Before we jump into the text today, it is worth mentioning that this is Christ the King Sunday. We have a lot going on today and so it would be easy to gloss over it. However, given the environment in which we find ourselves, given the time of year we are in, and given the message in the text, it is important to take a moment to reflect on this reminder from church’s liturgical calendar.
As many of you may know, we use different colors to mark different times in the year. You see it on the communion table and, particularly for those of you watching on the live stream, you see it on the pulpit. We use purple for Advent and Lent. We use white for Christmas (and several weeks following), for Easter (and several weeks following), and for today. We use red for Pentecost. The remainder of the year – the ordinal or ordinary time – is green.
The church year begins with Advent, which we will start next Sunday. Advent is the time of watching and waiting for the promises of God to be fulfilled, even as we remember the way God has fulfilled promises in the past. Advent turns to Christmas and Epiphany, where we marvel at the mystery of the incarnation with the birth of Jesus – Emmanuel, God with us. Then we go through a few weeks before Lent commences with Ash Wednesday. During that season, we take time to remember and give thanks for Jesus’ faithful walk to Jerusalem and the cross. Lent carries us through Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday. A few weeks ago, I made reference to the great sermon I heard a number of years ago, “It’s Friday; but Sunday’s comin’.”
Sunday, of course, is Resurrection Sunday. The resurrection is the very heart of the gospel: in it we see the victory God has won over death for us. In it we see how the redemption of Christ’s blood shed for us is confirmed. In it we are renewed in the hope we have in our adoption as brothers and sisters in Christ. In the resurrection, we see the full meaning of Christ’s words in the all-so-familiar John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Those are not just words, they are not just promises, they are a sure foundation of the hope that God has given us by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Easter-tide is the season that follows. The joy of the resurrection cannot be contained to one day. The celebration of resurrection goes on constantly, and we mark that through the use of white colors for the seven Sundays of Easter-tide. Then, suddenly, quickly, abruptly, and wonderfully, things turn red for one Sunday as we recall the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, the proclamation of the gospel in many languages, and the birth of the church.
Following the birth of the church at Pentecost, there is a long series of Sundays that is ordinal or ordinary time. It is the time in which the church grows in Christ, follows where Christ leads, and obeys Christ’s Great Commission to “Go, baptize, make disciples.” All of that leads to this day, this Sunday, which is Christ the King Sunday, when we look forward to the culmination of time, Christ’s return, and the ultimate fulfillment of the promises of the coming Kingdom of God.
In other words, Christ the King Sunday is a reminder that God has won. God is sovereign over all things. God has defeated sin. God has defeated death. God has declared his kingdom over which Jesus Christ is King. Christ the King Sunday is about remembering that we are in relationship with the one who has redeemed us by his own blood. We are in relationship with the one who has saved us for his own kingdom. We are in relationship with the one who knows our frame, who has stood in our place, and who invites us to eternal life in communion with him.
I go into that extended introduction because this is the starting point for Paul’s letter to the Philippians. He was writing to them with the understanding that they were with him in the perspective that Christ is King. He was not introducing them to Christ; he was encouraging them in Christ.
Keep that in mind as we go through our verses today. In Christ. Listen for how Paul was completely focused and centered on Christ.
Today we wrap up our series on Paul’s letter to the Philippians.
If we were in a Bible study, we would be spending a lot of time today on the plays on words and coded language that Paul was using for the entertainment and edification of his readers. There are a lot of things we will not appreciate simply because this was a letter among friends in which Paul was using a common vocabulary that is not common to us.
That said, the gist of Paul’s comments here have particular relevance to us on this Sunday before Thanksgiving. In these final verses, Paul was giving thanks to the Philippians for their friendship, giving thanks for their ongoing support of him and his ministry, and giving thanks with them for the salvation they had received from God in Jesus Christ. In short, he was filled to overflowing with thanks for the blessings he had and shared with his friends.
Over the course of this series, I have been using the imagery of Paul giving a locker room speech to get the team ready to go out and accomplish great things. These verses are similar, yet different. Perhaps the best way to understand this section is to think of it in terms of a post-game session after the main event.
Paul had already described his own situation – even in prison, I am ok. “I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ.” Then, he urged the Philippians to unity in their situation, “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” Next, he prepared them for the opposition they would face by renouncing the value of anything other than Christ. Referring to his own pedigree and accomplishments prior to his Damascus Road encounter, “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” He then returned to the Philippians’ situation and ordered them to help two women to get along. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.”
Now, Paul was wrapping things up by again sharing how much the Philippians meant to him.
Taken as a whole, these verses have four sections. First, Paul was so grateful for their gift. Second, he throws in a couple of sly inside jokes – both to solidify the theme he had been pressing and taking some not-so-veiled shots at opponents that he had encountered along the way. Third, he returned to his thanksgiving by marveling at the missions and adventures for Christ he had shared with the Philippians. Finally, fourth, he gave his greetings.
I. Gratitude
Our verses began, “I rejoice in the Lord greatly now at last you have revived your concern for me.” The team has come back into the locker room after a resounding triumph. The players have all gathered around. The coach is emotional because they have responded to his call and, in fact, they have won one for the Gipper. Paul was not criticizing them for delaying help; rather, he was emotionally grateful that they finally had opportunity to express their support and loyalty so freely given. He was deeply moved.
We need to jump to the third part – the next paragraph – to get Paul’s full explanation of why he was so moved. He looked back at their journey together. “You Philippians indeed know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you alone.”
Paul was remembering a time we read about in Acts 17. Paul had gone from Philippi to Thessalonica with the support of the Philippians. There, after three sabbath days teaching in the synagogues, a mob came after him. Not finding Paul, they grabbed his host, Jason, and dragged him before the city authorities, complaining, “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.”
