Philippians 2

Summary

Do you like to receive mail?  I do.  And I don’t mean credit card offers, or sales magazines or bills, or spam on e-mail, but rather real communication from another person in my life.  I don’t care if it is in the form of an e-mail or a handwritten letter on paper received in an envelope.  A letter, in whatever form, is an important way to continue a relationship over time and often distance.

Think about it, even Christmas cards and letters are a means of maintaining at least minimal relationship with a friend or family member.  A nice long e-mail sharing tales of a friend’s life is precious, and a bona fide handwritten letter found in your stack of mail containing good news, is a treasure.

Back in the early nineties I lived overseas for two short periods of time.  In ’92 I studied in Norway and in ’94 I lived in Mexico, if you think back both to those years in terms of electronic history, both stays happened pre-e-mail.  I am in that last generation of people who had to send and receive news via handwritten letter.  In Norway it took about a week to receive a letter from home, in Mexico it was much longer.  In both places waiting to receive a reply to a letter which I had sent, became almost unbearable.  Yet when I did receive a letter from family or a friend, I read it and then read it again immediately.  I took in the news like a parched man in the desert drinking water.  I remember sitting in my classroom in Oslo, Norway reading of a good friend’s wedding.  And in Mexico, I can recall reading a letter from my father telling me of his search for a job, while sweating in the heat of April. The words of each letter connected me in relationship to my family and friends who were so far away.  Their words of encouragement and love stayed with me, helping me especially through hard days or times of loneliness.

The Apostle Paul was a great letter writer.  As you probably know, much of the New Testament is comprised of his letters to various Christian churches scattered around the Roman Empire.  He was constantly sending words of encouragement and rebuke, teaching and guidance to the young congregations of people growing in their faith in Jesus Christ. In fact the past few weeks in Bible Study, we have read through and studied two of Paul’s early letters, Philemon, and First Thessalonians, letters of great importance to the early church.

Can you imagine how important these letters were to those whom received them?  The churches to which Paul wrote were trying to hold onto and grow, in their new found belief, in the Messiah.  They needed to hear again the good news, the gospel of Jesus, and have it presented more deeply and in new ways.  They also needed to continue to learn and be encouraged in how to live their day-to-day lives as Christians.

As I write of these first Christians needs, I realize that I am listing our true needs as well.  We too, need to hear again the gospel message of Christ’s life, death and resurrection.  We too, need to come to a deeper understanding in our faith.  We too need to continue to learn and be encouraged in how to live out our Christian faith day-to-day.

The almost surreal thing is, that our needs can be met by the same letters that fed the early Christian’s hunger to know and grow, to hear and be encouraged almost two thousand years ago.  We can read the same words of Paul today that our ancestors of faith eagerly awaited in the cities of Corinth, Ephesus, Rome, Galatia or Philippi, and, like them, we can be filled.

We can easily imagine what impact his letters had on the readers and hearers for it has the same impact today.

Paul’s letter to the Christians in Philippi, could be transposed to read, Paul’s letter to the American church in Oslo, for its news is as important for us, as it was to the Philippians. So we might imagine this morning’s passage comes from the second chapter of the book of Oslo-thians, or perhaps the proper term is Oslo-ites?

But no, really, listen to what Paul wrote for us to hear this morning, October 1st, 2017.  “When the time came, Jesus set aside the privileges of being God and took on the status of a slave, became human!  Having become human, he stayed human.  It was an incredibly humbling process.  He didn’t claim special privileges.  Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death – and the worst kind of death at that – a crucifixion.”

Paul is reminding us of the victory that Jesus won over our sin, sin which if not conquered can only result in our deaths.  That is unless someone powerful enough dies in our place, which Jesus did, setting us free in his love, an act by God that trumps any other act in the history of humankind.  This good news was the news first preached by Paul to the people in Philippi, and the gospel that he is encouraging them with in his letter, and you and me as well.

Paul helps us to see, that Jesus gives us freedom, freedom from fear, freedom from shame, freedom from despair.  When we read or hear the good news, we find that Jesus gives us freedom to live, truly live.  To truly live, means that because of our lack of fear, and shame and despair, we can look beyond ourselves to live in relationships of love with other people, and God.  God’s love teaches us that our future is eternal, and so we do not need to live selfishly for today.  That is pretty counter-cultural if you ask me, actually let me re-phrase that, it is counter-worldly. Life in the world is taught us as selfish, and me-first. “Give to yourself first! Look out for Number One! Be the best!”

Yet, that’s not what Jesus is teaching us either through his words, or especially through his actions. Rather, God’s love raises our eyes and our hearts to view the center of life as selfless relationships, rather than as selfishness and in the end, lonely fear.

We are sitting here today because we in some way have either experienced the love of God, or want to experience the love of God in our lives.  Either way, we want more. Perhaps we’re tired of the selfishness of the world, and the world’s creed that offers belief in: yourself, money, power, things, experiences…or, nothing.

Well, it’s good you’re here, for God in Christ Jesus, is offering you something else. God, the one and true God, is offering you love, which means you are being offered all that you ultimately could want or need. For in the end, God’s love is everything!

Open up your ears and your hearts to the words of Gods’ good news.  You can; read it in the letters of Paul and in the words and actions of Jesus, hear it in the words your pastor speaks when declaring God’s forgiveness into your life, feel it in the care of your family or friends and know it in your bones when meditating upon God’s promises for you.  Open yourself up, and experience God’s love. Experience all that God gives you in Christ Jesus. Experience new life forever!

Amen.

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