'Walk Like a Philippian' (25/2/09 Bible Study - Philippians 3:12-4:1)

Various problems afflict the church, both from outside its walls, to the sometimes more dangerous and always more insidious internal challenges.  What are the major challenges to the church, what are the things that could steal away her joy in Christ Jesus?

Last week, Paul highlighed one particular group who threw up a real challenge to the joy of the Philippian church - the 'Mutilators'.  These were people within the church who, whilst accepting Jesus as their Lord and saviour (superficially at least), claimed that you then needed the 'old badges of identity' that came with the people of God, or you were not really an insider.  Paul called them out, and answered them with the doctrine of Justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone.

This week, Paul smokes out two more groups intent on hijacking the joy of the Christian church - the 'Perfectionists,' who claim to already be the finished article, Christianly speaking, and the 'Enemy Collaborators' - the people who have their crosshairs firmly fixed on the cross of Christ and anyone clinging to it.

In order to help the Philippians to set up the guards they need, he gives them four stances for a Christ, four careful guards - Christian disciples must sprint, march, walk and stand still.

1. Sprint towards your destiny

Paul begins by painting a word picture of an athlete straining, always straining for the finishing tape.  He asserts that he is by no means the finished article, but instead paints a different picture.  He has heard the starter's gun of his justificastion, he has his eyes boring into the finishing tape, and so what does he do while he's between the two markers?  Wait for the adjuticator to bring him his prize whilst he has a can of coke and some chicken nuggets?  No, he runs ... and runs hard!  The picture is like that last stretch of an Olympic sprint race, where the competitors not only run their hardest, but also l-e-a-n forward in order to eek out the most from the race that they possibly can.

Paul is batting away the Perfectionists using the doctrine of Sanctification.  And he asserts that, like the sprinter in the race, the disciple being sanctified (made more like Jesus) must always drive themselves hard alongside the work that God is doing in us (1:6).  Being sanctified involves sweat, strain, effort on our part.

Often, I slip into thinking that I've basically arrived as a Christian.  Yeah, I'm not perfect, but all that's really left to do is a little tweaking.  I've been trained, I've done the hard yards, but that's behind me now.  I can ease off, not try hard.  Paul is having none of that.  That's as crazy as Usain Bolt deciding mid race he needn't bother do anything but walk the rest of the way.  For the Christian, our start was certain (justification), our endpoint is certain (salvation), but that doesn't give us an excuse to amble along the way - easing off is not why we're in the race!

2. March in step with your identity

The little verse 16 gives us another picture to protect the Christian - Paul is telling them literally to 'march with your identity'.  When a soldier marches out of time with his platoon, it's really painfully obvious very quickly - and it does his platoon a real disservice, making them look amateurish.

That's what Paul wants Christians to do.  You know who you are - you're a firm and certain Christian - so your life should march in time with that.  If you're out of step with who Jesus has made you, it'll be really obvious, it'll make Jesus' work look amateurish and do him a real disservice before the world.  Christians should want to march in step with their identity.

3. Walk closely around accurate 'casts' of Jesus

The third picture involves walking.  It's an indication of how we can see more clearly when we're not marching in step with our identity.  Paul's not being big-headed or proud.  In fact, he's telling the Philippians to walk close to people who know they're not the finished article ... because this shows humility and thus the mind of Christ.  This is one of the ways that we can expose how we don't always think with the mind of Christ (v17 is a bit of a bookend of the idea of 'having the same mind, the mind of Christ' in 2:5).

If we're walking close to people who are seeking to map their lives onto Christ more and more accurately, it'll help us to see where we're out of step.  Just as a soldier marching on his own can march at whatever pace he likes and not see if he's out of time, a Christian going solo is far more likely to live with unrepented-of-sin.  When a soldier marches alongside his platoon, and the whole platoon is focussed on their captain setting the tempo, it's much easier to see the things that aren't right in the march, and sort them out quickly before they become a problem!

