Philippians 1:27- 2:30

*

For we have an unchanging God.

For, hundreds of years before Paul wrote to the Philippians, Moses had already said to the Israelites:

this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. (Deuteronomy 30:11-14)

Neither would obedience have been too difficult nor alien for the Philippians. Plus they had (as we now also have) the example of Timothy's obedience (Philippians 2:19-23), Epaphroditus' (Philippians 2:25-30), and of Paul himself (Philippians 2:17, Philippians 1:12-26).


*Philippians 2:12-16 might seem an expansion of Philippians 1:27 - 2:4, and but given the gospel-centric-ity of Jesus (Philippians 2:6-8), God (Philippians 2:9-10), Paul (Philippians 1:19-26) and the context of the Letter to the Philippians, the emphasis seems here to be how this is lived out in the area of gospel partnership. (Not that one should Pharasaically limit its application.)

Barbarians in a Pod (Philippians 1:27-2:11)

In the course of corporate life, there comes a time when you find yourself sitting in someone else's board meeting that had been convened at short notice on a hazy Sunday afternoon, and telling their directors that, actually, their company is the part of the Great Singapore Sale that you're most interested in.

The resultant merger from the take-over, with the pruned and trimmed workforce amalgamated into existing offices and carrying the same logo on their business cards and answering to the same boss but reminiscing in private about the good old days in their ex-company, is hardly the sort of unified partnership Paul espouses in Philippians 1:27-2:4.

Neither is the "encouragement in Christ and the comfort from love" (Philippians 2:1) the warm but still superficial support shown by old friends turning up at your latest play.

Nor does "standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side" (Philippians 1:27) and "being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind" (Philippians 2:2) have anything to do with management tactics and company retreats - corporate bonding christianised and biblicised for churches. And so holding hands in a darkness lit only by white candles and swaying and singing wistful songs about world unity is, too, completely inappropriate for this purpose.

The Philippians, and all Christians for that matter, are already innately in intimate partnership with one another, because (i) they are all partners in the same Spirit (Philippians 2:1); and (ii) they already have the same mind - the mind of Christ Jesus, given to them when they first, by believing in him, came into partnership with him (Philippians 2:5) (and thus into partnership with each other (Philippians 1:5)). There is no need to manufacture partnership unity because every Christian worth his salt (pun!) is already united with all other Christians.

Yet, as we are later instructed (Philippians 2:12-18), this status quo must be worked out.

What then does it mean to "have this [same] mind among yourselves, which is your in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5)? It seems that its outworking in our lives is that we "do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than [ourselves]" (Philippians 2:4). But this isn't the Ned-Flanders type caricature of the doormat Christian, mild and timid, always blindly optimistic, and always a pushover. It is an image modelled instead on the very nature of God. (Apparently the NIV translation of the Greek in Philippians 2:6 as "Who, being in very nature God" is more accurate than the ESV "who, though he was in the form of God".)

This fairly boggles the brain. While it is often said amongst evangelicals that our humility ought to come with recognising our position before God, as a mere creatures facing our awesome Creator, it is less usually said that this same magnificent Creator who has all power, all authority, all knowledge of the past, present and future, who has always been able to fashion reality according to whim, and who should be rightly worshipped regardless of his character, should have as the core of his being other-person-centredness and humility.

God the Son already had all glory and power at his disposal but he chose not to take advantage of this though his position was rightfully his. Instead his humble nature manifested itself in his intentionally choosing to be born as a mere creature, in his choosing to obey God the Father to die on the cross for our sins (Philippians 2:6-8, Isaiah 53).

And God the Father showed his immense approval of this by vindicating Jesus the Son, exalting him and bestowing upon him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knoee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:9-10).

With this revelation, can we creatures dare to act higher and mightier than God the Creator and Servant? And with this knowledge, do we not give straightaway, though our mouths are gaping and our heads in a whirl, give glory to God the Father (Philippians 2:11)?

Citizenly Partnership (Philippians 1:12-30)

Last week, a visitor arrived unannounced and proceeded to make herself very comfortable indeed in a rubbish tree in the garden. Her tenaciousness has been amazing. She's outlasted the frightened frog and mystified migrating moth, both of whom arrived that same week and departed soon after. Several days of blazing hot sun that dried up the birdbath we put out for her did not wilt a feather on Mrs. Yellow-vented Bulbul.

And the morning after a particularly thundery stormy night, I went to check on her, heart in mouth, wondering what carnage might have occurred. But there she was still in her nest, still giving me the beady eye. And now, hopefully, the fencing we've put up will keep the neighbourhood cats away until the eggs hatch!

What mileage might be wrung out of such bird-brained single-minded determination might in the hands of a cheesy preacher. But perhaps Paul speaks of an even greater devotion.

Now just waitaminute...

