Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse… Philippians 3:8
On a happier note, the Book of Acts illuminates the Lordship of Jesus Christ that comes to satisfy unlike any other relationship on earth. After Peter and John were arrested for healing the man lame from birth, they were charged by the Sanhedrin not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. They were released under threats so grave that they promptly sought out their friends to discuss them. “And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, ‘Sovereign Lord’…” Read Acts 4:24-31 to fill in the blanks. But do not miss the import of that appellation. Here it literally means “Despot.”
Christ’s autocracy ruled Paul’s life and rendered it a worthy offering. “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ,” he wrote to the Corinthians. Their culture inspired the Greek verb “to Corinthianize,” meaning to practice sexual immorality. In the temple of Aphrodite, it was a spiritual offering. Could our culture skew my notions of sacrifice? (Part 2 of 2)
Comment: “Our culture” is described in James 4:4, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Paul addressed his letter to the Philippians in the context of mutual, God-honoring friendship, and included Timothy’s name as the sender. Epaphroditus, “my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier,” had shared his imprisonment in Rome also, and there become deathly ill. Thoughtful Paul had him deliver his letter to the Philippians, knowing they were anxious to see him. He might have been secretly homesick also. Interestingly, Paul is greeting “all the saints who are in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.” If we think of the church as a building, the lay person sits in back in a pew and the professional a few steps up in the front. It’s the apostle’s subtle hint that each member of Christ’s Body is valued equally and gifted individually to advance God’s Kingdom in productive unity. I wonder what Euodia and Syntyche thought when their names unexpectedly popped up in the letter, with the gentle admonition for just that. In view of Paul’s immediate affirmation, isn’t it reasonable to think that the “saints at Philippi” pulled them into a circle and showed their love for them? One unnamed “comrade” is asked to set the example, “I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle…together with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are written in the book of life” (4:2-3). In the article about Europe’s empty churches, it stressed that multitudes of Catholics have jumped the Pope’s ship. Amazingly, in Paul’s closing salutation he writes, “All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household.” The same powerful Gospel is ours to share today, knowing that the Good Shepherd loves to go after all kinds of lost sheep. I have fun sometimes to mention to Him that my body, “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” is more and more in disrepair. Chapter 3:21 agrees that for a time our bodies will humiliate us, but the Lord will bring them into glorious conformity with His own. Philippians 3
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