Philippians 2: 1 – 11
There was a time in my life when I thought that I had found a church home. Truth be told I met my wife there and figured that we would be attendee’s for the rest of our lives. But, once we were married, things began to feel different, almost as if we didn’t belong anymore. Don’t get me wrong, the fellowship was wonderful, but it always felt like there were two levels of people; ones that were in the inner circle, and ones that were not.
At the time I wasn’t sure what was right, but I knew that this was wrong. I thought that church was supposed to be like the center of our community, and here it wasn’t, for us anyway.
I know it sounds like I’m complaining, but just wait a second.
My wife and I stumbled blindly into a church one Sunday in late November where we were made to feel welcome from the time we crossed the threshold, the next week, my wife went into the hospital for a small procedure, where she received flowers and a visit from the Pastor, and I received phone calls from parishioners asking if I was okay and if I needed anything from food to prayer. (I took the prayer)
1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
This, I thought, is what church is supposed to be like and it appears that God agrees with me. We began to feel as if we belonged to a new large extended family and that we were called to become members and change the way we walked with God. We really began to grow and mature in our faith.
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
It was only a brief little note,Or a word that was prayerfully spoken,Yet not in vain, for it soothed the painOf a heart that was nearly broken.
Far too often, it seems, we limit the significance of church to what happens on Sunday. But the church is to be so much more. It is to be a safe haven, a rescue station, a training center for spiritual service.
There was a time in my life when I thought that I had found a church home. Truth be told I met my wife there and figured that we would be attendee’s for the rest of our lives. But, once we were married, things began to feel different, almost as if we didn’t belong anymore. Don’t get me wrong, the fellowship was wonderful, but it always felt like there were two levels of people; ones that were in the inner circle, and ones that were not.
At the time I wasn’t sure what was right, but I knew that this was wrong. I thought that church was supposed to be like the center of our community, and here it wasn’t, for us anyway.
I know it sounds like I’m complaining, but just wait a second.
My wife and I stumbled blindly into a church one Sunday in late November where we were made to feel welcome from the time we crossed the threshold, the next week, my wife went into the hospital for a small procedure, where she received flowers and a visit from the Pastor, and I received phone calls from parishioners asking if I was okay and if I needed anything from food to prayer. (I took the prayer)
1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
This, I thought, is what church is supposed to be like and it appears that God agrees with me. We began to feel as if we belonged to a new large extended family and that we were called to become members and change the way we walked with God. We really began to grow and mature in our faith.
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
It was only a brief little note,Or a word that was prayerfully spoken,Yet not in vain, for it soothed the painOf a heart that was nearly broken.
Far too often, it seems, we limit the significance of church to what happens on Sunday. But the church is to be so much more. It is to be a safe haven, a rescue station, a training center for spiritual service.
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