Devote All to Christ
Pastor Ed Evans
January 27, 2019
Pastor Ed Evans
January 27, 2019
Philippians 2:1-11
2 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy, 2 complete my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other. 3 Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. 4 Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. 5 Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:
6 Though he was in the form of God,
he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.
7 But he emptied himself
by taking the form of a slave
and by becoming like human beings.
When he found himself in the form of a human,
8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God highly honored him
and gave him a name above all names,
10 so that at the name of Jesus everyone
in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow
11 and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
2 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy, 2 complete my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other. 3 Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. 4 Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. 5 Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:
6 Though he was in the form of God,
he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.
7 But he emptied himself
by taking the form of a slave
and by becoming like human beings.
When he found himself in the form of a human,
8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God highly honored him
and gave him a name above all names,
10 so that at the name of Jesus everyone
in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow
11 and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Key Verse: “Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves.”
Prayer:
Father, guide us as we seek to do Your will. Sometimes we have felt like we’ve been unfocused. The days go by and it seems like we haven’t done enough of what is important and have spent too much time on frivolous things. Father, remove us from the thorns and weeds that have been distracting us from what is truly important. Remove from us those things that have been robbing us of the time and energy that You give us to accomplish Your will, not our own will.
We really do want to do what You created each of us to do. Through this lesson, write Your will for each of us in our hearts. We ask this because we do delight to do Your will, Father. Take those bits of our will and change them into Your will, and place it in our heart, that it may be our will, Father, each one of us. For we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Father, guide us as we seek to do Your will. Sometimes we have felt like we’ve been unfocused. The days go by and it seems like we haven’t done enough of what is important and have spent too much time on frivolous things. Father, remove us from the thorns and weeds that have been distracting us from what is truly important. Remove from us those things that have been robbing us of the time and energy that You give us to accomplish Your will, not our own will.
We really do want to do what You created each of us to do. Through this lesson, write Your will for each of us in our hearts. We ask this because we do delight to do Your will, Father. Take those bits of our will and change them into Your will, and place it in our heart, that it may be our will, Father, each one of us. For we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Sometimes when my computer doesn’t seem to be working correctly, I back out, restart it, and let it default to the manufacturer’s specifications. And things seem to go smoothly after that. So the stated purpose of our lesson really hit home with me: “To learn to reset our mind-defaults to the way Jesus views things.” I can understand what the author of our lesson meant by that.
Now, in the passages we are studying, what I’m referring to as mind-default comes across as the Greek word “phroneo”. And your student book suggests such synonyms as mindset, attitude, outlook, perspective, or a way of thinking. What about you? What sort of thoughts came to you as you read the phrase “mind-default”? The idea of resetting our minds to the way Jesus views things.
# # #
It might be helpful to know that in its original language, “phroneo” is more nuanced than simply a mental process.
The Greek term phroneo is related to a word referring to the human diaphragm, a muscle that holds in or restrains. This area of the body was believed to be the seat of all intellectual and emotional activities. Consequently, Paul’s use of it in his letter is meant to connote not only brain-thinking and heart-thinking, but also reasoning and affections, implying more than simply having a thought about something.
I think it’s interesting that when you go looking for commentary on these 11 verses Paul writes, you find entire chapters and books written to unpack the insights contained herein. And especially pages and pages just on verses 5-11, sometimes referred to as the Christ Hymn, dealing with the nature, person, and deeds of Jesus Christ.
But Bible scholars tell us that oddly enough, Paul didn’t intend to focus just on that, but instead his purpose was to persuade you and I that we must give up our own preferences for the sake of others. To guide us into unity is Paul’s purpose, and as we consider resetting the mind-default to that of Jesus, Paul wants us to know that crucial to having the mind of Christ is being one in Christ.
As Paul is exhorting or advice-giving, Bible scholar Fred Craddock breaks down for us Paul’s three-prong approach. He says that part of this lesson must include verses 27-30 from Chapter one, which concerns the Christian's conduct within a hostile world, but which is not part of our lesson. Then within our lesson, Chapter 2, verses 1-11 concern conduct within the believing community. And thirdly, Chapter 2, verses 12-16 concern conduct in relation to Paul. So since our lesson in Chapter 2 is actually within the context of the preceding chapter, let’s start there, with being a Christian in a hostile world.
As it turns out, the four verses that appear in your Bible in Chapter 1, verses 27 through 30, are in the original Greek text just one long sentence, with multiple clauses connected by words that function like the English words “and, which, but, and because. Our English translation obscures this by inserting a few strategically placed periods.
