The First Presbyterian Church of Jackson Mississippi

Learning a Lesson from the Road to Emmaus

2012-01-14T22:28:00.000-06:00

Let us learn a lesson from the two travelers to Emmaus. Let us speak of Jesus, when we are sitting in our houses and when we are walking by the way, whenever we can find a disciple to speak to. (Deut. 6:7.) If we believe we are journeying to a heaven where Christ will be the central object of every mind, let us begin to learn the manners of heaven, while we are yet upon earth. So doing we shall often have One with us whom our eyes will not see, but One who will make our hearts "burn within us" by blessing the conversation. (J.C. Ryle)

J.C. Ryle on Spiritual Conversation

2012-01-08T07:32:00.001-06:00

"Conference on spiritual subjects is a most important means of grace. As iron sharpens iron, so does exchange of thoughts with brethren sharpen a believer's soul. It brings down a special blessing on all who make a practice of it. The striking words of Malachi were meant for the Church in every age --"Then those who feared the Lord spoke often one to another--and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for those who feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be mine says the Lord, in that day when I make up my jewels." (Mal. 3:16, 17.)" (J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke)

Twin Lakes Picnic Scheduled for September 5

2011-09-02T12:15:00.001-05:00

As you know our church wide Labor Day picnic is scheduled for this Monday, September 5th. Currently there is a tropical depression in the gulf projected to bring 70% chance of thunderstorms and wind to our area on Monday. Therefore, the decision has been made to cancel Monday's picnic.

We are sorry for any inconvenience.

CALLING ALL MEN!

2011-08-17T16:49:00.000-05:00

FPC Men’s Bible Study

Men, this Fall Rev. Josh Rieger will lead a weekly morning Bible study through a series on Covenant Theology. The study will include teaching, guided discussion, weekly reading assignments, and prayer. The Bible study will meet on Tuesday mornings from 6:30-7:45 a.m. in Miller Hall from September 6 through November 22. A full breakfast will be served each week for $6.00.

To sign up for this study, please contact Shannon Craft, Administrative Assistant of Discipleship, at shannonc@fpcjackson.org or call 601-326-9243.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Content in Every Situation: Phil 4:10-20 (Part III)

2011-08-08T14:20:00.003-05:00

We are rounding out this penultimate section of Philippians in which Paul is both thanking the Philippians for their faithful support of him and his ministry as well as exhorting them to contentment. Last week we saw how Paul described the nature of contentment, and how – very often – those who are most content in this life with their circumstances are prevented from having true contentment. We also said that those of us who are most discontent with this life, this was passage was written especially to encourage us. This week I want to begin by looking at what we might call the “secret of contentment.”

III. The secret of contentment.

Now, so what’s the secret? He tells you in verses 11-13 that his contentment doesn’t come from his circumstances; that they do not contribute to or detract from the gospel contentment that he enjoys. That’s still not the secret, but it sets you up to hear the secret.

It’s interesting, there are many forms of Buddhism all concerned that you cultivate contentment. One significant brand of Buddhism says the way you cultivate contentment is you lower your expectations. And Paul’s telling you at the outset, “Wrong! Not the source of contentment. Contentment doesn’t come from circumstances or your lowered expectations of those circumstances. Contentment, real, gospel contentment comes from someplace else.” Where? He tells you in verse 13: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

In other words, the secret of contentment is God’s providence apprehended by your soul. It’s not just the doctrine of God’s providence, though you’ve got to understand the doctrine before you can experience contentment. It’s not just the doctrine of God’s providence taught to you, it is the God of providence embraced by your soul so that you believe it. Gospel contentment rests on a deep, personal embrace of God’s providence.

Paul is not saying you can do anything. In this verse God is saying to you, “anything that I ask you to do and anyplace where I put you, you can be content and thrive. Because I’m the one who strengthens you.”

It takes years to work that truth deep down into your bones so that it is your default setting, but that is the secret of contentment. The battle is of course getting it into the heart so that it dominates all of your circumstances.

IV. The song of contentment.

Now, contentment has a song. Contentment has a song, and the lyrics are written down in verse 19. Here’s the theme song of contentment:

“My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

The song of contentment is, ‘My God, I believe that Your supply of my needs is more real than the air that I’m breathing right now. I believe that Your supply of all my needs is more real than the food that I eat, more real than the skin that I’m in, more real, more lasting, than any circumstance that I’m in right now. That’s my theme song.’ And until the truth of God’s providence has worked deep down into our hearts so that it is the reflex reaction the minute that we’re in any difficult circumstances of life, we haven’t yet apprehended the secret of contentment in the way that we need to.

V. Contentment is grateful.

Now there’s one last thing: Contentment is grateful, and you see it in the doxology that Paul sings in verse 20:

“To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Contentment expresses itself in constant gratitude to God. God-glorifying gratefulness flows from the heart of the one who is content. Show me a content person in gospel contentment, I’ll show you a person who’s grateful to God. Put them in the worst circumstance of life, they’ll still praise God. Why? Because He has supplied all their needs and they know it. And they know that nobody else in the world can take away what He has supplied. The world can take everything else away, but they cannot take what He has supplied.

You may be a Christian who is discontent. That’s okay, and that’s not okay. It’s not okay because God wants you to live in contentment. It’s okay because you’re at the starting block if you’re there. If you’re content in yours circumstances, you’re not even in the game yet. But if you’re a Christian and you’re discontent, there is really good news waiting for you. Pick up the Bible and starting working through it.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Content in Every Situation: Phil 4:10-20 (Part II)

2011-08-01T10:59:00.002-05:00

We are nearing a close of this wonderful letter by the Apostle Paul. As he is closing and thanking them for their gift of financial support, Paul is urging his beloved Philippian congregation to be content in their situation. He points to how he has learned to be content and calls them, as he has done before, to imitate him.

Last week, we studied Paul’s gratitude for the gift of support that the impoverished Philippian congregation sent to him. In doing so, Paul teaches that he has learned to be contented in all things and the reason he can be so contented is because God desires for His people to be content. That is the foundation for us, it is possible to be content in one’s present situation because it is God’s desire for us, for those whom He has called in His son to be content.

This week, I want to look with you at the Nature of Contentment.

II. The nature of contentment.

It’s very important that you understand the nature of this contentment as well, because there are all sorts of theories about contentment out there and how you attain contentment; but Paul, in verse 11, tells you something else about the nature of the contentment. Look at what he says at the end of verse 11: “For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” Did you catch that? “For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” Isn’t that an encouragement?

But here’s what I want you to see, maybe more than anything else: You are more likely to find real contentment when you realize your lack of real contentment than if you are in a circumstance in life where your situation provides you with such comforts that you are not thinking about your lack of the real thing.

This is why Jesus said that it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Why? Because the rich man can mistake circumstantial contentment for gospel contentment. He can mistake a superficial temporal contentment with a deep and permanent and eternal contentment, and he cannot seek real contentment because he doesn’t sense his lack of real contentment, because he’s in circumstances that make him content.

If you’re out there reading this saying, “Yes, Ligon, I am deeply discontent,” I’ve got good news for you. You are more likely to seek real contentment and find it than someone who is content in his or her circumstances.

And this then why it is so deadly what the “health and wealth” preachers are saying around you? They’re saying, ‘Look, God wants you to be affluent. God wants you to have stuff.’

Very often it is precisely the stuff and the affluence that blinds us to the real thing, and so God in His kindness takes away the stuff and puts us in hard life circumstances and situations so that we realize, ‘You know, Lord, I really don’t have gospel contentment.’ And for the first time in our lives we’ll realize that we don’t have the real thing, and we’ll want it, and so we will accept no substitute.

That means, if you’re just not content, hating where you are, things just don’t leave you satisfied, and your discontented, then this is for you.

Maybe it’s your finances. Bill collectors are calling, and the bills aren’t adding up to the income. And month after month you feel like you’re just slipping deeper and deeper, and you’re deeply dissatisfied and discontent with where you are.

Maybe it’s your marriage. You don’t say it to your spouse, but in the dark of the night you look up to heaven and you say, ‘Lord, this is not where I thought I would be. This is not what I thought I was buying into. This is not the dream of my heart as a child for my marriage.’

Or maybe it’s just your life situation…

Whatever it is, you are poised for a great discovery, and that is that your contentment doesn’t come from those things, and those things cannot stop the contentment of God. Your contentment – and that’s what we’re going to learn next week – is non-circumstantial. If you are after God-contentment, if you are after gospel contentment, if you are after real contentment, the first thing you learn about it is it’s non-circumstantial.

You are more apt to seek real gospel contentment and find it if you don’t have it than if you are fat with the circumstantial contentment of this world. That is really, really good news. That’s what we must understand and learn that we can be content in every situation because it doesn’t come from our present situation.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Content in Every Situation: Phil 4:10-20 (Part I)

2011-07-25T16:20:00.002-05:00

After a brief break last week, we have drawn almost to the end of this great letter. The amazing passage that we are in for the next few days contains three of the most well-known and beloved phrases or sentences in the whole letter, which focus in on one theme: the theme of contentment, which will be our subject for the rest of the week or so.

First in this section, Paul is expressing gratitude for the gift that the Philippian congregation sent him. Paul knows that this congregation is exceedingly poor and exceedingly generous at the same time, and it’s almost embarrassing to receive a gift from them.

At a short, first glance, the Apostle Paul may seem be saying to them that he doesn’t need their gift, but that’s not it at all; he’s trying to show how God has made him content in all things. When the Apostle Paul thanks them he really means it, because he knows this congregation: they are less able than any other congregation in Macedonia to give him support, and yet he’s going to say later on in this passage they have been the only congregation to stick by him throughout his ministry. Even when he was in Thessalonica with people that could have supported him more easily than the Philippians, it was the Philippians that were supporting his ministry in Thessalonica.

The second thing is that he wants to make sure that the Philippians don’t misunderstand is he’s not asking them to send some more. Have you ever gotten a thank-you letter from somebody that was really just a request for another gift? Paul wants to make it clear that he is not doing that.

Along with this, Paul wants to do a third thing here: He wants to teach the Philippians something vitally important about the Christian life, about contentment.

Are you content? Right where you are now, right in your life situation? Or are you one of those honest people who, in the quietness of your heart and in the solitariness of your room, you look in the mirror in the bathroom and you look at yourself and you say, “No, I’m not content. I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. I’ve not arrived at contentment. I’m not living in contentment. I’m struggling in ‘the summer of my discontent’ right now”? Well, I’ve got good news for you: precisely because you are where you are, Paul has a word especially for you. In this passage he teaches us five things about gospel contentment. He teaches us about the need for contentment, about the nature of contentment, about the secret of contentment, about the song of contentment, and about the gratefulness of contentment. We will look today at God’s desire for His people’s contentment and in the coming weeks, we’ll examine those other aspects of Paul’s message.

I. God wants His people to be content.

God desires His people to live in a state of contentment, and so Paul is first, in verse 11, going to speak of the need for and the importance of gospel contentment. Paul says (verse 11): “Not that I am speaking of need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am …” [what?] “…to be content.” He is commending to the Philippians his state of contentment, and he is saying to them that he wants them to be content; that God wants them to live in a state of contentment. Paul is saying here Christians are to be content – and Paul talks about this all the time.

Think of II Corinthians 12:10, where he says, “For the sake of Christ then, I am content...” and these are the circumstances in which he says this: ‘I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.’ Perhaps you’re thinking, ‘Paul, you need to see a psychiatrist if you’re content with that!’ But for Paul it’s very important, and he follows up by saying, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” And in I Timothy 6:6-8, he says,

“Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world, but if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”

Contentment is a big deal for Paul. He taught his student, the author of Hebrews this truth, and in Hebrews 13:5, the author says,

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’”

Paul…the Bible…God is concerned for Christians to be content. It is a significant, important need for the Christian life.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Do as I Do: Phil 4.8-9 (Part II)

2011-07-14T16:58:00.002-05:00

The Apostle Paul is back to his theme of helping Christians fight worldliness. Paul equips us to fight worldliness by dwelling on the Word of God, by thinking on excellent things, and by following godly examples. When we do those things, says Paul, we are attended by the God of peace.

I. The important of meditation in the Christian life.

Notice his words: “…think about these things” (end of verse 8). This is a call to Christian meditation. He’s saying you will not grow in the Christian life unless you are deliberately locked on to a pattern of mediating on and reflecting about and thinking deeply on the truths of God’s word, and things which are true and commendable.

The kind of meditation that Paul is calling you and me to is entirely different than the kind of meditation that you most frequently encounter. Almost all practitioners of meditation will tell you that it is vital to empty your mind. You will never find that instruction in Scripture!

Paul’s mediation is not about emptying the mind: it is about filling the mind up with God’s word and that which is true and commendable, and then working that around. The point of meditation, you understand, is so that we hear God’s word. Forms of mediation and even a prayer that tell us that we need to empty our minds, to wait, to listen for God to speak to us, are assuming that God has not already spoken to us.

The problem is not that God’s not spoken; the problem is that we’re not listening!

Meditation is the activity of calling to mind and thinking over and dwelling on and applying to yourself the various things that you know about the works and the ways and the purposes and promises of God, from God’s word. Meditation humbles, encourages, and reassures us. Meditation especially, connects the mind and the will – the head and the heart – so that the truth we know is worked deep down into our soul so that it begins to affect what we desire.

We are bombarded with stimuli 24/7 of various media, so if you do not deliberately plan to think on what is true and commendable, it’s not going to come knocking to your door. And without thinking on such things, you’re not going to grow.

II. The importance of cultivating godly affections and desires

He says: Think on what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise.

When you are bombarded by a powerful desire that is enticing you to focus on and enjoy something that is either wrong or trivial, you can’t fight something with nothing. The answer to fighting that powerful enticement to desiring something that is wrong or trivial is not to say “Stop it!” Chances are, if you are a Christian, you already know you ought to stop it. There has to be a desire that is opposite and greater than the desire that is enticing you to do wrong if you’re going to fight that desire. Meditating is so that you will begin to desire something better than that which is being offered to you.

The Puritans made it a practice of meditating on six great things from God’s word: the majesty of God; the severity of sin; the beauty of Christ; the certainty of death; the finality of judgment; and, the misery of hell. And those six things they thought were absolutely essential for cultivating heavenly-mindedness.

Paul is saying the same thing here, although he’s directing us to consider what is true and honorable, and just and pure, and lovely and commendable everywhere—not only in God’s word, but everywhere!

As Paul is giving these exhortations, we must remember he’s not giving us the gospel. He’s telling Christians who already have received the gospel how to live the Christian life. If you’re not a Christian, these exhortations are not how you become a Christian. They’re how you live, having already become a Christian.

III. The pattern of Christian discipleship

Paul gives us a four-part pattern for Christian discipleship: Meditation; Instruction; Direction; and, Application.

First, “think on these things.” Meditating on the word of God, deliberately reflecting upon, the content of God’s word and on what is true and honorable and just, and so on. So it begins with reflection. This is part of really, really listening.

Second, instruction. Notice that Paul does not think that our desires, that our affections, are innately right. They’re not innately set on the right things. Therefore we need our desires to be instructed. Our desires need to be directed in the right direction, and so he says, ‘What you learned and received from me, practice that.’

Third, direction. Paul emphasizes that truth cannot simply be conveyed by a television, or a radio, or a CD. You have to hear and see the truth lived out. They heard and saw the truth from Paul, they got direction from him.

And then there’s application: Put all this into practice.

IV. A promise.

This promise is even better than the promise that Paul gave in verse 7, “The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” But the promise in verse 9 is even better. Follow these exhortations, and what does Paul say? “And the God of peace will be with you.”

In verse 7, he says follow these exhortations and the peace of God will be with you. In verse 9, he says follow these exhortations and the God of peace will be with you. The God of peace himself, the God who gives peace, the God who gives the peace of God will be with you. Practice these things and the God of peace will draw near to you, and you will know His presence and you will know His peace because He has drawn near to you as you obey His word.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Do as I Do: Phil 4.8-9 (Part I)

2011-07-12T16:53:00.001-05:00

We said a little while ago that Paul was teaching us how to fight worldliness, and one way to fight worldliness was by carefully following the godly examples of believers around us.

Paul is back to that theme again today. You see it especially in verse 9, where he urges us to follow the practice that they have seen and heard from him as well as what he taught.

And you’ll also notice, as you look at verses 2-7 of Philippians 4, that a pattern emerges in which Paul gives exhortations and then follows that list of exhortations with a promise. In Philippians 4:2-7, he gives four exhortations that are meant to be part of our growth in grace in the Christian life, and he concludes them with a promise that the peace of God will surround and flood their understanding and desires.

Today, once again, Paul has a series of exhortations, and he’ll follow it with a promise – a promise very closely related to the promise that he has stated in verse 7. That promise comes at the end of verse 9. So the pattern again is exhortation followed by promise.

Before we delve into the text I want to ask you a question. How often do you think? I mean really think. How deeply do you reflect on the most important things of life? Are you so caught up in the hustle and bustle of every day that you find yourself, like I do, at the end of a long day filled up with all sorts of stuff, at about 10:30 at night wondering if you’ve thought about anything of eternal significance?

I had a professor in college in the history department, and I always enjoyed sitting outside his office waiting for my appointment because he had interesting cartoons and sayings on his door. One of the sayings that I still remember went something like this: “Some people would rather die than think. Many do.” I liked that saying; it made me think every once in a while!

But the pace and preoccupations of our lives, especially in our contemporary world, conspire together against deep thinking. They do that together by preoccupying us with the trivial so that we never get around to the profound and the permanent.

Well, in this passage the Apostle Paul makes it absolutely clear how important it is for our living of the Christian life to think deeply—to meditate, to reflect upon the truth of God’s word. In fact, he says it is absolutely of strategic importance to the Christian life that we do so.

If you remember what Paul said at 3:17, “Do as I do,” and you might have had the same thought that I did, “Paul, how in the world can I do what you do? How can I follow the one who saw Christ face to face? How can I emulate your example?” But, Paul in this passage lays out a pattern for us to emulate him. He’s going to teach us four huge truths about living the Christian life. Let me just outline them for you and point you to the parts in the passage where they come from.

First of all, he’s going to tell you the importance of meditation in the Christian life. You see that in the very last words of verse 8: “Think on these things.” What’s Paul talking about? He’s talking about Christian meditation.

Secondly, he’s going to tell you about the importance of cultivating godly affections and desires; that is, desires that are set on the right thing, desires that want the right thing, desires that admire the right thing, desires that are fixed on the right thing. You see that even in the list that he gives in verse 8: things that are true and honorable, and just and pure, and lovely and commendable, and excellent, and worthy of praise. What’s he doing there? He’s reminding you of how important it is for you to lock in on things that you ought to desire, because the world isn’t going to come knocking at your door offering you a list of things that you ought to desire. It’s going to come knocking at your door with a list of things to desire, but they won’t necessarily be the list of the things that you ought to desire.

Third, he’s going to show you the pattern of Christian discipleship in two verses. In two verses he’s going to tell you how it is that you grow in grace. And then, finally, he’s going to close with a promise.

So, he’s going to point to the importance of Christians meditating on God’s word and on things which are true and commendable; he’s going to talk about the importance of cultivating godly affections or desires; he’s going to show you the pattern of the Christian life; and, he’s going to point you to a promise.

On Thursday, we’ll look at those four items more in depth, but for now you have at least a taste of what Paul has said in this passage.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ The Shalom of God: Phil 4.2-7 (Part II)

2011-07-11T11:18:00.002-05:00

Last week on Thursday we looked at the Apostle Paul's exhortation to two Christian women who have been disagreeing and he gives the Philippians - and us - exhortations for how to live in light of the gospel. We said last week that the two godly ladies who are disagreeing with one another should be reconciled in Christ. They are two leading Christian women in the church there, and yet somehow they have fallen out with one another and Paul calls on them to be reconciled.

Today we’ll look at the Apostle's three exhortations and the promise of peace of God that results when we live lives permeated by the gospel.

II. Rejoice always.

The second thing he says by way of exhortation you see in verse 4: "Rejoice always." We've said over and over there is nothing about the Philippian situation that would make them rejoice, but they rejoice in God and what He has done for them. It is no accident that Paul, right after talking about a church division, would turn around and say, Rejoice always.

III. Be reasonable.

Then he says in verse 5, “Be reasonable.” Paul gives a reason to be reasonable, because the Lord is at hand. In our dealings with one another we're to be kind and gentle and generous, and respectful and reasonable, because The Lord Jesus is coming back at any moment.

Have you ever been having a fight with your wife and a dear friend walks in? Ahem...things straighten up real quick, don't they?

So Paul's saying, 'If Jesus walked in the door, suddenly things would straighten up real, real quick!' Paul's saying the Lord could come back at any time, so conduct yourselves towards one another like it was Jesus who was getting ready to poke His head in the door, because He is!

IV. Don't worry. Pray instead.

And then he says don't worry, pray instead because God knows your needs. He's calling on us to show trust and confidence in God in all situations.

Now Paul is not saying that the Philippians don't have anything to worry about. There are lots of reasons why they could worry, but because they've got a God who's in charge who loves them and to whom they can pray, so they needn't worry.

Paul is giving this encouragement only to Christians, however. If you're not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you do have something to worry about. Because you’ve turned your back on the only One who can do anything about your situation. You haven't trusted Him, you really do have something to worry about.

But here's the good news. Instead of turning your back on Him, if you'll look Him in the face and you'll trust in Him, you'll rest in the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in Him for salvation as He is offered in the gospel, you too can know what it is like to live worry-free in a care-filled world, because you have a heavenly Father who has forgiven your sins, and you have a heavenly Father who has promised you in His Son Jesus Christ that He will provide for all your needs.

V. The promise.

Then comes the promise in verse 7. Paul says when you have been cultivating joy in your heart, joy in the Lord, joy that's not derived from your circumstances, but joy which is derived from the gospel grace that God has shown to you in Jesus Christ, when you have been seeking to live in gentleness and reasonableness with your brothers and sisters in Christ, when you have, instead of worrying 24/7, you have been entrusting yourself to God to provide for your needs, and then in your time of need, in your hour of plight and trial, God is going to give you a peace beyond your comprehension, so that when your circumstances are screaming to you, "Despair! Hopelessness!" you will have a hope in you didn't come from you and didn't come from your situation, it came from the Holy Spirit testifying to your spirit this: God's promise is true, despite everything in your circumstances.

The exhortations in verses 2-6 allow us to receive that promise. The promise is there for believers, every believer. But do you know what happens? If we won't pray, we won't experience the promise like God wants us to. If we don't cultivate reasonableness and gentleness with one another, we won't be ready to experience the promise the way the Lord wants us to. If we're not cultivating joy in the Lord in our hearts, we won't be ready to receive and experience the promise the way the Lord wants us to receive it.

We see here again that God never tells you to do something that isn't ultimately for your good! Each of the exhortations in this passage, including the exhortation to be reconciled, is so that in your hour of need, you're readied by your heeding of these exhortations to experience the peace that passes understanding.

We need that peace. But receiving that peace begins with our cultivating peace with one another, with our cultivating joy in our hearts, with our cultivating reasonableness and gentleness with one another, and with our praying and not worrying, because we have a God that we know loves and cares for us. And when we do that, the amazing thing is the Holy Spirit comes and gives a direct testimony to our souls that God's promise is true and will hold you up when there is nothing else in this world to hold you up.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ The Shalom of God: Phil 4.2-7 (Part I)

2011-07-07T16:52:00.001-05:00

Have you ever wished that your name was in a Bible book? Well, if you did, you probably wanted your name mentioned in commendation, but you probably wouldn’t want your names mentioned in the way these two godly women’s names are mentioned here in Philippians 4:2 – that is, to rebuke you because you’re having a fight with one another! There is nothing unusual about the situation they’re going through, it happens in churches all over the world.

It just shows you, as beautiful as this passage is, this is a very practical passage. We’ll look at the passage in five parts.

In verses 2-3, the first part is where that personal exhortation is made to Euodia and Syntyche, and that personal exhortation is very simple: “Be reconciled.” Then if you look at verse 4, you’ll see the second part of the passage. It’s a second exhortation, a general exhortation to everyone, “Rejoice always.” Then, the third part comes in verse 5, a general exhortation to everyone: “Be reasonable.” Be gentle and reasonable in the way you deal with one another. The fourth part of the passage comes in verse 6, a fourth exhortation in the passage: “Don’t worry, pray instead.”

And then finally comes, not an exhortation, but a promise, and the promise we see in verse 7: God’s peace will surround and flood your understanding and desires. This whole passage is actually telling you how it is that you are enabled to experience that extraordinary supernatural peace of God which is beyond our comprehension.

We’ll consider Paul’s exhortation to reconciliation this week and then look at the other four parts next week.

I. Be reconciled.

In verses 2-3, Paul addresses these two godly women, Euodia and Syntyche, and he urges them in the strongest terms, he begs them to agree in the Lord, to be reconciled to one another. Whatever division has come in between them that has separated them in their friendship and in their co-working in the gospel, he wants that to be overcome.

Can you imagine, if your pastor had called you out by name on Sunday to be reconciled to another friend or family member with whom you were disagreeing? He might not live past the next hour if he did that! For Paul to do this though, shows his love and respect for these women, and theirs for him.

These women were part of the core group in Philippi. Paul indicates that Euodia and Syntyche, these godly women, had been part of working with him shoulder to shoulder to advance the gospel in this church from the very beginning, and yet somehow these godly women (and he does not question their godliness or their Christian credentials in the least, rather he says of all of the people mentioned in verses 2 and 3 their names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. He’s not talking about people who turned their back on the gospel. He’s talking about real godly women who had worked shoulder to shoulder with one another and with him) have gotten crosswise with one another. And Paul is deeply concerned about that.

This exhortation is perennially relevant. Paul expects this kind of struggle and situation to exist in the church, but he refuses to take it lying down. He is deeply concerned to see reconciliation between those that are estranged in the context of the congregation.

And here’s the encouraging thing: gospel forgiveness and reconciliation cannot be manifested until there has been a break in a relationship which requires gospel forgiveness and reconciliation. So every estrangement that exists in a church is not simply something that burdens God’s heart that He longs to see corrected, but it is an opportunity for gospel forgiveness to be shown. You can’t show the gospel grace of forbearing a wrong against you and forgiving a brother or sister who has wounded you until they’ve wounded you, until they’ve wronged you. And so I simply want to say however deep your estrangement may be from a friend or from a family member, it is only then that the power of God’s grace in gospel forgiveness and reconciliation can be shown. And the Apostle Paul is saying at the very outset, “Be reconciled. Make it a priority to work for these kinds of reconciliations.

