The traditional understanding of Jesus’ life that I have been immersed in is this. I am a sinner, violating God’s law. That law demands perfect obedience to it by me to enter into heaven, to be saved. John Piper paints this picture. Imagine a large boulder, a rock that is immeasurable. That rock is God’s righteousness, his moral perfection and standard that he demands his creatures live up to. Because I, like all human beings, have sinned against God and do not meet God’s standard, that boulder stands over me as God’s wrath and judgment. The doctrine of imputation comes into play at this point in the metaphor. Jesus has perfectly obeyed the law and has met this impossible standard that God has set and demands. He exchanges with me, by faith, his perfect obedience for my sin. The effect is that this boulder now becomes my rock-solid, immovable foundation upon which I stand before God in his judgment. Jesus now stands under the same boulder and stands condemned by God for my sin. That picture is a beautiful picture that Piper paints, and is very helpful in understanding his doctrine of imputation.

This year, along with some guys at my church, I am reading through the entire Bible in 90 days–I should be done in March. Recently the reading plan completed the Torah, the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. After reading those books I don’t feel like this is the best reading of Israel’s Law. Nor do I believe that it is the most desirable reading of the Law.

Genesis 1 paints a vocation for humanity. That is to be God’s image on the earth, exercising God’s dominion and filling the earth with his image through family. Adam and Eve, as we know, failed to complete this task. When God called Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 the promise of a family living in a land climaxes in the promise that through Abraham’s family God would bless all the families of the earth. Abraham’s descendants would restore humanity to its original vocation. When rescued from Egypt God gives Israel the vocation of the royal priesthood (Exodus 19:6).

Pushing this farther is how God introduces the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. The wording of the commandments indicates that the Law is a moral standard that Israel is to live up to in order to be God’s people and live in the land promised to Abraham. Rather, it is how they are to live because they are God’s people and are going to possess the land.

In Deuteronomy 27 God lists out the blessings and curses for faithfully living out God’s Torah. The blessings climax with God saying that Israel will be so blessed that the nations will have to come to them for sustenence. If Israel is unfaithful to the Law she will not be blessed and will be so dependent upon the nations that they will be carried off into exile.

The picture that emerges is that Israel’s obedience to the Law is about fulfilling Israel’s task, her vocation, Adam’s task. The blessing that God intended to unleash upon the world through Adam will be realised through Israel being faithful to God through Torah. It’s how Israel is to live as God’s people. It’s eschatological.

So when Jesus comes and is the fulfillment of Israel, he is taking on this eschatological destiny. He is observing the Torah in the way God intended so that God’s blessings could come upon the earth. It’s not the picture that Piper paints, as attractive as the picture is. Jesus is bringing Israel’s vocation to pass. He is bringing Adam’s mission to completion. His miracles are part of this blessing that God planned and promised to unleash. The healings and forgiveness and love and compassion are the eschatological blessings being realized.

It’s a question I have had to wrestle with ever since I started to read N. T. Wright. Before reading his work the model Christus Victor wasn’t something I took seriously. Instead I dressed it up within the framework of another model, namely penal substitution.

But Wright has forced me to ask the question a new, “Why did Jesus have to die?” My normal, penal substitution/neo-Calvinistic, conservative evangelical answer would have been along this narrative. Man has sinned and transgressed God’s law. Because of this sinners deserve and will get the just sentence of hell–eternal conscious torment. Jesus came, lived a perfect life and did not violate God’s moral law. He was crucified on the cross and raised from the dead. God exchanged man’s sin for Jesus’ perfect obedience. Jesus’ crucifixion was him suffering God’s wrath–hell–in dying, the wrath for the sins of those who are in Christ. He was raised to prove, justify, vindicate his penal substitutionary death–proved that Jesus’ death did satisfy God’s justice. It was our proof of purchase, our receipt from God to show we are going to heaven. In short, the reason why Jesus died was to take away my sin so that I will go to heaven when I die if I believe in him.

