Southern Hills Baptist Church
April 6 2003
Philippians 4: 21-23
“Greetings from an unlikely place”
Pastor Mark Hensley
Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. 22All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household. 23The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Philippians 4: 21-23
Introduction: NASIRIYAH, Iraq (April 2) - Eleven bodies - some believed to be Americans - were found with prisoner of war Pfc. Jessica Lynch when she was rescued this past week in a U.S. commando raid on an Iraqi hospital.
Lynch, a 19-year-old Army supply clerk, was captured by the Iraqis more than a week ago after her maintenance unit made a wrong turn and was ambushed in the southern city of Nasiriyah. Twelve other members of her unit were also feared captured; five of them are officially listed as POWs.
In a green-tinted, night-vision video taken of the rescue operation and shown to reporters Wednesday, she was carried on a stretcher from a helicopter to another aircraft. A still photograph of her showed a folded American flag resting on her as she smiled and looked at the camera.
An Iraqi pharmacist who works at Saddam Hospital told Britain’s Sky television that he treated Lynch for leg injuries, Lynch had two broken legs and a broken arm, other than that she was she was healthy and that ’’every day I saw her crying about wanting to go home.’’
The pharmacist, who gave his name only as Imad, told the TV network that Lynch knew the U.S. troops were on the other side of the Euphrates River and ’’she kept wondering if the American Army were coming to save her.’’
Until Tuesday, Lynch had been listed as missing in action, and her family did not know whether she was dead or alive.
’’You would not believe the joys, cries, bawling, hugging, screaming, carrying on,’’ Lynch’s cousin Pam Nicolais said after the rescue. ’’You just have to be here.’’
The rescue operation included Air Force pilots, Marines, Navy SEALS, Army Rangers - ’’loyal to the creed they know that they never leave a fallen comrade,’’ Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., called the rescue a miracle.
’’God watched over Jessica and her family,’’ Rockefeller said through a spokesman in Washington. ’’All of West Virginia is rejoicing!
Transition: Placed against her will in a strange location, surrounded by hostile people wondering …praying, hoping against all odds that she would eventually come back home. The story of Pfc. Jessica Lynch is a story that stirs faith and renews hope. She found herself in an unlikely place…greeting her rescuers with deep gratitude.
In much the same way today in a message titled “Greetings from an unlikely place” the Apostle Paul living as a captive in a prison in Rome will relay greeting from a surprising source!
Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. 22All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household. 23The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Philippians 4: 21-23
Notice:
The importance of Christian friendship
The inclusion of those saved in Caesars household.
The encouragement of grace.
I. The importance of Christian friendship Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings.
Paul remembers familiar faces that were now the source of warm memories. When we read the word Saint, it can be an intimidating word! It’s a word that seems to fit a super Christian, someone who walked with the Lord when he was here, those who saw with their own eyes is amazing miracles and ministry.
If in fact you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you are a Saint! There are only two kinds of people you will ever meet the Saint’s and the aint’s!
The term “saint” is used more of children of God than any other name from Acts through Revelation.
1. Saint or saints is used 60 times.
2. Disciples is used 26 times.
3. Christian is used 3 times.
We don’t use this term much today because it has come to mean someone who has been set apart by God to be holier than everyone else.
CATHOLIC VIEW OF SAINTS
The process begins five years after someone has died
You become “venerable” when your life has been thoroughly examined and approved.
Next is beatification if you performed a miracle in life. Catholics believe for sainthood you had to have performed two posthumous miracles.
But the Bible is very clear that Saints are those who have repented of their sins and received Christ into there lives!
And so Paul wants his greeting to be sent to those who like Him have had their life wonderfully altered by the friendship of God through his glorious son!
Christian Friendship can be without question the most meaningful of relationships! Those relationships of course must be nurtured, friendship calls for sacrifice and sometimes becoming vulnerable.
The alternative is tragic to navigate through this life with out benefit of someone to laugh with and cry with makes the journey arduous. I came across a poem this week that summarizes the importance of feeding a friendship…before time runs out.
Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end.
Yet days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it a year is gone,
And I never see my old friend’s face;
For life is a swift and terrible race.
He knows I like him just as well
As in the days when I rang his bell
And he rang mine. We were younger then--
And now we are busy, tired men--
Tired with playing a foolish game;
Tired with trying to make a name.
"Tomorrow," I say, "I will call on Jim,
Just to show that I’m thinking of him."
But tomorrow comes--and tomorrow goes;
And the distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner!--yet miles away...
"Here’s a telegram, sir."
"Jim died today."
And that’s what we get--and deserve in the end--
Around the corner, a vanished friend.
Around The Corner, by Henson Towne.
Paul wants believers to be courageous, fearless and enthusiastic and friendly so that the Church will not be a closed club for the benefit of "members only", but will be a servant and a witness in this Community for Christ!
The importance of Christian friendship
II. The inclusion of those saved in Caesars household 22All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.
Who are these people from Caesar’s household? A significant number of people not limited to Caesar’s family, which would include princes, judges, cooks, food-tasters, musicians, custodians, builders, stablemen, soldiers, and accountants.
Within that large group, Paul had in mind those through the proclamation of the gospel by members of the church at Rome, had been saved prior to his coming. Newly added to their number were those led to Christ by Paul himself, including those soldiers who were chained to him while he was a prisoner (1:13). Paul’s referring to Caesar’s staff that worked in various parts of the empire. Paul mentions them here to drop a hint that the gospel is bearing fruit in significant places.
I love what Alexander Maclaren said about this passage. “Our duty is to stand at our post however difficult our surroundings and unfriendly our company, and if we are sure that He has set us there, we may be sure that He is with us there and that there we can live the life and witness to His name” From Maclaren’s expositions of the Holy Scriptures Volume 15 Pg 80
Paul’s greetings from Prison call for the believers back home to remember that God had added others to the family! 22 “All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.”
Rudyard Kipling once wrote about families, "all of us are we--and everyone else is they." A family shares things like dreams, hopes, possessions, memories, smiles, frowns, and gladness...A family is a clan held together with the glue of love and the cement of mutual respect. A family is shelter from the storm, a friendly port when the waves of life become too wild. No person is ever alone who is a member of a family.
Through the love of the Lord Jesus Christ we are included in His family! The church becomes much more than a well appointed brick building where we set for an hour each week. The church is his “Saints” called out of darkness into his light! The friendships that are developed around the heart of Christ can be more valued and precious than are own earthy ties!
The importance of Christian friendship
The inclusion of those saved in Caesars household.
III. The encouragement of grace. Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. 22All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household. 23The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
When Billy Graham was driving through a small southern town, he was stopped by a policeman and charged with speeding. Graham admitted his quilt, but was told by the officer that he would have to appear in court.
The judge asked, "Guilty, or not guilty?" When Graham pleaded guilty, the judge replied, "That’ll be ten dollars -- a dollar for every mile you went over the limit."
Suddenly the judge recognized the famous minister. "You have violated the law," he said. "The fine must be paid--but I am going to pay it for you." He took a ten dollar bill from his own wallet, attached it to the ticket, and then took Graham out and bought him a steak dinner! "That," said Billy Graham, "is how God treats repentant sinners!" Progress Magazine, December 14, 1992.
Appeal:
The importance of Christian friendship
The inclusion of those saved in Caesars household.
The encouragement of grace.