Paul was remembering this time when giving thanks to the Philippians for their steadfast friendship. The Philippians knew Paul’s mission path and knew the hardships he endured. They supported and affirmed him through those times. That support meant the world to him.
Let me stop here and point out why maintaining our mission support through the pandemic has been such a big deal. We have worked hard to provide consistent resources and consistent encouragement to the missionaries we support – locally, nationally, and internationally. We have been intentional about sustaining our financial support, intentional about getting updates and intentional about keeping in contact with them.
The missionaries we support internationally: think of the Butterworths and Calvas in Ecuador, Lu Hawley in Thailand, the Mensies in Belize, the Imbrocks with MAF, Caroline Kurtz for Ethiopia, and the Nelsons in Guatamala (who, pandemic permitting, will be here in a few weeks). Like the Philippians with Paul, we know their missions and their struggles. We share them and support them and encourage them. It is so important to recognize our role in praying for them, communicating with them, and embracing them when we are able to see them.
The missionaries we support nationally: think of the Larsens, KBNR, Frontera de Cristo, disaster relief through our denomination ECO, and Gideon Bibles. Like the Philippians with Paul, we know their missions and their struggles. We share them and support them and encourage them. It is so important to recognize our role in praying for them, communicating with them, and embracing them when we are able to see them.
Think of the missions and missionaries we support locally: Advocates to End Domestic Violence, C.I.R.C.L.E.S., RCIL, Earth Angels, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, FISH, Food for Thought, Forward Bible Camp, Life Choices, N.O.T.S., Northern Nevada Dream Center, Pilgrim Radio, and Ron Wood Resource Center. Like the Philippians with Paul, we know their missions and their struggles. We share them and support them and encourage them. It is so important to recognize our role in praying for them, communicating with them, and embracing them when we are able to see them.
Friends, what we read from Paul is what our missionaries have been saying. “I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it.” The friendship and partnership in Christ is cause for mutual gratitude and celebration because we can see the hand of God at work in and through us.
Paul’s thanksgiving for their friendship and partnership set the frame for the most well-known part of our verses today. It is the context for understanding Paul’s statement, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
II. I Know.
I know many people for whom this verse is an encouragement to persevere. It is as if Paul were saying that he was a comic-book super hero: putting on a mask, tights, and a cape with a cross to go out to avenge evil. People understand this as Paul giving an exhortation to overcome, to aspire to mighty things, to have the mindset of a conqueror.
Now all those things are good things in Christ, but that is not what Paul was actually saying here. Paul’s focus was not himself or what he could accomplish; rather, his focus was the greatness and all-sufficiency of being in Christ. Hear these verses again, in context:
Phil. 4:11 Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. 13 I can do all things [read: all circumstances] through him who strengthens me.
He can do all circumstances because he knows his life is in Christ’s hands. He can do all circumstances because he is not alone; Christ is with him always, through everything, even to the end of the age. He can do all things because, as Paul wrote elsewhere,
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That is how he could do all things through Christ who strengthened him.
What may be too subtle for us but would have been two bright neon flashing signs for the Philippians is the compare and contrast Paul was making here. There are two words that signal an inside conversation between Paul and the Philippians: content and secret.
Paul was contrasting Christ with the competing theologies and early heresies of stoicism and Gnosticism. He did not need to spend time describing or defining these things to the Philippians because they were already familiar with them; Paul just used those two keywords as a shorthand code to identify them to make the point. Stoics were “content” in all things because they believed they were strong enough to not give value to emotions or circumstances. A stoic is emotionless in all circumstances because he is sufficient unto himself. Gnostics believed there was a secret spiritual knowledge and that the material world was meaningless. They despised the material world as an unnecessary distraction to their journey of seeking secret spiritual knowledge.
Paul’s point here was that he could be content – not sufficient in himself, but through Christ who strengthens him. Paul’s point here was that he knew the ultimate spiritual secret that he was proclaiming to all who would hear: in Jesus Christ we have redemption and hope in all things, including the material world.
Paul’s gratitude to the Philippians included their shared walk in Christ in this world. He was emotional because of the blessing of pursuing mission and ministry adventures with the Philippians as his partners in Christ.
And so it is with us.
III. Thanksgiving
We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. In this season of isolation and social distance, in this season of depression and uncertainty, in this season of cultural discord, in this season of searching for new ways to understand who we are and what we are called to do, we need to hear Paul’s call to the Philippians that we can do all things – all circumstances – through Christ who strengthens us. We remember first that we are “in Christ.” And, for that, we can give thanks. So this Thanksgiving:
- In the midst of a pandemic, let us give thanks; not because things are rosy and wonderful right now, but because “in Christ,” we know that it is temporary and that the eternal kingdom of God awaits;
- In the midst of uncertain days forward, let us give thanks; not because we have a clear vision of what is next, but because “in Christ,” we do know the one who is leading us and we know where it is he has promised to lead;
- In the midst of isolation and loneliness, let us give thanks; not because we enjoy being separated, but because “in Christ,” we are assured that he is with us always, even until the end of the age;
- In the midst of struggling to understand how we are to fulfill the Great Commission here and now, let us give thanks; not because we are able to go out and lead grand revivals, but because “in Christ,” we are able to share the good news one person at a time and one family at a time. Let us give thanks and because, in Christ, we are in partnership with those who are enduring the same struggle – the struggle through which gospel is being spread as it becomes known that they are persisting for Christ.
Friends, in Christ, we have more than enough. We can trust that God will be faithful to his promises; that God will fully satisfy every need of ours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. For that, we say, “To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.” For that, we say, “Thank you, God.”
Amen.