Wright has forced me to grapple with the historical picture of Jesus. To come to terms with the narratives the Gospels have painted of Jesus and the meaning to Jesus’ death within those narratives. That Jesus was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth. He ministered three years and taught about the “kingdom of God,” painting a picture of what it will look like while implicitly critiquing Israel for failing to be that picture as they were called to be. He was hailed a king on Sunday; condemned and died as a rebel king on Friday, and raised to life on Sunday. In short, Jesus’ death was the climax to Jesus’ ministry to bring about the kingdom of God here on earth.

The challenge is how to put these two narrative strands together in a way the honors both. Are the Gospels Passion narratives (another name for the story of Jesus’ final week on earth, his time in Jerusalem ending in his death) with extended introductions? Or are they something else? How do we take the picture of Jesus in the Gospels and put it together with what Paul and the others say in the epistles? It’s the end all, be all question at the heart of the Christianity. It’s the question I look forward to answering with my high school students this Sunday.

N. T. Wright likens this question and the event of the crucifixion to some of the ancient maps. Like these maps with Jerusalem being the center of the world, so is the cross of Jesus the center of Christianity. How these are put together determines everything.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature 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 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.

There is much to be said here. Verse 5 bridges the hymn back to what Paul has been talking about. The model that Messiah’s colony should follow is that of their Messiah. The Love and Humility that are to be the central virtues of the colony are shown in the gospel story, the story of Jesus. The relationships that make up the colony, not just personal relationships but those of business practices and those of commerce. This mustn’t be reduced to how one treats his friends or fellow Christians. It is the entirety of human life. The parent-child, husband-wife, employer-employee, teacher-student, business-client relationships must all be built around this narrative, this story. The king must rule and govern according to this narrative, the people governed by the king must follow the king according to this narrative. The whole society and community must be centered on the virtues this narrative glorifies.

The hymn itself contains so much to be digested. From Philippians 2:6 we learn that Jesus existed in form as Yahweh and yet distinct from the person Yahweh. We learn about the place of Jesus within the triune nature of God. He is equal with God in his nature and being and existence. And yet there are at least two distinct persons sharing this same nature, God. There is the father and there is Jesus, both God yet not the same person.

Secondly the hymn teaches the incarnation of God in the Messiah Jesus. Jesus, one of the persons who shares the nature (μορφή) of God, became a man. The hymn doesn’t say that Jesus ceased being God but rather became a servant to God, giving up his rank and status. Just as the Psalms say man is lower than the angels, so Jesus descended down to the level of human. But he didn’t just go down the level of human where he could have rightfully taken and/or established a throne to rule of the entire planet. The incarnation went farther and God became a servant. Not just some one who serves another person voluntarily or is paid for the service. Rather Jesus became a doulos, a slave (μορφὴν δούλου λαβών). He gave up all rights. He so humbled himself that he died the death required of him.

Thirdly the hymn gives us the justification of Jesus, the vindication of Jesus. God exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave Jesus the name above all names, Lord. Hidden in this exaltation is the resurrection. The spirit of Jesus didn’t receive this reward but the whole person, the God-man Jesus. He was raised from the dead and brought before God to receive his vindication before all of the world. Jesus is Lord of the world. He is lord over all lords, even Caesar.

Fourthly, the hymn gives the eschatological goal of Jesus’ mission: the bringing the world under the rule of Jesus. Every tongue confesses and every knee bows. He is their king, not Herod in Jerusalem. He is their Lord, not Caesar in Rome. Jesus, the one exalted to Lord, will bring all the world under his rule and dominion. And not in the providential rule of Jesus as God, but the kingdom of the Jewish Messiah and the Jewish God. And at the confession of Jesus as Lord by all of the world and all who live in it, the father of Jesus, God the Father, will fully display his glory in the whole world being filled with knowledge of him.

Fifthly, this eschatology of Jesus gives the church its mission, to declare to the world that Jesus is Lord–not Caesar. He is the rightful king. They must repent and surrender to him, bowing the knee and confessing the tongue. The church is to be the colony the brings Jesus’ lordship to the earth and shows the world what the lordship is to look like when Jesus bring the whole world under it. And by seeing that lordship on display in the church, God’s imperial colony, they will abandon the domain of sin and death and join the dominion and lordship of the Messiah Jesus.

