Youth and Theology

"The seminar I taught was why I believe we need to teach youth about some of the tougher theological issues while they are still in high school. So when the graduate, they perhaps won't be caught off guard when they go to college and not know how to respond to varying viewpoints that they will discover and be challenged with."

I was surfing around reading blogs and the post by Dan Kimball is one worth reading and reflecting on. I really resonated with what he wrote and the thing about teaching youths tougher theological issues. This is important and vital, I believe because of the challenges that youth will face while leaving for college or university.

One of the things that has been bothering me on youths and their faith is that, almost always there would be defused interest in all things spiritual after the transition of secondary school. I am speaking generally here and I know this is not true for some youths but there is a disturbing reality to this and it has become my concern.

Scot McKnight also posted on the dwindling numbers of those in their 20's attending church services on this particular post you can find here. I think what Dan wrote and what Scot wrote has connections although it might be one of the reasons (a small piece of the pie) that those in their 20s are not attending church.

Because of this I would like to just echo Dan's thought provoking post; we should teach more on the important stuff to our youths, and there can be no apologies. It is true that at their age level, some of them, things spiritual are considered boring isuues but it should not be an excuse for us to shy away from them.

I found this response from Tony on the comment I made from Dan's blog post to be very helpful in how we are to integrate a more theological focus in what we teach our youths. I value this person's response. I hope we can chnage the way we do youth, mainly in what we teach them.

Jon,

I think you have to start somewhere with your kids, and diving deep into theology all at once is not the answer. Think about it this way, you have 6 years or more with some of these kids, and the truth is you have to start slow and basic in theology and build from there. I believe we need to make sure our core group of kids "get it" first and then start to build on some of the theological issues Dan was talking about. In other words, if you just keep it loud and light 90% of the time and then try to hit them with the theology stuff 10% of the time, they will not buy it...but if you always make theology an important part of your student ministry, even if it is more involved in Small groups than your main service...you will see how much easier it is to reach them even when your talking theology and not about the stuff they "want to hear". Besides what good is telling them what they want to hear when they leave the church and their faith as soon as things in their life don’t go the way their youth pastor told them it would! I think what Dan is saying also is we need to recognize that when they leave our youth rooms and move into college or living on their own, have we prepared them enough for the challenges and questions life will certainly bring them…maybe we as a church need to anticipate some of these challenges and questions and address them now rather than wait until they are faced with them and doubt has moved them to unbelief; or worse yet distrust because their leaders in the faith just were not honest enough with them when they were 12-18.

Christianity practicing PlayStation Ethichs

"Christianity in contrast to many other religions believes in the concept of grace. That is the radical idea that no one is beyond the love of God. That you can be a mafia hitman and if you commit your life to Christ your sins will be forgiven. This is the Christian idea of salvation. But I am noticing that this idea is getting a slightly bit skewed. Many have failed to realise that whilst grace allows us to be free from sin, grace does not give us a free pass from consequences."

I have been musing on this even before reading this blog post by Mark Sayers on this particular post which i found interesting and helpful. I am somewhat disturbed with the mindset that believes a mere confession would be enough to defuse wrongdoing or sin. I have been looking for a definition for this a was wondering if it existed until today! It is termed "PlayStation ethics". PlayStation ethics is the belief that when something has been done (always the bad) an easy way to fix the problem is a simple push of the reset button, and bam! we start all over again clean.

Mark Sayers goes on to explain that "Thus it is no wonder that many struggle to understand that whilst grace covers a multitude of sins, it does not press the reset button on the consequences of our choices." I agree with him. We should not think that whatever we have done wrong in this life a simple confession would erase everything. While God promises to wipe the slate clean, it is not without consequences. Take David for example. After he committed a series of sins and later confronted by Nathan, he confesses his sins. God forgives him but the consequences were not removed. We could understand this thus by saying while God forgives unconditionally, the rules on this earth is different. We suffer the consequences of our sins or wrongs. It is like being relieved that our parents still love us after we wrecked the car but still having to go through the punishment of being grounded, that sort of feeling.

I think it is important that we make ourselves clear of this. Otherwise we might treat our way of life carelessly. Thinking that if we just confess we defuse our wrongs. This is irresponsible to say the least.

God forgives us unconditionally but our wrongdoings will always require a price to pay.