And do you notice how he calls on the rest of the congregation? He doesn’t just say, ‘Euodia and Syntyche, work it out. Come on, ladies. Just work it out. Bury the hatchet.’ He’s not; obviously this thing has gotten so deep that they’re beyond working it out between one another. They need help. And so he tells Epaphroditus, who’s delivering this book, and he tells Clement, who’s already there ministering in the congregation, and he tells other fellow workers, ‘Look, I need all of you to work together to bring these dear sisters in Christ back into fellowship with one another.’

Do you see what he’s saying? He’s saying that every member of the congregation has a part and a vested interest in the congregation’s forgiving and reconciling; and, therefore, every member of the congregation is to be praying towards and helping as you are able cultivate a culture of reconciliation in the church where forgiveness is offered and where relationships are restored. It’s that serious to the Apostle Paul, and it’s going to be connected, we’re going to see (in verse 7) to the experience of peace that passes understanding.

Next week, we’ll look at three more exhortations from the Apostle Paul and study the promise of God’s peace.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Two Ways to Live: Phil 3.17-4:1 (Part II)

2011-07-05T15:14:00.003-05:00

Last week, we said that the Apostle Paul writes to the Philippians to encourage them how to live the Christian life. We also said that Paul writes this because they have already been saved and now he tells them how they are to live in light of that.

He’s cautioning them against those who, calling themselves Christians, are concerned about the things of this world instead of the things of God and Christ. He gives them four ways to fight against the things of this world.

On Thursday we said that the first was to imitate Paul. In verse 17, Paul invites us to follow his example—and, interestingly, the example of those who follow his example. Paul holds himself up as an example of one who is not yet perfect, but struggling through this life to keep worldliness from getting a grip on his soul. And so, Paul calls us to – by the grace of God – struggle against worldliness.

II. Worldliness kills.

Look at verses 18-19:

“For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.”

He’s not talking about pagans, he is in tears because these are people who claim to love God, and yet they are so worldly that he can characterize them as enemies of the cross! Paul is saying they’re all wrapped up in this life. They want their praise here. They want their affirmation here. This is where they belong. This is where their reward is, and so their “end is destruction, their god is their belly, their glory is their shame, and their minds are set on earthly things.” They claim to be believers, but what they want most in life is here.

Now maybe you're thinking, this message here is all for somebody else, somebody really “worldly.” But, think for a moment about what your greatest cares are in this life, your greatest aspirations for this life are. And how might those differ from an unbeliever’s? And if you don’t have a real good answer for that right now, my guess is you may be struggling with worldliness. Because we ought to be different from people whose citizenship is here.

III. Homesickness helps.

Paul says to us all: ‘Christian, there ought to be in you a deep yearning and longing for home, and this ain’t home. You ought to be homesick for heaven. You ought to want to be in your Father’s arms. You’re to the point where you don’t care what this world says about you, you just want to hear your Father say, ‘Child, welcome home. Enter into the kingdom that I’ve been preparing for you from the foundation of the world.’

If you’re not heavenly-minded, if you’re not homesick for your home, if you’re not longing for something that this world can’t give you, you’re utterly vulnerable to worldliness. Because until that point you are vulnerable to believing that this world can actually give you something that can last.

IV. Therefore, stand fast.

Paul is saying the Christian’s resisting of worldliness does not just happen. It takes resolve. It takes a dogged refusal to abandon one’s citizenship, one’s calling, one’s standards, one’s identity, one’s belief. You don’t just resist worldliness by wishing to resist worldliness; it requires resolve.

And here’s Paul saying to you, ‘Friend, all that you have to do for worldliness to happen is nothing. You don’t have to go out and court worldliness, it’s looking for you. It knows where you live. It knows your street address. It knows your email, knows your cell phone, knows your heart. And unless you are resolved not to buy into the lie that’s all around you, you’ll be sucked in.

So how do you resist it?

You find a believer who’s acting like Paul, and you follow them. You remember that worldliness kills. It will put you in a box and cover you up with dirt, from which you will never recover. You cultivate that homesickness that this world is not my home, and so you live like this world is not your home. And then you stand fast. You strap yourself to the mast by God’s grace, and you say, “Lord, shut my ears; shut my eyes; shut my heart to all the things that the world wants to tell me will give me satisfaction, that will only make me value those things more than You.”

You know, it’s just like the garden, isn’t it? The serpent comes to the woman and says, ‘This piece of fruit…it’ll make you happy. It’ll do the trick. God won’t do the trick. This piece of fruit, it will do the trick.’ And worldliness does the same thing: ‘God won’t make you happy, but this? Oh, it’ll make you happy!’ And what happens? Does it make you happy? It brings you nothing but misery. And it causes your heart to grow dead to the only joy that has ever existed, and the only joy that will last.

And so Paul’s saying, ‘Dear, dear, Christian friend, don’t buy that bill of goods. Stand firm. Act like me, because this world is not your home.’

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Two Ways to Live: Phil 3.17-4:1 (Part I)

2011-06-30T14:36:00.003-05:00

Article Text – Philippians 3:17-4:1

Suggested Article Title: “Two Ways to Live” Part 1

We close out this week in a section of this letter in which the Apostle Paul is pressing home to Christians how to live the Christian life. He’s saying, having been saved by grace through faith, this is how you live. Paul makes this clear by what he’s said in the passage previous to this.

If you’ll remember Tuesday, as looked at Philippians 3:12-16, we said that Paul almost summarized the Christian life in three mottoes, the first of which was “We’re not there yet”: We haven’t arrived at perfection.

The second motto was “We’re pressing on”: We’re not satisfied with being where we are, we want to be more like Christ.

And then, the third motto was “we’re reliant upon God’s grace.”

In this week’s passage Paul is warning the Philippians about a kind of professing believer and teacher that is in their midst influencing them in the wrong direction, and he says about them, “Their minds are set on earthly things.”

This is crucial, because worldliness is one of the great problems of evangelical Christianity in our time. Worldliness is a word that sometimes can strike us as a little bit quaint. If you’re my age or older, you know a definition of worldliness that goes like this: Worldliness means “drinkin’, smokin’, dancin’, and playin’ cards!” That’s worldliness, but that is not what Paul is talking about here!

Now let me say that some of those things do manifest worldliness, but worldliness is a matter of heart.

The Puritans were always so concerned not to be caught up in worldliness, so they had sayings to help us fight against worldliness such as, “Love the Lord, but use the world.” Their point was that what the believer really treasured was the Lord. The believer appreciated all the wonderful things that the Lord gives us in this world, but prefers the Lord over those things…so that they love the Lord and used the world. But the worldly person does what? Loves the world, and uses the Lord to get it.

Worldliness is soul-destroying and joy-robbing because it tricks our hearts into seeking satisfaction in what can never satisfy us, and thus it slowly strangles us of the experience of being fully alive to God.

Now, in the religion all around us we are actually being encouraged to be worldly. Do you understand that in 85% of the things that are on the Christian best-seller list are giving you this message: God can get you what you want better than anybody else: God can get you your best life now. What is being promoted on television and in Christian books and television is “Use the Lord to get the world.”

Now, that’s not Paul’s message. That’s not Jesus’ message. It’s not the Bible’s message. It’s not Christianity’s message. But that’s being pumped into our ears and our hearts by people that claim to be Christians all around us. And if you buy into it, it will destroy your soul.

But there’s another message that’s being pumped in, young people especially are vulnerable to this. Many young Christians are under enormous pressure to conform their faith to what the world says is valuable, to abandon right beliefs for simply doing right things. Now, it’s important to do right things, but those deeds must flow from right beliefs.

Paul tells you four things that you fight these ideas in this passage: Act like me; worldliness kills; homesickness helps; stand fast. What do I mean by that? I’ll explain the first one today and the rest next week on Tuesday (there won't be a post on Monday, July 4).

Notice that in those four things you’ve got two exhortations. The first and the fourth things are exhortations: Act like me, and stand fast. In between, the second and the third thing are actually explanations or reasons for why we ought to do what we do: Worldliness kills; homesickness helps.

He says that we fight against worldliness by carefully following godly examples, by recognizing worldliness when you see it and knowing that it kills, by remembering who you are and where you’re from.

I. Act like me.

Do you remember the basketball player, Michael Jordan? Gatorade had a whole advertising campaign built around Michael Jordan. It was called “Be like Mike.” They’d show Michael Jordan, dunking over the back of his head and this and that and the other, and then they’d try and sell you some Gatorade! Well, let me tell you what. All the Gatorade in the world wouldn’t have helped me be like Mike! And that’s why I love what Paul says here.

Paul’s not saying ‘Now you become endowed with the kind of gifting that I have’ because let me tell you what, we’re all going to fall short!

But Paul himself has emphasized in verses 12-16, ‘I am not perfect. I am struggling in this Christian life, too. Look at how I refuse to allow worldliness to get a grip in my soul.’ Paul says, ‘Look, Christian: You need to find examples of people who are not buying into the prevailing wind of worldliness around them and follow them.’

Paul is saying to you, ‘You open your eyes and you look around. You look at the people that are acting like me, and you act like them, because they’re showing you how a believer resists worldliness and thinks and wills and desires like a Christian.’ They’re not perfect and I’m not perfect, but by God’s grace, they’ve learned how to resist worldliness, so learn from them and you too resist worldliness, by His grace.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Pressing On Toward the Goal: Phil 3.12-16

2011-06-28T14:50:00.003-05:00

Last week, the Apostle Paul reminded us that Christians should to desire to be like Jesus Christ and to, by the grace of God, be transformed in increasing holiness. Perfect holiness, however, only comes after the Last Day in Christ Jesus.

That is in the background of what he says in Philippians 3:12-16. Also, there are some people in the Philippian congregation who have fallen under the influence of a false teaching of perfectionism. “Perfectionism” is the view that a person can become sinless in this life.

Now in order to teach that, you have to either scale down what you mean by sin, or you have to scale down the requirements of holiness, or both. In Philippi some were teaching that the way to be complete, mature, perfect, was to not only believe in Jesus, but also to keep the Law of Moses with its ritual ordinances.

Contrary to that, Paul gives us here three key truths that guide us in our sanctification, our living of the Christian life, and help us in our growth in grace in the Christian life.

I. We are not yet there yet.

Notice what Paul says in verses 12-13:

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect….”

And:

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it [perfect holiness] my own.”

Paul is saying, ‘I have a zeal to become more like Jesus like you can’t believe! But I’m not there yet! I have not arrived at that perfection, and I will not arrive at that perfection until the final resurrection.’

Why, then, does he talk about the perfect in verse 15? I think Paul may be doing a little play on words. He’s saying, ‘For those of you who are ‘perfect’, you need to recognize that none of us are perfect yet. And we will not be until the day that we stand before His throne in glory. Until then, we’re on the way. Life is a pilgrimage, it’s not perfection.’ The church is not a place where perfect people gather.

Christians still struggle with sin. Perhaps you have encountered Christians who you believe are hypocrites because they’ve sinned. It is very important for you to understand that Christians do not believe that we have somehow become perfect. We do not excuse our own sin, we’re still responsible for our sin. In fact, there are very often Christians who have done really, really bad things who have subsequently come to faith in Christ, and they still have to pay for the consequences of their sin.

For believers: the fact that you are not perfect yet is your charter of hope in this life. You know, if I thought where I am now was as far as I was ever going to get, I’d give up today. But the fact that I’m not perfected yet gives me hope and comfort.

II. We press on.

Christians are always desirous and active in growing in holiness, in becoming more mature in Christ, in pursuing godliness. Notice the language that Paul uses in verses 12-14 and 16: “I press on...I strain forward… I forget what is behind… I strain forward to what is ahead… I hold true to what we have attained.” Paul’s pursuit of holiness is active and passionate.

Paul is not telling you that this is the way that you are saved. The way that you’re saved is by embracing the gospel. So when you hear Christians urging one another to press on, to strive to grow in holiness, they’re not talking about how they’re made right with God. They’re talking about having been made right with God by grace, how they become more like the Lord Jesus Christ who saved them by grace.

We must always press on, cultivating a holy dissatisfaction about our present state of growth. Paul is able to do that, but it doesn’t compromise his assurance. Paul knows that he is saved by grace alone and yet, he is utterly dissatisfied with his present state of godliness, because he wants to be more like Jesus.

III. We strive by grace.

Christians want to grow, not so that we will be accepted and embraced by Christ, but because we already have been accepted and embraced by Christ.

In verse 14 Paul tells you how He presses on: “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God…in Christ Jesus.”

Paul pursues holiness in and from his union with Christ. How does the Holy Spirit change our hearts from the inside out? By uniting us to Jesus Christ, so that all that is His becomes ours. How are we united to Jesus Christ? By faith. So the Holy Spirit causes us to trust in Christ, and as we trust in Christ our sin is imputed to Him, His righteousness is imputed to us, and the power of His resurrection begins to work renovating us.

Unbelievers, if you want to change your life, it’s got to start with you realizing that you can’t change your life. Christianity is not offering you yet another program or package about how you can change your life. Jesus has to change you before you can change.

But believers, our security is not based upon how well we do in this pursuit of holiness. Our security is based on Jesus Christ having embraced us, on our union with Christ. But what that leads us to is not laziness, but energy and passion and zeal in the pursuit of godliness.

And those three truths that Paul lays out in this passage are life-transforming, if we’ll understand and practice them by His grace.

Gleanings in Philippians ~What We Desire, How We Receive It, and How We Live: Phil 3.7-11

2011-06-27T15:50:00.004-05:00

On Thursday last week, in looking at verses 7-11, we looked three things that those who gain Christ gain with Him:

Justification (9) – counted righteous in Christ.

Sanctification (10) – becoming like Christ by the power of His resurrection.

Glorification (11) – completely perfected in the final resurrection.

We said that the Apostle Paul is giving us the answer to three very important questions. The first question we looked at last week, “What is Paul’s treasure?” He makes it very clear that Jesus is his treasure. Jesus isn’t just a ticket, Jesus is his treasure. Today, I want to look at two related questions, How is it that I gain this treasure? and then, having gained that treasure, How then do I live?

I. How Paul receives it.

The staggering thing in this passage that Paul says is that the greatest treasure in this world is something that you don’t find; it finds you.

Paul spells it out so beautifully in this passage, Paul says, ‘I didn’t gain my treasure, I received it. I didn’t earn my treasure, I was given it. Jesus did something in order to give me my treasure. And my response to that is simply to receive it.

So here’s Paul’s message to you: ‘Here’s how I received the treasure. I didn’t go looking for it; it came looking for me. I didn’t find it, I was found by it.’ Paul’s own testimony bears this out: he was on the way to Damascus not to find Jesus, but to find Christians to kill, but Jesus finds him, and suddenly He who was not his treasure becomes his treasure.

And look at what Paul beautifully stresses this in verse 9. Notice three things that he says.

First, the treasure comes from God (v. 9). The righteousness that he needs in order to experience the greatest treasure (fellowship with God), does not come from Paul, it comes from God.

Second, it is a righteousness which comes through faith in Christ.

Third, the righteousness is not Paul’s own. It’s not your own. He says this explicitly: “I want to be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own….” This righteousness is not righteousness in you; this is not you cleaning yourself up a little bit and getting better. It’s a righteousness that has been accomplished in Jesus Christ, which is now being offered to you.

You see how radical this is. Could Paul make free grace any clearer than he does here?

If you are struggling with your assurance, start here in Philippians 3:9, because it simply tells you this: your hope, your confidence, your assurance is not based on anything in you at all. It’s based on something outside of you, in Jesus, which has been offered to you and which you simply receive by faith in Him. There’s no more glorious message in the world than this message.

II. How Paul lives.

But then Paul, having told us how we receive this treasure, tells us how we’re supposed to live. Paul is pursuing the prize now – not trying to earn it, because the treasure has been given to him – but he has not yet experienced the fullness of that treasure. It’s kind of like Hebrews 11, God has given them a city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God. But, Hebrews 11 says, they haven’t occupied the city yet. Not until we occupy that city will we have tasted the prize in all its fullness. So now, Paul’s heart is now set on a treasure, which he cannot fully experience until the day of resurrection.

Paul pursues that prize by resurrection power. He needs pride-humbling, sin-conquering, Christ-exalting power at work in his life. That power comes from the power by which God raised Jesus from the dead: resurrection power. If someone has resurrection power at work within him, he cannot be comfortable in sin. The free grace of God has led Paul not to be lazy, but to be passionate, pursuing the prize in resurrection power because God is at work in him.

And then Paul says something absolutely shocking: he wants to know Jesus Christ and share in His sufferings. Christians have a radically different view of suffering because of the hope that is set before us. We know that a day is coming when suffering will be no more. We know that even in suffering God loves us and is near to us.

Paul is telling us that for the believer, suffering is part of God’s design to make us like Jesus. If Jesus, our great high priest, learned obedience through that which He suffered, then we also are made like Him through suffering.

Paul furthermore says “…if by any means possible I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Paul is never going to be satisfied in this life with what he is, he’s never going to reach perfection here, because he is looking for is something that’s never ever going to be completed in this life. It’s only going to be completed when we all stand before God on the Last Day.

Is that how you think about the Christian life? Paul says in verse 17 that he has been recounting all of this so that his readers can emulate him. Do you? Are you comfortable in your sin? Are you lazy in your growth? Are you surprised by suffering? Are you longing for the resurrection? Paul is never ever going to be satisfied with yesterday’s growth, because he’s waiting for the day when Jesus has eradicated all sin from him and there is a new world. Are you waiting for it?

Gleanings in Philippians ~ The Christian’s Triple Gain: Phil 3:1-11

2011-06-23T10:39:00.000-05:00

In this passage, Paul lays out these three benefits that every Christian has in Christ: as you trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation as He is offered in the gospel, you receive the benefit of justification, the benefit of sanctification, whereby the Spirit more and more makes you to be like Christ, and one day the fullness of perfection in glorification, when all sin is banished from you. And in your body you will see the glory of the Lord, and you will commune with the risen and ascended and reigning Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever.

This passage helps explains the gospel to us so that we understand and embrace it more deeply and tells us how we go about sharing the gospel with others.

This world thinks that religion – and all things – is simply a means to an end, to help us get what we want. That is not the gospel. This passage helps us understand just how radical and comprehensive the gospel is, and it will help us to share the gospel with a world that is not only confused about the way of salvation, but about the greatest treasure in life.

Sometimes when we are sharing the gospel, or preparing to share the gospel with someone, we think that people’s fundamental problem is that they are seeking the right thing in the wrong way. For instance, we may think that they’re seeking God, seeking heaven, but their problem is they’re seeking it by their own works and they need instead to seek it by grace, to seek it by faith. But the truth is, people are not seeking heaven or God, because they’re seeking their own pleasures and self. If we try to approach folks as if they’re seeking the right thing in the wrong way, we will miss how deep their problem is and how glorious the gospel is.

What’s your ultimate goal, what’s your end, what’s your purpose in life? Paul in this passage says it’s to - in the resurrected body - stand and see the Lord of glory with his own eyes, ruling and reigning and publicly acknowledged to be the king of the world, and fellowshipping with Him, knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that’s not what the world is aiming for. But Paul shows you how to share the gospel with those types of folks.

Paul’s ultimate goal is to be raised again from the dead, so that in his body – body and spirit together – he is standing justified on the Last Day in order to gain Christ! Jesus is not just his ticket to get something else, Jesus is the thing that means more to Paul than everything that he has lost; the thing which is more valuable than everything in this world is Christ himself. Jesus is God’s provided means whereby Paul experiences the ultimate reason for his being created: that is, to be in face to face communion with the living God through Jesus Christ, in his own body.

To see God has been the hope of believers in all ages, but we cannot, and the reason we can’t see God is because we’re sinners, and God is too pure to dwell in the presence of sin, and sin cannot abide Him. Moses’ earnest desire was to see God’s glory, but he couldn’t because he’s a sinner. But there will be a day when sin will be purged from us.

Job says in Job 19, “Though worms destroy my body, yet in my flesh I will see God with these eyes, and not another.” Paul’s saying the same thing here: “I want to attain to the resurrection of the dead so that in a perfected body, my soul and body together, I will see the king of glory, see Him reigning; and I know Him, and I commune with Him, and I’m found in Him, and I gain Him, and I fellowship with Him. That’s my desire.

As Christians, Jesus is our treasure, and that’s one way that we distinguish the gospel that we’re preaching from what the world around us hears so often from people claiming the name of Jesus Christ. Those people hear those preachers say Jesus is your ticket to get what you already want. What you already want is more: more stuff…more pleasure in sin…more self…more of your own ambition.

That’s hardly a radical message, it’s simply taking worldly desires and plugging in Jesus as the means. That’s a worthless system. The world looks at that and says, ‘I can get all that without Jesus. What’s radical about the gospel?’

The gospel, however, is a radical message because, when you are down in the desolation and you’ve lost the things that are dearest to you, and you still stand up and you say, “It is well with my soul, because all these things you can take from me, but you can’t take Jesus! You can take everything away from me…you can take my life from me, but you cannot take Jesus from me, because when I was saved I was justified and sanctified, and I will be glorified, and in this body and with these eyes I will see Him. Because He’s not just my ticket, He’s my treasure.”

That’s how we can handle every heartache and loss, because, it was worth it to see God in glory, when finally He’s getting the glory due His name! And if that’s not what you’re hoping for, let me say this: If you will come to Jesus, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and trust in Him, He will give you rest.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ When Gain is Loss, and Loss Means Greater Gain: Phil 3.1-11

2011-06-21T16:24:00.003-05:00

We’ve been looking at this passage for a little while now, and this week I want to direct you to how Paul describes and defines Christians in this passage. There are four phrases in particular, which characterize four ways that Paul talks about being a Christian: “to know,” “to gain,” “to be found,” and “power.”

I. To know Christ.

That is an incredibly intimate phrase, and it is utterly unique in all of Paul’s writings. Never again anywhere else in the New Testament do we find Paul using the phrase “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” In John 10, Jesus describes the difference between Him, the Good Shepherd, and those who were thieves and robbers and hirelings He said, ‘My sheep hear My voice. They know My voice, and when they hear My voice they follow Me. When the thief and the robber come, the sheep know they’re not the shepherd! But when My sheep hear My voice, they know it’s Me.’

When you turn to John 20 where John is describing the resurrection morning, and Mary going to the tomb to apply the precious myrrh and incense on Jesus’ body. But when she got there, He wasn’t there. And you remember Mary is deeply, deeply concerned about this, and she says to the ‘gardener,’ “Sir, where have they laid my Lord?” And you remember the interesting conversation. He asks her, “Why are you seeking the living among the dead?” It’s a fascinating exchange, she doesn’t realize who it is who’s speaking to her. And finally, John says, He turned to her and He said, “Mary.” And immediately she knew the voice of her Lord. And you remember the first thing she says to Him? “My Master – Rabboni.” Not just a master; my Master, my Lord. Because…why? Jesus had said, “My sheep hear My voice and they know Me.” And here she is saying, “My Master, my Lord.”

This shouldn’t surprise you; Paul met Jesus in a very different circumstance than Mary in the garden. On the road to Damascus to kill Christians, and the Lord Jesus Himself appeared to Paul, blinding him with brilliant light. And Paul, on his face, groveling in the ground, heard the Lord Jesus speak to him and say, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting Me?” Saul’s first words to Jesus are, “Who are You, Lord?” The first words out of the converted Saul’s mouth is an expression that Jesus is his Lord. This is why when people were baptized in the book of Acts and in I Corinthians the adults would confess what as their vow, “Jesus is Lord:” Christians know Christ Jesus as Lord.

And how do we express the lordship of Christ? We listen to His voice. He speaks to us by His Scriptures, and His followers – those who trust in Him – hear His voice speaking to them in the Scriptures, and therefore they don’t cut and paste. We listen when there are tender words of promise and we listen when He makes us uncomfortable with His commands, because it’s the voice of the Lord speaking to us.

II. To gain Christ.

Christians know two things. That everything that they had apart from Christ and before they had Christ is nothing in comparison to having Christ; and they know they want Christ even if they can’t have all those things. As William Guthrie said in The Christian’s Great Interest, “Less will not satisfy than Jesus, but more could not be desired than Jesus

Many of the church fathers speculated that Paul was the “rich young ruler,” because this passage looks like the mirror opposite of what happens when Jesus has the conversation with the rich young ruler. The rich young ruler was so rich that when Jesus says, ‘Sell everything that you have and come follow Me,’ what does he choose? He chooses all things, not Jesus. Paul has realized that everything he thought was worth living for was rubbish compared to gaining Christ.

III. To be found in Christ.

You remember that after Adam and Eve had rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden (in Genesis 3) that when the Lord came to walk in the garden to commune with them, they hid themselves and covered themselves with fig leaves But God still found them, and they had nothing to cover themselves in their shame and sin and disobedience.

Well, here’s the Apostle Paul thinking to himself, ‘How do I want God to find me on the Last Day? With my little fig leaf: I tried to be a good person, I tried to keep the Ten Commandments, I helped the poor??’

‘No,’ Paul says, ‘I want to be found wrapped in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, which I have gained not by my doing, but simply by faith.’

That’s a Christian. A Christian wants to be found in Christ and in His righteousness.

IV. To know Christ in His resurrection power.

He’s talking about the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, and he’s saying that Christians long to see the power of the Spirit, the power of Jesus’ resurrection, at work in them…because before we knew Christ, apart from Him, we were dead in trespasses and sins. But now we are a new creation, and we are being renewed by the Holy Spirit by the power of the resurrection of Christ, and matured. Not just as forgiven people, but people in whom the power of sin is broken.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Put No Confidence in the Flesh: Phil 3.1-6

2011-06-20T13:21:00.002-05:00

Paul is preparing to conclude his letter, but along the way he gives some important doctrinal exhortations and warnings about false teaching. False teaching undermines our assurance and robs us of the joy that we ought to have in the salvation given to us by Jesus Christ.

I. Be on guard against false teachers.

He calls the Philippians to think carefully about the teaching they’re receiving, and to be on guard for teaching which is not according to Paul’s teaching, which is according to what Jesus taught and told Paul to teach, and which is in accordance with all of the apostles’ teaching.

Paul is countering the claims of the Judaizers, followers of Jesus the Messiah who think that all Christians – especially Gentile Christians – are required, in addition to believing in Jesus as the Messiah to keep the Law’s ceremonial requirements if they are truly going to live as the people of God in this world. And Paul turns the tables on these teachers.

First, he calls them “dogs,” a common term in first century Palestine for Hebrews to use about Gentiles. Paul says to these circumcised Jewish followers of the Messiah who want to require of all Christians that they follow the ceremonial code, “You’re the dogs! You’re not part of the true circumcision!”

Second, he calls them “evildoers”. To go back to the Old Testament ceremonial law is to suggest that Jesus’ finished work is insufficient is evil, because it adds to something that’s already perfect. And to add to Jesus’ perfect work is to call into question its perfection, and anything that calls into question the perfection of Jesus’ work is sin. Even though they think that requiring Christians to fulfill these rituals is right and good, it is actually evil because it adds to Christ’s work.

