Text: Phi; 1:2-11
Facebook live: Thankful for you and the Lord’s work!
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
In life we give thanks for a lot of people.
Many are dear family and loved ones but at times, people we’ve crossed paths with come to mind and for their presence in our lives we thank God.
For me, Mary Foxall comes to mind. Little Mary, as she was called, would come up to the shoulder of the smallest adult you might think of. Sweet, and with a gravelly voice. She would come for music lessons at the store and bake sugar cookies for the staff to enjoy. Well into her 80’s, she was a breath of fresh air and a joyful remembrance in my life.
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,
Paul too has a reason and cause for joy.
Praying for those at Philippi, that have partnered with him in the work of the Gospel, he remembers them in his prayers and does so with joy!
You, I’m sure have heard the old phrase:
“Find something that you love to do and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
That is the joy for the gospel that Paul and the Philippian believers felt compelled to do. Not, a work of merit and not under compulsion, these believers joyfully love telling the good news about Jesus to those who would hear, both near and far.
To this Paul gives them assurance:
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
God works in us and through us for the completion of his work.
One day at the music store, the word came to me that little Mary had taken a fall and was convalescing at Canterbury on the Lake. I was concerned. Mary was 95 at the time and I was heartbroken and concerned. I remembered the joy she brought to me and as I walked towards her door to make a visit, I didn’t know quite what to expect.
Would I find her awake and alert or would she be in a broken state and sedated?
As I pushed the door to her room open, I saw Mary sitting in her wheelchair by a table writing a letter.
“Oh, hi!” She exclaimed, giving me a big smile; “I’m glad to see you!”
Mary told me she was doing pretty good for an old gal and just writing some cards and letters – in perfect penmanship - thanking all the people for their prayers and concern.
“It was really no big deal.” She told me.
But I said a prayer of thanks for her and the Lord’s protection and deliverance for Mary.
As Paul writes - not in a wheelchair and at a desk - but from a prison cell most likely in Rome he writes:
7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
We too partake of God’s blessings together – in our imprisonment of sin - by his grace and through faith baring each other’s burdens in the trials of life, both within and without and we all joy in the blessings that God provides too us both young and old alike.
Whether, it is at the beginning of our lives, during our productive work years, or at a time when our bodies are failing and it seems that the simplest of tasks seem so difficult to complete. We can feel like Paul, imprisoned in the prison cell of our own flesh, waiting for release.
But it is not for the defense of the gospel that we are imprisoned.
No, but it is for the sin we were born into and for the sin that we continue to live in, in this life. Sin will have its way with us and ultimately the result of sin brings forth its fruit … death.
At the right time though, God speaks forth and God speaks to.
… 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Luke 3:2-3
That is the joy for the gospel that Paul and the Philippian believers felt compelled to do. Not, a work of merit and not under compulsion, these believers joyfully love telling the good news about Jesus to those who would hear, both near and far.
To this Paul gives them assurance:
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
God works in us and through us for the completion of his work.
One day at the music store, the word came to me that little Mary had taken a fall and was convalescing at Canterbury on the Lake. I was concerned. Mary was 95 at the time and I was heartbroken and concerned. I remembered the joy she brought to me and as I walked towards her door to make a visit, I didn’t know quite what to expect.
Would I find her awake and alert or would she be in a broken state and sedated?
As I pushed the door to her room open, I saw Mary sitting in her wheelchair by a table writing a letter.
“Oh, hi!” She exclaimed, giving me a big smile; “I’m glad to see you!”
Mary told me she was doing pretty good for an old gal and just writing some cards and letters – in perfect penmanship - thanking all the people for their prayers and concern.
“It was really no big deal.” She told me.
But I said a prayer of thanks for her and the Lord’s protection and deliverance for Mary.
As Paul writes - not in a wheelchair and at a desk - but from a prison cell most likely in Rome he writes:
7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
We too partake of God’s blessings together – in our imprisonment of sin - by his grace and through faith baring each other’s burdens in the trials of life, both within and without and we all joy in the blessings that God provides too us both young and old alike.
Whether, it is at the beginning of our lives, during our productive work years, or at a time when our bodies are failing and it seems that the simplest of tasks seem so difficult to complete. We can feel like Paul, imprisoned in the prison cell of our own flesh, waiting for release.
