Alan Hardy’s Blog

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself … Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped” - Phil 2:3, 5-6

Is it possible for us to simply be selfless and humble? Is this passage saying, “Jesus took on humility, so you do the same … go on, just do it”? This raises the question of how we obtain virtue.

The word virtue comes from the Latin vir meaning “man”. It is used to refer to ideals of human character. Man is made in the image of God, from whom all virtue is derived. Man as a fallen creature is deficient in virtue. Given that our moral improvement (sanctification) is God’s work it doesn’t rub that men can take this process on themselves, that they can take the initiative to overcome their sinfulness. We are encouraged to participate in our sanctification but surely this needs to be understood in the context of God’s gracious work in us.

It is characteristic of our age that we try to get benefits by focusing on effects and not causes. I first understood this through reading First and Second Things by C S Lewis and it has stuck with me ever since. Lewis’ point was that although we want civilization, it can’t be preserved just by looking after it. Civilization is a ‘second thing’. We have to pursue something else, a ‘first thing’, in order for this to take place.

It seems that the same principle is true in our pursuit of virtue and that this is precisely where this passage is leading us. It encourages our moral improvement, to shun selfishness and conceit and to take on humility, but it points us to “the attitude … which was also in Christ Jesus”. What attitude is it referring to? I think it is pointing us to the triumph of His faith, that he was able to deliver Himself totally to the Father. It was this confidence that allowed Him to take on humility, to be a servant, because He knew that the Father would look after Him. The same is true for us.

Christ’s moral excellence is something to observe and imitate, but the realization of it in us should be seen as the result of God’s work, and not an end that can simply be pursued in itself. When we talk about the pursuit of virtue we are talking about the pursuit of holiness, of being like God, and this does not take place apart from the work of God.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” - Eph 3:14-15

This passage reminds us of the existence of God’s family and presents it as a leading thought before Paul declares his amazing prayer, asking that God would lavish love, faith, confidence, fulness, understanding, power, strength and foundation on the Ephesian christians.

It appeals to me that these are the same qualities that should be fostered in a human family. It also makes sense, given that we are made in the image of God, true humanness involves doing such things. We are made to do them because our Father does them, albeit in smaller measure. The human family is to be a place where these same acts of service are performed, as a vessel for God’s work to be poured out.

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death” - 2 Cor 7:10

I’ve thought about this passage a number of times in past years, but when I thought about it today I saw how it pointed back to the fall.

Sorrow had no place in man before sin entered the world. Then the curse brought discomfort and inconvenience to life. The passage describes how sorrow can have two effects - it affects two sets of people in two different ways. To those outside of Christ the curse is a present judgement, denying man of the full life he seeks. It robs him of quality in his relationships. It robs him of his ambitions, his health, his youth. Ultimately it condemns his body to rot as his life is cut short. Sorrow bring death to man in life and utlimately it brings death to him in finality.

Those who are in Christ should understand that the curse is an act of blessing. This is because it brings to us a constant reminder of our limitations and our inability to properly manage the things in our sphere. It points us back to our need for God, and back to life by faith. Perhaps repentance would not be possible without the curse because we would be so puffed up with self-confidence that the need for God would not be given a thought. If this is true then the curse is blessing indeed. The curse brings, to those in Christ, “repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret”.

When Christ entered our world the cross was the end that drove Him. The cross, His suffering and rejection, was the cup He was to drink. It was inevitable.

Christ spoke of the cross that we are to take up. A glance at Luke 14:27 will suffice. The epistles speak in accord with Jesus about suffering and rejection for the believer in a way in which it can not be unbundled from the Christian life without the whole fabric of the faith falling apart.

What is the Christian’s cross? I am reading Walther von Loewenich’s Luther’s Theology of the Cross and this has helped to put this into clearer perspective.

The Christian is called to live by faith, rather than by dependence on our own power to rule ourselves and the things around us. This is at tension with our sinfulness and with the order of this world. This tension against our nature, the world and the devil, combined with the action of God to draw us in the walk of faith through repeated reminders of the limitations of our power, marks out our path of suffering and is our cross. It is the evidence of the battle we are in and God’s workshop for our maturity.

As was the case with Christ, there is no other option in this world for us but to take up our cross.