One might say our readings today are a God-incident or God-ronic. How else do we explain that these are our readings on Jim’s birthday the day after we celebrated his funeral? Oh, I know. A committee got together and chose readings for each Sunday during the church year. I made the choice that we were doing the history tract rather than the prophetic track during the season after Pentecost. People who are born have birthdays eventually die. We can explain everything that happen in some way, shape, or form; but even Bartimaeus could see the coordination is beyond our abilities.
If you are visiting and wondering why
people are chuckling, we buried a long-standing member and character
yesterday. Jim was famous or notorious,
depending on your mood, for some of his discussions about miracles in the
Bible. It drove him a bit nuts for me to
accept them as real and teach them as such.
Were he here with us today, I would naturally poke the bear and point
out how manna might have made great birthday cake. I mean, it made great bread, right?
It would have been fun to compare the
psalmist’s recollection of events in Scripture with what really happened. The author of Genesis makes it clear that
God’s people are unhappy and complaining all the time. Now, they complain they are starving, so God
meets that need, too. The psalmist
leaves the complaining out of his or her re-telling of that event.
I have to admit, I was tempted to preach
on Matthew thanks to my Greek work with
Joshua and Brian this week. We spent
some time talking about the idling workers whom the owner of the vineyard
continues to invite throughout the day.
As Brian said, the English does not make it as clear that these workers
invited subsequently were seen idling by the owner throughout the day. We talked about how that understanding might
inform evangelism better. God is so
gracious that He is extending that hand to humanity, and will be, right upon
until His Son’s return. Part of our job,
as stewards, is both to extend His invitation and remind ourselves that workers
came before and after us. Best of all,
we should celebrate that others join us, no matter the time they spend working
with us.
But, I felt called to preach on the letter
to the Philippians. Specifically, I felt
called to preach on Paul’s perspective and how it should inform our own. By way of a bit of history, Paul’s letter is
written to a church in a community of the far NE of Greece. It was a town of some significance,
tactically speaking. I forget its
original name, but Phillip of Macedon renamed the town after himself, after he
conquered it and cemented his reign in the ANE.
For those of you thinking his name sounds familiar, it should. He was the father of Alexander the Great.
The town entered world history again
during the last great civil war of the Republic of Rome. After Julius was assassinated, the elites
divided and fought among themselves for power.
The simple version is that Octavian’s troops fought troops loyal to Mark
Antony. You know your history well
enough to know that Octavian troops won.
He was proclaimed emperor and changed his name to Augustus. Those of you who are too young to have
learned this history in school yet, think Palpatine’s efforts to turn the
republic into an empire. This effort just
involved shields and spears and swords rather than light sabers and laser guns. What?
Star Wars teaches history?
Once the Civil War was over, Augustus
settled his victorious troops in nearby Philippi, gave them all citizenship,
and charged them with representing and defending Rome on the frontier. Since so few people were actually citizens of
Rome, and entitled to the privileges and responsibilities of that citizenship,
the new citizens took their job very seriously.
Some might say they tried to outrome Rome, to prove they were up to the
task and thankful to the newly crowned emperor for his largesse and trust. Augustus, of course, knew what he was
doing. Nobody in Rome wanted veteran
soldiers in Rome with nothing to do.
That’s how emperors get overthrown.
Philppi enters the Church picture in Acts
16. Paul travels to NE Greece, planting
churches along his journey. For those
who want to learn more about his work, join us on Tuesday night. In another God-incident, guess what chapter
we are staring in our Acts Bible study?
We don’t know too much about the church in
Philippi. We can surmise a great deal by
virtue of our understanding of Roman culture and Paul’s exhortations and
instruction in the letter. It would have
been tough in Philippi to declare Jesus the Son of God and Lord. Augustus was the son of a god and the lord of
the empire. The cult of emperor worship
likely flourished there, making Christians a distinct, almost treasonous,
counter cultural group. The pressure to
blend in would have been intense, especially if any of the veterans or their
descendants were members of the church.
Our reading jumps into the middle of
chapter one. Paul makes this statement
in verse 21 that for him, living is Christ and dying is gain. It sounds like a crazy perspective even to
our ears in the modern Church. Think of
the money we spend trying to fend off death.
