Psalm 31:15
My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder”
Four years. That’s how long it had been since Paul last visited the churches at Philippi. Imprisonment separated him from the relationships he so cherished; fellowship with his spiritual children. Remarkably, in that time, the churches grew. And, they remembered Paul. In the first few verses, Paul gives us a wonderful picture of the kind of people make up the fellowship at Philippi. In verse one, he refers to them as ‘holy people’. In verse six, he makes note of their ten year ‘partnership’ in the gospel. This speaks to a church that is focused on the purposes of the Kingdom of God. In verse one, Paul recognizes two distinct levels of leadership in this fellowship, and the fact that he addresses the ‘overseers’ (plural) indicates that there is peer to peer accountability built into the highest level of these churches. This appears to be a very healthy fellowship in spite of Paul’s extended absence. Now take a moment and re-read verses four through eight very slowly. You get a real sense of how deeply Paul cares about body of believers. He loves them, he cares for them, he longs deeply for them. All of this speaks to the passion and intimacy.
Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Genesis 50:20
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Psalm 40:16
Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.
“It’s not about me”
Now Paul turns his attention to some of the concerns on the hearts of the Philippians. It seems that some have come into their midst preaching Christ out of envy and contention. They justify their actions by pointing to Paul’s imprisonment, intimating that Paul must, somehow, been outside of God’s will. By contrast, Paul takes the high road. Separated from this beloved fellowship by years and miles, Paul maintains he same hopeful perspective with which he opened this letter. After all, it’s not about him, not really. It’s always about Jesus. Always. The beauty of Paul’s response is that he demonstrates the attitude that the Philippians and we should follow: take no offense at the hurt words directed towards him, keep Jesus first and finally, no matter the circumstances, praise God. Rejoice in the Lord.
Philippians 1:21
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
2 Peter 1:13
Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
A personal perspective
Seven Thirty in the morning on this past New Year’s day, I was awakened by moderately severe chest pains. Let me give you a little background. My dad suffered his fist massive heart attack at age thirty five. By age forty four, he had suffered two more. Additionally, several of my uncles died from heart related issues. So, for me, chest pain is not taken lightly. This particular pain radiated from behind my breastbone, through my shoulders and neck and down my back between my shoulder blades. In addition, my right hand turned cold and tingly. “Is this it?”, I wondered. I got out of bed and started moving around to try to get comfortable. It didn’t work. I moved from place to place around the house, trying to find something that would work, a place where I could be comfortable, but to no avail. Nothing worked. After a few long moments, I decided that it was time to start looking ahead, preparing for an eventual outcome. First things first; time to ‘make peace with my Maker’. Have any of you ever faced a situation so packed with uncertainty that it brought you to this point? Illness or accident? Maybe you’re a veteran of military service? My wife has had two encounters with cancer, but for me, this was a first. Let me tell you that, for me, the process took all of a very … few seconds. After all, Christ settled it for me at the cross. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. During my journey as a believer, I’ve faced my share of uncertain circumstances, illness, finances, relocation; real challenges. In a few of those situations, not all but, a few, I really received an unction (thanks Rachel), an assurance from the Holy Spirit that everything was going to be okay. Oftentimes, I’ve found that before I could find a place in my spirit to pray about a circumstance, God would answer. In fact, not only would God answer in assurance, but He would prompt me, by His Spirit, to rejoice, to thank Him for the victory. That was the case on this day. In just a very few seconds, the Holy Spirit reminded me that “to die is gain”.
Okay, so now what? It occurred to me that, if I wasn’t going to die, then the longer I continued in this condition, the greater the risk that my quality of life going forward might be affected, if, in fact, I was having a heart attack. So as much as I didn’t want to spend New Year’s Day in the emergency room (this will have been my third time since 1990 for various issues), I got my son to drive me to the emergency room. At that point my motivation was that I desired to be the husband and father that I can be to my wife and children for as long as the Lord allows. It was time to go see about myself. As it turns out, what I was suffering from was acute bronchitis. Not to be taken lightly. I’ve had problems with bronchitis and pneumonia over the last several years, but never an episode like this. But, the good news was (is) that I wasn’t going to die of a heart attack last Wednesday. Halleluiah!
Paul had not seen the people to whom he was writing for some time, maybe as long as four years. In that he was literally bound (chained) to stand before Cesar, it was uncertain that he would ever behold their faces again. Yet, what could he do besides remain hopeful and faithful. Why would he communicate any other thing to these believers at Philippi? Why wouldn’t he remind them that what awaits us exceeds our greatest imaginations? And yet, having resolved that eventuality within his spirit, his heart immediately turns to these believers and the thought that for as long as Christ allowed him to remain, he would use that time to their benefit. Not only did his continuing faithfulness abound to their benefit, it abounds to ours. Thank you Father, for your servant Paul. I’ll close with this thought. For as long as the Lord allows us to remain, Let us follow Paul’s example, as he followed the example of Christ.
Blessings,
.wb
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