Easter 6 (NL4) John B. Valentine
Philippians 1:1-18a May 10, 2026

“GROUP WORK”

Let’s begin this morning by cogitating on our scripture lesson ... that bit which Christine read for us a little bit ago ... that text from the opening chapter of Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi.

You see ... when biblical scholars look at the first half of Philippians 1 and try to stick a label on it ... they seem to see this text as being all about Paul ....

• “Paul’s defense of his preaching” ...
• “The fruits of Paul’s proclamation” ...
• “Paul’s present circumstances” ...

Stuff like that.

Biblical scholars turn the spotlight of this text entirely on to Paul ...

Most likely because they’re high-falutin’ theological types who think that they’re the only ones doing work that really matters and they read that same perspective back into Paul ....

And so they focus on how Paul talks about what HE has done to further the ministry of the Gospel.

But here’s the weird thing.

If you actually just sit with the words of this text and just let them speak to you ...

rather than trying to get them to conform to what you’d like them to say ...

They’re actually a whole lot less about what Paul has done FOR the Philippians ... and what the Spirit has done through Paul ...

And a whole lot more about what Paul has done WITH the Philippians ... what the whole of this community of Christians in the city of Philippi has done together!

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I mean ... think about it ...

• “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to ALL the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.”

• “I thank my God for every remembrance of you, always in every one of my prayers for ALL of you, praying with joy for your PARTNERSHIP in the gospel from the first day until now.”

• “I hold ALL of you in my heart, for you are my PARTNERS in God’s grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.”

To me ... at least ... those words “All” and “Partners” and “Partnership” and the like are a ginormous affirmation of something that the renowned psychologist and theologian Paul Tournier once wrote:

“There are two things we cannot do alone — one is to be married and the other is to be a Christian.”

"THERE ARE TWO THINGS WE CANNOT DO ALONE — ONE IS TO BE MARRIED AND THE OTHER IS TO BE A CHRISTIAN."

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As I noted in the sermon a couple of weeks ago week ... one of the reasons that you just can’t “be a Christian” alone is because following Jesus ... “being a Christian” ... means taking care of your neighbor.

We don’t just “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord” at the end of our worship gatherings ...

No ... we “Go in peace to love God by serving our neighbors” ... because that is what Jesus calls us to do!

All those words from Jesus about how “It is more blessed to give than to receive” and “I am my brother's keeper” and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” are not just pie-in-the-sky ideals ... they are our marching orders!

And so I even got to toss in a quote from that Roman emperor ... Julian the Apostate ... who ... in his effort for squelch Christianity ... launched a government-funded campaign to match the charitable efforts of the Christians ... noting:

"When the poor happen to be neglected and overlooked by our people, those Christians ... those impious Galileans ... observe this and devote themselves to benevolence … and have the audacity to support not only their poor but ours as well!!"

But that’s not the only reason we can’t do the “being a Christian” thing alone ...

No ... Paul notes again and again and again in his letters ... we can’t do the “being a Christian” thing alone ... because being a Christian ... being a follower of Jesus ... is about being part of the Body of Christ ... and that is necessarily “GROUP WORK”!

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Imagine ... if you can ... two musical acts.

One of them is a fellow by the name of Tommy Emmanuel.

Absolutely AMAZING guitar player.

You go to a Tommy Emmanuel concert and one person ... Tommy Emmanuel ... walks out on stage and sets himself down on a stool and begins to play.

It’s just Tommy and his guitar.

Now ... granted ... Tommy Emmanuel can get sounds out of a guitar that you wouldn’t think possible could be gotten out of a guitar ...

His precision ... his technique ... his musical imagination ... his creativity ... his musicality ... are ALL off the charts good ...

And ... if you close your eyes and just listen ... you’d swear that there are three or four or five people up on stage ...

But it’s all just Tommy.

In fact ... as a part of most of his shows ... he plays a version of the classic tune ‘Guitar Boogie’ wherein he starts with the rhythm guitar line ... and then he adds the bass line ... and then he adds the percussion line ... and finally the lead guitar line ...

