Central Presbyterian Church,
Russellville, Arkansas
Sunday,
Oct. 26, 2008
(2) Philippians 2:19-30, 4:14-20
Who are the saints in this church? Are they the same as
your friends?
I have heard that a person who has two or three
real friends is one of the richest persons in the
world.
In the 70's, there was a songbook with
some of the popular church tunes, and it was
called "The Songbook of Saints and Sinners."
It is often hard to tell the difference.
It is a fine line that separates these two.
In the Old Testament, it meant a "holy one,"
defined by the covenant God made with Israel at
Sinai to be a nation set aside as god’s personal
possession.
In general it means "the faithful ones,"
as opposed to the wicked ones.
It is not a term used in the Gospels (I
found one occurrence).
"For the saints fo God are just folk like
me. And I mean to be one too."
Paul in his letter to the church in Philippi
cherishes the memory of his dearest friends there,
the saints. he expresses his deepest gratitude. In
chapter 4, Paul defines who he believes is a real
saint.
Who are the people I will remember here
in Russellville and like Paul give thanks to
God for you in the years down the road?
Yesterday afternoon I received a phone
call from Emmaus, Pennsylvania. It was
Gaary Haas. Gaary was 16 when I lived
with his family for a year and a half during
my 3 semesters at Lancaster Theological
Seminary. I was the student assistant at the
1200 member st. John’s United Church of
Christ in Emmaus, 72 miles north of
Lancaster. I commuted back and forth to that
PA Dutch community. It was where I learned
some of the basics of my ministry–how to
make calls in the hospital, for example.
Gaary tracked me down from a 2006 Christmas
card Peggy and I had sent his father Herb.
He called Peggy in Ft Worth to find me. He
called to tell me his father Herb had died
yesterday morning. "My father always liked
to talk about you; you were one of his
favorite people." Imagine how much work
Gaary and his sister Karla had to phone all
the relatives, and they included an effort
to locate me. It touched me deeply.
In all his letters Paul gives thanks
at the very beginning for the Christian
fellowship of the church, bound together in
mutual sharing and support.
Paul uses a special language to
voice his feeling for what his
fellow workers have done; it is a
language often used in the Old
Testament for "an offering pleasing
to God."
He calls them "a sweet-smelling
aroma, an acceptable sacrifice well-
pleasing to God" (4.18).
As if to say– If I am to be a
saint, what I do for you in this
church must be a sacrifice,
acceptable and pleasing to my
heavenly father.
I must look at you as a
saint, a holy one.
Matthew 25: "Lord, when did I do
it unto you? ‘Inasmuch as you did it
unto the least of these, you did it
unto me.’"
How tough it is to look at anyone else in
our church and seem them as a blessed saint.
It is just too easy to see their
shortcomings, rather than to completed
person they will be when God is finished
with their life.
When I was dating Peggy, she let me know
that the person she would consider marrying
had to first be her best friend.
Here in Philippians, Paul shares friendship with two men,
Timothy and Epaphroditus, at two different levels.
Their friendship demonstrates the deeper truth of
what Paul is writing concerning Christian
fellowship, faithfulness, holiness.
Timothy is a long-time friend, a favorite
traveling companion.
Does our hymn, "I Sing A Song of the
Saints of God" include truck drivers?
If you believe someone is a good
friend, you really find out when you
travel with him in at 26-foot
diesel Ryder Truck from
Reedsport, Oregon, down to
Huntsville, Texas...with my cat! It
is more than 2,000 miles. I knew
nothing about diesels, I had never
driven a large truck, not to mention
pulling a car dolly behind you. I
foun d out I could not even begin to
back one up with a trailer attached
to the back end! How could I have
known that particular diesel truck
overheated climbing a hill? But a
friend from the church in Reedsport,
Walter, who knew all this stuff,
went along with me.
They did not drive a truck
together, but I bet they shared a
tent. They had to listen to each
other snore. (page 2)
Epaphroditus , the second saint, he has met under
stressful conditions.
This man is a new convert from paganism.
A member of the Philippian church,
Epaphroditus was sent to Paul’s side in
prison with gifts; he is commissioned to
stay indefinitely with the Apostle to serve
him in any way he could.
