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Here is a draft of some reflections on Philippians 2:1-13

1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Ours is an age of self-promotion and radical individualism. Emerging generations have been tuned to assume the rightness of personal expression and autonomy. Focus on self in all of its glory is the expected norm of our culture. Yet none of this is new. Deep within us is a desire to control, to exert our own will, and to exalt ourselves over others. Some of us may be overt in expressing this; others may be more subtle or even passive-aggressive. But it is present nonetheless. In his devotional My Utmost for His Highest Oswald Chambers sublimely defines the nature of sin as “my claim to my right to myself.”

The apostle Paul is writing to encourage the Christ followers in Philippi to live lives worthy of the Gospel as citizens of heaven (1:27; 3:20). In our Scripture lesson, Paul opens with a series of “if” statements to capture the imagination of his hearers and to remind them of the tangible benefits of following the way of Jesus. Paul assumes that the Philippians have indeed experienced encouragement, consolation, sharing in the Spirit, compassion, and sympathy. He lists these out as a means of exhorting the Philippians to aspire for a higher life, but profoundly the way to a higher life is intimately tied to turning away from our own desires for status in favor of the life modeled by the Lord Jesus. Paul calls on the Philippians to “make my joy complete” and then sketches out an ethic that is other-centered, promotes unity, and tangibly embodies the same self-less intentionality that Jesus brought to his earthly mission.

To illustrate this life Paul includes in his letter a poetic hymn about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. The poetry of verses 6–11 serves to unpack what it means to embody the “same mind that was in Christ Jesus” (v. 5).

First, Jesus’ life calls us to move from a life of exploiting our own rights to one in which we are willing to relinquish our rights for the sake of God’s mission. Jesus’ incarnation is the model. Verse 6 is perhaps the most profound text in all of the New Testament. It reminds us of Jesus’ mindset in embracing his humanity: “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited.” Jesus enjoyed all of the prerogatives and status that belong to the divine. But in the ultimate counter-cultural move, Jesus subverts all human notions of what divinity entails and fully embraces our humanity. This is the essence of Jesus’ self-emptying. He willingly sets aside the status and rights of being God and instead takes on our flesh and blood for the sake of God’s mission to offer healing, hope, wholeness and reconciliation to all Creation. As we ponder God’s mission in our day, this text invites us to think carefully about what rights and notions of status that we need to let go of in order to live fully as the people whom God created us to be.

Second, Jesus’ life calls us to move from a focus on self-preservation to a life shaped by the cross. There is a line that marks the demarcation point between bondage and freedom. It’s the difference between the life that God calls us to live and the status quo existence of the masses. The cross is the key. It wasn’t merely that Jesus was obedient to the point of death–it was that Jesus willingly embraced death on the cross. Crucifixion was reserved only for slaves and rebels against Rome. The Son of God died a death associated with persons of the lowest status. If we want to lives that demand explanation, we must die up front to self and our notions of status so that we can truly live.

Last, Jesus’ life points clearly to the paradox of sacrifice. In God’s economy, you gain life by losing it. You receive by giving. The highest calling is servanthood. Our temptation in life is to pursue endlessly our fifteen minutes of fame. Too many among us grieve over our perceived anonymity as though a life of profound meaning and worth is found only in receiving the acclaim of others. Abraham Lincoln said, “Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.”
The lesson here is simple: let God exalt you. God the Father responds to Jesus’ obedience by “super exalting him.”  Jesus was already God, but this text asserts that God has given him the name that is above all names. How did Jesus reach this pinnacle? Not by self-promotion. Not by asking for it. But through the life of a servant who was fully obedient to God’s mission in the world.

Paul concludes with a powerful exhortation to a cross centered life lived out in community. In verses 12-13, Paul roots the power to live in a Christ worthy manner in God. It is God who works in us. But God’s transforming power is subtle in the sense that it requires receptivity. It is not a call for us to try harder, but rather for us to die more fully to our old modes of existence. Moreover Paul’s concluding words are addressed not to individuals alone but to a community of Christ followers. The way of Jesus is not a solitary existence but one embodied in community. This is the point of Paul’s letter. The world needs to experience the reality of the Gospel. For the believers in Philippi, this meant a unified witness for the sake of the city. I suspect that Paul would give the same exhortation to us in our day.

24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

Subdivisions across Central Florida mandate that home owners plant St. Augustine grass and maintain it. St. Augustine is a beautiful lush green grass that when healthy canvases a yard with a thick canopy of interconnected blades. Its drawback is its unquenchable appetite for water. Central Florida has been suffering from a lack of consistent rainfall for the last few years. When near drought conditions combine with watering restrictions ordered by local municipalities, St. Augustine lawns fall into distress. For homeowners, this means the proliferation of weeds—dollar weed, foxtail, oxalis, and every child’s favorite–dandelions. Diligent and determined owners respond with herbicides and some patient souls even crawl through their yards to attempt to pluck out individual weeds from among the sprouts of St. Augustine. If there is any universal truth related to lawn care, it is this: the weeds usually win. Herbicides tend to kill the good with the bad and the beautiful (or sinister) brilliance of many weeds is their inherent camouflage that permits them to fool all but the most knowledgeable weed experts into picking the good grass out with the bad. The patient homeowner however knows that there is one trump card to play in the game against the weeds. Winter eventually comes even to Central Florida and it only takes one or two nights below freezing to kill the weeds. When Springtime comes, the playing field is again level as the St. Augustine again rules the landscape.