Heck, a number of you are engaged in that work through your vocations in
the medical part of our world. I am
betting it would not take much prodding to get some of you to describe patients
who were terrified of the prospect of death.
Yep, I see the nods already.
It would be about this time I would
pretend to be a mind reader and tell Jim to relax. I am not encouraging anyone to go play
hopscotch on I-65 this morning. One of
Jim’s BIG complaints was the focus of Christians on the eternal rather this
world. Why on earth would Paul think
that death is not a bad thing?
One reason Paul thinks it is not a bad
thing would be his experience on the Road to Damascus. Prior to that moment in his life, Paul is
enemy number one. In fact, he is
described by others and himself as the chief persecutor of the Church. His goal is to stamp out this blasphemous
notion that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of Yahweh.
On his way to Damascus, however, Paul has an encounter with the Risen
Jesus. People often wonder of the
encounter is real. Look at Paul before
and after. What explains his complete
reversal? What better explains him going
from being the chief persecutor of the Church to the Apostle to the Gentiles
other than a mystical encounter with a Resurrected Jesus? And just to remind us all, this encounter
shakes Paul to his very core. Everything
he knew to be true has to be re-examined in light of this encounter. He spends three years of his life trying to
account for this Jesus. He spends three
years wrestling with the torah in light of his encounter with Jesus. That wrestling, of course, explains his well-developed
theology that is found in his various letters.
Everything in the torah points to Jesus as the Messiah. It simply took the Resurrection for Paul to
understand that.
But back to our question about how Paul can understand that dying is
gain. As we have reminded ourselves now
twice in a couple weeks, we understand that death is but a horizon, and a
horizon is simply beyond our seeing. But
if Jesus’ Resurrection is true, then His disciples have nothing to fear about
death. In fact, if Jesus’ Resurrection
is true, we have reason to be excited about death. If the soul-sleep folks are right, the worst
thing that happens is that we get a rest from our labors! If we go to be with Him immediately, we are
just the early arrivals to the Marriage Feast!
Neither of those prospects are bad.
Because Paul has met Jesus, after His crucifixion and death, Paul knows
that all who trust in God are alive in His Christ. God is, after all, the God of the
living! Understanding that in an
experiential way that many of us lack, it is no wonder that Paul does not mind
the idea of dying.
Of course, as Paul goes on to reflect in our passage, he realizes that
so long as he is alive here, he has work to do for God. Though he knows that being with Christ is the
far better choice, he accepts that God knows the Philippians need Paul’s guidance
now. Because Paul knows that God is
working all things to His glory, and Paul knows he will share in that glory for
his joyful obedience, he trusts that God will use him until He calls Paul home.
Modern Christians, especially modern Christian Americans often forget
that this is not our home, that we, too, like our father Abraham are wanderers
here. I suppose we are reminded that we
are in but not of this world more, but if we pay close attention to God’s
instruction of us, we realize we are sojourners, wanderers, ambassadors, and
all kinds of other language that denotes this place, as good as it may be for
us, is not our home.
That language of home and being with God has bookended our summer in
some ways. Those of you present near the
beginning of summer may remember our discussion of being at God’s bosom. Genesis and John’s Gospel both reminded us
that our Father in heaven wants to hold us to His bosom, not unlike the way a
father or grandfather holds a child closely in his lap or a mother holds a nursing
baby. It is an intimate, loving
description. Paul, for his part,
understands that Jesus is the way to that intimate, loving existence. Those things that he valued prior to that
encounter with Jesus on the Road to Damascus are skubala. Roman citizenship? Of the tribe of Benjamin? A zealot?
It is all worthless compared to what God offers through His Son. For Paul, that encounter makes this the focus
of his life. It is not an academic
exercise. It is not a “pleasant
thought.”
As Paul goes on, he reminds the Philippians to live their life in the
manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ.
All of them are living in a culture not that different from our
own. Among those in the world at that
time, they are blessed. They have
wealth, citizenship, the favor of the emperor, and even security. Many are veterans of one of the largest
battles ever fought up until their day.
Who in their right mind would dare tangle with them or threaten their
city? There would be tremendous peer
pressure to blend in, to act like others, to worship the emperor, and who knows
what else. But Paul reminds them of
their loyalty to Christ Jesus and encourages them to live their lives in a
manner worthy of Him.
