The sermon on Philippians 4:1-9 preached by Alison Sampson during the worship service at our church camp this weekend was not recorded, but you can click here to read another version of it that she preached later in the day at Sanctuary Baptist in Warrnambool.
One Comment
Alison does an excellent job in explaining the relationship between “happiness” and “joy” in the context of Paul’s seeming abrasive command to be always looking at the “big picture” to the diminishment of all those micro relationships that make us human. Recourse to a trusty Greek/English dictionary informs me that the word used (merimnate) can have both positive and negative connotations as to its essential menaing of “to divide”. In Philippians 4:6 we find its negative direction – that of “falling to pieces” and losing sight of the big picture. However Paul has already used it in Philippians 2:20 in its positive sense in the context of Paul sending Timotheus to them. Philippians 1:1 begins with an acclamation of grace and peace from both Paul and Timotheus. In Philippians 2:20 Paul describes him as someone who is as like-minded as Paul and who will “care for” ( merimnesei) the things relative to you. As Alison so joyfully outlines, the tone of Paul’s Letter is to persevere with joy among the thorns. Her wise counselling reflects a definition of Hope that I came across years ago. I cannot remember the words used to describe it and so I will try to paraphrase it, badly most likely! Hope is not the belief that meaningless will never touch us. Hope is the conviction that despite the immediate meaningless, meaning lies somewhere down the road. This I hope is what lied behind Paul’s Letter and is framed wonderfully for us in Alison’s picturesque sermon.