The Purple Heart, the Distinguished Service Cross Medal, the Defense Distinguished Service Medals, and the Silver Star are all significant medals given to our military personal for unusual acts of courage and sacrifice in the line of duty. But the most prestigious of them all is the Medal of Honor, which is awarded for “personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty.” There only have been 3,468 Medals of Honor awarded to the nation’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and coast guardsmen since the decoration’s creation in 1861.
If New Testament churches were to receive such awards, the Philippian church would probably get the highest honor, the Medal of Honor. As the first church in Europe, it played a key role in the advance of the Great Commission. The Philippian church supported the Apostle Paul, even when no one else would. Unlike all of the Apostle Paul’s other epistles, he doesn’t give the Philippian church a sharp rebuke. The Apostle Paul had a special love for this church.
We want Redemption City Church to play a meaningful role in the mission of Christ like the Philippian church. And one of the ways we hope to do this is by uniting in the gospel like the Philippian church.
Unite in the Gospel
The Apostle Paul opens up his letter to the Philippian church by pointing their attention towards their unity in the gospel. Verse 1:1 says that he is writing to those that are “in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi.” Although we typically skim right past these words like they’re the book’s copyright information, this simple language is significant. In Christ, they are unified. In Philippi, they are divided. The gospel brings them together. Their preferences divide them. They are unified in Christ because their identify, their past, their present, and their future had become HIS identity, past, present, and future. They were one with Christ and with each other as his body.
But in order to understand how significant it is that the Philippians are united Christ, you have to understand who the Philippians are. In order to get a glimpse into who the Philippians are, you have to look at Acts 16. In Acts 16 we see the beginning of the church of Philippi. And like any other major metropolitan city, the population was diverse. And in Acts 16 we see three very different types of people become Christians and form the Philippian church. We meet Lydia in verses 14-15, the slave girl in verses 16-19, and the jailer in verses 23-34. These people are different racially, socio-economically, and vocationally. These people didn’t ever cross paths, much less hang out. They valued different things, talked differently, spent money differently, did family life differently, spent time differently.
Their preferences didn’t unite them, only Jesus did. And the same is and will be true for us. Let’s lay down our preferences and hold fast to Christ. Let’s unite in the gospel like the Philippian church.
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