Because of His reverence, Jesus was heard. He was obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. That is why Philippians 2:5-7 teaches that we must have the same mind and heart as Him. We celebrate His life not with a festive Christmas party—for that is not appropriate—but by celebrating His suffering and His struggles in the concrete reality of our daily lives. Only then can we put on His life. Yet this cannot be done easily. Hebrews 5:8 emphasizes, “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered.” Even Jesus learned. He did not instantly become perfect.
Verse 9 continues, “And once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.” He is the source of salvation. In Greek, the word aitios means composer. Jesus can “compose” our lives. Hallelujah! But only for those who obey. He cannot compose the lives of those who refuse obedience. He can only compose the lives of those who are willing to be composed. If we are still preoccupied with the world and feel that there is something other than God that can make us happy, surely we are betraying Him. Once we were foolish, but now we understand: nothing can make us glad except God. We want to be ready to close our eyes and meet Him, without betrayal.
Celebrating His life means paying attention to what Jesus taught and did. God wants to teach us to paint a “portrait of life” just as He painted. In our struggle against sin, we have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood, which means we have not truly fought with all our might. From now on, every word that we speak must give birth to calmness. Once we often compromised with the world, but now we want to change truly. God designed that we return to His original plan: humans with a divine nature. And Jesus is the model of a divine-natured human.
True ministry is not merely improving someone’s economy, healing the sick, or restoring families. That belongs to the realm of religion. All religions can do such things, even producing miracles within their rituals. But Christianity is different: Christianity transforms our very nature, giving birth to children of God with a divine nature, which is what no one else, anywhere, possesses. The early Christians understood this profoundly.
At the beginning of His ministry, when Jesus preached the Gospel with His disciples, the Jews and even the disciples did not yet understand the purpose of His coming. They still practiced Judaism—including Jesus Himself, who continued to come to the Temple. His disciples carried on John the Baptist’s ministry: John baptized, then the disciples of Jesus also baptized, while Jesus taught. For them, the reason for following Jesus was still unclear—even some hoped He would become an earthly king like Herod or the Roman Caesar.
But after the Holy Spirit was poured out, they began to understand what Christianity truly was. Even then, for a time, they remained united with Judaism. John and Peter still went to the Temple, and at the Beautiful Gate, they healed the sick. But when persecution came—when Christians were arrested, tortured, and scattered—there was a separation between Christianity and Judaism. They could no longer return to the Temple. It was then that the early Christians began to discover their true identity: what genuine Christianity really is.