The Pastoral Heart (Philippians 1:1-11 )
Introduction:
Paul wrote this letter from the Roman prison to a church he had helped to be established. Paul and Silas (including Timothy and others) preached in this city and a prominent lady by the name of Lydia believed. Then Paul and Silas were put in Prison for casting out a demonic spirit from a slave woman who was being used as a medium by her master. This angered her master and attacked Paul and Silas, beat them up and finally put them in a high security prison. In the middle of the night, Paul and Silas began to sing songs and hymns to God while the other prisoners were listening and a strong earthquake went, breaking open all the Prison doors. In those days, they would not have the lights like in our days and it must have been pitch dark when the Jailer came out, believing that all the prisoners must have escaped. But in an amazing way, Paul was in control of the situation and none of the prisoners escaped. As a result of such a miracle, the Jailer, his household and possibly many other prisoners and guards believed in the Lord Jesus and a strong church was established in this very important Roman city; church at Philippi was possibly the first European Church to be established. It is likely that the first church met in the house of Lydia, a successful businesswoman, and being a commercial hub of and prominent city that bore the name it’s founder, the Philippi of Macedonia, who was the father of Alexander the Great; this church became the driving force for Paul’s further mission work in and around Southern Europe. Several times, they had financially contributed to Paul’s mission work and they continued to do so even after Paul was arrested, sent to Rome and put in prison. The church at Philippi may have begun some times in AD50 and may be it was after ten years that Paul was sent to Roman prison.
Hearing the news of their beloved founding pastor, the church of Philippi once again collected financial aid and chose a faithful brother by the name of Epaphroditus to take that money to Rome for Paul. Finally, Epaphroditus found Paul, but then he himself fell ill and nearly died. When the news of his sickness reached to Philippi, the believers were worried and Paul wanted to send this brother back to Philippi. When this brother was recovered from his illness, Paul sends him back to his home and along with him sends this letter of joy and thanks giving. It is a letter written by a Pastor and a missionary who deeply loves this congregation and the reason is the continuous partnership of sharing their finance with Paul. Paul is filled with joy every time he remembers the kind of maturity and the fruit this church was bearing. That is why this letter is also called a letter of Joy where Paul expresses his own joy while urging the Philippians to be joyful all the time; even in the midst of suffering. 16 times the word joy and rejoice occurs in Paul’s expression.
With this background, let us now go back into the text itself and find for ourselves what Paul the apostle has to say to us from this letter today.
For today’s passage, I have titled my sermon as “the pastoral heart”. I could have said, “A pastor’s heart” but then when I say a Pastor’s heart, it becomes limited only to the Pastor. Therefore, instead of focusing on a Pastor’s heart, although this section comes out of a pastor’s heart, I wish to find in this passage the Pastoral heart that we all can aspire to have. We may not be called to be in the full time pastoral ministry but we all can have the pastoral heart.
What do I mean by Pastoral heart? The word “Pastor” comes from the Greek word for “a shepherd”, a person who takes care of the sheep or cattle. The bible often pictures God’s people as sheep and God as the great shepherd. Sheep are the kind of animals that cannot survive without a guiding shepherd. That is why you see even today there are many shepherd dogs watching, guiding and warning the sheep to find their way and protect them from wondering. In Old Testament, especially in the book of Ezekiel, God’s calls himself to be the shepherd of his people, the sheep of his pasture. The famous Psalm of David, the Ps. 23 also pictures God as the great shepherd who tends his sheep in green pastures and beside quiet waters. The sheep need plenty of grass and enough clean and quiet water, not violently running river; they like to drink from a peaceful stream or a brook. In Ezekiel 34:13-17 (whole chapter), God promises to be the kind of shepherd who will graze his sheep in such a place.
Jesus also applied that title to him in John chapter 10 and said that he is that great shepherd Ezekiel prophesized. Jesus came to give abundant life and every time he looked at people who did not know God or did not hear his call, he was filled with compassion and in Matthew 9:35-36 said “People are like sheep without a shepherd” Lets read that passage “35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
So, a Pastoral heart is the heart of a shepherd, a heart filled with compassion. Jesus was the great shepherd. Even though he was the king, the prophet, and the priest, but in all of that he had this great shepherd’s heart. A heart that does not condemn people but calls them to a place of rest and peace; even the rebuke and condemnations spring from the compassion towards the people who otherwise are prone to destroy themselves.
Therefore, a pastoral heart is a heart filled with love and compassion towards all people but especially towards the people who are under the care of the pastor. It is God kind of heart. In this text, Paul expresses his loving and compassionate heart towards the Philippians believers, but we will use his expressions to find our own heart so that we can check if we have what we call the pastoral heart; a heart for others, a heart given to help and nurture of others. Now let’s see how this heart is expressed in his writing to the Philippians.
