brand new scout. Like most new scouts, I thought the Senior Patrol Leader was the one in charge, the one who gets to sit back in his camp chair and boss everyone else around.

It’s like in the movie Cool Runnings, about the Jamaican bobsled team. There’s a scene in the movie where the four teammates and their coach need to decide who’s going to be the driver of the bobsled. The movie shows that the driver is the leader of the team… which means that, in the eyes of the Jamaican teammates, the driver is the most glorious, most highly exalted, position.

One of the teammates is named Sanka. And Sanka is kind of like the apostle Peter. Always a little too quick to speak up, and often putting his foot in his own mouth.

Sanka says: I'm the driver.

Coach: You're not. You're the brakeman.

Sanka: You don't understand, I am Sanka Coffie, I am the best pushcart driver in all of Jamaica! I must drive! Do you dig where I'm coming from?

Coach: Yeah, I dig where you're coming from.

Sanka: Good.

Coach: Now dig where I'm coming from. I'm coming from two gold medals. I'm coming from nine world records in both the two- and four-man events. I'm coming from ten years of intense competition with the best athletes in the world.

Sanka: That's a [heck] of a place to be coming from!

Coach: You see Sanka, the driver has to work harder than anyone. He's the first to show up, and the last to leave. When his buddies are all out drinking beer, he's up in his room studying pictures of turns. You see, a driver must remain focused one hundred percent at all times. Not only is he responsible for knowing every inch of every course he races, he's also responsible for the lives of the other men in the sled. Now do you want that responsibility?

Sanka: I say we make Derice the driver.

Coach: So do I, Sanka. So do I.

So when I became the Senior Patrol Leader, I quickly learned that there’s more to being a leader than being in charge and bossing people around. 

In reality: the SPL “works harder than anyone. He is the first to show up and the last to leave,” as Coach told Sanka. He makes sure his assistants and his patrol leaders have what they need to succeed. He calls people on the phone with reminders about their responsibilities. If he does it well, the Senior Patrol Leader puts in more time - sacrifices more time - to make sure that the meetings go well.

Because, for a good Senior Patrol Leader, it’s not about sitting in a camp chair and bossing other scouts around. A good Senior Patrol Leader is always thinking about the other scouts in the troop. He doesn’t think about what he wants, but about what all the other scouts want, what the other scouts need. And he works hard so that everything runs smoothly.

This is the type of leader that the apostle Paul says we should aspire to become. And this is the type of leader that we should vote for. 

This is a leader who has the same attitude about things as Jesus did…

And at this point, Paul quotes a hymn that appears to have been sung or said from the very earliest days of the Christian movement. 

He says that Jesus was in the form of God, that God’s nature was in Jesus, which means Jesus could have demanded glory and honor and power… he could have been in charge with so much more power than a Senior Patrol Leader has, and he could have used that power for his own glory.

But he didn’t.

Instead, Jesus emptied himself. And Jesus took the form of a slave or a servant - leadership, to Jesus, was service to others. 

Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to one thing, and that one thing was love for others. God is love, and Jesus was obedient to God, which means Jesus was obedient to love and what love demands. 

And when love demanded of Jesus that he sacrifice his own life, Jesus didn’t hesitate. Because for Jesus, it wasn’t all about him. For us in the church, it’s all about Jesus, but for Jesus, it's all about love and service to others.

It’s all about sacrificing your own glory, your own power, in order to lift up others.

Be like that, Paul says. 

Stop acting out of selfish ambition.

It’s not about you. It’s about everyone, together.

And it was because of Jesus’ obedience and sacrifice and humility that God raised Jesus from the dead. The resurrection is God’s affirmation of how Jesus lived, what Jesus taught, and all that Jesus stood for. 

It’s the complete opposite of sitting in a camp chair, or sitting on a throne, and bossing everyone else around. 

If we want to be Christ-like leaders, we need to follow the example of Christ. That is what being Christ-like means - by definition! 

It means we humble ourselves. It means we think of others. It means we obey God’s command to love our neighbor.

And loving our neighbor means working especially on behalf of the poor, the vulnerable, the oppressed. 

