Philippians 1:1-18a
When I was in college,
someone once told me that she did not believe that being a part of a church was
important because the Bible talks very little about church. She explained that
Jesus never went to church, nor did Jesus ever teach about church. Church was a
human institution created by humans to co-opt the power of individual
Christians, and tell us what to think and how to believe. I think she may have
even said, that the Church was created to take our money, money we could be
given directly to those who needed it instead of being used to build buildings
and pay pastors.
She told me that because
Jesus never spoke about the Church and because it was never mentioned in the
Gospels that the institution of the Church was unbiblical. At the time her
argument that Jesus was never went to church, was a part of a church, or taught
about the Church seemed to be a fair point, although even then it unsettled me
think. After all I was in college studying to be a pastor which assumed that I
would be one of these pastors participating in what she seemed to believe was
this unbiblical endeavor call the Church.
Although I might have been
swayed by her arguments at the time, they are really unfounded. Although Jesus
never went to church, there is Biblical record of him teaching in the
synagogues and since the Church was founded on teaching salvation through the
life and death of Jesus, they simply did not exist for Jesus to attend prior to
his resurrection. So attending synagogue would be the “biblical” equivalent. If
the gospel accounts are in any way true (which of course we believe them to
be), Jesus attended synagogue often, at one point they tell us that Jesus went
into the synagogue, “as was his habit”.
But not only did Jesus do
the next best thing to attending Church, all of his disciples founded churches
and participated in early church councils. Peter is the leader of the Church in
Jerusalem. Acts tells us about various churches that were started by the
disciples as they sought to be witnesses for Christ in Jerusalem, Judea and to
the ends of the earth. Going, preaching and scattering Churches all over the
known world is what entirety of Acts is about.
The idea of believers
doing this Christian life together is very much a part of the foundational
understanding upon which most of the New Testament is written. The majority of
the New Testament is written to churches and addresses issues that were facing
the early Church. In Acts the disciples and Paul all start Churches and then
most of the rest of the New Testament is made up of correspondence sent to
these Churches, meant to be read by Churches, giving them instructions on how
to better be “the Church.”
The church is the assumed
basic building block of the Christians life. Life is quite simply not
incorporeal; you gotta have a body to be alive. The Christians life is also not
incorporeal; the Church is the body that makes Christian life
possible. Being a part of a church is quite simply not an option for
us as Christians.
Paul addresses this letter
to all the saints in Philippi; that is to the Church that is established in
that city and all the people who make up that Church. He begins by calling them
saints. This is a word which for a fair part of Christian history was reserved
for the deeply pious, the extraordinarily religious; for Christians who seemed
to somehow not merely be steps above the rest of us, but several flights,
perhaps even floors. But this is not the original meaning. We were once all
saints; all those who were a part of the Church, gathered and working to
further the gospel and the kingdom in our lives and through our examples. When
Paul speaks to the saints in Philippi he is addressing all the Christians in
that city.
The fellowship of believers
is one of the many ways which Paul talks about churches in the various places
to which he writes. Fellowship for Paul is not the congeniality that is shared
between people who like each other, nor is it about shared good times that
occur between friends and acquaintances. It is a partnership in mission, a
coming together because of the gospel and the furthering of the kingdom. This
partnering in mission seeks to advance the gospel in all things; coming
together for mutual benefit, for encouragement and strength that can be found
in community. More importantly this fellowship is about the sharing of the
grace of God, participation in the gospel of Christ by being the means by which
the kingdom is furthered and shared. This fellowship invites all those who
participate in Christ to come together for a shared calling, to evangelism,
giving and prayer for others and a lifestyle that embodies the grace, love and
mercy of God. This fellowship, this thing we call Church is the
backbone of the Christian life.