Thus as individuals we must model our lives after the life of Jesus, being obedient to God to the point of crucifixion. As a community, the church is to be obedient to God to the point of crucifixion. The world must see what it looks like to be obedient to its Creator and Lord. It must see the true strength of humility and love, forsaking the self to look to the well-being of the other. By living lives of other-focused humility and love, the church completes its task of declaring that God has retaken his throne as king.

And when that task is complete, the world will be transformed into a world that not even the Garden of Eden could compare to. It will be the world that God had envisioned Adam and Eve to create. We won’t go back to the Garden because we will go forward to the heavenly city come down to earth with Jesus seated on the throne ruling as a slave to his God and to his people. And it is this slavery that we model our lives after, giving up all rights to any claims we might have in the knowledge that such abandonment will be vindicated with the greatest reward God will give. So let us figure out how to create a society whereby the virtues are not ambition at the cost of the other, but rather humility and love for the other at the cost of the self. Every level of that society will love the other above the self. That will be when we make heaven a place on earth, if I may borrow from a certain song.

1 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, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Paul gives his command or admonition within the framework of a “if…then” conditional statement. It’s like when as a kid I wanted to go play video games with my high school friends, Jay Wolf and Christopher Bunch, and seeking permission from my parents. They would say, “If you will clean your room, do the dishes, and finish the laundry,then you can go play video games at your friend’s house.” My parents would give me conditions to fulfill and upon filling those conditions I could go and have fun. Parents are the masters of “if…then” statements.

Philippians 2:1 gives the conditions: encouragement from union with Christ, comfort from his love, common sharing in the Spirit, tenderness, compassion. In other words, Paul is saying if the Philippians are these things then they can obey the command. Are they united with Jesus? This union means to be joined with Jesus in such a way that one’s own identity becomes Jesus. He represents us before God and we represent him before the world. His name is our own. That which God has given him–vindication and resurrection and blessing etc.–we share with him. Read passages like Romans 6:1-11 or Ephesians 2:1-10 or Galatians 2:16-21. Paul wants to know if there is encouragement from this union.

Do the Philippians possess Jesus’ love expressed most fully in his incarnation and death and resurrection? It’s the love that means Jesus doesn’t cling to his divinity but is found as a slave in human likeness and becomes obedient to the point of death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8). It’s the love that enables his people to overcome all things (Romans 8:38-39). Do they possess this love from Christ?

Do they share together the Holy Spirit? Does the Spirit inhabit and indwell the Philippian Christians?

If these conditions are true of them, then Paul has one request: complete his joy. What’s his joy? From Philippians 1, correct me if I’m wrong here, it is his declaring that Jesus is Lord to the world in partnership with the Philippian church. He rejoices in seeing God complete his good work in them. He rejoices in those who share the gospel, whatever their intentions and desires. Christ, himself, is his greatest joy. He asks the Philippians to complete that joy, complete the sharing of the gospel message that Jesus, through his life and death and resurrection, has been declared and made Lord of the world. Complete the work of the kingdom.

To complete his joy, the Philippians are to be unified in their love for others and valuing them above themselves (Philippians 2:2b-4). The unity they are to exemplify is one that takes their differences and bring them together in a glorious harmony. This unity brings order to their chaos. It allows each person to come to the community as an equal and participate. They are all united to the one Christ, experience his one love, fellowship in the one Spirit. They are one, therefore be one. Have the same purpose and love. Accomplish the task of proclaiming Jesus is lord. Show the world which is in chaos that Jesus brings shalom, peace and order. Be like a song, which takes various instruments and singers and brings them into one. Be like a body which has many parts that do different tasks but is still one (1 Corinthians 12-14).