Third he says, “those who mutilate the flesh.” Of course, one of the things that they wanted is for all male followers of Jesus the Messiah to be circumcised according to the Law of Moses. And Paul says, ‘You have turned circumcision into a pagan ritual. You’re just like the nations around you who practice circumcision. They’re mutilators of the flesh. You’re superstitious, pagan, ritual worshipers.’

Paul is directing his focus on these Judaizers, but what Paul says here applies to anyone who suggests that you do one of two things: either that you put your confidence anywhere else but Christ or put your confidence in Christ plus anything else.

This kind of teaching is all around us in the world. You can even hear this teaching in churches. Paul is pleading with us to recognize that false teaching will rob our joy! It will kill us, because God’s truth nourishes faith and humbles pride, and brings joy and exalts Christ and promotes assurance, and establishes grace. But false teaching kills! Look out for anyone who tells you “Believe in yourself,” or “Believe in something other than Jesus, because there are many ways to God,” or “Believe in Jesus plus something, and you can have hope and confidence and assurance.” This is why he goes into the doctrinal exhortation, because if you put your confidence in the flesh, it will kill joy.

II. Remember who you are.

The Judaisers were saying to the Philippians, ‘If you want to really be the people of God, it’s Jesus plus circumcision and ritual law.’ Paul counters by reminding the Philippians who they are.

Paul insists, first, ‘We are the true circumcision! Don’t you understand that? You are the recipients of God’s promises to Abraham in Christ alone! You’re already the recipients of those promises. You’re the people of God, you’re the true Israel as you trust in Christ alone.’

Second, We worship by the Spirit. This calls to mind John 4, Jesus is talking about a time is coming when the Temple will no longer be the place where God manifests His presence amongst His people, but wherever people gather in Jesus’ name they will worship God through Jesus in spirit and in truth. And the Apostle Paul is saying that we worship by the Spirit, not under the old ritual.

Third, We glory in Jesus Christ. If you say you need Jesus plus something, you’re not glorying in Jesus Christ. Paul says that all Christians glory in the fact that Jesus has paid it all.

Fourth, We put no confidence in the flesh because He is sole and sovereign and sufficient in His salvation.

And in those four phrases, Paul just describes what a Christian is: A Christian is the true Israel, who worships by the spirit, glories in Christ, and puts no confidence in the flesh.

III. Remember who I was.

‘If this stuff really worked that they’re trying to sell you, it would have worked for me!’ Paul recounts all the reasons that he had for confidence in the flesh, for reasons he should have had joy because of who he was, but that didn’t work for Paul. Paul gained no joy or salvation or glory from that confidence. Believers glory in Christ, and they put no confidence in the flesh, you can’t be a Christian and think that Jesus is not enough or that He’s unnecessary.

The Christian knows Jesus is more than enough. He’s sovereignly sufficient, and that is the foundation for a life of joy. Because they can take everything else from you, but they cannot take that from you, because He will not let them.

Ambrose' Prayer

2011-06-20T11:48:00.002-05:00

Several of you have asked for a copy of the prayer I read before the morning services on Sunday (June 19, 2011). Here it is:
O Lord
teach me to seek you,
and reveal yourself to me
when I seek you.

For I cannot seek you unless
you first teach me,
nor find you unless
you first reveal yourself to me.

Let me seek you in longing,
and long for you in seeking.

Let me find you in love,
and love you in finding.

- Ambrose of Milan, c. 340 – 397 (HT: Trevin Wax)

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Rejoice in the Lord: Phil 3.1-11

2011-06-16T10:54:00.003-05:00

Paul has been going through doctrine of the Christian life, and then he comes to this practical exhortation: “Rejoice in the Lord.” He’s preparing to conclude his letter with a final exhortation to these hard-pressed, impoverished, persecuted Philippian Christians. Now what would you say to a group of Christians who are hard-pressed, impoverished, persecuted? Here’s what the Apostle Paul says to them: “Rejoice!” But that’s not all he says, is it? He says, “Rejoice in the Lord.” Paul is calling the Philippians, and us, to the delightful duty of joy in the Christian life.

Paul is not calling us to fake joy, where we smile our plastic smiles and pretend like our lives are not falling apart. He is not saying ‘Rejoice, because your trials aren’t real.’

There are a lot of people who want to give you the message “Rejoice,” by doing one of two things. Either they want you to pretend like your problems aren’t there, or they want you to rejoice because your problems aren’t that big.God never asks us to have that kind of unrealistic joy, because He knows personally what this world is like and He doesn’t want His people to have a fake joy that is based upon pretending their problems aren’t there.

I’m so glad that Paul is not looking out at this congregation of Philippians and saying, ‘Be happy! Nothing’s wrong. Rejoice! Everything’s fine.’ Instead, Paul is saying, ‘As real as your problems are, as deep as your heartbreaks are, as justified as your fears are, rejoice in the Lord because you are the recipient of a bigger truth than the truth of your problems, and you are the recipients of promises that are greater than the sum total of all your fears and heartaches.’ His message is “Rejoice in the Lord.”

Jesus and Paul just do this continually. They do not ask believers to have comfort in this world because things are hunky-dory, fine and dandy. They ask us to rejoice because there is bigger truth in God’s promises to us in the gospel than there are in the sufferings and sorrows and anxieties of this world.

Paul is telling you how you go about fighting for joy in the Christian life, you just don’t fall over on your sofa and have joy. It’s a fight for joy in the Christian life. Paul wants to give them weapons to fight for joy, so that when those losses and crosses and real anxieties and sorrows and trials come into their lives they can fight against them, not by saying ‘Oh, they’re not so bad,’ or, ‘Oh, that’s not happening to me. I won’t think about it,’ or by singing “Que sera, sera” and thinking about it tomorrow like Scarlett O’Hara.

Instead, you stack all your troubles up right at the foot of the cross, and you see a bigger truth that is a cause for joy than the greatest of your problems are cause for discouragement. It is not joy through denial, it is a joy through a greater truth, and that’s going to be Paul’s argument in this whole section. He wants us to behold that big truth and not just see it with our eyes, but believe it with our hearts, otherwise we are unarmed in this fight for joy.

In the rest of the passage, Paul will warn them of teachers that are going to come to the Philippians and tell them, to gain joy by confidence in their own works or by becoming a better person. And Paul is saying, ‘If you fight for joy that way, let me tell you what’s going to happen: You’re going to have no joy; put no confidence in the flesh! Only the shoulders of Jesus Christ and His free justification can hold you up under the burdens of this world filled with sin and misery.

If you are looking for joy by putting your confidence in yourself, not only will you not find it, but on the Judgment Day, you’re going to be in the line of people who are lining up to tell God that Jesus didn’t need to die for you, that you can handle this on your own.

But perhaps you are trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation and you’re not putting confidence in the flesh for your salvation, but you have not yet experienced and expressed in your life the joy that Paul knows, Jesus shed His blood for you to experience joy here just as much as He did shed His blood that your sins would be forgiven. What did the Lord Jesus say to His disciples? “I came so that your joy would be complete.” And Paul is saying to the Philippians that he’s not going to let off of pursuing them until by God’s grace they are experiencing in some measure that joy.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Knowing the Power of Christ’s Resurrection: Phil 3.1-11

2011-06-14T11:33:00.004-05:00

We spent a little while studying the center of Philippians in which Paul urges us to live like Christians. In Philippians 2:18-30, he gave us personal examples of two godly men who live out Paul’s exhortation.

Today we see Paul summarizing the heart of his gospel teaching, in which he reminds them to rejoice in the Lord.

Paul explains in verses 1-11 how they are able to rejoice in Christ in their circumstances: when you embrace Christ, the joy of the Holy Spirit will flood your life, and though your sufferings, hardships, trials and even your poverty won’t go away, you’ll be able to rejoice in the Lord anyway, not only in spite of it, even because of it. This so because you know Christ savingly.

I. To know Christ savingly is more valuable than anything in this world.

I do not mean knowing about Christ, but to know Him personally, in your trusting Him, in your loving Him, in your delighting in Him, in your treasuring Him, and in your worshipping Him. To know Christ is to know Him in all His benefits and in all His work. And therefore, if you know Christ, you know how valuable He is and you count everything else in your life as rubbish.

II. To know Christ in the power of His resurrection

Paul there tells us that to know Christ savingly is to know him in the power of His resurrection. That means, first of all, to know the forgiveness of sins. By the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, justified. By Christ’s perfect life and full obedience and by His death on the cross, God has judged and sentenced and condemned and punished all the sins of all those in this world who believe in and trust on Jesus Christ and credited Christ’s righteousness to them. The resurrection that displays this verdict of God: ‘not guilty,’ sins forgiven.

That’s not all Paul is saying. In this whole section, Paul is talking about sanctification. He’s talking about our being changed into becoming more like Jesus Christ. He is also pressing home the truth that to know the power of Christ’s resurrection is to know the power of new life in us. Look at what he says in verse 10—“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share His sufferings becoming like Him in his death.”

And this is what Paul is saying when he says that he wants to know the power of Christ’s resurrection: the saving, changing, maturing, growing effects of the Holy Spirit applying the power of Christ’s resurrection to his life so that the he is increasingly more like Christ.

Paul is also saying that this leads us to embrace the suffering and hardships of this world as God’s school of Christ-likeness. We are living in a fallen world, filled with sin, we're going to experience trials and troubles, tribulations and hardships, sorrows and suffering, but don’t look at the sufferings apart from the power of Christ in the gospel. God intends those sufferings to produce Christ-likeness.

Knowing Christ savingly in the power of his resurrection is to know forgiveness, growth in grace, and being ready even to face trials with a view to becoming more like Jesus Christ.

III. To know Christ savingly is to long for His power to be perfected in the day of His coming

The Apostle Paul is saying here is that he recognizes that in this life, despite the fact of the power of Christ’s resurrection is already at work changing him to make him more like Jesus, though that process is never ever going to be completed until the day of the resurrection when Jesus comes, but until that day he is going to continue to have to fight the fight of faith against sin in him.

Paul, just like Jesus and just like the Old Testament, makes it clear that there is going to be one general resurrection, but only those who know Christ savingly will be raised to glory. Those who do not know Christ savingly will be raised to judgment and condemnation.

If you don’t know Christ savingly in the forgiveness of your sins, in that you long more than anything else in this world to be like Him and you treasure Him more than anything else in this world, and the power of His resurrection even in your sufferings, then you are yet awaiting the resurrection to judgment. The only way to escape that judgment to come and to know the joy that Paul is teaching us about here is to know Christ, to treasure Him more than life, to put all of your hope in Him, and for all who trust in Him, there yet is a resurrection to glory and to hope and to joy.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Hold Fast to the Word of Life: Phil 2.19-30

2011-06-13T10:21:00.004-05:00

Paul had been urging you to live in such a way that your life fits the gospel, and now he’s back to telling what’s been going on with him and about two men that the Philippians had sent to him. He draws attention to aspects their respective character and service as examples of what he has been exhorting us to do from 1:27 to 2:18. First, Timothy’s selflessness and focus on serving the interests of Jesus Christ in the church and then Epaphroditus’ bravery and his willingness to die for the sake of the gospel.

Even though he’s giving the Philippians a missionary report, he’s doing two other things at the same time. One, he’s letting them know how he is in order to set their hearts at ease. Two, he’s giving an example of living the life to which he’s exhorting the Philippians.

In the course of this missionary report, there are four very important truths about the Christian life.

I. Joy does not mean the absence of trial.

He is making it clear that the kind of gospel joy that he has and the kind of gospel joy that he wants the Philippians to have, he really does want it because he says, “I’m willing to stay here on earth rather than go to be with Jesus in glory in order that you might have joy.” He needs us to understand that this joy is not going to mean an absence of trial.

In verse 27, he’s telling you how glad he is that God spared Epaphroditus’ life. He doesn’t just say that he would have been sorry if Epaphroditus had died. It would have been sorrow upon sorrow.

In verse 28 he says he’s sending Epaphroditus back to them so that Epaphroditus can take them word of Paul, and so that word can be sent back to the Paul that the Philippians are doing “ok.” He’s worried about the petty divisions in the church about people in the church that are looking out for number one instead of being concerned for others in the congregation.

If you look back in verses 20 and 21 he talks about Christians who were there with him at the time of his imprisonment other than Timothy and Epaphroditus. He says that he couldn’t send any of them to the Philippians because they wouldn’t look out for the Philippians’ best interest, but only for their own!

Paul says these things and they are not inconsistent with his experience of gospel joy. Your experience of gospel joy does not mean that you enter in this life into a blissful state. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t hard things. And yet, trials and sorrows are no impediment to gospel joy. That’s a huge message to learn in the Christian life. Paul’s so realistic about this, he wants you to experience gospel joy, but he knows that troubles are not going away in this world, even in the church.

II. The Christian life is a life of companionship.

The Christian life was meant for company. God intended us to need, to depend upon one another, and to minister to one another as we walk through this world on the way to the new heavens and the new earth. The Christian life is a life of companionship.

Paul, who met Jesus face to face on the way to Damascus, whom Jesus personally taught, who was vested with all of the authority of Jesus so that he could raise people from the dead, could heal people, could prophesy by the Holy Spirit, could speak in tongues and interpret and give words of knowledge. And yet, here he is describing to the Philippians how he needed Timothy and Epaphroditus.

III. Christians always seek the interests of Christ.

Third, Paul draws your attention to Timothy who alone among the circle of disciples with Paul in his imprisonment, who alone of whom it can be said he did not seek his own interests but he sought the interests of Christ.

Do you think that way about the church? Can you think of a decision that you have made in a time when you thought, you know this would be good for me personally but I’m not sure it would be good for the church as a whole. Therefore, I’m not going to do it, I’m going to do what’s best for the church. Paul is commending Timothy to you as a person who did think that way.

IV. Christians are ready to die for Christ.

Paul commends Epaphroditus who was ill and nevertheless, risked his life for Paul’s sake and for the sake of the Philippian church because, he thought that his life was of less value than the work in the kingdom of Christ.

Are you ready to die in the work of Christ? That’s what Paul is holding before the Philippians and before us as an example of being like Jesus because Jesus Christ was not only ready, but He did die for us.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Hold Fast to the Word of Life: Phil 2.16-18

2011-06-09T20:30:00.000-05:00

Paul has been exhorting us here saying, “Don’t just claim to be the sons of God. Live like you are the sons of God. Live out what it means to be the children of the living God.”

Jesus himself commands this to His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, and Paul is just picking up on that theme in with those three exhortations in verses 14-15 from last week.

In verses 16-18, he’s continuing the exhortations about Christian living telling us four things here following up on what he’s already said in verses 14-15.

I. Live the Bible…practice the truth.

This little phrase is actually completing a sentence that he started at the end of verse 15 “shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life”.

Paul is saying, “Don’t just say that you believe the Bible, live the Bible.” He’s saying, “Don’t just honor God’s Word with your lips, honor it with your lives or you’re not honoring it at all.”

In Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales there are some hypocrites, but one of the characters that Chaucer clearly respected was the man that he calls “The Poor Parson.” He says this:

“He gave this noble example to his sheep that first he practiced and then he preached.”

And that’s exactly what Paul is exhorting the Philippians to do – practice what you preach. Practice the truth.

II. The principle of delayed gratification

He goes on to say in verse 16, “Do this so that in the day of Christ, I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”

Paul is saying to the Philippians, “My mission will not have failed if you walk by faith and live by faith and grow in grace and bear a witness to the world. If you do that on the last day, I will not be put to shame, but the Lord Jesus will say, ‘Look, Paul, look at the fruit of your ministry in the life of these people.’”

Paul is saying, “I’m not living life for short term gains.” Paul is teaching the Philippians the principles of delayed gratification.

Delayed gratification means passing up a short term gain for a long term reward. Paul is teaching them that our real rewards await the coming of Jesus Christ. And so, he doesn’t particularly care that he’s in prison as long as they grow in grace because as they grow in grace and live the Christian life, on the last day the Lord Jesus will reward him saying, “Well, done good and faithful servant. Enter into the inheritance prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

What a huge message that is for us! Our society measures success by what happens in the next five minutes, but Paul is saying, “That’s not how it is with me, Philippians. I’m waiting for the final judgment and then my success will be measured.”

III. Sanctification is expensive.

He says, “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I’m glad!”

Drink offerings were a part of the total sacrifice that would have been offered in either the Jewish temple or in a pagan temple. You would have slain an animal whose blood would be sprinkled on the altar and then the carcass of the animal would be consumed by the fire on the altar.

In other words, Paul is saying, “If my life simply becomes a component of your living to God for His glory, it will all have been worth it. And I’ll be more than happy, in fact, I’ll be rejoicing.” Paul is teaching the principle here of how expensive our sanctification is.

In order for us to grow in grace, God throws gifted and godly ministers and pastors and elders and Christians into the service of our growing in grace and they live and they bleed and they ache and they die all so that we’ll grow in grace.

Now, Paul didn’t contribute a thing to their being accepted by God. Christ did all of that, but Paul was part of God’s plan for them to mature them as disciples.

God cares about our growth in grace when He gives gifted and talented faithful ministers and elders and pastors and other Christians to us so that we will become more like Christ and causes them to live and bleed and die so that we will grow in grace.

Do you realize the cumulative investment that God has now made in your sanctification? He sent Augustine, Athanasius, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Owen, Jonathan Edwards, John Murray and every other saint into the world for your sanctification.

He sent Jesus into the world for your justification. He sent Jesus into the world for your sanctification, too, but to that great work of the Lord Jesus Christ, He has gathered around a cloud of witnesses to urge you on in growing in grace.

IV. Learn to rejoice in the self-giving of others.

Paul wants you to rejoice and be glad with him.

Paul is saying, “If you don’t rejoice as I’m poured out like a drink offering and as my life ebbs away and as I’m executed on your behalf and for the sake of the gospel. If you don’t rejoice in my gospel self-sacrifice, you just don’t get it yet. You don’t realize how valuable what we have in Jesus Christ is and how that changes the whole of life.

We need to learn the importance of gospel rejoicing because when we rejoice in those kinds of sacrifices, it says to the world that we’re not here to delight in what you have to offer because you don’t have anything to offer to us. We have everything that we could possibly need or want in Jesus Christ and this world can take none of that away from us. And it can offer nothing to us to augment it.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Do What Israel Didn’t Do: Phil 2.14-15 (Part II)

2011-06-08T18:51:00.001-05:00

We said yesterday, as we looked at this passage, that Paul is reiterating his exhortation to live a life “worthy” of the gospel with emphasis to how it relates our purpose in life (Phil 1:27). Paul is saying that your purpose in life is to congregationally — together as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ gathered into one local church, living and ministering together — you are to do congregationally what Israel failed to do.

We also said yesterday that we’d look at three things in this passage. We looked at the first: that we are not to grumble and sinfully question the leaders of the church. God has placed leaders over us, and instead of undermining them we are to live together in peace and unity, unlike the people of Israel in the wilderness. We display glorious and joyful unity that only Christ can give to a watching world.

II. Be the children of God.

In verse 15, he says be the children of God. Look at his words: “Do all things without grumbling or questioning,” in order that “you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish.”

Now, we’ve already said that if you are saved, you are the child of God. He’s saying that you show your adoption by your life. You show whose child you are by your behavior. You show who your father is by your obedience, by your deeds.

Jesus once encountered a group of Jewish people who were opposing His teaching, and they said to Him, “We are of our father Abraham.” And you remember what Jesus said to them? “No you’re not. You’re of your father, the devil, because you do the deeds of your father, and you’re not doing the deeds of My heavenly Father, the God and father of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. You are doing the deeds of the devil.”

Paul is saying to these Philippians: be the children of God, show whose children you are.

III. Shine as lights in the world.

In verse 15, he says, “shine as lights in the world in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world.” Paul is saying your life is to be a witness to the world. Not just your life individually, but your life together, the way that you express and experience the grace of God in your lives together as a congregation, is a witness to the world.

Israel was supposed to be the children of God, who by their light, let shine to the nations the glory of God so that they became a blessing to the nations and so that the nations glorified God. But Israel didn’t.

Paul in this verse is drawing on Deuteronomy 32:5, in which Moses says, “They” (the wilderness generation) have dealt corruptly with Him;” (God— the wilderness generation has dealt corruptly with God) “they are no longer His children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation.”

Jesus uses that same phrase all the time in His teaching to describe the unbelieving generation to which He was preaching.

In Deuteronomy 32, Moses is saying they were to be the children of God, and to witness to the unbelieving and perverse generation of the Gentile Canaanites around them. But they showed that they weren’t the children of God and became a perverse and twisted generation.

And then the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:14-15 says, ‘You be the children of God without blemish, and you be a light to the wicked and perverse generation in which you live.’

Paul is saying do what Israel didn’t do. That’s your purpose in this world. Now that’s awesome, and it’s humbling. Paul is saying, ‘Christian, you be and do as a congregation what Israel failed to be and do. You be a light in the world. Show your sanctification in your living. Show your doctrine by your life. Let your sanctification, holiness, Christ-likeness, your pursuit of godliness serve as a witness to unbelievers. Let your life together testify to the reality of gospel grace.’

In fact, Philippians 2:15, sounds a lot like what Jesus said in Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men so that they will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Paul is saying, Christian, together, without grumbling, questioning— without petty rivalry and disrespect towards the spiritual leaders that I’ve given to you— do what Israel didn’t do. Be the children of God. Be a light to the world.

God, in the Bible, tells us that His purpose is to one day sum up everything under the headship of Jesus Christ, and His strategy to do that is the Church. He intends, by gathering together men and women, and boys and girls from every tribe and tongue and people and nation into his family, his house, his church— to bring all things into subjection to Jesus Christ. And His strategy for us living out a witness to the world is the local church, congregations living in biblical fidelity and faithfulness to the Bible, living together in mutual love and accountability, living out his gospel. This is his plan for witness to the world. That’s His Plan A.

And let me let you in on a little secret— there isn’t a “Plan B.” That’s it. His plan for bringing all things under the headship of Christ is you doing congregationally what Israel failed to do. And that means that the most important thing for the future course of world history that will happen this year will not happen in Washington, D.C. It will not happen in the state capitol or in the city hall. It will happen in our living with one another in our mutual growth and grace, in our joyfully pursuing godliness, and it will be used by God for a witness to a watching world for the salvation of sinners and for the glory of Christ. It’s absolutely mind boggling. God has called us to do what Israel didn’t do. And for that we need His grace.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Do What Israel Didn't Do: Phil 2.14-15 (Part I)

2011-06-07T07:36:00.000-05:00

Paul, in this passage is reiterating an exhortation that he has been making since Philippians 1:27. He is exhorting us to obedience in the Christian life. Now he relates this to our purpose in life in this passage. All around us people are desperately searching for purpose in life, and very often they are looking for it in unhelpful places. The bestseller of a few years ago, The Purpose Driven Life, testifies to the fact that people are looking for purpose out there.

One of the glorious things about the Bible is it tells us what our purpose is, and it is wrapped up in the glory of God, and it is only experienced by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul, to summarize, here says that you are on earth to do as a congregation what Israel didn’t do.

God wants us to understand our purpose in life. That’s clear, because He tells us what our purpose in life is in so many different, striking ways repeatedly in the Bible. Paul is saying that your purpose in life is to congregationally — together as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ gathered into one local church, living and ministering together — you are to do congregationally what Israel failed to do. Paul is talking in this whole passage about how our obedience and our sanctification play into God’s great purpose for our lives. Paul is telling us that God wants us to obey from the heart in the community, and in doing so to experience a fullness of joy.

I want to look at three things for us in this passage, but we’ll only look at one today and save the other two for later today, Lord willing.

I. Christians are not to grumble and sinfully question.

Look back at verses 12 and 13, there he has asked us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, because God is at work in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure. And we said there that what Paul is getting at is that in our sanctification— in our change, our becoming mature in grace— we are to live out the salvation which God has given and we are to work out the sanctification which God is at work in us working by His Holy Spirit in such a way that we pursue godliness. In verses 14-15, he is specifying how he wants us to pursue godliness: first: “Do all things without grumbling or questioning.”

That language comes from Israel in the wilderness, in Exodus 15 and 16. God has brought them miraculously across the Red Sea on dry land. He has spared them from their enemies. He has liberated them from their bondage and slavery to Pharaoh and they come to this place where the water was bitter. They name it Marah, because of the bitter waters, and then in verse 24, “ the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’” They grumbled about the bitter water, and they questioned Moses and the elders, who were God’s appointed spiritual representatives to them.

And then in the next chapter, Exodus 16:2-3, Moses says about the whole congregation: “The whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, ‘Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’” They grumbled, and they questioned.

God is not saying that His people don’t have the right to ask Him a question, but He is saying that sinful questioning is wrong. Questioning that disrespects the authority that God has established over them, which does not trust in God’s kind and loving, beneficent, sovereign providence over his people is sinful questioning of God.

Paul is saying to the Philippians: “don’t do that.” Israel grumbled against God, and they questioned their spiritual leaders, and it brought about dissention in the congregation.

In Philippians 2:1-4 Paul had been talking about petty rivalries, squabbles in the congregation, divisions, and broken relationships. And what’s he saying to the Philippians? Don’t do what Israel did. Don’t grumble. Don’t sinfully question.

He’s really drawing out two things about the kind of obedience that he wants the Philippians to express that the children of Israel didn’t. He’s talking about obedience from the heart, and he’s talking about obedience in the community. The children of Israel would have said, “Yes, we are God’s people. We are the nation that God has chosen.” But their grumbling and their questioning showed that in their hearts they were not submissive to God.

Paul is addressing that in Philippians 2:14. He’s saying, God wants you to obey Him. He wants you to embrace His commands. He wants you to pursue godliness from your heart— not grudgingly, merely outwardly, grumbling all the way. He wants you to obey from the heart, and He wants you to do it in the whole congregation— in your relationships with one another. He wants your obedience to be experienced and expressed in the community, unlike the children of Israel did in the wilderness, where some started grumbling, and what happened? It was like an infection, and it spread to the point that in Exodus 16 that Moses says, “The whole congregation grumbled.” And Paul is saying not to do that. Don’t be like Israel. Only by God’s grace, with Him working within us to “will and to work His good pleasure” can we do this.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Sanctification 101: Phil 2:12-13

2011-06-02T10:02:00.003-05:00

Earlier this week as we looked at Philippians 2:12-13, we said that this was the main point that the Apostle Paul wanted us to appreciate about sanctification: because God accepts us freely, change is possible.

This week the point is going to be related, but slightly different. Because the other thing that Paul stresses so clearly in this passage – and you see it in the end of verse 12 – is that God is the one at work in us, working to change us.

The whole passage is about sanctification. It’s not about justification, it’s about sanctification, becoming like Christ, God changing us.

