Welcome Aboard

Philippians 1:1–11

The longest trip I ever took was in 1967. My family traveled halfway around the globe from New York to India, where we would live as missionaries for the next three years. We departed on the first leg of our journey from the Port of New York and New Jersey aboard the SS United States, then the fastest ocean liner in the world, and it took about a week to reach England.
For a 7-year-old, the ocean voyage was a real adventure! We enjoyed meals in an enormous dining hall, served by our very own waiter, Ray. He was super cool with a patch over one eye, like a pirate. We celebrated Christmas on board. My brother got a toy bowling set, and can you imagine bowling on a ship that’s rocking back and forth on the waves? It’s hilarious! But it wasn’t all fun. To keep us in school, my brother and I did correspondence classes in our cabin with my mom as our teacher. When we finally arrived at our destination, it took a few days for me to get used to walking on dry land again. I felt like I was still on the ship, swaying with the waves.
Life’s journey is like that, but way longer. As we venture toward a destination unknown, we hope to have some fun, achieve success, and overcome any obstacles. But here’s the thing: while we all pursue life, the fulfillment we find diﬀers a lot based on our individual circumstances and perspectives. That’s the topic we’re going to explore over the next six weeks.
Philosophers have long grappled with humanity’s two biggest questions: What’s the meaning of life? And what happens when we die? Naturally, everyone has their own thoughts, but let’s face it, mostly they’re just guesses. But what if we could know with certainty what our existence is all about? Well, the Bible says we can!
Our challenge is that many see the Bible as antiquated religious writings loaded with miracles, morals, and myths—certainly not anything practical and informative for our modern lives, or so it may seem. That’s too bad, because unless we appreciate its message, we’ll never truly under- stand life and make sense of it all. But if you’d like a taste of how insightful the Bible can be, please join with us as we explore the book of Philippians.

INTRODUCTION

Philippians is a brief, four-chapter book in the middle of the New Testament (NT) that only takes about 15 minutes to read. It comes loaded with joyful, practical advice for making the most of our journey with God from now until the day we meet Him face to face. It features many of the most quoted, most memorized verses in the Bible. And it’s even more amazing when we con- sider that Paul the apostle penned this inspiring, uplifting letter while a prisoner in Rome.
For the moment, all we really need to know is that this book is Paul’s heartfelt thank-you note to the church in Philippi for their generous gift he received sometime during the two years he was confined under guard awaiting trial. Many scholars consider his situation comparable to house arrest (unlike his later imprisonment in a dungeon), which explains his financial need since he had expenses but no way to make a living. The Philippians helped pay his bills.

GREETING (1:1–2)
Paul begins with his typical greeting, “grace to you and peace,” which appears in all his letters.
1 Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a bit like how we write letters today, starting with “Dear .” But Paul’s greeting mentions God the Father, the source of peace, and Jesus Christ, who gives us grace. So, we can think of his greeting as saying he wants them to experience God’s goodness to the fullest. There’s much more to grace and peace than we can study here, so for our purposes, let’s just remember that leading with a blessing is a really great idea when engaging people we care for and love.

APPRECIATION (1:3–8)

Next, he goes straight to thanking the Philippians for their generous gift:
3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. 8 For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the aﬀection of Jesus Christ.

What most impresses me is the bond between Paul and the Philippians. They enjoyed fellowship together when he visited Philippi, and now even though they’re apart, they still care deeply for one another. We know it wasn’t that way with other churches Paul planted, because later in the letter he says: “No church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only” (4:15). So, you might say they enjoyed a uniquely warm, welcoming relationship.

REFLECTION: DO YOU FEEL WELCOME?

Before we go further, may I ask if you feel welcome here like this? Because if you feel welcome in our community, you’ll naturally draw closer and support one another. On the other hand, if you don’t feel welcome, you might keep your distance. It matters a lot!

Some churchgoers become closely connected and get deeply involved, while others just show up on Sundays, and maybe then only semi-regularly. What makes the diﬀerence? Their reasons for attending may be the same (teaching, Bible study, worship, pastoral care, community service, youth programs, and more), but its possible to do any or all these things and still feel like you don’t belong. If that’s your experience, you might eventually move on to another church where you hope to feel more welcome, and if that doesn’t do it, you may just stop going altogether. Church attendance in the U.S. has been declining for a while now. Maybe this is a reason why. But it doesn’t have to be so.