But it is not for the defense of the gospel that we are imprisoned.
No, but it is for the sin we were born into and for the sin that we continue to live in, in this life. Sin will have its way with us and ultimately the result of sin brings forth its fruit … death.
At the right time though, God speaks forth and God speaks to.
… 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Luke 3:2-3
John, was God’s prophet and mouthpiece.
4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
God’s salvation is guaranteed and comes to us through his means.
He speaks this truth to our ears and by his Spirit opens our dark, deaf closed ears to hear so that we trust the promise of our savior and believe.
You and I, and little Mary had God open our ears and our heart to his saving truth. That hope remains now and through the length of our days, etched in the lines on our face, as we bear fruit keeping with repentance.
Little Mary got back home and resumed her life though a bit slower and without the use of her car. She was no longer aloud to drive and her lifeline to the world away from home was lost.
8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
We were having a concert and class party at the store and when I asked about Mary, I heard that she wasn’t coming because she couldn’t get there.
I called Mary and asked if she would like me to pick her up and bring her to the store. She was only a few miles away and when I arrived at her home and knocked on the door she came out with a big smile on her face. As we walked to the car she called out to her neighbor, “I’m going to a party!” As I got in the car and closed the door she said, “I didn’t want my neighbor to think I was just going with some guy!”
The light of Christ shined through Mary in her smile and with her kindness and yes even in her salty, gravelly 95-year-old voice and wonderful sugar cookies.
Her love abounded for friends and family in Christ Jesus just as Paul’s loved abounded for Christ and the Philippian sheep under his care. We too should care and abound in love, one for each other, as well as for the lost sheep of the Lord whomever and wherever they may be.
Little Mary Foxall passed into the arms of Jesus on February 10, 2015 at the age of 101. She was old in age but young in spirit. The Lord had call her and claimed her by the gospel and she shared her love for Jesus and for those around her, her whole life.
But like my current work as Pastor and my previous work I’m reminded of the loss of so many loved ones both near and far.
And just like the Apostle Paul and those Philippian believers:
9 … it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
Filled with the Love of Christ,
Filled with joyful memories,
Filled with anticipation for this Advent season,
Filled with the peace of God and the Gospel of truth, and:
4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
God’s salvation is guaranteed and comes to us through his means.
He speaks this truth to our ears and by his Spirit opens our dark, deaf closed ears to hear so that we trust the promise of our savior and believe.
You and I, and little Mary had God open our ears and our heart to his saving truth. That hope remains now and through the length of our days, etched in the lines on our face, as we bear fruit keeping with repentance.
Little Mary got back home and resumed her life though a bit slower and without the use of her car. She was no longer aloud to drive and her lifeline to the world away from home was lost.
8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
We were having a concert and class party at the store and when I asked about Mary, I heard that she wasn’t coming because she couldn’t get there.
I called Mary and asked if she would like me to pick her up and bring her to the store. She was only a few miles away and when I arrived at her home and knocked on the door she came out with a big smile on her face. As we walked to the car she called out to her neighbor, “I’m going to a party!” As I got in the car and closed the door she said, “I didn’t want my neighbor to think I was just going with some guy!”
The light of Christ shined through Mary in her smile and with her kindness and yes even in her salty, gravelly 95-year-old voice and wonderful sugar cookies.
Her love abounded for friends and family in Christ Jesus just as Paul’s loved abounded for Christ and the Philippian sheep under his care. We too should care and abound in love, one for each other, as well as for the lost sheep of the Lord whomever and wherever they may be.
Little Mary Foxall passed into the arms of Jesus on February 10, 2015 at the age of 101. She was old in age but young in spirit. The Lord had call her and claimed her by the gospel and she shared her love for Jesus and for those around her, her whole life.
But like my current work as Pastor and my previous work I’m reminded of the loss of so many loved ones both near and far.
And just like the Apostle Paul and those Philippian believers:
9 … it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
Filled with the Love of Christ,
Filled with joyful memories,
Filled with anticipation for this Advent season,
Filled with the peace of God and the Gospel of truth, and:
11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
God’s comfort and peace be yours now and always!
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
God’s comfort and peace be yours now and always!
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
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