But, in making the original text more readable for us, our English translations also obscure the fact that all the clauses in what are now verses 27-30 are dependent on one main verb, translated “Conduct yourselves” or, as the NRSV puts it, “live your life.”
It really means to live as citizens, to exercise your citizen’s rights, to conduct yourself in a manner worthy of citizenship.” In other words, Paul’s advice was for the Philippian Christians to live out their faith like they lived out their duty as Ro9man citizens. They should see their faith in Christ as a privilege, a civic duty in a way, a right to be maintained even in the face of social or political opposition.
Paul wanted us to know that the church is not to hide nor apologize for its existence. It is possible, in fact, it is incumbent upon them, to live among the people and institutions of Philippi in a way that is informed and disciplined by the gospel of Christ.
Let me repeat that, changing just one word: Paul wanted us to know that the church is not to hide nor apologize for its existence. It is possible, in fact, is incumbent upon them, to live among the people and the institutions of America in a way that is informed and disciplined by the gospel of Christ.
The question raises itself – do the Christians of this nation have as much impact on society, on everyday living, on how people act, as they did when we were growing up? Are the people around us really as full of themselves as they seem on the news reports and the TV shows? What do you think?
# # #
The Philippians were to live, like good citizens, with honor and, like accomplished athletes, to strive “side by side” on behalf of the gospel. Just as citizenship is a privilege, so athletic co0mpeition is also a privilege.
Paul’s second point – Being Christian in the Church – begins his second chapter. Now, this passage begins with a series of “ifs” which most English Bibles do not repeat, but Paul does that to set the tone, to give his hearers a brief reality check. In the original Greek, this verse is a clause that contains no verbs, being understand by their context. Perhaps Paul’s intent was to emphasize the concrete traits that already characterized the Philippian church: such as encouragement, consolation, Koinoinia of spirit, compassion, and sympathy. All things he saw in that church.
One way that first verse might read is this: “Since in you there is encouragement, since in you there is consolation, since in you there is a fellowship of the Spirit, since in you there is compassion and sympathy.” Paul didn’t doubt the genuineness of the Philippians’ faith and life. On the contrary, he is not only affirming them but is building his call for progress and maturity upon those very faith and life experiences.
Paul is wisely rejecting the guilt trip approach, and is able to nourish his exhortation with what is typically the most unused resource in the church: who the members are, and what they already know.
In verse 2 – 4, we find what may be clues that the church at Philippi was, like any church, dealing with some measure of internal conflict, perhaps even divisiveness. If so, Paul was clearly trying to appeal to the church’s better nature.
Why get bogged down in pettiness and disagreements with one another, Paul asks? Why not manage your difficulties out of the gifts you know you possess and express as a believing community. Give me something celebrate, he says, confirm the joy I already have as a fellow follower in Christ; come together, all of you, in attitude and action.
But Paul isn’t talking about some sort of group-think. It was General George Patton who said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”
No, Paul has something higher in mind, and this is where we hark back to that phrase we began talking about, a phrase your student book mentions: mind-default.
Bible scholar Stanley P. Saunders puts it this way: “It is pure, single-minded devotion to the gospel proclaimed and embodied by Christ … Paul’s call to have one mind does not mean, however, that there is no room for diversity of thought or opinion within the community, nor that Christians will agree on every topic.”
This is a crucial concept for the Philippians to grasp – especially now, as he is about to elaborate on its meaning in just a few verses.
Before Paul launches into what has been called his hymn to Christ, Paul went into a bit more description of this mind-default, or attitude, as it involved a mutual humility. The phrase in verse 3, here translated as “think of others as better than yourselves,” or as The Message Bible puts it -- “Don’t push your way to th4e front”, might be better grasped by picturing ourselves in a long checkout line at Krogers or Publix, and deciding to invite those standing behind us to take a place in front of us.
Now, if we can understand this sense of Paul’s statement, we should realize he is not advocating the loss of self-esteem or self-respect, but on the contrary, he is offering this behavior as evidence of the dignity they have in Christ.”
You and I should already realize the dignity we have in Christ, but do they? Show them.
Noteworthy here in verse 4 is that looking out first for the interests of others, this was not a particularly unique idea in Paul’s day. It would ha been considered a component of good citizenship, challenging for certain but not new. Was WAS new was Paul’s use of Jesus Christ as the model for this kind of radical humility.
