Think about the authorial revolution recent technologies have accomplished. With desktop graphic arts software and satisfactory small-scale printing quality, digital photography and videography, and broadband internet capabilities, we can all become publishers, filmmakers and broadcasters. Production and distribution of all that we author has never been easier. Checking my Blogger stats page, I see that this blog of mine has been viewed in Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Tanzania, as well as in the US. I'm an international author!
It’s easy to see how this authorial power has gone to our heads. Over 500 million people are publicly journaling their lives on Facebook alone. What would that number be if we included, MySpace, Flickr, and YouTube? Along with being an author come feelings of authority. I set my own tone, my own pace; I choose my own topics and air my opinions. As the author, I am in charge.
So, what if you were asked to surrender all of your authorial prerogatives? Not just what you might be publishing or broadcasting, either. What if you were told you could no longer say or do anything of your own initiative? That someone else would now author the story of your life? This idea of fully surrendering authority is what’s behind today’s text regarding Jesus Christ.
For Jesus, equality with God was not something He had to strain after and grasp at; declaring His deity would not be a reach or robbery. Jesus was indeed fully God. From the beginning. Always was. But in the incarnation, Jesus came in human form and the text says, He “made Himself nothing.” A more literal translation – “He emptied Himself.” Then He “took on the very nature of a servant … and became obedient unto death…” In John’s gospel, chapters 5 and 8, Jesus tells us that He can do nothing of His own initiative. God the Father is the author of Jesus’ life story. Jesus had surrendered all His authorial prerogatives and was sticking strictly to the script His Father had penned for Him. Even when the Father wrote, “Go to Gethsemane." "Go to Calvary.”
That’s mind-boggling to ponder, but then what does the text say? “Your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus …” My attitude? My attitude has to be that self-emptying, humble servant, obey-at-all-costs Jesus-attitude? Wow, so now I know why Paul follows that up with “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Yes, lots of trembling with the Jesus-attitude. Lots of fear in the obey-no-matter-what mindset. Thank the Lord only one had to die for the sin of the world, and that One wasn’t you or me.
So, in light of what Christ gave up and endured for our sake, what shall we continue to work out for His sake? How about conduct worthy of the gospel? How about standing firm in unity as we contend for the faith? How about being a church that shares the same mind, love, spirit and purpose? How about setting aside selfish ambition and considering each other better than ourselves? How about doing everything without complaining or arguing? How about holding out the Word of life to a crooked and depraved generation, and so shine like stars in the universe?
If the Scriptures exhort us to maintain an attitude like Jesus’, then there comes with it the promise of achievability. God will not ask us to do something we can’t do. Verse 13 tells us that God is already working in us the will and the ability to do it.
Line by line, God is authoring a divine script of faith, courage and victory. And you are the star.
Shine!
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