Where do we find joy in such a harsh, difficult world? Generations have sought the answer to this question and ones like it. Why does suffering persist? How can we enjoy life when tragedy and trial are the only common thread throughout human existence?

Salutation (1:1-2)

Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Philippians (1:3-11)

Paul’s Personal Circumstances (1:12-26)

Living a Life Worthy of the Gospel (1:27-30)

Following the Servant Attitude of Christ (2:1-18)

Timothy (2:19-24)

Epaphroditus (2:25-30)

Warnings Against the Judaizers (legalists) (3:1-16)

Warnings Against the Antinomians (libertines) (3:17-4:1)

Exhortations Concerning Various Aspects of Christian Living (4:2-9)

Concluding Testimony and Repeated Thanks (4:10-20)

Greetings and Benediction (4:21-23)

It is in Acts 16 that we discover the history of the Philippian church and Paul’s relationship to it. In this passage, we discover that Lydia was Paul’s first convert in the area. We discover that Paul began his work there by being beaten and jailed - all the while rejoicing! This seems to be a pattern in Paul’s life when it comes to Philippi.

The letter was written by Paul around AD 62 while Paul was in prison. He was probably imprisoned in his own house as discussed in Acts 28:14-31.

Paul wrote the letter for several reasons - (1) to inform the church there of his circumstances (1:12-26, 4:10-19) to encourage the Philippians to stand firm in the face of persecution; (2) to exhort them to humility and unity (2:1-11; 4:2-5); (3) to thank the Philippians for their generous gift to him when they learned of his detention in Rome (1:5, 4:10-19); (4) to warn against the Judaizers and the Antinomians ("against -law") (ch.3); and (5) to commend Timothy and Epaphroditus (2:19-30).

Philippians contains no OT quotations. This may be because the majority of the Christians were Romans - there wasn’t even a synagogue in the city (and because the Jewish Christians there were causing problems). It is a letter of joy. The word is used in every chapter. Christ is referenced over forty times in the small letter.

The major themes in the letter to the Philippians are: joy, humility, and unity.

To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

The theme of this passage is

We live in a world of conveniences and pain-killers. We shrink from discomfort and pain that only decades ago were endured everyday without thought. The zeitgeist clouds our vision and lures us into believing that there can be no good reason for suffering - that medical science has an obligation to end pain and difficulty - that government must relieve its citizens of burdens and toil - that churches must make all feel comfortable and easy. It is from this kind of thinking that we arrive at solutions like euthanasia and abortion.

In the first chapter of Philippians, Paul dwells on both suffering and joy. Two things we wouldn’t normally juxtapose. Yet for Paul, there seems to be no difficulty in doing this. When you read his words in this passage, there is no hint that he himself found the words odd when placed next to each other. He uses them matter-of-factly - as if their close relationship were a commonly known fact.

Paul begins his letter to the Philippians by expressing heartfelt thanks and love for them. He stresses how he is in partnership with them and how they are in his heart. Paul obviously cared deeply for their welfare in Christ. Unlike many churches that Paul had to deal with, the Philippian church seemed to be standing firm in the faith.

After thanking them for their support and love; and reminding them of how he felt about them, Paul spends much of the first chapter describing his own hardships and suffering because of the cause of Christ. Undoubtedly, Paul is writing this to let them know that even though he is struggling in the cause of Christ, he continues to rejoice.

Surely they remember how, when he was arrested in Philippi (Acts 16) he ended up in shackles - yet was singing well into the night! Paul concluded the chapter by reminding the Philippians that they have been granted...to suffer for Christ. This puts Paul’s discussion of his own struggles in different light. Paul wants the Philippians to know that even though he is undergoing trials and suffering, he continues to rejoice throughout these things because of Christ. Christ is his life.

Paul writes this, apparently, because the Philippians were about to undergo their own suffering (v. 29). He discusses it as if it were an honor that they should rejoice in experiencing. Paul sums up his attitude toward suffering in verse 21 - "For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain". What Paul is not saying is that suffering is itself a good thing or even a thing to be desired - as some have interpreted. Rather, he is showing suffering in the proper context of an eternal life lived out in a fallen world. As Christians, we are not to seek suffering or desire, but we are to endure it with the understanding that life is forever and that the injustice and pain encountered here will ultimately be made right.

