The Way We Do Things Around Here

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

  My favorite definition of culture is the way we do things around here. It's how we operate. It's the intuitive sense of the way things get done. Paul in his letter to the Philippians is writing and he can't be with them because he's in prison at Rome. And what he wants to do is he wants to teach them about how to build a culture that is based on grace and peace.

And so he's saying, Hey, this is how we do things around here. And he sketches it out in three ways. He says. The way we do things around here because of who Christ is, the comfort, encouragement, and strength we experience from Christ and Christ's spirit, we then are people who have one love, a spirit of humility and the mind of Christ.

Those are his three things about how to build a culture of grace and peace, and so I wanna pull those apart a little bit and give us some challenges so that we too can build a community of grace and peace in our church, in our families, in our workplaces, in our schools, in our teams, all the places because we all desire more grace and peace in our life. So Paul says, because of the encouragement that you experience in Christ, I want you to operate with one mind, one love in full accord. So when you think about one mind, he's really talking about one attitude, the same attitude. When we operate with the same attitude as others, we have a sense of resonance.

Like right now, it's been raining forever. And so we all have the same attitude that it's rained too much, and we're hoping for sun and some warmth and some blue skies. We have the same attitude. We resonate there. And so what Paul's saying for you to have a healthy community, a healthy culture that has grace and peace, you wanna be of the same mind. You wanna have similar attitudes of one love.

And here's the thing, Christ is the source of love. God's love has been revealed in the person of Christ in his life, death and resurrection. And he wants this community to operate with that kind of love, that kind of love that is radical, radical love that we see in its welcoming and acceptance and grace, and mercy and forgiveness, and it's a love that is the beginning and the end, the source of all life and all things.

And so we know, as Paul says elsewhere, that love is the thing that remains. It's the eternal reality that has been revealed by Christ. And so we wanna operate with this same mindset about love. We wanna be a people of love, of the robust definition of peace and kindness and gentleness, and self-control and truth. And bearing all things. And enduring all things. That's the thing he's talking about.

And to operate with one accord. We see this in teams all the time. My Knicks right now have been struggling in the playoffs because they aren't acting as one accord on defense. They aren't serving and moving on a string.

And so if we want to build a culture of grace and peace, we want to operate with the same attitude of love in full accord. Meaning we want to act in that way. We don't wanna just think about it, but we want to act in that way.

You know, as a pastor, every week you sort of talk about some different version of loving God and loving your neighbor. That's what it is. That's why it's the greatest commandment. And so for us, we have to recognize that we have to be intentional about growing in love. It's something we never fully arrive at. I know I haven't, and I know it's true for all of humanity. And so we need to think about the rhythms and habits in our life to see, okay, is there something there to help us intentionally cultivate this same attitude, one mind about love and acting out of love in one accord.

I think this is the importance of things like prayer, reflecting on, okay, God, what is, what is it that you ask of me in these situations? How do I live this same mind, the same attitude of love in the midst of my workplace and my family and my school?

How do I actually act that way? Memorizing scripture versus like one Corinthians 13, where Paul defines love is peace, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. These things aren't really important.

And then lastly, I think some of our reason for gathering together is 'cause we recognize that the culture of the world is not necessarily aligned with one mind, one love, and one accord towards that end.

There's a lot of other things that pull our attention away. And so participating together on Sunday is all the ways that this works. And so maybe for you, there's a next step in all of that. You're like, you know what? I'm gonna spend a little bit more time praying and asking myself, Hey, what does love ask of me in the midst of this? What does it look like to have one mind and one accord of action around love?

So the second thing Paul does is he talks about the spirit of humility. He said that Christ, even though it was equal to God, did not believe that was something he should take advantage of, but rather he humbled himself even to the point of death on the cross.

And so here what we get is this picture of service and sacrifice. Humility was not a virtue in the ancient world. It is something that we believe to be a virtue now because we've experienced its goodness. So much so that we even try to sneak in some faux humility. We will try to look humble because we know that others might follow us or believe in us.

Of course, if you follow someone who offers up faux humility, when you see the real thing, it's even that much more repellent. And so we want to be a people that focus on having a spirit of humility. As Paul says, think of or seek to serve the interests of others as well as your own. This is the version in the NIV and I think it's really healthy and helpful because just as Jesus teaches us to love our neighbor as ourselves, there's a part of it in which you and I, I think, tend to think about our own interests first.

We may or may not act on them, but those come to us quickly. What we want to do is think about our own interests, but also think about the interests of others because what the scriptures teach us, and I think this is true in our own experience, is that our flourishing is actually tied to the flourishing of others.

And so when we see that others have unique gifts and equality and ability to serve the community, when we choose to serve their interests as well as our own. All of our interests are met, but if we are just individually seeking our own interests, then by its very nature, that equation comes back null in that all people's interests won't be served.

And so that's the secret sauce and spirit of humility as we seek the interests of others as well as our own, the whole community flourishes. And so just ask yourself like, are you operating with a spirit of humility at work? Are you operating in a spirit of humility in your home, in school, whatever, wherever you find yourself, but how might you continue to develop that spirit of humility? How do you cultivate that as the way you operate?

Lastly, Paul says, I want you to have the mind of Christ. And then there's the famous poem that follows in which it talks about how Christ did not see himself as equal to God, but emptied himself and submitted himself to even death on a cross. And that we're supposed to have that same mind, that mindset of service and that mindset of sacrifice.

You know, as we celebrate Memorial Day on Monday. It is a time to remember those who have given their lives. They have offered themselves with service and sacrifice. Equally, what we know to be true is that those who have served and sacrificed on our behalf, whether it's a coach or a teacher, or a mentor or a parent, that they have given us a gift, they've shared their life with us in a way that makes a difference.

And what it says is that that's how we are to operate. If we wanna build a culture of grace and peace, we want to operate around here. Was is with a sense of service and sacrifice to our families and to our communities and to our church because just as Christ is tied up in the good of the world, we too are tied up in the good of the world because what we know to be true is that the future is one of restoration and resurrection and love.

And so you and I have to be constantly asking ourselves, how do we cultivate that sense of service and sacrifice?

Culture is the way we do things around here. If you want to build a culture of grace and peace, Paul would say, Hey, I want you to be about three things. I want you to be about one love. I want you to operate with a spirit of humility, and I want you to have the mind of Christ.

I want you to pursue Christ through service and sacrifice, and as you do that. The flourishing of yourself and the community you're a part of will occur and you'll experience grace and peace.

Hey, I hope you're having a great week, and I look forward to seeing you soon as we continue our walkthrough, Philippians next week.

Take care.