To do this he changes their virtues that they are to esteem and value. No longer are they to seek their own glory and ambitions but they are to act in humility. They must lower the value they place on themselves. Paul turns their focus outwards, away from the self of the individual and the community, to the world around the Philippians. If they were sitting in pews at a church, Paul would want each individual hearing the letter read aloud to seek to fill the needs of the persons to the left and right. Then this community of individuals who value and esteem others more than themselves would seek the interests and needs of the communities around theirs. And these communities would then seek to fill the interests and needs of the society around them and the world.

It was Jesus who said he came not to be served but to serve and give his life. Paul points out the humility of Jesus in Philippians 2:6-8 as he empties himself to take on the form of a servant in human form and became obedient the point of crucifixion. That is our model. This is the virtue that the King has established for his kingdom. If we belong to his kingdom, then that is our virtue. We humble ourselves and look to the other. We are to show the world what the future kingdom looks like by living it out right here and now. It starts at home with family and moves in the local and state and national and global scenes.

It’s time for preachers of the gospel to stop looking only at how to help individuals to be more humble in their own immediate spheres. It’s time to start thinking in a kingdom way, a kingdom that spans the globe as Revelation envisions. How do we get these individuals to be humble? How then do we get these humble individuals to come together as a community and a kingdom and show the world the way God created it to be? That has to be the question.

And it is that question that I just cannot think in terms of. How does one get an entire community to look totally away from self? What does that look like at a systemic level? I don’t know. It’s so different from the Western World that I live in which is based upon the “American Dream” that creates poverty and injustice, and then feeds off of it. My ways of thinking are so ingrained in this mindset that I cannot help but think, “Do what’s best for me and mine.” That’s not humility. That’s selfish ambition and vain conceit, even if I’m doing it with the best intentions.

I look at the nation I look in. It worships the economy and that idolatry is coming back to visit us. The Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movement has sprang up to say that there is something wrong with the system that this nation lives in, the system that worships the economy. Neither movement has the answer, but Jesus’ kingdom does. But the church needs to get the model down so that we can go to the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movements and say, “Here is the answer to the problem you’ve correctly identified. It’s the Kingdom of Jesus!” But how do we model it on a large-scale, systemic fashion. How can we move this country, not just the individuals living here, to this virtue of humility and love?

Oh God, help me become more humble like my King Jesus and love others and value them more than myself. What can I do to be more Christ like? How can I move this people, this nation, this human race to be the people you created them to be? Oh please show us how to be model Jesus to a world that is crying out for him to come and be their king! It’s in his name that I plead. Amen.

For Paul, being worthy isn’t about wielding a hammer–although I would love to have Mjolnir as my hammer–it’s about something else entirely. Something more powerful than a hammer that was forged in the heart of a star with an indestructible metal called “uru.” For Paul it’s to wield a message. It’s to stand in a spirit. It’s to strive for a faith. He puts it like this in Philippians 1:27-30 (NIV),

27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel 28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

Paul pleads for the Philippians to “conduct [themselves] in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” He is pleading with them to conduct their lives (Gk: πολιτεύομαι; “I live”) in a way that is worthy of the message that they carry. Much like Thor was to conduct himself worthy of the position he held as firstborn to Odin and heir to Odin’s throne–signified in the carrying the hammer, so to are Christians to live in a way that is worthy of carrying the message that Jesus is Lord and not Caesar. This means we must live all of life in a way worthy. The way in which we interact with fellow Christians, non-Christians, the way we work at our jobs, the way we manage our monies, the way we vote and interact politically with the governing authorities. Every area needs to be lived in a manner worthy of the message that Jesus is Lord. Not only must we care for the unborn, but for the born who are impoverished and oppressed. Those who have no food both here in America and abroad. We must live worthy in how we view immigrants and the environment. We must live worthy in how we conduct business with other people.

If the Philippian Christians are living a worthy manner, then Paul will know two things: they are standing firm in the one Spirit (Greek can also read: standing firm in one spirit [ἑνὶ πνεύματι; heni pneumati]); they are striving together as one for the faith of gospel. I see this as meaning that Christians are walking worthy of the Gospel of Jesus when they are unified in their stand for Jesus as Lord. Together, in the Spirit, they are showing the world what it means for Jesus to be King of the world and not Caesar, not the US Constitution, or any other government. That’s what it means to be worthy. Living the future world now, in the present. It starts with love and moves to unity. This unity is not one in mind like a hive mind. But rather a oneness that comes from the one Spirit and from the one faith. We live together in this oneness that brings together our diversities in a beautiful tapestry.

