LOVING THE GRIEVOUS

Philippians 1:6-8
Bob Bonner
February 2, 2008

On the very night that Jesus was going to be arrested, He made it clear to His eleven disciples and to all who claim to follow Him what His purpose for believers is and what their commission is as long as they live on earth.  He told his disciples, in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Three times in these two verses, Jesus declares that our purpose as His disciples is to “love one another.” Christians, if they do anything at all, are to display by their deeds that they love one another. That is our purpose. Linked to that purpose is our commission, that others “will know that you are My disciples.” In other words, the basis of our mission of evangelism as a church family to the world around us should be launched from the platform of our committed love for one another. These two verses clearly demonstrate that Christ’s purpose and commission for our lives is permanently linked together.

I believe that many if not most Christians and local church families understand the importance of truly loving one another if they want to impact their world for Christ.  Yet even when we desire to love one another through our actions of forgiving others or suffering long with others and their shortcomings or weaknesses, or their antics or personality quirks, after a while we can get frustrated with them to the point that we quit loving them. And when that frustration is allowed to continue down its negative road, pretty soon discouragement and disillusionment not only affects the individual but it spreads like a cancer to other committed Christians around us. As it does, people quickly begin to take sides and before you know it you have a divided community.

That’s exactly what has happened to this once vibrant, loving, evangelistic first century church at Philippi. This morning, as we continue our study of Philippians, we will see how a veteran of the faith, the Apostle Paul, loves those who have grieved his heart by their selfishness and their “my way or the highway” attitudes. We will see how Paul takes a positive, loving and gracious and affirming approach to correcting those whom he loved. Furthermore we will see a foundational biblical truth that enabled him to latch on to the supernatural power of God that would enable him to love them and be a peacemaker amidst this church family he loved so much. We will see him model for us, how we can love those around us who, for one reason or another, frustrate and grieve us. 

As we approach looking at our passage of study for this morning, allow me to remind you of the historical setting and the context of the passage we are about to examine. The Apostle Paul is writing this letter to the Philippian church, while he sits in prison in Rome, awaiting an audience with Caesar to defend himself and the truth of the gospel. As he sits in his cell, bound in chains to a Roman soldier 24/7, Paul thinks about his brothers and sisters back at Philippi and wishes he could be there to help them grow through their present struggles. Paul loves and feels more of a bond with these Philippian Christians than he does to any other church he was associated with as a church planter. This is made obvious in the way he writes to them, in comparison to his other letters to churches he has planted. In none of his other letters to churches does Paul speak with such affection and warmth as he does to his beloved friends at Philippi. These Christians for the past 12 years have supported his outreach ministry financially. They have enthusiastically shared personally with him in evangelizing others in Philippi. They have visited him while he was in jail in Rome and sent one of their own to encourage Paul and help him while he was sick in jail. 

However, while he is in jail, 12 years after he had planted this vibrant church in this very small Roman colony, Paul gets word that there are conflicts and divisions in the church that have reached such a proportion that the Christians have quit reaching out to others in the name of Christ. Their focus has switched from outwardly reaching the lost to personal turf battles. For this major reason and some other less important ones, Paul writes this letter to encourage them to quit their bickering and to stop looking only unto their own self-interests and preferences and to start forgiving one another so that they can get back to the business of reaching their world for Christ.

Understanding the situation and problems going on in Philippi, Paul writes this letter of encouragement to the Philippians to get them back on track, keeping the main thing the main thing.

After his formal and culturally typical greeting in verses 1-2, Paul begins this love letter to his friends speaking of his prayer for them. This prayer makes up verses 3-11. If you were to outline this prayer in verses 3-11, you would notice that in verses 3-8, Paul prays, thanking God for and praising God for the Philippians. Then, in verses 9-11, Paul makes specific petitions of God on behalf of the Philippians.

Last time we were together, we had just begun looking at verses 3-8, as to why Paul is thanking God for and praising God for the Philippians even though he knows that they are not loving one another or building up one another for the purpose of spreading the gospel. Understanding that there were these serious divisive problems present in the church at Philippi begs the question, “How can Paul be so thankful for and so easily praise God for these Christians who are living in conflict?” Paul shows us in this prayer how it is that he can be thankful for these believers who have become self-centered and why it is that he praises God for them in spite of their infighting or complaints against one another. Furthermore, he demonstrates by his actions the platform of grace upon which he will later challenge them to return to loving and building up one another so that they can continue to make a positive impact for Christ on their world.

