Philippians 1:3–11
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Think about the the first members of the Philippian church (Acts 16): a successful business woman; a formerly demon-possessed slave girl; a jail guard. What do they have in common? Not much! Yet God, in his wisdom, gathered these and others together as a church—people from different backgrounds, different social classes, different jobs, different life circumstances, different ages—all gathered together under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And when Paul wrote the letter of Philippians, he wrote to all of them (Phil 1:1).
It’s remarkable then, that Paul writes in our text for this weekend: ”I hold you in my heart...I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:7–8). Paul’s letter is full of affectionate language. In chapter four, he calls the Philippian saints "my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown...” (Phil 4:1). Paul clearly had deep care for the Philippians; they weren’t just his church plant, they were his friends!
In our culture, we often make friends based on things we have in common: we both like hunting, we both have kids in elementary school, we’re both farmers. And we often find it hard to “be friends” with those that are significantly different from us. I hear this sometimes as a pastor. “How can I relate to ____? We have nothing in common!” Jesus calls together and unites as a local church people remarkably different from each other. Sometimes all we have in common with someone at church is the gospel!
But we see from Paul that the gospel is enough. Paul was not able to talk tent-making with the Philippian jailer and the slave girl had no idea what Jewish practices in Jerusalem looked like. Yet, Paul considered them friends and was filled with gratitude and affection and stirred to pray for them. “It is right for me to feel this way about you all,” Paul writes, “because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace…” (Phil 1:7). Through Paul’s example, we’ll see that the gospel is the key to joy-filled, Christ-exalting friendship. Join us this Sunday at 10am at the Skyline Plaza as we gather to see how gospel-centered thinking reshapes our friendship.