Text: Philippians 3: 17- 4:1
Year C. 2nd, Sunday of Lent
March 11th, 2001
Lord of the Lake Lutheran Church
Web page http://lordofthelake.org
By The Rev. Jerry Morrissey, Esq., Pastor
E-mail pastor@southshore.com
Heavenly Father empower each of us here at Lord of the Lake Lutheran Church to imitate your Son Jesus Christ in all that we do. Amen.
Title: “Standing firm in the Lord.”
Philippi was a small city on the main highway East and West, a full day’s walk from Neapolis, a city on the coast. Itinerants of all types –philosophers, tourists, news-bearers, entertainers, fugitives, etc.- would easily and often visit. Visitation by outsiders was not only the main source of news from the outside world but also the main source of ideas. These travelers were what television is to us today. They would tell things and relate visions of other perspectives. People loved to talk to itinerants and question them. Because they were sources of novelty, people, especially young people, would become enamored of them and want to imitate them or, at least, identify with what they were saying. They would stimulate the imagination and function much the way movies and TV do in our lives.
Paul warns against being bamboozled by such itinerants, passing through, passing fancies. He draws three contrasts in these five verses: First, between friends and enemies of the cross of Christ; second, between those who set their minds on earthly things and those devoted to heavenly things; and between our present limited bodies and the “glorified body.” Paul recognizes the propensity of people to imitate others. So, he says, if one must imitate, then imitate him and others like him. Why? Because he imitates Christ. The idea of imitating someone who pops into town one day or pops up on a TV or Internet screen is risky and, ultimately, bad. Imitate people whom you have lived with and seen tested over a long period of time rather than the latest thing to come down the pike or the information highway.
In verse seventeen, “join with others in being imitators of me”: This is an awesome claim. Paul is so confident in himself that he does not teach as many others do. He does not say, “Do as I say, but not as I do.” He says, “Imitate me.” That means, “Do as I do.” Not a whole lot of folks can recommend that to others. But he does not stop there. He says,” Or imitate others who imitate me.” We would expect he would have said something like he said in 1
Corinthians 11: 1, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” That is, of course, what he means. In fact, he did the same thing in 1 Corinthians 4: 16 where he says, “Be imitators of me,” but omits any reference to his own model, Christ. Paul is saying to those prone to follow anybody who “sounds” good or “looks” good that they should follow people who “do” good, like himself, or Timothy or anyone else who is faithful to the crucified and risen Lord.
In verse eighteen, “many…conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ”: These folks were pretty much everywhere in the churches Paul founded. Under the influence of Hellenistic philosophy these were people who adopted Christianity and then adapted it to their own preferences. These were the same as the “spirit-people” found in Corinth. They believed they had the fullness of salvation and that their bodies did not matter. Thus, they could sin in their bodies but it would matter not to the Lord. They were spiritually and morally superior to others, “elite,” “enlightened.” They were so free in Christ that they were not bound by sexual restrictions. They were so free that they were not only not bound by the food restrictions of Judaism, they were not bound by any food restrictions. They could indulge as much as they wished. In their distorted perspective, their bodily actions had no effect on their spiritual state or status.
In verses nineteen, “destruction…stomach…shame…earthly things”: Speaking from the eternal or heavenly perspective, Paul describes what is really going on in the lives of those, enemies of the cross, who discount the importance of the laws of nature both biological and psychological. They might think they are doing what feels right by indulging their impulses, but they are really engaging in self-destructive, self-sabotaging behavior. It will catch up with them in the end. If their hungers, symbolized by “stomach,” tell them what to do and they engage in drugs, foods, sex, money-sprees at whim, then these are what God should be to them and is not. These are their “God.” What they claim to be proud of – “I drank so much…had so much sex…spent so much…”- is really shaming them, destroying them and, worse, tempting others to imitate them. At final judgment they will be “shamed” not in the sense of “embarrassed,” but proven wrong and lost. For now, their minds are totally fixated on the present moment and what their feelings are announcing, even shouting, must be done, indulged in, paid homage to.
Their minds are occupied: This translates Paul’s word, important word, for “attitude,” Greek phronein. He will shortly recommend the eternal attitude, outlook, perspective, and interpretative principle. For now he characterizes these negatives as “the earthly attitude.” In other places he uses the word “flesh” to mean essentially the same thing.
In verse twenty, “our citizenship is in heaven”: The word that is translated here as “citizenship” really means “commonwealth,” an organized society. Paul would have been aware that Philippi’s civic status, a colony of Rome, would have been that of politeuma, “commonwealth.” Besides emphasizing that Christians share a common outlook, the eternal attitude, the term recognizes that they share a common life, like a city of people. This attitude is not so spiritual that it is shapeless. Yet, it is not of earth, this-worldly. “Citizenship” captures two senses: belonging and allegiance. Paul is saying that the Christian perspective sees the Church as a colony set down in the midst of an environment alien to it and all it holds true. He has one eye on the final state of things, at the end of time. Yet, his other eye is on the present. The heavenly perspective should be applied to time-bound existence.