In verse 5, Paul begins his segue into his hymn to Christ. Our lesson book translation reads simply, “Adopt the attitude that was in Jesus Christ.” This is one reason I still love the King James Version, and we are blessed to have different versions to compare. The KJV reads “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”
Once again, Paul reiterate one of the great themes of this part of his letter: the importance of having the mind-default, or attitude, of Christ. But how do you interpret what Paul says here? And I ask that because how we interpret what Paul says in this verse affects how we understand what we make of it.
If this mindset we need is the mindset belonging to Christ, then our response is imitation, to live it out as close to Christ’s example as possible. If this mindset is already ours by the gift of being in Christ, then our response is participation – to live it out as a community formed in and by Christ.
Actually, whichever translation you prefer, that’s fine, because scholar David Bartlett suggests that in all likelihood, Paul is telling the Philippians to be the kind of community they already are in Christ Jesus.
As to what is often referred to in verses 6-11 as Paul’s hymn to Christ, there seems to be little agreement among scholars whether it constitutes and early Christian hymn, whether it came from Greek or Jewish sources, and how Paul came to use it, either specific to the Philippian church, or perhaps taken from another context.
Fred Craddock offers that “the majority opinion is that Paul is quoting a hymn which arose in another context to address another problem, perhaps a Christological one.
The hymn imagines two Christological moments: the first emphasizing Christ’s giving of self; the second emphasizing Christ’s receiving divine glory. In the first movement, Jesus acts. In the second movement, God acts.
First we learn that Christ “made Himself nothing”, often rendered “emptied Himself”, emphasizing Christ doing this to Himself. Then we learn how He made Himself nothing, by taking on the form of a slave, accepting the inferior status of being human. The description is of Christ coming under all the conditions of the human lot … to all the forces and powers that determine human life. The reader of the New Testament encounters these forces, variously termed principalities, powers, angels, thrones dominions, elemental spirits. In the cosmology of Paul’s time, these spirit forces were regarded as the rulers over human affairs, determining issues of life and death. For this reasons, a Christ who was fully human would come under the influence of these hostile powers, even to His death.
Jesus’ actions was to become humiliated. The book “Interpretation Bible Studies” tells us “The word Paul uses here really signifies the act of placing oneself in solidarity with the humiliated … that is, complete identification of oneself with those who huddle together on the broken, bottom rung of the human ladder … When Jesus comes into the world as a slave, He embodies God’s complete identification with the humiliated, precisely what Paul wants the Philippians to practice in their life together.”
In verses 7-11 now, we see Paul choosing to speak in the superlative. God’s act of honoring Christ is a highest exaltation; and God’s name of Christ is a bestowing of a hyper name, a name above all names.
The scene Paul sets is of every creature gathered around the heavenly throne, in which Jesus, given the name “Lord”, becomes the channel through which God is glorified. Paul knew full well that in Philippi to declare anything other than “Caesar is Lord” would be heard as a direct challenge to the social and political order of the day. But Paul the prisoner, in his government-issued chains, envisioned here in Christ the fulfilment of God’s promise to all Israel and all Rome alike.
No one is beyond the redemptive power of God’s act of love made known in the willing relinquishment of all power by Christ’s act of obedient service. Paul is begging them, “Get that in your head, people!” In today’s common act of success, this is where Paul “drops the mic” – that gesture of intentionally dropping the microphone at the end of a speech or performance as a signal act of triumph and success.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
I want to end by reading aloud this excerpt from a letter written by Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor under King Henry VIII. You may recall Sir Thomas More was against Protestantism, supporting the Catholic Church, and declared the King could not be the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Sir Thomas More was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, but at the last minute the King commuted his sentence to decapitation. Atop the scaffold his executioner begged his pardon; Sir Thomas More rose, kissed the man on the cheek, smiled and forgave him. His last words were “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.” He died July 6, 1535.
The scholar, statesman, and devout Catholic sent this letter from his cell in the Tower of London, in the year 1534.
Compare in your mind Paul’s exhortation not to “do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourself”, and More’s intent to “take it patiently, and peradventure somewhat gladly.”
