Philippians 1:1-11 March 30, 2008
Introduction, Thanksgiving and Prayer
Acts 16 stories
Stopped from going into Asia and Bithynia
Macedonian vision
Lydia’s conversion
Demonized girl
Paul & Silas imprisoned and beaten
Earthquake & Jailer’s Salvation
Rejection of release
This is the community of faith that Paul is now writing to
Read passage
Paul is writing from prison some place - my friend who is a chaplain in prison enjoys reminding people that most of the New Testament, is written by people in prison, or people just out of prison, or just about to go to prison! While he is in prison, his enemies are trying to stir up more trouble for him.
Imagine writing from some third-world prison, and after you get through the “hi, how are you” stuff, you first words are, “I thank God every time I remember you!”
But Paul is thankful, and he is quite happy in this letter – Eugene Peterson says that this is Paul’s happiest letter.
Paul wrote all the letters of the New Testament from Romans to Philemon, and this is his happiest one – he write to encourage the community of faith in Philippi, and he has very little correction like he has to do a lot of in his letters to Corinth for example.
His Thanksgiving
Their partnership – fellowship/ generosity – verse 5
It is pretty obvious that they had sent money to Paul to support him in prison – you had to look after your own needs in prison. And they had sent him money to support him in his ministry.
They were not likely a rich bunch – usually you took a hit in the pocketbook when you became a Christian – the trade guilds were caught up in idol worship, but to step out of the guild was to lose the chance to work. Some people would shun you just because you were Christian. But out of their meager resources, they still supported their friend and spiritual father, Paul
This was not just a financial transaction, the word that Paul uses is “koinōnia” the same word that is translated “fellowship”, or “community.” He is giving thanks for the tight relationship that they have that is borne out, partially, through the money that they send him.
You demonstrated this type of partnership to me in the two Domincan trips that we have gone on. Although many of you couldn’t go, you wanted to support us and partner with us as we went, so we went, not just as a small group, but as representatives of a very large group back here.
Even on my street – a neighbour thanked me for going – as a representative of the neighbours!
If we want to emulate the Philippians ad their partnership with paul, we need to not just send money to our missionaries, but keep in relationship with them.
Kathy Gooch in Zimbabwe – flew to Rwanda yesterday
The Cirias in Spain
Uwe Gustafson in India
The Longs in Ottawa
Janice Rainey for YSM in Toronto
Steve Hunter for [SANCTUARY] in Toronto
Dave and Sandy in D.R.
We need to keep Koinōnia with them, not just pay the bills.
God’s perseverance & plan verse 6
He is also thankful because, he says, he is “confident that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Paul loves the Philippians, but his confidence in their faithfulness isn’t in their good character – It’s in God’s good character. That God has invested in this community – he won’t let it go to the dogs.
I remember talking with a woman who had no trust in her own faithfulness – she was terrified that one day she was going to give up on God, or that she was going to do something so terrible that God would give up on her. I told her that Jesus loved her so much that he died for her – he wasn’t going to give up on her that easily!
We need to stay faithful, but it is not our faithfulness that we rely on – it is God’s faithfulness to us that we rely on.
True affection verse 7
He says, “it is right for me to talk this way, because I really love you guys!” Have you ever gave someone a heartfelt compliment, and they explained it away in good old Canadian self-depreciation? And you have to come back to them and say, no really, I really like you! I think tis is what Paul is doing here. He imagines them reading this in church and getting all embarrassed because he is gushing. And he says, no, really, I should feel this way, you deserve it.
I got this feeling as I read an email Dave sent this week from D.R.
“Here I sit at the laptop. It’s 2:30 a.m. Friday morning. We got back to our apartment around 8:14 p.m. last night after spending the morning in Los Algodonas, the afternoon working at Dr Bob’s and the evening back in L.A. passing out medications for a variety of health problems.
I can’t explain to you the joy that God gives to us working here in the village, I wish that I could properly describe it to you. Sometimes as we are working and all the actions are going on around us with the noise, demands, exhaustion and distractions, I become aware of experiencing what is going on almost from the third person, a sense of viewing the action from somewhere else and then I’m filled with peace in the middle of it all. When we got back here tonight both Sandy and I were filled with thankfulness to God for all his incredible blessings to us here in the D.R.. We ate dinner and wound down but it was only later after I had been sleeping for a while that I woke up and realized that I had to share this day with you. We owe a great debt of thanks to You back home who are sharing in the work we are doing here with you prayers and gifts. We would like to be able to thank you personally so that we could hug you and share this joy with you, we pray you will experience the Joy that God showers out to overflowing in Los Algodonas also as we attest to you that your prayers for our village are answered here everyday. Your prayers are as real to us as the red dust that settles on everything here (just before the rainy season starts). You have blessed us with the great privilege of being your hands, feet, and hearts here and we thank you and lift you up to God in thanks also.
Yours in Christ
Dave and Sandy Chapman”
Sharing in grace
We are on the same level here; we share in the same grace.
His Prayer
That they would not rest on their laurels, (even though he has much to praise) but that they would grow.
Growth – in love
That their love for each other will overflow
It sounds as though the community at Philippi did love each other (though not everyone and not completely as we will find out later)
Paul wants to see that seed of love grow into a great tree.
Love is what marks us as followers of Jesus – not amazing ideas or art or buildings or political power, but the love that we have and show to each other.
John 13:34-35 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." – Jesus
Growth in the knowledge and wisdom of love
The growth that he prays for is that love will be coupled with knowledge and wisdom.
Or that love would abound with knowledge and wisdom
There is a love that is love, but is naïve love, and although the motives and feelings behind our actions might be good and loving, the actions themselves might cause more harm than good.
Development agencies have discovered this – it may feel like love to give stuff away to needy people, but the long term effect can be to cause more damage to the individuals and the society than we thought through.
You might think it is a loving thing to do to by your friend a drink, but if you have the knowledge that says your friend is an alcoholic, you hopefully have the wisdom that says that buying him/her a drink is the least loving thing to do.
John White was a missionary doctor in the third world, and at one time his son fell on a rock and basically tore a hole in his mouth just below his bottom lip. John knew that he had to stitch the hole up, but he had no anesthetic. What John did for his boy did not feel like love, it felt like torture, but it was the most loving thing John could have done.
But love isn’t all pain!
Another way to talk about love that abounds in knowledge and wisdom is learning how to love people in a way that they feel loved! – Gary Chapman’s 5 languages of love.
Pam and I pray this prayer for ourselves daily – that we would love our children well.
Growth in goodness
A direct result of having knowledge and wisdom in love is to “know what is best” To “understand what really matters” (NLT)
So that we can live pure and blameless lives
There is a thought that you can separate love from morality or justice, but that is not love in God’s eyes – the two go together – and one grows out of the other
This is why Paul can write in 1 Corinthians 13
1 Corinthians 13:1-8
If I speak in human or angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body [to hardship] that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
This is the wise and informed love that leads to purity that Paul prays that we would abound in.
He also prays that we would be rewarded for that love.
Growth in fruit
When we plant the seeds of love in other’s lives, God’s good fruit grows in our life!
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. – Galatians 5:22-23
So Paul is thankful that we are in this together, partnering for God, that God is going to hold on to us, and that we receive the same grace. His prayer for the Philippians and us is that we would abound in wise, informed love, that that love would lead to purity, and that we would be rewarded for that purity with the fruit of the Spirit.
That’s some way to start a letter!
Let’s pray his prayer…