From it we await a savior: It is clear that we do not await a savior “from heaven.” He means we await the fullness of salvation from this earth-bound-yet-heaven-oriented condition as we imitate and make real or enflesh, in our lives the example of Christ and those who imitate him. The “spirit-people” believed they had “arrived.” There was no more need for progress or growth. They had all that salvation had to offer. There was no future hope or waiting, at least, not for them. They were no longer susceptible to continuing evil or frailty.
In verse twenty-one, “he will change our lowly body”: Of course, Paul has one eye on the final outcome of things, at the end, when we will be not only completely transformed, but never again subject to anything earthly or sinful. However, in this context, he has his other eye on the continuing outcome of things. Even now, on earth, by virtue of the “eternal attitude,” Christ is transforming us, conforming us- one degree at a time- to his glorified state and status. He cannot live in us in his more-than-spiritual way without affecting even our bodies in a positive way.
By the power that enables him to bring all things into subjection to himself: Between the earthly plane and the heavenly plane there is the “Christian” plane. On the heavenly, all this is done and complete. On the earthly, it is not. On the Christian, it is happening, in progress, moving toward the final state. In Christ, the heavenly and earthly meet. So, in the individual Christian and in the collective Christian, the Church, Christ continues to bring all things and people into the divine, when and where God will be all in all. Earth, flesh, human beings cannot do any of this alone. Only Christ can, does, will do, is doing, until it is finished.
In chapter four verse one, “stand firm in the Lord”: To stand firm means to hold on to the eternal perspective, to not succumb to the earthly one. In that aura, air, atmosphere a Christian can breathe God the Spirit and derive strength, strength that he or she could not have otherwise. As one remains in and acts from the realm of the Lord, the final outcome of things progresses little by little toward completion. Paul uses the term “beloved” twice in this sentence, referring to God’s kind of love, heavenly love, not earthly love. That is the power. It also, as he has said several times and ways in the epistle, now drawing to a close, produces joy, joy in the midst of suffering. At the end of suffering is the “crown.” It can only be received through and after the cross. Enemies of the cross, those who misinterpret suffering and its role in life, will never know the glorious experience found at the end of it.
Paul knew that human beings are natural imitators. In fact, there would be no such thing as human speech if it were not for our natural propensity to imitate the behavior of others. So, the question for him was not “To imitate or not to imitate?” but “Who to imitate?” This remains the major question for us all, especially for parents in recommending real live examples to their children. Fashion, styles, cars, home remodeling, recreational pursuits, hobbies, professions, the list goes on and on. Is there any area of life that is not the result of imitation? Even people who develop something new or invent something will still give credit to those whom they “imitated” at least, at first. So, when Paul says “imitate me” or those like me, he is not bragging. He is trying to get people to realize that we cannot become better if we imitate people who are worse or worse off than ourselves. Of course, behind “me,” for Paul, stands Christ. He’s made that abundantly clear. Yet, Christ is no longer visible in human form, except through Christians. So, it is appropriate to imitate “saints” in so far as they imitate Christ. And it is so important that imitation involves behavior. Instruction can involve only speech. We instruct someone and expect him or her to do as we say. Imitation, however, involves behavior. While it puts the responsibility on the one being imitated, it is actually easier on the one imitating. It is a daunting question whether we can ever say this to someone or whether we would want someone to imitate our behavior rather than just our instructions.
Whether we suffer from full-blown addiction or its milder version, vice, we can recognize the dangers and destructiveness of imitating people who smoke, drink, lie, are promiscuous, etc. At first exposure, these behaviors seem enticing, alluring, promising to offer a taste of the “good life.” They turn out to leave us off much more miserable than when they picked us up, more lost, more in need of a savior. These behaviors are in no way “saving.” Paul sees them as proceeding from the wrong attitude toward life- the “earthly” one, the one that thinks of life as limited to this form. Such a one says, “That’s all there is and so I must grab as much of life now as I can or I will cheat myself of the little life offers.” This attitude really leads not to living life, but living an “imitation” of life. It is not life at all. It is plastic, forced, arranged, quite predictable and quite unsatisfying in the end. So, Paul recommends looking at life from the “end.” It looks very different from this vantage point. Christ has revealed how it will all end, so we can look at life from that angle. The “eternal viewpoint” produces the “eternal attitude.” In that envelope, from that window, out of that atmosphere, we can live on a different plane, the plane where earth and heaven intersect. From that powerful perspective we can see things moving which appear to those without benefit of Christ to be static. We can see and experience progress and growth where others see stagnation and death. Oddly, Paul describes this in chapter four, verse one, as “standing firm.” He does not mean standing still. He means we need to remain in the eternal perspective and keep aware of the eternal attitude or we will “fall out” of the protective perspective and end up imitating those who have no real hope, enemies of the cross, who fall apart when trouble comes or cave in when storms come or give up when things get difficult. Their own or our own resources are not powerful enough to withstand.
