Reflections on Philippians 2:1-11<\/em><\/p>\nYou all know the story of Christmas Eve. You know the cast of characters. We\u2019ve got the shepherds, the angels, the wise men, the animals. I invite you to look closely at the young family at the center. There is the young mother, her face serene but exhausted. There is the young father, his face fierce with resolve to protect his vulnerable young family. Then there is the baby. Soft skin. Curled fists. If he\u2019s crying, it\u2019s not because he knows what\u2019s coming. He is a baby, a beautiful baby.<\/p>\n
In invite you to walk around behind the manger, come backstage. That\u2019s what Paul in this passage from Philippians does for the Church at Philippi where some people thought they were better than other people. In quoting what was probably part of a hymn, he says, \u201cYou need to model yourselves after the motivation and character of God, the mind of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.<\/p>\n
Let the same mind be in your that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God,<\/p>\n
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself,<\/p>\n
taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.<\/p>\n
And being found in human form, he humbled himself<\/p>\n
and became obedient to the point of death \u2013 even death on a cross.<\/p>\n
Therefore God also highly exalted him<\/p>\n
and gave him the name that is above every name,<\/p>\n
so that at the name of Jesus<\/p>\n
every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.<\/p>\n
and every tongue should confess<\/p>\n
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.\u201d (NRSV Philippians 2:4-11)<\/p>\n
I\u2019m entitling my message this morning \u201cLevel with me.\u201d \u201cLevel with me\u201d can mean a couple of things. It can mean \u201cTell me the truth.\u201d We use it in some mundane situations. \u201cLevel with me. Do these pants make me look fat?\u201d We use it in some more serious situations. \u201cLevel with me. Are you drinking again? Level with me. Am I going to get laid off this time around? Level with me. Do you still love me or not?<\/p>\n
We say this phrase when we need to know the truth about our future, but we\u2019re afraid to hear the answer. \u201cLevel with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
My Uncle Jim would have been 80 this year. He passed away last December. Maybe that\u2019s why my mind turns to him this month. He went into the Army right out of high school and trained to be a meteorologist. After he retired from the Army, he opened a map store in Phoenix for a while. Then when he was about 65 he decided to be a Methodist local pastor. He had a lot of health problems. Diabetes. Heart problems. Empheysema. \u00a0The last couple of years when he was serving a little Methodist Church in Petrolia, TX, he had to wheel his oxygen tank with him up front to preach the morning message. When he couldn\u2019t do that anymore, he started writing weekly online inspirational messages called \u201cJim\u2019s Reflections.\u201d<\/p>\n
One night last fall, when I got home from school, the phone was ringing. I picked it up and immediately recognized his gravelly, east TX accent. \u201cAlyce, this is your Uncle Jim. I was to the doctor today, and got some tests back. He said it didn\u2019t look good. You know I\u2019m an old weatherman and we like predictions. \u00a0So I said to him, \u201cLevel with me, doc. How bad is it? Do I have six months?\u201d He said, \u201cMaybe four. So I\u2019m putting the trailer up for sale and Minnie and I are moving back to Pennsylvania to be near our family. We won\u2019t be able to be with you this Thanksgiving. I just wanted you to know.<\/p>\n
You can do a lot in four months. You can sell your trailer. You can move with your spouse back home where you grew up. You can make sure she has a doctor and a church for when you\u2019re gone. You can attend the family reunion your loved ones organize at the home church.<\/p>\n
Jim died four months after his conversation with the doctor, almost to the day. He told the doctor to level with him and he did.<\/p>\n
Level with me means \u201cBe honest with me.\u201d It also means, literally, level <\/em>with me<\/em>. \u00a0On the same plane. One person is not higher than another. I am level with you. You are level with me. That was apparently the problem at Philippi. People feeling they were better than others. Some people think today think they are better than others. They have all kinds of reasons. They\u2019re good looking. They have money, educational credentials, possessions, power to influence others. Those things aren\u2019t necessarily bad. But they don\u2019t make anybody better than anybody else in the eyes of God, in the mind of Christ. They\u2019re level with you. They\u2019re level with me. Some people think they are not as good as others. For all kinds of reasons. They\u2019re not good looking. They don\u2019t have money, educational credentials, possessions, power to influence others. Not having those things doesn\u2019t make them lower than anyone else. Not in the eyes of God. Not in the mind of Christ.<\/p>\nJesus didn\u2019t elevate himself, according to our hymn from Philippians. He came down to our level. And if the Son of God refused to elevate himself, then why would anyone dare to elevate him or herself above others? Jesus came to earth to be level with you and level with me. So why would any of us still keep our eyes cast down, making ourselves lower than our Savior views us.<\/p>\n
Oh, I know there are many reasons, but this little baby\u2019s hand, now soft and dimpled, one day, calloused and strong, reaches down to lift you up.\u00a0 This baby is the leveler. His Mother knows it as she rocks him in her arms. He is the son of the God who \u201chas brought down the powerful from their thrones and exalted those of low degree.\u201d (Luke 1:46 Mary\u2019s Song)<\/p>\n
I invite you to walk closer to the manger. Look at his young mother. Her face is serene but exhausted. Look at his young father, his face firm with a determination to keep his vulnerable young family safe. Look at him, the baby: so tiny, so helpless, level with you, level with me, the Son of God. What a risk he took becoming human, enduring all that you and I have to endure and more!<\/p>\n
Each of us faces difficulties and struggles in our lives. We each have moments when we say to God what Uncle Jim said to his doctor. \u201cLevel with me, God. What does the future hold for me?\u201d The baby in the manger is your answer. Your future, whatever unexpected blessings and misfortunes it may hold, is in the hands of a God who cared enough to become human. This God became level with me and level with you. God walks with us. God stands with us all day and evening when our feet are tired and sometimes our spirits are too. God comforts us and lifts us up when we feel down and when we fall down, not just at Christmas, but in the cold days that stretch out beyond it. God inspires us to smile and lift somebody else up when they feel down, when they fall down.<\/p>\n
When it comes to \u201clevel with me,\u201d gospel music singer Guy Penrod\u2019s lyric runs through my mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came down to my level
\nWhen I couldn\u2019t get up to His
\nWith a strong arm He lifted me up
\nTo show me what livin\u2019 is
\nHe\u2019ll come down to your level if you\u2019ll open up the door
\nHe wants to make your life worth livin\u2019
\nThat\u2019s what he came down for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alyce McKenzie is a regular columnist and blogger at the Patheos Preachers Portal<\/a>. Visit her Expert Site here<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Haven\u2019t you ever wondered \u201cWhat was God thinking? To take such a terrible risk? To become that vulnerable baby? Alyce McKenzie delivers a Christmas message to the Bell Ringers with the Salvation Army in Arlington, TX; a message that is for all of us, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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