Life + Faith

Category: On Scripture

  • Gospel Partnership Is Prayerful Partnership

    Saying you are going to pray for someone is a common occurrence in the Christian faith. We hear the needs of others and strive to support them. Prayer is our go-to action when we cannot provide tangible help, and it’s far from being the ‘least’ we can do. This is not to diminish the reality that it is more than likely we can do something to meet the needs of others, but in times of grief, in times of poor health, in times of relational breakdown, there might not be anything concrete to do.

    One of the best ways to encourage someone in prayer is not to just tell them that you will pray for them. I mean, how many times have we promised to pray for someone, only to forget later? But like a number friends of mine, a great way to fulfil that which you promise is to write the prayer in a text and send it to them. Not only does this mean something to the person on the receiving end, but it also means you actually pray for them too!

    Well, this is what Paul does here in the opening section of Philippians, specifically in v9-11. He writes out his prayer for them.

    As we have discovered previously, we have read the heart and affection Paul has for this small church, and now we read what Paul prays for them:

    And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

    Prayerful Partnership: Cultivating Love

    First, Paul prays that their love will keep growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment. 

    Often we might think we need more information and more knowledge of someone in order to grow in love. We might tell ourselves that we can’t truly love someone unless we have a deeper relationship with them. 

    Here Paul flips this kind of thinking and shows that love should already be a given. 

    Paul’s expectation is that members of the church already have a foundation of love for one another, and within that thought he prays that this love will grow in knowledge and depth of insight. 

    We might think this way toward others, even at the church we attend. It’s a common misconception that we can only genuinely love others when we have a deep knowledge of them, even within our own church community.

    Interestingly, this isn’t what Paul expects. Love should already be among us because we know God together in Christ. As 1 John 4 reminds us, God is love, therefore we should love one-another. So, when Paul prays for their love to grow in knowledge and discernment, it’s under the assumption that love is already a foundational element of their church community.

    The call here is to go to love quickly, and pray it may grow in knowledge and wisdom.

    Prayerful Partnership: Bearing Fruit

    Second, Paul prays for the church to discern and approve of superior and excellent things. He hopes that they will be pure and blameless when Christ Jesus returns.

    Here is a connection to our future hope. A day when Christ will be with us and we will be with him. How that manifests itself Paul doesn’t say, but he keeps this at the forefront of our minds.

    And this leads to the final line, a prayer that the people of God at Philippi might be willed with the fruit of righteousness, that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. 

    Perhaps you’re one who grow their own vegetables. And if you are then I imagine you are aware there is an art to planting your anticipated produce at the right time. If it’s not planted at the right time then there will be no fruit produced. Here we read of ‘fruit,’ a metaphor for the visible actions and attitudes that result from being ‘right’ with God. This fruit, this evidence of our relationship with God, is made possible through Christ Jesus.

    In being made right with God through Christ the fruit of that will be displayed in the way we conduct ourselves. The way we love one-another. The way we partnership with joy together. And as Paul writes further in v27, in a manner worthy of the gospel. 

    Just as we found joy in the gospel partnership last time, we now discover its prayerful aspect as well. May we be a people who partner with others through prayer, and praying for the fruit of righteousness that comes through our Lord Jesus.

    This post is part of an ongoing series where we will dive into the themes, messages, and lessons found throughout the book of Philippians. For earlier posts please see:

  • Gospel Partnership Is Joyful Partnership

    After Paul gives his initial greetings to the church in Philippi (Philippians 1:1-2), we immediately sense just how much joy and affection he has for them. In v3-8, we read of how their partnership in the gospel is a joyful partnership.

    Prayers For The People

    In v3, Paul gives thanks to God for this church. Even while in prison, he is reminded of them, thankful for them, and feels a great sense of joy for them because of the partnership he has in the gospel with them. I imagine Paul chained up in a Roman prison, a smile on his face as he lifts up prayers every time he thinks of his friends in Philippi.

    In this, there is a small challenge for us. How often would we think of people in our lives or throughout the day and lift up prayers for them? I’m sure, like me, you think of numerous people throughout the day as you write an email to them, consider what they’re doing, or see them pop up on our social media feeds. What if we lifted up prayers for people we think of or hear about throughout our day? What a great challenge for us to do.

    Partnership With The People

    In v5, we are given insight into why this church is so precious to Paul. It is the partnership they have in the gospel.

    What ties or binds Paul with the Philippians is the gospel. Together, they follow Jesus and have had their hearts and lives turned upside down because of the message of Jesus. And so, they are bound together as sisters and brothers in Christ as they know him and share his message with others.

