Philippians 2:14-18

 

DEMONSTRATING WHAT OUR FATHER IS LIKE

By: Scott Grant

---

 

The Father’s image

 

            Children look somewhat like their parents. Sometimes the child looks more like her father; sometimes she looks more like her mother. Someone who knows the parents and looks at the child can then say something like, “You have the look of your mother,” or, “You have the look of your father.” Adam became the father of a son “in his own likeness, according to his image” (Genesis 5:3).

            God, of course, has created humans in his image. When someone looks at a human, he is supposed to be able to recognize God’s likeness. The image of God in humanity was distorted in the fall, and untold carnage has resulted. God has set about restoring his image in humanity through Christ and the church. Now when someone looks at a follower of Jesus and at a community of followers, she is supposed to be able to detect the likeness of God.

            The scriptures call followers of Jesus children of God. The Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:14-18 is concerned with how we reflect the image of God to the world.

Particularly, God’s likeness is seen in the way we treat people and the way we relate. As we learn how to treat people and how to relate, we, as children of God, show the world what our Father is like.

 

            Philippians 2:14-18:

            [14] Do everything without complaining or arguing, [15] so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe [16] as you hold out the word of life — in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. [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.

 

Identifying and listening

 

            When Paul says to “do everything,” he seems to have in mind the working out of our salvation, our life together in the community of God (verse 12). When you work it out (with the knowledge, of course, that God is working in you), do it without complaining against each other or arguing with each other.

            By the tone of his letter, and in view of his plea that two women in the church “agree with each other in the Lord” (Philippians 4:2), it is evident that there was friction among some of the believers in this church. We don’t know the nature of it. Paul has tackled the problem thus far by urging humility and unity for the sake of the gospel. Now he seems to be addressing the particular problem but does so in a positive way. Instead of telling them to stop complaining and arguing, he tells them to do everything without complaining and arguing.

            In most cases, we don’t set out looking for conflict. We run into it. We go about our business, we do “everything,” and in doing everything we bump into someone — or hear about someone — who does things differently. Whenever and wherever people meet, whether it’s 2,000 years ago in Madedonia or today in the Silicon Valley, differences will arise. Then the question is how do you deal with those differences. Many people fight wars, either with bullets or words. That seems to be the way of humanity. That is not the way of the church. Or, Paul doesn’t want it to be the way.

            The scriptures acknowledge and celebrate the differences. The church is where those differences are supposed to be complementary, not divisive. So we are to work out our differences, and we are to do so in a certain way — without complaining about one another or arguing with one another. To do so, we must begin with a world view that goes something like this:

            Each person has been created by God in his image and is therefore, from Christ’s perspective, worth dying for. Then we see those who are in the family of God as “new creatures” (2 Corinthians 5:17). They are all brothers and sisters “for whom Christ died” (Romans 14:15). The body of Christ needs eyes and ears and hands and all sorts of members (1 Corinthians 12:14-26). Our brothers and sisters — even those whom we disagree with — are precious and necessary. Such a world  view gives us the perspective we need to work out our salvation.

            Then what do we do? The antithesis to complaining and arguing is identifying and listening. We identify with another’s plight and we listen to him. We devote our hearts to trying to understand someone. We can’t do this while our minds are devoted to how we feel and to finding words to state our case. We must give the ears of our heart to understand the plight of another, even one who with whom we’re in conflict. If we listen closely enough and drop our guard for a few moments and seek to put ourselves in that person’s shoes, we’ll probably be able to identify with him or her. There is, of course, a place for communicating our feelings, but in order for us to be understood, we must seek to understand.

            Paul would have us do all this without complaining and arguing. When have you crossed the line between talking about someone and complaining about someone, and when have you crossed the line between discussing and arguing? Paul publicly talked about people in a negative light (2 Timothy 4:10, 14). He rebuked people and urged the church to do so as well, when necessary (1 Timothy 5:20). Luke says Paul himself engaged in a “sharp disagreement” with Barnabas (Acts 15:39). If there was a problem, it was not that they disagreed; it’s that their disagreement was sharp.

