OFFER UP PRAYERS OF THANKFULNESS
Philippians 1:3-11 -- ADVENT 2 -- December 4, 2005
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Dear Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
In this season of Advent it is easy, as we listen to our readings and look at the cover of our bulletins, to see the emphasis of each Sunday. Last Sunday we watch; this Sunday we watch and prepare. One way to prepare is through prayer. Nowhere in Scripture as you study it will you find the Lord saying, "You have prayed enough; you don’t have to pray anymore." Rather, as we search the Scriptures, we soon learn that the Lord has to remind us time and time again to pray continually, pray without ceasing, to offer up prayers all the time for all the saints. Sadly the Lord knows that we do not make the best use of our time in dedicating ourselves to praying, as we really ought.
As we recently studied Martin Luther we saw all the things that he was able to do by God’s grace: the books, the hymns, and the confessions he wrote. He lamented that sometimes he was so busy that he could pray only two hours a day. So imagine that! Luther spent at least that much time in prayer each day. Taking all that time for prayer the Lord was still able to bless his work. The Lord gave Martin Luther the ability and the strength to carry on in the face of danger and even death itself.
So this morning, as we get another week closer to Christmas, (we are half way through Advent already), the Lord says we can offer up prayers of thanksgiving. Our God encourages us to pray, because he wants to hear our prayers and answer them. Jesus says: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened" (Matthew 7:7,8). Our God says this again to us this morning. Paul, as he begins this letter to the Philippians and talks about the prayer he has for believers, reminds us as believers to
OFFER UP PRAYERS OF THANKFULNESS
I. Thankfulness for Christian fellowship; and, II. Prayers for a continuing faithfulness.
I. THANKFULNESS FOR CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
Philippi was the first congregation that was founded in Europe by Paul. By now you have heard of the account of the Macedonian call. Paul was in Asia Minor and wanted to go across to Europe but was not allowed to until the man from Macedonia called, "Come over and help us." They went the next day. Philippi was a big, bustling city but there was no synagogue there. There was no place of worship for the true God. Paul went down to the river to see if there were any believers there. Believers had the custom, if they could not meet in a building, to go down to the river on the Sabbath and gather together. There Paul found the few believers in the city gathered together. From those few believers grew a congregation, one of many in Paul’s second missionary journey.
You begin to understand, as Paul writes this letter, the joy he has for them. "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy." Paul was thankful that God’s Word, which had been planted in their hearts, continued to stay there. He was filled with joy, because no longer were they held captive by the false gods of the day. These new believers no longer worshipped things that would lead them to eternal destruction, but instead they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ who lived and died and rose again for their sins.
So Paul says, "In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy." He prays for them. Paul continues: "because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Paul, who used to be called Saul, realized the importance and the power of God’s Word. For the first part of his life, Saul sat in darkness until the Lord came to him and miraculously called Paul out of that darkness into his marvelous light. Saul became Paul, the great proclaimer of Christianity. Whenever there were others who would come out of that darkness into the light of the Gospel, they shared, as Paul says, a partnership in the Gospel. Paul was filled with joy that there were more people who were no longer lost and condemned creatures, but who were now found and redeemed creatures by the blood of Jesus. That is the prayers of thankfulness and joy he offers.
He goes on: "It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart…. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus." Paul wanted them to realize that he still remembered them even though they were separated, even they were not together: Paul writes: "Since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel." Paul was in prison. Paul could not be with them, but he did not want them to be unhappy. Paul did not want them to forget the joy of their faith. Instead, he said that there was joy in his life knowing that they were still believers. Paul prayed with thankfulness for their Christian fellowship.