That is important to recognize because of what Paul says in Philippians 2:12: “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Paul does not mean that you must somehow save yourself from God’s judgment by doing good works or by your efforts, or your goodness. He’s talking about those who have already been converted and accepted by God.

He’s telling them how to live like Jesus. How to grow in their Christian life. And so when Paul says work out your salvation, he is in effect talking about your sanctification: show the fruits of God’s saving work for you in the way you pursue godliness.

And that means that he’s stressing here that if we’re going to pursue godliness, it’s because God is at work in us for godliness.

Philippians 2:12-13 is, in the final analysis, an encouragement. We said last week, in this passage Paul is not teaching us here that God accepts you, and therefore no change is necessary in your life, but that God accepts you and therefore change is now possible in your life.

Because God is at work in you, you work in hope. We’ll look at Paul’s exhortation in four parts: “Continue to obey,” he says; “Work out your salvation…in fear and trembling…because God is at work in you.”

I. Continue to obey.

Paul is not like a coach saying to a team that is not getting his point, “You knuckleheads! Stop doing it wrong! Do it the way I told you to do it!” No, Paul is actually saying, “You got it! You’re doing exactly what you ought to be doing! Keep on doing what you’re doing.” It’s like he stops practice, blows the whistle, and says, “Yes! Just like that! Keep it up!”

This is an encouragement. He’s not bashing his team, he’s encouraging them. He says, ‘You know what? You not only obey when I’m there with you, you obey when I’m not there with you. Keep it up. That’s exactly right.’

Boy, is that important for us to hear! Because what Paul is telling you is, as he commends them for obedience.

The first principle is simply this: Obedience is a natural, vital, and necessary part of the Christian life.

II. Work out your salvation.

He is saying be active in pursuing holiness and godliness in the Christian life. And that leads us to the second principle that we learn here: we are to be active in living the Christian life. We are not passive in growing in grace.

Recall when earlier in Philippians 2, we emphasized that Paul’s call to Christian unity, unity does not just happen. Yes, God has united us to Christ, and He’s united us to one another, but if we’re going to express and experience that unity, we are going to have to contribute to it. Why? Because we are going to sin against one another. If we think that unity is just going to happen, we are living in a pipe dream! We must be intentional in promoting that unity, especially when we have been offended in the context of the body. Paul is just saying here you’ve got to be active in living the Christian life. It’s not sitting back on the hammock and swinging back and forth on the porch; it’s active commitment to growing in grace, if you are going to experience and express all that God has for you.

III. Do this before God in reverent awe and humility.

He means that we’re to do all of this in reverent awe and humility of God, because God’s at work in you. It’s an awesome thing. When you see yourself not only wanting to do what the Bible tells you to do, but doing what the Bible tells you to do, you are seeing that the living God who made heaven and earth is at work in your life. And it ought to cause you to tremble just a little bit, because the Almighty God is at work in you. Everywhere you see yourself wanting to follow the Bible, and following the Bible in your life, that is evidence that God is at work in you.

The third principle: We are to be humble and God-fearing in our living of the Christian life.

IV. Live this way because God is at work in you.

The fourth principle is Paul tells you that God is at work in you to encourage you. Thank God that He did not say, ‘OK, you’re forgiven. Now you’re on your own.’ Because I can testify that it’s hard enough to pursue holiness with His help. I can’t imagine pursuing it without Him. So he’s encouraging you: ‘God Himself is at work in you, so be encouraged by that.’

But the fifth principle that we learn from the passage is that God’s work doesn’t lead us to say ‘I don’t need to do anything. I don’t need to work.’ But rather, it leads us to work in hope. You see, the logic of sanctification goes like this: God is at work in you, and therefore everything that you do matters to grow in grace. It’s so important to understand that that operates everywhere in the Christian life. God is at work in you; therefore everything that you do matters as you seek to grow in grace.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Live Life in Light of the Humiliation and Exaltation of Christ: Phil 2.12-13

2011-05-31T12:44:00.000-05:00

Paul has started the center section of this book with a huge exhortation: “Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” He illustrates that call in 2:5-11 with a picture of Jesus’ humble, obedient service in His humiliation and exaltation.

And then, here in verse 12, he says “Therefore….” He’s about to tell you to live your life as a Christian in light of what he’s been discussing about Christ.

This is one of the most important passages about sanctification: growth in Christian maturity.

The New Testament describes sanctification in different ways. For instance, it will talk about sanctification in terms of becoming more Christ-like, imitating Jesus, following Jesus.

The New Testament talks about sanctification in terms of our being reshaped in the image of God. In Genesis 1, we’re told that God made humanity in His image. But because of Adam and Eve’s rebellion that image was marred and caused to not bear the beauty that God had originally intended. And in sanctification, God is addressing that marring, and healing it and restoring it to its former glory so that we would be what He intended us to be in the first place: the very image and likeness of God Almighty.

Now, when God saves us, He does at least three things for us:

1. God accepts us.

God pardons us and forgives us, and He accepts us as righteous – not because we are justification. He accepts us not for anything in us, but for Christ alone.

2. God adopts us.

Our Father welcomes us into His own family, makes us to be His children, and makes us inheritors of His estate and brothers and sisters of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

3. God changes us.

He changes us, because the Lord God desires that we would not only be pardoned for our sin and welcomed into His family, but that we would begin to look in our character like His children, because the heavenly Father would have us to fellowship with Him forever, yet He cannot fellowship with sin. And so He is in the business of eradicating sin. That will never be finished in this life, but He is transforming us.

Now, why am I going through all of these things that God does for us in our salvation? Because the second half of Philippians 2:12 is confusing. We’re reading about the humiliation and exaltation of Christ, and the next thing you know Paul is saying, “Work out your own salvation….” We must be crystal clear about what that means, and about what that doesn’t mean.

Does he mean that we must provide the basis of God’s accepting us by our doings?

No! Look at the whole context, anywhere from Philippians 1:27 to this point. Is Paul telling you how somebody is converted or justified or accepted? No. He’s talking about how Christians become more mature. He’s saying, now I want you to grow in grace. So what does Philippians 2:12 mean, then?

It means that we are to pursue godliness and holiness because God is at work in us for our godliness. We are to work to be more like Christ because God is at work in us that we might be more godly, because God is at work in us that we might be more like Christ.

Philippians 2:12-13, in other words, is an encouragement to you: that you can and you will make progress in driving sin from your life. Paul’s message is God accepts you; therefore change is now possible.

This is the most encouraging possible news, because every real Christian wrestles with this reality: “Lord, I know that You have accepted me not because of who I am, but because of Christ, but, Lord, there are sins in me that have a hold on me that make me wonder whether I really love You and trust in You.”

Let me just outline for you again what Paul is asserting, and we’ll look more closely at it on Thursday.

1. Continue to obey. He’s just shown you Jesus’ obedience – and then he calls on believers to obey. There is no idea in Paul’s teaching that obedience is not an essential part of the Christian life.

2. “Work out your salvation.” His message is not “save, justify, adopt yourself and get yourself accepted with God by your doing.” He is saying, ‘Be active in your sanctification in the Christian life. Work out your salvation.’

3. “With fear and trembling.” Paul is simply telling you there that you are to continue to obey in reverent humility of the living God. Why does this make so much sense? Because he’s been talking about Jesus being humble.

4. “…Because God is at work in you.” He says do this all of this because God himself is at work in you already, so that you will want to do it, and so that you will do it for His good pleasure in you. That’s incredible. But more than that, he says this in the present tense. He doesn’t say it in the past tense. He doesn’t say I want you to work out your sanctification in reverent humility, because God has changed you. Now that’s true, because God has changed you. But Paul doesn’t say keep on obeying, keep on pursuing Christian maturity in humble service to others because you’ve already been changed; he says because God is at work in you now to change you, God is not finished with you yet. I cannot imagine a more comforting and encouraging thing to know in the pursuit of godliness in the Christian life than that my God is not done yet.

The sovereignty of God in our salvation and in our sanctification is not permission for us to be passive; it is a reason for hope, because change is possible.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ The Obedience of the Death of Christ: Phil 2.8

2011-05-12T14:45:00.000-05:00

We are still in the “hymn to Christ” section of this great letter from Philippians 2:5-11, which celebrates Christ’s humiliation and His exaltation.

Paul, in Philippians 1:27, has opened the whole middle section of this letter up with an exhortation that we would live a life that fits the gospel. And he elaborates and deepens on that in this section, especially to emulate Jesus’ humility and selfless love manifest in His humanity and servanthood.

Today we’ll examine the humility of Christ manifest in His obedience in death, even the death of the cross as we look at four different ways that Paul shows us how Jesus humbled himself for us.

I. Jesus humbled himself by obeying His whole life long for us.
Paul emphasizes that in the words of Philippians 2:8, “He was obedient to the point of death, indicating that Jesus was obedient over the whole course of His life. Paul’s point here is that Jesus obeyed His whole life long for us, all the way up to the point of death.

Paul is stressing that Jesus’ obedience involves the whole course of His life and ministry, all the way up to the cross.

Do we appreciate that Jesus’ obedience for us was not just on the cross of Calvary, but includes the whole course of His life? And it is not just that Jesus was obedient to the law of God, though He was. He kept the law of God in a way that no human being before or since Him has kept or will keep the law of God, until we are made perfect in glory.

But not only did He do that, He did more. He did something that none of us are able to do in our obedience: none of us are able to undertake a plan whereby we can save a multitude that no man can number. Paul is saying, ‘Christian, you need to celebrate the humility of Christ in embracing this kind of lifelong obedience; obedience to a course of suffering, obedience to a course of humiliation. And He did it because of His love for you and His desire for your salvation.’

II. Jesus humbled himself by embracing the humiliation of the cross.
Paul’s emphasis is not simply that Jesus willingly died for us, but that He embraced the painful, shameful, cursed, humiliating death of the Roman crucifix for us, the most shameful, humiliating death conceivable in both the Gentile and the Jewish world.

Crucifixion was reserved for those criminals who were non-citizens and deemed the vilest of human beings. Moses also tells us that “cursed is he who hangs on a tree.” Jesus not only embraced a death that was shameful in the eyes of the Gentile Romans, but He embraced the death that was shameful in the eyes of Jews. The Jews knew that one who was hung upon a tree was being given a sentence and a punishment that indicated that that person was outside of the believing community, cut off from the promises of God, unloved by any in the family of God’s people, cut off from the inheritance promised to God’s people. In death He embraced the humiliation of the cross that involved pain and shame and curse.

But there’s not only pain, there was shame. Hebrews 12:2 states, “Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross…despising the shame.” He knew that by bearing the cross He was inviting shame, but He did it anyway.

And Christ embraced humiliation. Paul is pointing to the Jesus who served us in humility, in His obedience all His life long, and in the Jesus who humbled himself by embracing even the pain, shame, curse, and humiliation of the cross.

III. He obeyed for our sanctification so that we could be made holy
It’s so important for you to understand that it is not only your justification that is by grace, but your sanctification is by grace.

God is at work, Paul will say in verse 13, both to will and to do his work in you. Jesus humbled himself in His humanity all along the whole course of His life and ministry by embracing obedience to the will of His heavenly Father, an obedience that entailed personal pain and incalculable suffering, shame, curse, and humiliation for your sanctification. Not only did He do this so that you would be justified, but He did this so that you would be made like Him, so that on the last day He would stand in the assembly of His brethren and He would say, ‘These are my brethren, and they are without spot or blemish or wrinkle. They are perfect.’ So that on the last day when the accuser points his finger and says, ‘But that man, that woman, is a sinner!’ Jesus will say, ‘Not any more.’ His work not only forgives us, but it sanctifies us.

IV. Jesus’ humility is manifested by obediently dying, by agreeing to die
Paul is saying that Jesus’ obedience involved His voluntarily giving up His own life. This is like nothing that we’ve ever seen in this world. We have seen brave people who were willing to rescue others at the cost of their own lives, but Paul is not just saying that Jesus voluntarily gave up His life in order that we might live, he is saying that Jesus voluntarily chose to give something that nobody could have taken away from Him.

Paul is elaborating on John 10:17-18, that Jesus, in dying for us, chose to give up something that no one could have taken from Him. He is the only man in the history of the world for which the phrase “chose to die” makes sense. All of us in this fallen world will die one day, unless the Lord Jesus comes back before. But Christ chose to die for us.

Paul puts these things before us in order to move us to have this same attitude of selfless love and serving humility which was in our matchless Savior, and which is ours by grace.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Humanity of Christ: Phil 2.7-8 (Part II)

2011-05-10T16:49:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, we began to lay out five ways Jesus manifests humility in His humanity and draw out ways for us to emulate that.

Today, I want to consider a fifth and final aspect of Christ’s humility in bearing humanity.

V. Jesus in His humanity lived as a servant.

Fifth, Jesus in His humanity lived as a servant. Think of Jesus in Matthew 14:13-21. His cousin, the one person in the world who understood Him, who He was, and what His mission was – John the Baptist – has just been beheaded. When His disciples came and told Jesus this, He was in the midst of five thousand hungry people. Yet, Jesus fed them all. If ever there was a time when Jesus could have said, ‘You know, I just need this time to myself right now,’ it was then, but He forgot himself, and He fed five thousand hungry people.

Or, do you remember in the upper room? The disciples on the way to the upper room had been arguing about…“Which one of us is the greatest.” And while they were still arguing. The greatest of them stripped down to His waist and started washing their feet, and He even washes Judas’ feet too. In the beginning of John 13, Jesus has already said that He knows who is going to betray Him. He’s already told the disciples that He knows who is going to betray Him, but He washes Judas’ feet. Calvin says of that passage that Jesus is once more opening the gate of repentance to Judas, but Judas will not heed his offer. It’s His humility opening the gate of repentance to His betrayer.

Or do you remember the way He encouraged the disciples that night? You know what He says to them in John 14:1, after the Lord’s table, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” In fact, the Gospels tell us that that night in the Garden of Gethsemane His heart was troubled, even as John tells us that when He came into the city of Jerusalem that week that His heart was deeply troubled; and yet He’s there in the upper room saying, ‘My dear disciples, I’m so concerned that you not be discouraged, because tomorrow’s going to be really hard for you….’ But He’s taken on this humble humanity and He’s taken on the form of a servant, His focus is always on His disciples, even when it could have rightly been on himself.

Or think of Him while He’s in the house of the high priest, being tried by a kangaroo court. His feckless disciple, Peter, is out in the courtyard denying Him three times – which he had emphatically told Him he would not do. And the third time that Peter denies Him, Luke tells us that at that very instance Jesus’ and Peter’s eyes met B.B. Warfield says about that moment:

“There He stood in the judgment hall of Annas, offering himself a victim for the saving of the whole world, and yet He had the time to turn a significant glance upon Peter as he stood denying Him before the courtyard fire, and thus saved His poor repentant follower in the saving of the world.”

Warfield is saying the difference between Peter and Judas was Jesus’ pastoral care in that one look. If ever a man had a right to be saying, ‘You know, I’ve got my own problems to deal with right now. I can’t think about my disciples,’ it was Jesus. But He’s thinking about the everlasting welfare of the eternal soul of His weak and unfaithful disciple Peter.

Or think of Him on the cross, he prayed for His murderers: “Father, forgive them.” Or speaking to that thief in Matthew 27 and Luke 23, when you look there, you’ll find out that both the thieves on the cross at the beginning of the day were mocking Jesus, but at the end of the day, one was not, but said to Him, ‘Please, Lord, remember me when You enter into Your kingdom.’ The Lord Jesus Christ, while bearing the sins of the world, turns to that man who had been mocking Him at the beginning of the day, and He says, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” And then a few moments later He will cry His cry of final anguish and death, but before that He’s looking down at His mother and His dearest friend, John, and He asks John to take care of His mother.

This serving, this servanthood, is not some blip on the screen. This is who Jesus is! And Paul’s saying to you, Christian, “Have this mind in you, which was in Christ Jesus.”

If you’re not trusting in Jesus Christ, trying to be like Christ is not the way for you to be saved. That is the way to be eternally frustrated. Instead, you come to Jesus, like you are, with nothing in your hand: no claims, no excuses, nothing to offer, and you say, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” And He will receive you.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Humanity of Christ: Phil 2.7-8

2011-05-09T17:22:00.001-05:00

We said last week that Jesus’ self-emptying wasn’t Him laying aside His deity, but taking onto himself the fullness of our humanity. Moreover, He added to Himself the role, position, nature, and status of a servant—a human servant: He took on our flesh forever.

So When Paul says that the Messiah, Jesus, made himself nothing, he is summing up the whole of Jesus’ descent from the heights of glory to the lowest depths of degradation and deprivation and dereliction. But in this passage, especially in verses 7-8, when he says,

“He made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men,”

Paul is drawing your attention to two things, both of which show Jesus’ humility: the servanthood of Jesus and the humanity of Jesus.

Paul wants us to look closely at the humanity of Jesus and learn about humility from Jesus’ humanity. In fact, he wants to point us to the humility of Jesus’ humanity; that is to say that when Jesus took on the fullness of our humanity, it entailed for Him a voluntary, vicarious humiliation; when He took on our humanity in this fallen world, He was willingly in our place bearing all manner of humiliation. And there too we see His humility, the humility that Paul wants us to emulate in the Christian life.

Over the next two days, we’ll look at five ways in which Jesus manifests His humility in His humanity and in His servanthood, as a way of encouraging us to emulate His humility.

I. Jesus’ human appearance and His public reputation were unremarkable.

Do you know how hard that must have been for the heavenly Father? The Father would have wanted the whole world to be attracted to His Son, to esteem His Son as His Son deserved, and yet Isaiah tells us 600 years before Jesus is born that “He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.” There was nothing about His visage, there was nothing about His outward appearance that caused men to be attracted to Him. He was common, easily overlooked and He never received the credit He deserved.

One of the ways that we manifest gospel humility is a willingness to serve without credit or applause. Christ lived His whole life, and He never ever once got all the credit that He deserved. Shouldn’t we be ready and willing to serve one another and all men without our first concern being getting the credit, getting the applause, getting the appreciation, getting the respect?

II. Secondly, Jesus’ humanity was completely perfect, but nevertheless He bore the consequences of sin the whole of His life for us.

Jesus is the only human being ever to keep the Law perfectly, and yet He lived from birth to death bearing the penalty and the consequences of a Law that He had never broken himself—for you, in your place. Do you even begin to imagine just the psychological effect of that? Have you ever had the privilege to walk with a friend in a season of life when that friend has been treated unfairly? And have you ever seen the oftentimes crippling effect of that on a person? That was Jesus’ constant experience when He embraced our humanity. Though He was perfect himself, though He himself was without sin, He lived in a world under its effects. He was not born into a world like Adam was born into. This is what Paul is saying in Galatians 4:4-5 when he says that He was “born under the Law to redeem those who were under the Law.” This is why Hebrews 5:8 says that “although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.”

Jesus never ever once got what He deserved in this life. And you and I never get what we deserve in this life. He never got what He deserved in this life, so that you would never get what you deserve in this life or in the life to come: condemnation.

One way we will manifest gospel humility if we understand that is shown in our response to and our attitude toward the hardest things that we have to deal with in this life.

III. Jesus willingly divested himself of His rightful and infinite riches and in His humanity dwells in modesty and poverty for us and for our salvation.

That’s why Paul said in II Corinthians 8:9,

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that through His poverty you might become rich.”

And at the very least, this calls for us to have a radically different view of wealth and possessions in our affluent and consumeristic, self-indulgent and narcissistic culture. Because one way that we will manifest gospel humility is that we will realize that whatever we have comes from God’s gracious hand, the gift of a gracious God. We should have a radically different view of wealth and possessions and money, and the way we use it will show it.

IV. Jesus’ humanity veiled His glory.

John 1 tells us that He was with God, and He was God, and He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through Him, and in Him was life, and He was the true life of all mankind, and He shared in God’s glory – glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. But John also tells you: “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, but the world did not know Him.”

It gets worse: He came to His own, and His own people didn’t receive Him. He was so consumed with the interest of God’s glory that He willingly forgot His own, and His glory was veiled. And that’s our pattern. One way we manifest gospel humility is showing a zeal for His glory, and not our own. If we get no glory, praise God! He didn’t get the glory that He deserved.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at one final application of Christ’s human humility.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ The Emptying of Christ: Phil 2.7

2011-05-05T13:21:00.001-05:00

In this study we have seen Paul write about the Christian Fighting for Joy, Growing in Humility, Knowing Christ and the Peace that Passes Understanding and today, looking at the subject of the emptying of Christ.

I want to draw your attention to two things that are part of Christ’s emptying: Jesus’ self-emptying and yours. This passage tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ emptied himself, and I want us to look and understand what it means and what it doesn’t mean. And then I want us to look and understand what Paul means by saying that we too ought to empty ourselves. Paul is saying something quite extraordinary here: he’s saying Jesus’ self-emptying is our pattern for life.

Paul is talking to people who have been changed by the Holy Spirit, who have been transformed by the grace of God, who realize that their good is not good enough and only Jesus Christ can save them from their sins. And now Paul is telling them how God intends for them to live, and he’s saying that Jesus’ pattern of self-emptying is our pattern for life as believers.

So let’s look at those two things: Jesus’ self-emptying and ours.

I. Jesus’ self-emptying.

I want you to see here is what Jesus’ self-emptying did not entail, and what it did entail, what it means and doesn’t mean.

Many people have come to this passage and they have decided that what Paul is saying is that Jesus somehow emptied himself of His deity. He somehow set aside essential attributes of His person. Very often this view is held by those who want to get rid of the deity of Christ so that they don’t have to believe what He teaches about the Bible. And you can say, well, Jesus set aside His deity, so He didn’t understand everything, and therefore some of the things that He said were wrong, and that means that some of the opinions that He held about the Bible were wrong, and we can come to our own conclusions – conclusions different from and contradictory to His. But whatever their motivations, this misses the point. It obviously misses the point of what the Apostle Paul is saying here, first of all because he has just said that Jesus exists in the very form of God, that all that is essential to deity (verse 6) is in Christ. It’s what Paul is affirming in Ephesians 2:6, so he’s clearly not saying when he says that Jesus emptied himself, when he says that Jesus made himself nothing, that He divested himself of His divinity, that He evacuated himself of deity – that He ceased to be the divine person that He was.

And the second way you can see this in verse 7 this: “He made himself nothing, taking….” Jesus’ self-emptying, Jesus’ making himself nothing, Jesus’ emptying of himself, is not a matter of subtracting something from His person, but taking onto himself servanthood. This was not a subtraction of His person; it was subtraction by addition.

The church fathers used to say of Jesus, speaking of His divinity and His humanity all in one person, “He became what He was not, without ceasing to be what He was.” Paul is saying that the emptying that Jesus did was not an evacuating of the attributes of His person, it was the taking on of this servitude, this role, this form, this practice, this attitude, this posture of a servant: “He emptied himself, taking….” There was an addition to what He was, by which He manifest true humility.

That has very important ramifications for understanding what it means for us to follow Jesus’ pattern. If Jesus’ self-emptying did not entail His setting aside the essential attributes of His person, but consisted in His taking on this servitude, this form of a servant, for our sake and for our salvation, what does our self-emptying entail and what does it not entail?

II. Our self-emptying.

It’s important for us to address this question, because many Christians, many fine Christians, get the heebie-jeebies when they start hearing the Apostle Paul make this kind of exhortation to servanthood. But it means that, confident in who you are in Christ and joyfully delighted in the knowledge of what God has made you for, and motivated by the life of your Savior, you refuse to live merely for the purpose of self-protection and self-advancement, and you serve others for God’s glory, for Christ’s sake, according to Christ’s example, looking out for their best interests, knowing that there is glory and reward to come.

Your motivation is entirely different from the in past and from those who are not Christians. In your relationships with everyone, your goal is not self-advancement and self-protection, because your advancement has already been planned from eternity past by your loving heavenly Father, and you will be exalted in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

And the Apostle Paul is saying to us that if we are going to manifest the mind of Christ, then in our life in this community, whether it’s in our work, in our lives together in our families, in our life together as a congregation, we are going to manifest this kind of strength in weakness, this kind of humble exercise of strength and power, for the well-being of others, in the imitation of Christ.

Now the implications and applications of that are radical and manifold, and we’ll address more of that next week on Monday as we look at the following verses to see this fleshed out in our daily lives. But I want to challenge you in the days to come to reflect on how God would have you empty yourself.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ The Ungrasped Equality of Christ: Phil 2.5-6

2011-05-03T12:55:00.001-05:00

We are preparing to study the “song of Christ.” Monday, we reminded ourselves that the song is an illustration of Christ’s humiliation, in which Paul tells us that those who want the joy spoken of in verses 9-11 must embrace the way of Christ, even His humility and His humiliation. And then there is the motivation, and the motivation is seen in verses 9-11 in the exaltation of Christ, and the glory and the joy, and the love and the peace, and the contentment that are experienced by Him and by all who trust in Him.

Now Paul will move from the deity of Christ to Christ’s equality with God and the implications that has for us. There are four things in particular in this very short but powerful and important phrase.

I. Christ has always been and continues to be God.

Paul is telling you that Jesus is fully divine. What he is talking about in this passage is not His divesting himself of deity: He couldn’t do it if he wanted to. The Apostle Paul is stressing to us that Christ has always been and He continues to be God by His very nature. But in spite of that fact, and even because of that fact, for our salvation He does not insist upon the manifestation of the majesty of His deity.

II. Christ did not insist upon the manifestation of His majesty.

In expounding this passage, John Calvin liked to use the word veiling: that when Jesus took upon himself our poor flesh and our poor blood, He did not divest himself of deity, but He veiled His deity in the flesh, and we sing about that at Christmastime:

“Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see;

Hail the incarnate deity;

Pleased as man with men to dwell,

Jesus, our Emanuel.”

It is not that He is any less God, yet the One who was very God was laid in a manger, and His divinity was veiled to our eyes. Even when He was on the cross, men looked up and what did they see? They saw a condemned criminal. They saw a lunatic. His glory was veiled. Only a few times in His earthly ministry did that glory shine forth, like at the Mount of Transfiguration when Moses and Elijah conversed with Him and something of His transfigured glory shined through; and Peter doesn’t want to leave, because he’s seen a glimpse of Christ as He is.

III. Christ did not claim His privileges and prerogatives.

Everything in this world belongs to God, He could have claimed everything for himself when He first appeared, because in fact we do belong to Him! Everything does belong to Him! He is Lord. He is our Maker. And yet when He came into this world, He did not claim His privileges and prerogatives. The way in which Jesus accomplished our salvation was not to stand on His privileges and prerogatives, but to give them away, to veil His majesty, to deny himself the rightful privileges and prerogatives that were His.

