|
Printer
Friendly Version - opens in separate window
Paul's letter to believers in the Roman province
of Philippi is known as the epistle of joy. Joy is a constant theme
as Paul writes to people he remembers and for whom he prays "with great
joy" (1:3-4). His own joy is a reflection of theirs and he writes, "I
know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress
and joy in the faith" (1:25). He confidently looks to them to "make
my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love,
united in spirit, intent on one purpose" (2:2).
Commending Epaphroditus, "my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier"
he confidently urges them to "receive him in the Lord with all joy,
ands hold men like him in high esteem" (2:25-29). Indeed, these are
people he regards as "my joy and my crown" (4:1).
In this letter we find one of the most profound passages on Christ (2:5-11),
one which is used extensively when we wish to witness to the Deity of
Christ. Contrast this "meaty" offering from Paul to the Philippians
with Paul's admonition to the believers around the coast in Corinth:
And I, brethren, could not speak to you
as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh as to babes in Christ. I
gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to
receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able. For you are still
fleshly. (1 Cor.3:1-3)
How Paul would have wished he could have written to the Corinthians
as he did to the Philippians!
Yet this city of the Roman province of Macedonia could not have been
less promising. It was Paul's practice, on arriving in a city, to centre
his activities on the synagogue. This Roman province was so bereft of
"believers" that it did not have a synagogue and Paul and his companions
met outside the city gates with a small group of women who went to a
"place of prayer" by the Gangites river (Acts 16:13-13).
It is here that we first meet Lydia, a local businesswoman, who dealt
in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, and who is described as "a
worshipper of God". God caused her to respond positively to Paul's message
and she became the first convert in Europe. It is from her house that
Paul and his friends operated and it is from Philippi that the gospel
spread to the rest of Europe.
The conversion of Europe began with a small prayer meeting held by a
small group of women outside the city. Nothing could have seemed less
promising, nothing more unlikely. Yet this key city, described in Acts
as "the leading city of that district" provided such a harvest that
Paul found joy in remembrance of it, that Europe's first convert was
made in it, that believers there moved quickly from the milk to the
meat. The gospel spread to Europe from here.
Let's resolve this week to value our prayer meetings. Let's "go down
to the river to pray" and look to God for great things. Who knows, there
might be a Lydia, a Philippi, a continent for us to take through prayer.
Back to Readings
Menu
|