So look for people who are accurate 'casts' of Jesus, modelled closely on him ... and march beside them, walk around from them, pick up your pace from them.

4. Stand absolutely still in your Lord and Saviour

The last picture is given in the light of a description of enemies of Jesus' saving work.  Christians ought to stand absolutley still in their Lord and Saviour.  After all, he's the one who's coming to get us back again one day.  He'll take us to an eternity spent with him in the New Creation.  He's the one who instigated the starter's gun on our Christian life, and he's the one who'll give us the prize at the finish line - he's the one that guarantees that our end is not destruction, as it is with enemies of the cross.

So why would you want to step outside of Jesus, rely on anyone or anything else, if he's the one who's done this and is going to do that?  Why would you even wobble outside of that safe place, that guarantee, that perfect relationship?  So stand absolutely still.  You get your passport from Heaven (cf. 1:27), so wait in expectation for the day the letter arrives with the stamp of your chief official on it, summoning you back to home base.  When he does, he'll use all the power of 2:9-11 to transform our grimy bodies into ones just like his own resurrection body, and we'll be with him, safe and secure forever.  So stand still.

Four instructions for Christians under a barrage of attacks: sprint, march, walk and stand.  Four things to pray for help with this week.  Let's sprint with real effort at our sanctification, let's march with real precision with our identity, let's walk with great closeness to Christ-like disciples and let's stand with absolute stillness in our Lord and Saviour.

Some useful resourceage...

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'Living with Jesus on the Balance Sheet' (18/2/09 - Philippians 3:1-11)

Some passages of Scripture feel like a true Godsend.  And some biblestudies are so exciting because you can see the lights go on when people begin to grapple with the text and see what God actually says therein.  Last night was one of those studies!

If you were to answer the question: 'what makes you a Christian?' what would you say?  Sometimes, when we think about all things that go towards making us a Christian, and what makes us certain that we're right with God, we can get a bit panicky ... but what if I'm not saved?  Thinking like this is a pointer that we are relying on a gospel that is fundamentally skewed compared to the true Gospel preached by Paul and the other apostles.

Having encouraged the Philippians to rejoice in gospel partnership, to rejoice when the gospel goes forward, to rejoice in the humility of Christ and humble unity of believers, to rejoice when gospel effort is seen not to be pointless, he now uses the command to rejoice in a new way - he uses it as a safeguard, as a warning, as a protection for the Philippian Christians.  We don't often use joy that way.  But by rejoicing in the Lord, the young Christians will be guarded against some incredibly destructive pseudo-gospels.

Beware of the Dogs (vv1-6)!

Paul is scathing in his terminology of this particular group in the church.  They are not only being told off - they are being villified!  So what's the difference here from the people in 1:15-18?  Both groups are opposed to Paul.  Why, with one group, does he shrug his shoulders and say 'Bring it on,' whilst with the other gets the full-bore holy flame-thrower treatment?  The difference is this: the gospel.  In Chapter 1, although their motives were wrong, their message was right.  On the other hand, here, the message is fundamentally flawed.

It seems that on view is the question: what makes you into the true people of God (if you look at the comparison he makes between v2 and v3, the 'real circumcision,' the issue of true worship and so on point to the concept of the true people of God)?  On the one hand, we seem to have the circumcision party of Colossians, Galatians and so on - the group that said, 'Yeah, great, we accept Jesus as saviour and Lord ... but now, you've got to do all of the old Jewish things, too.'  So they weren't denying the message of the gospel per se ... rather, they were subtly adding to it - Jesus alone is not enough.

In effect, Paul is describing traditional religious thinking - that Jesus is core, but Jesus is not sufficient.  I know that sounds crazy...but it's the way most of us end up thinking, especially in the conservative church.  We try to catch God's eye with our great service in the church, our active prayer life, our daily quiet times.  We end up thinking we're doing God a favour by being on His team.  That's the state of our hearts!  And for this type of thinking, Paul reserves very strong words!

So what do the real people of God look like?  They worship in the Spirit of God (look at John 4 for more discussion of this), they cheer in Jesus rather than anything else, and they are not persuaded by outward things of their rightness with God.

