In the last post, I wrote about how walking in love can lead to unfavorable
consequences in the face of a world that does not necessarily operate on that basis. Many people suffer
persecution, rejection and loss for choosing to follow the way of Jesus. The
world powers tend to react in one form of violence or the other to a person
whose lifestyle threatens their existence. But we also closed that post with 1
Peter 3: 17-18 where Peter states in verse 18
For Christ
also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to
bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in
the Spirit”
Resurrection of Christ by Noel Coypel (1700) |
It is this last
verse in this passage that I want to bring to your attention. Walking with
Jesus entails facing what Jesus faced. Suffering like he suffered. He then
follows it up with the fact that though he was killed, he was raised from the
dead. We also reap a reward like he did. To be clear, we live this higher life
of love in the Holy Spirit because we cannot help it. Whatever happens, we have
been convinced that this is the Way. We have the nature of Love in us by the
Holy Spirit. His love has been poured into our hearts and so we cannot but live
like this. Regardless of our knee jerk desires to be selfish and violent,
walking with God reprograms us to choose the path of love. However, we can
still rest assured in the fact that our actions of love, have an impact and
will be rewarded in some way.
I remember
listening to Brian Zahnd preach one time and he made a profound statement; for
every Good Friday, there is a resurrection Sunday (or something to that
extent). What he meant was that, every time we suffer for taking the path of
love, we also experience victory at the end of the day. Love always wins. We
cannot tell how, or when but somehow, someway we are justified for following
the way of love. We will find out maybe in this age or the next that our
actions had impact and thus we have won. Consider this:
5 In your relationships
with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very
nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted
him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Philipians 2: 5-11)
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Philipians 2: 5-11)
I believe Paul tells the Philippian Church this passage for two
reasons:
·
To help them focus on Jesus and his work in order be
transformed into humble, self-sacrificing lovers of each other like Jesus.
·
Also, to highlight to them the direct consequence of Jesus
lowering himself in love. Which is his ultimate exaltation.
Like I said earlier, we are not loving others because
we want to reap rewards, that is backdoor selfishness. But our actions of love
do bring rewards for us. it could just be in the sense of our personal
development or the ripple effect of our actions in society. Sometimes, we are
lifted higher than our persecutors. Sometimes, the loss leads us down a path to
gain much more. We can’t tell. Even when it seems like love has lost, love
still wins