This Sunday, we are once again reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippian Christians.
Last week, we focused on Paul’s introductory sentences. He expressed his greetings and goodwill to the Philippian church He then described his present imprisonment as less of a punishment and more of an opportunity – apparently, the guards and officials who he met with were all becoming Christians because of Paul’s persuasive evangelism. He encouraged the Philippians to be brave in sharing their faith with others.
This morning, we turn to a portion of the same letter often called “The Christ Hymn.”
Listen to the reading of Paul’s words as we turn to the Letter to the Philippians, chapter two, verses one through thirteen:
The Scripture Lesson Philippians 2:1-13
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.
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.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
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!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
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.
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray….
The Message The Christ Hymn
People have a tendency to disagree with each other. Even little children, despite having innocent and sweet dispositions, will sometimes engage in battles with each other – snatching toys from one another’s hands, biting, hitting, tattle-telling, and temper-tandrums….it starts early.
Because disagreements are so second nature to us, we have developed many processes to treat-people fairly and for people to feel like their opinions matter. Historians can describe ancient attempts at representative governments and democracies – initially, free, male citizens were granted a say in how their governments were ordered. Even our own country initially thought it could best be governed by free, male, White, landowning citizens…. the rest of us have gradually been granted a say in the decisions of our government, or at least who should represent us in our government.
In churches, we have a variety of ways to organize ourselves. Some churches are organized on an episcopal model; these churches are governed by bishops who oversee the churches and appoint the pastors. The bishops meet at councils to decide church policies and establish doctrine.
Other churches are organized on a presbyterian model; these churches are governed by a board of elected elders and the minister of the church. This board makes decisions on behalf of the church, and is accountable to a multi-church decision making body.
The third main type of church organization is the congregation model. Each church is self-governing and decisions are made by all of the members of the church. The churches may participate in a network of other churches, but that network has no hierarchical authority over local churches.
Our church, Trinity Christian UCC, seems to be a combination of both the presbyterian model and the congregational model – perhaps we take the best of both models and meld them together. We are congregational in that our congregation is self-governing – we all vote on our budget, we all vote to hire our ministers, we all vote on important matters for our church. We participate in a loose confederation of UCC churches, but no one can tell us how to run our local congregation or what doctrine our members must accept. On the other hand, our congregation also elects a board – our consistory – that conducts business on behalf of the congregation in-between our whale church meetings, which is a little presbyterian with a small p.
Some churches, like the Quakers, decide everything by consensus. They follow the most extreme version of the congregational organizational model – they don’t vote, they just talk out issues until everyone agrees…
In all of the church governance models, the Quakers may be the best at applying what Paul wrote about in the portion of the letter to the Philippians we read today – He wanted the people of the Philippian congregation to “ being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind..” and to “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. “
Paul wanted the people of the Philippian church to become one in spirit and one in mind….no more disagreements…loving in all ways…perfectly unified.
Paul encouraged the church to be like-minded because he was hearing reports that the people were bickering. So, perhaps in an order-correction, Paul wanted them to be loving and fully agreeable in all things….to be of one accord.
Paul was imploring the people of Philippi’s church to be idealistically “perfectly in agreement” about all things.
If only people (and churches) would work this way — perhaps then we would fully embody the Kingdom of God on earth.
Paul established unity as a goal, an ideal – a good ideal, but perhaps a tad optimistic – or a tad impossible.
Group harmony and cohesion is something we all have to work on. In my years as a pastor, I have heard many tales of church failings – congregations who fight because they can’t agree on carpet color or what temperature the thermostat should be set at during worship…churches who erupt into disagreements about when the pre-service music should start or if we can remove an artificial plant that Aunt Mabel donated to sit atop the piano 40 years ago…. It can get ugly.
In 1627, during the 30 years war, Lutheran theologian
Rupertus Meldenius published a tract concerning the need for Christian unity. In it, he wrote this famous motto: “In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials LIberty, In All Things Charity.” In all things charity…church folks must lead with “love” in our dealings with each other, accept differences about non-important things, and work together to be united in the most essential elements of our shared faith.
Why have Christians worried about how to live together well for almost 2000 years? Why does it matter if Bertha’s family leaves the church because they don’t like the flavor of the coffee during fellowship hour? We can do much more together than we can do alone. We are stronger as a body than we are as individuals. Jesus called a team of disciples to work along with him, not rugged individualistic lone rangers.
The church has been called by God to be God’s witness to the world. This is more important now than ever before, because more and more people in our country and our community are ignorant about Christianity. People hear a lot of odd things about Christians – they know Christians in some states are demanding the 10 Commandments be placed on classroom walls – they know President Trump has said negative things about the Catholic Pope – they know Christians were boycotting Target – they hear these random headlines about Christianity but they may not know why these things have happened…and they may have no context to understand how diverse Christians are about their political views and social views.
We want people to know that God loves them, we love them, and we are called to work together to repair our broken world. If we are busy duking it out over whether or not to have a television screen in our sanctuary, or what kind of anthem the choir should sing, or what brand of weed-eater the Property committee should buy – if we are busy worrying about trivial things, we won’t have time or energy to share the message of the Gospel – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
So, my friends, let us live out the message of Paul, and work to be like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. And, let us do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
Let us be living examples of the Gospel-message, and love God and everyone we meet. Amen.