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)
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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.