“[Dear] Margret, … I know myself well worthy that God should let me slip, yet can I not but trust in His merciful goodness, that as His grace hath strengthened me hi8therto, and made me content in my heart, to lose goods, lands and life too, rather than to sear against my conscience, and hath also put in the King toward me that good and gracious mind, that as yet he hath taken from me nothing but my liberty … I cannot, I say, therefore mistrust the grace of God, but that either He shall conserve and keep the King in that gracious mind still to do me none hurt, or else … His grace shall give me the strength to take it patiently, and peradventure somewhat gladly too …
“And therefore mine own good daughter, never trouble they mind for anything that ever shall hap me in this world. Nothing can come but that that God will. And I make me very sure that whatsoever that be, seem it never so bad in sight, it shall indeed be the best. And with this, my good child, I pray you heartily, be you and all your sisters and my sons too, comfortable and serviceable to your good mother my wife. Commend me to them all.”
You may recall Sir Thomas More was against Protestantism, supporting the Catholic Church, and declared the King could not be the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Sir Thomas More was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, but at the last minute the King commuted his sentence to decapitation. Atop the scaffold his executioner begged his pardon; Sir Thomas More rose, kissed the man on the cheek, smiled and forgave him. His last words were “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”
Any questions or thoughts as we close?
If not, let us close by reciting together the prayer in your student book on page 67:
“O God, help us to perceive the mind of Christ in the situations of our lives and to use that perception to guide our conduct; in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”
Now, in the passages we are studying, what I’m referring to as mind-default comes across as the Greek word “phroneo”. And your student book suggests such synonyms as mindset, attitude, outlook, perspective, or a way of thinking. What about you? What sort of thoughts came to you as you read the phrase “mind-default”? The idea of resetting our minds to the way Jesus views things.
# # #
It might be helpful to know that in its original language, “phroneo” is more nuanced than simply a mental process.
The Greek term phroneo is related to a word referring to the human diaphragm, a muscle that holds in or restrains. This area of the body was believed to be the seat of all intellectual and emotional activities. Consequently, Paul’s use of it in his letter is meant to connote not only brain-thinking and heart-thinking, but also reasoning and affections, implying more than simply having a thought about something.
I think it’s interesting that when you go looking for commentary on these 11 verses Paul writes, you find entire chapters and books written to unpack the insights contained herein. And especially pages and pages just on verses 5-11, sometimes referred to as the Christ Hymn, dealing with the nature, person, and deeds of Jesus Christ.
But Bible scholars tell us that oddly enough, Paul didn’t intend to focus just on that, but instead his purpose was to persuade you and I that we must give up our own preferences for the sake of others. To guide us into unity is Paul’s purpose, and as we consider resetting the mind-default to that of Jesus, Paul wants us to know that crucial to having the mind of Christ is being one in Christ.
As Paul is exhorting or advice-giving, Bible scholar Fred Craddock breaks down for us Paul’s three-prong approach. He says that part of this lesson must include verses 27-30 from Chapter one, which concerns the Christian's conduct within a hostile world, but which is not part of our lesson. Then within our lesson, Chapter 2, verses 1-11 concern conduct within the believing community. And thirdly, Chapter 2, verses 12-16 concern conduct in relation to Paul. So since our lesson in Chapter 2 is actually within the context of the preceding chapter, let’s start there, with being a Christian in a hostile world.
As it turns out, the four verses that appear in your Bible in Chapter 1, verses 27 through 30, are in the original Greek text just one long sentence, with multiple clauses connected by words that function like the English words “and, which, but, and because. Our English translation obscures this by inserting a few strategically placed periods.
But, in making the original text more readable for us, our English translations also obscure the fact that all the clauses in what are now verses 27-30 are dependent on one main verb, translated “Conduct yourselves” or, as the NRSV puts it, “live your life.”
It really means to live as citizens, to exercise your citizen’s rights, to conduct yourself in a manner worthy of citizenship.” In other words, Paul’s advice was for the Philippian Christians to live out their faith like they lived out their duty as Ro9man citizens. They should see their faith in Christ as a privilege, a civic duty in a way, a right to be maintained even in the face of social or political opposition.
Paul wanted us to know that the church is not to hide nor apologize for its existence. It is possible, in fact, it is incumbent upon them, to live among the people and institutions of Philippi in a way that is informed and disciplined by the gospel of Christ.
Let me repeat that, changing just one word: Paul wanted us to know that the church is not to hide nor apologize for its existence. It is possible, in fact, is incumbent upon them, to live among the people and the institutions of America in a way that is informed and disciplined by the gospel of Christ.