Paul is preparing the Philippians not just for the ordeal that lies ahead, he is preparing their minds for the truth of the God - that this world is not the center of the universe, that what we endure here - even at its worst, is only a light and momentary burden. Paul’s attitude toward suffering is that it is an inherent part of this fallen world. Seeking a cure within the world is futile And that God now uses the evil created by man and Satan to refine us in his image.

Paul, by discussing his own trials and his attitude toward them, shares with the Philippians how as Christians they can experience joy in the midst of suffering.

As long as man is center of the universe, suffering will be pointless, cruel and arbitrary. When God is the center of the universe, and man has been reconciled to him, suffering is bearable - even fruitful - and it is then that we can rejoice while in chains.

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

he humbled himself

and became obedient to death --

even death on a cross!

and gave him the name that is above every name,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

to the glory of God the Father.

The theme of this passage is

Paul spent time in the first chapter of this letter talking about his own life and struggles at the time of the writing of the letter. We said that Paul seems to do this to encourage the Philippians in two ways:

After developing the idea in the first chapter of his letter that if we live in Christ, we can be joyful even in difficult times, Paul goes on in this second chapter to do what Paul does best - to turn the focus back to Jesus.

Paul starts by calling us to unity and humility and love. Look at the parallels he draws in verses 1-4:

Be like minded. Be united. Be loving. Be humble - think of others more than yourself.

Being united with Christ doesn’t mean obtaining uniformity. Rather, it means that as we draw closer to Him, the differences between us diminish. Notice how Paul immediately couples unity with humility. There is no way a person who is proud or haughty will be unified with another - unless that other is willing to submit completely and unthinkingly to the prideful person’s wishes.

Unity does not mean everyone is identical - or even that we all share the same opinions. If we were to take a poll on any number of issues in this room, the responses would be varied, would they not?

Paul calls us to be like-minded and then tells us in verses 5-11 what this mind is to be: it is to be Christ’s mind. The usage of the term "mind" here seems to be regarding attitude rather than theology. Paul is calling for the Philippians to be humble in their attitude. He then calls them to have the same love, and to share the same spirit and purpose.

What Paul seems to be doing in these first few verses of chapter two is calling the Philippians to the things they have in common - the common ground - and then having them be humble in the areas where they disagree.

We can summarize Paul’s statement to the Philippians in these four verses with three key concepts about being united in Christ:

The next passage of Scripture is one the greatest in the Bible, I believe, because it poetically summarizes the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and second coming of Christ. We tend to forget the violence of the incarnation. We overlook how radical such a concept is. This is easy to do considering it is such a standard part of our culture to think about the baby Jesus. But dwell for a moment on how radical it is for God to have become man.

For the creator to be created and then to die. Let this concept be freshly laid before you so that the sheer awe of its existence awakens withing you. God becoming man! How insane! How fanciful!

There are five downward steps Christ takes in this passage. Let’s look at each of them:

• he let go of the glory of God and emptied himself
• he became a man
• he became the servant of men
• he humbled himself to death
• he submitted to the worst kind of death

Following the submission of Christ, however, is the vindication of Christ in the final judgement.

The theme of this passage is

Paul starts this passage by saying, "Therefore, ...". When you see the word "therefore" you need to know what it’s there for! Paul has just completed describing two concepts in the first eleven verses of this passage - (1) Christ’s incredible humility and (2) Christ’s ultimate glorification. Because of what Jesus did in his incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection - and because of the coming judgment at which everyone will submit to him as Lord.

He encourages the Philippians to work out their salvation with fear and trembling.

Perhaps Paul is encouraging the Philippians to recognize what a tremendous and powerful thing our salvation is - that they have been saved from the brink of disaster (Peter said we were lost in a hopeless and dying world).

Paul concludes this sentence by saying that it is God who works within you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Our power comes from God - not ourselves. We have for years in the Church of Christ been afraid to talk about God working in us. Primarily, we have been afraid of being confused in all the false teaching that exists about how God works and how the Spirit leads us. But perhaps we have forgotten Paul’s point here. That we can do nothing without God’s power.

