Partners in Peace
Philippians 2:1-11, 19-30
Have you ever been on a team without chemistry? My junior year in college we had an exceptionally talented water polo team with seven seniors and two juniors in our playing rotation. We were big, we were fast, we were experienced. But we underachieved. Why? Because, for most of our seniors, the game was about them, not the team. I remember a mid-season team meeting in which the seniors all talked about people needing to step up, be committed, stop giving other teams our pink slip so early in the game. Three of the four seniors who spoke at that meeting missed the next morning’s 6:00 a.m. practice. Special.
Have you ever worked a job where politics were played? I didn’t realize it when I was growing up, but my dad had an exceptional ability in the business world. He was a good plant manager. He was a good executive when he got to that level. He was fair and knowledgeable, but these aren’t the things that made him exceptional. No, what made my dad exceptional was his ability to stay neutral and therefore keep his job. He worked for a major oil company known for its turmoil and turnover in upper management. My dad was like Switzerland – he avoided all armed conflicts. In one management purge, 50 out of 51 executives at my dad’s level lost their job…and my dad somehow secured a transfer to a different division. In that kind of environment, backstabbing is the rule rather than the exception.
Have you ever been in a church in conflict. I was part of the executive committee of the Committee on Ministry in New Covenant Presbytery. Essentially we were the conflict management team for New Covenant’s 110 churches. We do not have the time for me to tell you all the things I’ve seen: the pastor who was criticized for the color of his new car (red), the pastor who had a formal complaint lodged against him for starting an outreach ministry to neighborhood children of a different race than the church folk, the pastor who sexually harassed every woman on his staff, or the pastor who abused his power in egregious ways every chance he got. The situation I remember with most fondness was having to investigate accusations of sexual harassment by a pastor who we were pretty sure was a bad egg, but no one would step forward to testify. So three of us had to go before the church’s Session to explain why we were not pressing charges. You know, there are only so many ways that one can say, “We understand you are upset, but if no one will speak to us we have no evidence, and if we have no evidence we cannot press charges.” About 8:30 p.m., after 90 minutes of circling La Guardia, I stood up and said, “Folks, I’m sorry, but I have an hour and a half drive home. I need to leave.” Do you know that no one from that church would speak to me at Presbytery for the next three years?
Conflict is all around us: on our teams, at our jobs, in our churches…in our families. Oh, don’t even get me started on family conflict. What are we to do with all this conflict? How are we as followers of Jesus to live in the midst of all this conflict?
*****
Paul was no stranger to conflict. In fact, one can argue that the reason Paul penned his letter to the Philippian Christians was because of a conflict, which we see at the end of chapter two. If we read between the lines we can discern what happened. The Philippians sent Epaphroditus as their emissary to serve Paul. They did so because Paul was their beloved teacher in Christ; Paul was the one God had used to bring them the gospel, to bring them salvation. So Epaphroditus was sent on this most important mission: to care for whatever need Paul might have and to demonstrate through his presence and provision just how much the church loved Paul. So, what happened? Epaphroditus got homesick. Then he got ill. Paul had to send him back.
Now Paul knows churches. Paul knows what the good church folk in Philippi are going to say to Epaphroditus upon his return: they are going to say, “What? You blew it?! We send you to Paul to be the wind beneath his wings and instead you become the anchor beneath his sails! Way to go, Epaphroditus! Loser!” Paul knows churches, so he preempts any criticism by telling the Philippians, “Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor folk like him, because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me.” Essentially Paul is saying, “Hey, I don’t care if you think he’s a loser or not. You treat him like the brother he is in Christ, for through Christ’s blood we are all brothers and sisters, and Christ’s blood is thicker than your anger, Christ’s blood is thicker than your rightful claim to be upset. What united you and Epaphroditus is thicker than what divides you.”
