While in prayer today and reflecting on all that has transpired in the past two weeks with Revolution Church Sacramento, I was led to the book of Philippians. I decided to share my thoughts in the hopes that it may benefit someone else as well. Philippians is four chapters and I’ll work through one a day for the rest of the week…
The theme in Philippians seems to be joy and rejoicing. Not joy in fleeting moments, but continual joy regardless of what one’s circumstances happen to be. One of the things that always tends to overwhelm me is the thought of how Paul faced so much persecution and imprisonment in his time of ministry. Even amongst the Apostles, Paul was not always in their favor. He struggles with his own sin while he speaks publicly against it and suffers at times due to what seems like lack of finances. People hear the gospel through him and churches are formed, yet he gets news of their unruly gatherings and idolatry after he has left some of the cities and continues to advance the gospel. Paul is the epitome of the modern-day church planter. He is someone I can really relate with. This is why Philippians is such a great place to be in my devotion time at the moment, because the church in Philippi was the exception.
Philippians 1:3-6 reads:
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3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
As we are just two weeks into our preview services at Revolution Church, I am contemplating this passage quite a bit. God has blessed this city and our church with some really gifted people. We are a church that worships & loves God and freely give of our gifts to do so. However, I have to wonder how much of this is based on giving of ourselves in areas we are comfortable and talented rather than stretching ourselves and doing what it takes in partnership with each other and with Christ to see the gospel be made known to those outside of a personal relationship with The Creator of their soul. It’s still early and part of jumping into One Prayer and having preview services was to have a chance to experience a worship environment and engage others to share in the journey with us. While we have financial partners outside of our community that have given sacrificially for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, we have yet to have anyone personally embrace this notion yet.
When Paul talks about the church in Philippi and their partnership with him in the gospel in verse 5 above, the context is in regards to financial gifts. Even though Paul is not with them and in prison at the time of writing the letter to the Philippian church, he is thanking them for their financial support. Paul was a tentmaker and as such he would work in order to offset his personal costs and travel while planting churches and preaching the gospel, however the church was being called to help those with need and Paul was the recipient of such offerings at times. The church in Philippi was faithful in that regard. How will we as a new church come to deal with this as we move forward?
Regardless of whether or not God’s people feel compelled to help us financially in reaching others with God’s love and kindness, I am committed to praying and offering deep, heart-felt thanks to my Lord for connecting us with some fabulous people that have really given of their time and effort to help us launch a new ministry. I truly believe God will provide for us as we continue to trust in him and not in men & women. In him, we will be strong where we are weak and persevere rather than let Satan win over any more souls.
In concluding his opening prayer of thanksgiving, Paul writes in Philippians 1:9-11:
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9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
A lot of thought and prayer has gone into these 3 verses for me. As a church planter I have an uncontrollable desire to see those far away from Christ to be reconciled through him. To know that their way isn’t the only way and that if they look to God’s way they can find life and live it to the fullest. That they have a purpose here on earth that is far greater than they could possible comprehend. To let them know that through the cross, Christ willingly accepts all of their burdens and makes them his own. It is not for us to worry. As much as I passionately feel called to share the gospel in this manner, at the same time I recognize that there are individuals out in our community that have at one time repented and been baptized, yet question their faith. There are some that feel left alone to work through their Christianity on their own outside of the church because of past hurts or current irrelevance. These people have heard the gospel, but struggle with discerning it in their lives. Should Revolution Church Sacramento be a place for those that know Christ, yet are weary or seeking fellowship? How do we balance between advancing the gospel to those who have never accepted the message of the gospel and those that have heard it, yet struggle with how it bears fruit in their lives?
Again, it’s only been two weeks that we have publicly gathered in a dedicated worship space (as opposed to small groups meeting in homes), but so far it seems as if God is sending us people that have been part of the church in the past. Some are part of a healthy church now, yet came to see what we were all about. It seems that God is showing us early glimpses of what to expect in the future and I’m not quite certain how to respond. I tend to be an all-or-nothing kind of person. However, I am feeling as if there needs to be some balance and some patience right now. We need to be open to all people and believe that God is in control and that Christ is at the head of the Church and Revolution Church and that he will bring to us the people he wants us to know and share life with. It’s not about target marketing, zip code sorted postcard drops, or our own personal desires for who we want to see connect with us. It’s about being open to how God leads us and to be “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.” as in Philippians 1:11.
Church planting has it’s ups-and-downs, consistencies and changes, affirmations and rejections, joy and pain, passion and lethargy, love and dislike, comfort and discomfort…through it all, there has to be a vision from God that drives one to keep at it. There are too many things that make it easy to walk away. If the church becomes all about one man/woman, then it is time to walk away. If it gets bogged down because of money or acts of service or lack of resources--if we look to God and do our best to discern his will for the church we will always make the right choices. Some days we look upon his work in us with worldy eyes that see failure and lack, but everything happens for a reason and we will be good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord as we stay faithful to advancing the gospel in spite of what might seek to bring us down. Let us rejoice for the church as Paul rejoiced for the church! We just have to struggle with getting our feelings hurt or feeling like some doors have closed in our face, yet Paul was tortured and imprisoned and remained a shining example of God’s strength through us in the face of severe diversity and hardship. Don’t make it about yourself! Don’t look to pleasing others instead of God! Don’t give up!
