Week 05–service

This Week’s Reading:

Paul & Timothy begin their letter to the church in Philippi by giving the simplest, most direct version of their job description: servants of Jesus Messiah (1.1). Everything else they include in this brief “gospel-concentrate,”–the joy, suffering, exaltation, faith, obedience, salvation, and reconciliation–folds into this identity. Even in the face of dire circumstances, Paul is impossibly optimistic. He finds ample reason to rejoice, even when his detractors spin the good news of Jesus to discredit Paul himself (1:18)! He has found the secret to contentment: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus (4:13).

For Paul, this is just the beginning of his upside-down perspective. The Gospel demands soldiers, like Epaphroditus (2:25-30), who will prioritize the needs of others over their own (2:3-4), even unto death. Contrary to what one might think, “fighting side by side for the gospel” (2:27) has nothing to do with inflicting injury on the opposition, but rather selflessly serving “without complaining or arguing.” He claims it to be a blinding, blazing testimony to a perennially agitated, squinting world (2:14-16). And we have the promise that, as we serve “in a manner worthy of,” (1:27) the salvation we’ve received, our own feeble, fearful, and trembling actions–even our will to act–are baptized by God’s own, and directed for His good purposes (2:12-13). 

It is this act of surrender, first to God, and then, through Him, to others that puts us in Timothy’s territory. Abandonment of one’s own desires for Jesus’ creates the capacity to genuinely care for the needs of others. Compassion for people must be rooted in empathy for Jesus. Indeed, this is Paul’s thesis: that we would “adopt the same mindset as that of Messiah Jesus,” (2.5). We are citizens of the new government inaugurated by Him, and we eagerly await the future consummation of His rule, transforming our weakness into His glorious strength (3.20-21). Our present dependence on His glorious provision for whatever we lack ascribes further glory to “our God and Father forever and ever. Amen,” (4:19-20).