Paul goes on to list five ways that, if we were playing the game of boasting in outward things, he could win hands down.  If we were playing 'Righteousness Top Trumps,' you would want the Paul card.  And these five ways of boasting are often ways we boast, too!

1. Tradition and outward signs of membership of the people of God
2. Heritage of connection with the people of God
3. Outstanding knowledge of the bible and personal ministry
4. White-hot passion for God's reputation
5. Studious moral obedience

In Christ Alone (vv7-9)

The main issue for the people of God is this - how can we be made right with God.  As Mark Driscoll once said ... the gospel starts with the idea, 'God hates you and it's going to go really, really bad [for you] for a very long time.'  How can we get God's anger turned away from us?  Well, it used to be that Paul used the things listed above to convince himself that he was right with God.  If you can imagine a balance sheet where the 'gain' column contains things that counted towards you being right with God, and the 'loss' column contained things that detract from that, then he had the above things in the 'gain' column.

But then Jesus blasted onto his balance sheet.

And Jesus went straight into the gain column ... and if Paul tried to keep the old things on the balance sheet, they'd not add on in the gain column.  Rather, they'd detract from his status with God.  Because if he did that, he'd be saying to God: God, I don't want you to look at me and see Jesus in all his perfection, and sacraficial efficiency.  I want you to see me and my good bits.  Problem: if we ask God to see me and my good bits, he'll also see my sinful heart, and I'll get punished for that.  I can't be selective - either I ask God to look at me and see Jesus (that's what 'righteousness by faith' seems to mean), or I can ask God to look at me, and hope (vainly) that I'll match up, somehow.  God either sees sinful me or sinless Jesus.

So living with Jesus on the balance sheet means everything else needs to get stripped off the balance sheet - none of the other other things should be kept on.  Here are the three options:

1. Ignore Jesus, keep my balance sheet with my 'good stuff' on the gain column.  This is living as a secular non-Christian.
2. Accept Jesus onto my balance sheet, but try to keep my good stuff in the gain column, too.  This is living as a religious non-Christian.
3. Accept Jesus onto my balance sheet, recognise he is hyper-valuable, and so boot every other thing that I might boast of, that I might cheer in, off the sheet in tota, onto the separate sheet entitled 'Dogfood.'  This is living as a Christian.

Faith in Jesus makes this kind of living accessible.  That means staking my eternity that Jesus has done it all - not a belt and braces approach, not a Jesus-plus approach.  Staking my eternity that what God says is true and will happen - those who take Jesus onto their balance sheet will get the benefit of eternity as right with God.

Clear sky thinking (vv10-11)

The last couple of verses hide some incredible truths.  Paul warns us that in the light of this instruction regarding living with Jesus on our life's balance sheet, we ought to have the clouds in our thinking blown away.  He says three things:

• Justification this way gives me a clear relationship with Jesus that I can enjoy right now
• Relationship with Jesus now means that I have a clear pattern of life to emulate and anticipate - suffering and maybe even death - for the moment
• This pattern of life is emulated because our main desire is to get to the same destination as Jesus any way we possibly can - the bodily resurrection of the dead later, which I can long for now.

Unfortunately, this is uncomfortable teaching.  If I examine my heart, when I talk about discipleship, and use phrasiology like 'I want to be more like Jesus,' I mean that I want to be like Jesus in his ability to teach, to be like Jesus in his authority, to be like Jesus in his ultimate victory.  In a sense, this is a kind of 'over-realised eschatology' - I want what Jesus got later, whilst ignoring what his life looked like first.  If I say I want to be more like Jesus, I have to be prepared for my life to map more and more closely onto his.  My pattern of life must be expected to look more an more like his pattern of life.

This is something that is backed up by the teaching of Jesus ('...take up your cross and follow me,'), by the teaching of the New Testament, and by the empirical proof of the life of the great saints (the martyrdom of the apostles, the life and death of the likes of Stephen and Paul).  So in terms of discipleship ... do I really want to be like Jesus?  Because that's what I need to pursue with the white-hot zeal for Jesus if I want to get to that final destination of resurrection...

