The Living Church

We often here the phrase that the Constitution of the United States is a living, breathing document. Bunk. It's the foundational paperwork that is not meant to live and breath, but stand firm in it's foundation upon which this nation rests. In the same manner, many people view the Bible as a living, breathing document in thew way that they treat its teachings, bending and twisting God's Word to suit their agendas, motivations, or to hide their sins. The Bible is not a living, breathing document - but the CHURCH is a living, breathing entity. An entity that was set up by Jesus Himself, ordained by God the Father, and 'indwelled' by the Holy Spirit.  This is a point I think we men would do as we go through this study.

As we look more and more closely at the deep-rooted language of this letter, and draw more and more detail from it we can lose the over-all focus. As we, as I have suggested, work hard to make sure we understand the circumstances of this letter from the mindset and eyes of Paul himself, it can be easy to lose the big-picture of the letter. The Philippian Church is hurting, confused, and concerned for Paul. Their concern for Paul is motivated by two things: 

1. Their true heart-felt desire to help Paul. They love Paul, he is their beloved founder and father in Christ.
2. Because the church is going through a 'rough spot', they are seeking advice and leadership from Paul.

In and of itself, this is not necessarily a bad thing.  As matter of fact, in scripture we are told to see wise council (Proverbs 1:5, 12;15, 19:20, 20:18, 24:6). But where do we go for it? Where should we look for such counsel first?

God has created so many means of support for us all, not the least of which IS the church. You see, the church IS a living, breathing thing, created by God, not just for His glory and for the evangelizing of the world, but as a support group for us, His children. It is not called His "Body" for nothing, which is, in every way we can think about it, an awesome analogy. Knit together, supporting one another, working in partnership - each performing a specific task for the completion of the over-all goal, and picking up slack in areas when one of its parts are wounded. Yes, the body of Christ can develop a limp now and then, but the other parts pick up the slack where it is needed, and the mission always moves forward. The Philippian church had developed such a limp.

Did the Philippian church miss this point in going past their spiritual chain-of-command in seeking Paul's advice? No, not at all, and i think for a couple of reasons. The church itself was VERY young. It was a baby still trying to learn how to crawl while the world was forcing it to run. secondly, also in part because of its infancy, their local leadership probably felt overwhelmed, and did not want to make the mistake of taking the church off track. It was the local church leadership after-all that made the decision to take thier letter to Paul. But i think they also understood something else: That as time progressed, they would reach a point where even Paul would expect themselves to be able to live on their own, supporting themselves spiritually without Paul - leaning an Christ and His word by means of sola scriptura.

I truly feel that as the world progresses down its self-(mis)guided pathway to hedonism and full rejection of God, the church will be more and more rejected by the world, and by default, it will be necessary to become for self reliant. While eschatology doesn't point out with clear results what the role of the United States might be in the end times scenario we read of in the Bible, there is a clear role for the church. Love, support, and leadership in the face of all things evil. 

As Paul would tell the Philippian church is not so many words, Take every advantage the church has to offer you. By that I do not mean, go to church with your hands-out, seeing to have all of your worldly problems fixed by the church and its resources like some sort of government bail-out, but rather, to plug yourself into the "BODY". Become a working part of it. Feel the connection to the other sinews (read: people) within the body. When you enter into a period of weakness or injury, allow the rest of the body to support you and pick up some slack until you heal. 

Paul had a deep love for the church in Philippi. Not the building in which these lovers of Jesus met, but n the people. We love our church building and where we gather to worship each week. But God gathers in our hearts, not in that sanctuary. Of this there can be no doubt. But he had a greater love for the Body of Christ as a whole, knowing that Jesus had build it with a purpose that would far out live his physical ability to support it. God's love heals. And His love is built into the church. 

Become the Living Body.