Philippians 1:12-27
What does it mean to be confined as a Christian? This week Tom draws a parallel from Paul's time under house arrest and the current social distancing that we are all experiencing.
Freedom When We Are Closed In
The Holy Spirit and the Gift of Life
Walking with a God of Wild Surprise
My first sermon, 55 yrs ago, was on Mic 6:6-8. I loved its poetry, call to simple, powerful transformation: Justice, Hesed, a humble walk with God. Challenging. The wild card, explosion is in that phrase “walk with God.” God surprises! A surprise may be announced in advance, but is of such character that no one can believe it’s really coming.
Pentecost is the great surprise. When leaders of Israel and Gentiles combined to destroy God’s Messiah – who embodies Israel, humanity, God – what’s the last thing God would do? Pour out God’s own self – Spirit – life on these people. Claim their evil deed as his own. Help them to change their thinking (repent) and be plunged into the one they crucified. Forgive them! Make them into a new inclusive – all humanity – community of Grace.
Beautiful Life
Philippians 4:4-13
Think Focused. Think Large!
Paul has urged us to think about what happened in Jesus: Hymn in 2:5-11. Think this one thing. Reason: What God said by raising and exalting Jesus was God defining the very nature of God in a new way. Yes, there have always been ways of feeling after God in sacrifices, vows, temples, myths, liturgies, care for ancestors, etc. But God chose to define God’s self by emptying, becoming human, no ordinary power, signs of care and the depth of reality, humbling, slave, death, cross. This human is God’s own self- expression! This self-giving love, service, empathy in a broken world – God, Lord!
This is your lens to bring everything into focus. (Very different from rigorous orthodoxy.) No matter who you are: Actor, mechanic, financier, social worker, educator, CEO. But through that lens you see everything. In a world of Hubble one; we need Hubble two.
Whatever is true. What a category! God is the center of reality and everything that’s true is in some way related to God, revealing the reality God built into the world. The world is open for exploration, science, history, literature, social research. Scientific method can’t have God as an object, but God includes science. Physicist, biologist, poet, creator.
Often what is true is not good, especially about humans. In literature, history, psychology, art, etc., we try to understand the potent mix of bad & good in us. True, not distorted.
Whatever is beautiful.... The bad tends to control the images & talk. We’re drawn in. In a world of slavery, conquest, no human rights, Paul says stay true to what’s deeply true.
Knowing Jesus in his Resurrection
Philippians 2:12-13; 3:7-16
Jesus – Resurrected but Unrecognized
Paul writes to the believers in Philippi from a hard situation: he’s in prison and they’refacing persecution. It focuses the mind. He helps them think about life and death. He takes them into the core reality that brought him to them and changed their lives:
In Jesus God showed his self-giving love concretely. By raising the human Jesus from death, God shouted that Jesus taking our suffering is God’s very identity LORD/Yahweh.
But really grasping the meaning of resurrection has always been hard. The Gospel resurrection narratives point to this by recounting how disciples often could not recognize Jesus. Road to Emmaus: prod, scripture, bread. Mary Magdalene: name! We live with death. New glorious physical life beyond death is challenging. What does it mean? We snap back into old fears, old priorities. We lose who we are in Jesus. Paul leads the Philippians into knowing Jesus in his resurrection by modeling the path.
God’s Self-giving Glory – Life for Us
Philippians 2:1-11
Who is God? The Quest to Know God’s Glory
What does “God” mean? “We seek to worship and glorify God.” Sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, glorious beyond imagination. Does that carry over to his people? Paul is in a center of emperor worship: God is real power, Augustus, Rome, empire.
Or is God exalted far from human life, distant watchmaker, maybe breaks in with miracles.
Paul’s been dealing with his own chains and the Philippians’ suffering. Do they belong to a glorious God? The true God? Then why chains? Why not empire? Where’s God’s glory when you’re in prison, your family in danger. Paul models, challenges, guides.
He describes a way of life focused on a way of thinking – community in Messiah Jesus. He leads them into a hymn about Jesus centered on the remarkable journey from “God’s form” and “equality with God” to “death on a cross.” But the hymn is not just about Jesus. It is about God and God’s glory. Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation by God is God’s most emphatic and defining statement about God’s identity. Jesus is graced with God’s own name “LORD” (Kurios) the translation of Yahweh. God calls for scripture to be read in a new way – to understand we must see where God is going.
Living the Good News of Jesus
Philippians 1:15 – 2:4
How Jesus’ Story becomes My Story
Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection are the climax of the whole event of Jesus among us. Jesus’ followers realized that this great event changed their perception of everything and everyone, including God and themselves and all creation. The NT is the record of their explorations of what it means to live in a world with Jesus’ cross and resurrection.
Paul brought Jesus’ whole story to Philippi. Jews, Pagans, women, slaves, Roman veterans, were drawn into a community. There was violent reaction, beating, prison, release. Paul left for other cities. Now he’s in prison in Ephesus. Philippi sent help, but worried.
Paul describes his situation, expressing the way being in Christ (Anointed King) shapes life, death, calm before opponents, hope. He proclaimed a new emperor in a center of Roman power and doesn’t back down. He wants more boldness: To live is Christ.
The diverse believers in Philippi experience persecution. He wants them to stand firm,
but how? Everything they see around them says no. Paul moves from how his own life is shaped by Jesus to how their lives can experience the same power. The love that is the heart of Jesus – God’s self-giving love, our response in heart and action –becomes the lens that lets them see what really matters (1:9-10).
Hope for Life and More Life
Philippians 1:12-25
Learning the Joy of Faith in a World of Trouble
We focus on Philippians in this period between Easter and Pentecost: a time of Disciples beginning to grasp the reality and transformation of the resurrection. Paul is living and carrying that resurrection power into a world that had no grasp of it – Roman cities.
Paul is in Ephesus and writes to Philippi. Both were cities of Roman government. Ephesus, capital of Roman Asia, center of Artemis and Emperor worship. Jewish community, culture, magic, riots, etc. Luke shows complex situation. Philippi was a Roman colony. Little Jewish presence, but strong patriotism to Rome. Close relation to Paul.
What happened? Paul is in prison/chains in Ephesus. His Roman citizenship got him out of jail in Philippi, but not in Ephesus. Paul is in danger of execution. Paul has both supporters and enemies (Demetrius). Believers have become bolder. Paul’s friends are in danger. Many people are talking about this King that Paul proclaims!
Fear, Faith, and Love: “Don’t Worry!” Looking at Life with Anxiety
Philippians 4:4-7,11-13
Anxiety, Vulnerability and A Secret
Anxiety, worry, fear is a deep problem of human life. What can "Fearless" mean? Anxiety tends to point to uncertainty of many kinds. Often magnified in my own mind. Fear of loss of control or unfettered choice. I create worst case scenarios. Merging into anxiety disorders/phobias.
It's amazing that Paul in prison, uncertain of sentence, can say, "Don't be anxious about anything." Or that Jesus, talking to poor farmers and laborers, says "Don't be anxious about your life."
What can they mean? We all are vulnerable to death, disease, danger -- the human condition! Paul himself is explicit not only on the dangers he faced but also the worries that plagued him. We today are far healthier/wealthier/long-lived than ancients, but still we all worry and all die.
Living Worthy of the Gospel
Philippians 1:27-30
Amy preaches on Philippians 1:27-30 and recounts her experience being the first woman from the Church of Christ to deliver a keynote sermon at the ACU Lectures.
Jesus and the Third Rail
Philippians 2:1-11
Community of Hope Sunday message led by Carl Garrison, minister to the community of hope. The podcast opens with a testimony from Carol, a member of the Community of Hope.