That's living with Jesus on the balance sheet.

STOP PRESS - if you want to download the handout, go here.

'Who Was Jesus?' (15/02/09 Youth Group - Mark 6:31-56)

In youth group on Sunday evenings, our main teaching focus has been to work our way through Mark's gospel.  We've taught in a variety of ways, and htis week, I spent fifteen minutes unpacking who Mark paints Jesus to be in this passage, and then got the young people to design a newspaper front page communicating the big themes of the passage.

As a way in, I used that modern preacher's favourite tool, Google.  Type in the phrase 'Jesus was...' and hit 'search,' and the top ten returns include the following:  Jesus was...

• Gay
• Muslim
• A vegetarian (and wanted the rest of us to be too)
• An only son (thank, Mr Springsteen)
• A *#@^ (can't actually write what one page claimed him to be!)

And that was just on the top page of returns!

So who does Mark claim Jesus is?  Mark sometimes gets a bad press for being rougher round the edges than the other gospellers - all in a rush to get to Easter, so that he misses Christmas, always using the word 'immediately,' and generally only drawing the sketchiest of pictures of Jesus compared to Matthew, Luke and John.  But Mark is actually building a rich tapestry of who Jesus really was, and to miss that as merely reporting the things he reports is to perform a great injustice.

Three things from this passage (which features some of the more famous miracles and stories) which Mark seems to suggest point to Jesus' mindblowing identity, and one significant problem.

Signpost 1 - Jesus is God's True and promised Shepherd

Throughout the OT, the picture of a shepherd for God's people again and again gets brought up.  More than just a sandle-wearing, dung-smelling, woolly-jumper-making bumpkin, the biblical shepherd is put in place to care for God's people, to gather the lost sheep, to lead them in a way that kept them safe from destructive idolatry, to teach them the character and redemptive action of God.  Moses and David were both pictured as prototypical shepherds.  But by 1 Kings 22, we see the leaders of God's people are poor and abusive shepherds who effectively enjoy lamb kebabs every night.

And then in Ezekiel 34, God promises to punish the old shepherds for their failure, to gather in his lost and scattered sheep and to send 'King David' as the perfect shepherd - he'll keep them safe and lead them to safe, abundant pastures.  For King David, read 'God's King'

So when Mark uses the phrase 'he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd,' he lifts a phrase right out of the OT (Numbers 27:17; 1 Kings 22:17, etc.).  He's putting us on notice that something special is going on here.  And what's his logical progression when he sees this?  Does Jesus feed them?  Yes, but not at first.  His compassion on these lost sheep is to gather the people and to teach them.  Jesus cares for people, he gathers them, he leads them, he teaches them.  Jesus is God's promised true shepherd.

Signpost 2 - Jesus is Lord of the new Exodus

Three times, we're told that the people are in the wilderness.  Jesus provides bread out of (practically) nothing.  People are fed by 'God's Shepherd' and have more than enough to satisfy them.  There are twelve baskets gathered up left over to remind the disciples of Jesus' provision.  All of this points to something big going on.  Mark is claiming that a new Exodus is happening here.  And who's in charge?  Who's Lord of it?  Jesus.

A new people of God are being assembled, and they, as previously, are being provided for and rescued in the wilderness.  But now, the Exodus leader is Jesus.  He's rescuing a new people, providing God's avenue of redemption.

Signpost 3 - Jesus is God Himself come to rescue His people

Having sent the boys out across the lake, Jesus prays on the mountain, and, looking out, He means 'to pass them by' (note the use of Exodus language - see Exodus 15:16).  So he walks out to them.  Across the water.  Understandably, they're freaked out.  So how does he reassure them - what does he say is his identity?  'It is I.'  But in Greek, he uses exactly the same form of words as Exodus 3:14 - 'I AM'.  Jesus is claiming to be God.