            It is therefore difficult to know what Paul means when he says to do everything without complaining or arguing. At the very least, it means to strive to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit” by appreciating the value and necessity of other people in the body of Christ and to act with such appreciation in mind (Ephesians 4:3). What we are saying when we think and act this way, then, is that everyone is important.

            Paul casts the Philippians in contrast to the Israelites who “grumbled” in the wilderness (Exodus 16:12, Numbers 14:1-38). (The Greek translation of the Old Testament uses the same word for “grumble” that Paul uses for “complain.”) Although the Israelites grumbled in a different way (against God and against Moses, not against each other), we can with confidence that Paul has such a comparison in mind because of his surrounding references to the exodus story.

 

Children who shine like stars

 

            Paul states his purpose for the imperative in verse 15. He wants them to do everything without complaining or arguing that they may “become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation.” Paul is ultimately concerned with their witness to the world.

            The witness in this case is our relationships with one another. If this commandment is fulfilled, those outside the church would be able to look upon the way we relate to each other, differences and all, and find our behavior blameless and our hearts pure. The word “become” indicates that this is a process. We are learning how to relate to one another and thus becoming blameless and pure. As we do so, we, as his children, are showing the world what our Father is like. Some observers, then, will recognize us for what we are: children of God. They’ll see God’s likeness in us.

            Those who were watching, and those who the Philippians lived among, were part of a “crooked and depraved generation.” What Paul particularly must be thinking of is the societal fractures among the pagans. It is no different in this generation, or any generation, for that matter. If we obey this command and thus become children of God as such, we will stand out among the surrounding world, which is ruled by violence, be it actual or emotional, and division, but in many ways is looking for love and peace.

            As we learn to love one another and be God’s community, we “shine like stars in the universe.” Israel was called to be the light to the world by revealing God to the world. Jesus said, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). He has passed on his vocation to the church, his body in the world. Thus Jesus also said, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). How we relate to one another says a great deal to the world about who God is. How we relate to each other also has a lot to do with the unity necessary to reveal God to the world. Jesus was speaking of us when he prayed, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:20, 23). As the light of the world, we show this crooked and depraved generation, particularly by the way we love, that there is a better way of being human. Then the people dwelling in darkness will see a great light.

            As we shine, we also “hold out the word of life.” We hold onto the gospel and present the gospel to the world. We serve up Christ. In that it is the word of life, the gospel offers the life of God to the world. The crooked and depraved generation is not only dwelling in darkness, it is dying. It needs the light and life of the gospel. It needs to see that Jesus is Lord and receive the life of God. Our unity of purpose, created and nurtured by humility and our common love for Christ, which motivate us to stop arguing and complaining, gives us the ability to offer Jesus the world and the credibility when we do so.

            We are to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, because God is watching (verse 12). We are to do everything without complaining or arguing, because the world is watching.

            For Paul, the Philippians’ holding onto and holding out the gospel will result in his being able to “boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.” The day of Christ is the day when Christ returns to establish his eternal kingdom. Paul has already noted that he has every confidence that the Philippians will persevere until that day (Philippians 1:6). Paul’s boasting, then, will be about “what Christ has accomplished through me” (Romans 15:18), for he says in Galatians 6:14, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ ... ” He also says, “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory [literally, “boast”] in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy” (1 Thessalonians 2:19). The boasting Paul expects to do combines joy for their eternal reward and satisfaction that his work had something to do with it.

            It is good for us to desire fruit from our labor. Moses, lamenting the fleeting nature of life, prayed that the Lord would “establish the work of our hands” (Psalm 90:17). We want our work to count for something and to last. Can you imagine what it will be like, in the presence of the Lord Jesus, to look into the eyes of a brother or sister in Christ and know that you had something to do with the way he or she will spend eternity? It makes all our strivings for earthly rewards and all our boasting in earthly things seem pathetic. Let’s save our boasting for the day of Christ.

            Paul is telling them about the boasting he hopes to do in order to inspire them. He’s like a father who tells his son, “Do me proud.”

