How to BE the Church 2

Image: Philippi

Philippians 1.1-11

In Paul’s greeting, he expresses very clearly and simply, almost in txt language, the relationships that his interest in these people is based on.

Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ. Here were two men – and elder and a younger – a team, a brotherhood, working for Christ. Although Paul was the more experienced one who changed Timothy’s spiritual nappies and got him established as an evangelist and pastoral worker, he calls them both servants of Jesus Christ.

He regarded them as equals under Christ. These two had a long, successful history of working together. In fact Paul had only just brought Timothy onto his travelling team when they went to Philippi for the very first time – he was still a very young man – 11years before he wrote this letter. They had shared experiences and memories of all that had happened in that town.

Paul was writing this letter from Rome where he was in the imperial prison due to the upheaval his preaching of the gospel had produced in Jerusalem and in other parts of the Roman Empire. Timothy was evidently visiting him in Rome and they had recently received good news about the progress of the church in Philippi from another of Paul’s ‘development squad’, Epaphroditus (who had brought a gift from the Philippians to help support Paul in his trial – because prisoners were not supported by the government in those days; friends and relatives had to provide for them). The point is this, working together with others as servants of Christ, creates a depth of friendship – brotherhood, actually – that enriches every other relationship. Even in marriage, it is the shared commitment and intention to live for Christ and build a family that honours him and engage in the church for his glory – that creates an unbreakable bond.