Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Will you pray with me?
Wise and loving God, we give thanks for your living word.
Open our eyes, gracious Lord, to your powerful truth.
We long to know you, to understand life and to be changed forever by the hearing of your word. This morning. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
Our scripture reading this morning is found in Hebrews, chapter 13, verses one through eight. And if you'd like to find it in the pew Bible, it's on page 979.
Let mutual love continue.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers. For by doing that, some have entertained angels without knowing it.
Remember those who are in prison as though you were in prison with them.
Those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.
Let marriage be held in honor by all. And let the marriage bede be kept undefiled. For God will judge fornicators and adulterers.
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have. For he has said, I will never leave you or forsake you.
So we can say with confidence, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?
Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same. Yesterday, today and forever.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: So last week on Sunday afternoon, I went over to Altadena Presbyterian Church up on Fair Oaks Avenue. Several of you were there as well. And at 02:00 p.m. i was able to celebrate with many of you. As Reverend Elizabeth Wong was installed as the new pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Altadena, she had asked me to preach for the service. And since that's something usually reserved for someone with whom there's a tight connection, I was asked by a pastor friend prior to the service. Oh, Matt, you're preaching for this service. How are you connected to Elizabeth? And I thought about that. I thought about all the different ways I could answer that. The different ways that one person can be connected to another. I could say we root for the same sports team, which we do. The LA Dodgers.
I could say we're both for Team USA in the Olympics right now, which we are. I could say we had graduated from the same school, which we had. I could say we have political concerns in common, at least when it comes especially to gun violence. I know Elizabeth has been a part of prayer vigils after episodes of shooting that have impacted her congregation. Many of us have been a part of such gatherings in this community. I could say we were Facebook friends and followed one another on Instagram, which we do.
But then I could get more specific about our christian connection. I could say we're both disciples of Jesus Christ. I could say we're both part of the Presbyterian Church USA, that larger denomination. And I could even say we're part of the presbytery of San Gabriel, this regional body. I could share that we're part of two different clergy groups, one small group where we meet about once a month for life sharing and idea sharing, and another larger group that met just a few weeks ago here at Knox with some 70 leaders, churches, and in nonprofits and in the local community. But the most telling connection in the case of last Sunday was probably this. Elizabeth was a student at Fuller Theological Seminary about a decade ago when I was working as an adjunct professor there. I had her in a preaching group. I told her her sermons were awesome, which they were, and prayed that she might go, go on and have a rich preaching ministry, maybe even bat for our team, you know, as Presbyterians. And she did so last Sunday. I could celebrate that.
But then I thought, what if I wanted to boil all that down into a single word or phrase? What would you say if you tried to do that? What one word could encapsulate all the richness or at least evoke all those various connections that made us, well, LinkedIn like there was a cord binding us as believers by the power of Jesus Christ.
And then when I was studying today's passage and looking in the original Greek, I saw the word I was looking for was right there. Philadelphia. Philadelphia.
Now, I know what you're all saying. You're saying, Pastor Matt, I don't see Philadelphia in the passage today. Philadelphia is a city in Pennsylvania. What can you possibly mean?
Philadelphia shows up in the original Greek in verse, one of today's passage, and it's often translated mutual love, or sometimes translated brotherly or sisterly or sibling love. It's really two words wrapped into one, philea on one hand and adelphos on the other. Philia is one of the great greek words for love, and I often wish that English, like Greek, had different words for love. You know, I hear love sung about on the radio, and I'm like, what do they mean? Love can mean so many different things in English. It's a big, broad word. We need more words for love. I love how in the Inuitu dialect spoken in Canada's Arctic Nunavik region, there are at least 53 words for what we in English would say is snow. There is matzah. Ruit is the wet snow you use to ice a sleaze runners. There's peacock is the crystalline powder snow that looks like salt. That's what we need for love, to allow us more specificity in our language. Well, Greek allows for a little more of that because there's at least four different words for love. There is storge, the kind of love a parent might have towards a child. There's Eros, which speaks to the love a married couple might share, passionate and erotic. There is agape, sometimes translated charity, which speaks to the kind of self giving, self sacrificial love, the kind of love we see in Jesus Christ and God's love for the world that's shone in him. Agape is often used to describe God's love for God's people. And then the love God's people are called to render towards God and towards their neighbor, that's agape. And then there's philiade, the powerful bond of love between close friends.
