A Song to Sing, A Life to Live
Philippians 2:5-12
FPCS, October 26, 2014- Stewardship
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death
even death on a cross.
Therefore, God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend in heaven and on earth,
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Dear friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, what a joy it is to be with you once
again this morning. I have missed you! What a gift you all gave to my family and
to me by allowing me to be away over these last months to welcome our newest
little girl, Ella, into our lives. Even in the general chaos that comes with having a
newborn and a three-year old, I have enjoyed every minute (ok, well most of
them anyway).
While away, and in the midst of the routine of feed, play, and sleep that sets our
schedule in these days, I have tried to take on a discipline of attending, of paying
closer attention. No this was and is not easy, and yes Bill can probably attest that I
don’t always do a great job, but I tried and am still trying.
I notice the bright creeping colors in the clouds as the sun rises and sets.
I notice how Maggie has all of the sudden become a little girl,
and how Ella has begun to converse with and giggle at her stuffed owl.
And funny enough, I notice how often we are singing these days.
Whether this is at bedtime after books (twinkle, twinkle), or when rocking to calm
for a nap (hush little baby). When we are singing grace before dinner (Oh the
Lord's been good to me), or in the car on the way home from school (Peanut was
sitting on a railroad track).
When I was a little kid, this drove me nuts— the incessant singing. My mom had a
song for EVERYTHING. Oh how the tide has turned...now I call her to pick her
brain for new ones. What’s that song about the brown squirrel??
There’s some pedagogy that says that singing promotes memory, and can help to
communicate ideas that are heard in a different way than the spoken word.
How did you first learn the alphabet?
Or the states and their capitols?
Beyond helping us learn and remember, songs are a common denominator. They
draw us together. Perhaps this is why they are used so often in social and political
movements. A song can both promote our ideals and unite our voices.
O say can you see…
We shall overcome…
We never feel more included than when we already know all the words.
This is why, I suspect, we especially love the familiar hymns in church- because we
can sing almost without trying. Jesus loves me… We’re projected back to the
hundred other times we sang it, or that one special time. Our brains are relieved
of the work of figuring out the melody or words, and we’re able to experience
something deeply spiritual.
So what a fitting note (excuse the pun) that we- you and I- should begin again
together this morning with a song. A very familiar song at that.
For this is what we have just heard in Paul’s letter to the Philippian church—the
Christ hymn—a liturgical piece likely used by the early Christian congregation in
Philippi even prior to when Paul includes it in this letter. Maybe they began their
worship with this, or used it as a way to affirm their faith in the risen Lord. Maybe
they used it every time they met, or perhaps only on feast day occasions. Maybe
they hummed the tune around the house, or sang it softly to their children in the
morning when they rose and the evening when they lay down. One way or
another, it is quite familiar to them, and that is precisely why Paul uses it.
He knows this community of believers. Paul was out this way some years ago, and
at that time founded the congregation to whom he now speaks with love and
longing. Most of this letter to them is one of encouragement, thanking them for
their support while he is in prison.
Continue along the path of righteousness.
Clothe yourselves with love.
Rejoice in the Lord always.
Yet he also has a warning for them: to remain clear of the false prophets and
teachers who are threatening the unity of the congregation. These ones are
telling them that righteousness can be worked on and achieved through the law
rather than lived into as a gift of Christ. Paul urges his beloved in Philippi to
instead “live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether
I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are
standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the
gospel.” (1:27) This verse 27 in Chapter 1 is an important one because it sets up
our passage this morning.
One spirit. One mind. Did you get that? And so he continues, “Let the same mind
be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”
I’m going to stop here for a minute and admit to you as your pastor that this verse
has always set me on edge.
The same mind as Jesus?
Really Paul?
Might we not set our sights a bit more in the realm of reality?
Now maybe this is something that the Philippians heard and just assented without
any real concern; but it seems to me that asking us regular folk to have the same
mind that is in Christ is a bit like asking an LSU fan to skip the Alabama game to
watch reruns of Law and Order. It goes against our nature.
Maybe we could hope to have Christ in mind. Use him as the gold standard, sure,
but achieving mind meld with Jesus seems a bit out of our reach.
Paul goes on though, and maybe he knows that the reaction of the Philippian
congregation will be similar skepticism, because what he says next sends all of my
kvetching right out the window as he launches into the hymn… “who though he
was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be
exploited.”
Oh… yeah…
Talk about going against nature—or rather, expectation.
Turns out Jesus, God Incarnate, Emmanuel, did just that,
and all for the sake of us to the glory of God.
This hymn sings of just how God in Christ at the same time both shattered and
expanded all of our expectations to come and live among us not as a king but as a
servant. He came not to rule in power but to serve in powerlessness. He came not
as wisdom for the wise but as grace that seemed incredibly foolish.
Chris preached last week that God did not come to live among us as a last resort,
or because God had to, but because God yearned to be among us, and be for us
the gift of grace.
Truth is that it is precisely God’s nature to humble Godself without expectation
nor hope of gain. It is precisely God’s nature to give so completely to this world
and it’s creatures that she so loves.
So to be of the same mind as Christ is to, I believe, live into our very nature as
ones created in the image of God. It is to empty ourselves and our lives of all of
the stuff that weights us down and tells us we can’t survive without it. It is to be
good stewards of the gifts we’ve been given- pointedly, the gift of life in Christ.
Paul yearns for this Philippian congregation to be as one, faithfully joining their
voices together in praising and living for God who justifies them by grace through
faith. He calls them to be of the same mind as Christ, and then draws them
together and puts a familiar song on their lips that tells them exactly what that
means for them: humility, self-giving, gratitude, unity.
So we arrive at stewardship, and back to song. Stewardship is the joining of voices
together in the giving of self. When we all participate, when we lend our voices—
whether in key or off beat— and hands and hearts and gifts, the song of praise
that results is astounding. Ignatius of Antioch said that “When the Church attends
to concord and harmonious love, ‘Jesus Christ is being sung’.”1
I love this. When we do as is our image-of-God-given nature, and attend to our
mission as a Christian community, “Jesus Christ is being sung”. Imagine this. As we
serve lunch after church, we are singing Christ. As we wash linens for the Highland
Blessing dinner, we are singing Christ. As we welcome visitors, we are singing
Christ. As we make time for worship week in and week out, we are singing Christ.
As we plan for and attend Youth Group or Club 345, we are singing Christ. And
yes, as we pray over and discern our annual finances to consider our pledge, we
are singing Christ.
So in humility and faith, being of the same mind that is in Christ, don’t hesitate to
join in the song. As singer/songwriter David LaMotte says, sing loudly! Sing the
self-giving love and grace of Jesus Christ in all that you say and do. Sing it in the
morning and in the evening. Sing it at work and at home, at school and at play.
Sing it with your gifts of dollars, of hours, and of passions. Sing it without fear or
reservation or concern over self-importance. Trust that we are not singing alone
but that we all offer a voice that joins in harmony with the angels who sing
forever to the Glory of God’s name. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
1
As quoted by Ralph Martin in A Hymn of Christ: Philippians 2:5-11 in Recent Interpretation and in the Setting of
Early Christian Worship. (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1997), p. 10.