Blameless...clearing some air

I would just like to clear some understanding on what the word 'blameless' means(reflection on a biblical perspective). I'm doing this because I don't really agree wholly to the meaning of the word given during a sermon that I heard. I think the definition given to the meaning of 'blameless' spells out something else as you shall see.

This is what was said (not word for word but I think I have enough of the main details of what was said):

Earlier though it was explained that people are not perfect and we make mistakes. So how does being blameless work for people like us, though Christians but have weaknesses? The answer to this is: Blameless- a person going to the library doing what people do in the library (study, read books). After doing that the person packs his stuff and goes back home. Unbeknown to the person, he/she accidentally packed a library book that was not borrowed with his/her other stuff. Being honest, this person goes back and admits his/her faults to the librarian on the mistake that was done. This thus frees the person from accusation, and thus the meaning of being blameless.

My understanding of treating blamelessness in the manner explained above is simply implying that if we have done something wrong the 'easy' way out is just a simple confession. And in doing so we defuse any accusation that might come our way. I don't think this is a faithful definition of being blameless.

Being blameless in this perspective is more like a person knowingly shutting the doors of accusation, by confessing what she/he had done. Knowingly because the person knows the wrong/mistake/sin that he or she had done. And when he/she realizes this, if the person is an honest person, the person goes into confession. In doing so 'defuses' accusations because he/she had taken the step to confess.

I must say that this is not being blameless. This is simply being honest. Being blameless and honest are two different things. There was a statement that I heard from a speaker once. He gave a definition of integrity and honesty. Integrity he said was- doing what you say. Honesty is- saying what you do. From the illustration that was given in the sermon on being 'blameless' it sounds more like being honest. What then is the meaning of someone being 'blameless'?

Like the statement on integrity that I mentioned above 'saying what you do', being blameless falls into that category. Being a blameless person has a lot to do with how a person lives. A good depiction of a person being blameless is the story of Daniel which you can read in Daniel 6:1-28.

Daniel 6:3 Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4 At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.

Daniel was a normal man just like us. He was neither a pastor or someone 'serving' in a religious institution. He was rather someone in the secular world, working as an administrator to the king, he was in fact named among the top three men under the king. But what distinguished him amongst the others was that there was 'no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.' We can say that he was constantly living in this manner. He did not require an avenue where he had to cover his bases to diffuse accusations to be blameless. Being blameless was indeed his lifestyle.

But as we all know, in this story people had to create something to entrap Daniel. Of all things, they used his devotion to his God as a means of accusation. But Daniel was vindicated because God was on his side, and in the end it was made evident that Daniel was indeed blameless.

To me, the depiction of being blameless in the sermon does not hit the mark. I just wanted to clarify that I don't really think it shows what being 'blameless' means. Let me render then that, being blameless, a person who is blameless is simply to live your life in integrity. A finer picture of showing what being blameless is from Daniel. I guess we should try to find stories in the same reign.

In the end, being a blameless man/ woman is not just about telling the truth. It is about living your life so well that there is simply no way for people to conjure up a trustworthy accusation. Just think about Jesus' life.

Prayer...another dimention to it

There is an interesting post on prayer written by Scot McKnight. I have to say that this may not be so familiar to the denomination that I come from which ravels in personal composed prayers. Not that this is wrong or anything. Personal composed prayers or prayers we simply 'come up with' at a given time are good and we also should have these types of prayer, because it is justifiable that if one has a relationship with God, then there are bound to be times where we just speak words that just come out of our mouths. We read a lot of examples of this in the bible.

But then again I think the christian circles in my part of the sphere have emphasized this to a scale that it implies that it is only praying in this manner is what real prayer is. Well this is the implication that I always get, and I just recently (a few weeks ago) heard a certain pastor (not one in Miri for that matter, and totally not all pastors but a certain pastor) simply state that we are not to recite the Lord's Prayer because it is not real prayer but something that was created. He said (in my own words) that real prayers are supposed to be said out from the heart of the person rather then reading out prayers. Well lets just say that I don't really agree with him on this.

Ever since my walk with Jesus, prayer has been a struggle for me. Not that prayer is something that I don't believe in, but I guess it takes time to adjust to it. I guess there are too many access baggage in our understanding of prayer that its meaning has been muffled and it's beauty disfigured.