Paul always speaks to the
Church, the gathering of saints, the fellowship and in his relationship with
them he models an attitude of gratitude, expressing his thankfulness for all of
them. He tells them that he is thankful for them generally, expressing that he
thanks God every time he remembers them. The feeling is that they are never
forgotten, since he also says that he prays for them constantly. And since they
are never forgotten he is continually thankful for them and continually thanks
God for them.
But he is not simply
thankful for them as a whole, he is thankful for each of them; thankful for
them individually. He thanks God for each of them praying with joy for them as
individuals. He is not merely thankful for them as a group, as a church, but he
is thankful for each of them as persons. For what each one contributes to his
life and to the life of the community. It not simply “people” for whom Paul is
thankful, but it is persons. This is also evident in the introductions and
conclusions of Paul’s letters in which he will often not only greet certain
people by name but thank them for the work they are doing alongside of him for
Christ. He is thankful for the persons who because of their commitment to
Christ are partners with him in the Gospel.
He is also specific in his
thankfulness, he is not merely generally thankful for the people of the Church
in Philippi, but he is thank for specific reasons, for the things they have
done and are doing. He tells them what it is they are doing for which he is
thankful. In a way this lets them know his thankfulness is genuine and also
lets them know which practices and behaviors to continue. He lets them know
right up front at the beginning of his correspondence to them, what they are
doing right. Paul tells them that he is thankful because of their
sharing of the Gospel. They are faithful sharers of the gospel and Paul is
thankful for all the ways they are continually sharing the gospel, in all
things at all times. Paul is also thankful that they hold him in
their hearts and because they share God’s grace with him, presumably by
supporting him and his ministry, and this is especially needed as he is
currently in house arrest and their assistance provides for his daily needs.
As we move through our
lives as Christians, Paul is our example of thankfulness. Paul in
his letters, models for us what it looks like to be thankful for other
Christians in Christ’s church. As we look around this room today we see other
Christians and I am sure if we thought about it we could tell ourselves we are
thankful for the people in this room, for this Church and who we are together.
For the work and the ministry and the impact this Church as had on your life.
And often times many of you share this thankfulness during our prayer time. By
doing this you are not only telling God that you are thankful for this Church
and its presence in your life, but because it is a communal prayer, you are
also telling those around you that you are thankful for this body, for the
presence and the life of this Church in your life.
One things we should
remember is that we are not thankful because this Church is perfect, or because
it is everything we wish is was, at all times. But our thankfulness is come out
of who this Church is, even in its weaknesses and failings. Our Church, any
Church does not need to be perfect for us to be thankful for it. It simply
needs to be the Church in which God has placed us, through which God is
ministering to us, and in which we are able to labor together for the sake of
the Gospel and the kingdom.
And my guess is that not
only are you thankful for the group of people that make up the church you
attend regularly, but you are thankful for the persons who are a part of the
body of Christ. You know people who have touched your life, without whose love
and support you would not be the Christian you are today. My guess is there are
saints of God's church who have touched your life in a small, or perhaps in a
great way. Even if you have never expressed it or not good are not
good at telling others, you are thankful for the presence of these people in
your life. So here is the thing I want you to think of one person. I want you
to think about ways in which you are thankful for that person, for what they do
in in and for the Church, and for ways their faith has made your faith
stronger. I want you to think of a specific ways you are thankful for this
person. Now want you grab a piece of paper, a card, something and write it
down. Go ahead, do it right now. The amazing thing about blogs is that
they don't go anywhere when you step away. I will be here when you get back.
Write down how you are thank for this person, specifically, things they have
done to help you in your faith journey, ways they have encouraged you, given
your strength, been there for you when you really needed them.
Now send the card, put it
in an email and send that, give them a call and tell them, hey, you can even go
to their house, or where ever they are right now, give them a big hug and let
them know exactly how thankful you are for them. Take time today to model the
kind of gratitude Paul modeled for us. At other times Paul has called for us to
follow him as he follows Christ and this is a real way we can do that today.
Give thanks, be thankful for the Christians God has put in you life and let
them know exactly how thankful you are.
