Philippian greeting

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Today we begin the short and sweet letter of Paul to the Philippians. Right away you'll notice the intimacy and care of Paul's tone towards the church in Philippi. This is one of the letters written during Paul's imprisonment, which makes him particularly reflective about his life and ministry. You'll also notice that twice he talks about the "day of Christ," by which he means the time when Christ returns to bring history to its conclusion. For Paul and many other early Christians the assumption was that the end of time was approaching rapidly. That gives his ministry an urgency because he felt there wasn't much time to get the gospel out to people. Paul also expects the Philippians to grow in faith and become more spiritually mature. I think we often think about faith in terms of maintenance and constancy, but really our faith should change us day by day and year by year. Next year we should be stronger in our faith than we are today. What do you need to grow in your faith in this coming year?

God bless,
Sam

Philippians 1:1-11

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.



3I thank my God every time I remember you, 4constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, 5because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. 6I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. 7It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.



9And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, 11having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.