Second Sunday of Advent Philippians 1:3-11

Discerning What's Best

Ancient Lens

What can we learn from the historical context?

Paul’s Relationship to Philippi

There is practically no debate that Philippians was written by Paul. This letter is an intimate portrayal of Paul’s affection for the church in Philippi, perhaps the church he felt closer to than any other. Described in Acts 16, Paul came through Philippi (northern Greece) during his second missionary journey in roughly AD 52. Philippi was a Roman outpost of sorts, a city built up at a crossroad connecting Europe to Asia. It had strategic military significance and had previously held commercial significance through the mining of gold and silver. This city, and the church within it, consisted of people from all types of socioeconomic backgrounds. Acts 16 describes Lydia, a wealthy merchant of purple textiles, a Roman jailer, and a slave girl. These three people represent the upper, middle, and lower classes of society.

Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians some time after his first visit. He was in prison. While William Barclay [1] claims the letter was written later, around AD 63 when Paul was imprisoned in Rome, others like N. T. Wright claim Paul was writing this during an earlier imprisonment in Ephesus [2]. Wright claims Paul would not have written about coming to visit the Philippians again if this were Paul’s later imprisonment in Rome.

Regardless of the timing, this letter shows us a portrait of deep affection from Paul for the Philippian church and from them for Paul. The Philippians had sent Epaphroditus on a harrowing journey to visit and care for Paul while he was in prison. Prisoners often depended upon the charity of those they knew in order to eat and survive in prison. While staying with Paul, Epaphroditus was homesick and Paul thought it better to send him home. Paul sent this letter with him that he would be received well by the Philippian church. He also wrote to encourage the Philippians as they were also experiencing persecution like Paul was. Additionally, he wrote to address the crumbling Christian unity within the church due to the conflict between Syntyche and Euodia.

Paul in Prison

As stated above, Paul was in prison while writing this letter. This is striking, as his letter begins with prayers of gratitude. Further, this letter has been colloquially called the “letter of joy” because of how often Paul refers to this word. Fourteen of the roughly 125 New Testament uses of the Greek word, chairo (rejoice), or charas (joy) can be found in Philippians. Paul is going through an incredibly difficult time, and he knows the Philippians are as well, yet he can rejoice in thanksgiving for what God has done in the Philippian church and throughout Paul’s ministry. 

Jesus Lens

How do we point to Jesus?

Faithful to Complete it by Jesus Christ

The reason Paul can rejoice while in prison is because of what he says in verse six of our passage:

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. (ESV)

Paul knows that God finishes what God begins. And through Jesus Christ, God has begun a good work in the Philippian church. Even though they are experiencing suffering and persecution, God will continue to be faithful to them and complete the good work started in them. Even though there were the seeds of division among them with Euodia and Syntyche’s dispute, God was continuing to be at work among the church.

In the season of Advent, we are reminded that we await Jesus’ second coming, when he will make all things right. That will be the final day, the “day of Jesus Christ,” when God brings his work to completion. This hope allowed Paul to go on in Philippians 1:21 and say, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (ESV).

Partnership in Suffering

In verse seven, Paul describes how he shares with the Philippians in suffering. He goes on in chapter 2 to describe Jesus’ suffering in the famous “kenosis” passage (6-11), describing how Jesus “emptied” himself. He exhorts the Philippians to have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. Throughout this letter, Paul encourages the Philippians in their suffering by pointing out his partnership with them and their collective partnership with Jesus in his suffering. In fact, when we experience challenging times, we are more like Jesus than possibly any other time. We are partners in our suffering.

Modern Lens

How does this touch my heart, life, emotions, thoughts and relationships today? 

Advent – Waiting in Hope

Advent is a season of waiting. As a child, this waiting seemed to take forever. At the end of Advent was Christmas! However, we wait not just for the coming of the Messiah on Christmas morning, but also for the second coming, when Christ will return, making all things new, as described in Revelation 21. We are a people of hope because God is still at work in the world. Verse six reminds us that God finishes what God begins. God will be faithful to carry on to completion the work started in you.

