Advent Devotional - December 14

December 14

Philippians 2:1-3

“…make my joy complete by being like-minded.”

Philippians 2:2a

Recently, I reviewed the goals of one of our mission partners, the Baptist World Alliance. The BWA has four stated goals, the first of which is, “to unite Baptists worldwide.” Now, I have long been a supporter of the BWA, but find their first goal a bit perplexing. You see, Baptists are by definition and practice a fiercely independent people. Soul freedom and autonomy of the local church are cherished tenets of the Baptist tradition. The old joke is that if you have three Baptists discussing a single issue, there may be five different opinions represented. Baptist history is replete with disagreements born from the varied perspectives of different members within the local congregation as well as different bodies within the denomination. Given that history and belief, unity seems just beyond our reach.

And yet, Paul calls the Christians in Philippi to unity. Of course, these folks weren’t Baptists, which some would argue was in their favor. But Paul isn’t calling them to lock-step conformity. Being “like minded” wasn’t surrendering their minds, hearts, and intellects to be captive to another human being or institution. He was calling them to focus on Christ and therefore, as the CEV translates verse 2, “Live in harmony by showing love for each other.” This isn’t humility built on forfeit of God-given thought and ability…this is humbly loving and serving others as Jesus did.

A bit later in this chapter, Paul writes of Christ’s humility, saying, “he gave up his place with God and made himself nothing. He was born as a man and became like a servant. And when he was living as a man, he humbled himself and was fully obedient to God, even when that caused his death—death on a cross.”

He was born as a man and became like a servant. My friends, the coming of Christ is a call to unity, not so you agree with me, but that together, we reflect the love and grace of God.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for calling us to be like-minded in Christ. May we focus our attention and live our lives on the example of the servant of all, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jim Abernathy