In a stable condition

Last year the radio told of a real life incident of a woman doing the Christmas shopping in a department store with her two children.

After hours of trudging around looking at shelves of toys and consumables, and after hearing her kids interminably asking for almost everything, exhausted, she finally made it to the lift.

She was feeling what so many feel during the Christmas season. She was fed up with the pressure to please everyone, to go to every school carol concert, cook the perfect turkey, buy the perfect presents, etc. Finally the lift arrived. The doors opened. It was al-ready crowded. She sighed and pushed her way in, dragging the children and bags in after her. When the doors closed, she felt she couldn't take it any more and angrily said out loud: 'Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be strung up and shot!' From the back of the lift everyone heard someone say: 'Don't worry. We al-ready crucified him.' For the rest of the trip in the lift, it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

No satisfaction?

The reason why Christmas is a trial, not to say a disaster, for many people, is because presents and all the materialistic hoo-ha can never truly make us happy. The Bible tells us, that our hearts will never be satisfied until we find our satisfaction in knowing God.

Deep down we know that. A recent biography1 of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of Britain's favourite book, The Lord of the Rings, describes Tolkien as someone 'who has too much imagination, who is not content with the Enlightenment project of examining the known world in ever greater detailƒIn an unspoken religious sense, he seeks the face of God.' Tolkien's supernatural tales, along with all the other fantasy literature are so popular because people are built with too much imagination for this world alone to satisfy. We yearn for something above and beyond this world. Why? Because we were made by God and to know God.

Now in this passage from Philippians, the apostle Paul tells us something astonishing about God ù something people would never have dreamt of the god they see as a threatening authority figure. He tells us that God became a servant (vv.6,7). That is what was happening in the stable in Bethlehem.

Many people think that being a Christian is first and foremost about serving God. But, in these verses, Paul spells out that way before its about us serving God, authentic Christianity is about God, in his wonderful humility, serving us. This passage answers three important questions.

What is a Christian? (1-4)

Paul, is indeed encouraging Christians to serve. But look at how he puts it. 'If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, ...if any fellowship with the Spirit ... then make my joy complete ... Do nothing out of selfish ambition ... but in humility ... each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.'

You can see that what Paul says has an 'if...then...' structure. Now, the 'if' of the 'if...then...' is telling us that there is something that needs to come before our serving. Without it, we might try hard, but we won't be in good shape to be servants ù we'll easily get frustrated, and feel hard done by. What Paul describes as coming first, indicated by the 'if', actually describes what it is to be a Christian.

* First (v.1), a Christian is someone who is united with Christ ù joined to Jesus. This is a fallen world. We take some very hard knocks in life. We often feel unloved, and knowing our own faults, we may feel we are not worth loving. But God loves us, and he took the initiative and sent his Son, Jesus, who willingly came as the great expression of God's love. God offers his love to us in Christ, the Christian is someone who doesn't push it away, but who receives it, and believes it, and so, v.1, is comforted by Christ's love. This trusting in Christ and his love, unites us to him. It is a faith union.

* Second (v.1), if faith is our response to God's love, then God responds to our faith by sending his Spirit into our hearts, v.1. Paul speaks of 'fellowship with the Spirit.' 'Fellowship,' means, shared life. We share in the life of Christ's Spirit. He changes our hearts, making them compassionate, like Jesus. So there is this double linkage. From our end there is faith, personal trust in Christ. From God's end there is Christ's Holy Spirit who takes up residence in our hearts.

* And, thirdly (v.2f), it's that which equips us to be servants. Before ever Christianity is about serving God, or serving others, it is about receiving from God - allowing God to serve us. Receiving his love in Christ and receiving his Holy Spirit, we are united to Christ.

Are you a Christian? It is possible to go to church and not be a Christian. There is the lovely true story of a vicar, who was converted by his own sermon. His name was William Haslam. He was preaching in his church in Cornwall, and suddenly it dawned on him, like never before, that it was all true! Suddenly he really trusted Christ and the joy, the change in him, was visible. Someone shouted: 'Look, the vicar's been converted!' A Christian is someone who is joined to Christ by faith.

