First Lutheran Church
September 27, 2020
Philippians Series + Chapter One
Philippians 1:3-11; 18b-30
3 I thank my God every time I remember you, 4 constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, 5 because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10 to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, 11 having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance. 20 It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. 23 I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; 24 but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. 25 Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, 26 so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.
27 Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, 28 and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God’s doing. 29 For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well— 30 since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
Sermon “Philippians Chapter One - Joy From Prison”
Today we begin our four-part sermon series, following the appointed epistle readings for the Season of Pentecost, - the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians. The four parts of the series will cover the four chapters of the book. Today we begin at the beginning, with Philippians Chapter One!
Paul writes this letter to the Church in Philippi, a Roman Colony in Macedonia. Paul, along with Timothy and Silas, founded the Church at Philippi during his second missionary journey. And his relationship with the members of this community is marked by a special affection and deep longing, as evident in the opening verses of the letter.
And it’s important to note that Paul writes this letter - from prison. Paul does not indicate where he is being imprisoned, tradition holds that he was in Rome. However, since he was imprisoned on a more than a few occasions during this time period, we cannot be certain of the exact location. But nonetheless, it is important to remember that he was in prison when he wrote this letter. And it’s very important that we understand this context, for it is from this setting that the words penned by Paul find their incredible depth and meaning. Words that bring The Word into our life today.
Paul was in prison a lot! In the last quarter of the book of Acts we find Paul imprisoned in Jerusalem, Caesarea, and ultimately in Rome. He is imprisoned on a boat that becomes shipwrecked. Sometimes he was under house arrest and other times he was in shackles. He was treated respectfully, and he was beaten and abused. The letters of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon were all written from prison. And finally, Second Timothy was also written from prison—likely Paul’s final imprisonment in Rome prior to his death sentence and execution.
Paul was in prison a lot, imprisoned for living out his faith and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And yet with each shake down and lock up, despite strict confinement and harsh treatment, under physical punishment, and in the face of the constant threat of death; Paul’s faith becomes stronger, his witness - bolder, his peace - deeper, and his proclamation and testament to “joy” - more profound.
Which brings us back to Paul’s letter to the Philippians and its over-arching theme, “joy.” “Joy” is found in each chapter of this letter. Paul mentions “joy” and “rejoice” sixteen times. Paul speaks of his joy, Paul points to the joy of Christ, and Paul exhorts us to live joyfully, to rejoice at all times and in all things. Together over the next four weeks we will return back to this theme time and time again, to “joy” as understood and experienced by Paul. Each chapter will give us a new opportunity to think about joy in a different way, as we continue to unpack this wonderfully deep theological word.
Today, in chapter one, we are reminded that Paul speaks of “joy” while he is suffering in prison. From prison, Paul challenges us to make a distinction between joy and happiness, a distinction we don’t always make in our use of the language. And this may be a bit of a challenge for us, for in common English usage, (and even in the Greek,) the word for joy and happiness are pretty much interchangeable. But that can’t be in the case of Paul, nobody speaks of being “happy” in prison. So it is that “joy” must mean something different to Paul. Today we are reminded that the “joy” of which Paul speaks comes from a deeper place than mere happiness. Once again, Paul speaks of “joy” while sitting in prison! He wants to invite us into a deeper experience, a deeper experience of faith in Christ. C.S. Lewis spoke of this peace when he wrote, “Joy must be sharply distinguished both from happiness and from pleasure.” The 19th Century British hymn writer H.H. Lemmel wrote, “Happiness happens, but joy abides in the heart that is stayed on Jesus.” Over the next four weeks we will be exploring and unpacking this “joy.”
And we will be doing this in a time of pandemic; a time of social distancing which has required us to separate from each other by wearing masks, standing six feet apart, engaging behind plexiglass barriers, visiting over the phone, worshipping with zoom, and even being quarantined at home. And while I know it’s not really fair to compare our current experience to Paul’s experience in prison, (our social distancing mandates can’t begin to compare with life in a First Century prison,) sometimes it feels like the Coronavirus has imprisoned us. When it all began that was the language we used, we went into “lockdown.”
So, what can we learn from Paul, from his letter written from jail to the Church at Philippi? What did Paul have to say when he found his life put on “pause?” What did Paul do when he was forced into “social isolation?” What did Paul proclaim and believe in the face of death?
In chapter one these words jump out at me, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” In this time of Pandemic, when everything feels like it’s been put on hold, when some things feel like they may have ended permanently; I am hopeful that the good work that God has begun in me is not over, that the good work that God has begun in you is not over, and that the good work that God has begun in us is not over. There are times when I am tempted to proclaim and believe the opposite, in the midst of this pandemic I am want to say, “I have no faith, that all the things I have been working on, all the things we have been working on together here at First Lutheran, will survive this pandemic and the mandates of social isolation.” Yet Paul, in a much worse, so much worse situation, is confident, “that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion.” Still, that is not an easy conclusion to trust. The future is uncertain.
We keep hearing that things will never go back to the old normal, and this can be cause for lament. But it doesn’t have to be just that! It doesn’t mean life is over! It just means that things will change. We are a people who believe in death and resurrection! We are a people that believe that God is at work in us bringing about a new creation! We are not a people who are condemned to the past but a people with a desire for the Kingdom that comes! The Pandemic has changed things, and we will miss some of those things, and yes we will need to mourn those losses; yet ultimately I believe Paul would have us “rejoice” in the deeper patterns of faith, the more profound patterns that are always present in the life of faith, to see in death – new life. This pandemic may leave some things in ashes, but it is out of the ashes that new life rises up, just as Christ was raised up from the grave, just as we too have all been raised up in his death and resurrection. The future may be uncertain, but the truth of death and resurrection remains!
We begin our journey through the book of Philippians with Paul sitting in prison. And at first glance this setting looks very direr and hopeless. Yet Paul, even under the threat of death, is filled with “joy.” The joy that is life in Christ. And he wants to share the source of this joy with us. May we, living in our own prisons, living in our own time of uncertainty, living in the midst of change, living in the fear of the unknown; be filled with that same “joy.” Let us be of the same mind in boldly proclaiming, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you, (among us,) will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.”
Be filled with faith, hope, peace, and joy, for the Spirit is at work among us even now, even in the midst of life and death, ushering in the Kingdom of God. Amen.