“Make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.” (Phil. 2:2)
The power of the Spirit was active in the church at Philippi, doing a work of transformation within its members into greater Christlikeness. Keith Meyer writes, “when the Spirit is active, programs take their place in service to God and his church rather than serving organizational success. Results are left with God as we concentrate on being faithful to becoming his disciples and measure success in terms of obedience to him.” [1]
Transformation happens as we encounter Christ and grow more into His likeness through the process of discipleship. And being discipled to Christ, being partners in the gospel, is not something we can do outside of relationship – first with Christ and then with others.
Keith Meyer notes that, “Evangelism and discipleship are not techniques to be mastered but are best learned in communal relationships fostered in the context of everyday life.” [2]
Keith Meyer mentions about the younger generation coming up, that they are not interested in 'going to church' but rather 'being the church.' They are “Not satisfied with being 'alone together' in the highly programmatic and impersonal factories of religious goods and services, they desire doing life together.” [3]
“Relationships are the context for transformation.” Keith Meyer notes that the disciples spent three years with Jesus, and at the end, they knew him not only as master teacher but friend. He writes, “To be close to Jesus is to learn the art of relationships and friendship.” [4]
Paul plead with the church in Philippi to grow in the art of relationship. In Philippians 2:1-4 (MSG) Paul said, “If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”
Obedience
Paul says to the church at Philippi, “Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.” (Philippians 3:17)
I used to think of obedience as following the law. I would work hard at following all the rules and try hard to get everything right -to be obedient. Paul confronts this in Galatians 5:4, He tells them, “You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.”
When one is striving to follow the law, it is most evident in their relationships with others. The Pharisees were filled with self righteousness from legalistic obedience. They would cross to the other side of the road rather than have compassion and help someone in need. When Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath, instead of rejoicing, they were furious that Jesus did not obey their custom.
In Philippians 3:9 Paul says, “that I may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer notes that obedience is not a specific act or a Christian ideal, such as to sell all one's possessions and give it to the poor, but a way of life. Obedience involves faith and fellowship with Christ. Bonhoeffer writes, “what matters is not what the man does, but only his faith in Jesus as the Son of God and mediator.” [5]
Paul says, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature” and “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Galatians 5:16,18).
"Did you realize that inside you is a flame? Did you ever try to let it burn? let it burn, let it burn.... Yes, our God, He is a consuming fire, and the flames burn down deep in my soul."
Transformation in our lives and our relationships will happen as we let Christ be the center, the internal force that drives everything in our lives -this is the heart of discipleship.
Jesus says in John 15:5, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit." And in John 15:9-10 he says, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love."Our relationship with others will flow from our relationship with Christ. As we receive God's love and establish a trusting relationship with Him, we become free to love in our relationships with others.
Love Fulfills the Law
Paul says in Galatians 5:6, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Our faith in Christ, and his unconditional love for us, results in freedom to love our brother in the given moment and fulfills the law.
Paul says in Galatians 5:13-15, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge in the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Both the fruit of the Spirit (freedom) and the fruit of the sinful nature (bondage) become most evident in relationships. And by our fruit, we prove our discipleship to Christ. Jesus says, “This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:8)
Paul says in Galatians 5:19-23, “the acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
In our relationships with each other, just as we have been forgiven and loved, we are to walk in this way with each other, being kind, compassionate and forgiving one another. (Galatians 4:32-5:2). As we set our eyes on Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, he works in us “to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13)
The Fragrance of Christ
And as we bump into others filled with this holy, passionate, extravagant love for Jesus, demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit to those we encounter, our transformation becomes contagious -we impact those around us.
"Into marvelous light I am running"
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16, "But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ's triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume."
Suffering for Christ
In Phil. 2:5-8, Paul says that in our relationships with one another, we are to “have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had: Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death -even death on a cross.”
As a servant is not above his master, as Bonhoeffer notes, “Suffering, then is the badge of true discipleship.” Suffering starts with a call to abandon the attachments of the world, dying to the old man, which results in a deeper commune with Christ. [6]
Bonhoeffer notes that “suffering and rejection sum up the whole cross of Jesus. To die on the cross means to die despised and rejected by men.” If we are disciples of Christ, we will suffer for our faith. As Bonhoeffer reminds us, “suffering applies to his disciples no less than to himself. Just as Christ is Christ only in virtue of his suffering and rejection, so the disciple is a disciple only in so far as he shares the Lord's suffering and rejection and crucifixion.” [7]
Suffering for Christ includes both suffering death of the 'old man' within ourselves and also suffering the sins of others. Just as Christ bears our burdens of sin, we are to bear the burdens of our fellow-men. Bonhoeffer writes, “And the only way to bear that sin is by forgiving it in the power of the cross of Christ in which I now share. Thus the call to follow Christ always means a call to share the work of forgiving men in their sins. Forgiveness is the Christlike suffering which it is the Christian's duty to bear.” [8]
Speaking the Truth in Love
However, suffering the sins of others in relationships does not mean ignoring sin or going along with it. This is an area I struggle with. The main reason I struggle with this is that I try to love people in my own strength, out of performance, and not by the Spirit. When I love people by my own effort, it is a people pleasing love. My focus is more on harmony in the relationship than true obedience to Christ. I sometimes choose going along with people over confrontation, risking possible rejection.