Would that American Christians would internalize Paul’s
instruction! What would be our response
to immigration? To poverty? To systemic injustices? To homelessness? To mental illness? And that list could go on. Do we live our lives worthy of the Gospel of
Christ? Do we hold our “Christian”
politicians to that standard when we cast our ballots? Ouch!
I know. I know. Understand this though, when we live our lives
dishonoring the Gospel of Christ Jesus, it impacts the world around us
negatively.
Understand, too, Paul is not writing that the church in the Philippi needs
to revolt against the current leadership or seek power to do its job. The church is like the yeast in bred dough or
salt in food. Her work is powerful, even
if the world does not notice it; Her work is transforming even if the
individuals in Her care do not understand the purposes of their labors or
sufferings. God gives the purpose. God gives the meaning.
Paul goes on in verses 28 and 29 to instruct them that they will make
enemies. Anyone who is an enemy of God
will choose enmity with them. But they,
and we, should not be surprised. In
fact, Paul reminds them and us that when we attract enemies for doing the work
of the Gospel, for glorifying God in our own lives, and the sufferings and
humiliations that come with those enemies, we should see ourselves as
privileged. Not only do we believe in
God and Christ, but we are given a share of His suffering. We become little i incarnations, testifying
to world the truth of the Gospel. And if
we truly believe that this is not our home, if we truly accept that the things
of the world are vainities, the world will see and hear the same instruction as
us. Those in the world may reject that
instruction, but we should not be surprised that they do. After all, they put to death the One whom God
sent, just as they stoned and rejected those whom He sent for generations. Why would we expect to be treated any better?
Paul’s perspective, of course, hinges on the Resurrection of Jesus. Had Paul not encountered Jesus on that road
to Damascus, it is likely he would have continued doing his best to stomp out Apostles
and disciples and those who believed their message. But Paul did meet Jesus, and that meeting had
profound implications for Paul. We don’t
know whether Paul expected a militaristic messiah who would cast off oppression
or a political messiah who would lead God’s people to glory or one of the other
accepted descriptions of messiah. What we
DO know is that Paul did not expect the Suffering Servant of Isaiah to be the Messiah. Yet in that encounter on that road at
noonday, Paul came face to face with God’s redemptive power and redemptive
plan. Paul experienced the Resurrected Jesus, and it changed everything
for him.
Many of us, of course, complain to God that we need the same
experience. Jim would sometimes complain
bitterly that the wider Church got so consumed by the rewards and punishments
of the afterlife that She missed her job for this life. I would agree. So would Paul. And so would our Lord.
In the end, of course, all our perspective, all our meaning, everything
we are and we are called to be hinges on the Resurrection. If it is true, then we should not be of this
world. We should know that we are
journeying, passing through, headed for somewhere and someone far more
glorious! Make no mistake my
friends. It is hard work; it is
cross-bearing work; it is a struggle.
God knows that. Paul understood
that. Even Jesus reminded us that we are
blessed for believing and not seeing.
But it all hinges on that amazing moment in the Garden, when Mary was
asked why she looked for Jesus among the dead.
We look back on these accounts and wrestle with them. We listen to the descriptions of those who
shared the Gospel with us. We evaluate
whether we think they are true or crazy and we decide. We Episcopalians call it a reasonable faith
in our worship. We ask ourselves what
could cause Paul to change so dramatically?
What could cause our loved one to share this Gospel so intently? What could cause shalom in the midst of death
or suffering or anything else? How do we
explain the need and the provision of thousands and thousands of pounds of food
each month? How do explain the fact that
the Church continues to survive despite Her clay members? And we answer. We might not have the experience we want, but
we each have all the experiences we need.
He has seen to that! And because
He has seen to that, we, too, can see, can believe, and can hope.
My friends, I understand our mourning and our fears and our
challenges. I have spent fifteen minutes
or so speaking about a corporate experience and understanding and have said
very little indeed to the individual sufferings some of you have shared and many
of you have kept secret. The Gospel news,
of course, is that He sees, He knows, and best of all He cares and promises to
redeem, especially in the lives of those who try to live their lives in a
manner that glorifies His Son. Reminded
of His power and reminded that He cares, and fortified by the food He gives us,
we are sent back out there, into the struggle, that the world around us might
hear the same invitation we heard, and choose to seek the home that our Lord
created for all who call Him Father.
In His Peace,
Brian†
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