That our faith and obedience is itself a gift from God. When we discover we have the strength to obey or believe, it is because we have trusted in God to provide that power. If we fail to believe or obey, it is because we have attempted to do it ourselves without God’s help - and we are doomed to fail. We have all heard the phrase, "God has done his part, now we must do ours".

But isn’t it true that really, God does it all - and all we do is submit to him. And that when we submit to him, we find the power to obey and believe?

Remember that Paul is writing to a certain people at a certain time dealing with certain struggles (in the case of the Philippians, Paul is really stressing unity and single-mindedness and getting along). Paul tells them that in order for them to have the mind of Christ, they need to work on doing everything without complaining or arguing.

One of the incredible things about the word of God is that even though these books and letters that make up the Bible were written to people in different times and cultures and countries and while undergoing different struggles and having different needs, it is still relevant to us today. His word doesn’t wither or fade away. It speaks to the needs of men and women today just as it did when the pen was first put to paper. We need to hear Pauls exhortation to avoid arguing and complaining!

Paul promises certain results when we do this.

1. we will become blameless and pure,
2. we will be as children of God in a crooked and depraved generation,

We will appear blameless and pure because of the purity of Christ’s love that lives within us.

It is a common mistake in our thinking to believe that the world has really changed for the better or the worse. Technology has changed, governments have changed, medicine has changed; but people are still the same. We tend to think that depravity is a modern invention. We try to blame things like evolution and science and television and movies for the condition of our world. But these things are only modern weapons in a battle that has raged since man was created. Our job is no different today than the job of the Philippians when Paul wrote to them.

The Word of Life is not the Bible! The Word of Life is Jesus! Remember, the Philippians did not have a Bible like you and I do! They only had the story of Christ! Remember our rule on proper interpretation - it can never mean what it never meant! Jesus is the Word - the LOGOS. The Bible is the written representation to us of who Jesus is - but if we know the Bible without knowing Jesus, then we don’t know the Word of Life.

Our job is to hold out the Word of Life. If we preach the gospel of Jesus and if we allow God to work in us to will and to act according to His purpose - not our own - then we will shine as stars. As long as we allow Satan to distract us with trivial issues that cause us to argue or complain, he will be winning the battle. But if we only hold our the Word of Life, God will do the work on the hearts of people.

I find it compelling that the New Testament never encourages believers to fight the wrongs in the world around us. The writers did not encourage Christians to attempt to stop slavery. They didn’t address contemporary issues such as abandonment (their version of abortion). Rather, the only issues dealt with are internal issues of the church - sin that has made its way inside the body of Christ - and false teaching that questions who Jesus was - and issues of submission to one another so that the body may be built up. We are never called to be social activists to attempt to change our world or our government. We are called to be like Christ - compassionate, godly, peaceful and humble - the servant of all. Satan often distracts the church from its mission by convincing us we need to be politicians and lawmakers and debaters of the world’s philosophy. Certainly we should be prepared to convince people of the truth of the gospel in terms that they can respect and understand, but when our mission changes from holding out the Word of Life, we cease to reflect our true nature. We must stay focused on our mission.

In the remaining verses in this chapter, Paul deals with Timothy and Epaphroditus - two fellow workers loved by both Paul and the Philippians. He desires to send Timothy to them soon - and he describes how much he loves this young man. He says that he is sending Epaphroditus to them - because he knows that they have heard of his illness and are worried about him.

The passage is not intended directly to make a theological point. Rather it is the warm expression of how Christians are to love one another and are to long to be with one another. When we have that love and longing, we will find arguing and complaining not only to be distasteful and wrong, we will just find it hard to do!

The greatest challenge facing the church in our time is not modernism, evolution, MTV, or Deepak Chopra. The greatest challenge we face is to restore the fellowship, accountability and confessing nature of the early church. Don’t get me wrong, the early church was riddled with problems that in many cases we have overcome. But one thing we can learn is their reliance on each other. Their preferential treatment of one another over people in the world.

The theme of this passage is

Paul deals with two opposite extremes in these verses. First, he makes it clear that legalists have no business in the church. The church is not about earning our salvation - it is about submitting to Christ and accepting His grace. Secondly, he attacks antinomians - those who would seek to live without law. The beauty of the gospel is that it rejects both of these heresies without contradicting itself!

