26 Aug The Gospel Shaped Relationship

Mogan and Maria completed their MBBS degree and moved to a reputed institution to work and teach students. Both were involved in church ministry as well as counselling. As both of them wanted to pursue their higher studies, they applied for PG courses. Maria got admissions in the PG course but not Mogan. Maria came home in excitement to join the PG course and informed her husband about the admission in the university. Mogan could not accept this and felt uneasy. He was not able to congratulate Maria for her achievement, instead he mumbled and said “I need to do the course first. Please wait for my admission”. And he didn’t allow Maria to join the PG course. Maria was shocked and upset about her husband’s attitude.
Many questions arise in our mind like a) Why did Mogan behave like this towards his own wife? b) Why did he want to compete with her? c) Why is he not able to accept his wife’s victory? Let all these questions linger in our mind while we look into Philippians 2. Here, we see three important aspects which Paul insists on:

• Principle
• Jesus’s mindset
• God’s grace to follow Him

A. Principle (v.3-4):
Paul starts verses 3 and 4 in a negative tone and then emphasizes on doing for others. Let us start with verse 3, where he mentions “Do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit (excessive pride)”. The reason is that selfish ambition, revolves only around self. This selfish motive makes us think about how to achieve and hold on to it. It won’t allow us to think about others. Consequently, we use our power and pride to control others and make use of them to fulfil our selfish ambitions.

When we start controlling and overpowering others, then we value and consider others as lower than us. This attitude of pride makes us believe that we are always superior to others and our mind does not like to see the prosperity of others. Saint Paul many a time reiterates the word ‘humility’ (probably in all his letters), in vs. 3 which is directly contradictory to pride and selfish ambition. Humility is the mother of all virtues; being humble is not to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others.

In verse 4, we see the word ‘interest’ two times; one is not to look out for our own interests but to the interests of others. Mogan looks only on his own interest, but failed to consider the interest of Maria, which makes him to value Maria less than himself. We can ponder about how a believer can behave in this way. The question has two sides: it indicates how far our selfish ambition can take us, and instead how we ought to consider and look into the interest of others. Let us see Jesus’ mindset to find out the answers.

B. Jesus’ Mindset (v.5-8):
Paul has concluded the principles for relationships in verse 3 and 4 which could be quotable quotes, pop ups in our computer screen or in the social media. But Paul continues to present the mindset of Jesus Christ in verses 5 to 8 where it highlights for us to have the same mindset like Jesus in our relationship with one another.

Servant: We see a phrase ‘very nature’ in verse 5 and 6: the very nature of God and the very nature of a servant. Jesus Christ is God, but He does not use this nature of God for His own advantage (v.3, 6), but made Himself as nothing. In another version of the Bible, we see, He emptied Himself and made Himself of no reputation (v. 4, 7). Paul asked us not to do anything but here Jesus made Himself nothing; it means that he gave up His being. What does that mean? It means He has given up His glory and power; and didn’t use them for His own advantage during His earthly life. He mentioned that He has the power to ask God to protect Him during the betrayal (Mt 26:53), yet He didn’t do it. Again, Jesus prayed to God to glorify Him with the glory that He had with the Father before the world was created (Jn 17:5)

Submission (v.8): Jesus Christ, the Eternal son, submitted to the Father unconditionally because Jesus’ love towards His father is incomparable. His obedience and submission were proved through His crucifixion.

Sacrifice and Salvation v.8: Jesus Christ gave His life on the cross for the redemption of our sins. His sacrificial love demonstrated that He lived only for others. He considered us better, the pinnacle of creation, and that made Him to become as a servant. He gave His life on the cross for our life, His righteousness for our unrighteousness, His freedom for our condemnation and through His sacrifice, Jesus elevated us as God’s own children.
Shepherd (v.9-11, Rev. 7:17): God exalted Jesus Christ to a higher place to rule over the heavens and earth; every tongue acknowledging Him as the Lord, to the glory of God the Father; He is the ultimate King (v.9-11). John the author of Revelation, sees Jesus Christ as the Lamb and the Shepherd. He came as a Lamb and sits on the throne as a Shepherd; He is the Lord who takes us to springs of living water (Rev. 7:17).

C. God’s grace to follow Him:
In verse 5-8, Paul reveals the mindset of Jesus Christ and asks us to have the same mindset in relationship with others. Let us look deep into the mindset of Paul, and see how it was transformed to that of Jesus Christ’s and also how it impacted his relationship with others. He considers his identity and becomes aware of his identity in Christ, and acknowledges that his identity is garbage; he becomes the scum of the world to bring others to Christ (1 Cor 4:8-13 and Phil 4:5-9). Our self revolves around our identity. The identity makes us to cling on to something and value that attachment as very near and dear to us. Paul considers his identity as nothing when compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ (I Cor 4:13).

Paul wants to become lower than others so that others could be lifted to know Christ more. He wants to be a fool for Christ so that others could become wise in Christ. He wants to be weak so others will become strong, he wants to be crushed so others will be blessed, and he wants to be slandered and persecuted (1 Cor. 4:10-13). He wants to be displayed at the end of the procession and desires others to be at the front of the procession. In one of the towns, a guest speaker invited for a Christian convention, got annoyed when his title ‘professor’ was removed from his name. An organiser removed the prefix knowing that he was not working in that job and had retired 20 years ago. People aspire for worldly titles before their names like ‘Prophet,’ ‘Pastor,’ ‘Evangelist,’ ‘Missionary,’ ‘Dr,’ ‘Er’ and ‘Apostle’.Some people always want to boast about their birth, place of birth, upbringing, caste, community, university etc. Irrelevant of caste and creed, community, what is our priority???? When will we come out of this unwanted worldly fame and popularity???

Let us ponder how Paul led a humble victorious life with the mindset of Jesus. Paul felt sufficient in his life because of God’s abundant grace and did not get distracted or attached to any type of power or glory. As the Psalmist exclaims, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want” (Ps 23:1), let us also not lack anything, as the Triune God is our Shepherd.

Conclusion:
Mogan received the gospel of grace, and he became aware that His grace is more than sufficient in his life. However, in the beginning, Mogan went through the tension of whether to give up his interest to look after the interest of Maria or others which meant he was not able to understand the servanthood of the Shepherd Jesus. He failed to portray the Christ like image in him. We come to Him by His abundant grace and His grace changes our lives completely. Now let us examine our hearts.

• Am I still holding to my own self or clinging close to Jesus Christ?
• What do we become inorder to bring others to Christ?
• Are we ready to be the scum of the world, fools in Christ, condemned to die and be at the end of the procession?

Leaving all His power and glory, Jesus Christ came down to earth as a servant, submitted to the Father’s will, sacrificed His life for the redemption of sins, and as a loving Shepherd led us to the living water. When we are in Christ, we should look to the interest of others and give our life for others (Phil 2:21, 1 John 3:16).

Let us be a true disciple!!! And be a true disciple maker!!!

Peter Daniel Joseph, M.E., GDDiv., works with WA Health, Perth, Australia. He is Coordinator for Global Discipleship Renewal Ministries (Global DRM: https://globaldrm.org/) and passionate to equip disciples and teach ‘’God’s Big Picture’ and ‘the Gospel Shaped Discipleship’. He has been with UESI-TN since 1995 and served as Regional Secretary, SMC Secretary. He is married to Pearline and has two daughters. You can reach him at peterpearline@yahoo.co.in