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Philippians
2:12-13
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Philippians
3:17
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12
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my
presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work
for his good pleasure.
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17 Brothers,
join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the
example you have in us.
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This week I
have started processing how these two scriptures go together. If Paul calls us
to imitate him, and follow the example of men like him, we are to consider this
something God is working in us to will and to work for his good pleasure. It
also means there is some way for us to work this out with fear and trembling
until we can say that we are putting into practice whatever God is working in
us.
The first
question that came to mind when I thought about the biblical examples God has
given us, and the way that godly men continue to set examples for us, is
whether the examples we see stir up a feeling of entitlement, or of imitation.
Entitlement is
the sense that we deserve to be served. If pastors serve us, minister to us, do
things for us, entitlement sees this as our due. Especially when churches feel
they have hired a pastor to do the ministry, the ministry he does is considered
what he owes the church. They give him a paycheck; he does the work.
Imitation is
the sense that pastors and elders, or any godly men who are following the
example of faith we see in Scripture, are there to show us how we should do
things. If they serve us in love, it gives us a picture of how we can serve
others in love. Whatever they do for us in ministry, or things we see them do
for others in ministry, give us ideas of how we could be doing similar things
for people in our lives.
No matter
whether we lean towards entitlement, or imitation, God is working in us to have
the will to imitate Paul and others who are presented to us in Scripture, and
he is working in us to work the same things in present day experiences. It is
our place to respond to this inner working of God’s Spirit by working out our
imitation of these examples with fear and trembling.
When Paul
begins this new exhortation with the address of, “brothers,” he is making this very personal, but he is also making
it universal. To speak of “brothers,”
is to speak of the whole church. There is one body of Christ. To God the
Father, we are all “sons of God.”[1] To
God the Son, we are his brothers.[2]To
one another we are the “brotherhood,”[3]which
is why we are told to “love the
brotherhood.”[4]
This means
that we cannot escape that Paul is speaking to a group. He is telling the whole
group what to do. He emphasizes this by his choice of words, calling us to “join in imitating.” The emphasis is on
imitation, but the word calls for togetherness.
Now, add this
to the things we are to work out with fear and trembling because God is working
in us to will and to work for his good pleasure. To do this, we must put off
any sense of individuality. By individuality, I do not mean uniqueness. Each of
us has a unique place in the body of Christ, but we do not live independent of
the body of Christ. We do not live as individuals who can do as we please, but
as a brotherhood that is “knit together in love."
Peter
emphasized this in his glorious expression:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who
called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a
people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now
you have received mercy.[5]
Each of the
descriptions Peter uses refer to one group of people. There is one race, one
priesthood, one nation, one people. The instructions of the apostles to the
churches are for the whole church, the one body of Christ. This is emphasized
for us when Paul refers to us as brothers, a unifying description of all
believers, and chooses the word for imitation that is unmistakably fulfilled in
imitating together, or joining together in imitating those Paul directs us to
look at.
Paul was
devoted to the brotherhood of believers, so, to imitate men like him, we must
do it together. Paul taught extensively about the one body of Christ, so, to
put into practice the things we see in him, we must do these things as one body
of Christ.
This
exhortation follows immediately after “Let
those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think
otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we
have attained.”[6]Paul
made clear that, even when people within the church “think otherwise,” if they will “hold
true to what we have attained,” God would “reveal that also to you.”
In other
words, if the church gave up its
perceived right to divorce, separate, reject, show favoritism, isolate, or
anything else that turns into division from the one brotherhood of believers,
God could reveal to all of us how we can imitate men like Paul, even when we
start out thinking “otherwise” about
how to do it. If we act like brothers,
and join in imitating the apostles, we will find much greater unity in the
Spirit than our sarks could ever dream.
© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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