It means speaking out on behalf of justice, and actively confronting the injustice of our world. I heard on Friday that Ruth Bader Ginsberg had a sign in her office which said, in Hebrew: Justice. Justice. That's what you should pursue. It's from Deuteronomy 16, and it's what a Christ-like leader does. 

Being a Christ-like leader who loves one's neighbor means working to overcome racism, in our own ways of thinking, in our church, in our government, and in society.

It means doing everything we can to slow down or stop climate change, especially since the poor and vulnerable are the first to be affected by a changing climate.

It means voting for leaders who will stop the immoral transfer of wealth that has allowed the wealthiest Americans, the top one percent, to profit off of these difficult times while so many regular people are struggling harder than ever.

It means voting for leaders who will not cater to white supremacists.

It means voting for leaders who will not twist the truth and ignore science just to make themselves look good.

It means voting for leaders who - no matter what faith they claim - are willing to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.

It means voting for leaders who will get out of their camp chair, or come down off their throne, or step off the golf course, to show up early and stay late, pursue justice, take responsibility for the lives and wellbeing of those they lead, and do the hard work that is demanded of a leader who is called to serve the people.

That's the kind of leader God calls each of us to be. 

That's the kind of leader God calls each of us to vote for. 

"One Mind With Christ" (Philippians 2)

If I seem a little tired today, it’s only because of the wonderful time I had yesterday at Rock the Loch, the day-long music festival at Loch Leven, which, as you know, is our camp and conference center in the San Bernardino Mountains.


I was one of several people on the planning team for Rock the Loch, although I must say it was Leah Dewey and Doc Rogers who did most of the work. Doc, especially – who knows something about putting on a concert – did much of the behind the scenes preparation. For me, it was kind of scary, not really knowing what all needed to be done, and also because we as a region had never done anything like this before. We didn’t know if we were capable of handling all the logistics, or even all the people that we hoped would attend. Issues like parking and stage setup and electrical power capacity and weather forecasts gave us plenty to worry about.

But we knew we wanted to provide an opportunity to show off a place that has come to mean so much in the lives of so many people. Did I ever tell you that it was at Loch Leven that I finally heard God’s call to the ministry? For hundreds, if not thousands, of people in the Pacific Southwest Region, Loch Leven has been a place of spiritual growth and renewal, a place to hear God calling, a place of life transformation.

So that’s why we wanted to show it off by inviting the region up for a day-long music festival, and maybe even raise a little support for this place that so many of us love so much, a place that has become so important to so many lives.

Our schools are doing a little bit of that “showing off” this week, at least the schools of the Long Beach Unified School District. Back-to-school nights are mostly about meeting the teachers and finding out what your children will be doing in their classrooms in the coming school year, but there is also a time for someone – the principal, usually – to speak and show off the school a little by highlighting a few programs or accomplishments.

A couple of us here have already heard one such speech a week and a half ago, at the Back-to-School Night at Brethren Christian. Yes, the evening did provide an opportunity for the school to “show off” a little.

We heard how much higher test scores were at Brethren Christian than state or national averages. We heard about how much money had been raised for the construction of the new gym – and how we could help raise the rest that was needed. And we heard what percentage of students from Brethren Christian went on to college after graduation.

And while the presentation of these impressive statistics was taking place, I started wondering: if I were to make a similar speech for Bixby Knolls Christian Church, what would I say? What would be the programs and accomplishments that I would highlight if I only had five or ten minutes to show off how successful we are as a congregation?

The most common measure of a congregation’s success is its average worship attendance. When I go to gatherings of other pastors, that’s probably the most common question we ask one another: “So, how many people do you have in worship?”

Now, I love it when worship attendance is up. Having a lot of people in worship is a good thing, and every Sunday I give thanks to God for every one of you who is here in worship. Whether today is your first Sunday here or your 500th, your presence here is a blessing to me, just as I am sure that you are blessed by being here.

Nevertheless, I don’t know how important a sign of success it is that we can get so many people to come in here and, for one hour, sit still.

As if, by coming in here and sitting still for one hour, we can save ourselves … or save our church … or save the world.

