Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
--Philippians 4:4-7
Paul had told the Philippian Christians in a letter, how
fondly he thought of them. In Chapter 1
of his letter Paul even said every time he remembered them, he thanked God for
them. They were close to his heart, as
his writing shows, and he wanted them to know how their spirit of joy in the
Lord had become a blessing to Paul personally.
Bear in mind this was a church in Philippi to which Paul was
writing. Paul had written letters to
churches before, so the fact that Philippian Christians got a letter from Paul
isn't that extraordinary. In writing to
other churches, it was sometimes to
address specific problems a church was having, or to instruct church leaders or
preachers how they can deal with problems in the churches they served.
None of this is to say the people which comprised the
Philippian church were perfect. They
were still people with struggles and difficulties common to human life. Yet there was something about these people
that brought about joy and an eagerness to know and experience every aspect of
the Christian life.
Yes, Paul had some instructions for them. As an example, he
encouraged them to let the mind of Christ be duplicated in their own
lives. He reminded them that Jesus took
on human form, emptying himself of his divine nature, and took on the form of a
servant. That's where we also are
encouraged to take on the servant attitude in our relationships with others. Sometimes that takes a lot of humility on our
part. But Paul makes sure we remember Jesus who humbled himself to death on a
cross.
His letter contains warnings about evil doers, and
especially about human tendency to be motivated by the flesh. We all need to be reminded that regardless of
our accomplishments, they are insignificant when compared to what Jesus can
accomplish through his people.
I've often wondered what kind of letter Paul might write to
our churches today. Would there be
wrongdoing that needed to be addressed?
Are there specific sins which Paul would need to discuss? Or would he have pleasant thoughts about our
churches and their work, like he did for the Philippians? The verses above from Chapter 4 are near the
end of his letter. He mentions attitudes
like thanksgiving, and gentleness, and peace.
Every church could use good doses of those attitudes. It's no wonder Paul smiled as he wrote to the
Philippians.
<ronbwriting@gmail.com>
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