Philippians 1:12-26 might tempt one to laugh long and hard at the next person who calls Christianity a "psychological crutch". The fashionable rallying cries that "unite" the world around their causes are more likely candidates for objets d' baseless fiction.

Where some might talk of healing the world to make it a better place for you and me and the entire human race, or of making a pact to bring salvation back (because it rhymes), they don't usually include in the definition of "human race" nor in the offer of salvation, people to whom it does matter if you're black or white. But Paul's devotion to God's cause is more passionate and hot-blooded and far less wimpily thin-skinned:

Brothers who are emboldened to preach the gospel because Paul has been imprisoned? (Philippians 1:12-18) Ah, praise the Lord for raising up like-minded brethren to continue the good work!

Bitchy preachers who diss Paul in public but to whom thousands flock to listen to the gospel? (Philippians 1:15, 17-18) Well, praise the Lord too because regardless of their false motives, they too preach the gospel!

The choice between resting at last from earthly labour and enjoying eternal rest with Christ and remaining here to continue to suffer, be persecuted, ridiculed, spat on? (Philippians 1:22-26) Ooh. Tough choice. But Option B please, because there is still much more gospel work to be done.

Paul is totally focused on the advance of the gospel - not for the egoistic thrill of seeing the Christian meme conquer the world like an unstoppable borderless virus, nor for the education and good of the masses per se (though this will indeed save many), but ultimately that in the proclamation of what God had done in Christ and in the salvation of many, God would be glorified.

And the Philippians are to have the same goal as Paul, all of them having been saved into this common partnership when they first believed.

Paul then contextualises the concept in a completely non-cheesy way. Philippi is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony (Acts 16), having been granted this privilege for helping to defeat Antony and Cleopatra. The benefits of Roman citizenship are many: free passage throughout the Roman Empire (almost the whole known world), access to global markets, high credit ratings in international business, the protection of a first-world legal system etc. Their Roman citizenship is such a source of civic pride and identity that the Philippians will do anything to defend it. Hence, the extremely hostile reaction of the crowd to Paul and Silas who were accused of advocating customs that are not lawful for "us as Romans to accept or practice" (Acts 16:21-23).

Philippians 1:27 apparently reads, in the Greek, "only let your citizenly conduct" be worthy of the gospel of Christ. Their pride and identity should be wrapped up in their citizenship of heaven. With the more than the fervour with which pagan Philippian mob jealously guards its precious Roman citizenship, Christians are to stand firm in one spirit, with one mind and strive side by side for the faith of the gospel, even as they face opposition.

Ultimately, there should not be and cannot be any dichotomy between the gospel goal that should be their singleminded obsessive partnership and the gospel goal that is an integral part of their current corporate citizenship.

Unfortunately, this last week has shown that even a tiny glimpse of this single-mindedness is scarely alien to this world. At a Sunday lunch chat with church-goers about lives revolving around work, bad bosses, poor pay and career opportunites, the suggestion that perhaps there might be more to life than work and that God's mission might be a worthy goal was met with scornful cries of "Come on, then we might as well all be pastors right?" and "Do you think I'm a nun?!"

A church-going colleague, handing back Christopher Ash's Married For God, just about screamed that marriage for the purpose of serving God was so offensive to the romantic nature of the relationship that she would be put off the institution if she had to adhere to the tenents set out in the book.

Maybe it boils down to whom we think God is and where we think this world is heading. Paul reminds us that one day, we will stand before the judgement throne to be judged for everything we have done in this life. Can we expect and hope that we will not be put to shame then for having lived a life devoid of any eternal value (cf Philippians 1:20-21)?

Gospel priorities are not brownie badge opps for the superspiritual or the professionally religious. God expects this from anyone whom he has been granted to believe in Christ (Philippians 1:29). Because not only are all Christians brought into partnership with each other in the cause of the gospel, they are also brought into partnership with Christ.

See Philippians 2 and 3.

The Pop! Goes Our Hearts Partnership (Philippians 1:1-11)

At the CIMB Singapore International Piano Festival last week, Vladimir Feltsman strode on stage to polite applause before sitting down perfunctorily and launching into J.S. Bach's Partita No. 1 in B-flat major. The initial excitement of the audience soon gave way to the dawning realisation that there was something very familiar about his style - it had all the symptoms of a child being forced by proud and somewhat musically-clueless parents into playing his Hanon exercises for visitors. Feltsman's use of rubato seemed merely an attempt to allay his boredom rather than to add colour to the piece. Chopin's Polonaises and Ballade No. 3 fared little better though Feltsman actually showed a bit of interest in Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition with glimpses of technical brillance and even, emotion. Later, I thought his first encore piece really did sound like piano exercises and recently ex-fan R was insulted by the triteness of his second encore piece.