We talked about how the Philippi didn’t have a large Jewish population. However, there was a vocal group of Jewish Christians in the church who were stirring up trouble. Paul deals with these individuals in the first verses of chapter three. Paul begins the chapter by diffusing their power - he calls them "dogs" and "mutilators of the flesh". He points out that it is no longer they who are the circumcision - it is those who are in Christ Jesus - we who put no confidence in the flesh. Paul points out why he is qualified to make such statements - if anyone had the right to feel self-righteous because of the Law, it was Paul - yet he knew better.

Verses 7-12 are some of the most powerful in the New Testament. Paul here makes it very clear that there is nothing in him or his work that is worthwhile - it is only through the knowledge of Christ that we have life.

It is ingrained in us from before we can remember to become independent. We encourage our children to become adults. We encourage adults to make their own decisions. We glorify those who are independent - unchained by the opinions or others. We want everything the old fashioned way - we want to feel like we’ve earned it or deserve it because of who we are or what we have done. At the heart of our desire to earn approval is pride. We believe that if we act right enough or preach loud enough or gain enough popularity amongst men, that we will somehow deserve what God offers us. It strikes against our nature to accept something that we do not deserve and cannot merit. We just don’t like it. But that’s exactly our condition in Christ. There is no "I’ll do my part if God will do His". He has done it all. There is nothing you can do to deserve it or earn it. You will never pay for your sin debt. Without God’s grace you are lost - and all your works will appear as rubbish when compared with Christ., who is the standard by which we are judged. In fact, the harder we try to live a legalistic life, the more joyless, difficult and bitter we become. Many people lose their salvation because they are tired of trying to earn God’s merit. It is a fruitless effort.

Paul points out three basic differences (in verse 3) between those who are legalists and those who have accepted salvation by grace:

Notice how intimately Paul desires to know Christ in verses10-11. He wants to understand Christ from the inside out. He longs to know him completely.

Now Paul goes on to deal with those who would seek to live under grace without laws at all.

Read, The Pursuit of Holiness, pp. 20-21, by Jerry Bridges for a good perspective on understanding our salvation by grace and our call to obedience. We must live with the understanding of our victory over darkness. But we must also understand that God seeks an obedient and humble spirit in us.

The runner striving for the goal. Pressing on, straining, striving, buffeting, winning. These are words of labor and struggle and work. They are not words of passivity or leisure or complacency. Paul says that the Christian who has been saved by grace will press on to greater things. In verse 18, he urges the Philippians not to slip downward from where they have already climbed in the faith - but to press upward - ever upward - seeking to know Christ more fully.

Paul would find it unthinkable that people could be Christians for twenty years and really be no more involved, active, knowledgeable, evangelistic, loving, compassionate or humble than when they first began their relationship with Christ. In fact, Paul might even warn them about their salvation. Paul teaches here that knowing Christ changes us. It changes who we are. If you have entered into a relationship with Jesus, he will change you - perhaps slowly - certainly painfully - but you will change. If you are the same person now as when you committed your life to Christ, why haven’t you changed?

Notice five points about verses 12-16 that Paul makes about how we should live:

Paul stresses that God is not satisfied with stagnation. He want power and energy and growth - and God himself gives us these things as we submit to him.

Paul calls the mature to this kind of life - yet he also trusts in God to lead those who don’t have this viewpoint into a better understanding of God’s will.

Paul offers a final warning about those of the world (in the church) who live as enemies of the cross and are governed by their appetites. Their destiny is destruction. But we are not of this world - our home is in heaven. (Table in the Wilderness). We will undergo two transformations - the transformations from creatures of darkness to creatures of light - and the resurrection body.

The theme of this passage is

Paul begins this passage by addressing an issue that has plagued the church since its birth - and will undoubtedly plague it until we are gathered home. People not getting along! Look at James 4:1-3 -

It’s not usually doctrine, is it? It’s usually our old friends, selfishness or pride - either I want my way and I didn’t get it - or I know better than you and I won’t have you telling me what to do! Look at what James says in verse 1b - is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? James nails it down. We quarrel because we struggle with lust and pride and envy and selfishness. We are good, however, at making up good excuses for our disagreement - attempting to shroud our pettiness with noble motives. Notice that Paul concludes his preceding discussion with words to encourage the Philippians to have a different attitude, he says, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and my crown, so stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. Paul is setting a tone for the Philippians who are at odds with each other.

