Last month Trinity Community Church celebrated twenty-two years! Twenty-two years ago 35-40 people gathered in a hotel conference room to start a new church. We had no equipment (Well, we did have a coffee maker, and… I seem to remember a couple microphones.) Oh, we also had an abundance of idealism and ignorance.
With enough money to pay for the next week’s room rental, we dove right in. The sermon that 1st Sunday was titled “A Leap of Faith”. Little did we know…
Would we be around 6 weeks, 6 months or 6 years later? None of us could imagine what the years would bring, we had no category to think… twenty-two years later.
Over the years we experienced some very high highs and very low lows. God used both the joys and struggles to shape us as a church and reveal to us His faithfulness. And… He is not done! As a matter of fact, I feel in so many ways that we are just getting started! And with that in mind, let’s consider Gospel advancement struggles that brought a church plant to Philippi.
Philippians doesn’t begin with Phil 1:1. It begins back in Acts.
The church plant of Philippi wasn’t birthed in a way we might think or even recommend. It was birthed out of struggle. That was the means God used to form a new church.
Prior to Paul arriving in Philippi, there were a couple of big arguments.
The first one took place between Paul and Barnabas and the Judaizers. At issue was the Gospel. The Judaizers were saying that if you want to be a Christian then you need to become a Jew through circumcision and submission to the OT law. You can read more about how the Jerusalem elders walked through this conflict in Acts 15.
The second issue took place between Paul and Barnabas themselves. Paul and Barnabas were setting out for the next missionary journey when Barnabas suggested they take John Mark with them. Paul disagreed with Barnabas’ choice of Mark. Why? Well, Mark had deserted them on their 1st missionary journey! (See Acts 13)
Paul was done with this guy, John Mark (the deserter), while Barnabas (the son of encouragement) wanted to give Mark a 2nd chance.
The result was that they split up. Barnabas and Mark went to Cyprus and Paul took Silas and headed off in another direction! Now, while their disagreement sent them to different places, with different people, it did not create different gospels or different visions. Practically, they parted ways. The nature of their relationship certainly changed but, they were still on the same mission, carrying the same Gospel, and serving the same Lord!
If we follow Paul’s journey then we see in Acts 16 that Paul and Silas arrived in Derbe and Lystra. This was where Paul first met this young guy named… Timothy. (Hmm, consider Philippians 1:1) So already, we begin to see that the struggle had produced a new relationship. Timothy later became Paul’s spiritual son. I wonder, where things would have gone if it weren’t for the Paul and Barnabas struggle. Had Paul and Barnabas stuck together they would have traveled back to the churches they had started. That is where Barnabas and Mark went, and that is not where Timothy was.
If we jump forward we see Paul and Silas ending up in Philippi. It is in Philippi that they were greeted by more struggles.
Acts 16:13-40
Paul and Silas headed out to pray when they met a woman named Lydia. Acts 16:14 tells us that the Lord opened her heart and she and her household end up being baptized.
Verse 16 then tells us that they were off to pray again when they meet a slave girl who was used to profit from her fortune-telling ventures. The slave girl kept shouting, “these men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”
I find what happens next amusing. Paul became “greatly annoyed” at this which led him to command the demon to come out of her, she was then delivered, and then it seems she lost her powers of divination. This made the men who were profiting from the slave girl angry. This became the reason Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned. See Acts 16:16-24
Unhindered, Paul and Silas were praying and singing to the Lord in prison when God miraculously freed them and radically brought salvation to the jailer and his household! See Acts 16:25-40.
I say all of that to say, God doesn’t waste our struggles! He is in all the details, using all the circumstances that we face. Paul didn’t know it but the struggle with Barnabas that split them up to go in different directions was the very reason Paul and Silas ended up in Philippi. If Paul and Barnabas were still together, then there would be no Timothy, Lydia, slave girl, or Philippian jailer salvation. Amazingly, God redeemed their parting of ways by planting a church in Philippi!
Now, that is a bit of the back story as we consider Paul’s opening words to the Philippians. Consider Paul’s joy, his affection for the Philippians, expressed in his prayer for them. Read the below slowly and carefully.
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
As I consider the last twenty-two years I am freshly aware of Paul’s affection for his Gospel partners and his joy in the struggle of Gospel mission. How about you? Might it be that the struggles of your day are part of the sovereign hand of God to bring you into contact with others for Gospel advancement purposes? Perhaps God is orchestrating the advancement of the Gospel in the midst of your struggles.
And to that, I join my voice with Paul’s and pray… “I thank my God…”
God is completely at work in our lives , advancing the Gospel. I had to leave a church I was part of for 25 years, very painful, As a result He is using me in another place and it is now clear that it was part of HIs plan. The Gospel runs its course, we are His servants. He is using me in a way I was not being used before. I praise God for your steadfastness in serving our Savior.
Hey Keith! Thanks for reading and chiming in here! Wonderful how you are seeing how all that was part of the plan of God – so glad He is not done with us yet!! I love when you say, “The Gospel runs its course, we are His servants.” Yes! Thanks for serving your church!
Hi Tim. I remember hearing the painful news that actually lead you to start a new church. It saddened me. But God provided the assurance that He would be using you, and it would not matter who else chose to be a part of His work. His will *will* be done!
He turns the bitter into sweet. He turns our fear into peace.
Our thirst shall be quenched; our hunger satisfied.
He will wipe away every tear from our eyes.