Grosey's Messages

Trellis and Vine chapter 5 Philippians

Is it really true, we often get asked, that the normal Christian life includes disciple-making? What about those who are barely hanging on to faith in Christ? Should we make them feel bad because they aren't out there sharing the gospel or encouraging someone else in the faith or being 'trained in ministry'? Aren't we just making the average struggling Christian feel guilty? Or worse, aren't we in danger of creating a new kind of legalism, where being 'involved in disciple-making' becomes the standard you have to meet to win the approval of your pastor (if not of God)? Do we end up creating two classes of Christians: the 'keenies' and the rest? These are legitimate and important questions, and at their heart is a question about the normal Christian life. There is no better place to answer this than from Paul's extraordinary letter from prison to the Philippians.

Partners in the gospel of grace

Paul wrote his letter to the Christians at Philippi while enjoying the 'hospitality' of the Roman authorities. For daring to preach Christ as the true king rather than Caesar, Paul was in prison, probably in Rome, and facing the very real prospect of execution (1:13-14, 21).

How would you react if your pastor was imprisoned for preaching Christ as the only true God? Perhaps you would disown him because of embarrassment, shame or the fear of what you might lose. If someone challenged you, you might say: "Oh, I don't really know him very well. I've only actually been to his church a few times. I always thought he was a bit extreme."

Then again, maybe you would find the strength to stand in solidarity with him—by sending gifts, praying, accepting the persecution of the authorities, and defiantly continuing to preach the same message of Christ. Perhaps you would say: "Yes, my pastor is in prison for preaching Christ. And they can come and lock me up too if they want to, because I will not stop confessing the truth—that Jesus Christ is the risen Lord of all." What would you do?

Paul's letter opens with a prayer of great joy because the Philippians have remained in solidarity with him in the gospel "from the first day until now". The Philippians didn't disown or abandon their imprisoned apostle; they stood with him. And the word that Paul keeps using throughout the letter to describe this solidarity is 'partnership'. In Greek, it is koinõnia, the word we often translate as 'fellowship'.

The fellowship that the Philippians shared with Paul was not a cup of tea after church, or a pleasant evening of Bible study. The Philippians and Paul were sharers together in God's grace through Jesus Christ (1:7). Like Paul, the Philippians were looking forward to the day of Christ, when by his death and resurrection they would be counted pure and blameless and filled with the fruit of righteousness (1:9-11, 3:8-10). God himself had begun a good work in them, and would bring it to completion (1:6).

The partnership they shared in the gospel was not a way of securing their right standing before God. If anyone might have had a reason to boast before God and declare himself righteous, it would have been Paul himself—that "Hebrew of Hebrews" (3:5). But the gospel he preached rendered all human

striving for righteousness pathetic and pointless:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith… (Phil 3:7-9)

This is the gospel the Philippians had heard and, by God's grace, believed. It was a gospel about a suffering Christ who died and rose to bring righteousness and salvation to his people. Embracing this gospel meant being willing to suffer like Christ himself. In fact, Paul puts it even more strongly than that. He says that standing up for the gospel, and being called to suffer for Christ, is itself a gift of God's grace:

It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel. (Phil 1:7) For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake… (Phil 1:29)

And so Paul urges the ordinary everyday Christians in Philippi to remain strong in their gospel partnership; to keep standing up for Christ in the face of hostility and persecution. To live this way, he says, is merely to live in a manner worthy of the gospel itself:

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents.

This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. (Phil 1:27-30)

The Greek word behind "let your manner of life" in verse 27 means to "live as a citizen". The noun form of the word is used in 3:20: "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ…"

The Philippians knew very well that they were a Roman colony, with all the privileges and rights of being full citizens of the Empire. But, Paul reminds them, your king is not Caesar, and Rome is not your citizenship; your king is Jesus Christ, and heaven is your citizenship. Live, therefore, in a manner worthy of that citizenship. Stand side by side as a united army fighting for that king, to his honour and glory.