Paul encourages the Philippians to stand firm. If you stop and think about it, our initial reaction to someone telling us to stand firm is to envision them under great strain and attack - battling back evil. But, in reality, doesn’t our experience tell us that Satan usually defeats us not in the thick of battle, but in the dreariness of daily life? Most of us can rise to the occasion to behave in Christian character during acute periods of great trial. But how many of us fail in those long, drawn-out periods when we encounter no great struggles - no overt temptations - no obvious attacks?

Now Paul moves on to deal with the specific conflict between these two women. Notice a few things about their description. They are mentioned nowhere else in Scripture, the circumstance of their conflict is not revealed, Paul urges them to reconcile. But notice how he urges them - he wants them to be in harmony in the Lord. Remember the transitive property of equality? Here it is again. Get along with each other by each of you being in harmony with Christ. Notice that Paul enlists a third party to help these women in their struggle in verse 3.

Now Paul moves on to deal with the issue of resting in the Lord and the struggle we all have with worry and anxiety. Note that Paul begins by reminding us of our joy in the Lord. The he plants the brief statement the Lord is near. Paul wants to set the stage for dealing with worry and anxiety by laying the foundation where? Right back in the person of Christ! With him as our foundation, we can defeat anxiety and worry in our lives. Helmut Thielke said, "If we know who holds the final hour, we need not fear the next minute." Remember this little statement: Worry about nothing; Pray about everything

Paul isn’t saying that we should go through life carelessly or without thought. He is saying that when we start to assume that we are in control, and we start to concern ourselves with things best left in God’s hands, we will lose the peace that comes through Christ. We must understand that we live in a broken world - a world that we are incapable of fixing. So we can’t be shackled by fear and anxiety and worry over issues that we will never be able to resolve.

Issues that should concern us are things like showing love for one another, sharing the gospel with our neighbors, serving those in need, visiting the sick, spending time in prayer beseeching God to intervene in our lives and in our world. These things we are right to be concerned with because we can control whether another person feels loved by us. We can’t control whether or not that person will be killed in a car accident.

Perhaps Paul included this admonition because people at Philippi were concerned about the dispute between the two women. (Remember to think about what the passage would’ve meant to those to whom it was written.) Maybe they were worried about the church. Paul turns their minds back to Christ. Now look at the following verses (8-9). Many times we describe these as general encouragement for what the Christian should occupy their thinking with. And this is perhaps a good idea. But,

The issue is the dispute between these two sisters. So,

Paul is encouraging those who don’t get along to think about the good in the person they struggle to get along with! What a radical thought! Paul tells us, "You know that person that gets on your nerves? That always says the wrong thing? Find the good in that person and think about that when you’re faced with dealing them!" Dwell on the good - encourage the good - nurture and water the good in others instead of spending all your time trying to pick weeds! Paul promises that behaving in this way will produce peace in our lives.

Paul concludes his lesson to the Philippians - and to us with verses 10-13. Paul shows the attitude of a person who has learned what it means to worry about the things he can affect - and to trust in God for those things he ultimately has no power over.

First of all, he says he learned this - it didn’t just happen - he didn’t pick it up instantly - it is a learned response to our world. Paul’s secret for contentment is to rest in Christ Jesus - trusting him to handle the things in life that are too big for us to deal with. Paul didn’t worry over food or clothing or shelter - he worried over his little children in the faith; he worried over Barnabas and Titus and Timothy and Epaphroditus. He worried over reaching the lost with the gospel. He trusted God to provide all that he needed.

Ultimately, Paul’s letter to the Philippians is a letter about residing in Christ. Paul tells the Philippians that once they learn how to take on the character of Christ (as described in ch. 2), they will respond to suffering and quarreling and difficulty in the right way. Paul calls us to take Christ as our life in chapter 1, as our model in chapter 2, as our goal in chapter 3, and as our peace in chapter 4. Make Christ the very center of your life. Imitate his humility. Trust in his hope. And rest in him.

