Second Sunday in Lent Philippians 3:17 – 4:1 March 16, 2025
The Epistle today is about joy, but maybe not joy in the way you might think. Paul’s letter to the Philippians is about something more.
So, keep this in mind as we walk through the reading. The epistle is dealing with matters that steal our joy – division and theological uncertainty and perhaps even cowering in the face of persecution.
If we go back to Philippians 2, Paul beautifully proclaims the Gospel to the Philippian church. He says, “Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” He is setting the theme of the letter here. He goes on and says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” We start to get a glimpse of what the problem might be in that little church. Going on, Paul says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” And there’s the gospel.
Paul then says that he is sending Pastor Timothy to that little church in Philippi, because Timothy can be trusted and can deal with the division causers in the church. He also says that he’s sending Epaphroditus so that they might be encouraged by his presence since they heard he was ill, but that God has restored him to full health. He tells the members there to receive Pastor Timothy and Epaphroditus joyfully and essentially let them do their work.
In chapter 3, Paul warns the members to watch out for the “flesh mutilators.” These people would be the Judaizers, those supposed “Christians” who said that believing in Christ Jesus as Lord and God isn’t enough, but to be “truly” saved, the gentiles also have to follow the Jewish laws, including circumcision. Paul says that he has left all that Jewish stuff behind because of faith and the surpassing worth of knowing Christ – or better, being known by Christ – and that his suffering for the faith is nothing compared to the riches and glory he has in Jesus who suffered for Him, even to death on a cross.
So, yeah, there are two main focuses here in the letter to the Philippian church. We have these Judaizers and their infiltration in the church and their causing trouble and division and certainly making people lose their joy as they look at the sinners around them who aren’t being good little Christians. And then juxtaposed atop is a behavior problem, but maybe not in the way you think.
The Judaizers were all about looking at people’s behavior, their external features and acts. For them, faith was incomplete and even misapplied if the church members didn’t act a certain way or live a certain way or do certain things in line with the Law of Moses.
The members of that little church in Philippi heard Paul’s preaching and teaching and were catechized very differently than the message of these Judaizers, and some of the members were falling for it. Paul very cleverly sends Pastor Timothy, a gentile because of his father, and Timothy who was raised a gentile was not circumcised, at least not at first. So, Timothy had a great story and experience to share with the church members in order to encourage them and to correct the errors of the Judaizers and hopefully to get them out of the congregation.
On the one hand Paul, the pharisee of pharisees who kept the law zealously and even persecuted Christians, he tells the church that it is all rubbish now because of Christ, that his past is in the past and looking onward he now runs the race laid out by Jesus, running to the goal of eternal life.
Circumcision, the Mosaic law, the sacrifices, the traditions and customs, all of it is dead, all of it is fulfilled in Jesus. All of it pointed TO Jesus and His life, suffering, and bloody death, and when He fulfilled perfectly everything as dictated in the Law, those old things became dead in Paul as Jesus came alive.
And since Christ was awakened in him, Paul says that his life is quite different. Paul sees his suffering for Christ as a joy. Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter. Paul had suffered greatly not only before he was sent to prison, but on his way to prison. And every stone, every beating, every spit in the face, every being thrown out of town was the devil’s attempt at breaking the Apostle, humiliating him so much that he’d stop preaching, stop going to towns with the Gospel, that he’d recant and disavow His Lord.
But how does Paul understand his suffering? Paul sees it as his cross-bearing, but more importantly, he sees it as sure evidence of the power and work of the Gospel, and so he rejoices. He rejoices that the people in the Philippian church are willing to work through these Judaizers’ false teachings, to work to keep false doctrine and divisive prophets out, to bring peace to any division or discord between members, and that they have continually prayed for him and supported him even in his suffering and imprisonment. Paul sees great hope in the Philippian church even though they’re going through their own suffering.
Then Paul exhorts the members to “imitate him” and to keep their eyes focused on those who walk in the same way. What does he mean by this? After all, isn’t Paul himself a sinner and dependent on the mercies of God given in Christ? Yes, and in fact this IS the whole point! Paul says, “Imitate me, and keep your eyes on those who walk accordingly,” because we are following Christ and not the false teachings of the Judaizers. “Imitate me,” says Paul, because I am dead, and Christ lives in me.
Paul isn’t telling the members in Philippi to imitate how he combs his hair or what sort of clothes he wears, or what sort of food he eats. We learn what Paul means in the previous verses when he proclaims Christ and what Christ has done for him and how, because of Christ, all the old Jewish kosher and ceremonial laws are counted a loss.
So now comes the matter of behavior. Judaizers wanted to see behaviors fitting of a Jew who supposedly is Christian, and these laws imposed on the Gentiles. They wanted to see law-keeping; the dietary laws, the cleanliness laws, the circumcision laws, the kosher laws, etc. They demanded that a gentile Christian keep the Jewish laws and change their behavior or they’re not really Christian.
This is very dangerous territory because if justification is about behavior, then it is no longer about faith. And if faith is removed from the equation, then we are all still in our sins and even worse, since there is no temple, our sins can’t even be atoned for by the shedding of the blood of an innocent animal. If salvation is about behavior, then we are all in a lot of trouble.
