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Only a Prayer Meeting (Philippians)
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.