Philippians 2:25-30

Philippians 2:25-30 

English Standard Version 

  We all have to choose what we'll live for.  Many people don't make the choice -- they drift through life, never intentionally making a choice, but choosing every day, all the same.  As Christians, we're called to pick up our cross daily, to die to ourselves daily, and to live for Christ.  It's hard to choose this daily... and yet Scripture tells us that this is exactly the route that ultimately leads us into life.

  Sometimes, I try and wrap my mind around all of this, and I get a little lost.  Some days, I get a lot lost.  It doesn't make sense that I need to die so that I can live.  But then I look at the direction the world is headed, and I wonder about making choices that the world tells me make sense.  Maybe the world is where it is wrong, and the Holy Spirit is nudging me back towards life the way it was meant to be lived, back towards faithfulness, back towards design.

  May we learn how to trust, as hard as that can be, and to rest in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who invites us to die every day, that we might live.

Philippians 2:19-24

Philippians 2:19-24 

English Standard Version

  What brings you cheer?  In Christian community, Paul is telling us how he is cheered by news of his fellow Christians.  He recognizes the permanence of the community -- these aren't just people he'll spend weeks or months or years with.  As the claimed and baptized people of God, these are the people he'll be spending eternity with, so the thought of his fellow Christians brings joy to his heart -- they're striving together, and they're building something that will last forever.  

  May we think of one another as such treasures.  We are each precious to the Lord, and so we should be precious to one another, finding joy in the thought of one another, and giving thanks for the gift of community.

Philippians 2:14-18

Philippians 2:14-18

English Standard Version 

  If I asked you to make a list of sins, what would come to mind?  What would be first on your list?  

  Where would grumbling land?  What about disputing?  We'd probably put those pretty low on the list.  I bet most of us don't even think about grumbling as a sin.  But the Israelites, in their wilderness journey, filled their lives with grumbling and complaining rather than thanking God for delivering them.  

  So in the midst of a world filled with disputing and grumbling, what kind of witness will you give?  Will your life reflect the overwhelming sense of gratitude we should have towards God?  Will you let your light shine in the midst of a world often filled with darkness? 

  May we be glad and rejoice in what God is doing in our midst, and may that gratitude be contagious, that a sense of joy may pervade the communities in which we take part.

Philippians 2:12-13

Philippians 2:12-13 

English Standard Version 

 This is one of those verses that sticks with you, probably through your whole life, and every year it means something a little different.  The second verse is an important place to start, because it helps us realize that your salvation brings God pleasure.  If we can start with that orientation, then it helps us remove the anxiety, because we understand that God wants us to be saved.  When we're looking at things through that lens, then working out our salvation becomes a matter of figuring out how to accept what Christ has done moreso than trying to figure out how to achieve it.  If we're rooted in trying to achieve it, we'll always end up on a treadmill where it's always right in front of us and yet we've never done enough, because how could we ever do enough to reach perfection?

  But if the fear and trembling is rooted in awe of who God is and how awesome God is and what kind of love God has for us, then fear and trembling leads to joy, because we're so amazed at the things God has done for us.  If our journey starts with God's pleasure and then leads us to be amazed at God's love for us, it's far more likely to create in us hearts that beat for the glory of God.

Philippians 2:4-11

Philippians 2:4-11 

English Standard Version 

  What makes someone a success?  We'd probably define it based on how much power and influence they accrue.  Money is also a popular scorecard in our society.  A long life could be considered a marker of success.

  What about leading a movement for 3 years, then being wrongly convicted and sentenced to a publicly shameful death that was considered by most in society to be the height of humiliation?  Would anyone brand such a figure as a success?

  The word Paul uses at the beginning of verse 9 is fascinating.  In verse 8, we're talking about Christ humbling himself to the point of death on a cross, which is the equivalent of the electric chair, and because Christ does this, THEREFORE God highly exalts Christ and bestows him glory and honor.  His willingness to serve to the point of death leads to the highest possible honor.

  What would society look like if we were willing to elevate service to such a lofty place today?  Can you imagine if we found the people most willing to serve and gave them the honor and glory that we instead bestow upon people who are in movies or have large social media followings?  Imagine what the debates in Congress would be like if it were filled with people who were elected to places of prestige because they were the most intent on serving others.  Imagine how the country would be different if our children were presented role models of people who were servants.

  How can we start?  How can we serve today?  How can we support those who are serving?  How can we join with them in prayer and elevate their causes, that service might be praised?