We have already seen in verses 3-5, Paul beginning to show us his emotional basis for his thanksgiving and praise for the Philippians. We looked at part of this last time. Last time we saw that Paul praised God for the Philippians’ past and present support of him, (including financial, prayer and visiting Paul in jail); and we mentioned Paul’s praising God for their conversion and spiritual growth. But that which really fired up Paul’s jets was their past joint partnership with Paul in spreading the gospel. For years together they sought to reach out to tell others in Philippi and throughout Macedonia about the love of Jesus Christ. Together, they spoke boldly about what Christ’s work upon the cross had accomplished for those who wish to truly know and draw near to God.

In verses 7-8, Paul continues to point to his emotional reasons for his praising God for the Philippians. For the moment, I’d like us to skip over verse 6 to continue looking at how Paul’s heart emotionally led him to pray for these people. In verse 7, Paul continues his emotional praise to God. He writes, “For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” Anyone who has seriously loved Jesus Christ and seriously cares about the lost, anyone who has discipled others who share the same passions knows exactly the deep feelings of love and commitment that Paul and the Philippians shared. 

Besides their mutual love relationship and their past partnership in the gospel, Paul highlights one thing in verse 7 that tells us why he loves them so. He says that he loves them so because they share in his present imprisonment, they are “partakers” and are equally concerned about the reason he is there, which is Paul’s ongoing “defense of and confirmation of the gospel” before Caesar. 

The term “grace,” as it is used in verse 7 probably does not refer to the gift of salvation, for the present context better supports Paul’s speaking of his present imprisonment as being a “gift from God” because it has provided him with the unique opportunity of making a defense of the gospel to the highest and most influential Roman authorities.  Few people get to share Christ with world leaders, and Paul is in position to do so, awaiting his meeting with Caesar. The Philippians share in the excitement that this grace, Paul’s imprisonment, has provided him this opportunity. 

As Paul sits in jail, just knowing that they are supportive of him by their prayers, gifts and visits is such an encouragement. But there is something more he would like to add right here, that could add to his encouragement, but he leaves out. He has to leave it out because if he added it, it would not be true of them.  He addresses it later, because now is not the time. But he would like to add, “and just knowing that you are faithfully continuing to spread the gospel back home would be a real lift to me here in prison.” But he can’t write that, because it is not true. He later refers to it in 2:2, when he states, “make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” And what is that purpose? It can be only one thing contextually. That purpose is the spread of the “gospel.”  Six times in the first 30 verses, the gospel is referred to directly. It is referenced to in other ways, like the “preaching of Christ,” 7 times, making the overall references to the gospel thirteen times up to 2:2. It is obvious to the reader who studies this first chapter that the thought which foremost preoccupies Paul’s mind is the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But due to their personal squabbles and differences, the Philippians have lost sight of their commission to spread the gospel. What has replaced the gospel is referenced in 2:3-4, “selfishness,” “vain conceit,” and the “looking out for one’s own personal interests.” 

There would be nothing that would encourage Paul in prison more than to hear that his friends back home had continued to be united in spirit, putting aside their personal preferences or hurts, and joined together to reach their city and world for Christ. But when they are not of one mind, unified as to Christ’s commission, the opposite is true. And Paul gets discouraged. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that Paul is so spiritually mature that he doesn’t get discouraged by such things because there are several references in his letters that reveal times of discouragement for Paul because of such matters. Paul is only human, and after awhile, Christians and their self-centered ways so disappoint him, as they do any leader, that it breaks his heart. If it were not for looking to Christ and receiving His supernatural courage to hang in there, Paul like the prophets of old would have threatened to quit. 

The same is true for missionaries today who are living under harsh conditions in foreign countries. They too are encouraged by financial gifts and the prayers of their supporters back home. But when I have gone to the field either to visit missionaries or to do short-term missions work, and have opportunities to speak with missionaries, I soon discover that what grieves them and adds a burden to their own work on the field is the knowledge that all is not well at home with their home church. When on the field, I was often asked rhetorically, “When are the Christians back home going to start viewing what’s truly important through the eternal lens of God’s purposes rather than through the lens of their selfish desires and preferences?” It grieves missionaries deeply, being alone out there, giving their all for Christ only to hear that back home, petty squabbles are going on. It’s very disheartening to them, as it must have been to the Apostle Paul.

And yet, in these opening comments of his letter, rather than immediately pointing to that which is discouraging to him or frustrating to him, Paul is upbeat and speaks positively of his love for them.

