I still remember an insight from Stanley Hauerwas’s commencement speech at Eastern Mennonite Seminary over a decade ago. He said something to the effect that learning how to be a Christian is not just like learning to speak a new language. It is speaking a new language.
Christianity is its own sort of language. A language includes words and grammar, but on a deeper level, those words and grammar rules only exist to express the deeper concepts and thought patterns of the language. Each language has its own grammar and vocabulary, but it also has its own way of thinking and its own way of conceptualizing the world.
It is in this way that Christianity is a language unto itself. To speak “Christian” is more than just learning a few words. It requires learning how to express a unique way of understanding reality.
Taking our cue from our denominational resources in Leader magazine, we at Toledo Mennonite Church are doing a summer series called “Joy Ride.” Using the book of Philippians, we are exploring the theme of Joy that Paul mentions 16 times in four short chapters. Hopefully, by the end of this summer, we will all learn to speak Christian joy a bit better.
Our text this week is Philippians 1:27-30. Oddly enough, the word joy doesn’t appear in these verses. Yet the thought patterns and concepts of Christian joy are present. Let’s take a look at it.
What if I were to tell you that joy is a political concept?
What if I were to tell you that in order to be filled with Christian joy, you should politicize your faith?
That might sound crazy to you. On one level, it sounds crazy to me. Especially as we are still recovering from a volatile 2020, the last thing that many of us want is more politics. In fact, I have found for my own sanity, I need to limit my engagement with politics because of how it robs me of joy.
But, that concept is in the text, so let’s look at it. Paul says it in Philippians 1:27.
What? You may be asking. Where does he say that?
The King James Bible translates 1:27 as “let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ.”
The NIV translates 1:27 as “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”
The NRSV translates 1:27 as “live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel.”
Conversation. Conduct. Live. All these English words are trying to translate the Greek word politeuomai. Sound out politeuomia slowly a couple of times and you might hear the English word “politicize.”
Of course, if we are going to speak “Christian” on this matter, we must first distinguish between American politics and what Paul means by the word politeuomi.
When Paul applies the concept of politeuomi with the concept of joy, he doesn’t mean that the Democrats or the Republicans are the party of joy. Nor is he referring to any 3rd, 4th, or 5th party either. The same goes for political parties of other countries.
Politeuomi is about citizenship. It means to be a citizen. It can also mean living according to an administrative rule. Paul takes this term that has to do with Greco-Roman public life, and he gives it a new Christian understanding. Paul is not talking about partisanship, and yet he’s pointing the Philippians toward the consequential, flesh-and-blood, visible aspects of the faith. Taken seriously, the church will then represent an alternative collective voice; the church will be an identifiable contrast to the culture and the society in which it resides.
Paul isn’t urging the Philippians to have an inward emotion of joy, though that might come as a result of living authentic, visible faith. Rather, he’s emphasizing that the Philippians should live their entire inner and outer lives as citizens of the Kingdom of God whose allegiance is to the values and priorities of Jesus.
In Gordon Zerbe’s commentary on Philippians in the Believers Church Bible Commentary, he has a helpful explanation of how the full meaning of this word was lost as it was translated from Greek, to Latin, and then into English. I recommend reading it to those who are interested and have access.
Now let’s consider the context in Philippi a little further. Philippi is an important and influential Roman colony (Acts 16:12). Rome saw it as a strategic city for expanding Roman rule and influence into new territories. Retired soldiers were given land and other incentives to settle in and around Philippi. Active-duty soldiers would station in and travel through Philippi. Roman merchants would follow the trade routes to open up new markets. Roman authors and artists would explore it for inspiration.
While it might have been good to be a Roman citizen in Philippi, it wasn’t so good for the native Macedonians or the poor laborers who were moved there to serve the newly arrived Romans. Given what we know of the demographics of the early church, and given that Paul refers to the poverty of the Philippians (2 Corinthians 8:1-6), it is unlikely that many of them, if any, were Roman citizens.
But they still had citizenship. They just had a different citizenship. They had a heavenly citizenship. And this citizenship gave dignity, value, and purpose to their lived experience, no matter their earthly status.
Paul knew that if he could encourage the poor Philippians to conduct their lives around the values and causes that Jesus talked about, then it would lead to their joy. It would lead to joy because it would grant them dignity, value, and purpose that no empire could deny.
The Philippians lived in occupied territory. They lived in enemy territory among those who sought to intimidate them and reeducate them into good upstanding Romans (1:28). They had neither an easy nor a comfortable existence. Nevertheless, Paul says that not only is it a privilege to believe in Christ, but it is also a privilege to suffer for him as well (1:29).
This is an upside-down and paradoxical kind of privilege. This is not the kind of privilege afforded to Roman citizens: privileges of status, advantages, and wealth. It is the privilege of experiencing joy for knowing and doing the will of God.
History is full of examples of ordinary Christians who found deep joy in knowing and doing the will of God. It is no coincidence that Philippians 1:29 was commonly quoted among our Anabaptist forefathers and mothers of 16th century Europe when they wrote letters to one another and gave their testimonies.
However, I wonder to what degree the contemporary church has lost sight of, or even rejected the notion that it is a privilege to believe in and suffer for Christ. To what degree have we become cynical toward the idea that knowing and doing the will of God is a good in-and-of-itself, even despite exterior circumstances? Have we become so conditioned into modern concepts of human progress and national narratives that we have forgotten the source of joy that can rejoice in all things?
Brothers and Sisters, we must learn to speak the Christian concept of Joy. If we like Paul have reason to seek joy in human achievements (cf. Philippians 3:4-11), we should disregard them for the sake of knowing and doing the will of God. If we like the Philippians have been denied the benefits of earthly citizenship, we should seek justice while not forgetting that we are endowed with the higher citizenship status that comes from above.
To speak the Christian language of joy means that we must seek through nothing else than by living our lives in a manner worthy of the gospel. Politicize your life around the gospel. This is not about voting for “godly” candidates. It is about going all-in on the values and priorities of Jesus.
In this, may we find joy.
Amen.
Joel Shenk is the pastor of Toledo Mennonite Church and lives in Toledo with his wife and two daughters. Originally from Scottdale, PA, Joel studied at Hesston College, Eastern Mennonite University, and Fuller Theological Seminary. He has been pastoring since 2010 and is also an amateur blacksmith apart of the RAW Tools disarming network turning guns into garden tools. He likes baseball and is an avid fly angler.
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