A Bunch of Books

   I started out the year on a roll, writing up posts for the first few books I read.  And then life happened... here we are, 6 months later, and I haven't posted a book review since January.  I can take comfort that not many people have noticed, I suppose!  Here at the halfway point, I'm 24 books in, with just over 8,000 pages read.  

  I recently finished up Mel Brooks' autobiography All About Me, which was a really fun read.  I'm a huge fan of his movies, and hearing the stories behind them was a delight.  What was most interesting was the story of his rise to being a producer -- he put in a lot of work to get there, and it wasn't easy.  It's a helpful reminder that people who make it to the top of any field have usually poured themselves into their careers, often at cost to family life or other commitments, and that overnight success is rarely overnight.  

  Before that, Abir Mukherjee's latest book, The Shadows of Men, was beautifully written, as always.  It's a really interesting detective series set in colonial India, when tensions are high and an English and Indian detective are working together while caught up in the ways their cultures are at odds.  I love the sense of place in these books, and the way that cultural conflict plays out, particularly in the way dismissed people reveal how vitally important they are.  It's a reminder to really see people, not just to look at and through them, and to value them as individuals.

  I waited for ages for the library to have Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and I was ready to love this story of video game designers who create an immersive world.  I found it... forgettable.  It felt like it was trying to be very profound, but it didn't resonate with me.  Amazon reviews indicate I'm clearly in the minority on this one, but I was disappointed.  It kinda just felt needy.

  I'd been carrying around Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August for ages.  I finally made it through the heartbreaking tale about the origins of WWI.  As an American with little knowledge of European history outside of the major events, the book helped place WWI in the midst of the larger history of conflict between France and Germany, and I understood better how inevitable the war was.  I couldn't help but read it with heartbreak, knowing the horrors of trench warfare that was to come as a result of the decisions made.  Having been to Verdun and stood beside the ossuary filled with the bones of those chewed up by the machine of war, it's tragic to read the decisions that sent so many to their deaths.  

 H.G. Parry's The Magician's Daughter was a fun read, a story of a girl who lives in the midst of magic and is raised by a man trying to restore magic to a world losing it.  It's an action-packed tale of friendship and heroism that was hard to put down.  This is what I expected Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow to be.  

  Finally, Michael Horton's Recovering our Sanity is a book that teaches us how to fear.  Horton, professor of Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary, orients our fear towards God.  When we talk about fear of God, it's not the same as fear of spiders, but a respect and admiration that leads us to love.  When we properly fear God, we acknowledge that God alone has power over us and the world, and when we grasp this, we're not afraid of anything else in the world, which allows us to live unfettered and unafraid of all the things the world tells us to be afraid of.  It's a short read that is a critically important message in the social media world where every other message is a new urgent reason to be afraid of government and neighbor and disease and everything else.

Philippians 2:1-3

Philippians 2:1-3 

English Standard Version 

  What would make your joy complete?  What comes to mind?  

  For many of us, we think of markets of the life of leisure.  And much of those things can bring happiness, but joy is different.  Joy is deeper.  Joy can endure through suffering and pain.  Joy isn't dependent on circumstances, but rather takes root in the soul and lasts through every storm life can throw, because true joy is rooted in knowledge and hope of life beyond life, of light beyond light.  Paul recognizes this, and so he notes to the church that his joy doesn't depend on his worldly freedom, but rather on seeing the church grow in love.  True joy is rooted in humility, because it's based in service, the same service Christ showed us, the same service the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have been offering one another for eternity.  That is true joy -- one love and one mind.

  How can you find joy in the world today?  How can you move a little closer to joy?  

Philippians 1:27-30

Philippians 1:27-30 

English Standard Version 

  When I was learning how to drive, I had a large suburban that stood out like a sore thumb.  I remember my mother telling me to be careful where I parked, because that car couldn't hide, so if I was parked somewhere I shouldn't be, then my parents would likely hear about it.  

  When Paul is writing to the church in Philippi, he's saying something similar -- he wants to hear good things when he hears about the church, whether he is there in person or not.  He wants to hear that they're making the right choices, striving side by side for the Gospel, not afraid of anything.  

  This all sounds great until Paul gets to the part where there seems to be good reason to be frightened -- they are suffering, but Paul doesn't tell them that God has it all wrong when they suffer -- Paul tells them instead that they've been granted to suffer, like it's a good thing, because they're suffering for the faith.  From my position, I read this with furrowed brows, wondering why people who are striving for the faith would suffer.  But for the early church, suffering was part of everyday operations -- they were constantly being persecuted, and they endured with grateful hearts, because they identified their suffering with the suffering of Jesus Christ.