Reading Scot's post on prayer give me hope in prayer because we can use prayers in the bible as aids for us to pray. There is also a dimension of prayer that follows a rhythm, things like ancient prayer hours. To me these are new concepts but only because we have been ignorant about them. I think our church would benefit much if we would venture in this direction. This could be an answer to the constant question asked by new believers, "How do i pray?". I am totally supportive of this direction an am interested in finding out about it to 'salvage' my prayer life.

Do you agree? Do you struggle with prayer? What are some methods or patterns that have helped your prayer life? Do you know of any other ways to help people the how's of prayer?

Waking up to the Matrix...

I don't know if this is a prevalent thing or not but, have you ever entered the church premises and felt, an aura that people are not connecting to you? Not that I am criticizing any church for that matter, but what i would like to address is the fact that Sunday, and the service thing has become more a religious ritual to me. Not that I don't like listening to sermons, singing songs during worship and all that, but what i feel lacking during that particular time is connecting with God and one another.

I want to address because when I was in my final year in bible school, I was struggling with the issue of 'going to church' because it is simply just going to a service, to sit down most of the time, occasionally stand, occasionally open our mouths and speak, we listen or look like listening, and at the end we pray in between of the things and we would go and have refreshments. This is the typical scenario that we go through. To me at that time it was just a cycle. Just a note, when mention all these things please don't label me someone who is just hooked on feeling and exiting praise and worship songs. I am more of the person who wants to think and read 'boring theological' books so please stop the stereotyping.

I think and believe when we have reached this stage of thinking, rather than interpreting or understanding it as a problem period, I would rather contend the transition of thinking as a progress forward. Dissatisfaction like this does not necessarily mean we are on the brink of loosing our faith. I believe it more like out growing our preconceived cocoon. I see it as a healthy period and applaud it heartily.

Why? This seems unimaginable and rather contradictory.

Let me explain as clearly and simply as i can. When one is going through this period he/she is like a person being approached by Morpheus, giving us the decision of knowing reality or still stay in the comfort zone of things going on in its random circle. It simply unlocks the possibility of fresh expressions of the Christian faith coupled with the desire to understand ancient practices and the biblical narrative. It opens an avenue of asking tough questions with a general contention of friendly debate on opinions. It also is a healthy transition for fresh reflections of how the church should actually be-her mission, existence and direction. It is also a welcome period for people to know Jesus for who he is.

Just a note for the leaders during this period of time, build conversations and relationships during this period. Do more listening that just giving advise. Don't be fast to down play their ideas, but rather work around their ideas and frustrations, seek to understand them.

I believe that when we work things out in this manner we would be able to build on the transition of change in a more progressive way, and it would also minimize frictions and bad arguments.

Tolerating the wrong Way

There is something really weird happening that I am noticing on a progressive basis lately. Weird neither explains the happening to its real extent, I think a better word would be disturbing. Another word that I would like to use is controversial, and no, I'm not talking about the profane nature of words. It's more like a word that makes the sensitive heart gnash their teeth, clinch their fists and scheme their schemes. Let me just lay it on the line...'leader(s)'.

If i were to bring in another word like 'church' and combine it with the word above (leader) it would conjure up explosions of all sorts. But regardless I would use them both for this post and combine them both with the title above 'Tolerating the wrong Way'.

Tolerating the wrong way comes when people become dualistic Christians. Why?

People leave reason behind and say that in the province of faith, reason should be left behind the church building premises door.

People contend that God can do the impossible. This is true. But we must not create the avenue or situation where God should act. God is no genie in the lamp ready to do our every bidding.

People contend that submission is to keep quiet and follow without questioning. Leaders in the church are anointed and should therefore not to be questioned. Because of this contention, people just follow without proper reasoning even though the leader is leading the community to an edge of the cliff.

People in church basically just open their ears and shut their brains out, the only thing to do is to take in everything because the leader is anointed and has a proven tract record. Did Peter, James and John have proven tract records? Did Jesus choose people on that basis, or did he choose ordinary people with no tract record whatsoever to start with. Let me put in a more in your face tone; Jesus chose the scum and made them wise and shamed the wise and really showed that they were actually the real scum.

Basically I mention people because we (me included) sometimes act like unthinking people when we enter the church building premises. I say this because we are in denial of things that are going around, things that should not be tolerated. This denial leads to spiritualizing acts that are detestable and somehow sanctifying them with God's name by explaining their nature in spiritual language. Sometimes we do this too much until we become a tolerant people, who does not know right from wrong.