In John's gospel, when Jesus calls his disciples friends, or when he says, no one has greater love than this, that they lay down their life for their friends. The word he's using that's translated as friends is Philia, or Phylon, the same derivative of Philia.
But in verse one of today's passage, we read not just of Philia, we read of Philadelphia. And that combines Philea, a friendship kind of love, with adelphos, meaning brother, sister, or sibling. Philadelphia, the friendship kind of love that so close, it's like your family, like your sister and brother or sibling. Philadelphia, the friendship kind of love so close, your family that gets at what has bound Elizabeth and I over the years. Her installation service. It was like a big family gathering. We sometimes call ordinations or installations something like a wedding. And it can feel that way. Not exactly. They're not technically marrying the church, but they are bonding in a significant way. And with the banquet after and the celebration and the vows, it can have that sense of a great family gathering where I, as a brother, get to celebrate a sister as she embarks on this bold new adventure. Philadelphia, that gets at the connection we can know as christians, and we know here ties so close that we are like family.
But, you know, notice the reference to Philadelphia in verse one is not just descriptive, it's prescriptive.
I love the way the New Testament, the new international version, translates verse one of today's text. It puts it like this. Keep on practicing, Philadelphia. Keep on. There's a charge here, a warning that Philadelphia can dissipate if it's not practiced. Nurture those relationships, the writers of hebrew charges, such that you remember those in prison as if you were in prison with them. Remember those getting tortured as if you were getting tortured. That speaks to a powerful sense of empathy. Bonds that are tight where you really know what's going on in one another's lives and feel for one another. We're warned of the kinds of love that can get in the way of Philadelphia, can get in the way of those bonds. There's the love of money that's named here and so many other times in scripture. Beware of that, we're warned. Beware of defiling the marriage bed. That is, beware of committing, breaking, rather the 6th commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery, of lusting after your neighbor's spouse. That too can pull you away from the love of family known in the bonds of the christian church. Cling to Philadelphia mutual love, the kind of love when friends are like family.
Last Sunday, a new chapter at First Presbyterian Church of Altadena began. New bonds of Philadelphia were formed. But we know, we know the bonds of Philadelphia can dissipate or fail to be passed on to subsequent generations. And churches, like another local congregation, Baldwin Park Presbyterian Church, will sometimes have to close its doors because that sense of Philadelphia has dissipated. This church, many of you know, and some of you who are newcomers are surprised to hear, was down to just a dozen or fewer people in 2003. It was a small group of folks, most in their seventies and eighties, a few who were spraying chickens, you might say, in their sixties.
And then a group of friends, a group of people bound by Philadelphia friends. But they were like family in a lot of ways. Decided to be family with this congregation at that point in history. And through those bonds, something new began to form Philadelphia. That relationship of love, of mutual commitment, of sharing life. And when it's done out of the inspiration, the call of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, it can be like fuel that's placed in the engine. It can give a congregation new life in Christ.
That commitment to one another, to this congregation. And that joint journey of Philadelphia, also by the old longstanding members of this church that dared to commit to these newcomers, that helped God do something wonderful in this congregation.
Each one of you who've come in and joined in some way in being part of this family, extended yourself in that risk of love and connection with others. Here you have thrown fuel on that fire of the ties that bind Philadelphia.