The question raises itself – do the Christians of this nation have as much impact on society, on everyday living, on how people act, as they did when we were growing up? Are the people around us really as full of themselves as they seem on the news reports and the TV shows? What do you think?
# # #
The Philippians were to live, like good citizens, with honor and, like accomplished athletes, to strive “side by side” on behalf of the gospel. Just as citizenship is a privilege, so athletic co0mpeition is also a privilege.
Paul’s second point – Being Christian in the Church – begins his second chapter. Now, this passage begins with a series of “ifs” which most English Bibles do not repeat, but Paul does that to set the tone, to give his hearers a brief reality check. In the original Greek, this verse is a clause that contains no verbs, being understand by their context. Perhaps Paul’s intent was to emphasize the concrete traits that already characterized the Philippian church: such as encouragement, consolation, Koinoinia of spirit, compassion, and sympathy. All things he saw in that church.
One way that first verse might read is this: “Since in you there is encouragement, since in you there is consolation, since in you there is a fellowship of the Spirit, since in you there is compassion and sympathy.” Paul didn’t doubt the genuineness of the Philippians’ faith and life. On the contrary, he is not only affirming them but is building his call for progress and maturity upon those very faith and life experiences.
Paul is wisely rejecting the guilt trip approach, and is able to nourish his exhortation with what is typically the most unused resource in the church: who the members are, and what they already know.
In verse 2 – 4, we find what may be clues that the church at Philippi was, like any church, dealing with some measure of internal conflict, perhaps even divisiveness. If so, Paul was clearly trying to appeal to the church’s better nature.
Why get bogged down in pettiness and disagreements with one another, Paul asks? Why not manage your difficulties out of the gifts you know you possess and express as a believing community. Give me something celebrate, he says, confirm the joy I already have as a fellow follower in Christ; come together, all of you, in attitude and action.
But Paul isn’t talking about some sort of group-think. It was General George Patton who said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”
No, Paul has something higher in mind, and this is where we hark back to that phrase we began talking about, a phrase your student book mentions: mind-default.
Bible scholar Stanley P. Saunders puts it this way: “It is pure, single-minded devotion to the gospel proclaimed and embodied by Christ … Paul’s call to have one mind does not mean, however, that there is no room for diversity of thought or opinion within the community, nor that Christians will agree on every topic.”
This is a crucial concept for the Philippians to grasp – especially now, as he is about to elaborate on its meaning in just a few verses.
Before Paul launches into what has been called his hymn to Christ, Paul went into a bit more description of this mind-default, or attitude, as it involved a mutual humility. The phrase in verse 3, here translated as “think of others as better than yourselves,” or as The Message Bible puts it -- “Don’t push your way to th4e front”, might be better grasped by picturing ourselves in a long checkout line at Krogers or Publix, and deciding to invite those standing behind us to take a place in front of us.
Now, if we can understand this sense of Paul’s statement, we should realize he is not advocating the loss of self-esteem or self-respect, but on the contrary, he is offering this behavior as evidence of the dignity they have in Christ.”
You and I should already realize the dignity we have in Christ, but do they? Show them.
Noteworthy here in verse 4 is that looking out first for the interests of others, this was not a particularly unique idea in Paul’s day. It would ha been considered a component of good citizenship, challenging for certain but not new. Was WAS new was Paul’s use of Jesus Christ as the model for this kind of radical humility.
In verse 5, Paul begins his segue into his hymn to Christ. Our lesson book translation reads simply, “Adopt the attitude that was in Jesus Christ.” This is one reason I still love the King James Version, and we are blessed to have different versions to compare. The KJV reads “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”
Once again, Paul reiterate one of the great themes of this part of his letter: the importance of having the mind-default, or attitude, of Christ. But how do you interpret what Paul says here? And I ask that because how we interpret what Paul says in this verse affects how we understand what we make of it.
If this mindset we need is the mindset belonging to Christ, then our response is imitation, to live it out as close to Christ’s example as possible. If this mindset is already ours by the gift of being in Christ, then our response is participation – to live it out as a community formed in and by Christ.
Actually, whichever translation you prefer, that’s fine, because scholar David Bartlett suggests that in all likelihood, Paul is telling the Philippians to be the kind of community they already are in Christ Jesus.
As to what is often referred to in verses 6-11 as Paul’s hymn to Christ, there seems to be little agreement among scholars whether it constitutes and early Christian hymn, whether it came from Greek or Jewish sources, and how Paul came to use it, either specific to the Philippian church, or perhaps taken from another context.