IV. Christ did not cling to His equality with God.

He did not claim His rights, but He poured himself out for others and He took upon himself the role of a slave. He voluntarily set aside His rights for the salvation of His people for their eternal well-being. Paul is saying ‘Christian, that is how you ought to live, in that kind of radical and self-giving in the context of the congregation.’

This kind of Christ-like, other-worldly, self-giving love is to be manifest in the body of believers tangibly as a witness to the grace work that God has done in the hearts of His people.

I hasten to say quickly that Paul is not telling you the way to be saved here. If the way to be saved is to give yourself away in Christ-like love to one another, we’re all going to hell. God is showing here what Christ did to save you. (And by the way, in the very showing of what Christ has done to save you, He’s showing you that you can’t save yourself.) Having been saved by trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation as He is offered in the gospel, then Paul says ‘The way you know the joy of Christ in this fallen world is by following the way of Christ.’

So, what does this mean for us today?

Let’s look first at how this plays out in the Christian community. Though we want to be loved and we want to be understood, and we want to be comforted, and we want to be esteemed and thought highly of, and though we want to be ministered to – we will have as our mindset and attitude that says, ‘I am not here to be served, but to serve, because that was the way of my Master who saved me by grace.’ And though, yes, we do want to be loved and understood and comforted and esteemed, following Jesus means that we adopt His mind; and that our first order of business becomes not to be loved, but to love. You see how radical this is.

This is how the joy comes in! When you give yourself away, and you decide, ‘OK, life is not about me being served; life is about me giving myself away in service,’ what happens when the church collectively decides to do that?

What about the world? We are surrounded on all sides – religious and secular – by a self-centered culture. The world looks at both secular and religious manifestations of self-centeredness and says, ‘You know, they’re all just saying the same thing.’ But what if we were to say, ‘How could we stand aside from the claims to our rights and privileges and seek your well-being? To love you, to care for you?’ The world would have no answer for that. Because there is no answer to love. There’s no argument against love.

May God grant that we show to one another and to the watching world this kind of self-denying, self-giving love.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ The Divinity of Christ: Phil 2.5-6

2011-05-02T19:01:00.001-05:00

Last week, we outlined this whole section that runs from Philippians 2:5-11. Today, we’ll look more closely at the first two verses of this “song of Christ” that deal with his divinity and our humility.

How do you go about counting others as more significant than yourself, when you don’t think they’re more significant than you?

Paul’s way to humility is not in your denying the native giftings and abilities and talents and capacities that you possess. Yes, of course we should always recognize that all those things come from God, but it is interesting that that is not the tack that Paul wants to take here in order to help us count others as more significant than ourselves. He takes a more radical tack. He asks us to consider who we are in light of who Christ is. That’s why this passage starts with a consideration of the divinity of Christ.

Humility consists in a right estimation of who we are. That begins with being disabused of a false high estimation of ourselves, but it is not corrected by having a low estimation of ourselves, but by seeing ourselves in light of God—His holiness, in light of our sinfulness, in light of Christ. We measure ourselves against the Lord Jesus Christ, and suddenly we realize that our task in humility cannot compare to His task in humility.

So often we look out when we are called to count others as more significant than ourselves, and we’re faced with the realization that we may know more than the person that we’re called to be humble before, or we may be more upstanding than the person that we’re called to show humility in the presence of; or, we may be more righteous than the person whom we have been called to count as more significant than ourselves. But when approach with that kind of attitude, we’re measuring ourselves against the weakness of our brother and sister, and we’re providing an argument as to why we don’t have to do what God has told us to do in His word. Paul starts responding to this saying, “Count others as more significant than yourselves” – and then: Consider…Christ. He’s smarter than you. He knows more than you. He works harder than you. He’s better than you. In fact, He is perfect in every way. And yet He has humbled himself for you.

You know, it is a humbling thing to realize that even if you stoop to serve, to humble yourself before, and to count as more significant than yourself someone who is far, far below you in some way, that you will never ever in this world or any other serve someone lower than yourself than Christ humbled himself in serving you.

And what does Paul say in verses 5-6? He says that Jesus is the very form of God. He is equal with God. And what is he saying when he’s saying that?

In the Old Testament, the people of God go way out of their way to make it clear that God does not have a body like man. He manifests Himself in the Old Testament in glory, the Shekinah glory cloud comes down upon the tabernacle, and then the temple; and God manifests the form of His glory, for in Ezekiel 1 and 2, a passage in which the glory of God is described and which was considered so holy that the rabbis suggested that no one be allowed to read it before they were thirty years old. And here is Paul saying, ‘Consider Jesus, because He is the glory; He is the very form of God; He is the Shekinah in the flesh; and He counted you as more significant than himself.’ And you will never ever be able to account someone as more significant than yourself who is comparatively lower in relation to you than you are in relation to Him, because He is God—in the flesh!

And so Paul bids you begin your journey of humility by looking to Jesus. That means two things.

First, we need to become zealous students of the Scripture, to span all of the pages, from Genesis to Revelation to learn of our Savior; to become students of our Savior; to know what He is like, to know what He does, to know His works, to know His will, to know His ways. Not so we’ll know more stuff than other people, but so that we will have a right estimation of ourselves in comparison to the glory that He is. Because until we see our greatness in light of His greatness, we will not see our smallness. And we will not be able to serve people that we think of as small, until our smallness has been humbled in the presence of His greatness. So we need to become students of Christ in His word, looking to know everything that we can possibly know about our Savior so that our mind would be conformed to His.

Second, this very exhortation shows you why you need the gospel. Because if Paul said this: “Be humble like Christ, and God will forgive and save you,” do you know where we would be going? Straight to hell. The glory of the gospel is that it says you are so focused on yourself, and you are so prideful that the only One in the universe who deserved to say “I stand on My rights, and on My merits and on My deserving,” abdicated all of that and humbled himself to save you from your pride. Because you couldn’t have done it!

You see, the gospel is God giving His Son, who has humbled himself in your place. And because He has done that, and because you have rested and trusted in Him alone for salvation, now here’s how you live life: Humble yourself like Jesus, so that His glory, the glory of His humility, is manifested in you. And the world can see that humility did not come from earth; it came from heavenly grace.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ The Song of Christ: Phil 2.5-11 (Part II)

2011-04-26T16:39:00.004-05:00

Tuesday we started to outline this passage. There’s the exhortation to have this mind among yourselves: Humility. What’s that mind of humility look like? Christ, in His humiliation. What happens if we live like this? Exaltation! Glory! Joy! He wants us to experience the joy that God has intended for us, even in this fallen world, together in the congregation of God’s people. He says ‘You go the way of humility, and I’ll show you real joy.’ And should that surprise us? Today we’ll outline what Paul says about Christ’s exaltation and next week we’ll look more closely this passage, in greater detail.

III. Christ’s exaltation.

Paul asks, “what are the consequences of Christ’s humiliation and living with the mindset of Christ?”

Paul is laying it down in front of you. He’s saying, ‘You want to know joy in this life? Go down. You want to know joy in this life? Go the way of humility. Go the way of the cross and it will lead to joy, glory, and exaltation!

And Paul in verses 9-11 is saying, ‘Let me show you what this looks like,’ and he tells you five things.

First, there is going to be hyper-exaltation of Jesus Christ. God is going to proclaim Him as above and before and over all. You remember Paul in Ephesians 1:10 tells you that the whole purpose of God’s grand work of redemption is that the whole of everything would be brought under the headship of Jesus Christ; and here Paul is picturing for you the day when that comes, when He is exalted above everything.

Secondly,you see the final coronation of Christ pointed to in verse 9.

There are two really amazing things going on here. One is we see here the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abram. Paul is saying here is that Jesus himself has fulfilled all of the obligations of the covenant of grace that God has made with Abraham, and God has given Him not only a great name, but the greatest name, so that He has fulfilled the purposes of God in the covenant of grace promised to Abraham eons ago.

But there’s another really interesting thing going on with that, as well, because every good Hebrew listening to this knew that God’s name is above every other name! Paul announces that Jesus has the name which is above every name, what is that but a testimony to the sheer divinity of Christ and His equality with the heavenly Father?

Thirdly, global adoration. So, not only hyper-exaltation and final coronation, but global adoration from sea to shining sea, “from earth’s wide bound to ocean’s farthest coast, through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,” so that “at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth.” That’s Paul’s way of saying there are no knees left that aren’t bowing to Jesus! Here Paul’s saying every knee is going to bow; every knee is going to confess, everyone is going to worship Jesus, because He’s God!

Fourthly, there’s universal confession that every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that has Psalm 2:6-8 in its background. ‘Kiss the feet of My Son, lest His anger come upon you. Kiss, acknowledge, do homage to Him. Kiss His feet. Confess Him, because I am exalting Him above everyone.’ Paul says there will be an absolutely universal confession that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Fifth, paternal glorification. All that He does will be for the glory of His heavenly Father, and His enthronement, His exaltation, His being given the name which is above every name will only glorify His Father.

I want to close with two thoughts as we look to next week when we study this text in more detail.

First, this passage reminds us why truth is for life. Paul, when he wants to exhort you to be unified, to be humble, to be mutually helpful, he doesn’t tell a cute story, he tells you truth about Jesus! When he wants Christians to live in humility and unity and mutual helpfulness, he doesn’t call for a pep rally! He tells you truth about Jesus! And there are so many churches today that think that Christianity is a pep rally, but Paul is saying the gathering of the church is for God to speak truth into your lives.

But not only that; it’s not just that truth is for life. Notice this it’s that the biggest truth is for the simplest important practical thing in the Christian life.

Paul wants these Christians to get along. He wants them to be humble, united, selfless, and helpful. That’s the kind of stuff that you’re working on with your kindergarten age kids. So what kind of truth would be appropriate for that? Paul thought the pre-existence of Christ, the incarnation of the Son, the humiliation of the cross, the exaltation of Christ to the right hand of God fit the bill. Those are simple, practical truths to talk with them about this important, mundane thing that they’re supposed to do in their common everyday Christian life.

You see what Paul is doing, he is showing you the applicability of the profoundest truths of the Bible to everything you’re called to in the Christian life.

And so the Apostle Paul is not only teaching you that truth is for life, and that doctrine is for practice, he’s teaching you that the most profound truth in all the Scripture is the most practical thing that you could possibly consider, so that every truth of Scripture is designed for your everlasting good and for God’s glory.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ The Song of Christ: Phil 2.5-11 (Part I)

2011-04-26T12:40:00.003-05:00

We come to one of the greatest passages in all of the writings of the Apostle Paul, one of the great passages in all of Scripture. It will take us a long time to peer into the depth and the richness of this passage.

In verse 5, we have an exhortation; in verses 6-8, a display of Christ’s humiliation; and in verses 9-11, we see Christ’s exaltation. We’ll look at exaltation on Thursday.

Paul has been exhorting these Philippian Christians, and you and me, about how to face the oppositions and persecutions that always come in a fallen world. Paul has been exhorting them to gospel unity, gospel humility, and gospel helpfulness.

Now he gives an example in order to exhort them to that end, in order that they would be able to stand fast against the opposition and live in gospel joy. Paul holds up before them as an example is Jesus. And you’ll already see that in essence the exhortation (in Philippians 2:5) is “Be like Jesus.”

Now, it’s very important to know: “Be like Jesus” is not the gospel. Because nobody can be enough like Jesus to be accepted with God. Paul is not saying be like Jesus and you will be saved.

Paul is talking to believers who have realized their sinfulness, and turned in faith to Christ and said, ‘Lord Christ, forgive me, because I’m not like You. Forgive me because I’ve not lived like God wants me to live.’ He is giving this exhortation to be like Jesus to those who are trusting in Christ, not in themselves, in order that they might experience the joy, unity, and fellowship God intends believers to experience in the world together, facing all kinds of opposition from the world, the flesh, and the devil.

It will take the grace of the Holy Spirit to be like Christ, and his message to us, “Be like Jesus,” is not the way of justification, it’s the way of sanctification.

Paul is writing to a congregation that he loves, but is manifesting fairly common, routine, mundane problems in their relationships to one another.

There isn’t a congregation that hasn’t faced these kinds of problems before. We are sinners – and you put a bunch of sinners together and you ask them to live with one another, and they’re going to hurt one another’s feelings. Some are going to be self-centered, some are not going to be sufficiently concerned about unity, some are going to be prideful; and, thus, they are going to lack a proper humility which is necessary for unity in the congregation. Paul attacks the everyday problems with a lack of unity, humility, and helpfulness, with this massive theology of Christ in Philippians 2:5-11.

I. Exhortation.

It boils down to this: Embrace the outlook of Christ. The mindset of Christ, the outlook of Christ, the attitude of Christ is humility.

II. Christ’s humiliation.

In verses 6-8, he says you see it in six ways.

First of all you see the humility of Christ in realizing who He is. He is divine, so you understand the reality of Christ’s humility only when you understand His supreme divine status. Look at what he says in verse 6: “Christ Jesus was in the form of God” He was the exact representation of God. He is pointing to the divinity of Christ, and he’s saying you will not understand Jesus’ humility until you understand who He was as He humbled himself. He’s not just a poor man, an outsider, a wise prophet speaking against the power structures of His day. Paul is saying if that’s all you think Jesus is, you’ll never understand how humble He was. The man I’m about to talk about is God.

The second manifestation of Jesus’ humility is His refusal to stand on His own right and demand to be treated as He deserves. He could have made the whole world prostrate before Him, but He didn’t.

The third is, He abased himself. He not only refuses to stand on His rights and prerogatives, but He abases himself and He empties himself.

And especially, fourthly, we see that He does that in His own voluntary servitude “He took the form of a servant.” Now the word “servant” is saying that Jesus became a “bondslave.” This is what Paul is saying that Jesus has done. He has willingly taken up servitude for you. His humility is seen in that He is divine and has emptied himself, and taken upon Himself the role of a slave for the well-being of His people.

Fifthly, His condescension in becoming man. Jesus has become man. Now, being born a person is not an act of condescension by you and me, but for the living God to be made manifest in humanity, to take upon Himself the fullness of humanity and to live in our flesh and blood – that is an act of condescension!

Sixthly, He endures ultimate humiliation and shame: “He humbled himself by become obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” His humiliation culminates in His embrace of the ultimate shame.

We really need to take this in. The Heavenly Father pouring out His wrath on His Son in such a way that His Son bears ultimate shame and humiliation, treating His Son as if His Son has rebelled against Him. He bears the humiliation that we ought to have borne in our place.

The Apostle Paul says, ‘Christian, look at your Savior. See what He has done for your redemption. Now, as you live the Christian life towards one another, be like Him.’

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Complete My Joy -- with Helpfulness: Phil 2.1-4

2011-04-25T16:01:00.002-05:00

Paul is writing to the Philippians urging them to live out the Christian life with unity, humility, and now helpfulness. All along the way, Paul has given encouragements to do what he is writing for them to do. Today, we’re going to look at that final thing that Paul has exhorted us to.

Do you know what the true obstacle to unity is in the church?

For many years there have been people who said the real obstacle to unity is doctrine. We’ve got so many doctrines. There’s such a long list of doctrines that we can’t be unified, because we’ve got all these doctrinal differences. If we just got rid of doctrine, we’d have unity.

That’s not what Paul says. You know what the real obstacle to unity in the church is? It’s not legitimate differences of opinion. You can live in unity with someone with a legitimate difference of opinion. The true obstacle to unity in the Christian life is self-centeredness, selfishness, me-first. And Paul is out to blow that apart in this passage.

He’s first called us to unity; he’s told us that humility is going to be absolutely essential to unity; and now he tells us about a third thing: helpfulness, mutuality. He’s saying that one of the first principles of the Christian life is that we are here on this planet to serve one another and in order to serve and help one another, we have to submit ourselves to one another.

And so there are five things that we can learn from the Apostle Paul about helping one another from this passage we’ve just studied, and the first thing is this:

First, we are to have built into our very outlook an orientation to the Church.

Paul’s concerns for unity, humility, and helpfulness are all congregationally focused. We live in a self-centered world, sociologically and by philosophy. There is stuff that tempts us to self-centeredness that we don’t even realize is tempting us to self-centeredness. But Paul says, ‘Thing Number 1 is this: the world is not centered around you. God’s world, God’s plan for your life, God’s blessings on your life, and the deepest desires of your life are experienced congregationally, so that the center of the universe is not you. It’s the whole people of God.’

Secondly, we are to have the well-being of others and the whole congregation as a part of our basic outlook.

So not only are we to have an outlook oriented towards the body, the church, but we also have the well-being of others and the whole congregation as a part of our basic outlook and orientation in life.

Just like mothers don’t get their children out of their minds in any of their waking moments (they’re always back there somewhere), so also we ought never to get out of our minds the well-being of others in the congregation.

Thirdly – and this hurts! –we are to seek the well-being of others in the congregation not from the standpoint of voluntary service, but from loving servitude.

This is pretty radical. He’s saying your service to one another is not to be something that you view as something that you decide to do whenever you want to do it, giving a little bit of left over of your time and resources to help somebody else. No. Actually, you don’t have any time and resources, you’re a servant. All of your time and resources belong to Jesus. And He has said what you’re supposed to be doing in life is helping one another. Paul says that we are to be ready to seek the well-being of others in the congregation not from the standpoint of voluntary service, but of loving servitude.

Fourth, that means that we are to be ready to set aside our personal checklist in order to serve others, and the body as a whole.

If you really view yourself as a servant of Christ, your personal checklist has to take Level B in comparison to the service of the Church. It’s just like when a father is really, really busy at work, but his son needs his time…now. The schedule has to change. If we’re going to help one another, if we’ve going to serve one another, if we’re going to mutually commit ourselves to helpfulness, then we have to set aside our personal checklist in order to serve others, and the body as a whole.

Finally, we are to live in mutual helpfulness and servitude because of the gospel, and in imitation of Jesus Christ.

It is amazing how often this teaching comes up in Paul, it is not just here in Philippians 2:4. This is not a thought that just popped into Paul’s mind while writing from prison to the Philippians. He wants Christians to live in mutual helpfulness, service and servitude.

This also is the exact opposite of the world. All around us we have self-centered people. Paul is saying be other-focused. Be Christ-directed, but be other-focused, caring for them, especially in the family and in the congregation of faith. (And certainly to our neighbors and to all men as well, but fundamentally in those inner circles we’re to be living in an outwardly focused way) But you’re not to be directed by others. You’re directed by Christ. You’re His servant.

Elsewhere when Paul is talking about this, he talks about our serving one another in the fear of Christ, out of awe and reverence for Jesus Christ. Paul is saying that we’re to live in this mutual helpfulness and servitude because of the gospel and in imitating Christ. And that is what Philippians 2:5-11 is about. It’s about us having the same mind, the same outlook, the same orientation that Jesus had. And that’s what we’re going to study tomorrow, God willing.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Complete My Joy -- with Humility: Phil 2.1-3

2011-04-20T16:15:00.003-05:00

In this passage, already we’ve seen Paul gives an earnest plea for Christian unity. He’s asking us to acknowledge the unity that Christ has created. God has made us to be one in Jesus Christ. As we rest and trust in Him and are united to Him, he is saying to us: “maintain that unity.” Don’t do things to disrupt that unity, and on the contrary, do things to foster that spiritual unity.

As he has called our attention to this unity in verse 2, he also said there will be no shared experience of gospel unity in the local church apart from humility. Humility is the key to that unity.

John Stott said, “In every aspect of the Christian life, pride is our greatest foe and humility our greatest ally.”

No matter what we are doing, pride is always an enemy to us, and humility is always an ally for us. That alone reminds us of how important it is to cultivate humility, but here Paul gives two motivations to our humility.

First, “Count others more significant than yourselves.” As he urges us to humility, he refuses to leave humility as some sort of an abstract idea in your mind. He gives you something concrete.

Then, in verses 5-11, he says, ‘Consider Christ.’ Let me show you your Savior, who spoke the world into being, to whom all the peoples of the world owe the obedience of Lordship, because He is their maker, who humbled Himself, dying at the hands of those He came to save, that they might share with Him the glorious presence and communion with the living God forever and ever.’ He says, ‘Behold humility.’

Pride is a master sin and all of us struggle with it, pride gets us a thousand ways. Pride attacks one through conceit, the other through rivalry or through envy, or through jealousy.

How do you cultivate humility? How do you fight against pride?

One, reflect on the wonder of the cross. Gospel humility only comes at the foot of the cross. If you’re not amazed by that wonder, amazed by the wonder of His love, amazed by the wonder of His grace, you will not be able to combat pride in your life. Staying by the cross is the greatest weapon that the Christian has against pride.

Second, use the means of grace. If you want to slay pride and grow in humility, use the means of grace. Recognize that God’s word, the sacraments, and prayers are altogether designed to kill pride. When we come and we hear God’s word read, we’re being reminded, ‘Oh, yeah…I’m supposed to live life according to the way that God said, not the way I want to do it.”

When you come to the church on the Lord’s Day to worship God, remember that one of the things that will be happening is you are drinking in the means of grace: word and sacrament and prayer. Pride will be being slain, and you will be being reinforced for the fight against pride all week long.

Third, study God. Jim Packer taught us many years ago that the secret to soul-satisfying Bible study is not asking first the question, ‘What does this passage mean for me in my daily life?’ but asking first the question, ‘What does this passage teach me about my God?’ because that puts everything else in perspective. The Bible is fundamentally about God, and when I study God, I don’t look so great.

Fourth, study grace. How can you be prideful if you believe in grace? Grace says you’re a sinner, you need help.

Fifth, study sin. Especially your own sin. Not the sins of others. Study sin. In the end this is not depressing, but leads to joy, humility, and delight in God’s grace. But it hurts along the way.

Sixth, identify graces in others. Do you celebrate humility when you see it in others? Do you look around you and see examples of humility and service and rejoice in them? And then say, ‘Lord, I want to be like that. I want to be like people like that.’

Seventh, encourage and serve others daily. Not only identify graces in others, but encourage and serve others every day.

Eighth, (this is really hard) invite and pursue and welcome correction. I hate to repent. C.S. Lewis once said, “Humility is actually quite a cheerful thing, once you get past the initial shock.” And that is exactly how I feel about repentance. It is hard, because in repentance I have to see what I really am, and I don’t like to see that. I like to think of myself as a nicer person than that.

Lastly, every day, deliberately acknowledge your dependence on and need for God. Acknowledge when you get up in the morning that you need God for every step that you’re going to take; that any success that you’re going to have during the day, comes from Him and is because of Him, and is not because of your own innate ability.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “Most of our unhappiness in life is because we listen to ourselves, rather than talk to ourselves.” He means that we sit around and we grumble and we murmur. We listen to ourselves grumble and murmur instead of saying, “Self, God will take care of you. Self, cast your cares upon the Lord, and He will care for you. Self, God is in control.” Instead of preaching to ourselves, we listen to ourselves. Do you get up in the morning and preach to yourself, “Today I am going to believe in the sovereign care of God”? And, having announced that, can you be proud about that? Not unless you’re deluded.

We need every weapon we can find against pride, because the joy and unity that God intends us to experience is inseparably connected to humility. And our witness to the world is inseparably connected to our humility.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Complete My Joy -- with Unity: Phil 2.1-2 (Part I)

2011-04-19T16:34:00.002-05:00

We have been studying Paul’s letter to the Philippians and read his exhortations to live the Christian life. Yesterday and last week, we saw how Paul urged the Philippians to do so in order to complete his joy, not that they had never given him joy, but to make the joy that they had given him complete.

In coming days, we’ll look at four motivations for living the Christian life: the encouragement that we have in Christ; the comfort that we have in His love; the fellowship that we have in the Holy Spirit; and the tender affection and sympathy that we have in Christ. Paul piles up encouragement for us to live the Christian life. And then he says, “In light of those things…” (verse 2) “… complete my joy” by “…Pursuing unity (verse 3) …Humility; (verse 4)…helpfulness.

Do you think about God’s big purposes of unity in the Christian life? We stressed that Paul’s message to us is never “create unity amongst yourselves,” but that only God creates gospel unity. God has created us, made us in Christ Jesus to be one people, one family, one house, one temple. Everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ is united to Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit and also united to everyone else who is united to Jesus Christ. God has made that unity a reality, but do you think much in your Christian life about how you need to cultivate, manifest, and maintain that unity that God has already given us in Jesus Christ?

We will look at verse 2 today in which Paul asks us to have the same mind, the same love, and the same purpose.

Paul exhorts us to complete his joy by doing three things and the first is by having the same mind, being like-minded. He’s talking about having the mind of Christ.

When he calls on you to have the same mind, he doesn’t mean that you always have to think about everything in the same way. He’s going to describe that mind for you in Philippians 2:5-11. But what he’s saying here is that he wants us to have the same disposition, mindset, and outlook that Jesus had.

What was that outlook? The outlook Jesus himself had in the prayer that He prayed for you. In the middle of that prayer He says, ‘Lord, I do not pray for these only, but for all who come to know You through their ministry.’ It’s in John 17. It’s the night He was betrayed. We call it “the high priestly prayer.” And do you know what one of the things that He prayed was? ‘Lord, let them be one, like You and I are one.’ And so Jesus is deeply concerned for the church to manifest the unity that the gospel has given us; not to be little robots that all think the same way about everything, but who have a deep unity in the truth of God’s word, who have a deep unity in love to the one true God.

Then he says that he wants you to love one another with the same kind of love that Christ has loved you with. Now again, that is just an exhortation based on something that Jesus said on the night that He was betrayed. In John 13, Jesus turns to His disciples and says, “A new commandment I have for you that you love one another as I have loved you.” Paul is saying, ‘Philippians, complete my joy. Live the Christian life; walk worthy of the gospel by having the same mind and having the same love—the love of Christ for you displayed in your love for one another.’

Thirdly, he says, he wants you to have the same purpose. He wants (in the graphic language of verse 2) he wants you with your whole being to be set on the same thing. God is bringing everything in this world under the Lordship of Christ, and He is uniting all who trust in Christ into one family, one body, one people, one temple, so that Christ is given the name which is above every name, and so that as we are in Him, so we are exalted with Him.

Now what are the obstacles to that in a local church? He’s talking about the total unity of all the people of God in all ages, but that’s especially expressed in the local congregation. It’s easy to think nice thoughts about folks that you don’t have to hang around with for very long, but live with them for a little while, and unity gets to be a more difficult thing. So we want to especially think about this in the local church, and there are a lot of things that can destroy unity in the local church.

There are failures in communication that can totally, though unintentionally, bring division in a church.

Disagreements – legitimate disagreements – can bring division in a church.

Different agendas can divide a church. You know, somebody who says, “I don’t think the church ought to be doing this; I think the church ought to be doing that.” Or “I don’t think the church ought to be focused on this; I think the church ought to be focused on that.” That can divide a church.

And then there’s sin. Selfishness can divide a congregation. Nothing can divide a congregation more than looking out for “Number One.”

