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Philippians:  Life Wish

Philippians 1:21-30

September 18, 2005

1. Today we begin to delve into Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. It’s much shorter than Romans, so we’ll only be in it four weeks, instead of the whole summer. Let me show you Philippi’s location. Right here at the top of the Aegean Sea. This was the first congregation Paul established, and the people remained very dear to his heart. He was obviously in prison when he wrote this (verse 7 says "You hold me in your heart in my imprisonment.") Unfortunately, he doesn’t say where he is imprisoned. Could have been Rome, could have been Ephesus. Paul found himself behind bars in more than one city because of his preaching. So, since there is no clear evidence about when and where he wrote this letter, speculation abounds! Some think he wrote and two or maybe three different letters, and later editors combined them. Others believe he only wrote one letter to the Philippians, and this is ut. When the day comes that we can ask Paul in person, he’ll probably say, "Hmmm. That was a long time ago. I really don’t remember! Does it matter?" In the long run, I don’t believe it does matter in this particular situation. His words themselves are clear enough, and provide inspiration for Christians even today!

2. He begins with the typical greeting of those days, similar to our memos: "Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the Philippians who believe in Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Then off he goes in joyful thanksgiving for their place in his life. Then he writes the strangest thing – in spite of being in prison, it all turned out okay! His imprisonment has actually helped spread the gospel! Then he writes these words that we’re considering today in Philippians 1:21-30.

3. Some of these words mirror what he wrote to the Romans: "If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. And this puts Paul in a dilemma! Would it be better for him to be dead, or better for him to be alive? Then he answers his own question – it’s a win-win situation! Whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so he might be Lord of both the dead and the living." (Romans 14:8, 9).

4. That’s easy for Paul to say! It’s not quite that easy for us, is it? We find ourselves in painful life situations the likes of which we’ve never seen before, and out of which we want to get! Have you thought that before? Have you had a financial or emotional crisis that wouldn’t stop? Or maybe news of a serious health problem. I certainly have! There have been times in my life when I’ve thought, "Stop the world! I want to get off! I just can’t live this way any longer. Nothing could be worse than this!" It’s as if I had a death wish.

5. There is a sense in which Paul had his own ‘death wish.’ He writes: "I am hard pressed to know if I prefer death or life. I really want to die so I can be forever with Christ, but I also want to stay here to spread the good news." The bottom line for him was, even though he was in prison (and those were the days before they had all the fancy prisons we have today!), even though he was in prison, God was able to turn that agony into an opportunity for him to continue his call. He knew God was with him in that cell.

6. Can we way Paul’s words? Can we allow God to work through us under difficult circumstances? Can we say "God was there" in the absolutely worst situations of our lives? Or even the less-than-absolutely-worst situations that happen from time to time. Can we find God in those situations, too? I did. I found God at work on one of those somewhat-less-than-absolutely-worst situations. When I was Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Wagoner, all the ministers in town took turns being Chaplain on Call at the hospital. I had carefully marked my weeks down, so I could keep my schedule clear; be ready when someone needed me. One Monday morning, I got a call. "A patient has asked to see a chaplain, and you’re on call this week." Now, I knew I was not on call, because I had marked my week down. But, then, I could have marked the wrong week. I really didn’t want to go – but I went anyway. And I walked into a hornet’s nest in the form of a great-grandmother. Her entire family hovered around her bed. All of them seemed to be, shall I say, ‘a few sandwiches short of a picnic lunch’? Unkempt, unsophisticated, uncertain about even being there.

7. Thirty minutes earlier Dr. Hawkins had given them the news – she had cancer. With surgery and chemotherapy, they might be able to get her in remission. I made my way through her crowded room. She told everyone to leave; she wanted to talk to me alone. As they filed out, one of them whispered, "Talk some sense into her." When we were alone, she told me about the night she attended a tent revival. She was a young woman at the time, and the preacher inspired her to give her life to Christ. She walked down to the front, and the preacher asked her to way; he wanted to talk to her. Well, it turned out that he wanted more than just to talk with her. She was so shocked, so appalled, so dismayed, that she turned and fled, never to grace the doors of a church again. And now she found herself in the grips, not of an immoral preacher, but of a terminal illness. She did not want surgery and the chemo that would follow. She was ready to die, even though everyone in her family selfishly wanted to keep her around. But before she died, she wanted to make sure God understood why she never gave her life to Christ. She had never told her story to anyone before, but she felt safe with me, and poured out her heart, asking forgiveness. We prayed, called in Dr. Hawkins to tell him her decision, then called in the rest of the family, and prayed again. She was at peace. I walked slowly back to my car and drove to the church. No sooner had I walked in the door when the phone rang again. It was the receptionist at the hospital. "I’m so sorry," she said. "I was looking at the wrong line on the chaplain schedule. You’re on next week. I hope I didn’t inconvenience you!"

7. Now what I didn’t tell you was that I was the only woman minister in Wagoner. And, even though they were all very fine men, and effective ministers to their congregations, I know that if one of them had walked into her room, the moment would have had an unhappy outcome. God was certainly in the midst of that less-than-desirable situation, and used me to speak words of God’s unconditional love and forgiveness to that woman.

8. There is an old Jewish-Christian tradition which says:

God sends each person into this world with a special message to deliver,

with a special song to sing for others, with an act of love to bestow.

No one else can speak your message, or sing your song, or offer your act of love.

It is entrusted only to you.

According to this tradition, the message may be spoken, the song sung, the act of love delivered . . .

only to a few, or to all the folk in a small town,

or to all the people in a large city, or even to all those in the whole world

It all depends on God’s unique plan for each person.

To which we might add:

The greatest gift of God, one would think, is the gift of life.

The greatest sin of humans, it would follow, would be to return that gift, ungrateful and unopened.

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