So how is it that Paul could be so positive in his praise of the Philippians? Is he putting up a front? Is his praise insincere? Absolutely not. Paul’s praise is heartfelt because he has placed his faith in God and what God promises to do in and through every believer, in spite of themselves. We see in verse 6, Paul’s mental reason for praising and thanking God for them.

Let’s begin reading at verse 4 since verse 6 is part of this rather long sentence. It reads, “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, [how come?] being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” The pivot on which this whole prayer turns is verse 6. The emotional thanksgiving and praise of verses 3-5 and 7-8 arise out of Paul’s confidence in the truth found in verse 6. 

This expression, “being confident” points to a settled persuasion of mind or a deep conviction that has come as a result of a personal crisis in the past that has proven something to be true and trustworthy. Paul had personally learned that God would use even the crisis of shutting down a church to bring glory to His name and to bring about needed growth in individual’s lives who make up the church. The fact that the church at Philippi was having problems was a disappointment to Paul, but not a surprise, because it is often through these hardships that churches grow, just like hardships can strengthen as well as break a marriage.

Simply put, the truth Paul was confident in, is that the Philippians past, and up until recently, their present life-changes and their active participation in sharing Christ with others convinced him they were saved. And since they were saved, Paul expresses confidence that God will continue His work in them.  And it is this truth that Paul knows that they are going to mature through their problems, that gives Paul reason to praise God for them, in spite of their present ongoing conflicts.

Note upon whom Paul’s confidence rests. It was in God, “Who began a good work in them” not in Paul’s own persuasive words or abilities as an apostle or his unique model to bring about church growth. God is going to finish or bring to completion the good work He began in these Philippians and in you, when you first trusted Christ.

Now let’s break this down even more. To what does Paul refer when he speaks of the “good work” that God began? The answer to that is wrapped up in this expression “until the day of Jesus Christ” which refers to that day when Jesus comes again. This same and unique expression, “until the day of Jesus Christ” is found not just here in verse 6, but also in verse 10.  Therefore, the same goal that is to be reached in verse 6 is the same goal that is to be reached in verses 10-11, which is that we would be presented blameless to God, filled with the “fruit of righteousness.” 

The “fruit of righteousness” is synonymous with the righteous acts that reveal the character of Christ. To put it another way, the “good work” to which Paul refers is God’s bringing us to such spiritual maturity that when others see us they will witness a Christ-likeness in our conduct toward one another, in our acts of service and kindness and acts of longsuffering and forgiveness. We will come back to this “fruit of righteousness” and look at it more in depth next week.

Another word in this verse that helps support this as the intended meaning of God’s “good work” in us is Paul’s use of the word “completion” or “complete” or “finish,” depending upon your translation. This term “completion” points to the ultimate guaranteed achievement of a stated goal. In other words, God will not fail to finish the work He has started in changing your life. He won’t stop, and abandon you like you were not a worthy enough product or project to finish. 

James, in his epistle, in 1:4 uses the same root word for “complete” to describe God’s perfect and mature outcome that He will produce in your life through testing or trials in life. Furthermore, James states, and other passages suggest the same thing, that more often than not, God’s producing spiritual maturity in your life will occur amidst a great deal of pain, suffering or testing. Why?  Because sometimes, it takes pain to get our attention. Get this: God loves you so much that He will use everything and anything that is at His disposal to complete His ultimate project of making you more Christ-like in the way you deal with people and in the priorities you set in life.

In my earlier years as a believer, this verse gave me great comfort to know that in the midst of my own personal struggles and failures as a Christian in trying to become what God wanted me to become, He used this verse to assure me not to worry, but that He ultimately would bring me to the place of maturity in spite of myself. Because of God’s loving hand, one day you and I will lovingly arrive as His good, perfect and completed product. And that was really comforting to know.

But as I got older and looked more closely at this text, I realized that Paul was not speaking to the individual in this verse. The term “you” in v. 6 is in the plural form stressing the importance of the whole church coming to maturity and that one way or another and one day for sure, God will bring to maturity His church at Philippi. It begins with each individual becoming mature, certainly. But God’s goal is for His bride, the whole local church to grow up together. 

As is true here, over in 2:12-13 Paul exhorts us to “Work out your own salvation.”  The “your” there is not directed to the individual, but it too is plural, directing this exhortation to the whole church family at Philippi. In essence, Paul is exhorting the whole church to get their act together and to obey God by quit being so selfish and divisively demanding that your own way must be followed to get things done; and start getting back to reaching Philippi for Christ.