Granted, we do a lot more than sit still for one hour when we come to worship. But think of it this way: Jesus came to save the world. As his disciples, that’s our calling as well: to save the world; to bring wholeness to a fragmented world.

Writing to the Philippians, the apostle Paul told them to let the same mind be in them that was in Christ Jesus; to think of themselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. Being one with God, Jesus could have sat on a throne and insisted that people come and serve him, but instead he set aside those privileges and took on the status of a slave, serving others. He lived a selfless, obedient life, and even died a selfless, obedient death, all for the sake of those he came to love and serve.

Church folks cannot sit inside their sanctuaries and wait for the world to come and approach them. That’s what the stereotypical kings and queens of old, in all their haughtiness, did. They sat on their thrones in a grand room inside their castle (a room that wasn’t all that difference in appearance than a chapel), and waited for their subjects to come and bow down before them and offer to them their gifts and their pledge of loyalty and their commitment to serve the crown.

Christ is not that kind of king. Christ doesn’t wait in a palace, on a throne, for his subjects to serve him. Instead, he’s out in the streets, the slums, serving others.

So worship, I think, is not the ultimate demonstration of our success as a congregation. Worship is very important; in worship we honor God and we are equipped for Christian living. But worship is not the end of our obligation to God. It’s where we find out what our obligation to God is.

In that sense, worship is just the beginning.

Our obligation to God is not fulfilled by spending one hour a week sitting in this or any other place of worship. Our obligation to God is

• to follow the example of Christ,

• to go out into our neighborhood, out into the streets, out into the world;

• to humble ourselves and serve others;

• to reach out in love and service; to show kindness and hospitality to strangers.

Our obligation to God is

• to spread the love of God through acts of service and solidarity, uniting ourselves with the world, and especially the poorest, lowliest, and neediest in the world

• to give our lives in service to Christ by serving the least of these

• to recognize that we are our brother’s keeper and our sister’s keeper

• to know that our welfare and their welfare is connected.

• To know that our lives suffer when someone else in our community is suffering, that a person on our block who can’t afford health care makes us sicker, that a person in our neighborhood who suffers from discrimination and prejudice robs our lives of dignity, and that a person in our community without a home or the money to buy food makes our lives poorer.

So, if I were called upon to give a five or ten minute speech showcasing the highlights of our church’s ministry, the signs of our success, I think I’d talk about the group of our members that gathers here on the second Thursday of every month to cook food for the homeless.

I’d talk about how many youth and adults have given up a half hour of their Saturday to improve our neighborhood by picking up trash.

I’d talk about the children around the world who will be warm tonight, wrapped in a blanket they received because of the donations to our blankets+ offering.

I’d talk about the man in Cambodia who lost his leg when he stepped on a landmine, and who contemplated suicide because of the despair he felt at no longer being able to provide for his family, until he received medical care paid for by money we gave to Week of Compassion, and then a water buffalo – a source of income for him – which was paid for by the money our children at Vacation Bible School raised and sent to Heifer International.

I’d talk about the good that so many groups do in our community – boy scouts, girl scouts, karate – that they are able to do because we provide them a place to meet.

I’d talk about the number of young people who commit themselves to lives of service, serving in the Peace Corps, choosing service-oriented careers like teaching or social work, even accepting calls to ministry, because of their experiences at church youth group or camp at Loch Leven.

I’d talk about the number of sack lunches we hand out to people who come to the church office who are hungry.

I’d talk about the many members of our congregation who give back to their community through volunteer work, providing leadership and support to youth organizations, volunteering at the hospital or with the Red Cross, serving on their local PTA, serving on the board of various community and civil rights organizations, sharing their talents with community music organizations or acting companies…

If I had five or ten minutes to show off how successful we are as a congregation, these are the things I would highlight. Worship, I think, provided much of the inspiration for all that we do. The importance of worship in transforming lives for Christ should not be overlooked.

But when the people of Christ look not to their own interests but to the interests of others, making a living sacrifice of their lives by serving their community and their world, giving their life to others in this way … they most fully unite themselves with the mind of Christ, having the same love that he had for the world.

And that’s what it really means to be a follower, a disciple, of Christ.