What Really Matters

 

Philippians 1:3-11   Common English Bible

I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers. I’m thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy. I’m glad because of the way you have been my partners in the ministry of the gospel from the time you first believed it until now. I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus. I have good reason to think this way about all of you because I keep you in my heart. You are all my partners in God’s grace, both during my time in prison and in the defense and support of the gospel. God is my witness that I feel affection for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.

This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight. I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. I pray that you will then be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God.

 

Over the next seven weeks we will be overwhelmed in the worst of our country.

For the last half decade or so, elections haven't been about what unites us as a nation, but have rather sought to instill fear and loathing into the electorate.

This is not a critique of the Democratic party or the Republican party --- it is a critic of what has become of our democracy.

As a result of what Bob Greising referred to yesterday as the "silly season" I want us to spend time with Paul and his relationship with the people of Philippi.

This is a beautiful letter

          People that Paul seems to have a close and personal relationship with

                   Gordon Fee in his commentary on the letter calls it a "letter of friendship"

I know I said this in my article on Thursday --- but I want to emphasis it again

          I encourage you to read this little letter each week

Even better if you can take the time to read it in a different translation

          You can find different versions at Biblegateway.com

          It is a short letter --- only 4 chapters long

Just briefly, let me share a little history of the Church at Philippi and this letter

If you remember from the book of Acts chapter 16 (16:6- 12 The Message)

They went to Phrygia, and then on through the region of Galatia. Their plan was to turn west into Asia province, but the Holy Spirit blocked that route. So they went to Mysia and tried to go north to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus wouldn’t let them go there either. Proceeding on through Mysia, they went down to the seaport Troas. 

That night Paul had a dream: A Macedonian stood on the far shore and called across the sea, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” The dream gave Paul his map. We went to work at once getting things ready to cross over to Macedonia. All the pieces had come together. We knew now for sure that God had called us to preach the good news to the Europeans.

Putting out from the harbor at Troas, we made a straight run for Samothrace. The next day we tied up at New City and walked from there to Philippi, the main city in that part of Macedonia and, even more importantly, a Roman colony. We lingered there several days.

This was the farthest west that Paul had ventured to this point in his ministry.

Philippi was a small city in the first century C.E. --- most suggest a population of around 10,000 inhabitants.

But it was an important city

• Philippi was located at the far eastern end of a large fertile plain in central Macedonia
• It was situated on the Via Egnatia --- the main east west road between Byzantium (Constantinople) and the major sea port of Adriatic sea --- thus access to Rome

By the time of Paul, Philippi was a Roman City and the urban political center of the eastern end of the plain.

There is strong consensus that this letter was actually written by Paul, quite possibly from Rome somewhere around 60-62 CE.

There is some scholarly debate that this is actually a number of letters that over time were edited together.

          For our purposes, I don't see much importance to that sidenote 

It is fun reading, studying and meditating on this Letter of Paul's to the Philippians while also engaging in a study of The Book of Joy --- because in many ways this is a letter of joy!

One of the reasons Paul writes this letter is to say thanks for a gift that has been sent to him while he is imprisoned in Rome.

(Philippians 4:10-20 selected  The Message)

I’m glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you’re again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. . . . I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don’t mean that your help didn’t mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles.

You Philippians well know, and you can be sure I’ll never forget it, that when I first left Macedonia province, venturing out with the Message, not one church helped out in the give-and-take of this work except you. You were the only one. Even while I was in Thessalonica, you helped out—and not only once, but twice. . . . 

The gifts you sent with Epaphroditus were more than enough, like a sweet-smelling sacrifice roasting on the altar, filling the air with fragrance, pleasing God no end.

Paul is grateful and filled with joy --- and he wants us to be as well.

Oftentimes when I begin working on a sermon, especially if I am going to preach through a book of the bible like I am with Philippians --- I read the text and see what jumps out at me.

As I read Philippians --- I felt the spirit pushing and pulling me in a number of ways.

But in this first half of the first chapter of Philippians --- one phrase just leapt out at me: "This is my prayer . . .that you will be able to decide what really matters"

What is it that really matters?

          Is it the same thing today as it was when Paul wrote this letter?

Let's look more closely at this section of Paul's letter.  I want to focus in on verses 9-11

This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight. I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. I pray that you will then be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God.

Paul seems to be suggesting that there are three particular things that he is praying for the people of Philippi

First: “that your love might become more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight.”

There are some who believe that this refers to the love which the Philippians were to have for each other.

