Overflowing Love - Philippians 1:2-11 (Sermon from December 6th)
Have you ever been in a hurry
in the mornings fixing breakfast and either hit the wrong numbers on the
microwave, or if you’re a stovetop person, forgotten about the timing while
fixing oatmeal, grits, or cream of wheat.
We have a morning routine at our house.
Joshua wakes up with his alarm and comes up the hall where I am doing my
devotions. Once I am done, or if I am
already done, my job is to help him finish waking up and get him eating
breakfast while I fix my coffee and Anita’s hot chocolate for the morning,
along with our lunches. If Joshua
decides on one of those three I mentioned, I am going back and forth to the
microwave, working on both his breakfast or Anita’s hot chocolate. The timings are close. The initial time for the hot chocolate is a
minute, thirty seconds, for Joshua’s breakfast, it is a minute. Do you know what happens if I forget what I
am putting in, and hit 1:30 with his breakfast, especially if I have accidently
added too much milk? That’s right, the
bowl can’t contain it, it bubbles up and overflows the bowl, running down the
sides, and making a mess of things.
Paul is writing to the
church in Philippi. Many of Paul’s
letters are written to churches to address issues of concern that Paul feels
threaten the church—such as the arrogance of members that Paul addresses in his
letter to the Romans or the divisions amongst the congregation and the failure
to address sin amongst its members in his letters to the church in Corinth. Philippians, though, tends to be a much more
positive, peaceful, affirming letter.
We gather from our
reading this morning that this church in Philippi had proved itself repeatedly
faithful to the Gospel. Paul talks about
giving thanks for the congregation with joy in his heart, and, later, in the
third chapter of this letter, Paul tells the people, “to write the same things to
you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard.”[i] Contrast that with some of his other letters such
as 2nd Corinthians where he says, “And I wrote as I did so that when
I came, I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice; for
I am confident about all of you, that my joy would be the joy of all of you. For I wrote you out of much distress and anguish
of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the
abundant love that I have for you.”[ii] Notice the subtle (or not so subtle
difference): to the church in Corinth he
says that, “hey, y’all’ve got some things to fix before I get there so that I
won’t be upset by what I’ve heard I am going to find”; whereas to the church in
Philippi it comes across as, “hey, I’m writing this stuff not because of
anything you’ve done wrong, but to encourage you so you don’t fall into the
same traps that others have succumbed to.”
The church in Philippi was
a relatively new church start in a very non-Christian culture. They would have found themselves being opposed
by non-Christians (such as those who worshipped the Greek or Roman gods and
goddesses or those who suggested that to worship a God who was nailed to a
cross made no sense) as well as opposition from other “Jesus groups” such as
those who insisted that Jewish laws of circumcision must be followed. Paul writes, encouraging them to stand strong
and remain faithful despite the society working against them. They know that Paul is sincere in this encouragement
and not offering some empty platitudes from a comfy throne room or penthouse;
he writes in the midst of his own imprisonment for being faithful to the
Gospel.
Paul’s praise for the
Philippians centers around their show of love.
Paul prays that as they grow in their faith, understanding more and more
of their relationship with God through Jesus Christ, that this love may
overflow from them more and more.
My brothers and sisters,
Paul here indirectly indicates a key truth about our faith. Love is core to our faith. The command to love, from loving God, to
loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, to loving our neighbors, to loving
our enemies, is the most frequent command of Christ. Jesus’ emphasis on love is so central that
Jesus commands us to love one another and shares that the world will know that
we follow Him if we are loving one another.
In other words, if we are not loving, then we are not following
Christ. If our lives are filled with
bitterness or hatred, or even the withholding of expressions of love out of
fear, then we are clearly not following Jesus.
As we grow in faith, as we grow in our relationship with Jesus, our life
will be marked more and more by love…love that the Holy Spirit will place
within us, not for us to hold on to, but to allow to overflow from us, into the
lives of those around us.
And you know what happens
when love overflows? It makes a mess of the
way the world works and thinks.
Love overflowed from the
heart of God and made a mess of things from the moment that God made a mess of
chaos by bringing order through creation…but most explicitly God let that love
overflow into the world as He came into the world as the tiny infant, Jesus…
Love overflowed from the
life of Jesus:
It overflowed from him as
he ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, and other sinners…offering them
forgiveness and friendship…making a mess of all the holiness standards of those
in religious authority.
It overflowed from him as
he offered healing, regardless of the day of the week…making a mess of man-made
guidelines of what it means to observe the Sabbath.
It overflowed from him as
touched lepers, allowed an unclean woman to touch him, and brought healing to
Gentiles, making a mess of regulations on who’s in and who’s out of the
community.
It overflowed from him as
he was arrested, offering healing to the slave struck by Peter’s sword, making
a mess of the idea of defending oneself with a violent response.
It overflowed from him,
as blood flowed to the ground from the cross and he cried out Father, forgive them…making
a mess of the idea of asking God to curse or destroy your enemies.
But this mess-making
overflow of love was not just limited to Jesus, but was a mark of his
followers.
Love overflowed from
Peter, Steven, and other disciples as they sought to share the gospel, and made
a mess of the idea that we should obey the laws of man rather than God (when
city officials had sought to silence them).
Love overflowed from
Peter, Phillip, Paul, and others as they carried the Gospel outside the bounds
of the Jewish community, into the lives of Gentiles…making a mess of the idea
that God limits those He would extend love to.
My brothers and sisters,
God has poured His love into our lives as well, and He intends for us to let
that love overflow from our lives into the world around us, making a mess of
the status quo.
God’s love over-flowing
from us can make a mess of hunger and poverty as we seek to free folks from
their oppressive hold.
God’s love over-flowing
from us can make a mess of racism and supremacism as we seek to embrace all of
those around us, regardless of the color of their skin, the language they speak
(or don’t speak), or their country of origin.
God’s love over-flowing
from us can make a mess of arguments about borders and refugees as compassion and
open arms override fear.
God’s love over-flowing
from us can make a mess of elitism and privileged thinking as we seek to serve
rather than be served.
God’s love over-flowing
from us can make a mess of political platforms and political parties as we allow
love to govern all the decisions of support, and how we interact with whom we
disagree.
God’s love over-flowing
from us can make a mess of self-righteous judgment as we remember that everyone
we face—from fellow Christians who may have wronged us in a meeting to an
atheist sitting on death row to Islamic jihadists threatening to annihilate us—is
someone that Christ in the outpouring of His love died to save, and we seek
show love to them.
God’s love over-flowing into
us can make a mess of our own lives, calling us to examine everything we do,
everything we say, and everything we think to ensure that it is marked by the
love of God pouring out of us.
Why?
So that all the world may
come to know the love that we have experienced from God and “…so that in the
day of Christ [when God’s love is made complete we—that day we anticipate
during this season of Advent] may be pure and blameless, having produced the
harvest or righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and
praise of God.”
In the Name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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