Jesus’ parable of the weeds serves as both an explanation of the reality of the world in which we live and a word of encouragement to those pilgrims wearied by these realities.

The core of Jesus’ earthly ministry was his bold and daring proclamation that the long-awaited age of salvation had arrived. Jesus called this age the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom refers to the realm or sphere in which God rules and operationalizes his will. The Lord’s Prayer describes it this way: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” For religious people in Jesus’ day, kingdom language was coded speech that anticipated God fully vanquishing all evil and inaugurating a time of unparalleled peace, justice, and righteousness for the godly. Jesus healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, enabled the lame to walk, and cast out demons as tangible signs to the power of God’s kingdom. Jesus then willingly and freely gave his own life on a Roman cross as the definitive symbol of God’s victory over sin and death. Subsequently, God raised Jesus from the dead to vindicate his death and proclaim fully the victory that Jesus had won.

God’s victory in Jesus’ however creates an issue that must be addressed. If God’s kingdom has indeed materialized in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, how do we explain the ongoing persistent presence of suffering, injustice, and evil? Moreover, why do bad people continue to wreck havoc relationally and socially? Why are God’s people still exposed to the very realities that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection defeated?

The Goodness of God’s Kingdom
Jesus wants us to make no mistake in receiving his words. God’s kingdom is good and wholesome. It is the ultimate reality and worth whatever the cost. In two short parables following our Scripture lesson, Jesus likens the kingdom to a treasure hidden in a field and to an exquisite pearl. It is absolutely vital for Jesus’ followers to be confident of the intrinsic worth of the Kingdom.

In our lessons, Jesus uses the imagery of a sower sowing seed to capture the essence of how God’s kingdom invades our world. Jesus is the sower. The seeds that he sows are the women and men who respond to Jesus’ message and wholeheartedly follow him. The seeds of the kingdom germinate and blossom into wheat that embodies the DNA of Jesus. The field where the seeds grow represents our world. The fruit of the kingdom brings beauty and goodness to the world. The ideal world of our parable may be likened to a perfectly manicured lawn of lush green St. Augustine grass. But as our opening illustration unfolded, we must recognize that we rarely enjoy the ideal for long…

The Reality of the World
Jesus’ storytelling ability then turns to the harsh reality of life in this world. The kingdom has come. The kingdom will be the final word on human history. But there remains an enemy who is present and active–the devil. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “but rescue us from the evil one.” In our modern scientific thinking, we may find it difficult to take seriously the thought of the existence of a being who personifies and embodies evil. Often the devil becomes an excuse for bad behavior–“the devil made me do it.”

Jesus however takes the presence of such an enemy seriously. Moreover until the full realization of the kingdom occurs in the future, this world remains a playground for evil. Jesus is not suggesting that every occurrence of evil can be traced directly to the handiwork of Satan, but this parable reminds us the evil actions and people will be present this side of eternity. Like weeds in a field, wheat will be surrounded and often compete for nutrients, water, and sunshine with the bad. Oftentimes the weeds will masquerade as wheat so that they are not readily discernible.

Christ followers must not be surprised by this reality nor should they become fatigued. Following Jesus does not make one immune to suffering, persecution, and hardship at the hands of evil women and men. If Jesus’ life is any example, it is clear that living 100% for God’s kingdom does not guarantee worldly success, prosperity, security, or longevity. It is however the narrow road that leads to the true life that we were created to experience. It is the true reality for which Jesus sacrificed his own life.

Live Confidently
If Jesus’ parable of the weeds is a realistic portrait of the weedy garden in which we find ourselves, it is also a profoundly hopeful one. Jesus’ words announce in a invigorating and audacious way that the future of God’s people is absolutely secure. This security frees up the people of God to focus on embodying the values and virtues of the Kingdom.

The message is straightforward. God permits weeds to remain in the field during the growing season. To remove them prematurely runs the risk of collateral damage—wheat may be accidently uprooted along with the weeds. In the Kingdom, God is like a shepherd who would leave the ninety-nine sheep in order to find the one sheep who went missing. Jesus said, “So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.”

If God will ultimately separate the weeds from the wheat, what then is the purpose of the ongoing presence of God’s people in the world? The answer is clear from Matthew’s Gospel. God’s people have a mission to fulfill. Matthew’s Gospel ends with a clear mandate from Jesus: “Make disciples of all nations.” This mission is the reason for the existence of God’s people. God desires that all persons come to experience his love and mercy.

The categories of wheat and weeds are not hard and fast. The parable’s symbols must not be frozen into rigid and unchanging categories. Yes, there will be judgment but the presence of God’s people in the world serves as a witness for God’s Kingdom to the world. In other words, there is another way to live that points to a higher reality. God’s people exist to invite others to join them in following the way of Jesus. God’s people exist as the “salt of the earth” and “light of the world.”

God’s people follow Jesus’ example of reaching out to those marginalized and excluded by the rich and powerful in the world. They privilege mercy and forgiveness over cruelty and vengeance. They break down boundaries erected by human sinfulness. They are motivated by compassion and attempt to see and love others as though they were their own children. They recognize the compelling power of Jesus’ death and resurrection to inspire hope and transform lives.

The Challenge
Jesus’ parable of the weeds is a call to make a decision. There is no sitting on the fence post. God’s good future arrived with the coming of Jesus and its ultimate triumph is assured. This parable is not meant merely to warn weeds into becoming wheat. It is a call for God’s people to live courageously and to engage fully the world around us with Jesus’ story so that at harvest God will find a beautiful garden eagerly waiting for the harvester.