Philippians 2: unity in the Church

First, I apologize for my GEPC negligence. I was sick this week. But also just lazy. Neither are really good excuses. I've missed it. 

Philippians 2 is one of my favorite chapters ever--verses 6-11 in particular. 

 Who, being in very nature[a] God, 

   did not consider equality with God something to be grasped; 

7 but he made himself nothing, 

   taking the very nature of a servant, 

   being made in human likeness. 

8 And being found in appearance as a man, 

   he humbled himself 

   by becoming obedient to death— 

      even death on a cross!

 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place 

   and gave him the name that is above every name, 

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 

   in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 

11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, 

   to the glory of God the Father.

I memorized verses 7-8 when I was a young girl but seeing them in context is incredibly powerful. Verses 6-11 were required memory for everyone in the worship arts program at SAU--under the belief that our lives as worship leaders ought to be lived in complete humility. 

We are called to be like Jesus--not just to read these verses and be moved by the humble choices of the Son of God, but to be driven to action. Jesus was willing to become our only hope of accessing the Father--by coming to earth (that had gone from perfection at creation to sinful and polluted), in the form of human being (GOD in the form of the created), lived the life of a servant (the lowest status of human life), and obediently followed his Father's will to the cross (a sinless man dying a death of the worst criminal). FOR ME. For YOU. 

But back up few verses---"your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" (which is described in verses 6-11.) woah. Talk about high calling. 

Back up a bit more--to the beginning of the chapter. Paul is beseeching the church body to live in unity, in love, all for Jesus. How often do you encounter conflict in the church?--most likely over issues that should not be issues at all. Gossip over this one thing this one person overheard this one time. Assumptions in the reasons for changes made by the leadership. Hurt feelings and no willingness to resolve conflict. I can imagine Paul's frustration with at least a handful of the churches he's shepherding. THE POINT IS JESUS, PEOPLE. It's not about YOU. or ME. We are to go out of our way to live in complete humility alongside each other; to pursue our own interests last, to rid ourselves of our desires and pursuits of selfish gain. We are to be like minded--to be focused on Jesus only. And subsequently living out the purpose of Jesus with selflessness and love. Because the point of your entire LIFE is Jesus. 

On rest...and focus

You know, I've realized in my many many years on this earth (Soon to be 24 of them) that there are a few things that Christianity just doesn't do well.

We are absolutely terrible at learning from those we disagree with.

I've went through life cursed with an overabundance of confidence. I frequently joke that my left brain killed off my right brain shortly after birth. I don't have a whole lot of respect for an argument unless you can make it logically, and from a sound premise.

Unfortunately, Christians allow ourselves to fall into a pretty deep pit...every theological or moral discussion we enter into starts with "God says" or "The Bible says."

I'm waiting for that last sentence to sink in, and just checking to make sure that I haven't offended everyone to the point that they quit reading...yet.  Maybe there's still time for that.

I think that every time we start an argument with our interpretation of the Bible or of God...God winces just a little bit. I think that our reliance on our religion's truth being an accepted and foregone conclusion for everyone isn't an endearing little quirk...it's a dangerous flaw.

To explain that sentence, let me be a bit more blunt. When we assume that we're talking to people that believe that the Bible is true, that there is an Absolute Truth, and that there is a God...we're subtly implying that we can't prove these things.  Worse yet, we're implying that we can't make an argument for what we believe unless you agree with our perceptions of God, the Bible, and Truth.

That gives those that aren't already Christians free license to ignore us as a marginalized, irrelevant oddity that will go away in time if we're only ignored and patronized for long enough.

I'd like to propose something different.

The Bible is God's Word. God is Truth. Truth is the most important thing we have, because it leads us to a right relationship with our Creator.

If we really believed those three statements, then shouldn't Christians be leading the charge into Scientific inquiry, logical argument, and passionately (and respectfully) debating facts? Shouldn't we be the most assured, the most logical, and the most fearless investigators of all things Truthful?

Paul went to Athens. He found an altar with the inscription "TO AN UNKNOWN GOD."  Rather than dismiss the Athenian beliefs as wrong and sinful, he set out to show them that he knew exactly who that unknown God was. Rather than run from understanding those who disagreed from them...Paul sought to understand them, and explain how their own experiences and beliefs led to the God of the Universe.

How often do we seek to understand those we disagree with? How often do we dismiss them as being wrong, sinful, misguided, or simply stupid? Shouldn't we, as loving children of God, be the first to seek to understand and sympathize? If we are to effectively love our enemies, shouldn't we understand them first?

I realize I started talking about this from the perspective of my own experience, being Science and Logic. But what about that insensitive person at church that just keeps grating on your nerves? Do you really understand where they're coming from? What would they say about you, if they were to be asked what they really thought? If you don't know, then you haven't made anywhere near a decent effort to bridge that separation. The Church needs to stand unified, and we can't afford your petty squabbles to get in the way of the greater Work of God.

As a society, I think Americans severely undervalue peace. We've become accustomed to having our secure borders, our victorious armies, and we like being able to assert our will. We were shocked and appalled when the two towers crumbled on September 11th...and we saw it as only fitting when we started a war on two different fronts to punish those responsible.

We've taken that national perspective, and we've gotten very good at creating a nation of individuals. We've created a Church filled with individuals...which has resulted in a group of individuals gathered in a church building.

