The Living Room

I’m sitting in a cabin at the Estes Park Center of the YMCA of the Rockies. Jen is getting ready for bed, the kids are hanging out with some new friends. I’m struck by the satisfaction I feel in the stillness of this moment. Far away is the frenetic pace of the city life we have chosen for ourselves. I am surrounded by the calming sound of…nothing.

As we strolled along the Riverwalk downtown yesterday (the one here in Estes Park, not back at home in San Antonio), we came across a storefront called “Riverplace: a Community Living Room.” My curiosity did not allow me to just walk by. When we walked inside, it was indeed a living room. Harvey greeted me and when I asked what Riverplace was all about, he said it is a place where people can come, have a cup of coffee, read a book, have a conversation…whatever they want. Riverplace isn’t selling anything and they don’t ask anything of its visitors. I was intrigued. Nestled right in the middle of the business district of this quiet little mountainside town is a place where people come to just hang out.

Harvey, like the rest of the sixty or so people who serve at Riverplace, volunteers his time to sit inside the living room. I asked him why he did that. I found out that four years ago, Harvey almost died. He had contracted the same virus that killed Jim Henson. He told me he should not be sitting across from me telling me how he survived his virus. But, since God had blessed him, he felt the least he could do was give some time each week to listen to what a passing stranger might want to talk about.

Harvey was gracious enough to let me capture some of our conversation. I posted it on facebook here. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a few minutes to check it out.

I also found out that Riverplace is connected to Rocky Mountain Church. Everything from the furniture to the freshly baked goods was donated to the facility. They have a great relationship with the business owners that surround them. They are simply a quiet presence, a beacon of radical acceptance, authentic love and insane generosity in the middle of downtown Estes Park.

It occurs to me that so many times we want more of a Chuck Norris, kickin’ butt and takin’ names kind of God. I’m not sure why we do that. When Jesus came on the scene, a lot of people had those kinds of expectations of a Messiah. Jesus sort of took those assumptions and turned them on their head. His strength and influence came not in the force of His personality, but in the power of His presence.

Maybe we need more people like Harvey who are content to be a simple, quiet presence in the Movement. It may not be Chuck Norris, but I have a feeling the impact is just as significant. Maybe even greater.

Paradidomi: Philippians 1:1-11

I hope you chose to read through the whole book of Philippians.  If you skipped that step, you might want to do it right now.

It is helpful to have the backstory to the book before we begin studying it.

• Paul started the church in Philippi with a group of women who regularly met for prayer at the river. You can read the story in Acts 16.  This was not Paul’s normal way.  He usually began at the local synagogue. The fact that there was no synagogue in Philippi shows us that there were less than 10 Jewish men living in this Roman colony.
• After Paul got kicked out of Philippi, the church there often sent financial help to him to support his missionary ministry.  They had done this again now that he was a prisoner in Rome.  Epaphroditus had carried the gift to him on behalf of the church.
• Naturally Paul asked Epaphroditus how things were going with the church and Epaphroditus “spilled the beans,” revealing that there were some problems going on.  Some of the women were arguing about who was most important in the church.  Christian Jewish teachers were trying to persuade the Phillippians that they needed to follow the Old Testament Religion in order to become fully acceptable to God.  Others were living like Christian Athiests who although they believed in God, lived as if he didn’t exist.

With this background, Paul wrote to encourage the Philippians to live the paradidiomi life: giving their lives away.  He used himself, Jesus, Timothy, and Epaphroditus as examples of the paradidomi life in chapters 1-2.  Then in chapters 3-4 he dealt with the problem people that were causing divisions among the Philippians.

With this background, let’s dig a little deeper into 1:1-11.  This is called the prologue to the letter.  In it Paul is thanking the Philippians for their gift , and he is praying for their growth.  There are five main things I want to show you about the paradidomi life in these verses.