My contention is, we should be responsible members of the church; a responsible community. We lose the responsibility when we tolerate the wrong way; some leader is leading us to the cliff, we cannot question him where he leading us because he is the anointed and in authority. We should ask hard questions, often controversial because we care about the direction of the church. We should not keep quiet. If we do we become irresponsible followers of Jesus because we are allowing the wolves to tear the church apart. Listen...hopefully, you will.

Back to the Blogging board...

I'm finally back to the blogging board after some time off. I was teaching at a camp for a few days and that was fun. Got to polish my Bahasa Malaysia, which is not that good if one were to judge. But the main thing was meeting people and getting to know them, I guess in camps that is what is important (not that I am down grading the teaching or ministering parts but I am simply saying that it is important for us to connect with people).

I was talking on three topics and I think i would post them on my blog, well maybe something like a summary of the topics that I talked on. The three topics were Music and the content of Worship, BGR, and Leadership. I think I will post them when I am finished polishing them.

Anyway, the start of next month will be a new era in my life so right now things are somewhat messy in my mind. Sorting out issues, setting my sails, transitioning and a whole lot of thinking to do. Believe me this is not a place where I would like to be but as decisions have been made and signatures have been signed the only possible direction to go is ahead, regardless.

There are things that I have learned along the way and they seem confusing and somewhat hurting but non the less experiences that would be part of me, ingrained in me. There are still a lot of things that i do not understand but one thing is for sure, we learn along the way.

I'm learning that;

1. We have to be careful that what we are speaking 'against' is not towards the person, but just the ideas of the person. If we are not careful we will walk the line of bitterness and hate. Know what you are speaking out about, don't attack the person.

2. Be careful when we use the phrase 'this is what God is saying, direction, vision, thoughts...etc'. Sometimes our ideas get intermingled with them. This is to avoid us from saying later that 'it was not God's idea after all' and with that made God to be some sort of a liar, or worse lose our own credibility.

3. Try to find out what does it mean to really follow Jesus and being a Christian. We confuse them too much with just appearance, status, wealth and being disengaged with the world (being dualistic). When you have found out what it really means to follow Jesus asses yourself then whether you really want to follow him. To me this a serious consideration.

4. Never speak out or ask questions or brand new ideas if you don't want to seek change. Change is hard to go by if people are unwilling to act on it. Change will also be opposed by higher powers. So those vying for change have to be ready to suffer their 'personality being assassinated'. Know the consequences and if after you have known what is at stake take action with wisdom.

5. Transitioning will never happen if we are lazy, make excuses, don't make somber assessments of our actions and ideas, take no responsibility, make no effort to change your weaknesses, and cannot get along with people.

6. Leaders must know when to act up. Christianity is not always being kind and soft and show a flowery sense of 'unity'. When there is something to be dealt with one must rise and deal with it. Otherwise the leadership is in jeopardy.

7. Always maintain your relationship with God, regardless.

8. Questions or opinions does not make anyone the enemy. They make us reflect on ourselves and others whether we are hearing God or is it just us.

The list could go on but these are just some of the things that I can think about at this time.

Who Will Hear

My plea goes on unheard when fickle men pass their drinks,
They mend their schemes and wander as the sun sets,
To whom should I give my voice
When all that hear are walls and towers
lifeless toils of the mighty...

Ears and eyes they know
when the left hand tries to hide its way
In plain sight they make their move
their thoughts loud they rise like open voices
But all that hear are walls and towers
lifeless toils of the mighty...

Our toils are cast into the common purse
for use together to toil for his kingdom
But once they fall on the feet of the gravel
Like water they evaporate, and toil is no more to be heard
But all that hear are walls and towers
lifeless toils of the mighty...

Those who stand and hunger for the way
their mouths get muffled their eyes are made blind
They cut them like a knife cuts through meat
Yet they smile and laugh when people cry out in pain
But all that hear are walls and towers
lifeless toils of the mighty...

Who will wake the masses and cure their blind eyes to see
Who will wake the masses and cure their deaf ears to hear
Who will wake the masses and cure their stone heart to feel
Who will wake the masses and cure their minds to see the truth
But all that hear are walls and towers
lifeless toils of the mighty...