Who is Christ? (5-11)

Christ is God among us as a servant. It is Jesus's servanthood which provides the rationale for our service. 'Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God ... humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place...' (vv.5-9).

It is said that the late King Hussein of Jordan, would sometimes lay aside his royal robes and disguise himself as a taxi driver and mix among his people to find out their opinions about the issues of the day. But the story of Christ is that in Jesus, God the King of all became a man, and humbled himself as a servant for the purpose of death on a cross (v.8). The Christmas stable in Bethlehem was where he was born into our world, and the empty tomb of Easter morning was where having completed his work he rose again on his way back to heaven. But, Good Friday, his crucifixion, was the centre piece of his whole work as a servant.

What was the point of it all? How does God becoming man and dying on a cross serve mankind? The answer is that in the Bible death atones for sin. In Jesus, God put himself in our shoes, to do for us what we could never do for ourselves - that is deal with our wrongdoings and sin. Mankind's selfishness and sin rightly stir God's anger. (Don't we get rightly angry when we hear for example of old people being mugged and robbed? God's anger is no surprise then!) This anger hovers, like a great storm over mankind. But, sent by God his Father, at the cross, Jesus, willingly, acted like a great lightning conductor. He took upon himself our sins, and attracted to himself the full force of the storm of God's righteous anger, and thereby diverting it from everyone who is united to him.

Here is the love of God. He didn't just come among us, but he came to serve us and save us from hell and to open the door of heaven.

And if God himself has become a servant, that gives the whole logic for each one of us following a life of service. We have to say, that despite the advances in technology, and many good things, our land is in decline ù dirty hospitals, failing postal service, railways that can't keep time, families that break down. A big part of all this, is that as a society we have lost the concept of real service. Whereas it used to be looked upon as noble, it is now decried as a mug's game. Of course! Having rejected Christianity, service makes no sense. If there is this life and nothing else, then the only outlook which makes sense is 'Look after number 1.' Secularism can provide no solid logic for service. Yet deep down inside us, something tells us that service, not selfishness is the right way. Why? Because the reality behind the universe is not chance, but God who became a servant in Christ.

Who is a Christian? (12-18)

Lots of people call themselves Christians, but what are the marks of the genuine article? These verses give us three hallmarks of a real Christian.

* The Obedience of Faith. 'My dear friends, as you have always obeyed ... continue to work out your salvation ... for it is God who works in you' (vv.12,13). This obedience is not an attempt to earn salvation. It is an obedience which comes through the joy of having already received salvation by faith. The Christian works out what God is already working in us (v.13).

* The Radiance of Love. Christians are not perfect. They are still in the process of 'becoming blameless and pure' (v.14). But they are different from others. They shine like stars in a dark world, especially when they serve with Christ-like, uncomplaining love (vv.14-16).

* The Outlook of Hope. All this is done with our eyes, not so much on this world, but on the world to come and the day when Jesus returns. Live like this, prove yourself genuine, says Paul (v.16), 'that I may boast on the day of Christ.'

Farmers have their sheep and they just roam around the hills and valleys. But how do you know which sheep belongs to who? They are identified by the shepherd's mark. Well, Jesus is the Good Shepherd and he has a mark on all his sheep. It is not that they are perfect. But it is the mark of faith, hope and love.

Perhaps you think Christianity is all about serving God - more pressure! And just like trying to please everyone at Christmas you can never be sure you've done enough! No wonder people are put off. But if you do think like that, you have got it the wrong way round. The Christmas stable tells us that God would be your servant, before ever you think of serving him. This Christmas will you receive his gift of love in Christ?

An evangelistic look at Philippians 2.1-18

No satisfaction?

What is a Christian? (1-4)

Who is Christ? (5-11)

Who is a Christian? (12-18)

JEB

1. Tolkein and the Great War, by John Garth, HarperCollins, 2003.

John Benton

Main Articles

Other articles