Waiting is rarely fun. It’s often painful. We wait for the results from a lab test. We wait in traffic. We wait in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles. We wait for an apology that might never come. Waiting is a visible sign that we live in a fallen world, that not all is as it should be. For if everything were as desired, we wouldn’t have to wait for it. 

The thing is, waiting also shapes us, depending on how we wait. We can grow bitter, letting resentments fester. We can become paralyzed with fear. We can use the waiting as an excuse to do nothing.

But we can also be a people who wait in hope. That is what this text is telling us. Our hope is in the Lord who is faithful. In the midst of our suffering, like the people of Philippi, God is present, God is at work, and God will make all things right. Like Paul, we can rejoice in suffering. We can have joy even when we feel stuck. So in the waiting, we are not passive. Rather, we join with God, in God’s mission, working to more fully bring about God’s kingdom. As Paul exhorts in Philippians 2, we seek to have the same mindset as Jesus.

Discerning What’s Best

Verses nine through eleven describe Paul’s prayer for the Philippians – that their love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help them determine what is best so that in the day of Christ, they may be pure and blameless. William Barclay offers a helpful metaphor here. 

The scientist who loves weather reads about it, looks to the sky whenever able, and will travel in just to gain more knowledge about it. They do this because they love the subject matter. And we’re no different when we watch old home videos of a spouse, gaining insights about who they are. Whatever it is that we love, we seek to know more about it: our love guides our knowledge.

Similarly, our love for God guides our knowledge. As we seek to grow closer to Jesus, the knowledge we seek changes as well. We seek to become more aligned with Jesus and to know God’s will for us. Our priorities and goals change.

Similarly, our love for God guides our knowledge. As we seek to grow closer to Jesus, the knowledge we seek changes as well. We seek to become more aligned with Jesus and to know God’s will for us. Our priorities and goals change.

In our suffering and waiting, we partner with Jesus. We identify with him. We become more like him. These times of waiting, when we recognize the world is not as it should be, our loves, our priorities, our aims are all realigned. We begin to see what matters most in life. We gain a new sense of clarity.

Themes and Ideas for Preaching

Advent is a time of waiting. This text shows us that God is at work in the waiting. During the waiting, we are reminded that God finishes what God begins. In prison, Paul had joy because he was confident God was still at work – in him and in the Philippian church. This waiting gave Paul a deep sense of partnerships and connection with his fellow Christians and with Jesus. We desire to know the things and people we love more deeply. As we pursue them, we gain clarity about what matters most. Our waiting can refine us.

This fall involved significant waiting for all of us. Whether is waiting another four years for the next election because we’re not satisfied by the recent results, waiting for medical test results, waiting for a the resolution of a problem in a relationship, or waiting to discover our sense of call – we all are a people of waiting. God is active during these times. We, too, can be active as we draw near to Jesus.

References

[1] William Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians (The New Daily Study Bible) (Westminster John Knox, 2017).

[2] N. T. Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God (Fortress, 2013).

1. Try to put yourself in Paul's shoes. You're in prison. How do you write the most joy-filled letter in the New Testament? Where does his joy come from?

2. How does waiting shape you? How can you be active during your waiting? How does it this active waiting help you discover what matters most in your life?

3. Why do you think we find it so challenging to wait? Does it make a difference for you if you are waiting for a good thing to come versus a bad thing to end?

4. Paul says that he’s confident God will complete what God has begun in the Philippians. How have you seen God accomplish good, albeit slow work in your life or in those around you?

5. Paul sharing his suffering with the Philippians (who are suffering, too), has a purpose. What is it? 

6. Sometimes people who are suffering share their suffering to complain. Is Paul complaining? What can make the difference between a positive and a negative reaction to suffering?

7. What is something you love which you tried to learn more about? What was that like? Have you ever been drawn in a similar way to know God? What would that look like?

8. How and for what are you waiting currently? How might God be shaping you during this time?