Travel-weary performing-monkey syndrome theory was put to rest by reports that Feltsman was similarly uninspired in his adopted homeland. The South Florida Classical Review likened "his stage personality and musical style" to "that of an impatient, vaguely irritated professor who wants to get class over with as quickly as possible". Though describing his interpretation was individualistic, The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that "Feltsman's moments of boredom [were] unfortunately obvious". (Edit: Chang Tou Liang's review in the Straits Times probably attempted to be far more constructive and positive.)

What a great contrast between the pianist free to practise his art in front of a willingly-adoring audience and the effusive Paul fettered and mired in opposition as he writes the letter to the Philippians.

Astonishingly, the letter is in a joyous major key with I, IV, V chord progressions, with the main themes of partnership (Philippians 1:7, 4:14-15. 1:27, 2:1, 3:10 (I want to partner in his suffering), 4:2) and what standing firm in partnership might look like (Philippians 1:27 - 4:1), always with an eye on the last day (Philippians 1:11, 4:17).

In his various letters, Paul uses different imagery to describe the relationships between the church and God, and between the members of the church: God is the Father and we are his children and members of one family; Christ is the head and we are parts of one body etc.

Here, he appears to be using the imagery of partnership (κοινωνί). It is not just the loosely bandied "fellowship" which Christians term just about every gathering regardless that there is little difference between such chowtimes/ weekend football sessions/ gossip meet-ups and the gatherings of pagans. The partnership to which he refers is akin (hehheh) to that found in the business world, where people get together and commit to working singlemindedly, and do indeed work passionately, towards a common objective. William Taylor suggests the active, energetic picture of a takeover situation where the accountants, lawyers, business people are working hard overnight with a common target in sight. But more than that, the partners in a partnership relationship are stakeholders; they are in close relationship, each contributing his part, and each sharing in the ups and downs - directly reaping the profits of the success of their enterprise and also directly bearing the losses of the failure of their business.

There is partnership between Christ and the church, and the members of the church with each other. It's not just a shake-hands commercial deal with one eye always on protecting oneself and being ready to sue the other for breach of contract but a real teamship, a heartfelt joint venture. Just as the "affection of Christ" was no Saturday night whisper to be melted away by the stark sunshine of Sunday, but shown in his sacrificial death on the cross, so Paul's love for the Philippians is real - shown in his concern and affection for his partners (Philippians 1:3-4, 1:7, 1:8) and the amazing joy welling up even in his private prayers (Philippians 1:4) because he can see they are keeping in partnership with him (Philippians 1:5, 1:7) even as they all partner with Christ (see later chapters). The evidence of this is their monetary support, their being faced with the same opposition and their standing firm in the gospel (Philippians 1:7).

Christians find each others' testimonies tearduct-tickling. It was really wonderful to hear R's 11-year journey to the faith through the unlikely help of a Nobel Prize winner's book on Barrabas and the Christian (heritage) of favourite poets. Heck. God's sovereignty being, err, really sovereign, even The Simpsons can be his messengers through which he calls his people.

It's easy to start out strong and full of promise (this is a general comment and not specific to prata-buddy's future!). Think of the childstars who crashed and burned when they were no longer cute enough to hide their lack of (other) talent, or the one-hit wonders, or the sportspeople who grew old and weary and then retired to collect royalties from their eponymous range of sports equipment, until those too were retired because their achievements had been eclipsed by others.

How do we know we will last in this partnership with Christ to the end in a world full of temptation and opposition and suffering? And furthermore, churches fester with all sorts types, how can we manage to remain in such intimate partnership with people we can't quite stand the sight of?

Well, we didn't discover the faith under our own steam or through dumbass good luck, but God ultimately who first called us to this salvation. So unsurprisingly, it is he who began a good work in us who will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). And our sharing in Paul's imprisonment (facing the same conflict and opposition and persecution he faced), and our sharing in the defense and confirmation of the gospel (confirmed no doubt also by our standing firm in it), far from being signs that God is punishing us, are signs that God's approval is on us - for Paul considers these part of the grace, the undeserved favour given to us by God (Philippians 1:7)

And yet, in that familiar both-and scenario that is replete through the Bible, we are to rest on God but not on our laurels. Paul prays that the Philippians' love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that they may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, and in the same letter, tells them how they are to do this. No instant makeover from God. Wounds, difficulties, pain and suffering to follow.

Christian camps: camaraderie in the cause of Christ. The joy of Christian service together (and silly games and sillier photographic memories of the same).

This is all with the aim to bring praise and glory to God on that Last Day (Philippians 1:11, 4:17) through our fruits of righteousness, overwhelming evidence of his work in us, a massive harvest, an overflowing bank account because of our faithful gospel partnership.

But more on what remaining in true partnership, what abounding love with knowledge and discernment, looks like to come. Yay!