MAC KIRK

  Philippians 2.  The Mind of Christ   Although the Philippian Church was commended for their financial giving and support to Paul,  4:10, 14 , there were problems with disunity.  Interesting and encouraging as we think we are alone in these things.  We are not. We see it in our reading today 2:2-4, and the Apostle appeals to them to see the mind of Christ working through them to work around their divisions and quarrels.     After mediating on this reading , it seems the bottom line question is " How do we get the mind of Christ ( v. 5)"?  Some have called it, " The Journey to Humility".     It is a " voluntary submission to humility" as one commentator called it.  1.  It is in the imperative, verb command form " Let this mind be in you" ( " which also was in Christ Jesus") This word is described here in Bible hub, phrḗn, "the midriff or diaphragm; the parts around the heart," J. Thayer) – properly, regulate (moderate) fro...

  Worthily   Philippians 1:27 Some of my favorite vs are in the Philippians letter.  1:6, "  being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" 1:21 " For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Ch 2 talks about unity through humility and being like Christ, doing things with the mind of Christ.Ch 3 is great too about our citizenship being in heaven and awaiting the Savior from heaven, Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly bodies at the Resurrection Ch 4 may be the best with not being anxious and to cast all our care upon Him and not being anxious.  But in vs 27 of ch 1 we are exhorted to " walk worthily of the gospel of Christ"    As a noun, axiom refers to a statement that is accepted as true and serves as the basis for argument or inference. It can also mean an established rule, principle, or self-evident truth.  Walk worthily of the Gospel of Christ, v. 27...

  Matthew 18:21-35  John D. Rockefeller built the great Standard Oil empire. Not surprisingly, Rockefeller was a man who demanded high performance from his executives. One day, one of those executives made a two million dollar mistake. Word of the man's enormous error quickly spread throughout the executive offices, and the other men began to make themselves scarce, not wanting to cross his path. One man didn't have any choice, however, since he had an appointment with the boss. So he straightened his shoulders and walked into Rockefeller's office. As he approached Rockefeller's desk, he looked up from the piece of paper on which he was writing. "I guess you've heard about the two million dollar mistake our friend made," he said abruptly. "Yes," the executive said, expecting Rockefeller to explode. "Well, I've been sitting here listing all of our friend's good qualities, and I've discovered that in the past he has made us many mo...

  The Cross and Communion Meditation:  Matthew 16:21-28      Sun and the rain.  Both are needed .  Without either , there is no growth.  But with the sun, the ground yields fruit.  Storms produce fruit as well, and the water is necessary for growth.  This is so true in the Christian life.  Today's Gospel lesson reminds us of the need for difficulties and trials.  Many of us are like Peter,  “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.”        I have a little backyard that one day for some reason I put a chair out there from the front porch set.  And I left it there.  Perhaps I was too lazy to move it back to the front porch, but for some reason it is a nice place to just sit and look.  We are so busy we forget to hear, listen and look at what is going on in our lives.  Silence can be golden in terms of growth.  There are no commercials out there in the back chair....