We’ve have just heard the fourth and last chapter of Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, and we will conclude today on this series. In these past weeks, we have come to explore a bit of Paul’s theology, his fundamental beliefs about Christ and about Christian life. Mainly, we talked about how Paul considers that humility, “self emptying”, is what defines Christ’s mission. Paul teaches that Christ came to live and die among us in perfect obedience, and in this he redeemed the sin of Adam which was rebellion against God, a sin all humans are guilty of since then, a sin that separates us from God and eternal life. But here lies the good news of the Gospel and the heart of the message for Paul: As long as we have faith in Christ, Paul assures us that we too are redeemed and promised to share the glory Christ has manifested in his Resurrection. This faith isn’t a mere, intellectual belief though. What Paul asks the Philippians to do is to trust in Christ and, in order to do that, they are invited to follow Christ’s example: To renounce to their selfishness and self ambition and serve one another in mutual love. In doing so they don’t rely on their own birth privileges or personal accomplishments to obtain salvation, rather they learn the way of perfect love where they are “found in Christ” by God and identified with Christ by God. In this, the goal of Christian life is to become Christ like, not only as individuals but also as a community. The church of Philippi manifests the presence of Christ in the pagan, Roman world, and the mission of Christ is extended, the Gospel is proclaimed, which is, for Paul, also the goal of Christian life.
So that’s where we are at the end of Chapter 3 and that’s for the big stuff, and you can find some of that, plus or less, in all of Paul’s Epistles, what we have here is what we have come to call “The theology of salvation through faith“. If you’ve ever heard about it, now you know what it’s about. But before we move on from Philippians, I think it is much worth our while to spend a little time on Chapter 4 because it shows us another aspect of Paul that is very essential and that we sometimes tend to forget: Paul wasn’t just a very fine theologian (some scholars call him “the founder of Christianity“ in the sense that he theorized it all), Paul was also a fine pastor: He knew how to talk to his people and to show them the way in difficult circumstances. He knew how to show them how their faith could make a difference, and I think it is interesting because that’s what we have started discussing last Sunday during our class, when Matt Mittleberg asks us: What would you say to others that your faith has changed in your life?
Well, I think that Paul lists three main responses to this question in this Chapter of the Letter to the Philippians: There are three main differences that faith in Christ can make in our lives, and especially in times of trial, in the midst of suffering. In our lesson today, Paul says that we can:
– Find strength and courage
– Release our anxieties and be contented
– Rejoice and be at peace
And we really need to have the context of the Letter of the Philippians in mind when we read this, because it’s not like Paul is sending a postcard to his church while is vacationing at the beach and he tells them they also need to relax! When Paul writes the Letter to the Philippians, he is in a Roman prison and has probably been there for almost two years, he has the hope of being released but his trial is still to come and he knows that the outcome could also be his execution. So it’s a time of great suffering for Paul: he is isolated from his communities, he is not able to continue his work as he used to do, he suffers from hunger and all sorts of material deprivations, he fears fro his life. And yet in all of this, he says, we can find courage, joy and peace. So what’s the secret? Well, we talked about that when we had a look at the first chapter because now Paul is coming full circle and we understand what the letter was all about: The secret is that Paul’s life is centered on Christ and not on himself, and he invites the church in Philippi to do the same in their time of trial, to look at Jesus, both Jesus on the cross, because he bears our suffering, and also to look at the Resurrected Christ, because we will be healed and glorified with him. In his death and in his Resurrection, theLord is near, says Paul. And the consequence of that is that Paul does not live his life according to the past, or according to present circumstances, but Paul lives according to the future, not his nice plans to buy a house to retire to when he’s done with all of this in Rome, no, Paul thinks about his future in Jesus-Christ. In this, he confesses that he has “(…) learned to be content with whatever [he has]“.
And this is in this sense that we can understand the often misquoted: “I can do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me“. It’s not about Christ enabling us to become whoever we want to be. When Paul says he can go through all things, he is talking about being “well fed” or “going hungry”. Christ is by his side to sustain him in his time of need (and probably also to no let him be tempted in his time of plenty). It may not be evident for us when we read this letter in our time and culture, but in Paul’s this was a complete reversal of Greek wisdom. Where the philosophers claimed they had learned to be “contented with themselves”, Paul has learned to be “contented with Christ”. But maybe we can think about that as well today when people say they seek inner peace or they want to learn how they can be “good enough”. We can say that for us, what makes a difference is that we can be filled with Christ in spite, or maybe because of, our weakness and neediness. So we see that we can rely on Christ in the future, but we can also rely on Him to be with us in our present times, especially when things are difficult. We are not alone.
This is very important to Paul because this is with that that he concludes his letter. If you remember, the official purpose of the letter is to thank the Philippians for their gift (they made a donation to help Paul with his needs while he is in prison), and Paul reminds them that, as they have helped him, God will help them to. He says: “(…) my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus“. God can provide material things, but also strength, courage, endurance and this is why for Paul we can also have peace and rejoice. God gives us a peace that “surpasses understanding” in the midst of difficult circumstances because God helps us endure until the Day of the Lord and Paul rejoices in anticipation of this Day. That’s how he calls the Philippians to live and that is how we are called to live as well: Freed from our past, eyes on the future, God’s future, as we have just said and also: not to escape the present, but to transform it. Three Sundays ago, when we talked about Paul’s imprisonment, we notice how his faith brings him a change of perspective. Paul does not look at his external, material circumstances but he seeks how God is at work in his circumstances (Paul says that although he is in prison, he rejoices that the Gospel is proclaimed in Rome and also that he is brought closer to Christ in his sufferings). To get there of course, to rejoice and be at peace, it’s not a matter of self persuasion. I love it when Matt Mittleberg tells us to “not pretend that everything is fantastic” in our life when we want to show people it makes a difference to be a Christian. Mittleberg says: “People know better than that”. Of course, not everything is great but, and that’s Paul point, we can rejoice and be at peace.
So how do we get there?
1 – Paul asks the Philippians to replace anxiety by prayer: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplications with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” This is actually what we do with the rite of healing! And it can be our experience that prayer brings more inner changes than exterior changes. Our situation or our ailment stay the same, but we don’t endure it the same way. We see it with the eyes of faith. Instead of being focused on our distress or our pain, we see how God is bringing us or others closer to Christ, in his suffering and in his glory.
2 – Paul asks the Philippians the change our thoughts, to re-orient them towards Christ and what is Christ like. Paul asks the Philippians to keep their eyes focused on “whatever is true (…) honorable (…) just (…) pure (…) pleasing (…) commendable (…) [excellent] and (…) worthy of praise“. I think it’s a good spiritual exercise for us as well, when so many things in the world drag us down. We need to be aware of what robs us of our peace and joy (the news, a toxic relationship) and we need to look on how we can fuel on peace and joy: Maybe it’s time in nature, maybe it’s a good book, maybe a faithful friendship…
3 – Finally, Paul invites the Philippians to follow his own example. This is sometimes misinterpreted as: “Paul thought he was so holy and so great, he wanted everybody to be like him“, but it has nothing to do with that. Paul showed an example of peace and joy in the midst of his difficult circumstances. Encouraging others and supporting each other in a community, this also the huge difference being a Christian makes.