Well, just after charging the church to keep on living out Philadelphia today's passage calls upon the church to practice another kind of philea love. And again, I need to get into the Greek because this is missed in the english translation. Right after saying that the church that the book of Hebrews is addressing should practice Philadelphia, the writer then says, do not neglect Philo Xenos. Do not neglect Philo Xenos. It's another derivation of the word philia or friendship, only this time it's applied to the zenos and the zenos xenos in Greek means stranger or foreigner or outsider, unless the church think that Philadelphia, the bonds between church members that are like those of siblings, is where the presence of God only resides. Today's passage argues God's presence can also be known in relationship with the Zenos, that person outside our doors. Do not neglect philo Zenos, we read in verse two. For in doing so, some have entertained angels unawares.
And I don't know about you, but that reference evokes for me that story from the book of Genesis, where Abraham and Sarah welcome three strangers into their home and give them food and show them hospitality. And we learn later that they are messengers. They are vessels in many ways of the very presence of God and have a wonderful message from God that even in their older years, Sarah will give birth to a son and they will call him Isaac.
Philadelphia Philo Zenos love of one another as sisters and brothers in the church. Love of the outsider, the stranger, the foreigner. That is a powerful combination. Believers reaching out in friendship, love to one another as family. Believers reaching out to the foreigner or stranger with the hand of friendship, too. That's a powerful picture of the ties that bind.
Friendship, love to one another, and to the stranger or foreigner receiving them as a messenger or even a gift from God.
And then what you find and you've all known this is eventually the two get intermingled. Which is the stranger? Foreigner they become, over time, a sister or brother. Take Irma Martinez, who I first got to know, and several of you did, visiting her out in the Adelanto detention center. Detention facility. When we were considering taking her on and supporting her case for asylum. We would visit her there, and it ended up being crucial to that asylum process and to her being able to get out of detention, to know there was a congregation that could provide housing and other forms of support. With that, she joined us. We joined her. She could help us learn more about the us immigration system and the ways God might be calling us to advocate for its change. And we could get to know this blessed child.
And over time, she became a sister in the faith. I went on a drive with her the other day and had coffee and realized, wow, she's Adelphos sister, brother, not Zenos. Foreigner, outsider. The two get intermixed, don't they? And that's appropriate for a church. We're often inviting people in, and then they become like sisters and brothers to us. We find in that newcomer, the angel or messenger of God, having just the word we need to hear, or that sense of God's love and care that we needed.
But I want to speak to that great challenge we face today and always in practicing Philadelphia and in practicing Philo zenos. And that challenge is simply this. When you reach out to another, whether that person is right with you in the family or outside your doors, there's that risk of rejection. There's that chance you'll extend a hand of friendship, Filia, and it will be turned down, or you'll know tight relationships for a time, and then that person, or you will depart.
And that loss of that tie that binds can be really painful.
I remember being struck by this back when I was a college student, I was a senior, and along with another senior with whom I was good friends, we were co leading a Bible study in my dorm. This was connected to the intervarsity Christian Fellowship group at my college. We'd had a great time doing this, fostered what we thought were neat bonds between each other and in this group. And over time, there was a particular individual, a sophomore, who we noticed wasn't showing up. And after a while, I reached out to him. I invited him to shoot pool down in the basement of my dormitory. Our dorm, unlike his, had a pool table in the bottom of it. So we got together and shot some eight ball and nine ball and talked for a time. And for the first part of it, I just listened. And he shared with me how his parents were going through a really difficult divorce. And this had led him not only to rethink family, but to rethink faith. And I could hear in what he shared a real pull in his heart to step away for a time now. I listened and I shared, as you probably would, too, how wonderful a support the love of God in Christ community in Christ can be in exactly those times when things that have been pillars under your feet, like your sense of family and your parents marriage, begins to fall away. I could share what a tremendous resource and pillar the love of God in Christ can be. I could give examples of people that actually found a richer, deeper, life changing sense of the love of God in Christ in precisely those times when their own family was going through turmoil and they found a sense of family they had not known before, through God and through God's connection to a particular group of people united in Christ in the church.
