Day 273

Isaiah 60:1–62:5; Philippians 1:27–2:18; Psalm 72:1-20; Proverbs 24:11-12

AS WE KNOW, Paul was in prison when he wrote his letter to the Philippians. The potential —and eventual —outcome of his trial was his execution. This should add a certain amount of gravity to his words as we read them.

Today, those words encouraged a humble posture toward one another as fellow citizens of heaven and gave a picture of the shape our lives should take:

Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God.

The idea that we should be long-suffering and patient with our fellow human beings isn’t a new concept. Many of us were taught the Golden Rule from childhood. And the idea of clean, upright living isn’t particularly revolutionary either. But for Paul, life tips weren’t the point. Paul’s conviction throughout his ministry was that our lives are heading somewhere, and that ultimately, our full restoration will remake us into the image of Jesus and give us a place alongside Him as sons and daughters of the Most High God. That’s a pretty big deal.

Behavior modification wasn’t Paul’s point; behavior imitation was. After all, we’d have to agree that it is impossible to be Christlike if we are not like Christ.

In telling us to live a life worthy of our salvation, Paul was telling us to live as Jesus did, and he explained this in one of his best-known passages —one that offers perhaps the most concise view of Jesus (Christology) in any of Paul’s letters:

Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

For a man who had lost his freedom and was awaiting a trial that could end his earthly life, this conviction would have mattered greatly to Paul. And these words would have made Paul’s chains take on a completely different context to his readers. Rather than being invalidated, Paul was walking the path of Jesus. Rather than being hopeless, Paul was imitating Christ.

But why would Paul (or any of the early believers) be willing to imitate a person —even a heroic one —all the way to death? Paul emphatically told us why as he continued his celestial view of who Jesus is and what He represents:

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Without understanding Paul’s cosmic viewpoint, we will not fully understand where Paul is coming from in any of his letters. Knowing Paul’s view of Jesus’ lordship helps us understand clearly how completely we must pursue our imitation of Christ in our earthly lives. Beyond that, we are also to imitate Christ because we are being remade into His image. In other words, we are becoming as He is. This is mind-bogglingly good news —and it is fundamental to what we hope for as believers in Jesus.

MEDITATION:

He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory.