A Minister’s Yearning and Congregation’s Reveling: Philippians 1.25-26
A Minister’s
Yearning and Congregation’s Reveling: Philippians 1.25-26
I’m
taking the adults of our congregation through Philippians over the next several
weeks. While reading, meditating, pondering and reflecting on that particular
letter, a concept slowly rose up and slid its tentacles around my mind. I find
this two-pronged thought needling me day and night. It is related to something
I wrote back in July 2014, “A Minister’s Glory and Joy,”[1]
but it goes a bit further and maybe a bit deeper. It’s found in the middle
Philippians 1.25-26:
“Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.”
As
I stated, it is a two-pronged thought that covers a minister’s yearning and a
congregation’s reveling.
A Minister’s Yearning
The mission or purpose of every minister of
Jesus Christ is to declare the praises and glories of God, announcing the good
news of who God is and what he has done, is doing, and will do in Jesus Christ,
with a view to making and forming disciples (Matthew 28.19-20; Mark 16.15-16). And
to reach this goal, ministers must devote themselves “to prayer and to the
ministry of the word” (Acts 6.4). And it is right here that you begin to sense that
a minister’s yearning, in the words of Paul quoted above, is “for your progress
and joy in the faith”. Now yearning sounds pretty heavy, mainly because it goes
beyond the professionalization of the ministry to something more red-blooded,
to Paul’s own sentiment stated earlier “I yearn for you with the affection of
Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1.8). There is a drive, a longing, a craving, a
sense of real dissatisfaction until this desire is achieved. And it is a
Christ-given, Christ-related yearning.
(1)
A minister yearns for God’s people, who are under their care, to progress in
the faith; to move forward and upward; to “grow in the grace and knowledge of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3.18a). We long for our congregants
to deeply experience the answer to this ancient prayer: “O most merciful
redeemer, friend and brother, may I know thee more clearly, love thee more
dearly and follow thee more nearly, day by day.”[2]
(2)
But also a minister longs for their folks to truly meet with “joy in the faith”.
There’s nothing more heart breaking than parishioners who are dour and dismal in
the faith. This joy is a gift of God through the Holy Spirit: “Restore to me
the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (Psalm 51.12); “…do
not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8.10); and “May
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the
power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15.13). It is
experienced corporately as sisters and brother in Christ stand “firm in one
spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel”
(1.27). This sense of having joy in the faith is characterized at the beginning
of the next chapter where Paul appeals to the Philippian church,
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (2.1-5)
Hand-in-glove
with the minister’s yearning comes the next topic.
The Congregation’s Reveling
It
may sound odd at first, but Paul wants these believers to be able to brag and
boast, specifically that, “in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ
Jesus, because of my coming to you again” (1.26). This reveling is primarily in
how Jesus provided and cared for his people. But Paul, like many faithful
ministers I know, wants to be the cause and catalyst for such exulting. He
wants these people to be able to say, “Thank you Jesus for blessing us with
Paul!” On Paul’s side, he wants to be able to celebrate the success Christ gave
him with these people, “so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did
not run in vain or labor in vain” (2.16), just as he desires to do with regard
to the Thessalonian Christians, “For what is our hope or joy or crown of
boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our
glory and joy” (1 Thessalonians 2.19-20). This, then, will result in a two-way glorying,
“that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you”
(2 Corinthians 1.14). A congregation thanking Jesus for their minister, now and
on the Day of Christ; and a minister eternally grateful for the congregation. What
a beautiful picture!
The End
Pray
for that your minister would be a Jesus-guided, Jesus-enable operative
instrument for “your progress and joy in the faith” so that you may have “ample
cause to glory in Christ Jesus”.
Ministers,
as you devote yourself to “prayer and the ministry of the word”, pray that you
would yearn “with the affections of Christ” for the people he has entrusted to
you, and for their “progress and joy in the faith” so that “in the day of
Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain” (Philippians
2.16).
Finally,
ask yourself (and especially ask yourself before the face of God) this
question: what would the world outside of the church think and see if our
congregations were reveling in Jesus because of their ministers and ministers
were yearning for their people’s “progress and joy in the faith”?
Mike
[Feel free to publish or re-post; but as always, please give credit where credit is due. Thanks]
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