Cross Formed Lives (Philippians 3:17-4:1)

By now, the podium for the Olympic medal ceremony is quite familiar. As triumphant music plays, the winner of the bronze medal is introduced, then the silver medalist, and then finally, the gold medalist steps up, the crowd especially raucous when it is a Canadian gold medalist. Athletes spend years of their lives, training for this moment to stand at the top of the podium with (hopefully) the gold medal of your chosen sport hanging around your neck. 

The medal are placed around the Olympian’s neck, a small bundle of flowers is handed over with a quick handshake or hug from an Olympic official.  Then, as the three flags of the victors’ home nations are raised, the crowds cheer and the tears flow as the gold medalist mouths the words to their national anthem.

            It’s rather timely for us to hear Paul’s epistle to the Philippians.  He writes, “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.”  Here, Paul uses language and imagery from a sporting contest.  The language of “joy and crown” harkens to the victor celebrating after some sort of race or feat of strength. Just as an athlete spends many years of training and dedication, so Paul imagines the Christian believer as one who willingly takes on the challenges and endures to the victorious end.

The “sports” language is found elsewhere in the New Testament.  Evoking the “heroes” of the faith, the book of Hebrews offers the reader this goal:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.  (Hebrews 12:1-3)

 For these two New Testament writers, the end goal is quite remarkable. For the book of Hebrews, one lives by the example set by Christ and the saints that have gone before us.  For the epistle to the Philippians, Paul calls us to believe in and live the ways of Christ, the one who journeyed through this life, knew its failings and vulnerability yet persevered.  We let Christ’s witness shape our lives, taking on the same values of humility, vulnerability, and servanthood. 

In this passage, Paul encourages his reader to imitate his life, holding his own story up as one shaped by Christ.  To imitate another might sound a bit pious at first on Paul’s part, but he is offering his life as an example to the reader.  Paul has been through a great deal of change in his life. He has known persecution and hardship for his belief. Despite all of the challenges, Paul sees his life most clearly through the prism of his faith in Christ.  Whatever has happened along the way, Paul knows that Christ has been with him.  He encourages his reader to imitate him, for Paul only imitates himself, pointing not to the self but to the Christ.

In a few weeks, we’ll be celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day, which admittedly has become less about the “saint” himself.  As for Patrick, he had a profound understanding of living out his life in way that never forgot Christ’s influence in all parts of life.  In his famous prayer, Patrick speaks of Christ ever present:

Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, and in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

In Paul’s letter, he derides persons who have made the choice to live as they see fit, taking no heed to the witness of Christ.  I appreciate his admonition to live for Christ, not the self. Reading this text alongside persons of other religious traditions, I would imagine there would be some general agreements that faith traditions often move in ways contrary to secular societal norms.  Paul’s concern we live with a world that thinks too often with its belly or only of itself would get a hearty “amen” from an interfaith gathering.  I would caution that this passage could be read as “us Christians” vs. the rest of the world, if we are not careful in our interpretation. 

For Paul’s original audience, he is addressing a group of Christians living in a colony of the Roman Empire.  The church is living under the Romans, whose ways might rule the world for now but go in the ways that most Empires go:  the more power, the more control, the more decadent and corrupt.   Paul reminds the Philippians that they are Christians first, citizens of the “kingdom” of heaven, the reign of God.  Caesar claimed godhood, the Roman Empire claimed the world, yet Paul writes to the Philippians telling them to place their trust in Christ.  Earlier in this epistle, Paul weaves into his writing words from what is thought to be an early Christian hymn:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, ⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

For Paul, Christ is the one who we should imitate.  Christ is the One whose life, death, and resurrection provide a pattern for our lives. Keeping Christ before us, ahead of us, and around us is what shapes our lives.  In the language of the Christian faith, the term for this sort of life is called a “cruciform” life.  Cruciform means “cross-shaped”, which is typically a word used in religious architecture.  In the history of western Christianity, it became quite popular to build churches in the shape of a cross.  (The bulletin cover gives you a glimpse of such a design layout.)

Paul goes beyond the crosses we hang on the wall or around our necks, beyond the cross-shaped buildings that people gather in for worship.  Paul asks the believer where his or her truest beliefs and loyalties are given.  Is it in the world or the empire, the belly or the ego?  Or is it in the hope and trust we find in Christ Jesus?

A few years back, I read a wonderful column by historian and writer Martin E. Marty.  Dr. Marty is a life-long Lutheran, and he offers his reader glimpses into his deep and abiding love for Martin Luther and the tradition that followed.  Marty notes that one of his faith practices has been life-long as well as quite simple in its ritual.  Marty follows Luther’s teaching that daily and evening prayers begin with making the sign of the cross, offering prayers, and a time for devotional reading.  At his waking and at his sleeping, Marty makes the sign of the cross across the length and width of his body, marking his whole person with the sign of the cross.

After morning prayers, Luther suggests one “go to your work with joy, singing a hymn, as the Ten Commandments, or what your devotion may suggest.”  And at night, one is to pray and then get ready for bed.  Luther concludes, “Then go to sleep promptly and cheerfully.” 

At first glance, Luther’s suggestion for devotions at day’s beginning and night’s ending might strike us as a little too pietistic or out of touch.  After all, life does not necessarily lend itself to happy days or feeling that cheerful when bedding down for the night.  Nonetheless, Paul sees a thread of hope woven through his life, a way forward through worldly ways.  He calls us to seek the same path, to live lives patterned after Christ. Paul dreams of his readers joining him at the end of the race called life, living with “joy and crown” for life lived well, standing firm in the Lord.