1. Pastoral heart is a heart of a servant (1a): the word servant is better translated if we put the word “slave”, Paul says that he and Timothy are the slaves of Christ. In those days, everyone understood what this word meant and even for the modern world, we are still living the painful memories of what it is to be a slave. I come from the Indian sub-continent where there is one kind or the other kind of slavery still in existence and people are still struggling to free themselves. But the ancient world was rather crueler and slaves had no freedom at all; they were master’s property. Paul himself was not a slave of any human beings, but rather he came from a well to do family. But when he met Jesus Christ, he chose to become the slave of Jesus Christ and since then he always identifies himself with this title. A servant or a slave is a person who is there to serve; this servant hood is not limited to serving Jesus only…it is serving Jesus by serving his people. Jesus very clearly told that whatever we do to the needy, the poor and the helpless, we do that to him. This heart of a servant is not motivated by anything other than the love and gratitude to God. A Pastoral heart has no other motivation in serving one another and that is why in Romans 12:3-8, Paul urges every one with whatever the gift God has given for the betterment of others, even if it is in serving, do it for others; and in Colossians 3: 17 and 23 again Paul says “whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord”. As far as pastor is concerned, I think it was Martin Lloyd Jones who is reported to have said to his congregation “I am your servant, but you are not my master” and this phrase has been a kind of catch phrase to many, but times have changed and Pastor is often considered to be the employee of the church. Church becomes the master of the pastor and therefore the very heart of a servant gets lost on the way. But the biblical mandate is for all of us, including the Pastors are to be the servants to one another; to build one another, to lift up one another. This task is given to us not by churches or organizations but by God himself. We serve and we are servant because we love God and we want to be part of what God is doing in saving the lives of many people. Jesus is our best example and he is also known as the servant of God. Sadly, there are times when we see all kinds of competitions in and among the people of God for power and position in the church and ministry. Even the 12 apostles were not free from such kind of a faulty idea of being a servant of God…James and John wanted to be the main leaders of the group but Jesus said to them “if you want to be great, learn to be the servant of all” (Read Matthew 20:25-28 25Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."). Jesus corrected their faulty sense of serving God by putting his own example where he lays down his life for others. People with the pastoral heart are those that are willing to lay down their times, their resources and even their lives for others…and Paul calls himself as a servant of Jesus Christ. What an honor it is to be a servant of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings…how wonderful it will be for us to hear “well done thou good and faithful servant” when we finally see him face to face! So, the pastoral heart is the heart of a servant… Secondly…
2. The pastoral heart is the heart of Respect (1b): After addressing himself as the servant, Paul then addresses the Philippian believers as “Saints”. Saint means a holy, righteous and perfect in character. Just as he likes himself being called a servant of Christ, Paul prefers to use the word saints when addressing the believers. For example even in writing to Corinth, a church where there were too many problems and believers were caught in many kinds of sins and division which he calls carnality (see 1Cor.1:1-3; 2Cor. 1:1-2), while addressing them, he calls them holy and saints! A Pastoral heart need to see others better than himself or herself. The believers might be far from perfect, they may have come from a lower section of society, yet a pastor ought to respect the members in the body of Christ. In many church traditions, the word saint has a high degree of respect. Today when someone address you, Hi! Saint Andy…..and so and so! How would you feel? Do you feel worthy of being called a saint? I don’t think so, we all are imperfect people but God see us in a different light, he calls us saints. Therefore, as a person with a pastoral heart, instead of seeing the failings of the people and disrespecting them and calling them with all kinds of derogative names, we need to address them with respect. We need to see them the way God sees. Thirdly………….
3. The pastoral heart is the heart of compassion (2): Paul wishes grace and peace to them. Grace is what we need from God because; even though we are called saints, we still are far from being a real saint in our actual experiences; we make terrible mistakes and fall short and therefore, a pastor needs to wish for the grace of God to those who are failing. Also, we need to wish peace with God and fellow human being. As good as the Philippian church was, they still had their struggles. There were two good women who were not getting along well with one another and possibility was there that there were also some false teachers. So, the thing that is most needed in a church is peace with one another. Grace from God and peace in our heart and peace in our relationship with fellow human beings. Just think how difficult it becomes when you do not have peace with your fellow co-worker? We all need God’s grace and peace and as pastoral people, as people who know God’s grace and peace need to have compassion on those who are under our care. Fourthly…………..
4. The pastoral heart is the heart of remembrance (3-6)
a. Remember to pray for the people with joy
b. Remember their contribution: no one can become who he or she is without the help of many people in life. Here in this passage, Paul was assisted greatly by this church and Paul never forgot their contribution. They were partner with him from the very beginning. They did not stop giving and for that Paul continued to pray for them. We ought to recognize other’s contributions in our lives and pray for them
c. Make them to remember to continue to carry one the good work: we all need each other’s help until we see Christ face to face when he comes in his day. Paul here helps them to remember that they are to continue in doing what they were doing and God himself will help to be able to do what they have already begun to do.
5. Fifthly, the pastoral heart is the heart of affection (7-8): Deep personal relationship comes out of the pastoral heart. People who do not have the pastoral heart cannot develop deep and lasting friendship because they are caught up in their selfish desires, but a pastoral heart longs for relationship. Paul longs for this church, he wants to come.
a. They share in Paul’s suffering and success because they are in it together
b. Paul longs for them with the affection of Christ
6. Pastoral heart desires the best for others (9-11)
a. Love may grow in knowledge and depth
b. That they may know the best
c. That they may be true saints
d. That they may bear the fruit of righteousness
In conclusions; Pastoral heart is a heart of a servant, it is a heart of respect, heart of compassion, heart of affections and it is the heart that desires the best for others. As a body of Christ, let is pray for this heart to be given to us. That in this place, we may have the heart of a servant, heart of respect, compassion, affection and that we may always pray for others to achieve the best in their lives. Amen!
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