SERVICE PRODUCES PRAYING CHRISTIANS

Note verse 14

And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.

Do you wonder what the connection is? Why didn't it work the opposite way? Why didn't the Jerusalem Christians conclude that they wouldn't need to pray for their benefactors? After all, what would they need.

It didn't work that way. It's the people who are most generous, the people who are most compassionate, the people who have given of themselves more than others, who are the subjects of intercessory prayer.

No church did more for Paul than Philippi. He said in Philippians 4:15-16

Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.

How did Paul treat that church when it came time to pray? He said in chapter 1:3-4

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy

That's just the way things work. People pray the most for those who are trying to help them. Paul thought it quite legitimate to say that your service is going to result in more prayers going to heaven in your behalf.

CONCLUSION

I'd like to invite you to drop down to the very last verse of the chapter - verse 15. "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift." Why did he say that? He wasn't talking about the gift to be taken to Jerusalem. That gift is describable. There's only one indescribable gift - the gift of his son. But why did Paul mention that at this particular point? Everything that we are asked to do in the service of God is a response to the indescribable gift of Jesus. Does Jesus mean as much to us to cause us to give ourselves to the Lord as the Macedonians did? If he does, we will respond with compassion, sacrifice and devotion and we will thank God for his indescribable gift.

Norman Bales
Southern Hills Church of Christ
Norman's e-mail address: nlbales@allaboutfamilies.org

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