So not only is Jesus someone special - he's someone extrodinary.  Mark seems to be using Exodus language to point us to Jesus being God himself come to rescue His people.  That's huge.  We can't just write him off as a useful teacher, whose teaching we can pick and choose from.

We see a Jesus who's instigating a new rescue event.  A Jesus gathering lost people.  A Jesus who is the true shepherd, the Exodus Lord, God himself.  We can't shrink him down.  Mark is setting the agenda very methodically and rigorously - we can't use the phrase 'I've always thought of Jesus as...'

The Problem - hard hearts

Despite this picture, these signposts, the disciples are still confused.  Mark gives us a pointer that the feeding of the 5000 should have woken us up to a bigger truth - it was meant to tell the disciples something of Jesus' identity.  That's why he performed that miracle in the first place.  We'll find out more in a chapter or two when the same thing happens again, and Jesus precipitates the crisis point for Simon Peter and the others.  But for now, their hearts just aren't big enough to take in God's truth.  They can accept some small part of who Jesus, but they're just not ready to see him as God himself come to rescue.

Tune in next time for more on that problem...

But for now, what do we do with this Jesus?  How can we properly respond to a Jesus who's not just there to tell us how to be nicer or better ... but a Jesus who is God?

'Living with Generation Twister' (11/2/09 Bible Study - Philippians 2:12-30)

Sometimes, studying God's Word takes a lot out of you.  From the preparation to the prayer to the study or sermon itself, it feels like you're wading through treacle.  Not because God's Word is unclear - it is an orthodox and much neglected Christian doctrine that the Bible is able to be understood, because the Spirit who inspired it also works in believers to illuminate its meaning (see Mark Thompson's book, A Clear and Present Word for a helpful explanation of that).  No, God's Word is able to be understood by His people.  Sometimes, though, it's just not easy to understand.  And more than that - teaching God's Word is more tiring than it should be!  Because it is a spiritual undertaking, and we need God's enabling, we're often utilising muscles that have atrophied through laziness or disuse.  Studying God's Word can take a lot out of you.  So it was with last night's study.

Having said that, there was a cornucopia of delights in what is a very tough passage.  At first blush, it seems that Paul is advocating a 'works' theology - 2:12 says 'work out your salvation with fear and trembling.'  But the passage is rich with Old Testament allusions, and has taught me much.

One of the major questions on view is this - how can the church live in the midst of this broken and sordid generation?  A quick search of Google trends yesterday revealed that the top searches and websites accessed included various sites dealing with shopaholism [sic], pictures of a celebrity breastfeeding, and a Major League Baseball player who knowingly had unprotected sex with his girlfriend whilst HIV positive.  What does the church do in this generation?

vv12-13 ... Work it Out!

I suspect these verses are prone to much misunderstanding - Paul's leading line, after all, is to work out your salvation.  So often, though, Paul uses the language of salvation to represent a future blessing for God's people, as well as a current one.  We're often pretty loose with our theological terminology - but Paul seems to have on view the salvation of Romans 13:11, which is nearer to us now than when we first believed.  To be nearer now than then, we can't have it yet!  Anyway, it seems that Paul is commanding Christians to work hard in concert with God's Spirit to live in a way that's moving towards our final destination - salvation and eternity with Jesus - and not away from it.  The obedience of faith, as Paul describes it often in Romans.

And we're only able to do that because God energises us.  We need God's energising both to will and to do.  That is - to want to do what is pleasing to God, and then to do what we now want to do!  Paul is clear in Romans 3 that no-one, of their own volition, wants to seek after God, to do what is pleasing to Him.  So we need God's energy to want to do what is pleasing to Him.  But in Romans 7, and Matthew 26:41, even when our spirit is willing, our flesh may be weak ... so we need God's energy to actually do what's pleasing to Him, too.

All of this harks back to Ezekiel 36, where God promises a radical heart transplant - only then will His people truly and voluntarily walk God's way.

