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Printer Friendly VersionIn an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, celebrity Brad
Pitt reflected on his lead role in the movie Fight Club, which is about a
man who has the American dream and yet remains unsatisfied:
Pitt: Man, I know all these things are supposed to seem important
to us—the car, the condo, our version of success—but if that's the
case, why is the general feeling out there reflecting more impotence and isolation
and desperation and loneliness? If you ask me, I say toss all this—we
gotta find something else. Because all I know is that at this point in time,
we are heading for a dead end, a numbing of the soul, a complete atrophy of
the spiritual being. And I don't want that.
Rolling Stone: So if we're heading toward this kind of existential
dead end in society, what do you think should happen?
Pitt: Hey, man, I don't have those answers yet. The emphasis
now is on success and personal gain. [smiles] I'm sitting in it, and I'm telling
you, that's not it. I'm the guy who's got everything. I know. But I'm telling
you, once you've got everything, then you're just left with yourself. I've
said it before and I'll say it again: it doesn't help you sleep any better,
and you don't wake up any better because of it.
Dreams have the power to drive and animate a marriage. We may
nurture some of the same dreams; we may each hold a private fancy. But we
need that courage, that hope. Dreams--hope with a blueprint--help construct
a meaning for the future. They give us a reason to wake in the morning. (Citation:
Elizabeth Cody Newenhuyse, Marriage Partnership, Vol. 7, no. 3.)
That’s what dreams are – the state of mind of life
in between the promise of something wonderful and its realization. We are
all compelled by dreams, by hopes that something about tomorrow will be better
than yesterday. It is, perhaps, universal. This is very much the world of
Paul and the Philippian church. Let’s rewind the story as we know it
just a bit and see the setting in which this letter unfolds.
Pentecost has come and the great movements of the Spirit have
sent men and women out from Jerusalem all across the world. The Spirit’s
wave has picked up Paul and deposited him at one point on the shores of Macedonia
where he, Silas, and Timothy make their way to the trade colony of Philippi.
A church soon grows forth spawned by the responsiveness of a rich merchant
woman and a Roman jailer-turned-believer and his family.
Many years have since passed but the relationship between Paul
and this-now mature church in Philippi is as strong as ever. They have been
a support system, both financially and emotionally for him across his ministry.
On at least three occasions they have sent him money; at least twice that
is recorded they sent somebody to spend time helping Paul. In fact, even as
Paul composes the letter, he may well have been watching Epaphroditus, the
most recent church member sent to provide assistance, tinkering about the
cool Roman apartment preparing to make the long sea voyage back to Philippi.
This is indeed a special group of people to Paul and he writes what would
turn out to be his last letter to them as a way of encouraging and thanking
them for their partnership across the many years.
But what about their world? What made it all so significant?
What was it like? Perhaps they were wondering why, after all this time, the
great apostle was sitting under guard in a Roman house awaiting trial (and
ultimately execution) by the Emperor. This was not how things were supposed
to go. Had not Jesus himself promised the arrival of the Spirit and the soon-coming
of His heavenly kingdom? Was he not going to soon return in a blaze of triumphant
glory and restore the throne and the crown of Israel? That was the promise
of Pentecost. Decades later, it might have been rather too easy to wonder
when or if it would ever come true.
We can understand this. Our life is shaped by our dreams and
expectations in the future. And our dreams and expectations are born out of
believing that God has come to us to give us life. This is the very heart
of the Easter and Pentecost story.
With the rising of the Easter sun came the promise of a new
day that would soon dawn, a day in which the Spirit of God would be “poured
out on his sons and daughters.” Those fifty days that followed were an
in-between time, the time between the promise and its fulfillment. It, too,
was a period categorized by waiting, watchfulness, prayer, anticipation. This
was uncertainty with a twist of hope: uncertainty in that they didn’t
know what would happen; hope in that they knew that Jesus clearly said “wait.”
At the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost, the promise was fulfilled, their
expectations were met in a miraculous way, and their lives were set on a trajectory
that would change the world.
But Pentecost also brought with it another promise of a time-yet-to-come,
the coming kingdom of God. The miracle of tongues of fire and supernatural
speech are faint echoes of a world full of the purity of God’s sanctifying
presence and a world where all the nations are one in Him, of the perfect
world of order and beauty, of heaven itself.
Life after Pentecost didn’t happen the way many in the
first Century church thought it would. It was not easy. The more Christianity
spread, the more persecution was heaped on the believers. The first-Century
Roman world was one of pagan syncretism and pluralism, of cultural blending
and change, of rapid economic growth and expansion, and of turbulent geo-political
timebombs just waiting to explode. Rather than getting easier, life got harder
for the Christian church. As the decades ticked by with the political power
of Rome continuing to expand, the wave of awe and expectation of Pentecost
grew dimmer and dimmer.
We find ourselves in this story; God, you promised to provide
for us. God, you said that you would bring about this or that situation. God,
you told me you would heal.
And the questions that can pull us down. Why do things seem to go wrong? Why
doesn’t life work out like I thought it was supposed to? For even God’s
most faithful there is no guarantee that life in between the promise of eternal
life and its fulfillment is free from struggle and trial.
A young man stopped by my office several weeks ago. He was down
on his luck and was out of gas down the road. He asked if I was a preacher
or pastor. When I indicated I was, he asked if we could talk for a bit. His
question surprised me: “Why is it that when I begin following God and
reading the Bible that life starts getting harder?”
That is what can be so hard about living life as a believer
even in our world. We live in between the promise of God’s renewing of
the earth and its fulfillment. It is a world of tensions and conflicts. We
have the Spirit of God among us but the Prince of Darkness is hard at work;
we live with the freedom and purity of God’s salvation and sanctifying
grace but oppression and destruction batter us from every corner. None of
us are immune to the frailties and damage of a sin-wracked world. Thus stands
out the most haunting of questions for those that have suffered in such a
way: “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
Yet, hope remains and the dreams of living the great adventure
for God are alive and well even in this world in which we find ourselves.
The Spirit of God is indeed moving among his people calling them to greater
things and to richer life even while the full promise of God’s kingdom
is not yet seen. This calling, this reminder comes out in Paul’s first
words to his friends in Philippi. He doesn’t so much give them or us
answers as to how to live in it – that’s not where his focus is,
he’s looking beyond that. He instead points us to certain realities that
we can embrace and build upon to become together all the people of God here
and now we were meant to be.
First, is the reality that we belong to a community. Paul holds
this reality close to his heart: “I always pray with joy because of your
partnership.” His heartfelt joy bubbles over from every page in the letter
because of the sustained partnership he’s had with them in his ministry.
This is a significant picture for us of living life in-between in a strong
and powerful way. God has given us the family of Christ, His Body, through
which we come to know and experience the fullness of His love and transforming
power.
Jake Porter, 17, a member of the Northwest High football team
in McDermott, Ohio, was born with chromosomal fragile X syndrome, a common
cause of mental retardation. He couldn't read. He could barely write his name.
But he loved football, and he faithfully attended every practice.
Northwest coach Dave Frantz wanted to do something special for
Jake. So before a game against Waverly High in the fall of 2002, Frantz called
his friend Derek Dewitt, the head coach at Waverly. Frantz suggested that
both teams allow Jake to run one play at the end of the game, assuming the
game wasn't on the line. Jake would get the ball and take a knee, and the
game would end.
So, with Waverly leading 42-0 and five seconds left in the game,
Frantz called a timeout. Jake trotted out to the huddle, and the two coaches
met at midfield. Sports Illustrated's Reilly picks up the story:
Fans could see there was a disagreement. Dewitt was shaking
his head and waving his arms. After a ref stepped in, play resumed and Jake
got the ball. He started to genuflect, as he'd practiced all week. Teammates
stopped him and told him to run, but Jake started going in the wrong direction.