Recently a new friend of mine who struggles with mental illness was sharing with me parts of her life. I was listening to her and I genuinely cared about her. However, when she shared an area that became evident as sin, I failed to speak up and confront her about it. I used the excuse that I did not know her long enough to be in a position to confront her. I prayed for her healing and went on my way.
Some days later I had a dream. I was with my sister as she chose a path of sin. While I chose a different path, I failed to speak up to my sister about the path she was choosing. Even though I had chose a different path, I shared in her sin.
What I realize is that I have a responsibility to my brother or sister in Christ to speak up and not just go along with their choice to sin. Paul confronted the church in Corinth for failing to speak up and deal with sin. And in Galatians 6:1, he tells the church, “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”
The other side of confronting sin, is watching that one does not sin in the process by harming the person in judgment, criticism or contempt. We are not to put loads on each other, but “carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2). One needs to approach confronting sin in a spirit of humility and brokenness, knowing we are all sinners. Paul says, “if any of you think you are something when you are nothing, you deceive yourselves.” (Galatians 6:3)
"We've got to tame our tongue. If can't say nothing good, don't say nothing at all."
Training and Practice
In order to allow relationships to form us, it starts with us slowing down and be present to others, especially those closest to us. [9] And as Keith Meyer notes, the relationships that are most important to our spiritual formation into Christlikeness are those who are closest to us. He writes, “A sure sign that our life is not being wholly formed in all aspects is the inability to stop and be with those most important to our formation. We are too busy with all kinds of things that keep us from the center of our life, where God and others are.” [10]
We also, as Keith Meyer notes, we need to enter into training. He writes, “Once we are 'caught up' with a new vision of life in Jesus' kingdom and intend to do his will -to be ruled by his power- we must do more than just try harder. We must enter into training or practice, to bring our intended will into our body.” [11]
Paul says, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me -put it into practice.” (Philippians 4:9).
Keith Meyer writes, “Training for life is just like training for anything else. If we try to do something that requires a degree of difficulty or meaning, we will need to set aside time to practice.” As he notes, no athlete performs well without entering into training. In the same way, Christians need training. Keith Meyer writes, “We need God's mysterious training through which he puts to death our old habits and brings to life new ones, and we respond with our best efforts.” [12]
Part of training, involves entering into spiritual disciplines [13] such as reading the word and praying. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
And Jesus says to the Jews that believed in Him, "If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples, you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free." (John 8:31-32)
Keith Meyer notes that finding appropriate spiritual disciplines to work on specific areas of sin puts us in a place where God can rewire our internal and external life. And in working on our sin, we bring our whole body into a process of training for obedience. [14]
However, training is not something we can do outside community. Keith Meyer notes that “For true formation I need to be brutally honest with someone about my life and progress in character formation." [15]
We submit ourselves to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph. 5:21). We willingly take correction, wisdom and direction from other's in our spiritual community. [16] Keith Meyer writes, “In this, we are not giving up our first obedience to God, but believe God speaks to us through his beloved community. Their loving wisdom or even correction and rebuke provide a kind of low-level discipline that precludes most grievous and drastic forms of sin.” [17]
He notes, "The gossip in our churches is a direct result of our lack of corporate confession. It counterfeits confession: we tell others about someone else's sin, rather than our own, to someone who isn't able to be part of the solution. This makes the problem bigger and allows us to ignore and stay in denial about our own sin.” Instead, and Keith Meyer notes, we should think the best of others and consider them better than ourselves (Phil 2:3-4). [18]
Too often we are looking for our own validation rather than denying ourselves, picking up our cross, and following after Christ. Confessing the sin of another makes us feel superior to them and validates that we were 'right' and they were 'wrong' rather than silently suffering a wrong of another.
In walking in greater obedience to Christ, putting to death the old man, and embracing the opportunities for growth that God places before us, including suffering other's sin, we become more Christlike. We “speak the truth in love” (Eph 4:15), building the body of Christ into maturity rather than tearing it down by petty criticisms, gossip, slander and innuendo. [19]
As we turn our chairs toward each other, in commitment to Christ and then to each other as our brother and sisters, taking His teaching and life seriously, we are transformed.
Dallas Willard writes, "relationships form the receptacle for receiving the fullness of Christ and are the place where the kingdom comes and God's will is to be done as it is 'in the heavens.'" [20] As we are discipled through relationships, we become more available to others, more peaceful, more loving and giving. [21] We experience the kingdom of God among us.
Lord, we long to behold You, follow You, and become more like You. Show us how to walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph. 5:2). Turn our hearts toward each other and transform our lives by your loving presence. Have your way and fulfill your good purpose among us.
Meyer, Keith. Whole Life Transformation: Becoming the Change Your Church Needs. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. 2010. (References 1-4, 9-21)
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Touchstone, New York, NY. 1959. (References 5-8)
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