But for us living between the final two waymarkers of Salvation History - Jesus' ascension and his return to judge the living and the dead - we are living with new hearts, but fighting against the remains of our old life.  We need God's energy for this fight, but we need to 'get our head straight and get stuck into' the battle to live God's way, too.  It's tiring, it's awkward, it's unpleasant.  But it's what god empowers us to do.  We do it with fear and trembling, because we are conscious now of the reality that everyone will see later - that the Jesus who has steralised the instruments for God's heart transplant is the Lord of the universe (2:9-11), and so deserves humble honour.

vv14-18 ... Old Israel, True Israel

Clearly underpinning these verses is the identity and purpose of Israel - God's Old Testament special people.  Paul warns the Philippians not to grumble, mumble and question, reminiscent of Exodus 16.  The problem there was not simple doubt nor humble question-asking - but rather outright failure of trust.  The questions they asked stemmed from doubting God's goodness and forgetting his deliverance.  When that goes, everything else is up for grabs.  That's why grumbling is a symptom of something serious in the church - it generally stems from disbelieving God's goodness and forgetting his salvation.  It can rip a church apart - leadership is questioned, sin is tolerated, power games are played.  That's why it's such a serious issue.

But instead of being like old Israel, the Philippians are exhorted to be like true Israel.  Paul implicitly recalls Isaiah 49:5-6, where the Lord's servant Israel is painted as having a bigger mission than just building up God's existing saints.  He is meant to be a 'light to the nations,' so that whoever is willing to join himself to the LORD can be brought into covenant relationship with Him.  Israel is to be separate from the world, yes; but separate so that the world can see the wonder of being able to live at peace with the God of the universe, and want to join in!  Israel singularly failed at this, but Jesus succeeded.  Recognised by Simeon in Luke 2, he proclaimed himself the Light of the World (John 8), but here, that role is passed onto Christ's people in the world.

The generation they (and we!) sit in was both twisted ('crooked,' ESV) in that it is angled away from God, but also twisting ('twisted', ESV) in that it actively seeks to turn others away from God.  It is Generation Twister.  But the way God's people are to deal with that?  Neither withdrawal, smugness and condemnation, nor immersion, compromise and ultimately being twisted away from God.  But to behave as God's special people were always meant to - to stay separate, in order to draw outsiders into the people of God!  Woah.  What a truth, what a role.

And when that starts to happen, it's vindication that the gospel is working as its meant to.  There's nothing more frustrating in Ultimate Frisbee than running fifty or sixty yards, being in the clear, and looking back to see no throw coming your way.  Similarly, Paul doesn't want to get to the endzone (when Jesus comes back again), and see that the effort in gospel work is pointless.  But conversely, if Philippi Presbyterian starts working not like Old Israel but true Israel ... well, that's a cause to cheer.  Even if, to get to the endzone, it means him giving up his life.  

That's the importance of gospel work.  And that's a shocking reminder to all of us involved in ministry (read: every Christian) not to give up at the least discouragement, or weariness.  We do that all too easily.  After all, it's not worth it?  No, Paul says, it's worth it and more - invest in gospel work, so that when you present your charges to Jesus, the gospel is seen to be effective.  Don't let yourself get in the way of it!

Humbling.

Paul gives two case studies, well known to the Philippians.  First, Timothy, who was proof positive that gospel work was not wasted - that it had proved effective in his life (and he exhibited 'the mind of Christ' mentioned in 2:1-4).  Second, Epaphroditus, who was a living example of someone who understood that gospel work must progress, even if what it takes for the message to progress is the death of the messenger.  Kobe Bryant played a game for the LA Lakers last week with severe flu, and still put up 19 points against the form team in the league, needing IV fluids at half time.  But he knew this match was too important to deprive his team of their best chance.  Same goes for the people of God.  The gospel is too important to stop its progress because I can't take one for the team.  That's why Paul highlights Epaphroditus.

