“Trading Spaces”

Philippians 2:1-13

April 1^st and 4^th, 2004

St. Paul United Methodist Church

Rev. John Fleming

It is spring, the time of the year when the days are warmer and longer. It is the time when pollen flows through the air and magically lands on your cars. So that if your car used to be silver, it is now yellow. It is the time when lawnmowers roar to life, when weed eaters are plugged in so that the line can tidy things up, and when hedge clippers shape what was too hot last August to sculpt. At the foot of most of the yards in my neighborhood are leaf bags full of leaves and clippings. Sitting beside most of these bags are piles of brush waiting for the city of Little Rock to pick them up. Yes, it is spring, the time to shape things up and clean things out. What is being done outside is also being done inside. When it happens outside, we call it yard work. When it happens inside, we call it spring cleaning.

In the spring of the year, we clean out closets and dresser drawers and put into garbage bags the clothes that we just knew we would be able to fit in by now. We made promises and resolutions that would have allowed us to fit into these clothes. The promises have been broken and so we sack up the clothes in hopes that Goodwill will be able to distribute them. Does all of this sound familiar? If it does, if you have been doing these things the past couple of weeks or so, I wonder if you have noticed that room in your house that needs a little attention. Perhaps it is the spare bedroom whose door is closed most of the time because of the piles of things inside of it. Perhaps it is the bedroom that you have converted to an office. All that you have done is to supply the room with a desk, a filing cabinet, and your computer. It is drab and needs a little something.

If that is the case, then I have some good news for you. If you can talk your neighbors into it, and if you are fortunate enough to be chosen, then The Discovery Channel has a show for you. The show’s name is Trading Spaces and here is the premise. They want two neighbors and two rooms in two different houses. They will supply a crew, complete with a carpenter and two designers. They will give you forty-eight hours and a thousand dollars to spend on each room. The catch is that you do not work on your own house. You work on the room in your neighbor’s house. They, in turn, work in the room in your house. I think the thing that is keeping me from signing up for the experience is that you have to do most of the work! I am not handy even when someone is showing me how to do a project. You have some say so in how your room will be designed. You are able to put up some limitations, saying that under no circumstances will certain things be done. But as far as I can tell, the designers do not pay attention to your restrictions. Near the end of the show, there is an unveiling of the rooms. Each couple returns to their house. They are led into their house by the host of the show. Their eyes are closed, and when they are in the room, they are invited to open their eyes. Usually they are amazed and love the transformation that has happened in their house. Susie loves watching the show. She hardly ever misses it and so I often see it. Susie tells me that she is getting decorating tips. I am fearful that the Trading Spaces van is going to pull up in front of the parsonage one Saturday morning and that the Flemings and the Bischoffs will have to decorate a room in each other’s house. Now they do not show the episodes often, but I like watching the ones where the couple is less than pleased with their new room. I remember the episode where the youth minister of the church came home to his church owned house. On the walls of his kitchen, wall papered there, were wine labels. The neighbors had protested, but it did not seem to matter to the designer. I also remember the episode where a woman, upon seeing her new room, cried and then said, “Someone is going to fix this today!” For some reason, and Susie tells me that it is a sick one, I like watching those episodes.

Our scripture lesson for this morning, taken from the second chapter of Paul’s letter to the Philippian Christians, has a different kind of Trading Spaces in mind. In what may be some of the greatest words in this letter, Paul writes that Jesus “...was in the form of God and yet he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but he emptied himself, taking on the form of a slave...” I have read all that there is to read about these words of Paul’s in the commentaries that I own. All of the writers agree that what Paul has included in the fifth through the eleventh verses is an early Christian hymn. This is not the first time that Paul has done this sort of thing. In what may be his most famous words in all of his letters, the ones that make up what we have come to call the love chapter, Paul included the words of a love poem. Most likely Paul had those words in front of him and thought that they would be perfect for his correspondence with the Corinthians, and so he included them in what we have come to call First Corinthians. So doing this, including poems and hymns in his letters, has happened more than once. Paul cleverly crafts the words of this hymn into his words to the Philippians. He writes that Jesus was in the form of God, up there in heaven, but that he emptied himself, came down from heaven, traded spaces, and took on the form of a slave.

One of the best examples of his slave like status is what we will commemorate on Thursday night in our sanctuary. Thursday is the night when we remember the last supper. We will celebrate that by breaking bread and drinking grape juice. Thursday night is also when we are supposed to remember that Jesus got up from the table, wrapped a towel around his waist, went up to his disciples, and began to wash each of their feet. We are supposed to do that on Thursday night, too. But I have learned that people really don’t like that and so we won’t do it! I want you all to come to our special services, and so I am not scheduling foot washing. But can’t you just imagine this scene. Can’t you picture the disciples wondering what in the world Jesus was doing. They protested. They tried to stop him because Jesus was not doing the kind of thing that he was supposed to do. Saviors are not supposed to wash their followers’ feet. Just like chief executive officers are not supposed to kneel down to shine shoes. The disciples did not understand what Jesus was doing on that night. Later they would. He was trading spaces and exchanging his crown for a towel and wash basin.