There is no substitute for the mind-set, attitude, perspective which Christ bestows on us when we turn our attention, fix our gaze, focus on him. This is not just a one-time movement or a once-in-a-while one. It requires discipline. Because we live in time, the eternal perspective can elude us. It is ironic that the most stable and stabilizing view, the eternal one, is also, on earth, the most volatile and vanishing one. The attitude, perspective, that no one can take away from us is the first one we are inclined to give away to the external and uncontrollable circumstances of our lives. And give to whom or what? To the circumstances themselves, and thereby making it easier for those circumstances, caused by evil, to do even more harm than they otherwise would. We panic, despair, give up or give in and so add to the circumstances yet another victim. Thanks to Christ it does not ever have to be that way, or ever again. If we imitate those who imitate him we will receive that same power to overcome, despite the odds.
Unless our minds are occupied with goodly and Godly matters, evil will preoccupy them.
Christians have a dual perspective because they live simultaneously on two levels of reality- the earthly and the heavenly.
Christians know the final outcome and so adjust their lives to become consistent with that reality.
Living life in the earthly perspective only results in enmity, destruction and shame.
Death: When a loved one dies the people who loved him or her think of eternity. They will say to each other that the deceased is better off because he or she is with God, at peace, at home, out of their pain and misery. They will console one another with ideas such as these. And all these ideas are true. They are more than ideas and heaven, eternal rest and peace, is more than an ideal. Eternity and eternal life is not just for the physically dead. It is for those who have already died with and in Christ, those who have surrendered their lives, both physical and spiritual, to Christ. Eternity lives and lives now, here and now, in each conscious Christian. A person who physically dies steps over or is carried over and into a clearer vision and more intense experience of what he or she had always been experiencing while on this side of that “line.” As such, they really go no “where.” They remain, but are now invisible. Not invisible to themselves or others on the other side, but invisible to us, at least for now, until we “imitate” them by going over to the other side ourselves. The “line” is not really a line. It is more like a stepping out of a fog and into clearer air. The “line” or the difference is permeable and fluid, not quite “either or”. When we are driving or walking out of a fog, when we are in between the thick and the thin of it, it is impossible to tell where the “line” is. We can drive or walk for a while in clarity and then re-enter the fog, only to exit it again. We have the same experience in flying on an airplane as we dance in between moments of blue clarity and gray envelopment. It is the same with death. Physical death might well be a point where there is no longer any trace of fog, but the process of getting so beyond fog that there are no traces of it describes physical life rather aptly. We actually fluctuate between these two extremes- clarity and fog- throughout our physical lives. We meet “death” often- in large events, the physical deaths of loved ones, their and our own suffering, failure, sin, and small ones and we are in danger of dying before we actually, physically die. Death is really a very permeable reality that we enter and exit throughout our lives. Some, like the “enemies of the cross,” enter it and never return, even though they keep on breathing earthly air. Others, like those who are “citizens of heaven,” keep their minds occupied and focused on the blue sky even while they are in the thick of the fog.
Discipline: When we first drive into or walk into a fog, especially a thick fog, we are overwhelmed by the lack of vision and clarity we experience. However, once in the fog for a while we adjust our eyes and are able to see dimly at first, tentatively, but eventually reasonably well. We know we are still in the fog but we concentrate on the light rather than the clouds. If it is dark we light a light or turn on our headlights. If it is daylight we will turn on a light so that others might see us coming, but it is not much help to us. We have to discipline ourselves to focus on the light beyond the clouds, sometimes fleetingly peeking through them, sometimes almost, but not quite, obliterated by them. So it is with eternal light and life. It requires discipline, the discipline of returning our mind’s focus upon the light rather than the clouds. After all, clouds are just “heavy” air the Hebrew word for cloud, kabod, means “heavy”, air mixed with water. Humans have used the cloud for a very long time as a metaphor for the way God “appears” to us. We could not “see” him, in the cloudiness, except for the light beyond the cloud. Yet, we do not really “see” him, it’s too cloudy for that. Rather we “sense” him. He is there, but for such a short period of time, at least for our earthly senses to perceive. However, with discipline and over time, the cloudiness can be penetrated and we can see more and more clearly, despite the clouds. That’s what Paul means by “standing firm in the Lord.” Amen.