I guess there's lots in this passage, and it's not comfortable for us.  But it is vital transformative information as we learn how to live not on our own, but as Christ's church in Generation Twister.  We look forward to the day of salvation, when we can say:

'New heart - check.  The will to please God - check.  The ability to act out that will - check.  Gospel work - that's not been in vain.  I've seen that every effort I've put up, no matter how weak and insignificant has been taken up by God and multiplied a hundredfold in terms of Kingdom effect.  What a mighty God we serve!'

'Living as Gospel Citizens' (4/2/09 Bible Study - Philippians 1:27-2:11)

So here I am on my first post on my shiny new blog.  I guess there'll be a variety of stuff on here.  But in particular, I'm hoping to blog about the content of each bible study I lead, and talk or sermon I give, in order to help me crystalise the main lessons from the passages in my own heart.

Last night, we had our fourth study in Philippians (well, third in Philippians, plus one in Acts 16).  We reached the key-note passage, Paul's description of Jesus' humiliation and exaltation.  Dick Lucas says he thinks 1:29 is one of the key verses in the whole book.  

I think the whole passage (1:27-2:11) drops down out of Paul's instruction in 1:27 - 'so live in a manner worth...' (ESV).  In fact, it seems to be that the Greek word used is 'be a citizen of the gospel,' more literally.  I guess this was particularly poignant for the church in Philippi, people proud no doubt of their Roman citizenship.  Paul seems to want to subvert the loaded idea of being a citizen.  Christians are citizens not of Rome, the US or the UK, but of the gospel.  He's leading on from discussing the priority of gospel work for every Christian in 1:12-26.  And here, he's realistic that that will be opposed.

So what is a gospel citizen?  Well, they're a wrestler (1:27) with other gospel citizens, against gospel opponents and for the goal of the gospel; a signpost (1:28) to gospel opponents that everyone gets something eternal from God (salvation or destruction) on the last day (I wonder whether in the same sense as John 3 and John 16 - producing conviction that, God willing leads to repentance - but I'm not sure), in the way we wrestle together for the gospel; and a mimic of Jesus - our pattern of life maps onto Jesus'.  Suffering first, glory later.  And suffering is paired with belief as a grace-gift from God - the same word-root is used as God's merciful allowance that we might 

The side-along support of Jesus, the strength-infusing love he shows, the partnership with the spirit all produces a gut-wrenching reaction in the believer that leads to having the very mindset of Christ.  So Christians are not proud-minded, but humble minded.  But what makes Christians different from any other group, who happen to look out for one-another?  Isn't it all just 'in group mentality,' as Richard Dawkins would have it?

Well, in 2:6-11, we see a stunning description of Christ Jesus, the hero, the theme of the book of Philippians.  Not a sappy, wussy, girly Christ.  But the Christ who flung stars into orbit, who waterproofed the ocean basin, who carved the teeth of the crocodile and the muscles of the boa constrictor.  This Christ was voluntarily humilitiated to become 'wrapped in our clay' as Wesley put it.  More, to be obedient to death.  More, to allow his own creatures to drive nails in his hands, push thorns in his scalp, forcibly draw the last rasping breath from his mouth.  And because of this voluntary humiliation, he was exalted by God the father.  He is reigning now as master of the universe, and one day, that reality will be clearly seen by all, and acknowledged on every lip and through every knee.  The gospel is about Jesus being Lord, and in his humiliation and exaltation, bringing glory to God.  The wonder of the gospel is that his voluntary humiliation gives us time now to bow voluntarily, rather than being forced to bow later.

But all this is not merely for theological reflection, for PhD writing and the like.  It's written to encourage Christians to live Christianly.  Paul brings out this theological heavy artillery in order to attack the seeds of pride, latent in Philippi.  Pride and independence are seeds that can ruin a church.  They are the root of sin, and as such, must be shot in flames.  Christ, the model gospel citizen, became humble.  That humility enabled us to be rescued, and to suffer like him.  If even he didn't demand his positional rights, and that humility won so precious a prize for us, would we so quickly destroy his church with our pride and independence?  No.  Have the mind of Christ.