Faithful to Complete It
Sermon Notes
Intro to Philippian Church
Paul’s second missionary journey: Everything that can go wrong…
Everything went wrong
Started with a fight between Paul and his best friend and co-anointed ministry partner, Barnabas, that led to the two of them splitting.
Then, three times God prevented them from getting where they were trying to go before He allowed them go to Philippi (in other words, Philippi was their fourth—aka “last”—choice.
There was no synagogue in the city, so rather than starting there, as was his custom, Paul went out to the river where he heard about a prayer gathering.
There, they found a small group of women who were Gentile converts to Judaism gathering to pray.
They were led by a wealthy merchant named Lydia who, according to the text, sold “purple stuff.”
Paul preached the Gospel, Lydia and crew received, and Paul and Silas were invited to stay as guests in Lydia’s house and use it as their base of operations.
So, one good thing happened.
But then…
The demon possessed slave girl
Beaten and thrown into jail
Sang songs in jail until an earthquake opened all the doors
The Roman jailer and family came to know Jesus
And, at the end of a series of missteps and mishaps, of everything going wrong that could go wrong, Paul planted his first church in Europe, with a rich woman who sold purple stuff, a formerly demon-possessed slave girl, and a Roman jailer.
And, we know that things didn’t stop going wrong then because this letter that we’re going to study together over the next few months was written from inside a Roman prison, from which Paul would never escape.
Philippi – The Roman colony: A toxic environment
Throughout his letter, Paul refers to people who oppose the Philippian church, and while we don’t know specifically what he was referring to, we can make some educated guesses based on what we know of the city of Philippi
Won in a battle between Octavian (Caesar Augustus) and Brutus (assassin of Julius Caesar)
Repopulated with soldiers from Octavian’s army (100,000 men)
Granted “colony” status, which meant that each citizen of Philippi was officially a Roman citizen, with all the rights and privileges of someone born and living in Rome.
Fiercely patriotic; Augustus as “Lord and Savior”
Why does all that matter?
In the four short chapters of this letter, Paul refers to Jesus as “the Christ” (divine king) more than in any of his other books and refers to him as both Lord and Savior.
This no accident: Paul is clearly reminding them that their allegiance to Jesus supersedes their allegiance to Caesar
He makes this clear in chapter 3 where he reminds them that their citizenship is in heaven and that they await a “Savior” from there.
You see, the claim at the center of the Gospel message is that Jesus is King. Not simply a personal Savior who ensures for us the best life possible, but the Lord of all creation, before whom, Paul says in this letter, ever knee will bow.
And, if Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not. There are real-world ramifications to the Gospel message.
The Christians in Philippi lived in an environment that was actively opposed to their identities in Christ.
This made working out/living out their Christian identities difficult and confusing.
Thus, Paul’s repeated exhortation that they continue to do so.
The Church: Inner conflict
Finally, we only know a couple of things about this church.
Paul loved them a lot
This is his most glowing letter
He refers to them in another letter as the most generous church
They were not perfect: they had normal conflicts within the daily life of the church.
We don’t know what they were, but they are the kind of thing that is to be expected when people do life together.
Conflict is inevitable.
Wounds due to that conflict are inevitable as our broken edges rub up against one another.
If you’ve never been somewhat annoyed by your church, you’re not in deep enough.
The point of this whole history lesson:
Sometimes your plans don’t work out; in fact, sometimes they go horribly wrong over and over again. Sometimes, the world is dark and difficult and confusing. It is often even oppositional to your faith, demanding from you an allegiance that rightfully belongs to Jesus alone, and we will need to work hard to work out our identities as followers of Jesus. Sometimes, even church is difficult as we have conflicts and navigate life together.
Now, do you see why we’ve chosen this book. They’re us!
We’re all Paul: our plans are constantly falling apart/
We’re the Philippians: in a toxic environment, navigating tensions in the world and in the Church.
The author is us. The audience is us. That means there’s a better than average change that the contents will have something to say to us as well.
The book of Philippians: What does it have to say to us?
We’re going to hear a lot more in the coming weeks about the contents of this book, but for today, I’ll summarize the contents with a single verse out of the first chapter of Philippians:
…he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)
In other words, even when…
Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong
The world is dark and difficult and confusing and actively opposes our identity and mission as the free people of God.
Church is hard work as we navigate diversity and the conflict that inevitably arises from it.
Even then, Jesus is building His church
Which means that, even in the most impossible of circumstances, growth and impact is possible.
This was the point of the Finding Freedom in the Wilderness series, and we’re saying it all again.
We don’t need to settle for simply surviving this season. We can grow. All the darkness does is provide backdrop against which we, in the words of this book, “shine like stars in the universe as we hold out the word of life.”
Yes, sometimes our plans fall apart, but look at what was accomplished through Paul’s plans falling apart.
He planted the first church in Europe
In the first chapter of this letter, he said that Roman prison guards were hearing the Gospel of Jesus (story of Benjamin)
Also, in the first chapter, he says that people who are trying to stir up trouble for him are actually furthering the cause of Christ by preaching the Gospel.
Even when all of your plans fall apart, you cannot lose.
Yes, sometimes (often), the world is dark and difficult and confusing, but Paul says, if we preserve, if we press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus.
What does the racing metaphor that Paul uses here (and elsewhere) tell us?
That the greater the adversity, the greater the glory.
The athlete who perseveres through adversity is always greater than the one for whom circumstances were ideal (Derek Redmond, if time allows)
Perseverance for us means:
Clinging steadfastly to the Lordship of Jesus
Stubbornly continuing in the way of life that He taught us
Practicing counter-cultural virtues (humility, unity, joy)
By the power of the Holy Spirit
As we keep Jesus the center of our focus, He will transform us more and more into His image in front of the watching world. We will be conspicuously free.
Yes, sometimes there is conflict and tension within the Church, but the call is still unity.
Paul speaks of the church as “contending together as one person for the sake of the Gospel,” and this means that we stay in it together.
We often talk about church as family, and in this season we are wanting to grow in our understanding of this reality, and this means that we are going to have to choose one another over and over again.
It doesn’t mean that everything will be easy.
It doesn’t mean that we will always agree.
It doesn’t mean that we will always be comfortable.
In fact, if it meant all of those things, the Church would have on impact whatsoever. If we all just got along all the time, what kind of a testimony would that be to a world that is struggling with hard relationships?