Kenos

Sometimes I really like to get into the Greek roots of words to get a better understanding of what God is trying to tell us in His word. Not that you need a degree in Greek studies to know what He wants for our lives, but sometimes it really opens my eyes to things and allows His truth to sink deeper in my heart. It happened this week when I was studying up for a Wednesday bible study that Pastor Steve asked me to lead.

Philippians has long been one of my favorite letters of Paul. I mean, the entire word of God is a favorite, but we all have scripture that affects us more than others....and Philippians is one of those. In it I learned the meaning of this little Greek word, kenos, which means:

(a) empty, (b) met: empty (in moral content), vain, ineffective, foolish, worthless, (c) false, unreal, pretentious, hollow.

Kenos is used here in combination with another Greek word doxa, meaning:

honor, renown; glory, an especially divine quality, the unspoken manifestation of God, splendor.

In Phil 2, verse 3 Paul is telling them that they should:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or kenodoxia, empty glory. This is what really got to me. I mean, I know what Paul is telling us, that we shouldn't be selfish, that we should consider others needs over our own...I get that. But still, we want to be known. We're all vain at times, right? And it feels good, to get some recognition, to brag on ourselves and do things that put us up in the spotlight. But here is Paul,telling me something about it that I never really understood before. Its not that we should avoid selfishness and the desire to put ourselves up on that pedestal, its that even when we do those things, even when it feels so good and so right, its worthless. This is where I was blown away. Worthless.

Paul has this great perspective that I so appreciate. If you read further into Philippians, Paul talks about himself as the super-Jew, I referenced it in my last posts....now that I look at it, seems Philippians has been a common theme with me over my last several posts. Oh well, I told you it was one of my faves. Paul lists his qualifications as the super-Jew (you know, able to leap tall sections of the Torah in a single bound), and then considers them garbage. This is not Paul just talking, saying what would sound best. Paul knows completely that all of his accomplishments are full of kenos, emptiness. They amount to nothing. Paul's mindset was that of the kingdom.

Paul then lays out the mind-set we should be striving for....that of the self-sacrificing God. I always read Ph 2:6-11 as more of a loving description of how awesome God is, but I overlook vs. 5 which tells us that what we see in vs. 6-11 should be OUR mindset. The fact that Jesus left His position to become human will always amaze me. Now, at the root of it is total selflessness, and that is what we need to apply to ourselves. What is awesome is the result of that selflessness. Look in vs. 9-11:

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Look at that last half-sentence, to the glory of God the Father. You know what word happened to be used there? Doxa.....to the doxan of God the Father. Not Kenodoxia, no, this doesn't result in another bout of empty glory, this is the full glory. The manifestation of God. What we do selflessly for the Kingdom will bring about the true glory, not this empty glory that comes with self-importance. You wonder why we are feeling empty at times even when things are going our way? You ever wonder how someone that is famous can speak of being completely alone and worthless? That is what happens when we put our efforts into anything but the glory of God. You wonder why you can be exhausted at church camp but feel completely full? Now we know, doing anything but for His glory is just worthless. The enemy will tell us differently, and we will feel excited about selfishness for a while, but it will never last. True fulfillment, true glory can only come when we give it all to our Father.