Planting Seeds

December Passage: Philippians 4:21-23

Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. 

The brothers who are with me greet you.

All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.  (ESV)

If you are new to this reading plan, follow the instructions on the right side of this page or click here to read the "Why Just One Letter" introduction article.

Throughout each month, we have posted short articles to give some depth of understanding regarding our text. Today we will COMPLETE our One Year One Letter series with…

Planting Seeds by God’s Grace

There is nothing so amazing as to see a not-yet-believer turn to Christ in repentance and faith. To see the conversion from death to life, from enemy to beloved family member, from blind to seeing, from heart of stone to heart of flesh. 

It is awesome. It is addictive. There is nothing like it in the world. It is a gift that God gives to Christians. It is a powerful incentive to keep up the mission. We live and breathe to see this happen again and again.

We pray as we encounter our neighbors, and co-workers and family and friends and even our enemies. “One more, please Lord? And another? Father, will you save her? Lord, will you save Him? Father, give me the right words about Jesus. Holy Spirit move in their heart. Adopt them today.”

The life of a Christian is only boring or unfulfilling IF we are not living for the Mission. On mission, there’s always excitement. There’s a thrilling excitement when we think about our closeness to our Father. There’s a thrill when we move in the darkness — protected by the light — to rescue someone who is the same as we were before God drew us to Himself.

Paul remembers. He wrote and talked about it all the time. He had been on the road, heading out to take down this “movement” that followed a crucified teacher. Full of pride and self-righteousness, he was on a mission to stamp out these “little-Christ” followers. 

BUT! Then it happened. Jesus happened. On the road to Damascus, everything that Paul thought he knew about God and about himself and about others and about the universe was turned upside down. The author of The Story came down and filled Paul in on The Truth. 

Then, after Paul was able to process all that had happened, his former passion to destroy the Church was transformed into a passion to grow the Church. For the rest of Paul’s life he would be all about spreading this Good News of Christ and Him crucified; of Jesus raised again on the third day; and of Jesus reigning and ruling the universe at the right hand of the Father.

Now in prison, Paul writes to some of the people that God rescued in Philippi. And in Paul’s closing remarks, it is as if Paul is whispering to Lydia and her household (Acts 16:11-15), and whispering to the Jailer and his household (Acts 16:25-34) and whispering to Syntyche and to Euodia and to the many other Christians whose names are written in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:2-3), “What Jesus did for me and then did for you…Jesus is still opening eyes! Even under the nose of the emperor! We serve an unstoppable God!”

That’s what we are reminded of when he writes, 

“All the saints greet you, ESPECIALLY THOSE OF CAESAR’S HOUSEHOLD.”

Caesar, the enemy emperor. And Rome, the empire of repression to the Jews and to the early church are beginning to be infiltrated from the inside out, from the ground up and they will not stand. The growth of the Kingdom will be slow. But it will remain.
The great hope of Philippians is the foreshadowing of this short sentence. Paul will eventually die. The first believers in Philippi will eventually go to be with the Lord. You and I, Christians of the 21st century, are like a mist. We are only here for a moment. 

BUT! God will continue to build His Church and the gates of Hell cannot stop His work. 

The Roman empire eventually fell, The Church remains. 

The Pope tried to stop the message of salvation by Faith Alone and yet we are planning to celebrate the 500-year anniversary of the Reformation next year. 

The tight grip of Communism in China is beginning to show signs of weakness and disintegration, but the growth of Christian faith continues to explode there.  

I, Pastor Ken, used to mock Christians, and turn a defiant tone toward the God of the universe. But now I am a committed (yet still-not-perfected) follower of Jesus. 

You, Christian reader, were at odds with the God of the universe. But now, you are with Him. 

We were, by nature deserving of wrath, and now we are objects of His affection shown through, and bought by, Jesus. 

And now, YOU and I, WE - the church, get to continue His work. Paul continued the work, The Philippians continued the work, The prosecuted church in the Middle East today continues the work the same way we continue the work here — by planting another seed.

Plant a seed, Christian. 

Plant a seed by living a life transformed by the Word. 

Plant a seed by living a life that shows off the fruit of the Spirit in your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 

Plant a seed by admitting when you have been wrong - confessing your sin and asking for forgiveness. 

Plant a seed by loving your neighbor and forgiving those who have hurt you. 

Plant a seed by returning love for evil. 

Plant a seed by remaining calm and steadfast in the midst of adversity. 

Plant a seed by identifying yourself by whom you are in Christ instead of identifying yourself by a former sin you committed or by sins done against you.

Plant a seed by being unified in Christ with other believers and by setting aside the worldly things that divide us. 