Who will hear?

The picture...

I was talking to my sister yesterday and we were talking about the monkey picture that I put on my blog. I was asking her what do you think it represents? And so I want to ask you, 'do you have any idea of what it represents?' I would like to hear from you. hahaha

Where would the Road Now Lead?

I'm reading a very thick book at the moment; "Jesus and the Victory of God" by N.T. Wright and it is simply a massive book! I am now at page 301. It is a 700+ page book which simply is gigantic compared to my usual standards of reading. I have been reading this book like for ages and there are some things that doesn't make sense, because I don't think this sort of book matches the reading level that I am at. That shows how far behind i am. But the struggle will be worth it.

Anyway, reaching the 300 page mark there was something that caught my attention:

"The summons to following Jesus, going beyond the challenge to be loyal to his cause in one's own setting, thus focused itself more and more narrowly. Some were summoned to abandon all to follow Jesus; within that, some were called into a special and deeply symbolic inner group; within that again, some had a further symbolic, as well as humanly supportive, function. All of this prompts the further question: what would such followers have thought they were signing on for? And what impression would the average Galilean onlookers have received from this wandering prophet gathering followers whose loyalty went so deep as t override normally binding obligations."
(Wright, N. T. JESUS AND THE VICTORY OF GOD. Pg 300)

It makes me kind of think, when one follows this Jesus guy, people like you and me do we really count the risks involved following him? Some might think that following Jesus is following a road that is always peaceful, always wanting to resolve conflict by just brushing it aside or with as much non-retaliation (by this I mean verbal) at all.

Looking at the story of Jesus in the Gospels, Jesus' call and challenge were really demanding and required the utmost devotion that one is required to conjure. That is why this question is somewhat disturbing in a sense taken from the excerpt above of Wright's book;

"what would such followers have thought they were signing on for?"

Reading the Gospels and the NT for that matter this question disturbs me to the core. Do I know what I am signing up for when I make the profession that I want to be identified with Jesus of the Bible?

Following Jesus as seen in the bible is enlisting yourself in a movement. But for much of the teachings we get, we are taught that following Jesus means conforming to institutionalized religion, and because of that there is a stagnant force manipulating the urgency of this movement-following Jesus.

I'm just perceiving that the times have tamed the movement so much that Christianity has become wimpy, soft and cuddly in my part of the culture. Christianity has become a tower, and it actually mimics the depiction of Babel.

Who will free us from this destructive form of false following Jesus movement to what the movement really is in its truest form? I hope we wake up from our drunken stupor, and put some sense in what following Jesus really is.

Join in the Conversation.. Jesus Creed

I would like us to join in the conversation on Rachel's blog on a book that she is reading "Jesus Creed " by Scot McKnight. She doing a daily post chapter by chapter. What we have now is on Chapter 4. I would be great if we all can chip in this conversation, not for the sake of just commenting but as we build on conversation. I think, as we pry out the ideas from our minds into comments, we will broaden the mind of others and we also will learn from others as well.

I also want to alert us to the conversation because I would like to introduce us to books that can broaden our Christian understanding. This is one of the particular books that has deepen my Christian understanding, and I am believing it will do so for you too.

So, lets hop in on the band wagon and join in on the conversation!

Church...A Complicated thing

Talking about church is somewhat a complicated thing, because in some areas certain issues raise sensitive responses. So it seems at the moment it is better to talk about the catholic (I mean universal) church as a whole (that means regardless of context and particular situations)but that would not do justice to clarity, so where clarity applies let me simply revert back to church in my local context. Anyway let me revert your attention to an important article below. (I have provided links to the particular websites for your benefit so please click away)

I was reading a brilliant article by Ed Stetzer oddly titled "You Can't Love Jesus and Hate His Wife" . The article can be found just by simply clicking on the link that i provided above. Basically just to explain about Ed's article, he is writing on the trend that is prevalent in the western world that I would term as church bashing. The tone of the article simply sounds like the author has gotten tired of all the negativity that comes from Christians attacking the church. I believe the attack that he is talking about here is simply the growing disregard of the present generation towards church which simply turns to abandonment or disolusionment of the whole idea of church.