False teaching can divide a church. And you know…the list could go on.

The Apostle Paul is saying, ‘Christians, complete my joy. It is a big-ticket item on my agenda for you. It is a deep desire for me. I want you to have deep gospel unity. I want you to have the same outlook: the mindset of Christ. I want you to have the same love for one another, so you are loving one another in light of the gospel. And I want you to have the same purpose in life. I want it burning within you. And only then will you experience the joy that God intends you to experience in Christ Jesus.’

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Complete My Joy: Phil 2.1-2 (Part II)

2011-04-15T13:34:00.005-05:00

Last week we looked at the outline of this passage, and we said that the first four verses of this chapter are one sentence, centered around the phrase, “complete my joy.” That is the organizing idea of this passage. Now we’ll look at some encouragements of Paul toward the accomplishment of that idea.

What encourages you to live the Christian life even in the hardest places? Where do you go when you are looking for help or encouragement in those hardest places that God calls you to live life in a manner worthy of the gospel?

Paul is giving the Philippians incentives, motivations, and encouragements in order to deal with fairly common problems in the Christian church. Paul is addressing pride in the Christian church, which has brought some division amongst the Philippians, harming their joy. Paul is not satisfied to over look this common church problem. He is fighting for their joy, he says, ‘Philippians, we’re taking that sin on!’ Because over and over the Scriptures make clear that it is Christ’s intention that our joy would be made full in the Christian life. Not that there would be an absence of trials; in I Corinthians, Paul says that when the Holy Spirit comes with poverty increases, afflictions increase, but joy abounds! The opposite of the “health and wealth” gospels. The Christian life doesn’t mean that all your other problems go away, and therefore you’re happy. It means that in the midst of all your problems, joy increases.

Now don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad congregation! They’re young Christians, and they are ready to be persecuted for Christ. This is a young congregation, but they are a Christ-loving congregation. They deeply value the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are awash with the sense of the glory of God’s love shown to them! They are a Bible-believing congregation. They didn’t grow up in good Hebrew homes learning their catechisms and memorizing Scriptures, but they have devoured the Bible from the preaching of Paul and his comrades in the gospel ministry. They care deeply about people coming to faith in Christ, and they’re ready to send people to the ends of the earth in order that people would come to faith in Christ. And they’re a generous, giving congregation, even though they’re poor. But they’ve got some problems, which bring division. And the root problem they have is pride.

The Bible says that pride is a master sin. It leads to all other kinds of sin, and as best as I can tell from Scripture, there is no sin that God hates more than pride.

Paul is in a fight for their joy and it entails a fight against sin, against pride. Later, Paul is going to tell us what they key to a life of gospel joy is: a God-centered, gospel-based, grace-enabled shifting of our attention away from ourselves and onto others. This week we will look at what Paul wants gives in verse 1: four incentives for seeking, experiencing, and expressing that joy in your Christian life.

First, Paul says that every Christian experiences encouragement because of union with Christ. Our union with Christ is an encouragement to live our lives in a manner worthy of the gospel. It is an encouragement to seek, to experience, and to express this dangerous gospel joy that Paul is speaking about here.

Secondly, Paul asks if you have experienced consolation, comfort from the love of God in Christ. If there is any comfort in the love of God in Christ [and there is!], then shouldn’t you comfort your fellow believers with the same comfort you’ve received? Every Christian has received consolation that flows to him from the love of God, and we ought to be expressing that consolation to others.

By the way, in saying these two things, the Apostle Paul has already told us two other things:

First, God never asks you to give something that He has not already given. He asks you to do that because He’s already given you a comfort that’s greater than any void of comfort in human relationship in His comfort.

Second, God never tells you to do what He himself has not already done.

Third point: Paul says that every Christian knows a fellowship, a shared life that is created by the Spirit’s work of the new creation. He’s asking the Philippians if there is any participation in the Spirit, if there is any fellowship, if there is any family belonging that results from the Spirit’s work in you [and there is], then ought you not to be promoting fellowship in the body of Christ in the same way that the Spirit worked to bring you into His family?

Final point: Paul says that every Christian has experienced the love and compassion that is freely and divinely given to those who are in Christ, and so he asks if there is any affection and sympathy, if you have experienced the affection, the love, the tender mercy and compassion of Christ, then shouldn’t you respond to God’s love and mercy by showing the same love and mercy to your fellow Christians? Forgiving when you’ve been wounded? Loving when you have not been loved? Serving when you have not been served? Responding with kindness when you have been dealt with in bitterness and anger? Dispensing mercy when you have been dealt with unmercifully? Giving justice when you’ve not been given a fair shake?

Paul is asking you to stand back and realize what God has already given to you. And when you’re asked to give in hard places, Paul is asking you to go back and realize the treasures that God has already given to you. May God grant that we live in joy, in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ because of the encouragement that God has given us in His love, the comfort that He has given to us in His salvation, the fellowship that He has given to us in His Sprit, and the mercy that He has shown us in His Son.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Complete My Joy: Phil 2.1-2 (Part I)

2011-04-14T16:43:00.003-05:00

Tuesday we pondered what it meant that God had granted suffering, that He had given this gift of suffering.

In Philippians 2:1, Paul is taking us back to the main point: what it means to live like a follower of Jesus Christ; what it means to live in a way that fits a life that has been transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Through the letter, Paul is encouraging us to live the Christian life – to live in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Or, to put it in his striking phrase, “…to live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” We’ll look at five things before we even get into the passage. Let me just give you a framework for this glorious passage.

First, Have you noticed here that Paul is giving you four specific encouragements, or motivations, or incentives to live the Christian life?

And isn’t that glorious? Have you ever noticed that in the Bible God encourages you to do what He requires you to do? Have you ever noticed that in the Bible God doesn’t just say “Do it!” but that He encourages you? He gives you motivations and incentives to do what you ought to do. Paul does not say here, “Be joyful! Now!” He says ‘Let me give you four encouragements as to why you ought to embrace this life of dangerous joy that I’m talking about.’ Because Paul knows that life is hard, and joy doesn’t come easily. And because we have a kind and tender and loving heavenly Father, even when He’s telling you what you ought to do anyway, He gives you reasons for it. Is that not glorious? He’s not treating you as slaves; He’s treating you as His precious children. It’s never “Do this now!” but ‘Let me give you some reasons why you ought to glorify and enjoy Me forever. Let me give you some encouragements, some motivations, some stimulations to doing what I’ve called you to do.’ Isn’t it kind that God does that? And that’s what Paul’s doing here.

Second, Paul is encouraging you here to live life in a way that is worthy of the gospel of Christ, and in so doing he is resuming his original discussion.

Paul knows that we may be so overwhelmed by what he’s just told us about suffering being a gift, that our minds may still be spinning about whether we want that gift of suffering or not! And so Paul is drawing our attention right back to his original concern: that we live lives worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Third, Paul is fighting for the Philippians’ joy. He is fighting for your joy in this passage.

Again, not superficial joy, not shallow joy, but deep gospel joy; a greater joy than can be experienced by any worldling; a greater joy than any good gift that the Father can give us in family, or in vocation, or in esteem, or in status, or in position, or in power and influence, or anything else in this world. A greater, deeper, more lasting joy…he wants you to experience more of that. After all, Jesus said to His disciples, “I have come that your joy may be made full.” And Paul is serious about that! He’s chained up in prison in order to convey that kind of joy to you, and he wants to experience the joy of seeing the Philippians’ joy—and your and my joy. Paul knows that in living as becomes Christians, as living in light of the gospel, we experience joy. That’s why he’s speaking to us in this passage.

Fourth, Paul has in this passage three specific things that he wants to urge on the Philippians.

Paul is deeply concerned for the Philippians’ unity, humility, and mutual helpfulness to one another. His concern for these things is why he gives these four encouragements in verse 1. We will look at those four encouragements next week. Those encouragements are there because he’s headed to an exhortation that we would be united, humble, and mutually helpful. He knows that unity, humility, and mutual helpfulness do not happen automatically in the Christian life, even in the best of us. Even in the most selfless of us, even in the most mature of us, we need encouragements if we’re going to be united, humble, and helpful. And that’s why Paul’s piling up these encouragements in verse 1.

Finally, verses 1-4 are all one sentence, and there is only one main clause in that big sentence that covers four verses: “Complete my joy.” That’s the main clause. Everything else that is going on in that big complex sentence is related to and circling around and emanating out from that main clause, “complete my joy.” Verse 1 leads up to it, gives encouragement, prepares for it. Verse 2 announces it. Then he explains it, then he elaborates it. That’s what’s going on in that marvelous sentence. It’s all one sentence, but the main clause is “complete my joy.”

Notice, by the way, that even in the very careful words that Paul chooses here, he indicates that the Philippians were already a joy to him. When he says “complete my joy” he’s not saying, “Come on, give me some joy here!” He’s acknowledging that these people have already given him deep joy as he has seen the gospel at work in them, but he is not satisfied with the joy that they are experiencing; and as they increase their enjoyment of the joy that God has intended for them, it is going to fulfill, fill out, complete the joy that he already takes in them. No wonder they call this “the letter of joy.”

Gleanings in Philippians ~The Gift of Suffering for Christ’s Sake: Phil. 1.29-30 (Part II)

2011-04-12T16:33:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we began to look at some encouragements Paul gives for the Philippians as they are about to suffer. He first of all tells us that suffering is a gift of all. Now, I want to look at suffering in scripture.

II. Suffering in the Scripture

Suffering for Christ is not the only kind of suffering that the Bible speaks about. There are different ways we could enumerate it, here are seven different kinds of suffering that are spoken about in the Scriptures.

There is the suffering of justice – when people get what they deserve – like when the children of Israel rebel against God in the wilderness, and 14,700 of them die of the plague.

It’s not the only kind of suffering in this world, but it does exist. The problem with Job’s friends was that they thought that Job was suffering because of his sin and disobedience. They failed to recognize that there are other kinds of suffering in the Bible.

Secondly, there’s the suffering of discipline, as when the Lord says in Hebrews 12:5,6, that “whom the Lord loves, He disciplines.”

And then there’s the suffering of fellowship – empathetic suffering, where one person’s grief affects another, like in Isaiah 63:9, where the Lord says, “All of your afflictions are mine.”

Then there’s the suffering of witness. It’s the kind of suffering that we see in the story of Job, where Job’s suffering was going to witness to some grand truth about God and His glory and was going to teach millions and millions and even billions of people truths about God. There is a lesson hidden there as you evaluate your own suffering in this life.

Then, fifthly, there is final and eternal suffering in the Bible; that is, the suffering that comes at the end of this age. Though it is final suffering, it never ends.

Sixth, there is the suffering of substitution – vicarious suffering, suffering in another person’s place. It is the kind of suffering that the Lord did on the cross. It was not a suffering He deserved, but He willingly, voluntarily, took the suffering in your place so that you would never have to experience the suffering of the full and unmitigated wrath of God’s just judgment poured out on you. He suffered as a substitute.

And then there is the suffering of discipleship, mentioned here in Philippians 1:29: suffering for Christ’s sake, as when the Christian has the privilege of enduring the rejection and trials and persecution because of loyalty to Christ.

There are many different kinds of suffering in this world, so Paul wants us to understand that suffering for Christ’s sake is a gift of God; second, that suffering for Christ is not the only kind of suffering in the Christian life; but the third: Christians should expect and prepare to suffer for Christ’s sake.

III. Christians should expect and prepare to suffer for Christ’s sake.

Christians should expect and prepare to suffer for Christ’s sake. We need to be ready to identify with Him when His person and cause are despised. Are you ready for, are you prepared to suffer for Christ? Perhaps not everyone will face a direct threat on his life because of his confession of faith, but most persecution in the Christian world in the first three centuries under the rule of Rome was not like that, it was much more subtle and it may be that “subtle” kind of persecution that you or I will face too.

Perhaps you will have the opportunity to lose your job because of your faithfulness to Christ. President Bush nominated a new Surgeon General who was a member of the United Methodist Church and had been on a panel in which that church was dealing with homosexuality, and he had recommended against the practice of homosexual ordination. When he came to be examined by the Senate, that did not sit well with his examiners. He lost a job because of his fidelity to the truth. You may have the opportunity to lose a job soon because of your fidelity to Christ and to Scripture.

But I want to say one other thing, too. What about our other suffering? What about suffering that is not explicitly and directly because of persecution against us for the faith of Christ? Well, John Piper has some very wise words that I want to share with you:

“In choosing to follow Christ in the way He directs, we choose all that this path includes under His sovereign providence. Thus, all suffering that comes in the path of obedience is suffering with Christ and for Christ. Whether it’s cancer or conflict, all experiences of suffering in the path of Christian obedience, whether it’s from persecution or sickness or accident, have this in common: they all threaten our faith in the goodness of God, and they tempt us to leave the path of obedience. Therefore, every triumph of faith and all perseverance and obedience are testimonies to the goodness of God and the preciousness of Christ, whether the enemy is sickness, Satan, sin, or sabotage.”

Do you see what Piper is saying? When the job is lost and you’re tempted to say, “Lord, You’ve abandoned me”…when you’re tempted to lose faith, and you say, “Lord, I will magnify Your name. I will believe in You”…when you stay in a marriage and you’re facing impossible situations, and you say, “Lord, I will do this for Your glory”…when you’ve gotten the terminal diagnosis, and you say, instead of ‘Lord, You don’t care about me,’ but rather, “Lord, I want You to get the glory in this, and I want this to be a witness to my children and to my grandchildren, and to all of my friends,” that general suffering is being offered up as a sweet smelling aroma to Christ: “Lord, take this and be glorified by it.”

Gleanings in Philippians ~ The Gift of Suffering for Christ’s Sake: Phil 1:29-30

2011-04-11T18:30:00.003-05:00

In Philippians 1:29, Paul is talking about two gifts, faith and - perhaps surprisingly to you - the gift of suffering for Christ.

The Philippians are worried. The Philippians themselves face enormous opposition and they are discouraged, and so in verse 28, Paul has urged them not to be threatened, discouraged, or overwhelmed by their situation.

In verses 29-30, Paul encourages them with a reason why they should not be overwhelmed by the sufferings. He tells them to remember that not only did the Lord give them the gift of faith for the sake of Christ, but that He gave them the gift of suffering for Christ.

Paul wants the Philippians to see that not only is faith a gift, but suffering for Christ is a gift. It’s not a sign that God has abandoned them, it is not a sign of their lack of faith; rather, their suffering for Christ’s sake is an enormous privilege. It is a blessing from God. It is a gift from Him, under His complete control.

That encouragement that He gives to the Philippians ought to force us to think together about at least two things. The first thing is, “What does it mean for us to suffer for Christ’s sake?”

Secondly, this verse asks us to think hard about the general meaning of suffering in our lives: how God uses it; what it is for. We live in a day that sees the avoidance of suffering at all costs as a wise course of action. We live in a day in which when suffering happens, God is immediately called on the carpet, because we assume that suffering is inherently wrong and shouldn’t happen.

Within the Christian world there are people who say, ‘If you really trust in Christ, you won’t suffer. God wants you to be blessed, happy all the time. He doesn’t want you to have trials. If you are experiencing suffering, it is because you do not have enough faith.’ It is taught everywhere, and Christians today are very confused as to what to do or think or say about suffering.

Our forebears were not so unwise. They were not surprised when they encountered suffering for the sake of Christ, they went to work in prayer seeking what lessons God would have them learn in that.

The Philippians are confused about the suffering that they are experiencing, and God has a word for them through Paul as to how they are to view suffering, and suffering for Christ.

There are three things to look at in this, but I only want to look at the first with you today: One: the issue of suffering for Christ in God’s sovereignty; two: the Bible teaches that there is more than one kind of suffering; three: our preparation for and embrace of suffering for Christ and suffering in general.

I. Suffering for Christ’s sake is a gift from God.

In the midst of their experience of being opposed and threatened and persecuted by their contemporaries, being deeply discouraged by that circumstance, they are not adequately responding to the truth that God is in control and in charge of that suffering, Paul says to them point blank, ‘Don’t you understand that just like your faith was a gift from God, so also this suffering that you are experiencing is a gift to you from God? This is not a mistake. It’s not something that God didn’t see coming. It’s something that God has in view in His good and perfect plan for you.’ Now when Paul says this he is not speaking as some kind of dry-land sailor who doesn’t know anything about suffering.

To understand why he knows suffering is a gift from God, you have to turn back to Acts 9. Before Paul was “Paul,” he was Saul of Tarsus, the leader of the group that was designed to stamp out Christianity. He was on his way up to Damascus to cause Christians to suffer, and something funny happened on the way to Damascus. Jesus met him. And he lost his sight, he was blinded. And then the men who were with him took him on to Damascus and left him in the home of a man named Judas. And then Jesus rang up Ananias and said, ‘Ananias, I want you to find a man named Saul of Tarsus, I want you to take him in, minister to him.’ And Ananias says, ‘Ah, Lord, I’ve…ah…I’ve heard of this guy, and he was coming to Damascus to look for me. You’re saying you want me to go look for him?’ ‘Yes, Ananias.’

And then Jesus gives Ananias two encouragements. First He says, ‘Ananias, go find Saul, because he is praying. Saul is prostrate, blinded, utterly dependent upon Me. I have humbled him to the dust. He knows He needs Me. He’s in such deep need right now, he doesn’t know what to do. He’s waiting for a word from Me, and I’m going to give that word to Him through you.’ And then the second thing that He says to Ananias is, ‘I am going to show Saul how much he will suffer for Me.’ So the very first thing that Saul hears from this Christian who is the first person given to disciple him is, ‘You know, the Lord Jesus has told me how much you are going to suffer for Him.’ And Paul’s response to that is, ‘You mean I get to suffer for the One whom I caused so much suffering? What a privilege! Because I am less than the least of the apostles, and yet God has counted it His will to give me the privilege to suffer for Christ.’

And Paul now says to the Philippians, ‘You get to enter into that same privilege, too, because you’re Christians.’ God is in control even of your suffering at the hands of His enemies, and He has purposes in view even in that suffering. Be encouraged. This is not a mistake, this is not an accident, this is part of God’s plan.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Not Only to Believe, But to Suffer: Phil. 1.29-30

2011-04-07T14:52:00.001-05:00

We’ve been working through Paul’s letter to the Philippians and in verse 27, Paul’s big point is that we live a life that fits the gospel. And from 1:27 to 2:18, Paul exhorts you to live that life. It’s the central part of this letter.

We could call this section “a quest for godliness.” Paul has taught us some important things about that growth in grace. When Paul says in Philippians 1:28, “I don’t want you to be frightened in anything by your opponents,” he is connecting that with what he gets ready to say in verses 29-30. Verses 29-30 are designed to provide the encouragement, so that you can do what he said in verse 28. In the following verses we are encouraged because every time God says “Don’t be afraid…frightened…discouraged,” He is reminding us that He knows that you struggle with being frightened sometimes. And God wants to comfort His people and give them reasons why, despite the fact that they do have reasons that they could be discouraged, they have greater reasons why they should not be discouraged.

Paul is stunningly teaching that faith in Christ and suffering for Christ are gifts from God. Now, we’re going to look at suffering for Christ next week, and simply introduce that subject today that will get you interested in the truth that suffering for Christ is a gift from God.

Today, we’re going to focus on the first part of what Paul intends to be an encouragement to the Philippians and to us: that is, that faith is a gift from God.

I. Faith is a gift.

Paul teaches here explicitly, expressly, unambiguously, utterly clearly that faith is God’s gift to believers. The Bible everywhere it addresses the issue of the source of faith tells us that God gives the gift of faith.

Not only do we have the passage that says, “To you it has been [what?] granted to [what?] believe.” Yes, God has given you the gift of faith. This is not the only time that Paul says this, consider to Ephesians 2:8 for example.

In Ephesians 2:8 also Paul says that salvation, including our faith (which is the instrument whereby we receive all the other manifold mercy and grace of God) is a gift to us from God. That’s why in Galatians 5:22, Paul will list faith as a fruit of the Spirit’s work in the believer. The Apostle John says the same thing in I John 5:1.

Now many people stumble on this truth, this gospel paradox that man must believe – a person must believe in Jesus Christ in order to be saved – and that believing on Jesus Christ is a gift from God. Though some stumble on that, remember that our final authority is not our own understanding, it is the word of God; and this truth is crystal clear in the word of God.

II. Faith is a responsibility – we are commanded to believe.

Now that leads me into the second thing: The Bible, tells us three very important things about faith. The Bible teaches us that faith is a responsibility. You are responsible to believe. Secondly, the Bible teaches that faith is necessary. It’s indispensable. And, thirdly, the Bible teaches that faith is a gift.

The Bible teaches that faith is a responsibility. Jesus was talking to His disciples the night of His betrayal, the night before His crucifixion, in John 14 He’s exhorting them to believe in God, believe in Him, because faith is a responsibility.

And faith is necessary. We must believe or perish. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

But the Bible also teaches that faith is a gift of God. God must grant us the gift of trust. That’s what Paul is saying: God has granted you to believe. (Philippians 1:29).

III. Well, so what?

There are three ways that that truth helps me get out of the bed in the morning: Knowing the truth that faith is a gift leads us to assurance, dependence, and responsibility.

Knowing that faith is a gift is an enormous gospel encouragement, and it gives us assurance. When you realize that long before you had faith in Christ that God had set His love on you, and your very first impulses of trust in Him were simply the answer of your soul to the prior work of the Holy Spirit in your heart, it changes everything.

And it is only when your salvation – all of it – is resting on the strong shoulders of the living God that you will ever walk through this world with encouragement and comfort and assurance, because I can question the quality and the soundness of my faith all day long, and so if my salvation only at that one point rests on me, then I have no hope.

Knowing that faith is a gift leads to dependence. It means that whatever we’re doing, we know that we have to depend upon the Lord.

As we work for Christ we must do it in utter dependence upon God, and what a freedom that is to know that ultimately God is responsible for the return. I can’t make anybody come to Christ, but the Holy Spirit always gets His man. And it’s my joy to watch the Spirit do that! I’m to be faithful, yes; I’m to go to the ends of the earth, yes; but it’s God who reaps the harvest.

And, finally, knowing that faith is a gift leads us to responsibility. That is a tiny little picture of the whole of the Christian life, which is always utterly dependent upon God and His grace in the gospel, but is always, as Paul says here, working out our salvation with fear and trembling; striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. There is dependence upon God, and there’s grace-enabled effort and responsibility on our part.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Living In a Manner Worthy of the Gospel: Phil 1:27-28 (Part III)

2011-04-05T14:16:00.000-05:00

Monday we didn’t get past the first phrase in verse 27, as we spelled out the meaning of Paul’s exhortation, he calling on the Philippians, and on you and me, to live lives worthy of the gospel.

There are two things that Paul wants the Philippians and you and me to get from this one-phrase exhortation: He wants us to see that we are to live as citizens of a heavenly kingdom, and second, that we are to live in consistency with the gospel.

I. Live as citizens of heaven.

When Paul says, “Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ,” he is actually bringing to the Philippians’ minds the category of citizenship. You remember from yesterday that “conduct yourself” is a term that would have been commonly used when a civil leader would have said to the people, “Remember that you’re a citizen of Rome, and act accordingly. Realize your privileges and your responsibilities.” And Paul is deliberately using this terminology because he wants them to remember that they are actually citizens of a greater state and empire than Rome. He says, “You are citizens of the kingdom of heaven, and you have the greatest privileges and responsibilities in the world.”

And you see how that directly applies to us. Paul is reminding us that we may have great privileges as American citizens, but that we in fact are at the same time citizens of a greater kingdom – a heavenly kingdom – and it is from that kingdom that we ought to get our marching orders.

The challenge is: will we live in such a way which is consistent with being citizens of this heavenly kingdom, or will we be conformed to the world around us? Paul is reminding us here that we as Christians have a permanent responsibility to a joint struggle that produces unanimity in the body of believers as we together struggle, battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil, and seek to walk in accordance with the gospel of grace.

That battle is with us 24/7. Do you realize how different the call of the kingdom of God is to our prevailing culture? Whether it’s in the realm of sexual purity…whether you will be sexually faithful in your marriage, whether you will be modest in the way you dress or in the way you encourage your children to dress, whether you will be careful when you are alone at your computer. It can even come up when we’re talking with friends over a cup of coffee, and the conversation turns to gossip. Will we conform ourselves to the ways of this world in order to fit in, or will we be different?

II. Live in the light of the gospel.

Notice his words: “Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” That reminds me of Romans 12, when Paul is transitioning from that glorious doctrinal section in the book of Romans, and then he’s getting ready to exhort you to live as Christians:

“Brothers, I implore you [I plead with you, I exhort you] in accordance with the mercies of Christ that you will live in this way.”

Paul’s doing the same thing here. He’s calling you to live life in light of the gospel of Christ, which means at least four things: Undeserved mercy; Unwavering; Unity; and, Unfrightened.

Undeserved mercy; the Apostle Paul is calling us here to remember that the gospel is not about what we have done. The gospel is about what God has done for us in Jesus Christ that we would not and could not do for ourselves. The gospel is about a mercy given to us that we have not deserved by our own deeds. And that must have a controlling effect on our conduct.

Secondly, to live in unwavering commitment to the gospel of Christ. The gospel is our only hope, and so Paul makes it very clear in this passage we are to cling with it with tenacity.

Look again at verse 27. He says that whether he comes and sees them or whether he remains absent, he wants to know, “that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” Paul wants to hear that they are absolutely unwilling to part with the gospel or to see it compromised.

Thirdly, notice Paul’s concern for unity. One of Paul’s themes in this larger section was that gospel humility creates a gospel unity in a local congregation. In the very phrase we are studying, that they are to stand firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving together. The gospel has united us to one body and to one warfare against the world, the flesh, and the devil and for gospel truth and blessing.

Finally, the Apostle Paul says, and he says this especially in verse 28, that we’re to be unfrightened. They were going to face people coming in who claimed to know more than the Apostle Paul did about God’s word and God’s plan and God’s gospel, but also they were actually going to be opposed by Romans as well.

Paul reminds them that their opponents oppose them because they oppose the gospel, which is a sign of their opponents’ ultimate destruction, and it’s also a sign of the Philippians’ salvation because they are clinging to the one hope that sinful men and women have – the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul in this passage calls us to live like citizens of a heavenly kingdom, and to live in accordance with the gospel of Christ. May the Lord help us to do so.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Living In a Manner Worthy of the Gospel: Phil 1:27-28 (Part II)

2011-04-04T21:27:00.001-05:00

We began the main section of Paul’s letter last week, where he exhorts us to live in a manner worthy of the gospel. Paul is saying your motivation for living this way should not be that he’s coming, or anything else, but in the gospel itself, and he gives three motivations and encouragements as well.