Sometimes in our society we may not feel the Christian fellowship that we truly have. We kind of live in a day and age when people are very individualistic. In today’s society we all do our own thing in our own walk of life. We have lots of things to take up our time--TV, the computer, our occupations. If we didn’t want to, we wouldn’t have to associate with anyone because each of us is very self-sufficient. Sometimes that idea of fellowship can be forgotten or overlooked. Our society does not find time to go and visit one another anymore. We don’t take the opportunity to visit families and friends. We may visit on Thanksgiving or on Christmas. But in between holidays what happens? People feel they are just too busy. They visit the malls. They visit everything else that our society thinks is important. We are to remember there is a great joy in our Christian fellowship--as we believe and confess the same faith in Christ. Paul describes this fellowship in Galatians: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:28,29). We know the fellowship we have in our church, because we come together on Sundays and see each other. But beyond our congregation there is also the fellowship of believers throughout our Synod. Beyond our Synod are believers throughout the world who believe the same as you and I: Christ died for their sins.
What else does that remind us of? It reminds us of how blessed we are, in our country. Even though our society is individualistic, we still have the freedom of religion. We can worship when we want, wherever we want, and whatever god we want. Thankfully, we worship the true God. We don’t have to go very far in this world to find out that there are people who still suffer, because they confess Christ as their Savior. The Muslim nations do not allow the proclamation of Jesus Christ. We remember just a year ago the tsunami that came. Not many Christians were killed there, and there was one reason. They had been persecuted so badly that they had left. They were told that they would have to go into the mountains and celebrate. They would have to leave the lowlands. Because of that persecution many who usually spent time there on vacation, were spared. There is persecution that many face. The Lord reminds us that we need to pray with thankfulness for Christian fellowship and pray for those who are suffering in the world. In Ephesians, Paul says: "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" (Ephesians 6:18). Paul says to pray for all believers.
We know in our own country the devastation that has come--the tornadoes, the hurricanes and this last week the blizzard when some were without electricity for a time. There were 800 electric poles they say were broken. If you go up to eastern South Dakota, 8,000 poles are down. Who knows when they will get heat back? Many are believers that are friends in our Christian faith, so we pray for them that the Lord would keep them safe. We have not met them and personally do not know them. We are still able to be thankful for their Christian fellowship as we pray on their behalf. We offer up prayers of thanksgiving in this Advent Season, prayers that we rejoice that there are believers throughout the world who also share in the joy of eternity that is yet to come. That is a great blessing that goes beyond all comparison. Sure, we have blessings of material things. Far greater are the spiritual blessings of believers who are worshipping God, praising him for what he has done and looking forward to his birth in Bethlehem. All of this happens, because by grace, God has planted his word in our hearts and we believe. 1 John says: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). That is the Christian fellowship we share. The Christian fellowship we share does not always just have the name "Lutheran" on it but has the name "Christ" on it. We confess in the creeds, "We believe in the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints." That invisible church is made up of all the believers everywhere who have faith in their hearts that Christ died for their sins.
Today Paul encourages us to offer up prayers of thankfulness. We pray with thankfulness, first of all, for Christian fellowship and then with prayers for a continued faithfulness.
II. PRAYERS FOR A CONTINUING FAITHFULNESS
Paul had gone to all of these congregations on his missionary journeys and how hard it was for him to leave them. He would start preaching and people would gather and come together to worship. Then Paul would leave them not knowing what would happen. Paul did not know if the church would grow, did not know if their government might come in and destroy what God had started. This was Paul’s concern that these new believers would continue to be faithful. He says in our text: "I pray that I am confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Paul writes that God began that work of faith in them. He is confident that God would continue it, but Paul also wanted these believers to continue in faithfulness until the day of Christ Jesus. There are two ways of looking at the use of the day of Christ in our text. One, the day of Christ Jesus came from time to time as God carried out his plan of salvation, to punish those who were wicked and bless those who were believers. Second, the day of Christ Jesus is when we look to the end of time when Jesus returns in judgment. On that last day everything changes, when the elements are destroyed and they all disappear. Paul prays that they would remain faithful even though he is not there to encourage, teach, and preach to them.
Then he says in the end how they were going to be faithful, how will their faithfulness continue. Paul says: "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight." He prays that their love for God would grow and their love for one another would grow. Paul says that they would grow in knowledge and depth of insight. We call it wisdom, the wisdom of salvation. Again, it was a challenge for them. We need to remember the early Christians were not able to sit around their kitchen table with their Bibles open. They were not able to sit in their easy chair reading their Bible in the morning or in the evening. These believers did not have easy access to the word of God. The Scriptures were kept in the synagogue, because they were so valuable and so very rare. A believer had to go the temple just to read scripture. These believers needed a special prayer that God would give them insight and wisdom. They only heard God’s word and very seldom read it for them.