    In Acts 16, which is where we read of Paul’s first interactions with the people of Philippi, we learn of how the church began. Now, 10-12 years later, as he pens this letter to them, Paul continues to recognise the connection they have with one another, not only because of the support he has received from them but also because they serve and share the message of Christ together.

    I began my ministry journey in a small village called Ain Zhalta, in the mountains of Lebanon. Over 15 years ago, my wife and I spent two years serving as teachers and mission workers among an ethnic group called the ‘Druze’. And each Sunday, we would meet in a terribly cold stone and tiled church that had very limited heating, with a handful of other foreigners and a handful of Lebanese people to worship together. But what I remember rather vividly in those services, while listening to Arabic worship songs and a sermon I couldn’t understand, was the connection I had with those in the church there and the connection I had with those in our home church back in Melbourne.

    There was a partnership in the gospel. In the gospel, we met together. In the gospel, we prayed together. In the gospel, we had fellowship with one another. In the gospel, we served and shared the message of Christ together.

    I’m not sure whether you’ve visited a church overseas, or across our city, or in another part of the country. But when you do, you have an immediate partnership—a partnership in the gospel.

    A little while ago, we had visitors from the USA join our church for a month. In my brief conversation with them, they highlighted how great it was to come along and know the connection we have together because of the gospel.

    The unity, the partnership in the gospel, is a key concept for us being the church, being the people of God.

    There are lots of groups in our communities that meet, do activities, and build relationships and friendships. Many do them very well, whether it’s a kindergarten or a school, a sporting club, an art class, or a library. Whatever it might be, little sub-cultures and communities are formed and centred around something.

    Partnership Centred On A Person

    As the church, we are centred around the gospel – the person and work of Jesus Christ – the message of Jesus. This is who brings us together, this is who forms the nature of our community, the nature of our church, the nature of our partnership.

    No Jesus. No church. No partnership.

    Pretty simple, really.

    However, when we recognise and embrace the foundation of our faith – Jesus Christ – we begin to see the beauty and richness of gospel-centred partnership. It is in Jesus that we find a common ground, a shared purpose, and a bond that transcends our differences and unites us in love and service.

    As we come together in Christ, we experience the joy of true fellowship. Our shared faith, hope, and love in Jesus enable us to support, encourage, and strengthen one another in our journey of faith. We celebrate our victories, weep with one another in times of sorrow, and walk hand in hand as we strive to live out the gospel in our daily lives.

    What a blessing, what a joy, that is.

    Gospel partnership is therefore a joyful partnership.

    No wonder Paul continues to use effusive language about the church and affirm the role God will continue to work in them until the day Christ returns.

    Through the gospel, there is joy.

    Through gospel partnership, there is a joyful partnership.

    This post is part of an ongoing series where we will dive into the themes, messages, and lessons found throughout the book of Philippians. For earlier posts please see:

  • Slaves + Saints: The Essence of Christian Partnership

    It’s not very common these days to receive a physical letter in the letterbox. I’m not sure about you but what usually arrives in our letterbox is bills, junk mail, or some political party telling us what they’re going to do if they are elected. But on occasion, perhaps for a birthday, there might be a short letter written from one of the grandparents. And there’s still an excitement that comes from receiving a handwritten letter from someone. It shows they care; it shows they are thinking about me, and it shows they have gone to a bit of effort and cost to get it to me. 

    As Paul opens his letter to the Philippians, we can hear the care, the thought, and the effort that Paul goes to show his joy and affection for this church. And knowing that the church in Philippi is aware of Paul’s imprisonment (1:13) and their worker Epaphroditus is with them and has been sick (2:25-30), I suspect they would be very excited to have received this letter. Then, upon opening and reading, they would have been buoyed by the genuine thankfulness, emotion, and love Paul expresses to the church right from the beginning. 

    And so, from the beginning of a Paul’s writing here to the Philippians, we find this letter to be one of genuine partnership. 

    Unlike the letters or emails we write, in which we state the recipient’s name and ask them how they are, Paul follows first-century letter-writing custom of stating his and Timothy’s name before giving a little greeting to the church. 

    And it’s easy to skip right over these little greetings at the start of the letters we have in our Bibles. Here in Philippians it’s worth noting a couple of things. 

    Slaves of Christ

    First, notice how Paul identifies himself and Timothy. 

    We read, “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus” (1:1).