I. Christians have a new citizenship.

We are encouraged even in the word that Paul uses to exhort, it is progressive:

“Continue to exercise your citizenship in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”

The little word that Paul uses that sometimes is translated “walk”, or sometimes translated “live,” sometimes translated “conduct yourselves” is a word that was closely associated to the practice of good citizens in the Roman Empire.

And with citizenship came privileges and obligations. So that word that Paul used here was often used to exhort Roman citizens to live up to the privileges and responsibilities that they had as citizens, and because in this passage Paul keeps bringing in ideas about the kingdom of heaven and you being a citizen of that kingdom of heaven, it may well be that in saying this phrase – conduct yourself like this, live like this, walk like this – he means that we ought to live like citizens of God’s kingdom, live like we are blood-bought, grace-granted citizens of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s almost like Paul is saying the kingdom of God is within you; let it shine before one another and before the watching world in Philippi. You have been granted citizenship not in the empire of Rome, but in the empire of God through Jesus Christ, and it has brought with it for you phenomenal privileges – and corresponding responsibilities. And so he is inviting you to go into a long meditation about the privileges and responsibilities that you have as a citizen of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then to work out the implications of that for how you live.

II. Christians should live in light of the gospel.

In light of the gospel…that’s pretty daunting, isn’t it? That’s good. Keeps you where you need to be – humble! And that’s what this whole thing is going to be about. But in the midst of the humbling of the gospel, there’s also a lot of encouraging, too.

The gospel call begins when God, out of His free love and grace, gives you a gift of incalculable value that you not only do not deserve and could not earn, but you positively don’t deserve because of who you are and what you’ve done, and it cost Him His own Son to give it to you, and He gives it to you anyway. And that is a very encouraging thought. And Paul now wants you to proceed to live the Christian life in light of that incalculable gift. He’s saying, ‘Don’t you ever forget the gospel of Christ, because it didn’t just get you in the kingdom: it’s how you live…how you live over and over again.’ Those who profess the gospel live their lives according to the gospel. Our lives are called to be suitable to the gospel, to bear the marks of the gospel, to be a complement to the gospel, so that those who believe gospel truths submit to gospel commands, depend on gospel promises, and live out gospel lives. Paul is saying adorn your profession of faith with a life of grace, according to the gospel.

III. Christians must understand the gospel.

If we are going to live in light of the gospel, then we need to know what the gospel is. If we’re going to understand the implications of the gospel, then we’ve got to understand the gospel itself.

The gospel is not simply “God loves you.” It’s better than that. The gospel, to begin to inch toward a short one-sentence statement of it, is not simply that God loves you; it’s that God loves you at the cost of His Son. Despite your sin, God loves you at the cost of His Son. There’s nothing like it. You can truck up and down all the world’s religions, and I defy you to find a message like that.

The Apostle Paul is urging us, you see, even when he says live, conduct yourself, behave like a citizen in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, he’s urging you to know what the gospel of Christ is. If someone were to say to us, “Quick! Fifteen seconds! Give me the gospel!” it should be so deep in our hearts, bones, and marrow that it just comes out. It’s altering the way we think, altering the way we live, it’s altering our value system, it’s causing a tension between what we now are and believe and the way we want to live with the way of the world around us—the way it thinks and what it values and how it behaves and how it wants to live.

It is so worthwhile to understand those things. I’ll tell you why it is to me. As I see more of myself, it’s not always a pretty sight, and especially in my habitual sins. I find myself constantly saying, “Lord, I need something big to help me on this, because I’ve tried all the little stuff and it’s not working. I need something really big to help me on this.”

Paul is coming with something big to help. Paul comes with those big things because he knows that you’re a big sinner who needs big grace, which requires a big Savior, and big truth. So you know what Paul is coming with? He’s coming with a big Savior and big truth…a Savior and truth that’s bigger than your sins, because we need it.

Barbara Porter's Parenting Notes

2011-04-04T11:47:00.009-05:00

Since Sunday morning, I've been asked numerous times for a copy of the quote I read from Barbara Porter's Monthly Report. Barbara has kindly agreed to share them. Since we don't have space in the First Epistle this week, I am posting them here now.

Some Basic Parenting Principles for Rearing Christian Disciples Barbara Porter

Times have changed, but certain basic parenting principles have - and will always remain the same. These principles are essential in the rearing of Christian disciples.

1. Make sure that you are guarding, nourishing, and focusing on your own spiritual condition. Are you putting Christ first? Do you make time to worship, fellowship with other Christians, read the Word of God, and pray?

2. The example that you set as parents is crucial to rearing Christian disciples. Do you realize the importance of living out your Christian faith every day in front of your children? Do they see that Christ is first in your life and that you seek to glorify Him in everything that you do?

3. Demonstrate to your children that your relationship with your spouse is the most important human relationship that you have. Prove this by showing respect for your spouse and displaying sacrificial love and physical affection for him/her.

4. Show and tell your children that you love them…every day! Work diligently at building a relationship with them. Take time from their earliest days to communicate with them about deep and important things.

5. Read the Word of God with your child and pray with and for your child - every day.

6. Give your child responsibilities. Do whatever it takes to create within him/her a godly work ethic. Do not do for your children what they are capable of doing for themselves. Those who hate work are among the most unhappy and unfulfilled people in this world. Adam and Eve had responsibilities to fulfill in the Garden of Eden before sin entered the picture. Work is truly a great gift from the Lord!

7. Do not bail your children out of the consequences that arise because of their own actions/choices. It is essential for them to learn from their earliest days that sin has consequences. You will not always be there to "enable" or "rescue" them.

8. Teach by example that Christ expects us to be presenting our bodies to Him as "living sacrifices." The world teaches that it is all about us, breeding those who love themselves first and best. Give them opportunities from their earliest years to serve others, those inside and outside of the church. Take them on a short-term mission trip so that they can see the extent of their own blessings and the extent of others' deprivation.

9. Teach them respect for others. Show them by example that it is the soul of another person that they should value and not that person's outer "shell." Part of showing respect for others involves (on their part) modest dress, inclusion, encouragement, forgiveness, praise, and setting a godly example.

10. Impress upon your children the brevity of this earthly life. God compared it to a vapor….Analyze your desire to accumulate THINGS. We must demonstrate to our children by our actions and priorities that material things will never be enough and will never satisfy. One day we will all give an account of our lives to our Creator. "Only one life…will soon be past…Only what is done for Christ will last." Help your children to understand that this earth is not our home. Therefore, we should not treat it as such.

11. Demand and command respect from your children. If they do not respect you whom they can see, how will they ever be able to respect God whom they cannot see? Do you live in such a way that you are worthy of their respect? Do you say one thing and do another? Even a young child can spot a hypocrite!

12. Teach your children that pleasing God is their ultimate goal. To do this means sometimes being alienated from the crowd. Pray with your child for one friend who is godly and true. God will provide this friend!!

13. Make sure your discipline is consistent and abounding in mercy. It is in the home where a child should experience his/her first understanding of the absolute beauty of the word mercy.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Living In a Manner Worthy of the Gospel: Phil 1:27-28 (Part I)

2011-03-31T14:54:00.002-05:00

We are now in the main section of the book and Paul’s main argument. I want to spend a while looking at these verses, because they introduce so much of that center section.

Paul starts with an ethical exhortation clearly concerned with the life that the Philippian Christians are going to live, and the witness to the culture around them, and the unity that that life is going to bring to the experience of that local congregation. In fact, it’s very clear throughout this passage that Paul is concerned about the Philippians’ humility.

As we study this large section of the letter there are two great themes that are going to be coming back over and over again throughout. I want to briefly introduce those two things this week, and then look briefly at the two verses that we’ll study over the next several weeks.

I. Two Great Themes

The first, gospel humility creates a united front in a local congregation. It is a huge truth that he is wanting the Philippians to imbibe by everything he says in this passage. That is not humility from emulating really fine, godly, sweet, wonderful parents, but humility that comes from the gospel coming to bear on your own life in such a way that you know what it is to have received the utterly undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus Christ personally, and that reality radiates everywhere in your life.

The Apostle Paul just keeps hammering home on this is because of the second theme in this middle section of Philippians: Unity does not just happen. You cannot have unity in any organization, and especially in the local church, simply by abstaining from doing anything outrageously destructive of it. Paul in this whole section is going to say the fundamental thing that has to happen for unity to reign in a congregation of Christians is gospel humility. There can be no unity in the church without gospel humility.

Paul himself was an example of this. Paul was on what you might call the ‘progressive’ side of early Christianity, and James was on what we might call the more ‘conservative’ side of Christianity. There have always been groups in the church. But notice, Paul, the leader of this so-called progressive side of Christianity, is deeply desirous that people in Philippi - who were the product of his ministry - give an offering to help Christians back in Jerusalem under the leadership of James, under this “more conservative” Jewish side of Christianity. Paul wants those Gentiles to be giving to those Jewish Christians in Palestine because Paul could think of no better way to express the reality that there is neither Jew nor Greek because of the gospel work of Jesus Christ than for these Greek Christians, who are held in a little bit of suspicion by those Jewish Christians, to give to the Jewish Christians in their need.

Paul is all about that. He will travel land and sea in order to go back and bless those Christians who are most suspicious of his work. Oh, boy, does that have ramifications for us! If we would learn something of that lesson, it would be dramatically fellowship-transforming.

II. Worthy of the Gospel

Now, let us briefly look at Philippians 1:27 and 28 and I will outline the significance of what Paul says in the first clause. In the coming weeks, we’ll work out what it means to live a life worthy of the gospel.

Paul is giving the Philippians an exhortation in this passage, and that exhortation crumples me to my knees. Before he’s got the last syllable of it out, I’m going, “Lord, could you give me some help on this? You’re asking me to conduct myself, to live my life, in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ? I would like to volunteer. I would like to get in the line right now and ask for some help.” But Paul is giving help and encouragement to you before he finishes the verse, and he’s especially giving it by way of pointing you to your motivation, even in the short first clause of Philippians 1:27: “Conduct yourselves….”

The motivation comes in these words: Paul says that we are to conduct ourselves in light of the gospel of Christ; and as imposing as that is at first glance, there’s some and very real encouragement in that phrase. And so in both the exhortation and the verb used – conduct yourselves, live this way, walk this way – there’s encouragement; and in the phrase the gospel of Christ there is encouragement.

Paul says fairly directly three things in this passage. He tells you that you need to realize your new citizenship, and that’s going to be one of the encouragements, one of the motivations to living in a manner worthy of the gospel – realizing your citizenship. Secondly, he’s going to tell you to live in light of the gospel. And when you realize what that means, what the gospel was for you, that’s a real encouragement. And then, thirdly, and implicitly, he’s reminding you that you need to know the gospel and its implications. Studying the gospel is a life-long pursuit. Knowing the gospel and seeing it worked out in all of the ramifications that it has into every area of our life is a life-long pursuit. It’s something that we are always seeing deeper implications of. It’s something that we’re always seeing new applications of in our life.

We will explore those three things next week.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Progress, Joy, Confidence: Philippians 1:25-26

2011-03-29T14:54:00.001-05:00

We’ve been in this section of Philippians for several days now, studying Paul’s life verse and life goal and seeing the reason he wants to live rather than die and be with Christ: because it is better for the Philippians.

In verses 25-26, Paul is giving us a declaration of his philosophy of ministry. If he’s not going to go and be with Jesus, what is it that he wants to stay here and do amongst Christians and amongst congregations? It’s three things: Progress; Joy; and, Confidence – that’s what he wants to produce in local churches if he’s going to stay here. It’s an ambition that is going to cost Paul dearly.

In II Corinthians 11:24-27 Paul tells us what he’d endured in order for this ambition to be realized. He’s not going to die and go to be with Jesus, instead this is what is going to happen to the Paul:

Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes….
Three times I was beaten with rods,
once I was stoned,
three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.
I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren;
I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

He does all of this because of the ambition of verses 25-26.

I. Progress.

Paul says, I’m willing to stay and go through all of this because I want to see you grow as believers. I want to see you knowing more of the truth. I want to see you loving more of the truth of the Scripture. I want congregations that are obsessed with these kinds of things. They’re growing, progressing in their Christian life because the gospel has taken root in them. And I’m willing to endure so that churches will progress in the Christian faith.

Does our appetite for, our interest in, our enthusiasm about growth in grace match that kind of commitment to us from Paul?

II. Joy.

Secondly, Paul says to us, ‘I’m willing not to go to be with Jesus; I’m willing to stay here and be beaten and abused and persecuted for your joy in the faith. I want you to get so much joy because you have trusted in Christ, because you have realized the supreme value of Christ.

This joy isn’t generic joy. It’s joy in Christ, gospel joy. It’s joy that required God to come in the flesh into this world. It required the Son of God to die on the cross and be dead and buried, and to be raised again from the dead for you. It requires the Holy Spirit to renew your heart so that you are born again in order to experience this joy. And Paul says, ‘It is worth it to me, Philippians, not to go to be with Jesus, but to stay here to work for your joy.’

Real joy, gospel joy is dangerous joy. Paul is saying, ‘I want you to be so happy in Jesus that you’re ready to die for Him. I want you to be so happy in Jesus that nothing else in this life measures up to Him.’ This is a radical, dangerous joy that Paul is talking about.

This is utterly different is from what we see going on in the world around us today. The practitioners of Wahhabi Islam are saying, ‘God is so great that I will die for him blowing up infidels.’ This is radically different from what Christianity is calling us to. You’re not a martyr when you blow other people up for God; you’re a martyr when you’re persecuted to death by other people because you want them to have joy, because you love them with a love that God has loved you with in Christ, and you long for their blessing and joy. It is utterly different than what is happening in Wahhabi Islam around the world, and it’s far more powerful and far more radical.

III. Confidence.

A third thing: Paul says that he wants to work for their confident joy in him in Jesus Christ.

Paul is saying, ‘I want you to get joy from me in my coming again. I want to come again to you and give you joy that God is sovereignly in control of me in my life, in your life, in the progress of the gospel; and I want you to see that your fears were ill-founded, and that the Lord of heaven is still ruling all things by His Word and Spirit, and I want to be a blessing to you.’

And: He wants Jesus to get the glory for his coming again to the Philippians. The point is not their confidence in Paul; the point is their confidence in God for bringing Paul to them again.

And so he wants a church that’s growing in grace, growing as believers, that knows real joy – the joy which is in the faith, the joy of the faith, that only comes from Jesus Christ; and he wants them to glorify Christ even in their joy in him. And he’s willing to stay and work for these things.

These things are not added extras to the Christian life. These things are essential: growing in grace; coming to value Christ so much that everything else that is enjoyed is enjoyed in Him, but nothing else is enjoyed as much as Him, and nothing else that is enjoyed is enjoyed apart from Him. And our battle is that we have so much that it’s easy to just think totally apart from Christ, totally apart from His incarnation, from his crucifixion and from the new birth, ‘Life is good! Life is sweet!’ Paul is saying ‘I’ve come to realize that life is not good, life is not sweet, apart from Christ.’

This happened to the Philippian Christians, look at II Corinthians 8 and 9. Paul says that God’s grace came to the Christians in Macedonia so that in the midst of their poverty, generosity overflowed so that the Macedonians are giving Paul money so that he can go share the gospel to the filthy-rich Corinthians. It’s glorious, isn’t it?

Gleanings in Philippians ~ To Be or Not to Be: Phil 1:21-26 (Part II)

2011-03-28T16:06:00.001-05:00

We saw last week how Paul was arguing with himself whether it was, ‘better for me to die and be with Christ, or is it better for me to live and fruitfully labor?’ He decides to follow in his Master’s footsteps, that it is better for their sake that he live, and so Paul prays that God will allow him to live, that Paul may continue to encourage the Philippians.

There are so many other things we could say, but this is the one thing I want us to focus on:The gospel gives us a joy that allows us to be selfless and to seek the joys of others. And that truth had come home to Paul. Paul was a very religious man when he was a Pharisee named Saul, he thought that he could glorify God by killing Jewish people who became followers of Jesus the Messiah. He was on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians when Jesus Himself met him and brought about a radical transformation in his life. And despite being a religious man, He changed him from being fundamentally a selfish man to being a joyful worshiper of the one true God, filled with desire for others to enjoy the joy that God had given him by the gospel.

The people that populate this world long for joy, for fulfillment, for satisfaction. The people who are in this world all around us—Christian or not, religious or not—want those things. But often they seek for that personal joy at the expense of others, and in so doing they are idolaters. They have put themselves and their joy, their satisfaction, at the very center of life.

The Christian message to that selfish, self-centered, joy-seeking world is not “Forget about joy; be good and do good to others.” That is not the gospel message. The gospel is that God has done something for us in His Son that we could not do ourselves, for ourselves or for others, and that something He has done in His Son has given to us the joy for which God created us, and so we are freed from seeking our own personal joy to be concerned about the joy of others because we have been given the greatest joy that we could ever have: fellowship with the living God through Jesus Christ—through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; through His substitutionary atonement on the cross; and, therefore, the gospel has given us a joy that allows us to be selfless, but also causes us to have a longing for others to participate in that same joy.

Paul is manifesting the fruit of that truth when he says that he will pray for life and seek their progress and joy. Not because Paul is renouncing joy, but because he has found a joy that is beyond anything that he could have achieved by pursuing joy for joy’s sake. He has been given joy from Christ, who said to His disciples, “I have come to give you life, and that abundantly.” Having received that joy by grace from God through Christ in His death on the cross, now he is set free to seek the joy of others.

After realizing this, it would be very easy for us to draw this lesson from this passage: Paul was selfless; we ought to be selfless, too. Well, that’s true. We ought to be selfless. But if that were the gospel, we’d all be going to hell. But this is the gospel: Someone was selfless for us, and gave us a greater joy than we could ever have found in our own seeking, and has set us free now from our selfishness to enjoy the selfless pursuit of the joy of others in Christ Jesus. That’s great news, and it’s the news that liberated Paul from fear as he faced continued imprisonment and possible death. It’s a joy that can liberate you from every fear you face, if you will but trust in Christ.

The song - and many of us know it quite well, “In Christ Alone,” beautifully encapsulates it. The song’s first stanza’s confession sounds so much like Romans 8 and Philippians 1:

“In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This cornerstone, this solid ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What height of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when striving cease!

My comforter, my all in all,

Here in the love of Christ I stand.”

That’s the confession of the Apostle Paul: “For to me, to live is Christ.” Bring the storm on. Bring the drought on. Bring the strivings on. My life is hid with God in Christ. He is my all in all. The song concludes as Paul concludes this, because that’s true:

“No guilt in life…” [my sin has been dealt with]

“No fear in death…” [I have nothing to fear from the grave.]

“This is the power of Christ in me;

From life’s first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.”

We could fill up years of meditation just on that sentence: “From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.” Not the world, not the flesh, not the devil; but Jesus commands my destiny.

That’s exactly what Paul is saying in Philippians 1:21-26. I pray that you would be so captured by the glory and the comfort and the joy of that reality that you will determine to study it until it is more real for you than it has ever been real before.

Derek's Call to Columbia, SC

2011-03-27T21:46:00.008-05:00

At the end of the evening service tonight (March 27, 2001), I made the following announcement pertaining to Derek Thomas' call to First Presbyterian Church (ARP), Columbia, SC.

This morning, the congregation of First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, SC voted to call Derek Thomas to be their Associate Minister, working alongside his longtime friend, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson. Derek has accepted this call and, pending the approval of his new presbytery and his transfer by ours, is due to begin his work there on June 1, just a little over two months hence.

Derek has served us as Minister of Teaching since August 2, 1999. These almost twelve years have been an extraordinary blessing to our whole congregation, and to me. I have known Derek Thomas for almost half my life. He is a faithful and esteemed colleague, he is one of the great preachers of our time, he has been to me “that friend who sticketh closer than a brother,” and he has been my pastor for more than a decade.

Derek and I have been praying and talking about this for many weeks now. I told him that, selfishly, I wanted him to be here with us, but that, even more, I wanted him to do whatever he thought the Lord was calling him to do, and that I would be fully and unreservedly supportive, no matter his decision.

And, I am, my dear friend.

No one here tonight or in our congregation will miss you more than I will. So also no one is more delighted for you in this new calling, or more overjoyed at the thought of what the congregation of First Columbia is going to receive in and through you.

Derek and Rosemary will continue their life and ministry among us for some weeks ahead, so there is no reason for us to try to say goodbye tonight. We simply wanted you as a congregation to know, and not to learn of this second-hand. We will have an opportunity, as a congregation, in May, to express our love and appreciation to Derek and Rosemary.

Good evening, beloved friends.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ To Be or Not to Be: Phil 1:21-26 (Part I)

2011-03-24T18:13:00.000-05:00

For a while now we’ve been studying Paul’s letter to the Philippians, and for much of this month we’ve been parked at verse 21 of chapter 1, which we have seen as something of a “life verse” for Paul.

Today and into next week, we’re going to look at two things in verses 21-26, as we prepare to do that I want you to follow Paul’s argument—the argument that is going on inside his own heart in these verses.

In verse 21, you’ll see Paul’s thesis, his theme statement. It’s a truth claim which is life-changing.

Second, in verse 22, Paul articulates his dilemma: ‘Is it better for me to die and be with Christ, or is it better for me to live and fruitfully labor? In light of the truth of verse 21, is it better for me to fruitfully labor in life or to enjoy the immediate presence of Christ in death?’

Thirdly, he analyzes this dilemma in verses 23-24. He breaks down the dilemma and puts a name on both sides of the dilemma.

And then, finally, in verses 25-26, we see a resolution of the dilemma.

This week, we’ll go through Paul’s chain of arguments. The second thing, for next week, is to draw a life-changing truth from this passage.

In that very famous Shakespearean soliloquy, Hamlet is wrestling with the same question that Paul is wrestling with here. The Greeks, in Paul’s time when he was writing this letter, often viewed death as a relief from the hardships of life, and thought about death as comforting because it brought an end to the turmoil of this life. Hamlet raises a question about that kind of thinking in the famous soliloquy. Paul is wrestling with the same question, but in an entirely different framework.

I. Paul’s core belief (v. 21)

First, notice how he states his core belief about what the gospel has done for him in Jesus Christ: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” We’ve said all along that by saying that Paul is affirming that real life means knowing, loving, serving, glorifying, enjoying, and communing with Jesus Christ. That is real life, and God has given him that real life in Christ. Because of that, death is gain, and will usher us into the immediate presence of Christ.

II. Paul’s dilemma (v. 22)

But this leads him into a struggle. To die is gain, he says at the end of verse 21.

Paul is saying death will bring an inestimable gain for me. There’s no questioning in Paul’s heart. It’s not that he wants to die; it’s that he wants to be with Christ, and death is the transition that he must pass through in order to be with Christ. Living, however, means fruitful labor, telling people about Christ, serving the church, encouraging the Philippians who have sent him out to the mission field. And so he states his dilemma at the end of verse 22: ‘I don’t know which of these things that I ought to long for.'

And then he begins to analyze this dilemma in verses 23-24. “I’m hard pressed from both directions…”

‘To depart is better for me; to stay is better for you.’ Paul says it’s a no-brainer: if to depart is better for me, but to stay is better for you, I know what I’m going to pray. In fact, he says, I know what God’s going to do in His providence. He will allow me to stay and minister to you for a while longer.

Of course, Paul is reflecting his Savior at that point. Was it better for Jesus to stay in glory with angels worshiping and singing to Him day and night in the halls of heaven, or to come to earth in our poor flesh and blood to live and die in a fallen world, to be rejected by His own people, to be executed by the religious leaders of His day, to be dead and buried? No, it would have been better for Jesus to stay in the halls of glory, but it was needful for us that He come. And so Paul is just drawing the same conclusion, following in the footsteps of his Savior.

III. Paul’s resolution (vv. 25-26)

Paul opens verse 25 with: “Convinced of this….” That truth claim is what starts this dilemma for Paul. (begin bold) Do you believe the same thing that Paul says that he believes in Philippians 1:21 (end bold)? If you do, then I would challenge you to make a study of Philippians 1:21, and to ask God in prayer, “Lord, help me to believe Philippians 1:21 like Paul believed Philippians 1:21 when he wrote it; and, correspondingly, change my life so that I’m really living my life in light of the truth of Philippians 1:21.”

Paul is convinced of it, and it changed the way that he looked at life. He did not look at life as miserable and fruitless, but as joyful and fruitful; and he could still anticipate death as full of an even greater joy.

Remember that the reason that he is sharing this struggle with the Philippians is for the increase of their joy. They were troubled by the fact that he was in prison, that he was incapable of doing mission work, that he was facing the prospect of death. And so he wrote to them to comfort them and to give them joy.

Paul knows that it is good for him to remain, because he can serve the growth, the progress, and the joy of the Philippian Christians, and indeed of all who trust in Jesus Christ.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ The gain of death: Phil 1:21

2011-03-22T16:04:00.002-05:00

We’ve been in this verse for a while, and we haven’t gotten to the second half of the verse yet.

There’s good reason for that. The comfort that we all look for – and surely we look for it especially in the hour of death – the comfort that we get in the second half of this verse in Paul’s affirmation that “to die is gain” is reserved for those who know the truth of the first half of this verse. In other words, the second half of this verse makes no sense and holds no hope out to those who have not realized the grace in their experience of the first half of this verse. It is for those who to live is Christ that to die is gain. And so we are now finally to the second half of this verse.

Thomas Boston once said that as the believer’s life is different from the unbeliever’s life, so also the believer’s death is different from the unbeliever’s death. For the unbeliever, death is a loss – the greatest loss; but for the believer, death is the greatest gain.

Now how can that be true? Despite that natural and appropriate grief and mourning and sense of loss that we experience even as believers when loved ones die, yet for believers in the Lord Jesus Christ death is the greatest gain. And that’s what Paul is saying.

How can he say that? For four reasons, and you’ll find them in and around Philippians 1:21.

I. To die is gain.

Paul says in Philippians 1:21: “…to die is gain.” What kind of gain? You might think of stanza 4 of “Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation”:

“Here vouchsafe to all thy servants what they ask of Thee to gain…”

“…What they gain from thee forever with the blessed to retain…”

“…And hereafter in Thy glory evermore with Thee to reign.”

This hymn is singing of the gain that Paul is talking about in Philippians 1:21, as he goes on in verse 23 “…To depart and to be with Christ.” The gain is to be with Christ, the greatest gain because our greatest prize is Christ and being with Him, and in death we are united with Him. We are brought into fellowship with Him. I love the way Paul puts this in II Corinthians 5:8: “…I prefer to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” The prime longing of every Christian is to be with Christ, to fellowship with Christ because we prize Christ more than anything else. We immediately enjoy fellowship with Christ at death.

