Title: The First Missionary / Philippians 2:5-12
In verse 5 of today's text, "Let this mind be in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus." In some newly translated English books, the word “heart” is translated as “attitude,” which means attitude. However, when I read the Bible called simple translation, it can be interpreted as meaning to “think and act like Jesus Christ”, in other words, to live with the same view of life and the universe as Jesus.
I was surprised to hear something I had never heard at a seminary and thought that this was a topic to study, but I think today's text is a well written summary of the image of Jesus as a missionary by Paul.
First, it says that he did not take equality with God. In many places in the Bible, especially in John 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and all things were not created except through Him. The basic truth of Christianity is here. He is God, and He is the Creator. However, if you look at it here, there is a saying that “he did not take equality, but emptied himself”, which means that he emptied himself and sacrificed himself for other things. John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” This means that God became man and dwells among us. John Wesley said, “The most precious word in the world is God with us.”
I have been to China countless times, and every time I go, there is a signboard that says “Imanae” in a Chinese church. This is Emmanuel, who has a challenging meaning for the Chinese Communist Party, saying, “We are people who believe that God is with us.” I could see the article. This is how Jesus emptied himself from heaven and came to earth. Among these words of emptying, the recently translated “He gave up all he had” means that he gave up and sacrificed all the glory he had in order to come here. Paul said that we should think and live like Jesus, and we should live that way. Karl Wald said, “church for others,” Bon Hoeffer said, “The church can only be a true church when it exists for others, other than myself.” Jesus came for us in itself, and that the church is a mission. Without a mind, it is no longer the church. The central idea of mission is to give yourself to something other than yourself, which is what the Lord showed us as the first missionaries in Jesus: giving up.
Second, He took on the form of a servant. A little while ago, in the book “Following the Faith along the Road,” by Jeong Yeon-hee, there is a child whose parents were missionaries. I've seen articles criticizing parents for living apart from the people of that area, as if they were living in an extraterrestrial area. Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve. Currently, there have been more than 3,000 missionaries in Korea for 50 years. However, in order for true missions to be realized, we must come forward with an attitude of true service. I once visited the Yau tribe in northern Thailand, and the dedication of female missionaries from New Zealand and England led the whole village to believe in Jesus. Through the missionary work, I was able to see all the four hundred Yahu tribes serving Jesus.
The primary purpose of life is to glorify God. The way to glorify God is to have many mouths confess that Jesus is Lord. To celebrate and commemorate the coming of Jesus in a true sense is to live a life that resembles Jesus who came to us as a missionary. In other words, we believe that when we think and act like Jesus and obey Jesus' commands in our lives, it will be the most precious Christmas to receive and praise Jesus.