Apr 27, 2023
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. (Philippians 2:1-2)
Today is the completion of yesterday’s phrase. As Pastor Michael noted yesterday, the Philippians have received many gifts from Christ: union with him, comfort from his love, a sharing in the one, single Holy Spirit that he gives, and the tenderness and compassion that he offers. What should they do with it?
“Make my joy complete” says Paul. That’s what they should do with these gifts given by Christ. Now that may come off as rather selfish in our ears, but I do not think this is intended as emotional manipulation. Paul’s joy (as he has alluded to a few times already in chapter 1) is to see Christ and to see Christ preached, even if that means his death. Paul’s desire then, is to see Christ in the church at Philippi and for others to see the same. I would imagine Paul also believes the church’s own joy will be found in this way.
When an outside world looks in at a church fighting against itself: they do not see a Christ who reconciles all the world to the Father through the putting to death of sin, flesh, and the devil. In fact, they don’t see any good news at all: they see a train wreck that one does well to steer clear of. A quarreling church witnesses to a Christ who is just as ineffective as any other over-promised, under-delivered product on the market. It doesn’t matter how good or correct the theology is if it cannot put on flesh and walk around in the neighbourhood of our real world lives.
So, says Paul—if you have received the gift of union with the One Lord Jesus Christ and the One Spirit he gives—and you have—then respond by being what Christ has made you! Be of that One Spirit, standing together in that union in Christ—of one mind, soul, and heart! If you have received the gift of Christ’s comforting love—and you have—then respond by offering to one another what Christ has offered to you: his agape love.
Paul begins and ends this second phrase with a similar word: like-minded, of one mind. I have found in reflection on the letters of Paul that when he uses words that refer to “mind” (and there are a few different ones that he uses), often he is making reference to the cross of Christ. The mind/attitude of Christ, ultimately, was the cross. It was a mindset of humility: dying to self, emptying oneself, submitting oneself to God, and offering oneself for the sake of another.
In some ways I feel like a broken record player, repeating the same thing over and over and over and over again in most every devotion I write. But I think there’s a lot of that in this letter. The cross of Christ is the way of Christ. It is the mindset of Christ. It is what Paul is attempting to live, and it is what Paul attempts to invite the Philippians to live, especially as an antidote to division.
So if any of us have any sharing in Christ or any receiving of his gifts—and we do—then this cross is ours as well. Paul’s invitation everywhere and always is to make his joy and our own joy complete by taking up this cross and following Jesus. In doing so, we learn what it is to love and what it means to be united in Christ, even in our diversity. Is it a hard road? Sure. But Jesus walked it first. And: I believe that Jesus walks it still with every disciple who desires to respond in kind to him.