Philippians 1:3-11
3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
7It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Christian Confidence: Connect to People; Caused by Christ
About a year and a half ago I got an email from Pastor Bruce Mueller of First Lutheran Church in Gary, SD. He was working on compiling congregational histories to commemorate what we’re celebrating today – the 100th anniversary of the Dakota-Montana District of our Wisconsin Synod. What he wanted me (and all the other pastors of the district) to do was to write a brief history of our congregation here – St. Peter in St. Albert – and to help us out he attached to that email a copy of the histories from the 75th anniversary back in 1995.
I clicked on the attachment and this was the very first page that greeted me:
It is the history of Apostles Lutheran Church in Billings, Montana, which just happens to be where I grew up!
I was there 25 years ago. I remember playing hide-and-go-seek and getting yelled at for using the church sign as my hiding spot. I remember climbing the stone wall on this front corner of the church and pretending that I was summitting Mt. Everest. I spent 8 years going to school in this one room, looking out these windows while I learned my ABCs and my multiplication table. I used these two fence posts as the goal posts for when we’d play street hockey in the parking lot.
This was my home for 10 years of my life, from the time that I was 5 to the time that I was 15. This was my pastor – a mustachioed man named Metzger (who infamously stopped a sermon midstream to yell at his son who was misbehaving in the front row). This is where I learned who Jesus was and how to sing hymns. This is where I was confirmed and came to the conclusion that someday I’d like to be a pastor too.
Even now, when I look at these pictures, I feel butterflies in my stomach. I look back on that time with fondness and thankfulness in my heart to God. I wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t been for that church, and I don’t mean the building with the best hiding spots or the conveniently hockey-rink-sized parking lot. I mean the people, e.g. the Sunday School teacher who taught me what it is to pray with faith, the grade school teacher who taught me how to put that faith into action on the playground and in the classroom, the youth group leader who kept me close to God when I was at that age where you can start to stray away, the 90-year-old organ tuner who demonstrated a heart of faithful service – he was never too old, too tired, too busy to serve his God or his brothers and sisters in Christ.
And that’s just my story within the last 25 years. What about the 70 other churches spread across 3 provinces and 5 states throughout the 100 years of our district? What if I turned the page and showed you this history?
Do you remember when St. Peter looked like that? Do you remember Pastor Rawertz, or Beyer or Habben or Deutschlander? Do you remember your Sunday School teachers, your youth group leader, the choir member who made you want to sing as loud as you could or the quiet member who was ready to help out however they could?
If you have any of those memories – with our or any other congregation – then you can understand Paul’s sentiment when he says to the Philippians,
“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”
The congregation in Philippi was special to Paul. It was the first church he established on the continent of Europe. No doubt he thought fondly of those first meetings down by the river with Lydia and the other ladies. No doubt he thought fondly of the jailer whose life he spared and who later became a leader. Paul had fond memories of his time in Philippi.
And yet, even the best church in all the world is not perfect, right? Even the best church has its foibles and follies, e.g. a split over church fellowship in the 80s, rifts caused by the redesign in the late aughts and early teens. Paul’s time in Philippi wasn’t perfect either. He was thrown into prison for driving a demon out of slave girl. He was run out of town for preaching the good news of Jesus. But he could still say,
“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.”
Why? Not because everything always went according to plan. Not because everyone always got along or always agreed on everything. But,
“because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”
The reason Paul found occasion to give thanks to God was because of the way that we get to be sharers of the good news of Jesus. Paul’s happiness was connected to those people, but it was caused by Christ. Jesus is the one who brought them all together under the unifying banner of the Gospel.
I don’t know that I’ve ever felt more alone or isolated or unsupported than I do today. It seems like every conversation I have – whether with a long-time friend or the nurse who checks me in at the clinic – I have to walk on eggshells because so much of our current affairs are explosive and polarizing. We’re approaching 8 months of quasi-quarantine where I haven’t seen my friends from rec league and sitting down for a cup of coffee and conversation isn’t as simple as it sounds.
