September 14, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”  (Philippians 2.1-2)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD TO US:

While Paul’s sentiment expressed to the faith community in Christ of Philippi was not connected to the practice of the Lord’s Supper, it further illustrates the discernment of the body which he mentions in 1 Corinthians. We must remember that the Apostle Paul was the seed planter of faith in Asia Minor. We do not know what the first generation apostles (the new 12 disciples) were doing apart from Peter. We know James, the half-brother of Jesus, was leading the church in Jerusalem. Peter, of course, was struggling with the mission to both Jew and Gentile in Jerusalem and Galilee. History will inform us of the works of the other disciples which ultimately led to their persecution for the faith. John the “beloved” disciple would be exiled to Patmos longing to be free and glad to be a captive for the sake of the gospel as the Elder of the 7 Churches in Asia Minor after Paul’s execution in Rome. We know him for his gospel rendering and for the Revelation given to him. That Revelation would be an encouragement to the first century church which faced heinous persecution. Our reading of it should be of equal encouragement as a community of faith in such a time as we are living in now. Persecution is here. However, so is the community of faith which must learn from its ancestors the ways and the means of “standing fast.” The reading of the works of Paul demonstrates the power of community to bear up under the hardships which the unbelieving world inflicts upon the body of Christ. In this, we can again here Paul’s teaching for how to share in the Lord’s Supper being applied in real-time experience. His letters speak of the ministry and the bonding of communities across the map. They speak of his gratitude for the care sent to him during his imprisonment especially for his final time in Rome.

In his letter to the church in Philippi, he urged them to be like-minded with him, those within their community and with the larger community of faith. The awareness and discernment of the body was critical to their survival to serve in the world and not become a part of it. How these communities of faith would seek to advance the interests of others (not so much in their industry but in their ministry to spread the gospel of salvation for what does a man gain if he forfeits his soul to grasp onto the world) depended on their like-mindedness. This like-mindedness was to keep, as has been often promoted, “first things first.” What would those things be?

Love above all things which was bounded by the desire that not one of these little ones would fall.

Salvation as the only means of escaping the horror of death which was living without the loving presence of God Himself.

Community as life must be lived in this world before it will be lived in the one yet to come. This is where that phrase I have borrowed and used often really gains meaning: “the already but not yet.” By that we are urged to grasp the truth which Jesus taught His disciples to pray: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Jesus wasn’t speaking in an eschatological sense when He prayed that. He wasn’t merely looking at the “day of the Lord” when the old would pass away and the new would come. Jesus was speaking of the seed of faith sown into the world now among the weeds and briars, the hardened path and rocky soil as well as the fertile soil. There was still work to be done in this world before the reward of the next for which we could not gain by our own labors came into our lives or us into it. It was, and remains, critical that the body of Christ minister to itself for living in this world and not becoming dependent on it for meaning, purpose and perhaps even sustenance. Who knew where the manna of God’s provision would make itself known. As in Acts, the community of faith in Asia Minor and beyond had to practice “having all things in common.“

This is the like-mindedness Paul was speaking to. To live in fear without fear. To boldly go where no Christ follower had gone before and make the truth be known. What is that truth? Simple summed up by using Jesus’ own words: “I AM the way, the truth and the life and there is no other means by which you may attain unity with the Father in Heaven.” Yes, that means we have to understand in our travels over previously visited lands we are going into an unknown place because the city, community, home, business or group changes as the people change. The place may stay the same. It is people who must change and they cannot do it without discerning the body: their own and the body of Christ revealed to them by believers who practice His presence daily.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.