Stetzer, reverts us back to how scripture supports the 'concept' of church, in the words of Jesus, the writings of Paul and the NT's mention of her (church). The church is God's idea and not our own construction. I think some part of the disabandonment of church is simply how church is done today. This can be one of the issues, but I must add that it is not the only issue. Stetzer has 4 suggestions in how the church can be a better bride. But i will not list them here. I will let your curiosity plunge into the article for yourselves. I like this statement made by Stetzer:

"And, let me say here, I have some concerns about how some churches operate - but I have tried to focus on how to help and not how to destroy."

Let me leave with you some thoughts:

1. The idea of church is God's not ours. We did'nt make it up.
2. Any concern that we have must simply be on how the church operates.
3. How can we help the church attain to it's divine focus?
4. How can we help and not destroy God's bride?

Books... Maybe a series of posts on what I have read

I am thinking on doing a series of posts on books that have revolutionized my thinking to greater heights and I hope that they probe interest in whoever is reading to expand their knowledge altogether.

Books are what I consider my treasure (apart from my PRS Tremonti SE guitar) at the moment because I am a freak for knowledge and thought expansion, whatever that means. I wonder how these writers come up with these brilliant ideas and let alone compile them into books! Phew. If there is a possibility later I would love to see me writing a book in the future.

Well reading and all that has cause me to be more open to opinions and other peoples ideas. I can say that I will be interested more in people who disagrees with my ideas and is willing to talk or write about it. I find that where we live in people get sensitive when they hear your point of views. But I am learning that these incidents will always be there.

I guess at the moment I see disagreements as a way to build on clarity because not everyone will know where you come up with an idea. It is good to lend a listening ear to disagreements. We do well to listen then just ranting out how we don't agree with a person. And if the conversation or written comments don't come to an agreement, then we should leave them there. How can we impose our ideas on people? What more if people are not willing to listen.

So for me books has saved my sanity with my culture here. Of always being afraid of popping up with the ideas that I have thought of. I guess there is a the generation that is afraid of questionings and there is a generation ripe for that sort of thing.

Anyway I am looking forward to post on the books that have challenged my mind to think.

Stuff to do...during boring sermons

I saw this post here and found it hilarious. I would love to add to it but I will think about it later. Hope for the readers out there I am not implying that peoples sermons are boring. But there are sermons that are boring regardless if you are a Billy Graham or some standard preacher. Do you think Paul fits the category of boring speakers? He might have (someone did doze off and fall asleep and fell and died but thank God he rose from the dead after Paul prayed for him) hahaha. But hey this is just a joke so don't take it personally. I have seen people sleep during my sermons (the only few i preached that is haha).

Initially i wanted to do a post on this following the influence of the link above but I am afraid people might judge me for that too. So just enjoy a light hearted moment. Adios

What is the Price of Unity?

Phil 2:1-4
If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

The implication of the word 'If ' conjures a responsive answer, which is obviously 'yes'. Of course, we have been blessed by our experience mounting from being in Jesus-following Him, changed by his love, being in His community, welling in care and compassion. What Paul wants us to conjure up here is the emphatic answer-'Yes, this is all true for me'.

Because this is true, Paul states 'do me a favor', show the picture of unity out of your 'gotten anything out of...Christ '. Truly changed people of God really practice unity-' Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends'.

We normally stop here in our reading because we get compelled with the picture of unity that is being mentioned here. Changed people of God must also show change in their communal living. This is beautiful and this is what is supposed to be, Christians should practice unity. But what is the thing that actually is the enemy of unity in the Body of Christ?

This is where we must read on, Paul tells us:
'Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.'

For unity to be living in the body of Christ, the individual's self interest must be buried. Unity is something that gets destroyed when people are not humble, when people are thinking of themselves and of how they can be elevated, how they can make a name from themselves. Please understand that Paul did not state here that only certain members are to check themselves here, like leaders to members or the other way round. The text says nothing about submission. It talks about unity and that thing that causes disunity- self interests of individuals. Paul calls us to check on ourselves-all of us, not just certain individuals but all of us.

Who better to tutor us on how doing away with self interest looks like then Jesus. I will let the passage itself comment itself because now it can be clear in telling us-if we want to maintain unity we have to remove self motivated interests and be selfless. This is what humility looks like.

5-8Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

9-11Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.

Let us check ourselves whether we have simply let our self interests destroy the unity of His Body. That means every one, not just leaders but everyone.