It’s finally Friday…and I’m Pastor James St. John.
A quick update, first of all, on my gutter project. One gutter is beautifully hung across the front of the porch. Why not the others? I’m learning.
- The fascia of the porch and the rest of the house is different. There is an angle on most of the fascia that requires additional material…it had to be ordered. I’m learning.
- As is often the case at our house, a chaotic situation interrupted our installation plan. Our first daughter, Sophia, landed in the ER and spent 24 hours in the hospital last weekend. I’m learning “the best laid plans of mice and men have gone awry.” Bonus points if you can tell me the author of that quote in the comments, lol.
I’m learning. You are learning. We are all learning. That is what it means to be a “disciple” of Jesus. We are learners. So…let’s return to our theme scripture for this series of devotions.
And what you learned and received and heard and saw in me, do these things. And the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:9
It seems that Paul spent about three months in Philippi, during his second and third missionary journeys. In fact, some scholars believe that Paul may have made two more return visits. The Philippian letter was written after these visits. There was a relationship there. There was a connection there. Paul had sat with these people. He had eaten, walked, worked, prayed, taught, preached…he had done community with these folks. He loved them. That’s where I want us to land.
We are Jesus disciples when we love one another. So here’s the picture for today:
We are learners. We learn in community. We learn from one another.
- We learn by listening. We listen to the stories. We listen to the testimonies. We listen to the witness of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in one another’s lives. In the midst of this journey, God uses the verbal witness we bring to one another to form our hearts and minds.
- We learn by watching. As we walk together, we observe the victories and the failures of our lives. We see the good, the bad, and the ugly (hopefully, there is more good with time and maturity, lol). We observe the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in others. The appropriate response is awe and imitation. We’ll talk more about those in the coming weeks.
- We learn by doing. Here’s the thing. We know that Paul held apostolic authority in the midst of these folks. He planted the church here. You might find it interesting that the first-fruits of Paul’s ministry here was with Lydia…a woman, an entrepreneur, and so much more…who was baptized and opened her home to become the base of operations for the church in Philippi. She is an example of someone who immediately began to do the work of the ministry, learning and growing under the ministry of Paul and those who accompanied him.
Discipleship, this journey we are taking with Jesus, happens in communion with Jesus…and His body, the church. We are members of an organic line that can be traced down through the past witnesses all the way back to the apostles. Those witnesses learned, walked, talked, ate, suffered, failed, were restored, together in community. If we learn anything, we learn from one another. We are learning to lean on Jesus by learning to lean on one another. God, the Holy Spirit, is manifesting Himself in and through us as we do just that…abiding in His Word, together. Amen.
Don’t forget the bonus question, above, lol.
And…for our Finally Friday readers, here’s a sneak peak of a promo for our upcoming preaching series, “In a Moment of Fear…” We’ll be sharing it publicly, next week…but, we want to know what you think…tell us in the comments of this post. (and, don’t share it with anyone else, yet).
