Partners in Ministry

Last Sunday afternoon a friend from BBC stopped by our house with some homemade cookies right as the kettle was boiling for me to have a cup of tea – it was a lovely treat. Monday afternoon visited with three BBC folks who were at Cape Cod Hospital then that night Jill and I had another good Philippian small group experience. We’re enjoying the time together very much and I think everyone else is too. Tuesday I received a phone call of encouragement at church before 9:00 am from a church member just to thank me for the sermon from last Sunday and to share a little about an experience she had. It was a nice way to start the day. Wednesday Jill and I had lunch with friends from the first church we served in Pennsylvania from 1989-1995. It was great to catch up with Kerry and Linda. Thursday included a finance meeting, a meeting with Chris Morris, our Music Director, and the Mission Team meeting that night. Friday morning I visited Jean Anderson, our Church Organist at Cape Cod Hospital. At several points during the week I also spoke on the phone with my dad and both of my sisters.

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October 7, 2012
Philippians 2:19-3:1a, Partners in Ministry
Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

Partners in Ministry from BBC Staff on Vimeo.

 

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[powerpress]
What do these seemingly unrelated situations have in common?  They reveal the web of relationships and connections that shape us: our family, significant relationships in different periods of our life, and the living out of our faith with sisters and brothers in Christ.  In today’s scripture from Philippians 2 we learn that everyone single one of us is shaped by and depends upon the contributions of others to be who we are and to do what we do. Listen to Philippians beginning at 2:19,

“I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be cheered by news of you. 20 I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 All of them are seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But Timothy’s worth you know, how like a son with a father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. 23 I hope therefore to send him as soon as I see how things go with me; 24 and I trust in the Lord that I will also come soon.

25 Still, I think it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus—my brother and co-worker and fellow soldier, your messenger and minister to my need; 26 for he has been longing for all of you, and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. 27 He was indeed so ill that he nearly died. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, so that I would not have one sorrow after another. 28 I am the more eager to send him, therefore, in order that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. 29 Welcome him then in the Lord with all joy, and honor such people, 30 because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for those services that you could not give me.

3     Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord.”

Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus are all giving of themselves to each other and receiving from each other the benefits of the others’ gifts, experiences, encouragement and wisdom. They are living out the self-giving love of Christ that Paul described earlier in Philippians 2. All of us are dependent on the contributions of others to help us achieve any success or fruitfulness we may have.

“Alex Haley, the author of Roots, used to keep a picture in his office of a turtle sitting atop a fence. He kept it there to remind him of a lesson he had learned years before: “If you see a turtle on a fence post, you know he had some help.” Haley remarked, “Anytime I start thinking, ‘Wow, isn’t this marvelous what I’ve done!’ I look at the picture and remember how this turtle – me – got up on that post.” Both developed leaders (like Timothy and Epaphroditus), and the people who developed them (such as Paul) are like that turtle. Like me, they’ve gotten a lot of help.  Their view from the fence post is made possible by others.[1]  As I reflected about Alex Haley’s turtle illustration I realized not only does the turtle need help to get on the fence post, a turtle has to have help if it’s to leave the fence post safely without falling to the ground and getting hurt.  So we need to thank both those who help us get up on the fence post – those who help us achieve success as well as those who assist us in getting our feet back on the ground safely – those who care for us and nurture our well-being with the love of Christ. For all of us, there are times when we are “the turtle” and times when we are “the help.”  There are times when we are giving of ourselves and times when we are receiving.

It is clear from Paul’s sharing in Philippians 2 how much he appreciates and is blessed by Timothy and Epaphroditus and those around him who help him get on and off the fence posts he often found himself on as a result of sharing God’s love in Jesus. Paul hopes to send Timothy to the church to give them the important news of Paul’s fate at his impending trial and to give them a lift. He’s also sending Epaphroditus back with the letter for the church and Paul’s thanks for their ministry to Paul in his time of need.  Expressing appreciation to the people around us, especially if we are in a position of authority or superiority is crucial to good relationships and part of recognizing the role others play in our success.

Charles Plumb was a U.S. Navy pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent six years in a prisoner of war camp. He survived the ordeal and gave lectures on lessons learned from that experience. One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, “You’re Plumb!  You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!” 

“How in the world did you know that?” asked Plumb.

“I packed your parachute,” the man replied.  Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, “I guess it worked!” Plumb assured him, “It sure did. If your chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Plumb couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says,

“I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a navy uniform: a white hat, a bib in the back, and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said, ‘Good morning, how are you?’ or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.”

Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn’t know.

Now Plumb asks his audience, “Who’s packing your parachute?”  All of us have people who provide what we need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory – he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. 

‘Who’s packing your parachute?’  Who are some of the people in your life who help you fly with confidence knowing that when life is risky, dangerous, and bumpy – even when your plane crashes and burns that you can survive to go on another day? What can we do this week to let the sailors packing our chute know how valued and appreciated they are? Sharing in any relationship, in a group or team, involves recognizing the people who pack our parachute. Family and friends, colleagues and co-workers, coaches and teachers, sisters and brothers in Christ assist us in numerous ways.

The flip side of the question, ‘Who’s packing your parachute?’ is ‘Whose parachute are you packing?’  We also are called to recognize the ways in which God gifts and calls us to pack other people’s parachutes to help them fulfill their God given mission and calling. Supporting the fighter pilot on a carrier is a crew of thousands with a myriad of roles without whom the fighter pilot would be irrelevant because he or she wouldn’t be in a position to do his or her job. While a mechanic or cook may give a pilot something very tangible – a safe and checked out plane to fly or a good meal to eat, what the pilot has to give may be more relational – recognition, words of appreciation, or time. Depending on the situation, sometimes we are the cook or mechanic, sometimes we are the pilot.

In Philippians 2, Paul is writing about two of the people who pack his parachute: Timothy and Epaphroditus. Paul says of Timothy, “I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.” Timothy has been like a son to Paul serving together in the work of the gospel. They have built a relationship of loyalty, respect, and sharing.  While Timothy is mentioned elsewhere, this is the only place we hear about Epaphroditus whom Paul describes as – “my brother and co-worker and fellow soldier, your messenger and minister to my need.”  Epaphroditus risked his life to share with Paul the Philippian church’s love and concern. Paul has been a mentor to Timothy and an inspiration to Epaphroditus.

Business consultant Peter Drucker stated what Paul knew, “No executive has ever suffered because his people were strong and effective.” When we have strong, faithful people around us as Paul did, it helps to lighten our load and increases our effectiveness in any area of life. When we are strong and faithful we help lighten the loads of others and increase their effectiveness.  Sharing the load is the way ministry through the church is supposed to function and it is illustrated in the behavior of Canada geese. Tom Worsham observes:  “When you see geese heading south for the winter flying along in a “V” formation, you might be interested in knowing that science has discovered why they fly that way. Research has revealed that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird immediately behind it.  By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.  (People who share a common direction and sense of community get where they’re going more quickly and easily because they’re traveling on one another’s energy.) 

Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone. It quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front.  (If we as people have as much sense as a goose, we’ll stay in formation and so will those who are headed the same way we are.)  When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back in the “V” and another goose flies point.  (It pays to take turns doing hard jobs.)

The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed. (What do we say when we honk from behind?) 

            And finally, when a goose gets sick, or is wounded by gunfire and falls out of formation two other geese fall out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with the goose until it is either able to fly again or dead, and then they launch out on their own or with another formation to catch up with their group. (If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that.)[2]

In families, in churches, in any organization each of us has a job to do or a role to play. On this World Mission Sunday our Mission Team can tell you many ways you can play a role in God’s work. Our food pantry, the Caring Cupboard needs more volunteers because the Conover’s, Counts, and Condon’s all go south for part of the year. Your last name doesn’t have to begin with the letter “C” to volunteer with the Caring Cupboard. There are opportunities for folks to serve occasionally with the Lower Cape Lunch program and the Calvary Baptist Nutrition kitchen ministry.

We’re all needed. When someone is missing it can make a noticeable difference. The situation can be like the story of a farmer who was working in a field by the road when he noticed a highway department truck pulling over on the shoulder of the highway. A man got out, dug a sizeable hole in the ditch, and got back into the vehicle.  A few minutes later, the other occupant of the truck got out, filled up the hole, tamped the dirt down, and got back in the truck. Then they drove forward on the shoulder about 50 yards and repeated the process – digging, waiting, refilling.  After a half-dozen repetitions, the farmer couldn’t stand it any longer and sauntered over to them and asked, “What are you doing?”  “We’re on a highway beautification project,” the driver said.

“And the guy who plants the trees is home sick today.”[3]

            Recognizing the web of relationships in which we live, we are called to help put turtles on and off fence posts, pack parachutes and thank those who pack ours, share the hard jobs, and honk encouragement as we share the self-giving love of Jesus.  We’re all partners in ministry and we all have a role to play.