And he’s a gifted enough of a guitar player that you can hear him playing all four parts at the same time on just his one solitary instrument.

It’s fascinating to watch ... and fascinating to listen to ... but it is ... at the end of the day ... a solo act.
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On the other hand ... consider our own Bell Choir ... those folks who played our Call to Worship earlier this morning.

In a certain way ... they are the exact opposite of Tommy Emmanuel.

• Whereas Tommy Emmanuel is a soloist making music all by himself ... our Bell Choir is a group of folks trying to make music together ...

• Whereas Tommy Emmanuel is a professional ... our Bell Choir is a gaggle of volunteers ... excepting the amazingly devoted Julie Hamre who ... if I’m not mistaken ... has been the Bell Choir Director here at Holy Shepherd for the past thirty-three-and-a-third years ...

• Whereas Tommy Emmanuel has to rely solely upon himself to make sure the music is just right ... the members of our Bell choir HAVE to rely upon one another ...

• Whereas Tommy Emmanuel strives in his music to have one person sound like many ... our Bell Choir strives to have many people sound like one.

You see ... I might be mistaken ... but ... as much I love the music of Tommy Emmanuel ... I think that “Bell Choir Music” is a FAR better analogy for what it means to live as a Christian.

For:

• It’s about knowing that you have a part to play ... but also that yours is not the only part that needs to be played.

• It’s about doing the best you can with what you’ve been given ... but its also about knowing when it is time for others’ notes to ring out and for your bells to be silent.

• It’s about adding your gifts to the mix ... in the awareness that people may not know exactly what part you played when the sounds of the song actually come out.

• It’s about accepting one another’s limitations ... and trying ... trying ... to all get on the same page.

At least to my ears ... “Bell Choir Music” is exactly what Saint Paul was calling to the first Christians to be about when he wrote that letter to the faithful in Corinth ... saying:

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.

If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

If all were a single member, where would the body be?

As it is, there are many members yet one body.

So the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect, whereas our more respectable members do not need this.

But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another.

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So what does this all mean for us?

“What’s your point, Pastor?”

Maybe just this ...

You know how ... later on this morning ... we’re going to have a special meeting of the congregation ... for the purpose of potentially seating a Call Committee so as to consider adding another pastor to our staff???

Pastors are great! I like pastors. And I’d love to see if we might find a way to add a second pastor to our staff.

But pastors don’t do the work of ministry FOR us. They do ministry WITH us.

We don’t aspire to hiring someone to connect OUR community ... this congregation ... with THIS larger Lamorinda community in which we’re planted ...

But rather to calling ... inviting ... someone to help lead us in discovering some new ways for all of us to connect OUR community ... this congregation ... with THIS larger Lamorinda community.

For the work of the Body is the work of the WHOLE body ... not just some portion of it!

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So let me leave you with just this thought ... again a thought borrowed from that little book entitled The Rise of Christianity ... which I’ve referenced the past couple of weeks ...

A book driven by the question “What was it about Christianity that enabled it to grow from being forty or so of Jesus’ dearest friends and followers meeting behind locked doors for fear of being found out to being the faith-community and faith-commitment that conquered the Roman Empire?”

And one of the things that the author ... Rodney Stark ... highlighted was that ... unlike every other religious expression back in the day ... Christianity ... was less dependent on its leaders and more dependent upon its laity.

It was a mass movement engaging all of its adherents ... not something which folks just watched the religious professionals do.

In fact ... the reason that the Roman Empire couldn’t stamp out Christianity in its early years was because ... when they decided to destroy Christianity ... whenever they decided to destroy Christianity as they did on multiple occasions ...

“They did so from the top down” ... seizing only the Church’s leaders ... and “evidently taking it for granted that only the Church’s leaders counted.”

Little did they know that the Church ... the one true Church ... wasn’t ... and still isn’t ... primarily about its leaders ... or its pastors ... or its bishops or whoever.

But rather that it was ... and still is ... primarily about the people in the pews ...

People who look a whole lot like ... well ... YOU!