And this living in a worthy manner speaks a powerful message. When the world sees the kingdom people living out the kingdom they see their doom. Caesar sees that Jesus has defeated him. The world will come back. But they know it’s a futile attack. They know they will be destroyed (Gk: ἔνδειξις ἀπωλείας; lit: declaration of destruction) and that we are safe. Caesar is doomed, we are safe. Jesus’ kingdom will last, not the empire of the world. And in the process, people will see the unity of our diversity, see our safety, and will jump ship from Caesar’s empire to God’s kingdom.

Thus Paul says to live worthily without fear. Be bold in telling the world that Jesus is Lord. The sign of our unity will not speak the message it is intended to speak. Fear destroys everything Jesus set out to accomplish. Thus Paul bolsters the Philippians up with his own example (Philippians 1:12-26, 30). And he also gives the Philippians one fact to ponder, it is God’s gift to his people to not only believe on behalf of Christ, but to suffer on his behalf. By suffering without fear, fighting for our unity in the faith of the gospel, the world will receive it’s message.

What Paul isn’t saying to the Philippians is to create a counter-culture that is divorced and disengaged from the world around them. He wants their community to interact with the larger community. To participate in dialogue about all the important issues of their day. To bring the Word of Christ to bear on the larger Roman world. Christians today have bought into the myth that the framers of the constitution worked so hard to establish, namely keep the church and state separate. Well, I take that back. Except for two issues (homosexuality and abortion), Christians keep their Christian worldview out of the public square. And I feel that this has helped to establish some of the anti-intellectual sentiment in Christianity. Give me Jesus to save me from my personal sins and the rest of the world can burn in hell. The entire mission of the church has been refocused into a salvation narrative, salvation for personal sins, instead of a kingdom narrative that brings the ideals of Jesus to bear on the world. Paul wants Christians to interact and to challenge the world with the truth that God has reclaimed his throne through Messiah Jesus. Let us get back to fulfilling that biblical command to live life, all of it, worthy of the good news that Jesus is King of the world, not Caesar.

12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.
15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me. (Philippians 1:12-26 NIV)

The question here in this text seems to be the impetus for the advance of the gospel, that the crucified Jesus of Nazareth is the risen Messiah and Lord of the world. Why share this declaration of good news? Paul has been arrested and his arrest has been the cause for the advancement of Jesus’ Messiahship and Lordship. Men and women have come out of the woodwork to boldly proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom of God and its King. But there are two motivations that divide this group into two camps.

There are those who do so out of love and goodwill, both to Paul and to those around him. They are part of Paul’s partnership whereby men and women defend and proclaim Jesus as Lord, and not Caesar. Through love they boldly proclaim Christ. The second group is another story. They see Paul in prison and the seek to do him harm. They begin to spread the news that Jesus is Lord in order to bring harm and shame to Paul. Their motives are false and insincere. But for Paul, it does not matter. Both are proclaim the good news that Jesus has been declared by God to be the Lord of the world through his resurrection. And Paul rejoices in this, contrary to the intentions of the latter group.

And it’s this joy that Paul has in seeing Christ proclaimed that has John Piper writing books like Desiring God and God is the Gospel. What is Piper seeing? Paul rejoices because of his confidence through the prayer of the church in Philippi and God’s gift of the Spirit of Jesus that he will not be put to shame. Jesus will deliver him (σωτηρίαν, soterian). So Paul has courage to exalt Christ in his own body through life or death. Because for Paul, to live is to represent Christ here on earth and build up Christ’s people–the Philippian church for example–and to die is to go to a state of existence in the very presence of Christ. And that plane of existence is far better than any life here on earth. For Piper, that’s the joy! Paul’s greatest treasure is Christ and we must seek to satisfy ourselves in God through Jesus the Messiah by the Holy Spirit.

