Your Harpagmon is Showing

Your Harpagmon is Showing:

The apostle Paul wrote the book/letter/epistle of Philippians from prison.  In a very Greco-Roman culture based on honor & shame this was devastating to many of the churches Paul had started.  The church at Philippi was feeling the effects of Paul’s situation and were at a crossroads: Jump on the contemporary cultural bandwagon (honor is everything – shame the ultimate defeat) – OR – change their most fundamental and basic core motivation, i.e. their ἁρπαγμὸν (har-pag-mon: biblical Greek term for motivation/desire).

So Paul wrote the church at Philippi a letter (Philippians) and told them (not the institution, not the church staff, or Senior Pastor, but the PEOPLE of Christ):

1. He (Paul) gives thanks to God for them (1:3)

2. He (Paul) prays for them (1:4)

3. He’s (Paul is) certain that God will complete the work He began in them (1:5)

Then in 1:7 Paul says “It is right for me to feel, Greek φρονεῖν (fron-eh'-in), this way (i.e. giving thanks, fervent pray, certainty, love) about all of you because I have you in my heart and you are all partners with me in grace both in my imprisonment and in the defense and establishment of the gospel” (1:7).  His friends, the saints in Philippi, were Paul's motivation.

Paul is rallying the troops at Philippi because they’ve been devastated by his imprisonment and are now teetering on implosion.  He does so by telling them that his imprisonment “is for Christ” (1:13) and now the entire Imperial Guard are Christians “and everyone else too!”  Paul’s imprisonment has “resulted in the advancement of the gospel” (1:12)!

Paul’s ἁρπαγμὸν (i.e. har-pag-mon: core belief, motivation, gut, desire, attitude) is conveyed in 1:21-26.  That staying on earth is necessary for “your advancement and joy in faith” (1:23), but to die and be with Christ “is far better” (1:22).

Paul is stuck between the metaphoric Scylla and Charybdis – a rock and a hard place. Paul desires to remain out of necessity for the work of the gospel, but he also deeply desires to be in the presence of our glorious King, Jesus. Because of his love for the church and his desire to serve the Bride of Christ, Paul remains.

As chapter two begins Paul instructs the church at Philippi the way to succeed as the people of God is NOT to “reinvent” themselves, not to pray to angels, not to light a candle or burn incense, not to read a self-help book, not to volunteer your time, not to donate your money, nor to listen to podcast sermons, BUT rather by changing their ἁρπαγμὸν (har-pag-mon).

What does that mean? Paul clarifies: “by having the same mind, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal… consider others as more important than yourselves” (2:2-3).

Then Paul gives us the perfect example – Christ.

“Make your attitude that of Christ Jesus, who, although God, did not consider His equality as God His ἁρπαγμὸν (har-pag-mon: motivation, desire), but instead He deprived Himself by assuming the form of a servant…” (2:5-7a).

Jesus, an eternal member of the Holy Trinity of God, voluntarily became a servant. He willingly allowed Himself to be born in a feeding trough, to wash feet, to endure beatings, scoffing, and the Cross - for US!

Since God Himself did that for US - that's why salvation is found only in Him. Why would Jesus go through all that if there was another way?  The Cross didn't make salvation merely a possibility, it made salvation reality. The Cross wasn't the bloody mess of God crucified so that we could meditate on Buddha’s philosophy and still enter into heaven.

Read the details about what it is to be crucified and consider that Jesus was nearly beaten to death BEFORE He was nailed up there. Reconcile that work by God Himself and ask yourself, "Am I really 'good enough' apart from Christ?"  We’ll always answer 'No' if we're honest with ourselves.  Is buying someone a slice of pizza, giving away your old shoes, or even funding a children's hospital really in the same universe as our holy and perfect Savior willfully offering Himself up at the Cross of Calvary in our place?

Paul’s harpagmon (motivation) is the same as Christ’s.  That kind of motivation led Jesus to the Cross.  That kind of motivation led Paul to preach the gospel throughout virtually the entire civilized world, endure hardships, famine, shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonment – and that kind of ἁρπαγμὸν (har-pag-mon) eventually led to his death as well.

Paul is encouraging the church at Philippi! Both Paul's and Christ’s harpagmon – their motivation, gut drive & desire, and reason for living – was obedient service for a very specific reason…  “the glory of God the Father” (2:11b).

God the Father didn’t exalt Jesus for the brutality of the Cross, but rather for Christ’s harpagmon - His untainted heart and holy motivation. The Father didn’t give Jesus “the name that is above every name” (2:10) because of His resurrection, but rather for Christ’s harpagmon.

It is Jesus’ perfect har-pag-mon we read, “For this reason” (2:9) every knee will bow and every tongue will “confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (2:11a). Jesus is heralded as the King of Kings and the LORD of Lord’s -NOT- “merely” because He turned water into wine, NOT because He fed thousands through the power of the Holy Spirit, NOT because He raised Lazarus, calmed storms, or drove out demons, but because of Christ’s spotless, beautiful, holy, and righteous harpagmon – His gut motivation, His fundamental character, and His spotless aseity or essential character.

Had Christ’s harpagmon/motivation been His entitlement as God, as He was certainly entitled to as God, then humanity would have been forever lost in our sin and eternally separated from God’s commUNITY, love, light and joy.

Instead, Jesus deprived himself of His entitlement as God and chose instead to become “obedient to the point of death – even to death on a cross” (2:8).

Our harpagmon is constantly showing. It shows in our marriage, in our relationship with our parents, siblings, neighbors, and friends. Does your motivation look like Paul’s?  Does it look like Christ’s?

Paul said it boils down to this one thing: Is the motivation for everything you do for “the glory of God the Father?”

Your harpagmon is showing. What does it reveal?

Blessings,

Kevin M. Kelley

#KMKelley1968

amostunlikelydisciple.com