Today we begin a new series… we begin a journey into the extraordinary life which
God seeks to awaken in us.
Over the centuries many have written of profound spiritual experiences… and often
there can be something to learn from them. But none has been as profound or
proved as substantial as that of a young religious leader named Saul…
[ VIDEO: Paul’s Conversion ]
Saul emerges with such a transformation that not only does his own life change
dramatically… but through him the whole world changes.
He is a man who is shaken out of his religious ideas…ultimately centered in his own
ego and understanding… and awakened to the reality of what the true and living God
is doing.
‘His conversion brought a complete change in the inner controlling power of his life. It was
like dying and receiving a new life (Gal. 2:20) or being created anew (2 Cor. 5:17-20). This
experience of radical change and call to the Gentiles provided the motivation to travel
throughout the Roman world.’ (Holman Bible Dictionary)
• He now uses his Roman name (Paul… Saul was his Jewish name) and his life
becomes a message to all.
• Thirteen Epistles bear his name
• Wherever he went… God got a hold of lives and small groups received Christ and
became part of the unfolding kingdom community.
One of those cities was Philippi… the first city in Europe
Began when Holy Spirit redirects their travel plans (Acts 16)… and Paul has a vision of
a man from Macedonia calling ‘come and help us’… so he and Timothy, Silas, and
probably Luke… head here… trusting God for what would unfold.
• Conversion of Lydia… a dealer in purple
• Paul… in the name of Jesus freed a slave girl from an evil spirit which had made
her a source of gain for her owners.
• This only added to the opposition that the predominantly pagan culture had…
So Paul and Silas are arrested, flogged, and imprisoned and Paul would later be take
to Rome under house arrest…to await a verdict…
> Writes a letter to this community… in it lies the inspiration of God… and the heart
of what we could call ‘extraordinary living.’
Paul had been awakened to nothing less that a new realm… a divine perspective. His
whole approach to life reveals something of God’s mind and heart.
So we begin our journey of engaging this extraordinary way of living through the Book
of Philippians.
A beautiful partnership of blessing (vv. 1-5)…
Let’s look at first 5 verses to get some background…
1
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
> Paul includes Timothy as he had been his spiritual son and partner… but it quickly takes on
the tone of an apostolic letter… carrying the deep authority and personal affection of Paul who
had originally introduced Christ to this community… about 3 to 5 years previously. And in
point of fact… after the formal introduction… he begins to write in the first person.
To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
> ‘saints’ can be a misleading term… thought to imply those who are perfect or so spiritual that
they are other worldly… but it really implies simply those who are set apart by their
commitment to God through Christ. Not for some type of spiritual elite… but ALL those in
Philippi …and now all who read and hear these words today.
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
> He takes the normal greeting phrase of each of the two great nations at hand… ‘grace’
(charis) in Greek culture… and ‘pace’ (eirne) from Jewish culture. Each of these words were
filled with new meaning with all that Christ had brought to bear and accomplish.
Get a sense of what matters most to Paul… grace and peace… and it’s source…that it flows
from God who is father of all… and Christ who is Lord of all…
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always
pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,
Joy… consistent quality that Paul expresses. (The word " rejoice " or other words of similar
meaning, appears sixteen times in the Letter.)
Not referring to some type of happy pappy goofy smiling feeling… but rather a power that lifts
one above their circumstances.
Particularly… he is praying with such joy because of what they share in… their
partnership in the Gospel… the good news that Christ embodies.
Fellowship not a luxary… but truly a grace to survive.
Ex – Hawaii when Jono and I arrived back to his house… singing; letters when living
abroad
Hear the heart of those words… imagine receiving a letter written to you
by a great friend and leader… a father figure…
BLESSING
Extraordinary quality… extraordinary LOVE.
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one
another.” - John 13:34
At least three qualities rise out of Paul’s words…
Verse 6
6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion
until the day of Christ Jesus.
1. Extraordinary love involves CONFIDENCE in Christ’s process and potential
in others… that transcends their present state. (v. 6)
One of the most natural limitations of our ability to love one another is to assess
others for who they are not who they can be… and are becoming.
Paul knows who he was … and how he has had to change … and continue
changing… and he knows that if the Spirit of God is at work… nothing can be
considered finished.
> So he blesses them with words that affirm their potential.
He continues…verses 7 - 8
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for
whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s
grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
He has placed them IN his heart… in a positive way.
Many times I have people who are ON my heart… but I sense that the deepest level of love
comes when they are IN my heart.
And they are in his heart with the affection of Christ.
Most striking to me is that he says that from such a place… shaped by Christ… it doesn’t
matter what circumstances he finds himself in… they are bound with him beyond
circumstances.
2. Extraordinary love involves a Christ-shaped heart of COMMITMENT… that
transcends one’s own circumstances. (vv. 7-8)
It appears that Paul had chosen to serve in prison as a way to stand up for this community of
Christ in Philippi.
