April 2, 2024
Scripture: Philippians 2:14-18
“14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.”
What it means
Paul is really laying it on the church at Philippi in this passage of scripture. He is trying to establish the baseline of what it looks like to have the mind of Christ in how we conduct ourselves. Right before this section, he spent time discussing the importance of humility, and how we need to “imitate Christ’s humility”. That’s pretty hard to do, and then he makes it even harder by telling us to stop whining. Ouch – that’s a large part of my vocabulary, not sure how I’m supposed to pull this off. And what’s exactly in this for me? Look at verses 14-15 – we will become 1.) “blameless and pure”, 2.) “children of God without fault”, and 3.) “shine among them like stars in the sky”, or stars in the universe. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it? We spend a lot of time talking about how we are supposed to be different, how we are supposed to stand out in a good way as Christians. One sure-fire way to stand out is to be humble…and not look or sound like the rest of the world.
What it means to me
Pastor Jerry always used to challenge me after a big holiday (Christmas, Easter, etc.) – “Okay, we just finished Christmas/Easter – so what?” In other words, what’s different? What’s changed? Did Easter change anything for me or is it just back to business as usual? Well, I got up today and went to work as I typically do. I came home a little late, grabbed a quick bit to eat, and headed to bed in anticipation of doing it all over again tomorrow. So again…so what? What’s different? What’s changed? Well, let’s try something different after Easter this year. When we see (or read) something that we disagree with, let’s consider holding our tongue (or sitting on our hands) and not responding in kind. Let’s pray for more humility in our spirits today. And then…with Christ’s help, let’s “do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” We need to understand that the only way this will transpire is by the power of God working in and through us. Let’s begin a new journey with Jesus, starting right now.
Love you guys, talk to you on Thursday!
In Christ,
Brian