Scripture References: Philippians 1:1-11
Our Great Privileges in Christ – Continued
We Are the Recipients of a Divine Fellowship
In verses 3–8, Paul speaks of the blessed fellowship that he and the Philippians enjoyed in Christ: “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now” (verses 3–5).
Although he had not seen these friends for several years, Paul remembers them and still enjoys a warm fellowship with them. He writes here to express his gratitude to them for the fine manner in which they had stood by him through the years. In the words of a well-known hymn, Paul was saying:
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.
Paul’s fellowship with the believers was sweet; and 2,000 years removed from Paul, it is still sweet. The sweetness of the Christian fellowship has not diminished one degree with the passing of centuries.
What a blessing it would be if every pastor, long years after his ministry has ended in a certain place, could remember the fellowship with those who were once his people, as Paul did, and say of them: “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.”
But we can’t always do that. Pastors and people alike, majoring on things of minor importance, leave too many black scars rather than bright stars on their memories.
Finally, in verses 9–10, Paul prayed that the Philippians would not waste themselves on minor matters: “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.”
Paul tells them that the most excellent things in life are an overflowing love for the things of God, in other words, a sincere, dedication of themselves to God (verse 9), and an abundant bearing in their lives of the fruit produced by God (verse 11).
In conclusion I want to tell a brief story of Johann Sebastian Bach who was perhaps the greatest composer of history. Bach had two consuming loves in his life: music and God.
As with most geniuses, Bach wasn’t much appreciated in his day. His close neighbors thought little more of him than they did of the local merchant or the shoe cobbler, and his sons did little but criticize him.
When Bach died in 1750 he was buried in an unmarked grave in a Leipzig, Germany, churchyard. It took dedicated musicians forty-six years just to collect all the music he had written, and it filled sixty huge printed volumes when the task was completed.
In his book If with All Your Heart, Roy O. McClain declared that it would take a music copyist seventy years just to write down the scores the way Bach wrote them. But Bach himself also composed them as well!
“Did he really live?” McClain asked in his book. He then told how Bach began to compose at nine. Living with a tyrannical, older brother, Bach was denied the use of his brother’s musical library. Bach, however, would slip into the library after everyone else was asleep and copy music by moonlight. After he had completed copying by hand every note of instrumental music in the library, his brother found it and burned it!
But Bach didn’t give up. He continued to compose great music, living in life’s major key! He refused to major on minors, and as a result he has left to the world a musical legacy that will live for centuries.
He set a good pattern for musicians to emulate, just as Paul, by his life and teachings, has set a good example for all of us Christians to follow who would not stoop to major on minors.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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