.
Philippi was a Roman colony… filled with soldiers…. And just enough religious leaders to try
to get him in trouble… to label these Christ followers as rebels of Rome. As a result he had
been brutally taken and beaten… but Paul actually held Roman citizenship… and upon
claiming that… it created a very sensitive situation.
The city fathers realize that they had just flogged a Roman citizen without due process so
they ask him to leave the city. In essence it appears that they tried to maintain a little
toughness.. ‘say you’re sorry and promise not to do this again and you can go.’). But Paul knew
that that both his future contact with the Roman government was at stake… as well as the
future treatment of this new Christian community at Philippi. If the Roman officials could
rightly be challenged and have their injustice exposed… Paul could buy a more open future for
both himself and the new believers he was soon to leave behind. It appears that he could have
likely been released with a reprimand… but that he CHOSE to take his case to the higher
authorities… as it would help serve the cause of those left behind in Philippi.
He was in prison at Rome for two years, pending his appeal to Caesar.
What strikes me is how different his is from the type of circumstantial love that runs
through us… the ordinary love. Here was a man who had every reason to be bitter… to
have resented everyone for his sufferings… but instead he blessed.
I can’t help but think about a man named Livid Librescu. Born in Romania but Jewish…
when Romania joined forces with Nazi Germany in Second World War , he was first interned
at a labor camp and later deported along with his family and thousands of other Jews to a
ghetto.
Through years of suffering he survived the Nazi Holocaust.
He would eventually move to Israel… and then to the United States where he worked as an
aeronautics engineer and teacher for 20 years.
This past week… at the age of 76… knowing hardship his entire life… when a young man
began a killing spree that approached his classroom… he blocked the doorway with his body
and asked the students to flee. Students started opening windows and jumping out. He saved
the lives of several students by using his body to barricade a classroom door before he was
gunned down.
A man who had every reason to live as a victim… gave his life for others.
Yes… the bitterness of 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui… for all it’s tragedy… was actually the
ordinary order of things… bitterness begetting bitterness. The extraordinary… that reflects the
love of Christ… is when blessing can flow beyond circumstances.
Paul did this EVERY DAY he suffered in prison.
Today people often speak of a ‘victim mentality’… a disposition one can fall into when they
see how they have suffered and then relate to everyone around them as a source to make things
right.. as owing them … or can only see others as the strong who can effect things while they
sense themselves to be powerless.
Ordinary love is like that. We tend to bless when we feel strong and blessed… when
things are going good… but when we are in the midst of hard time… and hardships…
often the blessing gives way to bitterness.
> Paul is operating out of an EXTRAORDINARY love… a commitment shaped by
Christ… more than circumstances.
He concludes his opening blessing with verses 9-11…
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and
depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and
blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes
through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.
Does he pray for them to be those who simply DO the right thing?
No… he prays for them to be changed from the inside out… for love that would lead to
action… love that flows from knowledge and depth of understanding. Out of that… will come
discontentment… out of that they will be FILLED with the fruits of righteousness…
3. Extraordinary love involves focus on the power of Christ-shaped INNER
CHARACTER of love… that transcends mere outward conformity to rules.
(vv. 9-11)
When we pray for those we’re close to… it’s easy to just pray for them to DO THE RIGHT
THING… to GET IT TOGETHER. That is the ORDINARY.
But Paul has an extraordinary love… he prays for a transformation that flows from God…and
comes through Christ… it real and relational… not merely some type of religious conformity.
The goal is not merely for GOOD.. but BEST…. Not ordinary… but
EXTRAORDINARY
(Below drawn from Erwin McManus)
To consider that God is beyond us… beyond the ordinary… doesn’t take too long … at least to
believe … but it can be harder to believe about ourselves… that there is something great within
us… a potential … dormant… even dead… but seeking to arise again. Something beyond
ordinary…
> Long before… we began to really appreciate the uniqueness…books like Jim Collins ‘Good
to Great’ and DYM class… God says there something beyond good… called BEST.
We often feel towards God as we do towards fire… drawn but fearful because he will show us
our bad stuff…. If needed he may… but only to lead us into what is better.
Heaven isn’t cheering us on to do the average… mediocre… but rather that we would
ABOUND in love… discovering what is BEST.
v. 6 – God is doing a WORK… not controlling your life… but rather influencing.
Some of us would like God to control us… to simplify the process… to simplify the choices…
but in truth it gets MORE complex… to our fallen conscience he adds another voice at work.
> He wants the best…
Love… sounds a little sentimental… Paul was not a real touchy feely guy.
He was a fanatic… which teaches you who to hate. (Suicide bombers)
Love never justifies hatred.
Fanaticism
Love is an unlimited commodity.
