"ONE
Love”
Philippians
2:1-11
Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus.
–Philippians 2:5
Discipleship
is a commitment to imitate Jesus. This
week the mission team has tried to imitate Jesus in the way we cared for our
neighbors here in Roanoke Rapids. We
have tried to imitate Jesus in the way we treated one another, prayed for one
another, and encouraged one another. The
church community at home has tried to imitate Jesus in the way we prayed for
our mission team, in the way we continued the important work of ministry in our
home communities, in the way we treated our families and friends and
neighbors. But, now that this week is coming
to an end…what’s next? How do we as a
mission team continue to imitate Jesus when we return home? How do we at home continue to imitate Jesus
as life continues?
Imitating
Jesus, first and foremost, involves imitating Christ’s love. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul puts
it this way: “adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus” (2:5). He goes on to say that Christ humbled himself
out of pure love – being God he humbled himself by taking on human flesh and
giving himself up to death for the sake of others. This is the love that Christ has for us. Self-sacrificial. Self-giving.
Purposeful. Grace-filled. This is the love we are called to imitate.
As
Christians we are united in this one great love of Jesus. This love binds us together in
community. This love works within us so
that we can love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. This love empowers us so that we can love our
neighbors. This love sent us on a
mission to Roanoke Rapids. And as we
return home this love inspires us to surrender every day as an opportunity to
be in mission – to imitate Christ in our schools, in our workplaces, in our
hobbies, and in our relationships so that others might encounter this one love
of Christ Jesus.
Paul
offers a beautiful wish for the church community in Philippi. He tells them: “If
there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the
Spirit, any sympathy, complete my joy by
thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with
each other” (v. 1). Today, Paul’s wish
extends time and place and falls on us today.
As we return home to a mission field right in our very neighborhoods and
schools and workplaces, may we have the same love that was in Christ Jesus – a
love that has the power to transform this weary world into a place of hope and
joy.
Rev. Laura Johnson
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