But Paul is split between this “greater joy” of being with Christ and living on earth as Christ’s ambassador and the fruitful labor that comes with that. The need and the joy are in tension with each other here. For Piper they are not. Joy in Christ produces the fruitful labor. But I don’t see Paul grounding one in the other in this passage. Rather, I see Paul putting aside the “greater joy” for the “joy” that comes in the needed fruitful labor for the name of Christ among the kingdom-people. I see in Paul a love, mirroring that of his Lord, that looks totally away from the self and towards the Other to provide joy for them.

I might be making too much of this and could be splitting hairs. But I feel like Piper’s form of Christian Hedonism doesn’t understand “love” the way Jesus does and models, nor the way Paul does and models. Paul says in Philippians 3:17 that the Philippians are to follow his model. I think we would be wise and do the same. Our joy is in the fruitful labor that we sacrifice for here and now as Christ’s ambassadors. Is it a greater joy to be in the presence of Christ? Not arguing. But Paul set that joy aside to continue to minister to those who needed him. As Captain Spock from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn said, “The needs of many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.” While Utilitarian, there is room for this ethic in a truly Christian view of love–the source for our ethics.

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

The first thing I noticed as I read this passage was that the church is a partnership. Paul says he and the Philippian church are a “partnership in the gospel” (1:5). He says that the Philippians “share in God’s grace with me” (1:7). This imperial colony, established by Jesus, is nothing less than Christians partnering together in the gospel, declaring Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:11), defending (ἀπολογία, apologia, apologetics) his Lordship and confirming it. It is Christians partnering together, willing to suffer imprisonment with Paul to defend and confirm Jesus as Lord. There are no lone-ranger Christians out there doing it on his or her own. It is the church together who is most capable of this task. It takes men and women working together exercising their gifts, given by the Spirit, to carry the church forward. It’s the same mission that Roman colonies had, they defended and confirmed Caesar’s claim on the land. And we do the same, not for Caesar, but for the Messiah who is the true Lord of the world.

The second thing I noted in reading this passage was that the church’s mission was eschatologically focused. In 1:6 Paul speaks of God completing the work he began in the Philippians “until the day of Christ Jesus.” Again in 1:10 he talks about being pure and blameless “for the day of Christ.” Our eschatology drives us as Christians and the church. It is the kingdom that God will establish in the future breaking into the present through the resurrection of Jesus and now the people of his kingdom. On the day of Christ God’s reign over the earth will be consummated. What Jesus began God will complete. The church is here to bear witness to God having reclaimed his throne over the earth, and all that is in it. Hence we defend his reign and confirm his reign. We are the sign-post to the world of the future reality here in the present as we await God to complete his redemptive work.

Thirdly, the church is divinely energized and empowered. As Paul says in 1:6, “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Again Paul says in 1:11, [We have been] filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” God is working through his kingdom-people to bring about the work of the kingdom. He began the work in Jesus and carries it forward through his people. And in each Christian, God works to bring about the work of the kingdom in a way that is unique to each person. Thus he paints a beautiful picture of the coming world that is fully redeemed and under God’s wise sovereignty. Thus we work to show the reign of God through Jesus in our own lives as individuals, but also as the collective colony established by the Messiah to declare to the world that he is Lord. Through us God shows what the world will look like under his wise reign–a world without sin in all of its manifestations. This has implications both politically and socially and economically as well as on the personal level of behavior and person-to-person interaction.

Fourthly, to be the kingdom people who declare to the world that God is now King and Jesus is Lord, and the world should look like with God as King, it requires us to be active in love. Paul prays for us to love (1:9). But that love needs to be “abound[ing] more and more in knowledge and depth of insight [αἴσθησις, judgment].” Our love must be an informed love that is able to discern and judge. And because it is full of knowledge and and correct judgments, love is able to examine and discern what is best (διαφέρω, be of more value), making us pure and blameless when Christ comes to consummate his kingdom work (1:10). The kingdom people declare God’s wise rule through loving this world in a wise and discerning way. The kingdom is shown to the world by the people of God loving the evil world it inhabits. The work that God has begun and will complete in the believer is the work of love.