The anger and division between the Philippian Christians and Epaphroditus is the reason Paul says what he says in the first half of chapter two. Essentially, Paul’s words are a set-up. He begins with a series of rhetorical phrases: “If you find any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion….” Now, Paul knows the Philippians (and we ourselves) are going to be thinking, “Yeah! Absolutely. Amen!” After these rhetorical phrases Paul moves in to close the sale, “Then let me ask you to do just one little thing for me; one little thing is all I ask and it will make my joy complete. You want my joy to be complete don’t you?” “Oh yes,” the Philippians reply, “anything for you Paul, just name it and it is done.” So Paul essentially says: “Be at peace with one another.” Specifically what Paul asks is for the Philippians to be like minded, to have the same love, to be like one person in spirit and purpose. Simple, right? I ask you: how could the Philippians say no to such a request? They could not.
To paraphrase a famous saying: the divine is in the details. If we are to seek God’s peace one to another, we need to figure out how to get from conflict to harmony, from division to unity. Paul shows us the path of peace among the people of God; Paul tells us straight out how to walk the path of peace: “in humility consider others better than yourselves.” Paul even tells us what true humility looks like: “look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” If we still don’t get this thing called humility, Paul cites an ancient Christian hymn – in fact, it is the first known hymn of the Christian Church – which talks about the model for humility that is our Lord Jesus Christ:
Who, being in very nature
God, did not consider equality with God in terms of rights and authority
something to be held onto, but emptied himself, taking on the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
It
does not get more humble than that.
*****
Do you know that the word “humility” is a Christian invention? That’s right. Classical Greek does not have a word for humility; humility first appears in the ancient world in the New Testament where it describes a spiritual grace or virtue. In the New Testament, humility is more than merely the opposite of pride; it’s about a self-forgetfulness that frees one to serve others, just as Christ served and serves us. And yet, in another sense, humility is the very opposite of self-forgetfulness; when one is truly humble, humble in the Christian sense, one knows oneself rightly, without any falsehood.
This is something of a paradox. As Christians, when you or I are truly humble, there is a forgetfulness we can engage in toward ourselves because we know that it’s not about us but about Christ. Christ is the one who gives us our identity, by grace. Christ is the one who makes us worthy, by grace. Christ is the one who honors us and holds us sacred, by grace. And yet, because we are loved in this extraordinary way, we can feel good about ourselves, truly good, in ways that mean we no longer have to prove ourselves to anyone. In ways that mean we no longer have to puff ourselves up or put ourselves forward. We are free to be who we are for we know that, through Jesus, and by grace, we are the beloved of God. This freedom means we can choose to be peacemakers.
Rollo May, one of my favorite psychologists, says that “freedom is the ability to pause between cause and effect, and in that pause, to choose.” Because we have nothing to prove, because we don’t have to protect ourselves and guard our own interests for they are already safeguarded in Christ Jesus, because we are free in Christ, therefore we can choose how to react to any and every conflict. Because the blood of Christ makes us whole, we can choose to love, for blood is thicker than anything that seeks to divide us.
*****
We do not have anyone named Epaphroditus here in this church. But we do have the guy who talks too loud. And we have the woman who wears too much perfume. And we have the little kid with the sniffles. And we have the fundamentalists of both the left and the right. And we have the man who thinks the church should revolve around the education program. And we have the woman who knows the church should revolve around the music program. And we have the pastor who didn’t call when he should have. And we have the Stephen’s Minister who we wish would stop calling but she doesn’t. We don’t have anyone named Epaphroditus here in this church, but we have plenty of his brothers and sisters. So there will always be opportunity to fuss at one another. That is certainly a choice we can make. But it is not a choice we must make.
We are partners with God in peace. God wants our peace. God wants us to be peacemakers in this world. God wants our peace so badly that he sent his Son to model the path of peace and to be the path of peace. Our peace is important. There is a fable of a father who had five sons who were constantly arguing. One day, weary from their bickering, the father asked them to bring him a bundle of sticks. Handing the bundle to the oldest, the father commanded, “Break it.” The lad attempted to break the sticks over his knee, but his only reward was a sore leg. One by one the other brothers were given the same command. None of them were able to break the bundle. Finally, the father tore open the bundle and, one by one, took each single stick between his two hands. Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap. “My sons,” the father said, “if you remain together and serve one another, you will have the strength of the bundle.”