LIVING IN JOY IMITATES CHRIST IN ONE’S BEING, THINKING, AND DOING
One of the joys of being a parent, grand-parent, or great-grandparent – of a toddler in particular - is to watch the little one try to imitate what you say and do. Much of our interaction with the child is make-believe.
For example, a two-year-old goes to his make-believe kitchen, puts on a make-believe pot of coffee, pours it into a make-believe cup, puts the cup on a make-believe saucer, hands it to a real live grand-parent who promptly makes believe he is drinking the coffee then saying, “um-um, good; thank you so much.”
No wonder Jesus placed a little child amid His followers, telling them that they had to be like a little child to enter the kingdom of heaven - not like in the sense that they had to pretend to be followers of Jesus but in the sense that they had to accept the kingdom of God with the humility and “blind” trust of children.
And as they grew in faith and knowledge, they would become aware of the truth and all the realities associated with their trust in Christ. “I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see!” What a difference Christ makes!
As we grow in Christ, there are certain aspects of our former ways of being, thinking, and doing that must be set aside, and there are certain new ways of our being, thinking, and doing that must be adopted if we are to live in joy in Christ.
In a manner of speaking, we are to “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5) How can it be that we can have the mind of Christ? (a Nicodemus-type question. “I don’t understand. How can a person be born again?”)
We find the answer to how we obtain a Christian “mind-set” – a Christ-like way of being, thinking and doing – in Paul’s admonition to the Philippians about how to overcome disunity in the Church – Philippians 2:1-4 . . .
If we the Body of Christ do not have unity in Christ within the Fellowship of Believers, forget about having the “mind of Christ”, as worthy a goal as that is for you and me.
There will be none of that . . . unless we (using the analogy of a traffic light) stop being selfish, exercise caution in our thinking, go forward by doing what’s right in God’s sight, regardless of the cost to our personal ambitions.
Unity in Christ depends upon several “ifs” - each one of which introduces a condition that must be met before something desirable can occur . . . As the word is used by Paul, it does not convey doubt. Paul has already affirmed the reality of living in joy as a characteristic of being in Christ.
It’s as if Paul said, “You are living in joy (inwardly), yet you appear to be unhappy (outwardly).” So, he pled, “Make my joy complete by becoming happy!”
Unhappiness, as pointed out in an earlier lesson, may be the way we feel about a situation, yet the joy of Christ exists within us because He came into our hearts when we invited Him. “You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart!”
Disunity within the Fellowship of Believers (koinonia . . . community . . . church) causes unhappiness, oftentimes on a large scale. However, with Christ in our hearts, we nonetheless live in joy.
But if there is disunity, fullness of joy cannot be known nor can we hope to bring that joy to completion as God would have us to do.
Think about it this way: Just as we must stop our car when the traffic light is red, we must stop being selfish in our ambitions and in our attitude of conceit!
One of the most striking admonitions in scripture is the one found in First Thessalonians which reads: “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you.”
Conceit is one of those undesirable attitudes that we don’t want to have. Most of us simply do not like folks who come across as conceited – puffed up, prideful, putting up a front like the TV character Hyacinth in “Keeping Up Appearances”.
To stop being selfish is a tall order; succeeding at it is an even taller order; it’s at this point of caution that Paul introduces the unselfish trait of humility.
The old apostle – weary, worn, with a lifetime of hardships behind him – advises Christians to be cautious about joining in a chorus of negativity aimed at brothers and sisters in Christ. Don’t put them down; lift them up; treat them with respect.
Don’t let anti-Christian nay-sayers suck you into a scheme of dissing others. They themselves are discontented folks who disparage, disrupt, destruct, destroy, and have become a culture which has elevated selfishness to an art form.
Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. Focus on the Fellowship of Believers as brothers and sisters in Christ. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Be there for each other. Be humble to the extent that you don’t even think of yourself as being humble! You just think in terms of “what’s best for those you love”. That’s true love!
With a spirit of humility, quite naturally you are going to be given the green light to go about your Father’s business as did Jesus, always giving consideration to the needs of others . . . what you can do for them. When you start thinking this way naturally, without being prompted, you have the mind of Christ.
Having the mind of Christ, your magnificent obsession for the rest of your pilgrim journey is: “to become Christ-like in my being, in my thinking, and in my doing to the glory of God the Father”– Philippians 2:6-11 . . .
Our great challenge as followers of Christ yet as human beings, is to shed personal ambition for the sake of serving God selflessly – which was the essence of the life of Christ. He surrendered position and privilege to become a servant and, as such, would sacrifice his life - for the cause of saving souls . . . securing a place in his Father’s House for all who would accept God’s invitation.
Paul makes the point that when Jesus humbled himself and became man, He was not play-acting. His literal emptying of himself was a reality, not fantasy. He really and truly became a man for however long it would take him to do and finish His Father’s Will. In like manner . . .
A believer who has “the mind of Christ” can be described as “one who does whatever needs to be done, whenever it needs to be done, for as long as it needs to be done, to complete the task assigned to him or her by the Lord God”.
How is it that we can go on being, thinking and doing as Christ would have us to be, to think and to do? It stems from love at the core of one’s being.
Jesus won the hearts of people, not by intimidating them, but by showing them true love that is willing to sacrifice oneself for the good of one’s family . . . one’s friends . . . even those who may not deserve to receive such love.
Jesus won the hearts of people because they took notice of his life and his death - and their response was, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all.”
Jesus won the hearts of people to the extent that from their first encounter with him, whether in person or vicariously through the efforts of His followers, they did not hesitate to call Him “Lord”. He was the Lord in a way that heathen gods and dumb idols could never be. He was nothing less than divine.
JESUS - the name by which the whole universe will bow one day in humble adoration and submission. “Jesus is Lord” - the motto of the early Church but will one day be the confession that will come from the lips of “every kindred and every tribe on this terrestrial ball”. All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name! Amen.