  Can we do the same?  We suffer differently, and yet it's the same.  We deal with physical suffering, relational suffering, emotional suffering.  The causes may be different than the early church, but the root is the same -- sin is causing things to fall apart, be it our bodies or our relationships.  We suffer, because sin has its teeth sunk into us, and is trying to tear the world apart.  Jesus Christ has absorbed the ultimate suffering so that we don't have to endure separation from God, allowing us to endure with hope -- we know that even if we perish, we do so with the knowledge that God will claim us and bring us into the fullness of the Kingdom of God.  When we stay focused on Christ, even in the midst of suffering, we demonstrate that we shall not fear what sin can do, because we know that God's power is greater.  

  Being a Christian never means that we won't suffer, but it means that we can endure suffering with the knowledge that Christ will not allow suffering to lead us away from God, but will meet us in the midst of our suffering, because Christ can relate to suffering, and show us a light that will not be dimmed, even by the darkest night.

Philippians 1:19-26

Philippians 1:19-26 

English Standard Version 

  Tim Keller says that the only thing death can do is make us better.  It's an amazing thing to say... I understand the concept, but it's a hard thing to admit and wrap our heads around.  We become so attached to the world and the things and people in it.  Paul was the same way -- he was clearly dedicated to the people he was serving, and he took pride and joy in that -- but the eyes of his heart were always more firmly fixed on the salvation offered through Christ, and that joy is of such surpassing value that anything in this life pales in comparison.  Paul had obviously been given a foretaste of that, and once he had that, he was focused on the joy that awaits on the other side of the ridge, of the fragrance that wafts this way now and then and reminds us that there is so much more, so much wealth beyond the veil, and to want anything in this world more is the height of folly when compared to the riches and treasure of heaven.

  May we pray for such love to capture our hearts and minds!

Philippians 1:15-18

Philippians 1:15-18 

English Standard Version 

  In the Reformed tradition, of which Presbyterian church is a part, we profess that the words of the preacher are transformed by the Holy Spirit into the Word of God, and that God works through those words to impact the hearts of the listener.

  We don't believe that the character of the preacher impacts God's work, thankfully!  Preachers are like everyone else -- broken and sinful, selfish and imperfect.  We maybe see it a little more clearly, since we're often studying the Word and see all the places where we fall short, but God doesn't need perfect preachers -- God can work through anyone, and Christ will be proclaimed.  Thanks be to God!

Philippians 1:12-14

Philippians 1:12-14 

English Standard Version 

  What would you go through to advance the Gospel?  And what kind of faith does it take to view whatever that is as a blessing because it advances the Gospel?

  Paul had incredible perspective -- he was able to endure great suffering because he placed such value upon the Gospel.  The beauty and treasure of the Gospel were so great to hold in his heart that anything that happened in this world was trivial.  The greatest suffering, the utmost isolation, the ultimate pain... paled in comparison to the Gospel.  It's a treasure beyond measure, one to share freely, at whatever cost.

  May we pray for forgiveness for not loving God enough, and pray for Holy Spirit wisdom to treasure the Gospel like this!

Philippians 1:3-11

Philippians 1:3-11 

English Standard Version 

  We all want someone to feel this way about us, that they hold us in their hearts and have certainty that the God who began a good work in you will complete it.  These are the people who want the best for us, hoping that love and knowledge grow.

  The good news of the Gospel is that this is how God feels about us!  God loves you so much that God holds you in God's heart and wants the best for you, sending the Holy Spirit to help you grow in love and knowledge.  No one can love you like Jesus can -- we often doubt this, or we wonder about it, but God never doubts God's love for you, and if you doubt it... then doubt your doubts, as Tim Keller says.  God loves you enough to die for you!

  The challenge, then, is that if we're loved by Christ like this, who can we show this kind of love to?  Who can we share such love and prayers with?

Philippians 1:1-2

Philippians 1:1-2 

English Standard Version 

  Sometimes, we need to be reminded that we're more than just ordinary.  You have been handcrafted by the Almighty God and claimed in the waters of baptism -- which marks you as Christ's own forever.  Nothing shall claim you back from victorious hand of God, and you are a member of an eternal community.  The individuals with whom you share a pew on Sunday mornings are similarly blessed, and we are sent into the world by the same Holy Spirit that moved over the waters at the beginning of creation.  

