Would the Apostle Paul use Twitter?

Without the advantage of today’s technology, the Apostle Paul worked hard at staying connected. He knew the value of reinforcing the hope and the truth of the Gospel message he had delivered to so many.

When Paul heard of a conflict, or of false teaching that some were accepting, Paul would send them a letter. Paul would have loved email…and he might have even fired off a tweet if he had a Twitter account.

My recent trip to Philippi drove me back to Paul’s letter to these new believers, among the very first in Europe. And he had some pretty strong words, couched in love, that he wanted these Philippians to hear. Eugene Peterson puts it in today’s language.

[blockquote author=”Philippians 2:1-4 MSG” link=”” target=”_blank”]

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.”[/blockquote]

On occasion, I see signs of jealousy among Christian broadcasters. It happens everywhere. We’re human. But that isn’t a very good excuse to act in un-Christ-like ways. In fact, Paul drives home his point by looking to Jesus and His example in this area.

[blockquote author=”Philippians 2:5-8 MSG” link=”” target=”_blank”]

Think 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.”

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To be honest, I’m not sure I can comprehend the humility it took for Jesus to leave the glory of Heaven and become human. But I can attempt to follow the example. An aspiring artist looks to one of the great master painters to learn from him. He will never be a Rembrandt, Degas, Monet, or Michelangelo. Yet the student can learn, can improve, and can grow in skills as they continue to learn.

You may want to look around…and deep within. How are things in your ministry? Is it marked by an unusual Christ-likeness? Or is it patterned like the world, with petty jealousies and efforts to build yourself up at the cost of others?

How do you view other ministries? What do you say…or think… in private about others who are also striving to share the Gospel with their culture?

Paul wrapped up his letter this way:

[blockquote author=”Philippians 4:8-9 NLT” link=”” target=”_blank”]

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

“Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

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My prayer for you and for me is this: Lord, make us more like Jesus every day, in every way, for His glory. Amen.