    In the NT it is common to translate the word used here as either servant or slave, and this can be the case here. In our minds, ‘servant’ is a little softer to our ears and imaginations than ‘slave’, but for the church in the Greco-Roman world, this idea of being a slave was a common marker of identity. Slaves in homes, business, or on farms were part of life. And so the idea of being bound to someone else was not a foreign idea as it is for us today. Therefore, when Paul calls himself a “slave of Christ Jesus” he is identifying himself with Christ. He recognises he is bound to Christ. He knows he is under the authority and Lordship of Christ and at his service. 

    Saints In Christ

    Second, notice how Paul identifies the church.

    We read, “To all the saints (NIV: God’s holy people) in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.” 

    Paul uses another couple of identity markers, this time for the people of God at Philippi. Those who have turned to God through Christ are called ‘saints’ or ‘God’s holy people’. Paul acknowledges those within the church, despite their non-Jewish background, are in the continuing line of God’s people. They are being set apart for God, which is a familiar description in the OT of this term ‘saints’ (Exodus 19:4-6; Psalm 135:3-4). This is a little marker of their identity and a helpful reminder in how they should think of themselves. 

    I wonder how you think of yourself? Are you a sinner or are you a saint? 

    We live in the tension of knowing we are sinners while being assured of the truth that we are in Christ. Through faith in Christ we are considered the people of God, the saints of God. We are the holy people of God who are in Christ Jesus. Paul writes this regularly as he opens his letters to the Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Colossians, and here in Philippians. And while we continue to fail, continue to sin against God, we can know that we are saints in Christ because it is Christ who has decisively dealt with our sin on the cross. 

    This should be the regular way we think about ourselves as believers, as saints. 

    After writing about reconciliation and peace with God through Christ Paul writes in Ephesians 2:19-20:

    19 So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

    If you are struggling with sin or struggling with God’s acceptance of you because of your sin, then I encourage you to dwell on what it means for you to be a saint. For that is what you are in Christ Jesus.

    Leaders Under Christ

    Alongside this identity marker of being saints is Paul’s reference to the overseers and deacons. These are leaders in the church at Philippi and he wants to make sure they listen to the content of this letter as well. 

    In chapter four Paul encourages two female leaders within the church to agree with one-another in the Lord (4:2-3), but more than this Paul is highlighting how the message of this letter is for the whole congregation. There is no separation between the leaders and the rest of the church. They are together the people of God, no one is more special than anyone else. This letter isn’t just for a certain segment of the church, but everyone is called to walk the same walk as each other. 

    We often see this occur in churches, where leaders are put on a holier-than-thou pedestal. But those who are in leadership are no more special in the eyes of God than anyone else.

    At the church where I pastor I, and the rest of the pastoral team, sit under the teaching of scripture just as much as anyone else. We who are involved in the leadership of the church may have certain responsibilities placed upon us because of our roles, and according to Hebrews 13:17 we will need to give an account before God in due course. But our prayers don’t make it to God any faster, our sins still need to be repented of, confessed, and forgiven through Christ. Our conduct still needs to be worthy of the gospel (1:27). 

    Here at the beginning of this letter, even in these first two verses, we see the beginnings of what is a special partnership. A special partnership that already speaks into our identity with God and with one-another.

    This post is part of an ongoing series where we will dive into the themes, messages, and lessons found throughout the book of Philippians. For earlier posts please see:

  • The Resurrection: The Power of the Gospel

    Scripture: Mark 16:1-8

    He is risen! He is risen indeed!

    As Easter Week concludes today, we go out on an incredible high. For today we are reminded of the power of the gospel, of the power of God in restoring His people to Himself. This restoration achieving its completion through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    The resurrection of Jesus is not simply a historical event, but a transformative reality that has the power to change our lives. It is a declaration of the power of God to bring new life out of death, to restore and renew all that has been broken. Just as Jesus’ body was raised to new life, so too can we be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and made new in Him.

    I’m no runner but I’ve known plenty of people competing in marathons or triathlons where they push their bodies to the limits. When they cross the finish line, they are exhausted but full of excitement and accomplishment as they have the satisfaction of knowing they have completed the race. Like crossing the finish line after a race brings a sense of satisfaction, the resurrection reminds us of the victory we have in Jesus, giving us a reason to hope and to trust in a loving and powerful God. The resurrection of Jesus represents for us the victory over sin and death, and in so doing restores us to God. In this restoration we find we can have a relationship with Him, and a satisfaction in life and death because of His work for us.