The back judge rerouted him toward the line of scrimmage. Suddenly, the Waverly
defense parted like peasants for the king and urged him to go on his grinning
sprint to the end zone. Imagine having 21 teammates on the field. In the stands
mothers cried and fathers roared. Players on both sidelines held their helmets
to the sky and whooped. Jake had the run of his life, scoring the touchdown
heard round the world, on the Play of the Year. All because of Dewitt's unselfish
decision: "I want him to score."
Like coach Dewitt, God has high purposes for each of us. God
wants us not just to get the ball and touch a knee to the ground. He wants
us to score a touchdown. It is to the glory of God that his people are victorious
in the middle of a world that is falling down around us!
We were made to live this life together, to impact the world
for the kingdom of God. In morning worship at DaySpring Community Church in
Clinton, MS, the congregation frequently stands and quotes aloud together
their reason for existence: “We exist to bring men and women, boys and
girls into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ and to release these
disciples for ministry in this community and around the world for the glory
of God.” This is the statement of a church family in partnership, one
who is making an impact on their community for God. God will use us to encourage
and strengthen one another as we wait for him to recreate the world. We can
experience great joy in working together to accomplish God’s purposes.
The second reality is the certainty of a good beginning. There
is no doubt about the future God has given to us because he has indeed “began
a good work” in His people. Paul encourages the Philippians to remember
that just because they were in between the promise and its fulfillment did
not mean that God had forgotten about them. Paul’s source of confidence
about his own fate, even while facing what appeared to be certain death, was
his knowledge and trust of Jesus: “I am confident of this one thing:
that He who began a good work in you…” This kind of trust in our
beginnings as spiritual children of God the Father is essential for maintaining
a spirit of joy and dependence when life is difficult. This trust can even
transform fear into delight as we watch God direct our paths and order our
days, as the Psalmist says. My two sons, Jacob and Ben, love to get “bag
rides” their daddy. This consists of climbing inside of a pillowcase
and then being spun at a high speed in a circle in the middle of the living
room. While for daddy is a period of extreme dizziness and exhaustion, the
boys are full of loud squeals and shrieks of delight. They experience exhilaration
in what could otherwise be a fearful ride and they do so because of their
absolute confidence in their daddy.
Our lives are worthwhile and our activities can be meaningful
because God is doing something good to us and to our world: recreating and
reclaiming it. We are children of his promise to make life eternally free
and good. There is freedom to be found in Christ even in a world that is constantly
spinning in maddening circles.
The third reality is the assurance we can have of a good finish.
Paul tells us that this work that God has started is in process. The Spirit
is actively at work in our lives and “will carry it on to completion
until the day of Christ.” This is the difference between life and death
for us! The Christian faith does not rest solely upon an event that happened
two millennia ago. Christ’s death and resurrection is foundational to
our faith in Him, but foundational in what it fully means: Christ is alive
now! Alive and actively at work on behalf of those who trust him. Have you
ever stopped to ponder where the physical body of Jesus, the divine carpenter
of Nazareth is right this moment? It is not gone! His body did not return
to formless matter – Christ indwells the human flesh here and now even
as He sits at the Father’s right hand.
The Spirit indeed has come in a powerful way. But has come to
do precisely that which Jesus said the Spirit would come to do – point
us to Jesus the Son and God the Father. The Holy Trinity are deeply involved
together in the human story, shaping, working, and moving all of our reality
towards the day, however long off it may be, that God’s world will again
be perfected in Him.
We cannot deny that our life here and now is without obstacles
and struggle. But we can understand and remember that we are, as Paul would
tell the Ephesians, God’s glorious workmanship through whom He will show
his glory to all of creation.
The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is one of the greatest artistic
triumphs in history. From 1508 to 1512, the artist Michelangelo lay on his
back and painted the Fall and the Flood. But Michelangelo's magnificent art
started to fade almost immediately. Within a century of completing his work,
no one remembered what his original frescoes had really looked like. Painter
Biagio Biagetti described it in 1936: "We see the colors of the Sistine
ceiling as if through smoked glass."