Which brings to this conclusion, love grounds all things for the Christian and God’s church. It grounds our knowing. It grounds our relationships. It grounds our deeds. But the question that I am left wrestling with is how to articulate such a worldview. Love must be abounding in knowledge. What implications does this have on a person’s epistemology, a person’s way of knowing the world around them? How does one “know” through love? It moves beyond modernity and even post-modernity. But exactly how it does so I cannot figure out. It impacts our political decisions. We vote for which law and which candidates through the lens of love, as it is love which declares the wise sovereignty of God. Which laws and lawmakers run on a platform that will show God’s love for the world to the world? I’m not talking about some law that will create a “Christian nation” but laws to establish the world that reflects God’s reign over the earth. It’s tricky and it requires Christians to be informed and wise to approve what is best, as Paul says. But we seek to know through love how to vote, how to spend one’s wages and earnings and income.

It’s a concept that I have only began to think through and it’s one that I think the church needs to begin to reflect on and develop. We need to understand that our mission can only be accomplished through love. And to do that, to love in such a way that we discern what’s best and therefore be pure and blameless, we must rethink our entire worldview through the lens of love–shown must vividly and completely through the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. God’s love declares boldly God is King and Jesus is Lord. Let us learn how to reorganize our entire existence through the framework and worldview of God’s love.

So I want to start out with some background on the city. The city was established by Philip II of Macedon to take possession of neighboring gold mines as well as establish a garrison on the strategic route between Amphipolis and Neapolis. The city remained autonomous until Philip V of the Antigonid Dynasty brought it fully into the Macedonian kingdom. The Romans defeated the Antigonids in 167 BCE and moved the political power to another city. The city disappears from the record until 42 BC when Marc Antony and Octavian pursued Julius Caesar’s murderers to a plain west of the city and defeated them. Soldiers from one of Octavian’s legions were settled here to colonize Philippi. In 30 CE Octavian became emperor of Rome and settled more soldiers there, possibly members of the elite Praetorian Guard. The idea of the settling soldiers there was to remind the people of the area that Rome owned the land. The presence of the colony was to wave the flag of Rome over the surrounding territory.

And it’s this narrative of Roman colonization that intrigues me as I read Paul’s letter. It’s my conviction that this is a primary narrative through which one is to understand the church and her mission. The church is to wave the banner of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, is the Lord of the world. Just like the presence of Roman soldiers in the colony of Philippi was to remind the region under its authority that Rome was here and ruled over them. It reminded the people that Caesar is lord. I see the church as the same, the church is here to remind the world that Jesus is Lord, not Caesar in his various incarnations today, and he rules over them.

This narrative makes the most sense of the letter to me and I’ll hit on them as I go through the letter. In short, Paul says in Philippians 1 we are to advance the gospel–the message that the risen Jesus is Lord–even chains. Modeling Christ to the world, shining his light (Philippians 2), shows the world how their Lord expect them live. Our citizenship belongs to Messiah’s kingdom, not Caesars (Philippians 3). But I’ll get more into it when I get the specific texts.

It is my sincere prayer that those who read this will be blessed as they journey with me through this letter and learn how to live as proper citizens in Christ’s kingdom.

I have written before about the death of Captain America in Fear Itself #3. You can read my objections with the issue and the book as a whole. Recently I undertook a Saturday to “fix” the death of my favorite character, Bucky Barnes. I view this more like the “Phantom Edits” where an editor re-edited the first two prequel movies of Star Wars to offer a better telling of the films. The following is such an attempt for the death of Bucky within the Fear Itself event–an event that I personally feel is a bigger disaster than Secret Invasion.

Disclaimer: All characters and events in Fear Itself are copyrighted by Marvel. This merely represents an attempt at fan fiction to offer the story I would have like to have seen published to set up the big death in the event.