Paul shows how to light up the welcome sign. He starts by thanking God for the Philippians and their support and—this is key—he tells them how grateful he is and that he truly cares about them. So, a great way to welcome people is to let them know how much we appreciate them. It’s not just empty flattery to acknowledge someone for their kindness. It’s the right thing to do.

CONFIDENCE (1:6)
Paul takes it a step further and expresses his complete confidence in them. We can see this in verse 6 when he says that God will finish what He started. Before we dive into what this means, let’s clarify what it doesn’t mean. Many have interpreted this verse as proof that all true believers will inevitably thrive in their faith until death, and that if you don’t, it means you didn’t believe in the first place and are therefore not saved. But here are three reasons why I don’t think that’s accurate.

Being confident isn’t always 100%. We know this because in verse 25, Paul says he’s confident1 he’ll be released from prison to see them again. But in the verses immediately before that, he’s not sure if he’ll live or die. So, confidence is a hopeful expectation, not an absolute guarantee.

He writes this letter to the entire church. We don’t know if every member contributed to his financial support, but based on my experience with oﬀerings, my guess is some gave none, many gave some, and a few gave much. Yes, God will finish what He started for this church, but Paul doesn’t say what it looks like for each person. That varies.

He encourages the Philippians to “stand firm in the Lord” (4:1). Why would he need to remind them if they were already guaranteed to stand firm?
Perhaps a better way to understand verse 6 is that the Philippians’ gift enabled Paul to continue his ministry even in prison; because of them, he was able to write this and other letters2 during his confinement, which writings have since gone on to bless believers of all generations and will continue to do so until the day Jesus returns. Talk about a legacy! And with that in mind, may I suggest that we get behind the ministry of our church? Many will be blessed, now and potentially far into the future. Beyond that, if we enthusiastically support the Lord’s work, people will want us around. We’ll all feel most welcome!
Here’s something more powerful. Confidence is a key to unlock better results. Just like a soloist needs confidence to perform in front of a huge audience, or a quarterback needs confidence to lead his team to victory, each one of us needs confidence to make the most of our journey with God throughout life. So, let’s embrace our common identity as His works-in-progress and radiate confidence that He’ll finish the job! Don’t let our flaws prevent us from being positive about what we can accomplish together in Christ. If God believes we’ll succeed, we should too!

1 In 1:6 and 1:25, “being confident” is the same Greek verb (πείθω peíthō) and tense (perfect active participle), meaning to be persuaded or convinced.
2 Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon are the other “Prison Epistles.”

PRAYER (1:9–11)

Finally, Paul does one more thing. He prays for them:
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without oﬀense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Notice he doesn’t pray for health and prosperity (typically about all that appears on most church prayer lists). Instead, he prays for God to help them grow in three specific areas:
Insight: To love with ever-increasing knowledge and discernment.
Inspiration: To approve excellent things.
Integrity: To be sincere and without oﬀense, filled with the fruits of righteousness.

To say it another way, he prays for them to possess, prize, and practice God’s truth. The first leads to the second, which leads to the third.

APPLICATION: WHAT’S A BETTER WAY TO RELATE?
In Philippians 1:1–11, Paul shows us how to create a welcoming environment. Here’s his list:
Warm greetings (1:1–2).
Sincere appreciation (1:3–5).
Confidence in God’s working in us (1:6).
Participation in the gospel ministry (1:7).
Desire for aﬀectionate relationships (1:8).
Prayer for spiritual growth (1:9–11).

Christian life isn’t always comfortable. People can be annoying, let us down, or even say and do hurtful things. Stuﬀ happens on the journey. So, what can we do? Let’s at least make sure our church is a warm, safe place for everyone. Let’s keep the welcome mat out always.

FINAL THOUGHT
Some of us might not be familiar with how I became a pastor at Abundant Life. Here’s the story: my best friend Gino, then the worship pastor, really wanted me to play lead guitar on the praise team. I couldn’t come often then since I was committed to another church, but that’s how I met George, our former pastor. He greeted me warmly and made me feel welcome. He later invited me to preach a few times. Some years further down the road, when my pastor made me feel unwelcome and I couldn’t stay, George and I started meeting weekly for breakfast. Shortly after, I became a regular at Abundant Life. I played guitar often, preached sometimes, and kept meeting with George. Then, about a year and a half ago, George suddenly retired and asked me to serve as an elder to help look after our fellowship. So here I am, mostly because George and a few others went out of their way to make me feel welcome—and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t. You see, being welcome is that important!