1. The Paradidomi life requires leadership. (1-3)  The paradidomi life is not easy to live.  It really grates against everything that is normal.  Most of us are takers, but the paradidomi life means giving our lives away.  In order to make a reversal in our lifestyle from taking to giving, we are going to need spiritual leaders who set the example and hold us accountable.  This is why Paul specifically mentions the elders and deacons in his letter.   Thought Questions: Who are the spiritual leaders in your life?  Do they exemplify the paradidomi life? Do you submit to their leadership and respect what they teach you to do?
2. The Paradidomi life includes our money. (4-6)  Verse 6 is one of the more famous verses in the New Testament.  Most people think of it as a spiritual work that God does in us.  But in fact this whole section refers to financial giving.  The words that Paul uses in these verses he also uses in 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 which is all about giving.  The paradidomi life is based on God as a giving God.  There is no way we can follow Christ fully and not be faithful in our giving.  People have various discussions about how much they should give.  At BRCC we teach that we should tithe, give a tenth of our income, because that is what it takes to undergird the ministry of the church.  Thought Questions:  Is your life characterized by giving or taking?  Have you struggled to give a tithe, thinking you just didn’t have enough money, when in fact the problem was that you found it hard to trust God?  Do you believe in the ministry of BRCC?  If you do are you expressing it through partnering financially?
3. The Paradidomi life builds deep relationships. (7-8)  Look at how deep and loving the relationship is between Paul and the Philippians.  When we live the paradidomi life one of the benefits is that it builds super strong relationships with people.  Thought Questions:  When people who know you pretty well think of you, do they have these kinds of warm feelings toward you?  Do others have stories to tell about your generosity toward them?  Do you think of others as opportunities to get from them or to give to them?
4. The Paradidomi life distinguishes what really matters. (9-10a)  When we live the paradidomi life, it changes the way we think about our values.  Paul prayed that the Philippians love would overflow even more so that they would know what really matters.  The phrase “what really matters” translates the Greek word “dokimazo.”  This word means “to approve after testing.”  In Paul’s day most cooking was done on clay pots.  A pot was formed, then fired.  But sometimes in the firing process, a pot would sustain hairline fractures.  How could a prospective buyer know if the pot was any good?  They had quality control in Paul’s day as well.  They would take each pot, and hold it up to the sun’s intense light.  The light would reveal any fractures.  If it had fractures in it, they would throw it away.  If it passed the test, they would stamp it with “dokimazo” on the bottom.  The paradidomi life is a lens for us to look through to evaluate the things that are really important in our lives.  When we look at life through the lens of giving our lives away, it changes how we think about what is most important.  Thought Questions:  What is the most important thing to you?  What does the way you use your time, spend your money, and even the things you get upset about  reveal about what your values?  Are your values consistent with the paradidomi life?
5. The Paradidomi life prepares us for the future. (10a-11)  If we live the paradiomi life we will be pure and blameless Paul says, until the day of Christ’s return.  We know that after Christ returns for those who believe in him, the next event for us will be standing before the judgment seat of Christ, where our works will be judged, and we will be rewarded (2 Corinthians 5:10).  The paradidomi life, giving our lives away, which is really the life Christ lived, prepares us fully for that day.  When we live that way, we become like Christ in our character and in the fruit that our life produces.  This brings praise to God.  Thought Questions:  Do you ever think about the future and how you will do when God requires you to give an account of your life and the way you used it?  Giving your life away now can seem like a great loss, but Jesus said in Matthew 16:25 that if we give away our lives now we will gain them back in the future.  Do you agree with Jesus?

Philippians: Dig Deeper in the Paradidomi life

Thanks for visiting the Philippians blog.  The purpose of this blog is to help you dig a little deeper and look more intentionally at what it means to live the “paradidomi life” (give your life away).

Each week Rey Lopez and I will be taking you through the passage in Philippians that was used for the previous weekend talk.  For example, this week we are taking you through Philippians 1:1-11.

The first thing we want you to do each week is read the entire book of Philippians at one setting if possible.  I read it today, and it took me 15 minutes.  Some of you may take longer, but that’s okay.  If you’ve never read through an entire book of the Bible in one sitting, give it a try for the next nine weeks.

The second thing we want to do is to look at the passage through the lens of the “paradidomi life” (give your life away).  In that section, I’ll help you see the implications or teachings about the paradidomi life, along with any helpful background and word studies.

The third thing we want to do is to help you think through some application questions for your own life.  Rey will lead you through some thoughtful questions that will help you get to the meaning of the “paradidomi life” (give your life away) at a personal level.

So let’s get started by reading the book of Philippians!