But like Paul, I can thank God every time I remember you – not because we get to hang out all the time or share hobbies, not because we’re best friends or bosom buddies, but because we’re something better. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. We are partners in the Gospel. We are sharers in the grace of God.
Our gospel partnership is higher and nobler than ordinary earthly relationships, because it goes beyond our common interests, and extends into our common future in heaven. But all too often we treat our membership in a congregation or district too lightly. We treat our partnership in the Gospel as a burden or an obligation, i.e. something we have to do, rather than a precious privilege.
But that’s why Paul’s confidence in the Philippians didn’t come from Lydia or the jailer or any other member of that congregation. It came from Christ,
“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
The thing that brings us together is the gospel, i.e. the good news that Jesus is our Savior from sin. For the times that we have been lukewarm or downright cold toward each other, God has been nothing but warm to us. For your sins of selfishness and complacency God sacrificed his Son on a cross because he wasn’t content to lose you. God loved you so much that he gave up his Son to save you. And he loves you still more that he put you together to be partners in that gospel.
No Christian is alone. None of us is an island. We are connected by the forgiveness of our sins through the shedding of Jesus’ blood. We are united as sinners saved by grace, and we are brought into an eternal family that can survive any feud or challenge – not because we are strong, but because
“he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Paul’s joy as he remembers this congregation is connected to the people but is caused by Christ. Our thankfulness for what God has done among us – here in St. Albert, in Billings, Montana, in Gillette, Wyoming and Sioux Falls, South Dakota – isn’t because the pastors are so great; it isn’t because the members are so awesome. Our thankfulness stems from what God has done and will continue to do, no matter who is standing at this pulpit, sitting in those seats or watching online. God is the one who began the good work of sharing the gospel and he’ll continue to do that until the end of time no matter who is here.
But I will say that I’m glad it’s you. I thank God that I am partnered with you, here in this corner of God’s kingdom and at this time in human history. When and where else would be better to find shelter in the grace of God? We have this powerful message of comfort and hope and peace – of a God who is still in control while this world teeters on the brink, of a Savior who loves us despite who we are and promises us a future with him in heaven. We are partners not just in having the gospel, but in sharing it too.
And that’s where Paul’s prayer for the Philippians comes in:
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.
I look back on those 25-year-old pictures of Apostles in Billings 1,000 km away and I’m thankful that they have the same faith that we do, that I’ll get to introduce you to my old friends in heaven. I think about our conference chairman down in Livingston, Montana or our District President down in Rapid City, South Dakota and I’m thankful for their leadership and direction, for the cooperation and organization that goes into planting congregations and placing pastors. But I look at this passage and all I can see is you.
I see the work that God has begun in you. I see the fruits of righteousness that come through Jesus Christ, e.g. the commitment and diligence to still fill yourselves with God’s Word in-person or online, the generosity to support the ministry of the gospel with your offerings or, even more valuably, your time. You do have love – for God and for each other – already, but, like Paul, I pray for more.
I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight. See, love is more than just a feeling. Christian love between brothers and sisters is about more than just affection or compatibility. It’s a commitment based on faith. It’s an understanding that even if I wouldn’t strike up a conversation with you in a bar or invite you to my birthday party, I want to be there for you when you need me. I want to talk to you after worship and get to know you better. Better yet, I want to grow with you and learn from you as we study God’s Word together. I want to worship with you and raise our voices together in praise to our common God. I want to work with you, however I can, to share the Gospel of Christ with our community, so that 25 years from now when we update our congregation’s record in our district history book, we can look back with thanksgiving again at all the many ways God has blessed us and made us to be a blessing to others.
Give thanks, Christian friends, for what God has done for you and our district in the past, and as you pray for the future of our congregation and this corner of God’s kingdom on earth be confident that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Amen.