            Verses 15 and 16 are full of allusions to the Hebrew scriptures. Deueteronomy 32:5, which calls forth the exodus, is particularly noteworthy. In that verse Moses said of the Israelites in the wilderness: “They have acted corruptly toward him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation.” After being released from Egypt, the Israelites in the wilderness wandered from the Lord and were, in Moses’ words, no longer God’s children. On the other hand, Paul sees the Philippians as “children of God.” Whereas Moses calls the Israel in the wilderness as “warped and crooked generation,” Paul says the Philippians shine like stars in the universe in a “crooked and depraved generation.” We are the wilderness people of God. Paul is telling us, “Get it right this time.”

            And how do we get it right? We love each other. Supported and encouraged by the community of God, we carry the light and life of God’s love into the darkness and death of this world. This world is dark and dying because it is crooked and depraved, having eschewed God and what he values. But we have the grand and glorious opportunity to dispel the darkness and bring life out of death by lighting up and seeding this generation with the love of Christ.

            Our generation, and the place we live in, is a relational mess. People do not know how to relate. Power, fear and distance rule over love, courage and intimacy. Sexually, it’s a disaster area. Families are in shambles. People are destroying each other, and they are becoming increasingly isolated. We, on the other hand, are learning how to relate. We are learning to follow in the footsteps of our Lord and to humble ourselves and consider others as more important than ourselves. We’re learning how to be God’s community. We are learning to work out our salvation and to do everything without grumbling or complaining. Here’s a way that we can help people dwelling in darkness: We can show them a different way of relating, a different way of dealing with conflict, a different way of relating to the opposite sex, a different way of living in community. All these ways affirm the dignity and worth of each and every person. We take the way we’re learning to relate and we introduce it to this generation by modeling and, when given the opportunity, speaking about it.

            Last year a man that I had spent three years sharing Christ with accepted the Lord. I had invited him to play golf on several occasions with some other believers from this church. He told me on many occasions how different his experience with us was from his experience with other friends with whom he played golf. The way we related to each other and to him was different, he said. The way he felt at the end of each round was also different. He felt people were interested in him. They asked him questions about himself. They seemed interested in listening. In contrast to other experiences, the men weren’t cutting one another down.

 

Rejoicing together

 

            The end of verse 16 could leave the impression that Paul is pessimistic about the Philippians. If such an impression were left, Paul goes about eliminating it in verses 17 and 18.

            The grammar indicates that Paul is, in fact, being poured out like a drink offering. This does not mean that Paul expects to be executed. It means that he is suffering for the faith. A drink offering involved pouring wine on top of a another offering (Numbers 28:7). The Philippians also are suffering for their faith. Paul has already noted their common experience in suffering for the gospel (Philippians 1:29-30). The Philippians, then, are making their own offering, which Paul calls the “sacrifice and service coming from your faith.” Paul sees his suffering combined with their suffering as a joint offering to God. Paul sees this common suffering and joint offering as cause for celebration. He rejoices as an individual and with them, and he urges them to do the same.

            The scriptures present suffering for Christ as cause for celebration. Acts 5:41: “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” Suffering as an individual is one thing. Suffering with others who are committed to the same cause raises it to a different level. All those who want to follow Jesus will suffer in some way. When we follow Jesus, we take up a cross (Matthew 16:24). Those who suffer together have stronger connections. Those who suffer together for a common cause have stronger connections still. Those who suffer together for Jesus have the strongest connections possible. To have some fellow sufferers to share Christ with is cause for rejoicing indeed. Look for some brothers and sisters who share your passion for Christ. Pray with them. Serve with them. Suffer with them. Rejoice with them. You will cherish these relationships for all eternity.

 

God’s reputation is at stake

 

            Paul, like a father speaking to his son, encourages the Philippians to do him proud. We carry our Father’s image into the world. His reputation is at stake in the way we relate. Through this passage, our heavenly Father is telling us, “Do me proud.”

 

SCG / 2-17-02

 

---

 

Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of International Bible Society. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of International Bible Society.