Thus without further delay, Fear Itself: Captain America #1

[Update: It was brought to my attention that the above paragraph was a bit too harsh and I can see where someone might think that given that I said I thought the event was a "disaster." It was not my intention to disrespect Matt Fraction or the others. I was hoping that by offering a script that I'm not someone who just says something sucks and never offers up something positive to show what could make it better. I have enjoyed Matt Fraction's work on Iron Man. It wasn't my intent to be disrespectful but merely to criticize and to offer up something that I would consider improvement upon what I believe to be a "disaster."]

I grew up during a unique time for sports in the United States. I was born to see the peak of Joe Montana and Lawrence Taylor in the NFL. Baseball was only a decade from a strike that it has yet to truly recover from almost two decades later. Michael Jordan was about to enter into the NBA and unleash a dominance upon a sport that only Tiger Woods has ever truly competed with (and I think Jerry Rice is the most dominant football player ever when you consider what he did at his position).

In school I always tried my hand at basketball. There was just something about playing the sport that was always more fun in my mind than the other sports. It might have had something to do with getting hit by a pitch and being too little to want to play football.

But growing up there was always one player that I loved. He was the only one who ever competed with Michael Jordan for my youthful affections for athletes. That man is the late Derrick Thomas, #58 of the Kansas City Chiefs. He was like the reincarnation of Lawrence Taylor for the 1990s. The prototypical 3-4 outside linebacker (OLB) that could cover a tightend or halfback in pass coverage or maintain outside containment of a running play if needed, but his main ability was to blitz the quarterback. And ever since I came to know of that player, I’ve loved defense. And just so you know, MJ was every bit the defender he was as a scorer.

For me defense is the name of the game. And as I’ve matured in life, I have loved the teams that put a premium on defense. Baseball teams that get the dominant pitching rotations and bullpens and fielders with cannons for arms and gloves that react to the ball instantly. I love basketball teams that get guys that stay in their stances, move their feet, deny passing lanes, steal the ball, and block the shots. I love football teams tat can clog running lanes, get after the quarterback, and deny receivers the ball.

Last night, or this morning if you want to look at it, I read an article in Sports Illustrated by Peter King about how the NFL is moving away from their two main base defenses and into special packages. A base defesne is the defensive front seven (combination of linemen and linebackers) that one would line up in on 1st down. There are two. The 4-3 has four linemen and three linebackers. The 3-4 has three linemen and 4 linebackers.

There was a word in that article in an interview with New Orleans head coach, Sean Peyton, about the name of the game on defense. Confusion. The name of the game for defenses is confusion. YOu can read the account of the unique blitz by the New York Jets against Peyton’s Saints about how this game of confusion is played.

But it reminded me that this is really what football is all about. Which team can create the most confusion for the other team. Misdirection and fake snap counts. Lining up multiple defenders to one side of the line of scrimmage but not all attack the line. Who does the offense block? Who does the quarterback assign to help block?

And then it brought me back to Derrick Thomas, the prototypical 3-4 OLB. His defensive coordinators (the coach in charge of the defensive side of football) would move him all over the line, like DeMarcus Ware in the article, to confuse the offense about where he’s coming, if he’s coming at all. And like Ware, he had free reign to attack or not.

In the article, King was talking to teams that ran the 3-4 defense as their base. This base defense means you have lots of the athletic linebackers and less big linemen, where as in the 4-3 you have more linemen. My favorite teams in the league are teams that run this 3-4, from KC to Green Bay to Pittsburgh to New England. Having these large amounts of linebackers allows for the immense flexibility that King talked about. The linebackers are strong enough to engage offensive linemen while fast enough to cover receivers. The 4-3 teams show less flexibility, and create less confusion.

These 3-4 teams have won the majority of the championships this last decade and were only in decline during the 1990s. They dominate opposing teams and quarterbacks because they cannot be predicted. They don’t require the best superstars, but guys who are smart and disciplined.

Last night at work, it dawned on me. If I could be a coach in any pro sport, it would have to be a defensive coordinator coaching a 3-4 defense. I would want to be the next Dick LeBeau of the Steelers or Romeo Crennel of the KC Chiefs. Dom Capers of the Green Bay Packers. It’s coaches like these men that make football the best sport in America to watch.