If salvation were about behavior for the ancient Israelites, then Jeremiah would have preached quite differently in his warnings against them because the behavior of those ancient Jews was ANYTHING but kosher! If salvation were about right behavior and keeping the laws, Jesus would have had a very different thing to say to Herod and Jerusalem because their behavior was not anywhere near proper for a pious Jewish people. They murdered the Lord’s prophets, they mocked and threatened the Messiah and even manipulated the Romans and used politics to assure that Jesus would end up dying on the cross.
And what about our behavior? Is our behavior as Christians in this church always pious, always godly, always a reflection of Christ among us? Do we always do what “good little Christians” are supposed to do? Are we in church every Sunday, rain or snow, summer or winter, do we tithe 10% without question, do we sing the hymns whether we like them or not, do we bow our heads and close our eyes when we pray, do we attentively listen to the whole sermon, are we always patiently forgiving and merciful toward others, especially when someone says or does something that might set us off?
Is our behavior a clear reflection of our faith all the time? If you’re anything like me, then no, our behavior is not always in accordance with our faith, and much of the time it’s anything but. If you were to judge yourself by your behavior, could you honestly call yourself a “good Christian?” As for me, no. I’ll be honest with you, I am not a good Christian, and I’m a pretty bad Christian at that.
So, back to Paul. “Imitate me,” he says. But he also makes clear that his behavior is often very contrary to his faith. In Romans 7, Paul says, “We know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Paul judges his behavior as contrary to his new self covered in Christ. And we are much the same way, aren’t we?
But who did Paul imitate? He tells us, right? Again, Philippians 2, “Have this mind among yourselves, who is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” Jesus humbled Himself to that of a mere servant. When Paul says, “imitate me and those who walk accordingly,” what he’s saying is, “We follow Christ, you do the same thing.”
The Christian church is not about power or rights or equality; it’s not about getting your way or having influence; it’s not about control. The Christian church is about service, humbleness, quietness, it’s about faith.
To imitate Christ Jesus means to be in submission to God, to abide in His Word, to trust His plan and path. Jesus trusted His heavenly Father so perfectly and fully, even to death on a cross. Jesus trusted that He would be raised from the dead because this is what He was promised. And so, as the humble servant, He allowed Himself to be beaten and bruised and to suffer great pain and agony, to be nailed to a cross and to die. He was equal to God because He was God, but as a man, He endured the sin of the world. And He did all this out of submission to His Father and out of love for you.
To imitate Jesus is to forsake all worldly things, to take up your cross, and follow. It is to trust in what Jesus says even if what He says doesn’t make sense, even if what He says is uncomfortable, even if what He says goes against your natural desires and wants, even if what He says means you might suffer, even if what He says runs contrary to reason and what you consider normal.
You share in Jesus’ sufferings because then you share in His glory.
And what does it mean to share in Jesus’ sufferings? It means many things. For Christians, it means we don’t use Christianity as a means to escape suffering, right? Some people look for churches and preachers who promise an escape from poor health, from financial struggles, from relationship struggles, but that’s not the Christian faith. The Christian faith is about imitating Christ who suffered more than anyone. Why? Because the reward, the goal is worth it.
No, this doesn’t mean you go out of your way to find suffering or to bring suffering upon yourself, because you would then be trying to work your way to the reward rather than following as a servant. What it means is that you do not forsake your Lord and His Word in order to escape suffering. You follow your Lord through the wilderness, and you endure because Jesus has endured for you. Perhaps the Lord will provide a means to escape your trial; perhaps He will heal you or give you a bonus at work or whatever. But even if He doesn’t, follow Him and serve your neighbor.
Follow your Lord to the font, follow Him to the Communion rail, follow Him to the pulpit where His Word is preached for you. And ultimately, follow Him to His cross where His blood covers you. And if you find yourself at odds with your Lord’s teaching, it’s not the time to run away and stop following. Hold fast. His teaching may never make sense in this life, but it is the Lord’s teaching, and you follow your Lord; you take up your cross and you hold on.
Even if the world embraces sin and living unholy lives, we as God’s people do not. Even if everyone else in the world embraces a false teaching, we as God’s people do not. We do not go beyond what our Master and Redeemer teaches, even for a second; we follow Him where He goes.
The Judaizers, they taught that righteousness is obtained by keeping Jewish laws and regulations. But Jesus says that righteousness is obtained by following Him. And we do not escape the “valley of the shadow of death” as we follow Jesus. We walk through it, we live it, but He is with us every step of the way. So, be it cancer or the loss of loved ones, struggling with finances and even finding money to put food on the table each day, be it suffering from mockery and persecution for confessing Christ at school or at work, be it suffering a poor reputation in this life because of Christ, be it suffering as a congregation because, as we strive to follow Christ, some want to give us trouble because they refuse to follow, so be it. We follow Christ. We imitate Him and we imitate His apostles and those who walk in accordance with Him. Why? Because just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too will be raised from the dead on the Last Day and brought into life eternal.
And so, repent of your sins of pride and stubbornness to follow your Lord. Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up at the appointed time. Call on Him in every trouble because He truly cares for you. Seek not the praise of men, but seek only the will of God.
Amen.