In 1981 a scaffold was erected to clean the frescoes that adorn
the chapel. With a special solution, Fabrizio Mancinelli and Gianluigi Colalucci
gently washed a small corner of the painting. They invited art experts to
examine the work. The result was stunning. No one had imagined that beneath
centuries of grime lay such vibrant colors. This was not the Michelangelo
known by art critics. That artist was the master of form, his paintings resembling
sculpture more than painting. This "new" artist was also the master
of color—azure, green, rose, and lavender of amazing nuance.
Their success prompted the restoration of the entire ceiling.
The task was completed on December 31, 1989. It had taken twice as long to
clean the ceiling as the artist had needed to paint it. But the result was
breathtaking. For the first time in nearly 500 years, people viewed this masterpiece
the way it was intended, in all of its color and beauty
We can, and with the Spirit’s help, will, become all that
God intended for us to be. The things he has promised He will do He will do.
His promise for what He is making his creation into (which includes us!) is
coming into reality and will someday be totally finished.
But there is still the in-between time? What about now? How
do we live some strong and positive lives when life itself often conspires
against us or it’s all we can do to get by? These three realities that
Paul mentions are paramount to how we think. But more to the point, they are
realities that are paramount to the way we live. How about this as a life
challenge?
Live as people who belong to God and are called to move out
into ministry to the world together.
Live as people who are responding to the call of God to obey
Him and serve the world.
Live as people who possess the certain assurance that God will
someday recreate our world in His divine image of Holy Love.
This is a clear challenge to our way of thinking and acting
throughout our day-to-day lives. We are to behave as men and women who know
these realities. Where then is our attention, where do we focus our energies?
Consider the Philippians. One of the main reasons we even hear about the relationship
between Paul and the Philippians is because of their commitment and devotion
to the gospel being preached and spread. They supported Paul because it was
a priority; their money was put where their treasure was. Epaphroditus laid
his life on the life because he wanted to serve Paul.
People who live like this transcend even the worst of circumstances
or the most uncertain moments of life. If we are consumed by discovering and
then living in the realities of God, life in between is full of victory and
joy.
Paul closes this passage with a benedictory prayer that reveals
to us the very essence of how to be people of strong and vibrant faith in
an “in-between” world. “And this I pray, that your love may
abound more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may
approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless
until the day of Christ. (Phil. 1:10)”
Paul’s prayer is precisely the prayer that we as members
of the Body should have one for the other. The community of faith that changes
their world is the one that seeks after the deep love of Jesus for each other.
The hallmark of this kind of body is the passionate pursuit of God’s
wisdom and character in living holy lives together. If that is
“Love” means the way we live together, the way we
treat one another. Real Godly love is full of knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge
is seeking to know God and become like him with our whole body, mind, and
strength. Wisdom is thinking the thoughts that God thinks, having the values
that God has, knowing right from wrong, and making the right kind of choices
that lead to godly living.
And, finally, there is the living out of that wisdom and knowledge
that is the object of Paul’s ultimate desire for his people: the fruit
of righteousness shown in their lives as a result of their trust in and obedience
to Jesus.
A close friend of my family’s lives in a managed-care living
facility with his wife who suffers from late-stage Alzheimer’s. Her illness
and its subsequent lifestyle is incredibly hard on this godly man who has
served as pastor, author, professor, and seminary president. Each day is consumed
with the bearing the burden of caring for his lifelong mate who frequently
doesn’t recognize him. The burden is wearing on him; we all can see it.
But ask him about how things are going, about how his day has been, and, while
being honest about the struggle, he’ll conclude with a loud voice and
a big smile, “I’ve had a wonderful time in prayer with the Lord.
The Lord is teaching me new things all the time about him.” Nearly every
time I see him the first thing he tells me is that he prays for my family
and me every day.
Life doesn’t always happen the way we expect it to. Even the most devout of God’s people will walk through the fire of human life. Suffering, death, loss, loneliness, and heartache are simply a reality in this world in-between the promises of God’s recreation and the final coming of the King. But we can learn from Paul and the Philippians the very powerful and hopeful lesson that if we, too, will passionately pursue God’s love and character in our lives as individuals and as a community, the in-between is marked by victory, courage, joyfulness, and fruitful labor, not by despair, dread, and discouragement.