Like I said, the disciples did not understand the scene when it happened. What he was doing was providing an example for them to follow, encouraging them to live a life of servant hood and to follow His example. Which is exactly what the apostle, Paul was getting at in his letter to the Philippians. In these words of his, Paul was probably addressing a couple of different

issues. First, some power plays and some battles for status were probably happening within the Philippian church’s membership. As I have told you before, Paul really loved this church, and so when he heard that there were squabbles, he immediately wrote to them and said, “Be of the same mind. Have the same love. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. Regard others as better than yourselves. Look to the interests of others.” As one pastor helped me to see, you have to be careful if you pluck those words from the scripture without understanding Paul’s intention for them. For the teenager who struggles with self-esteem, hearing the words, “Regard others as better than yourself” could be harmful. For the mother whose day is consumed with taking care of her family and not herself, the words, “Look to the interest of others” might not sound like good news. These words have a context and a reason and we need to remember that he was concerned about things arising in the church. What Paul was getting at is the same thing that he was getting at last week, when we looked at his words in the third chapter. What Paul wanted to do and what he wants us to do is to be like Jesus and to follow his example. Last week Paul told us that he was running to do this. This week he employs the hymn to grab our attention along those same lines, telling us that our mind set must be Jesus’ mind set. And Jesus’ mind was set on loving and serving others. A parade and a coronation was the last thing on his mind. Loving others was first on his mind and passing that along was so important to him. Jesus never questioned his worth. He took on the form of a servant, but he never questioned his worth. I think that we question our worth. The world tells us that we are supposed to be strong, successful, and confident. The world tells us to stand up for ourselves, to look out for number one, and to rise to the top. But often, we do not feel this way. Here is what I think. I think one of the reasons that we come here Sunday after Sunday, besides to thank God for the week, and besides being with one another on the journey, and besides whetting our relationship with God is to be reminded that God loves us unconditionally.

So the first thing that Paul had in mind were the quarrels and the potential for trouble inside the church. But there is something else. There is something much more important to the apostle. He was worried about his leadership. There were those in Philippi who were proclaiming Christ out of envy, strife, and self ambition. Paul was in Rome, in prison. He was worried that that, in and of itself, would cause the Philippians to doubt his leadership. Those who were proclaiming Christ out of envy and strife and self ambition were a threat to him. So Paul raises the issue of obedience. He raises it first for himself, but also for Jesus. For obedience to himself, Paul says, keep following me and the Jesus I preach. Doing this will complete my joy!

Well, what should we do with these words this morning? How can they speak to us? I guess that I want you to go home with just one thing. On this Palm Sunday I just want to remind you of the fact that Jesus turned in his crown for a cross. I wanted to remind you that he calls us to be humble and to remember what he did for us. Because if we forget it, we are as good as goners!

I remembered the story that Fred Craddock, the great preacher and teacher of preachers told about the time that he was in Fannin County, Georgia. The ministers in the community took turns being volunteer chaplains at the local, thirty bed hospital. The week that he was on call, a baby was born. A baby being born there was a rare thing. So Fred went to the nursery window and saw a group of folks standing there. Leaning against the wall, across the hall, was the baby’s father. Usually us preachers can pick a father out of the crowd by the smile on his face. This guy was different. He was tired and stress filled his features. In the nursery, the baby was squirming and screaming. Fred was afraid that this was the reason that there was stress on the father’s face. So he walked over to him and said, “She’s alright, you know. It’s good for babies to scream. It clears out their lungs. It’s all right.” The father said, “Oh, I know she is not sick. She is mad.”

Fred asked, “What makes you say that? Why is she mad?” The father said, “Well, you would be mad, too. One minute you’re with God in heaven and in the next you’re in Georgia!” Fred thought that he had a deep thinker and so he asked, “Do you believe that she was with God before she came here?” He said, “Oh yeah. I definitely believe it!” Fred asked, “Do you think that she will remember?” The father said, “Well, that’s up to her mother and me. It’s up to the church. We’ve got to see that she remembers, cause if she forgets, she’s a goner!” And so we remember today what Jesus has done. Let us pray.

(Special thanks to a preacher friend of mine whose sermon helped me see a thing or two in this Bible lesson. Special thanks to Fred Craddock who shared the story about the baby coming to Georgia. The story can be found in his book Fred Craddock Stories).