Fred Craddock offers that “the majority opinion is that Paul is quoting a hymn which arose in another context to address another problem, perhaps a Christological one.
The hymn imagines two Christological moments: the first emphasizing Christ’s giving of self; the second emphasizing Christ’s receiving divine glory. In the first movement, Jesus acts. In the second movement, God acts.
First we learn that Christ “made Himself nothing”, often rendered “emptied Himself”, emphasizing Christ doing this to Himself. Then we learn how He made Himself nothing, by taking on the form of a slave, accepting the inferior status of being human. The description is of Christ coming under all the conditions of the human lot … to all the forces and powers that determine human life. The reader of the New Testament encounters these forces, variously termed principalities, powers, angels, thrones dominions, elemental spirits. In the cosmology of Paul’s time, these spirit forces were regarded as the rulers over human affairs, determining issues of life and death. For this reasons, a Christ who was fully human would come under the influence of these hostile powers, even to His death.
Jesus’ actions was to become humiliated. The book “Interpretation Bible Studies” tells us “The word Paul uses here really signifies the act of placing oneself in solidarity with the humiliated … that is, complete identification of oneself with those who huddle together on the broken, bottom rung of the human ladder … When Jesus comes into the world as a slave, He embodies God’s complete identification with the humiliated, precisely what Paul wants the Philippians to practice in their life together.”
In verses 7-11 now, we see Paul choosing to speak in the superlative. God’s act of honoring Christ is a highest exaltation; and God’s name of Christ is a bestowing of a hyper name, a name above all names.
The scene Paul sets is of every creature gathered around the heavenly throne, in which Jesus, given the name “Lord”, becomes the channel through which God is glorified. Paul knew full well that in Philippi to declare anything other than “Caesar is Lord” would be heard as a direct challenge to the social and political order of the day. But Paul the prisoner, in his government-issued chains, envisioned here in Christ the fulfilment of God’s promise to all Israel and all Rome alike.
No one is beyond the redemptive power of God’s act of love made known in the willing relinquishment of all power by Christ’s act of obedient service. Paul is begging them, “Get that in your head, people!” In today’s common act of success, this is where Paul “drops the mic” – that gesture of intentionally dropping the microphone at the end of a speech or performance as a signal act of triumph and success.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
I want to end by reading aloud this excerpt from a letter written by Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor under King Henry VIII. You may recall Sir Thomas More was against Protestantism, supporting the Catholic Church, and declared the King could not be the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Sir Thomas More was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, but at the last minute the King commuted his sentence to decapitation. Atop the scaffold his executioner begged his pardon; Sir Thomas More rose, kissed the man on the cheek, smiled and forgave him. His last words were “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.” He died July 6, 1535.
The scholar, statesman, and devout Catholic sent this letter from his cell in the Tower of London, in the year 1534.
Compare in your mind Paul’s exhortation not to “do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourself”, and More’s intent to “take it patiently, and peradventure somewhat gladly.”
“[Dear] Margret, … I know myself well worthy that God should let me slip, yet can I not but trust in His merciful goodness, that as His grace hath strengthened me hi8therto, and made me content in my heart, to lose goods, lands and life too, rather than to sear against my conscience, and hath also put in the King toward me that good and gracious mind, that as yet he hath taken from me nothing but my liberty … I cannot, I say, therefore mistrust the grace of God, but that either He shall conserve and keep the King in that gracious mind still to do me none hurt, or else … His grace shall give me the strength to take it patiently, and peradventure somewhat gladly too …
“And therefore mine own good daughter, never trouble they mind for anything that ever shall hap me in this world. Nothing can come but that that God will. And I make me very sure that whatsoever that be, seem it never so bad in sight, it shall indeed be the best. And with this, my good child, I pray you heartily, be you and all your sisters and my sons too, comfortable and serviceable to your good mother my wife. Commend me to them all.”
You may recall Sir Thomas More was against Protestantism, supporting the Catholic Church, and declared the King could not be the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Sir Thomas More was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, but at the last minute the King commuted his sentence to decapitation. Atop the scaffold his executioner begged his pardon; Sir Thomas More rose, kissed the man on the cheek, smiled and forgave him. His last words were “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”
Any questions or thoughts as we close?
If not, let us close by reciting together the prayer in your student book on page 67:
“O God, help us to perceive the mind of Christ in the situations of our lives and to use that perception to guide our conduct; in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”
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