Philippians 2:19-30 is one of those forgotten passages. Tucked between the lofty first eleven verses of the chapter where Paul outlines great Christology and practical Christian living and Philippians 3 where we see how to press on in faith, these verses mentioning ordinary plans and ordinary people (Timothy and Epaphroditus) often get overlooked. But we serve a God who is interested in the ordinary and the mundane and ‘the dull routines, the empty boredom, and the unattractive responsibilities that make up much of most people’s lives’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘Under the Unpredictable Plant’), so we do well to ponder the lessons we can learn from these verses.

1. People matter. So often, our attention is focussed on celebrities and the famous, but these verses remind us of the ordinary helpers who are such a vital part of the Christian life. Timothy and Epaphroditus are described in warm terms (son, brother, co-worker, fellow soldier) and although we don’t know exactly how they helped Paul, we see the value of faithful service here. Paul would talk about many people with different gifts making up the body of Christ (Rom 12:5-6, 1 Cor 12:4-6) and we too need to appreciate and value each person, for we are all necessary in the body of Christ. People matter ultimately because we are all made in the image of God (Gen 1:27) and the Christian should value all human life, since the value placed upon it is the value of God’s Son. (John 3:16) This is why Christians campaign against abortion, euthanasia, eugenics and murder and why many Christians are at the forefront of campaigning about disability issues, for people matter, no matter who they are.
   

2. Nothing is too small or unimportant to be significant to God. We often forget that the unseen, ordinary acts of people are seen by and known to God. God cares about us so much that He is interested in our toothache and our tears. Nothing is too small to matter to Him; a cup of cold water given in faith will bring its own reward. (Matt 10:42) Our service and lives may feel unimportant and insignificant to us, but God can see beyond the tedium of the now and can bring forth eternal rewards from our ordinary acts of kindness.

3. Never give up! It’s so easy to become discouraged, to let weariness take over and to lose heart. No matter who we are in the local church, we matter and our service matters. It’s crucial that we get this message, because if we don’t, we are tempted, in the ordinariness of everyday life, with its dull routines, empty boredom and unattractive responsibilities – not to mention its challenges, trials and tribulations – to give up. Paul warns against this in Gal 6:9, and Heb 12:1-3 gives us the way to keep running the race marked out for us – by focussing on Jesus. We have to keep the long view as He did so as not to give up. Nicky Gumbel says, ‘life is a set of challenges, problems and hassles. We sometimes imagine that if we could just deal with the immediate challenge that we are facing, all our problems would be over. But life is not like that. If we resolve one problem, others are just around the corner. The temptation is to see these challenges as preventing us from carrying out the ministry God has given us. In actual fact, dealing with the problems is the ministry.’ (BIOY, 6^th July 2020) By persevering and developing in faithfulness, we become, like Timothy and Epaphroditus, servants of God who make a difference in a big way!

Whether we realise it or not, we all have influence on others. Even the most ‘insignificant’ person will influence their family and friends in ways they may not always recognise. When we stop and consider who we are, we will all realise the influence of others on our lives: parents, siblings, family, teachers, friends, work colleagues and neighbours, to name just a few. The media and celebrities may also have a great influence on us, shaping our tastes in many things – for good and for bad. My thoughts today on influence have been influenced by Nicky Gumbel’s comments in his Bible commentary, for example!

Most of us feel our influence is not very great, but as the African proverb reminds us, ‘if you think you’re too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito’!

I once did spend the night with a mosquito, in a hotel room in the Loire valley in France, and not only did its persistent buzzing frequently startle me from slumber but my body testified to its influence the next day with a series of very itchy bites!

Influence can be for good or for evil and we influence others through our words and our lifestyles.

Words

Our words can either build people up or tear people down (see James 3:9-12). A gentle word can defuse tense and volatile situations (Prov 15:1). Wise words are gracious and calm, not filled with recrimination, blame and anger. (Eccl 8:17, Eccl 10:12) We can help or hinder people through our words and if we use wise words, our influence can shape how many people live.

Lifestyles

God is looking for consistency between what we say (and how we say it – speaking the truth in love) and what we do. Our faith should influence how we live – trusting God, working hard, making the most of every opportunity, being honest, refusing to let anxiety cripple us. (Eccl 11:10) Our faith should make us generous towards others so that we can be a blessing to them. (Eccl 11:1-2, The Message)

Influence can last beyond our lifetime – so let’s ensure our influence is a godly one!

J-P spoke tonight from Matt 18:1-6, focussing our attention on what we can learn from children. During lockdown, many of us have spent longer periods of time with our children than previously, and whilst this has often given us problems to solve – juggling working from home with home schooling, for example – it has also given us the opportunity to survey life from the perspective of a child. Children live life to the full; they are especially able to live in the moment and to enjoy the little things in life, such as learning to cook. For adults, we can find cooking a chore, but making pizzas – making the dough, choosing and chopping the ingredients, adding toppings, watching the pizza cook in the oven and then finally tasting their own creation – was  a highlight during that period of lockdown.

Jesus told us that whoever takes the lowly position of a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 18:4) This was especially surprising given the lowly position that children did indeed take in many cultures in the past, but shows us Jesus’s emphasis on the faith, innocence and joy which children so often demonstrate. Often, it’s necessary to get ‘back to basics‘, to dwell in the fundamental truths of the gospel. (John 3:16) We embrace every milestone with our children, taking videos of their first crawling, their first steps, their first words, clapping them and showing our joy in their achievements. In the same way, we need to celebrate with others the milestones in God which we achieve and must savour and celebrate the triumphs of those around us.