This new-comer becomes deathly ill.
Partly due to Paul’s love and care, and
partly due to the grace of God and many
prayers, Epaphroditus recovers.
Does he feel like a failure? What are his
emotional burdens? Does he think his own
church is disturbed about him? He was sent
to help but is a liability. In spite of
this, Paul gives his new companion "an
extraordinary commendation": he calls him
Matthew Heard and Randy Umfleet, in an article which
appeared in the March, 1998, "Reformed Worship" Magazine,
identify " 4 important and related habits" which
characterize all vital friendships in the church. (Their
article has a curious title, "Whistling in the Dark.")
It is like when you are about to
walk of the door and phone rings,
and so you stop what you are doing
to answer the phone.
People shop for a new church based on
what it has to offer (does it have a
program for little children?) Wouldn’t it be
novel to go looking for a church family
based on what you have to give that church?
I read the autobiography of Lance
Armstrong, "It’s Not About the Bike."
Did he win 7 Tour de Frances all by himself
with the best technology and equipment? He
discusses the importance of teams in
professional bicycl racing. Among the 8 or 9
members on a team, there is usually one or
two who are the leaders, who actually have a
chance to win. The other teammates are
called "domestiques" in French, or
"servants." They are to sacrifice to help
their leader win. But each and every member
is vital to the team.
So, thirdly, comes the habit of placing God’s
call ahead of convenience,
to be faithful in spite of hardships and
failure.
Would you take such a risk and go behind
the locked doors of the jail here in
Russellville to visit your pastor? (page 3)
I learned what that was like when
Iived in Alamogordo, New Mexico. A
19-year old girl, a member of our
church with a new-born daughter, was
sentenced to 9 years as an accessory
in a teen gang-killing. She supplied
the murder weapon by stealing a
knife from her father’s truck. Her
father was a deacon, her mother was
our church treasurer. Several times
a year I traveled several hundred
miles one way to the penitentiary in
Grants, New Mexico, to visit this
girl.
The last I heard she was a free
woman, re-united with her daughter
and family. And she is a Christian.
I have not ever heard from her, but
it did not matter, because I knew
what happened served to further
Christ’s Gospel. And I thank the
deacons and members of that church
for their faithful ministry of love
to that girl.
In the fifth chapter of Romans (5.4),
Paul talks about "character" which is honed
and sharpened against affliction and
adversity.
Fourth, and finally then, there is the habit of
placing love ahead of mere sentimentality.
Epaphroditus is a strange name, possibly
from Aphrodite, the goddess of love.
If he was named for her, he is
now a disciple of the true God of
love!
Timothy, as a new pastor, is urged by
Paul to shun all else, but to pursue
righteousness, godliness, faith, patience,
gentleness and love.
Tin one of the churches I served, my
predecessor had a massive stroke two years
before I arrived. He was left a
quadriplegic. Certain church members went to
the nursing home each Sunday to pick him up
and bring him the worship, even though he
was unable to communicate with anyone. That
church also maintained a specially-equipped
van to transport him. This mission was
particularly noteworthy because the same
week their pastor had his stroke, the
session had voted to ask him to resign.
After the stroke, they never told him of
their decision. His wife was killed, in a
car accident the weekend before I was to be
installed.
One of the newer hymns in our
Presbyterian Hymnal, "Jesus, Jesu, Fill Us
with Your Love," says that "Love puts us
on our knees."
In Romans 12.9, we are told our love must
be sincere.
The root word is the same for
another work, hypocrisy. In
Paul’s time it was a word used to
describe an actor on stage who wore
a series of different masks
depending on which character he was
portrayinPaul now uses this word as
the opposite of simply putting on an
act to win applause; saints never do
that.
In the closing paragraph of Philippians 2, we
read about a group of "saints" who have each one
been possessed by the love of Christ and are giving
that love to one another.
Paul says, "receive such a person
therefor in the Lord with all gladness and
hold such people in esteem" (2.29).
See her/him as a "holy one," truly
precious in the Lord’s sight. (page 4)