Delivered April 6, 2008
by Pastor Marilyn Henderson
Awhile ago I found some interesting observations someone made about church people:
These pithy sayings don't apply, on the whole, to the Philippian church. They definitely didn't just sit around the premises! In thinking about this first chapter of Paul's letter to the Philippians, I thought it might be useful, first of all, to think about those who read the letter for the first time. Philippi Church was made up of people with whom he had spent a significant amount of time. Some of their stories are in Acts 16.
According to Luke in Acts, Paul and the missionary team (Silas, Timothy and Luke) stayed with Lydia, the first to hear and embrace the good news of Jesus from Paul. Paul delivered a slave girl from demonic influence. As a result, he and Silas were put in jail they worshipped God. God rocked the jail with an earthquake, freeing everyone and the jailer and his household were saved.
Paul was intimately involved in the lives of these and other charter members of Philippi Church. He not only preached and taught about Jesus' life, death and resurrection, but Paul had probably worked with these folks to train and develop leaders so that the fledgling church could fly on its own. He taught them how they needed to change the way they thought, their behaviour and their speech. He probably emphasized their new and higher citizenship in the kingdom of God. He did this so that they could truly be followers and imitators of Jesus, light to their world and salt of the earth.
Those of us who have ever spent much effort and/or invested much time in people - parents, teachers, pastors, caregivers of all kinds - know that when those we work with have moved on, or we move on, we continue to think about and pray for them. This was Paul's situation. He wanted to stay in touch with these folks in whom he had invested so much.
How Paul contributed to the relationshipEric and I often talk over the texts we're working with. Once, when we were talking about Philippians this week, he mentioned that it might be interesting to think about what both Paul and the Philippian church contributed to their relationship. As I thought about it, it seemed that could be useful for this message. So while my assignment today was primarily Chapter One, I will refer to other parts of the letter occasionally.
What did Paul, as a Christian leader, bring to Philippi Church?
I thought of several things. There is the obvious gift of encouragement. Paul was very good at edifying or building up people. He most often began his letters that way - by mentioning a legitimate strength of those to whom he wrote. The Philippians had been responsible in nurturing each other so that they could continue to grow spiritually and share in spreading the gospel. One of the ways they did this was to send occasional gifts of money, perhaps other things, to Paul. Epaphroditus, a member of their church, had been the latest messenger.
Paul was the "overseer" of Philippi Church. He made sure that the congregation was on track theologically and that they didn't lose sight of the big picture. He explains his prayer in vs. 9-11: "And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God." Paul was concerned, most of all, for the Philippians' spiritual growth.
Paul supports this "big picture" when telling them of his situation. He almost seems excited about being in prison because of the way his imprisonment impacted the Roman church and the Roman guards. Paul guides their perspective, giving them an opportunity to enlarge their understanding of serving Jesus Christ passionately.
Paul acknowledges that Philippi Church isn't perfect. In verses 15-17 he states that some are proclaiming Christ out of "envy and rivalry." Later in the book Paul mentions the tension between Euodia and Syntyche, possibly two of the leaders he trained. Paul does not instruct the congregation to get rid of those seeking a following through evangelism or the two women in conflict. Conflict is not a sin. It happens. In this letter Paul calls followers of Jesus to deal with conflict rather than avoid it, and to do so in Christ-like ways.
Paul loves the Philippians with the love of Christ. He cares that this congregation continue to nurture their costly relationship with the God who created them and who gave up family and position and power for them. He reminds them of this every chance he gets.
Paul encourages them to remain steadfast in their faith (27-29). Their faithfulness to Christ and to each other would be the best encouragement he could have. As well, the Philippian fellowship, faithfully lived in the light of Jesus, would be the best witness to the world of the transforming power of their relationship with God.
How the Philippian congregation contributed to this relationshipHow did Philippi Church contribute to their relationship with Paul?
They sent gifts of money and possibly other things to support Paul in his church planting mission. We know that Epaphroditus, whose home church was Philippi Church, had taken the most recent contributions to Paul. Today missionaries - or even interim pastors from another country! - are encouraged by visits from family or friends "in the field." I'm guessing that Paul was encouraged by Epaphroditus' visit. The Philippian believers were not only loyal friends. They loved Paul and they loved Christ and wanted to make sure that Paul had what he needed in order to accomplish what for him was the main thing - telling others through word and deed about Jesus.
What seems to come through most strongly, however, is the main thing, what Paul talks about most. In vs. 3-5, Paul treasures the fact that the Philippian congregation continues to partner with him in his passion for Jesus. The Greek word Paul uses is koinonia. This term is one of the three Greek expressions for "love" in the NT.
In this context, according to scholars, koinonia is used to describe Paul's relationship with the Philippians as a partnership, where all are sharing together in the great cause of Christ. It is a two-sided relationship where each pull their share of the responsibility in spreading the good news that God has provided a way for people to know God. It is this sense of shared passion for life in God, of becoming the person God created, of imitating Jesus and for doing what it took to share the gospel of Jesus that Paul found so attractive in the Philippi Church.
"I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now." Jesus had completely changed Paul - how he thought, what he said, what he chose to do. Jesus had shown Paul true life, true passion - the main thing. In response, Paul was excited about Jesus. And so were the Philippian believers.
They embraced all things that would bring them more knowledge and insight into the spiritual life, into God's life. They wanted to do all they could to spread the knowledge of this healing, Life-giving Jesus. This is the main thing Paul is concerned about.
The Petitcodiac congregationThis congregation doesn't just "sit on the premises," either. You have, with energy and enthusiasm, ministered the love and peace of Christ to the community and the world through OPAL and Ten Thousand Villages. Some of you were involved in prison ministry for a time. You support SPOT annually with a fund-raising dinner. You remain in touch with and financially support missionaries. You are generously supporting and working with the Petitcodiac effort to sponsor an African family so they can immigrate to Canada.
Internally, you have faced a significant time of conflict and persevered to come through it. It wasn't a perfect performance, by any means or on anyone's part, but you desired to find God's way for you.
And now you are faced with "what next." The Outreach Committee has discerned that the next step in faithfulness to Christ's mission in this congregation is small groups. That process has unfortunately gotten side-tracked by some miscommunication between your pastors and other personal and congregational concerns. We hope to have a plan in place shortly.
I invite you to consider how you will embrace this opportunity for spiritual growth and outreach. I believe that God invites us all to step out in faith, to once again passionately embrace the main thing - sharing the good news of Jesus Christ - by participating in small groups and inviting others to join us. This, I believe, is God's invitation and God's challenge for us now.
Petitcodiac Mennonite Church