Paul continues: "so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ." He says to understand the doctrines and teachings of Scriptures. At this time they didn’t have it written down for them. What a blessing for us today to have the creeds of Christendom printed out for us, and that we can confess them. Finally, Paul says, "filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God." What a prayer that the Apostle Paul offers! It is not a prayer for himself, not even for the success of the work that he did. Rather, Paul prays that they as individual believers and as a congregation would grow in faithfulness. Paul prays that Satan would not come in and rob them of the joy of their salvation. He prays that the world around them would not tempt them to forget what God had furnished them with--the light of salvation.
We too find much to pray for in our Christian living. We pray that people will remain faithful to God’s word. Once again as you listen to the celebration of Christmas you hear how Christ should be removed from Christmas. We are hearing about this over and over; and, about battles in the courts. This reminds us sometimes that we almost seem to not be a Christian nation. But we still are! It is important that others would remain faithful. It is important for us to remind ourselves to pray for our fellowman, our fellow believers to be strong in the faith and not give up what God has entrusted to our care. In Timothy we are told: "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 3:14,15). When it comes right down to it, this is the only thing that matters--that we are wise for salvation.
Wisdom for salvation comes to us through the Scriptures, through faith in Christ. Our lives are changed. We can live in this season prepared and watchful for the time that the Lord returns. We can live with joy in our hearts because we celebrate Christmas. We celebrate the fact that Christ is born and has changed our lives. We do not sit in darkness anymore. We do not sit in the fear of the coming day of judgment; but we sit in the joy and blessedness of a thankful life knowing that when the Lord returns, then there is an end to this sinful world. Paul offers this prayer in Colossians: "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:10). Growing in the knowledge of God: there is no greater blessing. It is not always easy in our society or in our life.
We know that there are many things for each one of us that sometimes stand in the way of us loving God above all things. There are some things that stand in the way for some of us to love our neighbor as ourselves. That is part of still having this sinful nature. Also part of having this sinful nature is the fact that God doesn’t give up on us. He doesn’t say, "You are lost and condemned." Instead Jesus says, "You are found and saved." We celebrate today with the hearing of God’s word and also the partaking of the Lord’s body and blood. In Holy Communion our loving Lord says, "Here is my forgiveness as a sure sign and seal of the promises I have made." Again, we are used to celebrating the Lord’s Supper. We are used to grabbing hold of the forgiveness that God gives us through his body and blood. It is something that is almost lost in other church bodies of today. Beyond the Lutheran church, the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is in disuse and disarray. How sad! The Lord reminds us: "Therefore, my brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58). God says we need to pray for a continuing faithfulness among every believer, whether we are sitting here today, whether we are worshipping in the next state, in the next country with those who are Christian, to remain faithful. The Lord says that when the day of the Lord comes, there will be severe testing. There is going to be a decrease of true believers. We need to constantly pray for those who are faithful to remain faithful. We do that by offering up prayers of thanksgiving.
Did you notice today that Paul never once mentioned himself? Paul could have easily prayed only for himself but he didn’t. Paul gives us an example, just us as the Lord did, to pray for others. As we are concerned and praying for others, the Lord will take care of us. Hopefully, as we pray for others, others are praying for us too. We can offer of prayers of thanksgiving, not just asking, but prayers of thankfulness for the Christian fellowship we enjoy. We also offer prayers for a continuing faithfulness among every believer. Why pray at all? The Lord tells us. Jesus says to ask, seek and knock; because he is anxious to hear; he wants to answer. Our gracious and loving Lord wants to provide and he is able to provide. In 2 Corinthians we are told: "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work" (2 Corinthians 9:8). God provides, and we are thankful as we prepare and watch for his coming again. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
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Scripture Lessons -- Advent 2 (B): ISAIAH 40:1-11; 2 PETER 3:8-14; MARK 1:1-8