Subtle differences, but they are there.

We devalue peace, so we assert our will.  When things don't go our way, we try to arrange those around us to fix the issue. We never stop to realize that we're attempting to arrange other peoples' lives to make ours more convenient. We've lost the art of compromise.

The old phrase goes: "Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater." I think that we've strayed one way or the other. In convincing the Church in America that we have let some of our moral boundaries slip, we've become obsessed with keeping the baby in that tub...at the expense of the fetid pile of sludge the kid is now sitting in.

It's time to change the water...clear the air...relax and let things go.

To quote a movie, "To let that which does not matter...truly slide."

If you are not being sinned against, why hold a grudge? If someone is doing something in a different way...is it working well enough? Then why not let it be?

Let the chips fall where they may.

Focus on what matters.

Pray more.

Read your Bible.

Care for others...

           ...more than yourself.

On Bearing with the Bothersome

My thoughts are flowing right alongside Kevin's. 

Ever since I had to do some serious conflict management on Sunday morning (and night), I've been thinking about how God wants us to live at peace with everyone.

This does not mean to shove things so far under the rug that we forget about them. 

NO. 

Because in doing so, we're actually fostering bitterness.

And bitterness not only tears us apart from our core, but it lies dormant until another sliver gets shoved into our fingertips, and then another and another, until we are so full of ache and pain and anger that we explode on the last person who offends us. 

This is not how we are to live. 

Jesus, via James, addresses this issue when he says, "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from the desires that battle within you? 

You want something, but don't get it."

Most of our conflicts are rooted in selfishness. 

And that selfishness may not be evident, but I believe it's selfish to shove the issues under the rug. 

It's selfish to "fake the peace."

It's also selfish to blame the other person for your pain and suffering.

We must approach the offender with LOVE. 

Explain our feelings, the way we interpreted their words and actions--not condemning them, but revealing our own hurt. 

Prayerfully, they will see where they felt wronged and where they acted out in sin. 

Forgiveness is requested and granted. 

And though the situation may still ache for a while, because true forgiveness has been granted, each party is able to leave with a clear spirit.

And eventually..move on. 

Yes, conflicts may divide even the closest of friends for a time, 

but the other issue is simply that we don't always get along with certain individuals. 

They get under our skin and irritate us to the point of frustration and anger. 

We can NOT let this happen. 

The New Testament reminds me often that we are to "bear with one another."

We are commanded to lovingly put up with those who bother us, those who just don't get it, those who start arguments because they have nothing better to do.

Bear with each other, and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

We will never reach the level of forgiveness God has bestowed on our lives, covering ALL of our sins, 

so we might as well suck it up and keep forgiving.

On Conflicts...and long-suffering

Recently, I've been reminded of how Christians tend to be. Unfortunately we're not all that different from everyone else when it comes to how we handle conflict. I think the sheer number of denominations (and non-denominational churches) in America should stand as a pretty fair witness to our inability to resolve serious conflict.

But rather than pine over a solution I'm not likely to find, I want to talk a bit about what I've been thinking about...personal conflict.

Matthew 18 shows us the way to handle this.  First one-on-one, then taking along another (uninvolved) party, then take it to the church, then just let it go and move on. The Bible says to treat him "as a tax collector."

Rabbit Trail: How do you treat the IRS?

I wonder how many church splits Matthew 18 could have fixed. What if Christians actually bothered to take the Bible's 'guidelines' as mandates that we are REQUIRED to follow? See we Americans tend to look at the Bible as a list of suggestions that we can pick from, like an all you can eat buffet. We take heaping piles of God's promises of prosperity, and virtually ignore the meat and potatoes of Christianity...Forgiveness and Service.

God says that if we don't forgive our brother, we won't be forgiven.

God also says that if we don't Love our brother, we don't really Love God.

Huh.

Beyond that, 1 Corinthians has some interesting things to say about conflict. The Corinthian church was having an issue of lawsuits between believers, so Paul wrote to encourage them, saying "Why not rather be wronged?" Interesting thought. How many of those 'big deal' conflicts that we get into inside (and outside) the church could be solved if we were to simply let go of our sense of entitlement when it comes to how other people 'should' treat us?

Now I'm not saying you never mention it to them, but say I go to my friend Tom, who's been a terrible jerk to me. I tell him that I've been offended by how he has treated me, and I ask him to stop. He says to shove off, because I was a jerk to him first (which I obviously would disagree with). Instead of getting into an argument about who was more wrong...why not apologize for whatever we did to offend him, restate that we would like him to change...and then move on without demanding an apology on the spot.

Lets look at that situation from their point of view...you came and said they were wrong...they get to say you were wrong...and you apologize immediately. Then you politely ask that they be nicer, or stop whatever it was that made you feel bad in the first place.

You're a whole lot more likely to get somewhere with them if you're nice, eh?

But even if Tom doesn't get the point...and he's horribly stubborn. It's still better to let it go. You could demand that he change, and spend your time being frustrated by it...or you can be patient and let it be water under the bridge. Either way, you're unlikely to get him to change his behavior, so why not decide to focus on other things? As Christians, we're more effective when focusing on what we can do for others rather than on what we wish other people would do for us.

Stop being selfish when you're fighting...it just leads to more fighting.