  As Paul reminds the Philippians, you are a saint of the church.  May you not forget that today!

Proverbs 16:31

Proverbs 16:31

English Standard Version 

  We as a society are wise to remember this.  Collectively, we idolize youth.  But wisdom is accumulated in the elderly, and it pains me to see the ways that society isolates people of different ages.  The church is such a treasure, for it's one of the few places in society where we truly mix across generations, offering the wisdom of the elders to the young and the perspective of the young to the elders.  May we look for these opportunities to mix, and may we listen to those of different generations, recognizing the wisdom and perspective others can bring.

Proverbs 16:1-3

Proverbs 16:1-3 

English Standard Version 

  As the Proverb says, I think my plans are great.  

  God, on the other hand... may not always approve.  God also knows the roots of our hearts and the meaning behind our actions.  This is what Jesus is referring to when he is pressing in on the commandments, always raising the bar and demanding more obedience, more love, more pure grace.  We can't ever live up to this, but Jesus is pushing us, pulling us, in this direction, urging us to consider every thought and every action completely captive to God.  

  The more we can commit everything to God, the more we grow in faith, understanding that it's all a gift and all an offering that we give back to God.

Proverbs 15:16-17

Proverbs 15:16-17 

English Standard Version 

  It's always sad to read about people that win the lottery and then see their lives fall apart due to relational stress or other causes of strife.  It's easy to look at that and think that I'd handle it differently, but none of us really know how we'd deal with suddenly having $300 million.  We wish we had that problem, but I'm willing to bet that there's a decent number of people out there who wish they'd never won if it meant the strife didn't come with it.  

  The Proverbs tell us that we're better off having a little and a good relationship with God than having a lot and all the troubles that can come with it.  We're better off breaking bread at a barren table that is surrounded by love than sitting down to a laden table where everyone is full of strife.  Food doesn't taste very good when we're in the midst of a fight.

  May we learn to be satisfied with what we have.  May we focus on building a strong foundation, so that whatever comes our way, be it a little or a lot, we're prepared to live with faithfulness.

Proverbs 14:29-30

Proverbs 14:29-30

English Standard Version 

  Psalm 131 paints an image of the Christian as resting in the arms of Christ as a child rests in its mother's lap.  We should have this kind of peace -- the peace of people who so completely trust God that we don't fly off the handle at every little thing that goes wrong.  When we are fully trusting God, we can be patient with the world.  This doesn't mean we shouldn't get upset at injustice or conflict in the world -- but we do it from a place of control, knowing that we don't have the last word over things.  We don't have to set things right -- we have a Savior who has done that.  So we can exhale, picture ourselves resting in Christ's lap, and be at peace as we go into a conflicted world.

Proverbs 12:5

Proverbs 12:5

English Standard Version 

  In defensive driving, the trick in a crisis is to look where you want the car to go, because you'll steer towards that.  If you stare directly at a tree or telephone poll, you'll likely end up steering the car into that.  

  Your thoughts will shape your future.  If you dwell or obsess on bad things, bad things will likely happen.  If you mentally toy around with sin or temptation, you'll likely eventually fall prey to that.  If you focus on faults, those will become larger and larger in your mind.  If you allow wicked people to influence your thoughts through their advice, you'll likely end up in bad situations.

  Similarly, if you dwell on good things, if you focus on the Word of God throughout the day, you'll end up wiser and more prepared.  You'll be more likely to sense how God might be leading you.  You'll notice the working of the Holy Spirit more often.

  Choose what you think on.  Try and pay attention to your thoughts today -- when they wander, as they inevitably will, how can you steer them back to God's Word and God's peace, rather than letting them run away on their own and lead you far from peace and joy?

Proverbs 11:24-25

Proverbs 11:24-25 

English Standard Version 

  I was out watering the grass last night, and it only works because it's connected to the spigot -- if I only had the water that was in the hose when I started, I wouldn't get very far.

   I think it was Martin Luther who talked about us having fingers in our hands so that our blessings placed into our hands could run through our fingers and leave room for more blessings.  

  When we're faithful with a little, Jesus tells us, we'll be given more.  Giving is an automatic ticket to receive more, and we shouldn't give just for the expectation that we'll receive, but if we give with a grateful heart, we'll receive the riches of God's peace, a treasure far greater than money.  What would you give you to have true peace in the depths of your hearts?  That's a treasure, and we want for it... one of the ways to gain that is to give generously, for it teaches us to be grateful to God for every good blessing.