Philippians 1

This Sunday we began a series from Paul's letter to the Philippians. As a kind of introduction we considered the passage from Acts, Luke's account of the embryonic beginning of the church at Philippi. In Acts 16:11-15, Paul, on what is commonly referred to as his second missionary journey, met a group of Jewish women living in Philippi. Because there was no synagogue in Philippi (the likely reason being that there were not the required 10 men needed to form a synagogue) the women worshipped and prayed by the river. Having sought them out according to his pattern of bringing the good news of Jesus to the Jew first and then to the Gentile, Paul preached the meaning of Jesus' life, death and resurrection to Lydia and her friends. Lydia, a merchant and a woman of some means, converted, and invited the disciples to stay in her home; in her home the church at Philippi was born.

We think Paul's' visit that resulted in the birth of this church was around 50 AD and we think that the letter, Philippians, was written when he was imprisoned in Rome, about 62 AD. I mentioned in the homily that I was very enthusiastic about moving through this letter with our Grace Chicago Church community because it was a letter to a relatively young church; I expect us to find lots of practical exhortations in Philippians that will find resonance with our Grace Chicago community!

One of the approaches I intend to use in moving through this letter is to ask of it this question: what clues does it offer us as to what a healthy church community looks like. When we approached its opening verses this Sunday looking for these clues here are some of the things we noted.

Paul's thanksgiving for the Philippians offered us our first clue. "I thank my God every time I remember you". It is hard to imagine Paul not having in mind here the initial hospitality received from Lydia and her household, for it is certainly there where we find the birth of this church (see the passage in Acts referred to above). When God's grace is experienced it begets hospitality and without hospitality the gospel does not flourish in any community. Paul tells us that he is also thankful for the Philippians sharing in his ministry of the gospel from the first day forward to the present. The word sharing is the translation often offered in this passage of the Greek word, koinonia, or things in common. It is the word we often translate into fellowship but here it could just as well be translated, "partner with". What he is really thanking the Philippians for is there partnership with him in the ministry of the gospel; in other words, they were more than cheer-leaders, more than sympathetic with the cause - they were invested with their lives and resources (c.f. 2 Cor. 8:1vv.).

Finally, we noted that Paul's motivation to the Philippians to keep on keeping on is all of grace and hope (I am confident that he who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ). It is the constancy of God's grace that sustains us as we look to him to enable us to embody these characteristics of being hospitable and being vested partners in the work of the gospel.

Questions for discussion:

1. What does Philippians 1:6 teach you about how to view your life in its various seasons? How can we appropriate in the midst of our mundane life this hope in the promise of God's future? Does Paul's writing of these words of encouragement so early in this letter tell us anything about what we need to hear on a regular basis?

2. What does it look like for you to give hospitality to others? What form does it take? How often do you practice hospitality to others? Do you like practicing hospitality or is it a struggle? How can you find a way to do it so that it blesses you and those who receive it?

3. What does it mean to be a partner in the gospel? How is being a partner different from being sympathetic with the cause and cheering it on? Of what benefit is being a partner for the person who is vesting herself? How would you know if you are actually partnering with the ministry of the gospel (what things could you point to that would tell you that you were?)?