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)