Luke 6:43-45; Philippians 2:1-13
“…for it is God
who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good
pleasure.”
Paul’s
letter to the Philippians is filled with exhortations of practical Christianity—he
writes constantly of unity, humility, obedience, love, faith—yet, these virtues
are not uniquely religious nor uniquely Christian.
Wherever
the Buddha went, [H]e encouraged everyone to have compassion for each other and
develop their own virtue, "You should do your own work, for I can teach
only the way."[1]
What is the way? Finding happiness and ending suffering. In Hinduism, the
belief is that all beings and all things in their deepest essence are made of a
pure, or divine, spirit and are full of peace, full of joy, full of wisdom, and
completely united with God.[2]
The goal is to reach that place of Nirvana.
During
the first century B.C.E. a great rabbi named Hillel was asked to sum up Judaism
while standing on one foot. He replied: "Certainly! What is hateful to
you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the Torah. The rest is commentary, now
go and study." (Talmud Shabbat 31A.)[3]
With
the golden rule in religion’s back pocket, Is Christianity just another
spiritual philosophy? Is it just another religion with some beautiful ideas and
noble ethics? What say you? NO! If no, then what makes the difference? What
separates Christianity from all other religions in the world?
Buddhist
scholars will admit that it doesn’t matter at all whether the Buddha actually
lived on earth or was myth because Buddhism should be judged as an abstract
philosophy—a system of living. Believers are to imitate Buddha’s way of life
not his actual life. And as for Hinduism, it is a conglomerate of thinkers and
philosophies and gods—as if God needs little deities to help orchestrate the
universe God created!
Is
Christianity similar? Could God have sent another instead of Jesus? The answer
is most categorically ‘NO.’ Jesus did not claim to be a prophet in a continuum
of prophets. Jesus is the unique Son of God, part of the very godhead that
Christianity calls the Trinity.”[4] So
what separates Christianity from all other faiths? It’s Christ; Christianity
is Christ. Jesus Christ is indispensible to the faith we live. Theologian
John Stott writes, “If Jesus was not God in human flesh, Christianity is
exploded.”[5]
Any attempt to avoid Jesus as fully human and fully divine at the same time, or
reducing Jesus’ role to being a really good prophet, a really wise man, or a
really great teacher simply reduces the potency, the power and the promise of
the gospel—turns it into Gospel-Lite, the way artificial sweeteners or fat
substitutes in sodas, candy, potato chips and French fries reduce our caloric
intake so we think we are sticking to our diet. But have you tasted that stuff? C’mon; are we really
fooled?
The
answer is most categorically “NO!” When we substitute living virtuously for
living the full Gospel we sacrifice our salvation, we make a mockery of
Christ’s death, we deny the resurrection, and we reject the God of love, life
and eternity. If it’s the Gospel-Lite way of life we desire, then why bother
with church at all?
We
could sleep in on Sunday mornings, we would not have to spend one or two nights
a week in meetings, and we could save everybody a whole bunch of money. Why do
we create problems for ourselves? Our passage from Paul’s letter to the
Philippians today can help us understand what’s going on with us, why the
Gospel-Lite version of life and faith just doesn’t mean much to anybody,
especially to Christians, and that’s where the problem comes into play.You see,
the problem with Christians is that they are human, and humans by nature
overwhelmingly prefer to live intuitively.
Christianity,
however, is a counterintuitive system of
living. Counterintuitive means something is contrary to intuition or to
common-sense expectation.
For
example, Maine is north of Massachusetts, right? When I leave Gloucester, Mass
to return to North Berwick, Maine, I first have to drive South on 128 before I
can go North. That doesn’t seem right or natural, does it? Yet, it’s true. Look
again at verses 5-6: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ
Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a
thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing,
taking the form of a servant, being
born in the likeness of men.”
And
picking up in verse 8: “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.” It’s
inexplicably counterintuitive in our ways of thinking that Jesus would choose
to do these things for us. It’s profoundly counterintuitive to accept that the
unique Son of God would be obedient to God’s will, take the sins of the world
upon himself, and die—let alone die, humiliated,
upon a cross. And it’s most emphatically counterintuitive to understand that
the Jesus who was crucified and buried is still the one, the only one, on whom
God has exalted and bestowed the name that is above every name, so that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (vv10-11).
The
list of counterintuitive exhortations in scripture is expansive; we’ll never
live long enough on this earth to study them all. The Christian faith is not
just about studying the word; no, our faith consists of far more than that. The purpose of obedience to God in believing
that Jesus Christ is his son and in following Christ’s counterintuitive way of
life is not to eliminate suffering and find happiness, as Buddha taught; it is
not to find perfect peace in becoming one with God, which Hindus seek (Christ himself
did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped; it is not to make the
golden rule the only rule we need to find world peace; it is to eat his body
and drink his blood as the ultimate gift of being one with him…forever.
Paul
states that the ultimate promise of being one with Christ, living as he lived
and loving a he loved, and in all things seeking humility by counting others
more significant than ourselves, is our salvation. With fear and trembling, another
counterintuitive phrase for “awe and reverence,” Paul calls us, each one, to
turn ourselves completely over to God, who deeply desires to work through us in
ways that lead us “both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (v13) so
that we will be with him in paradise. That is full-strength gospel, my friends.
Do
not succumb to an intuitive Gospel-Lite life.
Believe in the LIGHT of the counterintuitive gospel “so that if there is
any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the
Spirit, any affection and sympathy” (v 1) God’s joy in you will be complete
because you, I, we, are of the same mind, having the same love, being in full
accord and of one mind” with Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
June 1, 2014
First Parish Federated
Church of South Berwick, ME
The Reverend Donna Lee Muise, Pastor