We have a sacred responsibility towards our children, as Matt 18:6 makes clear. We are to protect, nurture, train and correct our children, being honest with them when we don’t have answers to their questions and seeking to pursue truth with them. Lockdown has not been a safe or happy experience for many children, and we need to understand that children are like sponges, absorbing the attitudes, values and principles of those around them. They learn from us, so it’s especially important to be good role models for them – but we can learn so much more from them, especially when it comes to faith and trust!

Dave spoke this morning from Phil 2:5-11, asking us ‘what is the most important statement the church makes?’ From this passage, the answer would be ‘Jesus Christ is Lord.’

Over the years, there have been many disputes and arguments in church circles on matters of doctrine and practice, but this central statement remains the unifying factor in all church life. Jesus, who was Himself God, laid aside His power to become fully man. Born as a baby in Bethlehem, brought up in Nazareth (a village about which it was said that nothing good ever came from there!), living an ordinary life with his family and learning the family trade of being a carpenter, Jesus began to teach and preach and heal people at the age of thirty, having an enormous impact on multitudes. From humble obscurity, his life ended in public shame as He was crucified, but in sacrificing His life for our sins, having lived a sinless life, He demonstrated that He is Lord of all.

Being Lord, He is able to forgive us for all our sins against God and was both the priest and the offering. He made atonement for our sin and is therefore far more than merely a ‘good moral teacher.‘ He is all-powerful, overcoming death, and His resurrection changed the lives not only of his immediate disciples but of millions of people since then. The fact that He is Lord means He is the boss, the chief, the One who is uniquely in chage of lives and to whom we owe absolute love and loyalty.

Jesus is coming back to earth, and one day, every knee will bow to Him. Right will preval; justice will be done; sin will no longer have dominion over anyone and there will be no more tears, sorrow, suffering or pain. We look forward to this ‘arrival’ and anticipate this future, but all of this arises because God has exalted Jesus to the highest place and given Him the name above every other name. Let’s proclaim that Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, as Handel did so superbly in the ‘Hallelujah Chorus‘ of his ‘Messiah.’

“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
    they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
¹³ planted in the house of the Lord,
    they will flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ They will still bear fruit in old age,
    they will stay fresh and green,
¹⁵ proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
    he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” (Ps 92:12-15)

Palm trees (arecaceae, to give them their Latin name) grow in mainly tropical and subtropical climates and are distinguished by their large evergreen leaves (known as fronds) arranged at the top of an unbranched stem and look very different to many trees native to England. Because of their importance as food in many cultures, palms were symbols for ideas such as victory, peace and fertility, and the coconut palm remains a symbol of the tropical island paradise many of us think of as an ideal holiday destination!

Cedars of Lebanon are a species of tree in the pine family, native to the mountains of the Eastern Mediterranean basin. This kind of tree is a large evergreen conifer, reaching up to 40 metres in height and 2.5 metres in diameter.

When Ps 92 talks of the righteous flourishing like these two trees, we see, therefore, the thought of spreading growth, longevity and an ability to flourish, no matter what the circumstgances. Ps 92:12-15 promises the righteous an ability to stay ‘fresh and green’ and to be fruitful even in old age. Trees grow more magnificent with age, and this is to be the normal expectation and experience of God’s people. We often see old age as a time of decay and withering, but Paul distinguishes between what may happen in the physical realm and what happens in the spiritual realm: ‘Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.’ (2 Cor 4:16) We have a promise of purpose, fruitfulness and growth as we grow old if we remain in Christ and abide in the vine. Notice too that this still involves proclaiming the truth of what we know about God, even as we talked about the need to speak the truth in love as a way of growing spiritually!

To paraphrase Shakespeare, to obey or not to obey is a very tricky question! There is much ambiguity in the Christian message (there are times when the kingdom of heaven will definitely clash with the kingdom of this world!), and it can be difficult to know when to obey and when not to obey. The general principle in the Bible is that obedience is highly valued by God and we are called to obey parents, leaders and those in authority over us and to submit to them (see Romans 13, Eph 6:1-9), but Peter and John also remind us that our response to God supersedes our response to others at times: ‘We must obey God rather than human beings!’ (Acts 5:29) John Stott says, ‘On the one hand, as Christian people, we are called to be conscientious and law-abiding citizens, not revolutionaries. On the other hand, the kingship of Jesus has unavoidable political implications since, as his loyal subjects, we must refuse to give to any ruler or ideology the supreme homage and social obedience which are due to him alone.’

Paul and his companions frequently clashed with the authorities over their message. We may claim that the authorities misunderstood their message, seeing political overtones which they took as treason when the message was spiritual, not political; as John Stott puts it, ‘Just as Jesus had been accused before Pilate of sedition, of “subverting” the nation by claiming himself to be “Christ, a king”, so Paul’s teachings about the kingdom of God and about His return (Parousia often referred to an official imperial visit) were misinterpreted.’ Nonetheless, there will inevitably be times when we have to choose between the ways of the world (including its laws and rules) and God’s ways.

We rightly hail the courage of heroes who have stood up against oppression and injustice in the past (including William Wilberforce, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and others). The hindsight of history is a wonderful thing! But in truth, choosing to disobey is a difficult decision, often leading to misunderstanding, dissension, persecution and imprisonment. I am concerned about many of the things happening in our world nowadays and about many laws being passed in our own country. I find this dilemma to be ever more pertinent to Christians and believe that we must be prepared for our own ‘day of reckoning’, when our consciences may lead us to defiance rather than compliance. Our journey through the book of Acts surely prepares us for this clash and gives us the assurance that if we honour God above all, He will guide us and help us, though there’s definitely no guarantee of an easy life!