I’ve been sitting on this for a while, and haven’t posted it because I’m a bit timid. I’m a Christian. There’s nothing that I think more about than Biblical literature, interpretation, and application. But this subject is a bit different than anything else I’ve written about, so expanding into new territory isn’t easy. I figured today, on the National Day on Writing, I would be adventurous.
Four weeks ago I started going to an old school, proper Sunday School at Jefferson Avenue Baptist Church where a friend of mine leads the class. They started a series on the book of Philippians, which is one of my favorite books in the Bible, so I decided I would try it out.
The study started out by looking at Philippians 1:1-26. I was surprised by the idea of Christ’s work in Christians as a process. This is something that had occurred to me, but never quite so explicitly from the Bible. Personally, I had grown weary by the idea that when one “becomes a Christian” everything changes. We are physical beings, with urges and impulses and drives that become so ingrained within us that they become almost impossible to break—almost. But through the work of Christ, over time, change occurs. I think it’s pretty cool, even if it is a little crazy.
The verses that stand out to me, that encourage me in my thinking are Philippians 1:4-6, and 9-11.
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 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.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Later, after confessing his desire for death more than life and pleading with the Philippians to have the same attitude as Christ, he persists in his emphasis on process oriented Christianity in 2:12-13.
Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Now, chapter 3 of Philippians is probably my favorite chapter in the entire Bible, and in this chapter, specifically verse 12, Paul looks toward his goal and realizes he has far to go.
Not that I have already obtained all this*, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
*This refers to verses 8-11.
Paul is a man who, if we believe the Bible, heard and saw a blinding vision of the Lord, and this experience transformed him in an amazing way—he stopped persecuting the Church and Christians, became a Christian himself and was himself persecuted. But still this transformation was not absolute or complete. Paul uses words and phrases to represent a process or journey oriented life in Christ. This often is not what is represented in the modern Church, and often not what is presented by Christians as they live their lives. Often I have encountered a Christianity of immediacy and perfectionism, and experienced nothing but a stifling mood. According to Paul, and his letter to the Philippians, this should not be. Why not approach life in Christ as a journey in coming to know Him more? Why not approach living as a Christian as a process in coming to know Christ more, and allowing that experience to change oneself?
The Sunday School class was really fun for me to attend. It was good to meet some new people, and experience a new a different church experience apart from the one I’ve had for the past nine years. It’s always good to be challenged in my thinking, and I’m grateful that I’ve been exposed to new ways of reading one of my favorite texts.