    The resurrection is another tangible demonstration of God’s great love and grace for all who believe. In amongst the sin, the suffering, and the hopelessness that can often pervade our news and social media streams, we can know that the resurrection gives us a reason to hope, a reason to trust, and a reason to love.

    Through the power of the gospel our lives are impacted, they are transformed. And this impact is not just for us but for the entire world. Through the resurrection Jesus’ victory over sin and death has the power to bring about healing and restoration throughout our world. It is a message of hope for all people.

    While today marks the end of this series and the end of the Easter events it is only the beginning of living in the power of the gospel. As we have worked through these passages from the Gospel of Mark we see the ways in which Jesus fulfils God’s plan for humanity, fulfils that which was written long ago, and fulfils the hole in our soul with the satisfying love, hope, and peace we have with God.

    This is a devotional series I’ve written for my church for Easter Week 2023. It follows the Passion narrative in the Gospel of Mark. This is day 8 of 8.

    If you’d like them to hit your inbox each morning then please subscribe here.

    Easter Week 2023: A Devotional Series in Mark’s Gospel
    Day 1: The Triumphal Entry: Jesus Rides Into Jerusalem With A Purpose
    Day 2: The Cleansing of the Temple: Jesus Challenges the Religious Establishment
    Day 3: The Last Supper: Commemorating the New Covenant
    Day 4: The Garden of Gethsemane: Jesus’ Submission to God’s Will
    Day 5: The Trial of Jesus: A Fulfilment of Prophecy
    Day 6: The Crucifixion: The Atonement for Sin
    Day 7: The Burial: A Final Act of Love
    Day 8: The Resurrection: The Power of the Gospel

  • The Burial: A Final Act of Love

    Scripture: Mark 15:42-47

    In Mark 15:42-47, Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Jewish council, asks Pilate for permission to take Jesus’ body and give him a proper burial. In doing so he shows a final act of love and respect toward Jesus.

    This act of love by Joseph would have been costly for him, most likely resulting in him losing his position and influence in the community. However, he chose to prioritise the honouring of Jesus, recognising His significance, and giving Him a dignified burial over his own reputation.

    In our own lives we show love and respect to others in a wide variety of ways, some large acts of love like a wedding ceremony to small everyday actions like writing someone a text to show we are thinking of them. It could be taking the time to listen or offering a kind word to someone struggling. It could mean forgiving someone that has hurt us or being compassionate towards those who are often overlooked.

    Those who work in hospice, aged, or palliative care are great examples of people providing comfort and support to people who are at the end of their lives. They offer compassion and dignity to patients and their families, helping them to navigate difficult times with grace and love. In so doing they are imitating that which Joseph does here for Jesus’ body, recognising the need for dignity and honour, and in turn bringing glory to God.

    Furthermore, alongside being a costly exercise for Joseph it also highlights the risk he took in honouring Jesus. Mark’s description of Joseph in verse 43 highlights his spiritual perspective as he waited for the Kingdom of God to come, indicating that he recognized there was more to life than just the present one.

    Joseph’s status as a “secret disciple of Jesus” (John 19:38) was also noted by Matthew, who referred to him as someone “who had become a follower of Jesus” (Matthew 27:57). While Joseph had previously kept his faith quiet, this risk he was taking would bring it from private to public.

    As a follower of Jesus it is possible to keep your faith private for a period of time, but eventually God may call you to go public with it. This can be risky, but it is a necessary step in our growth as believers. In so doing it helps us own our faith for ourselves, deepens our reliance on God, and encourages the faith of others around us. For Joseph he got to care for his Saviour in a personal way and was blessed in being part of honouring Jesus in His death.

    I wonder, is there a step of faith, a possibly costly or risky step, that God is calling you to take this Easter?

    This is a devotional series I’ve written for my church for Easter Week 2023. It follows the Passion narrative in the Gospel of Mark. This is day 7 of 8.

    If you’d like them to hit your inbox each morning then please subscribe here.

    Easter Week 2023: A Devotional Series in Mark’s Gospel
    Day 1: The Triumphal Entry: Jesus Rides Into Jerusalem With A Purpose
    Day 2: The Cleansing of the Temple: Jesus Challenges the Religious Establishment
    Day 3: The Last Supper: Commemorating the New Covenant
    Day 4: The Garden of Gethsemane: Jesus’ Submission to God’s Will
    Day 5: The Trial of Jesus: A Fulfilment of Prophecy
    Day 6: The Crucifixion: The Atonement for Sin
    Day 7: The Burial: A Final Act of Love
    Day 8: The Resurrection: The Power of the Gospel