The ordinary believers in Philippi were not second-class citizens, or support crew hovering behind the front lines. They were to lock arms and strive together "for the faith of the gospel", being neither surprised by the conflict and struggle that would ensue, nor frightened of their opponents. And in doing so, they were engaged in the same conflict and struggle that Paul himself had experienced and was still experiencing. They were partners in suffering; partners in the "defence and confirmation of the gospel" (1:7); partners with Paul and with each other. This is why unity is so important in the congregation, and why complaining, grumbling and discord is so totally out of place. The wonderful passage about the other-person-centred humility of Christ in chapter 2 is, in context, a call for the Philippians to put aside selfish motives and petty rivalries so that they can strive together for the sake of the gospel, shining like beacons in the corrupt society around them:

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labour in vain. (Phil 2:14-16)

Scholars have debated whether it should be 'holding fast' in verse 16, or 'holding out'—the implication being that 'holding out' implies an outwardlooking evangelistic emphasis, whereas 'holding fast' is more about their own perseverance in the faith. It's hard to imagine the Philippians having any patience with this distinction. For them, 'holding fast' to the gospel as partners with Paul inevitably meant joining with him in striving for the gospel, and accepting the suffering that always followed. It meant standing alongside their imprisoned apostle, and speaking out for the "defence and confirmation of the gospel".

Paul mentions Timothy and Epaphroditus as two outstanding examples for the Philippians to emulate. Timothy is unparalleled in his concern for others rather than himself (2:20-21). He puts the interests of Jesus Christ first, and serves alongside Paul like a son in the family business. Epaphroditus is a Philippian, whom Paul calls "my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill" (2:25- 26).

Did you get that? Epaphroditus was distressed not because he was ill, but because they heard he was ill. How many of us can say that about our attitude when we are sick?!

Normal Christian partnership

According to Paul, gospel partnership is the normal Christian life. It means standing together united in the gospel, determined to live as citizens of heaven in the midst of our corrupt generation, longing and striving to see the gospel be defended and proclaimed, and bravely copping the conflict, struggle and persecution that inevitably follow.

The practical outworking of this partnership is broad ranging. We see the Philippians praying for Paul (1:19); we see them sharing in his troubles by sending him financial help (4:14-19); we see Philippians like Epaphroditus, Euodia, Syntyche and Clement among Paul's band of co-workers; and we see the Philippians being called to imitate Paul in contending for the gospel despite hostility from without and opposition from within (3:17-4:1).

The gospel itself demands that we stand with our leaders and preachers in profound unity, teamwork and solidarity—not because of their personalities or gifts, but because of our common partnership in the gospel of Jesus Christ. There aren't two classes of Christians—the partners and the spectators. We're all in it together. One church we have been involved in tried to express this by not having 'membership' of the congregation, but 'partnership'. In our society, when you join as a 'member' of something, it can have connotations of passivity and consumerism. I join a club, and expect certain benefits. The 'partnership' language, on the other hand, communicates immediately that we are signing up for active involvement—for being partners together in a great enterprise: the gospel mission of Christ.

In first-century Philippi, there was no doubt what this involved—a willingness to publicly bind yourself to a new and distrusted 'sect' whose leaders were being thrown in gaol; a determination to stand together with your brothers, come what may, and contend for the gospel; and a selfforgetting commitment to your brothers and sisters in Christ.

None of this was a program of good works to get you into heaven! In fact, legalizers who wanted to put confidence in the flesh were the enemy. But the immeasurable free grace of God that came to them through faith in Christ was not a licence for an easy, comfortable life with a dash of spirituality on the side; rather, it was a passport to a new citizenship of suffering and contending side by side for the gospel.

Paul was their leader, example and fellow soldier in this fight. And this is the pattern we see elsewhere in the New Testament as well. Leaders, pastors and elders are responsible to teach, to warn, to rebuke, and to encourage. They are foremen and organizers, guardians and mobilizers, teachers and models. They provide the conditions under which the rest of the gospel partners can also get on with vine work—with prayerfully speaking God's truth to others.

However, at a profound level, all pastors and elders are also just partners. They do not have a different essence or status, or a fundamentally different task—as if they are the real 'players', and the rest of the congregation are spectators or support crew. A pastor or elder is a vineworker who has been given a particular responsibility to care for and equip the people for their partnership in the gospel.

Which brings us inevitably to 'training'.