A fair case can be made for considering Philippians 2:5-11 not as some imported Christological hymn, but as a genuine piece of Pauline exalted prose (not unlike 1 Corinthians 13). (See Gordon D. Fee, "Philippians 2:5-11, Hymn or Exalted Pauline Prose?" Bulletin for Biblical Research 2 (1992): 29-46.) Paul's intent here is not to debate the essence of Christ's nature - fully human and fully divine - but to offer his Philippian readers a most moving and miraculous example of genuine Christian behavior. In Philippians 2:2, Paul urges his readers to be "of the same mind" and have "the same love" as Christ. In light of this plea, then, Paul offers Christ's astoundingly humble and obedient acts of incarnation and crucifixion as the supreme examples of the kind of behavior he is advocating.

Even if these verses are not an appropriated earlier hymn, as we have come to believe, limiting their meaning to a supreme example of the behavior Paul wished to inspire in the Philippians ignores the message contained in the second half of this "hymn." Focusing only on the humiliation Christ voluntarily embraced was a pitfall St. John Chrysostom long ago worried about when he read these verses. This early Christian father warned that verses 6-11 might be used by those who would deny Christ's actual divinity - making him into merely an outstanding human example of humility and obedience. (See Donato Ogliari, O.S.B., "The Kenosis Theme and Monastic Theology," American Benedictine Review 41:2 [1990]: 221.)

The text's vocabulary suggests the author never intended such an interpretation. In verse 6, Christ is described as being "in the form of God." Greek offers two distinct words for "form" - one that denotes an essential, unchanging form or nature of something, and one that describes a form that may change under different circumstances. In verse 6, it is the unchanging, unalterable "form" that Christ shares with God. The unchangeable "form" is also used in verse 7 to describe Jesus' nature ("slave" or "servant"). Only later in verse 7, where Jesus takes on "human form," is the other Greek terminology employed. As with all humans, this form is changeable over time.

But it is in correctly understanding the most famous term employed by this hymn that we can fully recognize the genuine dual nature of Jesus Christ. These verses are most commonly referred to as the "kenotic hymn" - focusing on the use of the verb "to empty" (kenosis) used in verse 7. Christ, who shared equally with God the divine nature, voluntarily "emptied" himself of that divinity in order to take on human form. When this notion of kenosis is focused on too narrowly, it is easy to see why John Chrysostom was uneasy about this text. If it is misunderstood, a Christ completely emptied of any and all divinity, then incarnated as the fully human Jesus, could easily be relegated to the status of simply a "good man." Accordingly, Paul would be more than justified to hold Jesus up as an example of humility and obedience to the Philippians because he was, in fact, a good human example.

Of course, neither the exalted Christ-ocentric focus of all Pauline theology nor the concluding verses of this "kenotic hymn" make such a limited interpretation of the "self-emptying" process possible. Correctly interpreting this kenotic act requires that we learn to dismiss any notion that "emptying" is a negative process - an act that represents only a void. Voices from two rather disparate sources have recently expounded on a more profound and yet less familiar understanding of kenosis.

The emerging theological dialog between East and West has fostered much discussion about the relationship between the Christian notion of kenosis and the Eastern concept of sunyata. The Buddhist tradition, for example, has long taught the apparently paradoxical concept of sunyata, where "emptiness is fullness and fullness is emptiness." (See Steve Odin, "Abe Masao and the Kyoto School on Christian Kenosis and Buddhist Sunyata," Japanese Religions 15 [January 1989]: 1-18.) The conclusion reached though some of these discussions is revealing. Abe Masao first suggests that if we take the divine relationship between Jesus and God seriously, as described in verse 6 - "he was in the form of God" - then Christ's self-emptying ability is likewise the self-emptying nature of God. Kenosis is not a negation of divinity then, but is rather a genuine expression of divinity. To be fully emptied of divine glory is to fully express the true nature of the divine.

And why does the divine practice this self-emptying nature? A succinct response to this question comes from a very Western source - a Benedictine monk considering the role of humility in monastic theology (see Donato Ogliari O.S.B., "The Kenosis Theme and Monastic Theology," American Benedictine Review 41:2 [1990]: 209-221). In this discussion, the extreme humiliation Christ undergoes when he empties himself of divinity and takes on human form reveals the true essence of divinity. Self-emptying on such a level demonstrates divine love - revealing in fact the core of divinity: God is love (1 John 4:8,16). Kenosis, as the most genuine expression of divinity, is the free expression of the will to love - the true definition of God.