We should love people more and more… and we should love more people.
Insight comes when you are fueled by love. God at his core is love. Until then we will allow
ourselves to justify horrific things.
Love is not lust = merely personal pleasure = narcissism
Fueled by love… but ‘in knowledge and depth of insight’ > GUIDED BY TRUTH
Behind every choice is perception… wrong or right…we think something will be good and
satisfying…so we need the capacity to discern… to see through things.
Bad to good = easy… but good to great… takes work.
It all leads to discernment… it starts with motives… which is why Paul begins with love…
guided by truth. It’s the capacity to see through things.
We can tend to relate love and truth in a dichotomous way… with some feeling that love
is what matters most… and some that truth is what matters most.
> More dynamic truth is that truth only flows from love…. And then love is guided by
truth… so that we can discern what is best… and bear the fruit of righteousness.
It is love that has…
• Birthed the greatest beauty and art in this world…
• Unleashed the greatest creativity
• Unleashed the greatest ventures of compassion
• Guided the decisions that have proven the most courageous and wise.
• It is love that calls us from ordinary to beyond ordinary.
.
Final story…
A professor who describes…
Some 14 years ago, I stood watching my university students file into the classroom for our
opening session in the theology of faith. That was the day I first saw Tommy. He was
combing his hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders. My quick judgment wrote
him off as strange -- very strange.
Tommy turned out to be my biggest challenge. He constantly objected to or
smirked at the possibility of an unconditionally loving God. When he turned in his final
exam at the end of the course, he asked in a slightly cynical tone, "Do you think I’ll ever
find God?"
"No," I said emphatically.
"Oh," he responded. "I thought that was the product you were pushing."
I let him get five steps from the door and then called out. "I don’t think you’ll ever
find him, but I am certain he will find you." Tommy shrugged and left. I felt slightly
disappointed that he had missed my clever line.
Later I heard that Tommy had graduated, and I was grateful for that. Then came
a sad report: Tommy had terminal cancer. Before I could search him out, he came to me.
When he walked into my office, his body was badly wasted, and his long hair had fallen
out because of chemotherapy. But his eyes were bright and his voice, for the first time,
was firm.
"Tommy! I’ve thought about you so often. I heard you were very sick," I blurted
out.
"Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer. It’s a matter of weeks."
"Can you talk about it?"
"Sure. What would you like to know?"
"What’s it like to be only 24 and know that you’re dying?"
"It could be worse," he told me, "like being 50 and thinking that drinking booze,
seducing women and making money are the real ’biggies’ in life." Then he told me why he
had come.
"It was something you said to me on the last day of class. I asked if you thought I
would ever find God and you said no, which surprised me. Then you said, ’But he will
find you.’ I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was hardly intense
at that time.
"But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me that it was
malignant, I got serious about locating God. And when the malignancy spread into my
vital organs, I really began banging against the bronze doors of heaven. But nothing
happened. Well, one day I woke up, and instead of my desperate attempts to get some
kind of message, I just quit. I decided I didn’t really care about God, an afterlife, or
anything like that.
"I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more important. I
thought about you and something else you had said:
’The essential sadness is to go through life without loving. But it would be almost
equally sad to leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you loved them.’
So I began with the hardest one: my dad."
Tommy’s father had been reading the newspaper when his son approached him.
"Dad, I would like to talk with you."
"Well, talk."
"I mean, it’s really important."
The newspaper came down three slow inches. "What is it?"
"Dad, I love you. I just wanted you to know that."
Tommy smiled at me as he recounted the moment. "The newspaper fluttered to
the floor. Then my father did two things I couldn’t remember him doing before. He cried
and he hugged me.
And we talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next morning.
"It was easier with my mother and little brother," Tommy continued. "They cried
with me, and we hugged one another, and shared the things we had been keeping secret
for so long. Here I was, in the shadow of death, and I was just beginning to open up to all
the people I had actually been close to.
"Then one day I turned around and God was there. He didn’t come to me when I
pleaded with him. Apparently he does things in his own way and at his own hour. The
important thing is that you were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for
him."
"Tommy," I practically gasped, "I think you are saying something much more
universal than you realize. You are saying that the surest way to find God is not by
making him a private possession or an instant consolation in time of need, but rather by
opening to love.
"Tommy," I added, "could I ask you a favor? Would you come to my theology-of-
faith course and tell my students what you just told me?"
Though we scheduled a date, he never made it. Of course, his life was not really
ended by his death, only changed. He made the great step from faith into vision. He
found a life far more beautiful than the eye of humanity has ever seen or the mind ever
imagined.
Before he died, we talked one last time. "I’m not going to make it to your class,"
he said.
"I know, Tommy."
"Will you tell them for me? Will you ... tell the whole world for me?"
"I will, Tommy. I’ll tell them."
-From Fr. Pat’s Page+
