Summer Wrap-up and Fall Launch

September may be my favorite month. The heat of summer begins to give way to the cooler weather of fall. Everything launches again, whether schools and academic schedules or various activities and groups. A more typical routine resumes. It almost feels like the start of a new year when we make our resolutions as we set our fall schedule, our new goals and ways to grow. I can feel life regulating again, moving away from some of the free and unformed days of summer to days that are more planned and possibly even more productive.

My firstborn was also born at the end of September. There’s a feeling then in the air of September that reminds me of those special days of my husband’s grad school at UVA, our small group with four other couples, with three of us expecting babies all within the same month. I remember the beauty of Virginia and the fall leaves soon changing, walking into work in quaint Charlottesville’s downtown, with a little life growing inside. Though that is a very physical picture of life, it makes me wonder, what is growing today? What is God birthing in each of us? Spiritually, physically, emotionally, creatively, etc.?

As an aside, with these thoughts in mind, if you ever wonder your value or your purpose, take a look at Psalm 139, at the God who not only knows you, but who can be known by you. It’s such a beautiful reflection that answers some of the confusion of our day. If you are struggling in any way today, I encourage you to set aside 30 minutes, to start with prayer, to come with wonder, and to then ponder the wonderful truths this Psalm provides about God and about you.

This week I concluded a study of Philippians that I did on my own this summer. Today, I will begin a new study at our local church, and next week, I’ll begin Bible Study Fellowship on the Gospel of John. It’s always a joy to be in community in Bible Study, to learn alongside others, to share the Scriptures and our lives.

The other night, as I set Philippians aside, I thought it would be good to journal some of what I learned. Without some focus, it would otherwise be more quickly forgotten. I wrote down some things, and the next day, a friend texted me who knew I had studied Philippians this summer. She said, “I would love to hear a couple of takeaways from your study of Philippians.”

This is what I quickly texted her back (and I am adding in now the additional bracketed thought):

Mostly I have thought about the counterintuitive nature of the gospel. Paul tells the saints at Philippi that it’s been granted to them on behalf of Christ to believe and to suffer (1:29), making it sound like a privilege. How often do we lead off with that: trust in the Lord, and you will suffer!? Yet the very place Paul wrote—from prison, in chains and in affliction—demonstrated it.

I also have been thinking about what we “participate” in as gospel people. Paul gives thanks for their “partnership” (or “fellowship” or “participation,” depending on your translation) in the gospel (1:5). Later in the book, Paul talks of his desire to know Christ and to “fellowship” (same Greek word κοινωνία koinōnia as 1:5) in Christ sufferings (3:10), another nod to suffering and to partnering, in this case with Christ. So we have the privilege as Christians to have fellowship around the gospel, both with other people and with God.

I also thought about how Paul and Timothy are introduced as “servants” (1:1), and then, in chapter 2, Christ became a “servant” (2:7) for us. The beautiful Christ Hymn of chapter 2 and Jesus’ humility and emptying himself—all the way to death on a cross—suffering there too—is an amazing example for us in how we consider others as more important than ourselves and look out for their interests.

[But wait: does this mean when I believe and follow Christ, I’ll not only suffer but I should no longer be selfish? Is this part of the message we have heard and received (4:9) and give to others? Maybe this is a bit more realistic and would help those of us who have come to Christ believing His job is to make our lives easy and good. He actually comes with a call to “deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him” (Matthew 16:24). But He also gives us the power to do so through the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, the Spirit that then lives in us. In knowing Christ, there is surpassing value, joy, peace, and blessing!]

Of course, there is much there as well about rejoicing and our minds, the way we think and consider things. And I loved the comparison in chapter 1 “to live is Christ, to die is gain” (1:21) with chapter 3 “what things were gain to me, I count as loss” (3:7), counting all things loss compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus (3:8). What do we count in our lives as losses and gains? It might be flipped from what it should be. Which brings me back to the counterintuitive nature of all of it!

It’s so easy to close the book on a study and run into the next thing. But it was worthwhile to sit and reflect. The apostle Paul in Philippians teaches us much more, but those are a few things that stood out to me.

I’ll end this post with Paul’s great desire and pray that it might be yours and mine as well:

“ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:10-11 (NIV, emphasis mine)

May the peace of God (4:7) and the God of peace (4:9) be with you today.