By understanding kenosis as an expression of divine love, we can avoid any theological quagmires about Christ's truly dual nature - fully human and fully divine - and look to the conclusion of Paul's "hymn." If Paul's intention had been merely to inspire the Christ-like behaviors of humility and obedience in his readers, there would have been little reason for him to include the exalted ending he provides in verses 9-11. The humbled (even unto death) Christ is now "exalted." His name is held above all else, his position recognized and honored by everything "in heaven and on earth and under the earth." The circle of Christ's love and divinity and his humanity and humility is made complete.

Through kenosis (emptying) is plerosis (filling).

Within my earthly temple, there's a crowd; There's one of us that's humble, one that's proud; There's one that's broken-hearted for his sins; There's one that, unrepentant, sits and grins; There's one that loves his neighbor as himself, And one that cares for naught but fame and pelf. From much corroding care I should be free If I could once determine which is me. - -Edward Sanford Martin, "My Name IS Legion," in Masterpieces of Religious Verse, ed. James Dalton Morrison (New York: Harper, 1948), 274.

"Not to the gates of Jerusalem alone does Jesus ride today, but to the gates of our hearts. There he waits knocking, knocking. His knuckles must be raw by now. The gentle rap has been so long smothered by contemporary rivals that some of us can barely hear it. But he goes on standing there." - -Samuel M. Shoemaker, "What Shall I Do With Him?" in Protestant Hour Classics (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992), 84.

"At the heart of [life] is the bottom line to every account: overdrawn. All that is left to offer are the empty hands of a derelict spirit. That is precisely what Jesus did - not as a hero, but as a broken reed, a dampened wick. In so doing, it was a perfect sacrifice, not as 'full and sufficient,' but as broken and empty - and thus enough." - -W. Paul Jones, Theological Worlds: Understanding the Alternative Rhythms of Christian Belief (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989), 213.

This poem "All in the State of Mind" is circulating underground, with e-mail copies galore. Its author is unknown. It speaks to a powerful "thumbs-up" movement in our culture, which is good as long as there is, alongside it, the bowed-down movement that recognizes God is able; not "I am able," but that I can do "all things ... through Christ, who strengthens me."

"Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made." - -Immanuel Kant

When Omni magazine called Richard Feynman the world's smartest man, Feynman's wife, Lucille, remarked: "If that's the world's smartest man, God help us." - -As referenced in Martin E. Marty, Context, 1 May 1993, 2.

Scottish novelist and poet Muriel Spark, perhaps the greatest Scottish writer of this century and the world's "foremost practitioner of the clean sentence," was honored recently at a Royal Society of Literature function celebrating her autobiography, Curriculum Vitae.

John Mortimer asked her, "I wonder what you think about God?" To which Spark replied in the most humble of terms: "I think God exists infinitely mysteriously. I don't know a thing. The existence of God seems to be apparent in everything that is seen." - -As quoted in TLS: Times Literary Supplement, 24 July 1992, 15.

When we claim to have arrived at the Truth, capital T, we cheat ourselves. Finality of understanding, closure of interpretation, shuts one off from further insights, illuminations, inspirations, etc. When it comes to Truth with a capital T, we spend our lives in waiting rooms on our knees. There are no "immaculate perceptions." We all walk into the dark.

Founder and president of Focus on the Family, Dr. James Dobson, says he keeps a particular photograph in his files to remind him of what parents go through today. It is of an elegantly dressed woman who is holding a cup of coffee. Her little finger is cocked ever so daintily, and her face reveals complete self-assurance. Unfortunately, this woman does not yet know that her slip has collapsed around her feet. The caption reads: "Confidence is what you have before you understand the situation." (Thanks to Hal Brady, Dallas, Texas, 8 May 1994.)

That's the trouble with much of our "thumbs-up" confidence. We are ignorantly confident and so brashly unaware of our own limitations. In order for our confidence to work for us and not against us, we must humbly acknowledge the boundaries of our own power. We must not only bow before those things beyond our ken; we must also kneel in prayer before the God of grace and glory.