As I have begun to grasp the importance of this truth in verse 6, and how it is not just directed to me, but to the church as a whole, I have also become less irritated, frustrated and discouraged when observing other Christians continuing to do stupid things just to get their own way even after they have been warned. It’s hard when one really cares about your own church family to stand by and watch others rationalize the truth so that they can continue in their sin and do what they want, regardless that it hurts the local church family and the cause of Christ. It was hard for Paul to watch. But as I have begun to realize God’s commitment to those around me who are “less than perfect” or “less lovable saints” He will one day, like me, in His perfect timing grow them up. It is discouraging to see the damage selfishness and divisiveness presently causes, but ultimately, God is still in control and He will deal with them. One day God will transform each of us from being divisive to harmonious individuals. It may be during my lifetime and while my fellow church family members remain here at Crossroads, or it may not happen in my church family or my lifetime. But in the end, like the Apostle Paul, I can praise God for His sovereign and good ways and perfect timing to mature me and those around me. Knowing this, like Paul, I can more freely and positively and lovingly pray for their growth, just as he is praying here for these Christians whose failures surely must have disappointed him.

Allow me to summarize three lessons we can derive from these verses, based upon the key truths found in verse 6. As we look at each of these three lessons, understand that they apply both to “you” the individual, and to “you” this church family as a corporate body.

The first lesson we take from verse 6, is that salvation is God’s work, from start to finish. The Philippians did not begin the work of salvation in themselves only to have God come along and add a little to it. It was entirely God’s doing that got them saved. God provided the way of salvation through His son, Jesus Christ. Scripture teaches us elsewhere that it is God who draws us to Himself and even enables the Philippians and us to believe and accept His gift of salvation. From beginning to end, the work of our salvation is God’s work in us.

The second lesson we can take from verse 6, requires a broader understanding of the Biblical term “salvation” than many hold. Throughout the New Testament, the term salvation refers to more than just a person getting saved one day and then going to heaven sometime in the future. The term salvation also points to the ongoing work of God in our lives to transform us into Christ-like people.

Understanding that broader concept of salvation, we can better appreciate this next lesson:  Salvation is a good work of God.. Salvation lifts the sinner from eternal condemnation and ruin, makes that person part of God’s family and a partaker of God’s eternal glory, and the salvation of God promises to transform our lives, such that over time our actions are more Christ-like. Who would dare say that this is not a good thing?

Finally, salvation is not just a good work of God, but salvation is a sure work of God. God does not begin the good work of transforming your life and then somewhere along the way decide to abandon it. He does not pull his people from the flames of destruction only to allow them to slip back and be consumed. God completes the work of salvation. We know that it is quite human to plan a work and undertake a work only to see it fail. But it is not so with God. He never fails to complete what He has started. We must not picture Him looking over the redeemed multitude in eternity and saying: “We did fairly well. Eighty per cent of the saved finally matured and made it home.” God will not have to say such a thing because all of His people will eventually reach maturity and make it to their eternal home. Not one saved person will be missing! The faithful God will faithfully complete His work!

Even those beloved Christian friends who have caused you great heart wrenching grief and disappointment will arrive as finished projects of God. And it is because Paul knew this to be true, while he was in prison hearing disappointing news about his friends in Philippi, he was able to genuinely praise God for them. Although disappointed and grieved by the news of the goings on back home, Paul knew that like himself, they weren’t perfect, but God would see to it that one day they would grow up.

In addition, Paul knew that God would see to it that His work through the church would get done. Hence, rather than getting real upset and reading them the riot act from the very outset of his letter to the Philippians, Paul graciously loves them and affirms them before he begins to instruct them. 

How do you first respond to your children, parents or close friends when they fail, hurt, wrong or disappoint you? Do you get angry with them? Do you turn your back on them or reject them? Do you become harsh and critical of them? Or, do you like Paul, praise God for them and their salvation first? Do you entrust them to the Lord so that at His perfect time and in His perfect manner He will complete the discipleship process in their lives?

I have long since learned that God’s manner and timing of discipleship in my life will not be the same as others. Because I or you may have learned some things before or better than you or I is nothing for us to boast about or to become impatient with others over. As Paul has modeled here for us, we are to love one another, accentuating the good work God is doing in each other’s lives, to lovingly pray for one another, and when others are convinced of our love for them, then instruct them. That’s the example we witness in Paul’s prayer, based on the truth he believed, as recorded in verse 6.

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