“A lesson on church behaviour”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Monday, February 28, 2022

Philippians 2:1-13 (Forward, p. 30) CEV p. 1228

For better, or for worse, local church assemblies can be just like our natural nuclear families. They can be places of harmony and cooperation, or they can be subject to rivalry, one-upmanship, desire for dominance and control, infighting and factions. And, it may surprise us—seeing as we often think of the early church as being ‘perfect’--but this was just as much a part of that church as it is of the church of today.

This, then, is the situation that the apostle Paul addresses in today’s portion of Scripture. He counsels his audience to be entirely loving towards each other, to actually put others first, to think of them first, and care for them just as they would care for themselves. That implies two things, firstly, getting to know them and ‘how they tick’, and secondly, putting yourself in their shoes. I suspect that in church circles it is relatively seldom that either of these things happen; people are too caught up in their own tasks and agendas to really take the time to listen to each other, much less to understand. And yet, this is exactly what Paul commands.

Moreover, Paul counsels them not to be jealous of each other. Here I think how naturally it might happen within a church that someone is seen to have more power or influence or status and be resented for it. Or, what about those occasions when someone gets the credit or praise that you feel should be your due? In such instances, it would be very easy to be jealous.

And, on the flip side of the coin, Paul tells them (and us) not to be proud or puffed up. This could well be on account of the fore-mentioned praise, or simply on account of our accomplishments or natural gifts. No matter what the source, however, we should not see them as a reason for exalting ourselves over others. Whether in the case of jealousy or of pride, I see both of these admonitions as being rather ‘stretching’ for most of us, as they are not things that come altogether naturally.

Instead, in all this, we are to be humble. In fact, here we have a model unlike any that has ever been known, the example of Christ Jesus Himself. Jesus was truly God, with all the attributes and privileges of God, and yet

He chose to put aside these things for a time, to empty Himself of them. He chose to become totally and fully like us—indeed, to become like a slave for our benefit. So fully did He put Himself at God’s disposal for our sakes that He was actually willing to die on a Cross if it would help us.

To me then, this begs the question: just how far are we willing to go for each other, just how much are we willing to sacrifice, how much of our personal power and pride and privileges, if it will help another follower of Christ, another church member?

Today, we stand at the very threshold of Lent, so maybe this would be a good time to examine our lives, and discard, not some kind of food or other physical indulgence, but rather such indulgences as charging along with our own ideas and agendas and not taking the time to be with each other, listen to each other and support each other. In many ways, this would be a much more practical Lent, a more useful and long-lasting Lent, that any other. Amen.

Forward notes: “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others” (verse 4).

“This verse is close to my heart, as it was the guiding verse for my congregation while we carefully considered our approach to worship and fellowship during the worst months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In every decision we made, we tried to ask: How can we best look to the interests of others here? Some of us have the privilege of working from home; some of us were among the first to be vaccinated; some of us are young, healthy, and unlikely to get very sick. Each of us has a clear vision of what we would prefer. But are the decisions we would make for ourselves the same decisions we want to make when we consider the needs of the whole?

“Living through the pandemic permanently changed all of us, and I am hopeful that some of those changes will be for the better. The leadership at my church now talks more than we ever did before about protecting the most vulnerable as our highest priority. I hope and pray that this principle will continue to guide us, long after COVID-19 recedes into history.”

Moving Forward: “What does it mean to you to look to the interests of others?”