But I could tell as we talked, as I listened, as I shared, that he'd already made a decision.
And after we finished shooting Poole, we remained friendly, ran into each other on a few other occasions. But I saw him rarely. And I still remember that feeling to this day, realizing that, wow, this person who I know not just as a friend but kind of as a brother in faith, was not that anymore, that I felt lost.
Sometimes the bond we form through Philadelphia and through Philo Xenos, you know, those bonds can dissipate, not because the other person or we are necessarily even stepping back from faith, but they or we move away and form bonds of Philadelphia or engage in Philo Xenos somewhere else. We say, praise God, but that too can hurt.
So how do we keep on with Philadelphia, knowing firsthand the risk it entails? How do we continue and not neglect Philo Xenos?
Well, that's where today's passage points us, right to the faithfulness of God and how Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. In today's passage we are given this bold answer for those who would dare to practice Philadelphia and Philo Zenos, I will never leave you or forsake you, says the Lord. That grand affirmation shows up so often in scripture, the book of deuteronomy and other places. And then we're given this great word from psalm 118. The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?
What a powerful affirmation. In the journey of Philadelphia and Philo Zenos, we have a God who has loved us, who has welcomed us into God's embrace, changing us from strangers to being children of God, inviting us to God's table. By faith we're united to Jesus Christ our brother, and by his life given for us. His faithfulness, which becomes ours by grace, were made as he is children of God, part of God's family. And that parent we know in God that brother and lord we know in Christ that will never leave us or forsake us. We can count on that through whatever storms we may know in our families that certainty, that pillar, that cord that connects us to God through Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that will not break. And that's what equips us individually and as a community to take that bold risk. Philadelphia connecting with others in the family of faith. Philo Zenos welcoming in the stranger. We have such a family, and God, by the love of Christ, poured out for us that with that pillar beneath our feet, that love we can count on. What do we need to fear? We can dare. Philadelphia and Philo Xenos.
There's a hymn we'll sing in just a moment that lifts up the power of both Philadelphia and Philo Xenos.
This hymn was written by a man named John Fawcett, who lived back in Yorkshire, England, in the 18th century. Fawcett knew firsthand what it meant to lose family ties. By the age of twelve, he had lost both his mother and his father to death and was left an orphan. To survive, Fawcett apprenticed himself to a local tailor. And then he read every book he could get his hands on just so that he could learn and hopefully open up future opportunities. At age 16, he heard a powerful preacher named George Whitefield proclaim the gospel, and Fawcett gave his life to Jesus Christ that day. A few years later, Fawcett heard the call to become a pastor, like Elizabeth Wang did one day. And at the age of 25, he was invited to serve a small, poor baptist country church in Waynesgate, Yorkshire. He decided, okay, I'll form bonds with this little struggling community, and maybe, just maybe, God will do something wonderful. Sometimes when you adopt a little church, amazing things can happen. By God's love, Christ. Well, he did that with this little church in Waynesgate, Yorkshire. And then seven years later, about the time pastors will often move on, he gets this great offer, a prestigious post of being senior pastor at Carter's Lane church in the big city of London. It was a dream job for many a pastor, and Fawcett readily accepted. He preached his farewell sermon at Wayne's gate. And then the day of his departure came. And as his family belongings were getting loaded into carts, the very day he was set to move out, he looked around, and this whole church, this little church had gathered. People were crying and asking him if he might reconsider, if he might listen for God's call. As they were crying, and he looked at his wife, and tears were running down her face, he knew she very much wanted to stay. And then he felt tears going down his own face, and he felt something brewing in his heart, a sense of call. He ordered the movers right then to stop, and he announced he would be staying after all. And he did, for decades and decades after that, he would retire from that church, and he later wrote a hymn about exactly that moment where he recognized how powerful the bonds he and his family had formed with this little community of faith.
Ten years after that first happened, this hymn that he wrote was sung in that little church, and it's gone on to become the most famous and celebrated of his hymns.