And plant a seed by proclaiming the Good News with a humble boldness to everyone you can - everywhere you go. And, when you write to other Christians, you may be able to say, “All the saints greet you, ESPECIALLY THOSE OF…” 

There is no limit to where God can move. We are the means to His end. Plant a seed.

And finally, Paul reminds us again that, although we do put forth effort, God gets the glory. In the beginning, throughout history and in the end, Grace, grace, and more grace. 

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”

His grace will motivate and sustain you and will bring all that He has set in motion to come to pass. May God be forever praised. 

We will end this 1 Year One Letter endeavor with a few sustaining thoughts from Jesus and from The Holy Spirit inspired New Testament.

“With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” ~ Jesus (Mark 4:30-32)

“To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” ~Jesus (Luke 13:20-21)

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. ~ The Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 3:6-9)

Every Saint Matters

December Passage: Philippians 4:21-23

Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. 

The brothers who are with me greet you.

All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.  (ESV)

If you are new to this reading plan, follow the instructions on the right side of this page or click here to read the "Why Just One Letter" introduction article.

Throughout each month, we will post short articles to give some depth of understanding regarding our text. Today we will discuss...

Every Saint Matters

God loves you. God loves each of His former enemies who have turned to Him in repentance and faith. 

No matter where we have come from, no matter what our level of education, no matter our God-given gender, no matter what our race, no matter what our nation of origin is, no matter what ministerial work we have done, no matter how long we have been believers, no matter how many people we have brought into the family — NO MATTER WHAT — you (we) are loved by God equally with every other saint. 

No more, no less. 

We need to be reminded of this as we close out our time together in the letter to the Philippians. This letter is about the unity of the faith. This letter is an encouragement to believers who - compared to other churches from the time - were fairly healthy in their life of worship, their life in community and their life on mission. But that doesn’t mean that they do not need to be reminded about the importance of unity in the Family of God. 

Every church needs this reminder. Some need the reminder because they are in error, some need the reminder to protect from the possibility of future error. 

For example, the Corinthians were in error when it came to unity. They needed to be reminded not to show favoritism. They were elevating people with particular Spiritual gifts above others, they elevated particular church leaders over other leaders, and those Corinthian Christians who were wealthy were sometimes acting in ways that showed a lack of interest or concern for their poorer brethren. 

Jesus knew and taught that one of the most convincing traits of our faith - one of the most powerful tools for evangelism was unity. That is why He prayed:

“Holy Father, keep them in your name…that they may be one, evan as we are one…” John 17:11

“I do no ask for these (12 disciples) only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, SO THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE that you sent me.” John 17:20-21

“I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, SO THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOW THAT YOU SENT ME AND LOVED THEM EVEN AS YOU LOVED ME.” John 17:23

And Jesus understood that disunity and favoritism would cause the church to self destruct and be like every other broken worldly system. When the soon to be leaders of the church began to let status cause disunity, Jesus taught them not to believe they were more important than any other saint, but to submit to one another:

“A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And Jesus said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.’”  Luke 22:24-26

With the importance of unity, and the destructive power of pride understood, Paul begins closing out his letter with a subtle reminder:

Greet every saint in Christ Jesus

The local church and the Church worldwide does not have room for favoritism or ranking. We are all equal at the cross. We are all equally worthy of dignity as image bearers of God. We are are equally loved by God and lovable to and by each other because of Jesus. 

This teaching can eliminate cliques that form in a local body of believers because of age, or the amount of time a person has been in the local church, or social or economic or educational status, or level of apparent sin that we have been saved from. 

All of those former dividing lines have been erased and we have been united under the umbrella of our Savior. That’s why Paul writes to "greet every saint IN CHRIST JESUS." Jesus is our unifier. Praise His name! Who or what else could bring such a diverse group together?

And, Paul also cuts off any hero-worship or elevation of particular church leaders to a higher class of Christianity.

The brothers who are with me greet you.

Remember Paul and who was with him. Paul and Timothy are certainly notable Christians. But, even they who have their names scattered multiple times throughout the New Testament; and even the “big names” in Christianity who are known throughout history; and even the “celebrity” pastors, Christian authors, musicians and leaders of our day; they are all equal to the unknown Christian stay at home mom, the unknown Christian soldier, the unknown Christian fry cook, and the unknown Christian paper pushing supervisor. 

We “unknowns” and “un-notables” are equal with the Super-Apostles, because even the unknowns of this world are KNOWN BY GOD. 

You Christian, are known by God, and so is the newcomer sharing the pew with you on Sunday, and so is the Christian from another church who lives in your neighborhood. Greet them. Make them feel welcome. Unify yourselves under the umbrella of Christ. Our unity is our most powerful tool to reach the not-yet-believer.