Paul is praying that the followers of Jesus in Philippi would get along better with each other 

There is no question that Jesus calls us to love one another, and that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Paul suggests the same thing when he writes in his letter to the Thessalonians said: (1 Thessalonians 3:12  CEB)

May the Lord cause you to increase and enrich your love for each other and for everyone in the same way as we also love you.

And if you have read the whole letter you know that Paul addresses some of the bickering that was going on amongst the followers of Jesus.

But I don't that that is what Paul is trying to get across when he prays that our: "love might become more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight."

I believe that what Paul really wants is for us to grow in love more deeply with God.

And a love that is not simply an emotional attachment, but also one in the head.

          Paul wants our heads and our hearts aligned with God.

Today, I think we are better at filling our heads with knowledge and struggle with filling our hearts.

          But we need both!

Paul knows that they already love God --- he is not questioning that --- what Paul desires is for them --- and us --- to let our love grow deeper and wider.

Deeper so that we can see the things that God sees

Wider so that we can embrace the kindom that God desires.

The second prayer of Paul's is that we "will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ."

This, for me, is the crux of the passage.

Paul is praying that the Philippians --- and you and I --- will be able to discern what is most important.

The Phillips translation puts it like this: “I want you to be able always to recognize the highest and the best.”

As we move into this "silly season" is there anything more important?

Every day life is filled with difficult decisions.

Every day we face a myriad of choices

not just between good and bad,

but between sort of good and not much better,

between not great and not any better.

If life's choices were between good and bad or better and best it would be easy.

          But it is not always an easy task to decide which choice we should make.

Danish theologian/philosopher Soren Kierkegaard told a modern day parable about thieves who broke into a jewelry store at night.

Instead of stealing anything, they merely switched the price tags, putting high-value tickets on costume jewelry and bargain tags on premium gems.

Sometimes that is what it feels like in our world today

          the value of things are all mixed up       

                   things that are valuable --- aren’t given much importance

                   And things that are not as significant are highly valued

But Paul is harkening back to Jesus in calling us to kindom values and not our own.

Jesus looked at the world's values and declared them to be upside down.

All of the price tags were wrong.

How did Jesus define greatness?

          The biggest house?

          The heftiest bank account?

          How many titles we have?

NO

Jesus said that greatness is found in service.

          Self sacrifice is how one saves one’s life.

          The first will be last the last will be first.

Do I need to go on?  Jesus certainly did.

Jesus turns our values upside down and Paul's' prayer is that we can see what really matters!

Paul prays that we will know what really matters so that we "will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ."

Paul believed that Jesus was coming back soon --- today even.

How would our choices change if we really believed that Jesus might return NOW and hold us accountable?

Do we even think that way when we buy things made from sweatshops or when we don't think twice about the damage we are causing to the earth?

Paul wants us to care

          To care about what we value

                   are they even the right things?

Paul wants us to care

          About how we do business

          About how we spend our money

          About how we vote

Because he believes that we will be held accountable for what we do --- and what we don't.

And then he concludes this section with one more prayer for us: "that you will be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God."

You see for Paul ---

when we take seriously what really matters ---

when that becomes the focus of our lives ---

we are filled with the fruits of the spirits.

In his letter to the Galatians (5:22-23 CEB), Paul tells us about the fruits of the spirit.

the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

That is Paul's prayer for the people of Philippi and it is his prayer for us today

Are we willing to focus in on what really matters to God --- or what matters to us?

You are probably familiar with the short poem from Benjamin Franklin found in the 1758 version of Poor Richard's Almanac under the title “A little neglect may breed mischief”

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.

For want of a horse, the rider was lost.

For want of a rider, the battle was lost

For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost,

All for the want of a horseshoe nail.

While it is popularly attributed to Franklin, the proverb is actually far older

          variations of it can be found dating back to the 14th century.

The story has survived so long, and been shared so widely, because it illustrates a universally recognized truth: everything is connected to everything else.

Little dysfunctions, if ignored, compound to larger ones.

          The untended stray thread will eventually lead to an unraveling of the whole.

          Water drops, given time, can wear away holes in solid rock.

And little unaddressed imbalances in our society can steadily erode our unity, and eventually lead to a host of much more serious problems.

This is the truth that Paul proclaims in this prayer.

And for Paul --- the starting point is pretty simple,

You have to start with a love for God.

If there is no love, there will be no sense of what is vital.

          If there is no sense of what is vital, there will be no pure and blameless life.

          If there is no pure and blameless life, there will be no glorifying God.

It all begins with our love for God.

Remember what happened one someone asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was? 

His answer tells us what really matters.   (Matthew 22:36-39 NRSV)

‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

I pray that you will be able to decide what really matters and will be found blameless on the day that Jesus returns.