II. Made perfect in holiness.

Believers approach death as gain because in death believers are made perfect in holiness. Paul wrestled all his life with the reality that sin has worked its way into every part of us because of Adam’s original sin. It deeply grieved Paul that though he was redeemed by the blood of Christ and had been called into His service, yet he still struggled with sin, and he writes about it in Romans 7:24:

“Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”

He answers that question in Philippians 1:20. In Philippians 1:20, he says:

“I will not be put to shame in anything, but with all boldness Christ will even now as always be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”

Paul knew that in death, Christ was going to be exalted in his perfecting of Paul so that he would never ever sin again. That’s why Paul will say in Romans 7:25, “Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ!”

III. Pass into glory.

In death believers pass into glory. Paul says in Philippians 1:23, that he’s hard pressed from both directions. He has a desire to depart and be with Christ, because “it is very much better.” When a believer passes through death, he passes into a place of glory, and into a company of glory, and into a state of glory.

Jesus says in John 14:2. “I go to prepare a place for you. In My Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.” It is a glorious place with glorious company: there we will be with all the saints, including those loved ones in Christ for whom you are awaiting a reunion, and the angels, but above all, the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a glorious state! “Rest,” Hebrews 4:9 says. Rest! In this overly busy life that we live: running around chasing our own tails. But there: everlasting rest.

In death we begin to taste for the first time the fullness of the glory to come. Though in our death we do not immediately taste all of the fullness of the glory to come – that awaits the resurrection – but in death, more than we have ever before, we will taste glory.

IV. United to Christ

In death believers are still united to Christ. What does Paul say in Philippians 1:23? That to depart is to be with Christ. We are enjoying being with Christ because we are united to Him. This is the fulfillment of what Paul says in those so familiar and beautiful words in Romans 8:38

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And then the Apostle Paul, when he says that to depart is to be with Christ, when he says that to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord, is affirming the truth of Romans 8 for believers. Though our bodies are still in the grave, we’re united to our Savior and our souls fellowship with Him. That’s why one Christian said, “Christians outlive and out die pagans.” Are you prepared for your dying day? Only if you understand the first part of Philippians 1:21 can you know the comfort of the second part of Philippians 1:21. May God grant that you are prepared now by the gospel for that great day!

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Dying to Live: Phil 1.21 (Part II)

2011-03-21T17:01:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago we started studying Phil 1.21, and we said that this verse says two things. First, if to live is Christ means to know, love, serve, glorify, enjoy, commune with Jesus Christ. Second, we said this verse suggests we can approach death as gain, which we’ll look at next week. This week, now that we’re all back from Spring Break, I want to look more deeply, apply, illustrate the four ways of manifesting that to live is Christ that we said last week.

If those for whom it is true that to live is Christ want to know as much of Christ as possible, want to be as much like Christ as possible, want Christ to be known as far and wide as possible, and want to enjoy Christ more than anyone or anything else, what does that look like?

First, those who purpose to know as much of Christ as it is possible to know read their Bibles looking for, come to church hungry for, and are avid learners of the truth of Christ.

Are you like the disciples on the road to Emmaus who can testify that as Jesus opened that Bible to them and preached to them Christ from all the Scriptures. They read their Scriptures looking for Christ, because as our Lord Jesus said, those Scriptures speak of Him. Those who want to know as much of Christ as possible read their Bibles regularly with a view to seeing Christ revealed in all His glory.

And those who want to know Christ and want to know more of Christ, and want to know as much of Christ as it is possible to know come to church looking for Christ as He is offered in the gospel. They come to church not looking for excitement, entertainment, or styles; they come looking for Christ as He is offered in the gospel. They look for Him in the songs, in the prayers, in the words, and in the message that is proclaimed. If He is not there, no matter what else is there, no matter what entertainment, no matter what excitement, they go back empty, because what they have come for is for Christ.

Those who purpose to know as much of Christ as it is possible to know read their Bibles in this way and come to church hungry for Him in this way.

Secondly, those who purpose to be like Christ – who want to emulate Him, who want to love the things that He loves, who want to do the will of Him who sent Him – know that their acceptance with God does not rest on their wanting to be like Christ.

If you think that your acceptance with God, your forgiveness and pardon and salvation from God is dependent upon your wanting to be like Christ and in some measure becoming more like Christ, then you’re mistaken. The message of Christianity is not God giving you some good advice on what you can do to help yourself out. The gospel message of Christianity is about what Christ has done, so that you could be accepted by your loving heavenly Father, justly and mercifully, righteously and graciously; and you cannot add to that. And so those who want to be like Christ, as much like Christ as possible, don’t want to be like Christ so that they will be accepted by God: they know that in Christ they are loved as much as it is possible for a child to be loved. By His grace, sins are forgiven and washed away, not because of anything that they have done.

But precisely because they have been given that grace, they crave to manifest His character in their character. They want to manifest Christ-likeness in their vocations, recreations, and relationships. They want no part of their life untouched by the sovereign, transforming grace of God in Jesus Christ.

Those who live as if to live is Christ not only want to know Him, not only want to be like Him, but they want to make Him known to the ends of the earth, and they are ready to undertake tremendous costs.

Finally, those who purpose to enjoy Christ study to delight in Him, and prize or value Him. Those who purpose to enjoy Christ study to delight in Him and prize or value Him. Ask yourself this question: ‘What is it that I want most in life? What is it that I care most about in this life? What is it that I love most in this life?’ you can answer that question by looking at: How do you spend your money? How do you spend your time? Where are your affections? What do you think about when you’re not thinking about anything else? That will show you what you love.

True believers have come to understand that God did not send His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that He could save us from our sins and save us from hell so that we could go back to loving something else other than Him – or as much as, or more than Him. He saved us from sin and from hell so that we could delight in the thing which God created human beings to delight in, and that is Himself, through Jesus Christ.

But our hearts are tugged – even those who know Him and love Him, we find our hearts being pulled in two directions – to Him and away from Him. And so we have to study to delight in Him. We have to deliberately determine that we are going to delight in Him more than and above anything and everything else.

That’s why Jonathon Edwards says:

“True saints center their attention on Christ, and His beauty transcends all others. His delight is the source of all other delights. He is Himself the best among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.”

That’s why John Piper says that the authenticating inner essence of worship is being satisfied with Christ, prizing Christ, cherishing Christ, treasuring Christ. And that’s what we are to be doing in our worship services – prizing Christ, treasuring Christ, valuing Christ, delighting in Christ, being satisfied in Christ, going hard after Christ – because His delight is better than any other delight, and His delight alone cannot be taken from us.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Dying to Live: Phil 1:21 (Part I)

2011-03-07T23:32:00.001-06:00

Last week we said that this verse says two things. First, if to live is Christ means to know, love, serve, glorify, enjoy, commune with Jesus Christ. Second, we said this verse suggests we can approach death as gain, which we’ll look at later in the week. Today, however, I want to look more deeply, apply, illustrate the four ways of manifesting that to live is Christ that we said last week.

First, those who purpose to know as much of Christ as it is possible to know read their Bibles looking for, come to church hungry for, and are avid learners of the truth of Christ.

Those who purpose to know as much of Christ as it is possible to know read their Bibles in this way and come to church hungry for Him in this way.

Secondly, those who purpose to be like Christ – who want to emulate Him, who want to love the things that He loves, who want to do the will of Him who sent Him – know that their acceptance with God does not rest on their wanting to be like Christ.

Finally, those who purpose to enjoy Christ study to delight in Him, and prize or value Him. Those who purpose to enjoy Christ study to delight in Him and prize or value Him. Ask yourself this question: ‘What is it that I want most in life? What is it that I care most about in this life? What is it that I love most in this life?’ you can answer that question by looking at: How do you spend your money? How do you spend your time? Where are your affections? What do you think about when you’re not thinking about anything else? That will show you what you love.

That’s why Jonathon Edwards says:

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Living Out Philippians 1:21 (Part I)

2011-02-25T17:27:00.003-06:00

Tuesday, in Philippians 1:21, we said that this verse is something which is true of all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, having looked at the meaning of the two parts of this verse earlier this week, we’ll apply it this today and into next week. The first question that we’re going to be studying as an aid to applying this passage is simply this:

What does it mean to live as if to live is Christ: It means that we live with our first and central aim in life being to know, glorify, and enjoy Christ.

What is your first and central aim in life? Not what do you say is your purpose is in life when in a religious crowd and need to give a spiritual answer; but, in your heart of hearts, what is your first and central aim in life? Paul said the answer to that question for every Christian is the same.

Now in one sense that is just filling out the first commandment. He is to be sole and singular in getting the great and ultimate worship of our life. And so, in a sense, to live is Christ, and living it out, is simply saying that Christ is the One that I worship.

There has been a battle at this point from the beginning history. In the Garden, it is the battle between the supremacy of God and the supremacy of our desires from the very point of Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve through the serpent. When Eve takes and Adam eats that fruit, they are saying to God, ‘No, sir! We are not going to follow Your word. We’re going to do it our way.

Every day that same story is played out in human experience, where we set our desires on something other than the one true and living God in Jesus Christ. We say, ‘To live is_____’ and you fill in the blank, and it’s not Christ, it’s something else, it’s ‘to live is to experience this sensual pleasure.’ And our hearts are pulled to it, and we do it. And we have chosen that pleasure over God.

Paul is saying in this passage that Christ is first and foremost, and no desire and no wealth, can substitute for knowing and serving, and loving and fellowshipping, and glorifying and enjoying Christ.

So, how do we know that we are living as if to live is Christ? Here’s four quick things:

First, those for whom it is true that ‘to live is Christ’ purpose to know as much of Christ as possible.

Those who know that to live is Christ want to know as much of Christ as possible. They want to know about His character, His plans. They want to know about how the Persons of the Trinity relate to Him. They want to know all about His claims, His words, His works, His ways, the meaning of His death—His saving, redeeming work—and they cannot get enough!

When you fall in love with a person, you want to both know him or her and know all about him or her. That’s the way it is for those for whom it is true that to live is Christ.

Secondly, those who live as if “to live is Christ” want to be like Christ.

They’re not satisfied with just knowing about Him. They themselves want to be conformed to His image. They want to think like He thinks, believe like He believes. They want their life goal to be His life goal.

And on the Last Day, when we stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, one of the interesting things will be that though we will be accepted—not we did anything before or after our conversion that fitted us for life with God in heaven—yet we’ll stand back and we’ll look at the multitude say, “They’re like Jesus! They’ve become like Him, and He’s accepted them, not because of those things, but only for Christ. And He’s transformed them so that in their character they have become like Him who is the image of the living God.” Those who really live as if to live is Christ want to be like Christ.

Thirdly, those who live as if “to live is Christ” purpose to make Him known as far as possible to all humanity.

Paul thought God’s purpose for him in life was to stamp out the name of Christ and crush Christianity. And then, Christ met him on the way to Damascus, changed his heart, and turned him into a dynamic missions-evangelist-pastor-theologian. And when He did, because Paul understood the greatness of Christ in that encounter, he wanted everyone else within earshot to know the greatness of Christ, and he crossed land and sea so that others might experience the grace and the greatness of Christ in the way that he did.

One last thing. To live as if ‘to live is Christ’ means to purpose to enjoy Christ, to draw our comforts from Him, to find our happiness in communion with Him.

It is not that we don’t enjoy the good things that God has given us in this life. But even when we’re enjoying those good things, we know that we have them only because of Jesus Christ, and we can enjoy them only in fellowship with Jesus Christ. As good as these things are, they would mean nothing to us apart from Jesus Christ.

This is what it is to live is Christ. And if this is to live, then this also says to us something very important about death, which we’ll look at next week.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Life = Christ, Death = Gain: Phil 1:21 (Part II)

2011-02-25T17:25:00.004-06:00

Yesterday we looked at Paul’s view of life and the future. He reminds the Christian that his life is caught up with God in Christ. Today we’ll consider what it is to die, that is to go to be in Christ’s presence.

II. To die is gain.

And it is that understanding that enables Paul to say a second thing, “…and to die is gain.” Paul is not saying for everybody in the world life is good and death is better, he is saying that only of those who have rested and trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation as He is offered in the gospel. He is saying that only of those, as he says in Galatians 2:20 and Philippians 3:8-10, only for those for whom this is true (that Christ is our life) can we say that real life is Christ, and death is even better. It is something, as far as Paul is concerned, that is universally true, but it is particularly experienced and it is only experienced by those who have placed their faith in Christ. And so this word of assurance, “...to die is gain...” is only for Christians. Paul is saying, ‘Because Christ is my life, because to live is Christ—because of that—death is even better.’ Paul is saying that he looks for a fuller experience of the knowledge and love, and glory and enjoyment, and communion and fellowship of Christ immediately upon his death.

Notice that Paul is not struggling between heaven and hell. This isn’t a struggle between heaven and hell, nor is it a struggle between hard, hard life...and some respite from that.

The struggle that Paul is having is between full life now and immediately fuller life upon death. Paul is wrestling between abundant life and fruitful, Christ-exalting ministry amidst sufferings and struggles and dangers and pain here on earth – that’s on the one side – and even more abundant life because of immediate enjoyment of Christ in His nearer presence, with none of the suffering and pain and struggle and toil and disappointment, in death. He’s come to realize this: ‘Whether I live or I die, no one can take Christ from me. No one can put me to shame; and if I die, I’m just going to be closer to Christ.’

Consider how radical this is both from the standpoint of the Old Testament and Paul’s culture and from our own.

In the Old Testament, you see this pattern that emerges in the Old Testament that to die is to be put to shame. One of the ways that God vindicates His Old Testament people against their enemies is He causes His people to live and His enemies to die. And so the psalmist will say in Psalm 118:17-18,

“I shall not die, but live, and declare the mighty works of God.”

In other words, he’s saying, ‘Lord, one of the ways You’re going to vindicate me is that my enemies are going to die, and I’m going to live to be able to tell the story of it.’ Look at Psalm 22:5 and Psalm 31:17, and you’ll see this same theme playing itself out in the Old Testament: to die is to be put to shame. That equation is made.

But Paul has come to the point where he’s said, ‘If I die, I’m not going to be put to shame, because to live or to die is Christ. The equation I face is not life with Christ and death without Him, life with honor and death with shame. Rather, it’s life with Christ, and in death more of Him. No shame, all glory, all Christ-exaltation: this is extraordinary. The Greeks in Paul’s day very often would talk about people who had had a hard life: ‘Oh, they’ve gotten rest in death. Their life was hard, but now they’ve got some rest in death.’ That’s not what Paul is saying. What he’s saying is better than that. Paul is not doing the same thing that Hamlet was doing in his famous "to be or not to be" soliloquy in which Hamlet thinks, ‘Well, maybe death will give me relief from the torture that I’m experiencing in life. But what’s death going to be like, asks Hamlet? Maybe, maybe,’ he says, ‘death is going to be worse than life!’

That’s not what Paul is doing here. Paul is doing something entirely different. He’s saying, ‘My deliverance does not depend on whether I live or die. In fact, death is advantageous to me. Christ is going to be glorified, no matter what the verdict is against me, and I am going to get the profit. I am going to get the gain, no matter what the verdict is against me, because death simply ushers me into the gain.’ What is the gain? It’s the personal benefit of being in the Lord’s presence. If for Paul this life is Christ, death is simply going to usher him into the presence of the One who is his life! That’s not a loss, it’s a gain.

And there’s the key: If to live is to know and to love and to glorify and enjoy Christ, then, and only then, is to die gain.

Of course it is only a gain for those who believe on Christ! What Paul is saying is universally true: the only people who know real life are those who have been granted it by Jesus, because He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by Me.” So these words of comfort are lost on those who cannot say, “For to me, to live is Christ….” The first part of the sentence is necessary for the comfort of the second part of the sentence.

When we wrestle with this verse, we are wrestling with eternal matters. Life is short. Hell is real. And eternity is long. And your knowing the life of which Paul speaks in the first half of this verse is going to determine your experience of life here and hereafter. God grant that we would accept no substitute for the only One who can give us life.

Gleanings in Philippians ~Life = Christ, Death = Gain: Phil 1.21 (Part I)

2011-02-25T17:23:00.003-06:00

In Philippians 1:12-20, Paul is giving a missionary report, but it’s an unusual missionary report in that it has a pastoral purpose of ministering to the Philippians as they worry about Paul. Paul is in prison, awaiting sentencing, and that sentence may be death or it may be something else. As we continue making our way through this great letter of the Apostle Paul, our passage today is a passage that no doubt many have memorized and used as a life verse, and so we’ll be looking at it closely for the next few days. Today, we’ll look at the first part of Paul’s view of the future.

I. To live is Christ.

Paul, in his state of imprisonment, has been thinking about his life and his death. And, thank God, the Lord had him write down his profound, inspired reflection upon the meaning of his life and the benefit of death. The struggle that’s going on in Paul as he thinks about his life and his death: ‘Lord, is it better for me to live and minister for many years to come, or is it better to die?’ And as he’s thought it through, Paul’s come to this conclusion: ‘Christ is going to be glorified whether I live or die. I’m going to be closer to Christ when I die, so no matter what the verdict is against me, whether I am released and I can go preach the gospel and see men and women, and boys and girls coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, or whether I die and go immediately into the presence of my Savior, I win! This is a no-lose scenario!’ Paul wants the Philippians, and he wants you and me, to understand this, because his experience is not unique.

Paul wants the Philippians to approach their persecution with the same biblical confidence, hope, promise, and truth, and he wants us to approach our circumstances – the most difficult of them, the most disheartening of them, the most discouraging of them – with the same gospel hope. And so I want you to see two things over the couple of days by way of introducing this verse, as beautiful as that sentence (Phil 1.21) is, it’s pretty dense.

What does that mean, that to live is Christ? Real life, real life…is… [Doesn’t that kind of get your juices going, when Paul is about to tell you what real life is? Here it is.] …knowing, loving, serving, glorifying, enjoying, communing, and fellowshipping with Jesus Christ—that is real life. Knowing, loving, serving, glorifying, enjoying, fellowshipping and communing with Christ is real life. In other words, Paul is saying to you, to the Philippians, to me, he is saying: ‘My total life meaning and fulfillment is in knowing Christ, in loving Christ, in serving Christ, in glorifying Christ, in enjoying Christ, in fellowshipping with Christ, in communing with Christ. That is the whole thing!’

Paul is saying that anything worthy of the name life is caught up with an intoxication with fellowship with Christ, with serving Christ, with favor from Christ. This is why the old gospel song writer wrote, “Jesus is all the world to me: my life, my joy, my all.” In a sense, Paul’s words here are simply confirming that Jesus was not lying when He said to His disciples – what? – “I came to give you life, and that abundantly.” Paul is saying, ‘Let me stand up and testify. He did!

Paul was on his way to take the lives of Christians when Christ came and gave him life. You don’t think Paul wants to give Him praise for what the Savior has given to Him? Christ has given him life! And that’s what Paul is talking about here. Paul is saying, ‘I live to glorify Christ,’ just as Christ would say, “It is My food, My meat, to be able to do the will of Him who sent Me.” Christ alone gives me meaning and satisfaction. Christ alone is my greatest delight. My life,’ the Apostle Paul is saying, ‘has no meaning apart from Christ. He is the object of all my affections. He’s the goal of all my ministry. He’s the motive. He’s the why I get up in the morning. He’s my inspiration.’ Paul is saying, ‘My life has no meaning apart from Christ.’

You understand that the Apostle Paul is not saying that nothing else in life is to be enjoyed by Christians but Christ, but what he is saying is this: that as we enjoy all the gifts of God, they are subordinated to and related to our prime delight in, love for, satisfaction in, fulfillment in, love of Jesus Christ. And if any of those good things that we have compete with Him for first place, what have we become? Idolaters…worshiping the blessing rather than the Bless-er…worshiping the lesser blessing rather than the One greater blessing. Paul is saying, ‘From every delight that God has given me in this life, whether it is a cup of cool, refreshing, good tasting water, or that seven-course meal, or friends who stick with me through thick and thin, and love me despite my sin and the way I let them down, or whether it’s seeing a child come to faith in Christ, or an enemy of the gospel come to love the Savior, or watching a sunset, or contemplating that God flung the stars into space—all of those things are subsumed under and related to this one overarching thing: that for me, to live is Christ—so that if you took all of my ability to see and enjoy those things away, you could not take Christ away from me. But if you take Christ away from me, none of those other things matter.’ Paul is saying that Christ has given him life, and that to know real life is to know Jesus Christ, and that his life is all about loving and knowing and serving and glorifying and enjoying, fellowshipping with and communing with Christ.

Paul is not just saying that ‘that’s for me, a super-Christian.’ He’s saying that’s the way it is with every Christian, that life is caught up with God in Christ.

That’s the first part, we’ll consider more tomorrow and later this week.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ For the Greater Progress of the Gospel: Phil 1:12-20 (Part IV)

2011-02-24T16:22:00.002-06:00

Over the past week, we’ve considered Paul’s comforting words to the Philippian church. Paul begins recounting how God has used Paul’s situation for His glory, and then reminds them that God will build His Church despite opposition. Finally this week, he reminds us of our ultimate concern.

III. Paul rejoices that the gospel is proclaimed (vv. 15-18).

Paul responds to the Philippians who are wondering about Paul’s enemies enviously preaching the gospel. Paul says, ‘Some are out there because they know that I’m in prison. They love me, they love the gospel, they love Christ, and say ‘We better step up and share the gospel.’ They’re doing it out of love, with right motives. Others, however, may be thinking, ‘Paul’s in prison, and when he hears that we’re out preaching the gospel and winning converts and gaining fame through our faithful proclamation, he’ll be discouraged.’’

Paul says to the Philippians, ‘I’m not discouraged when Christ is truly preached, even if it’s out of envy and competition or designed to discourage me, as long as the gospel is preached truly.’ He’s talking about the true gospel being proclaimed by people with wrong motives. His concern is the promotion gospel of Christ. Paul says, ‘whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, in this I rejoice.’

IV. Paul’s goal is to glorify God whether free or in prison. (vv. 19-20)

Here he begins confident that he is going to be released, but after saying that he says, ‘Whether I’m released or not, I know I’m not going to be put to shame, because my goal, my hope is that Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or death.’

Paul is speaking and living out the theology of the cross. Jesus’ great instrument of shame is Jesus’ great instrument of victory: the cross. If that is the case for Jesus, so also it is for all those who trust in Him, and so Paul says, ‘Whether I live in prison or die at the hand of a Roman executioner, if Christ is exalted I will not be put to shame, because I am here to live for the glory of God.’

Paul’s thinking is gospel-centered and Christ-centered: that is transforming for the way we approach life! When we live for Christ’s exaltation, when that diagnosis comes that no person in his right mind would wish for, if we are living for the exaltation of Christ, the question becomes not ‘Lord, why me?’ but ‘Lord, how will You cause this to work for the exaltation of Christ? I know I’m in Your hands. I know You love me like You love Your own Son, because no experience in this life can abase me that exalts Him.’ It’s the principle of the cross, that the way to glory is the way of the cross.

This world is filled with hard circumstances. But in them, Paul is saying, it is our joy to exalt Christ in our bodies, whether we live or die.

Now three things in application from this truth:

First, the word of God can’t be imprisoned. Paul makes it emphatically clear here, you can imprison the messengers of the word of God, but you can’t imprison the word of God. I think sometimes God sidelines the choicest of His servants precisely so that He can show that He can do this without them. Paul seemed indispensible for the first century spread of the gospel, and the Lord puts him in prison, and He says: ‘Watch this! The word of God can’t be imprisoned.’ That’s so important for us to understand in the Western world, where everywhere we look around it looks like the word of God is being hindered, imprisoned, or rejected. Sometimes that makes us think we’ve got to change the message, or our method, or use a new strategy. No, we need to be faithful to the word of God: it cannot be imprisoned; when He’s ready to let the lion loose, no one can hinder it.

Second, Christians rejoice when the gospel is being preached. The Philippians don’t quite know how to react to the progress of the gospel amongst these other preachers, and Paul reminds them when the gospel goes forth, he’s happy!

Thirdly, Christians long for Christ to be exalted, whether this is in our life or in our death. Our response to our circumstances is so important and telling, because our response shouldn’t be, “Why me?” but “How is Christ going to be exalted in this?” for then Christ is at the center of our universe and our worldview!

Paul has a word for us about God’s providence—to trust His providence, a word for us about the desire of our hearts in seeing the gospel proclaimed, and a word for us in understanding the purpose of our lives: to exalt Christ, whether in life or in death, to glorify and enjoy God forever. That’s what we’re here for. In every circumstance we have the privilege and opportunity to exalt Christ. May He help us to do so.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ For the Greater Progress of the Gospel: Phil 1:12-20 (Part III)

2011-02-22T13:40:00.001-06:00

In the last couple of posts we have looked at Paul’s response to the Philippians’ concerns that his imprisonment will hinder the spread of the gospel. Last week, we saw how Paul comforted the brethren at Philippi by telling them how God had used Paul’s imprisonment for His own glory: people in the Imperial household have come to faith, and as a result of his imprisonment those in the churches are more confident to speak of Christ. Now, let us consider Paul’s second reason for his peace.

II. Prison bars cannot stop God’s plan for His Church.

Secondly, Paul believes what Jesus said in Matthew 16: that He will build His church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Paul knows that the gospel cannot be stopped. You can’t take a faithful gospel preacher off the field and stop the gospel; Paul had a little personal experience of that. He was on his way to Damascus to kill and persecute Christians, and God took the biggest persecutor of the church off the field and turned him into an evangelist! Paul knew that God would build His church. Because of these two things, as Paul looks at his circumstances he doesn’t throw his hands up in the air, but he says to the Philippians, ‘My circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.’

As far as Paul is concerned, his circumstances were not the big picture. God’s plan, the gospel is the big picture, the spread of the kingdom of God, that’s the big picture. His circumstances are only part of that picture. Yes, those circumstances are important to God, but they’re not at the center of things. When something goes bad for Paul, it does not become the crisis of the moment of the day. Paul knows that God is working for his good and is building Christ’s kingdom.

This is hugely important for us. I understand that Paul is in prison for the gospel, but what Paul says here about his circumstances has a universal application to all Christians in how we look at our circumstances, especially the hard circumstances, because our circumstances, however difficult, have in them a larger purpose: the glory of God, the gospel of Christ, the propagation of the truth of God’s word.

You know, when we face difficult circumstances, we are very quick to call God on the carpet, ‘Lord, You’ve got to answer for this. How could You do this to me?’ What’s wrong here?’

The problem, is we’ve put our circumstances at the center of things, and we’ve declared a crisis. In fact, the gospel is at the center of things, and that’s how Paul looked at life—‘I’m a disciple of Christ.’ And so he says to the Philippians, ‘Don’t look at me and think that somehow God has made a mistake: my circumstances are under the sovereign control of my heavenly Father, and God’s gospel is going to go forth no matter what. Therefore, God will use even these circumstances for the expansion of the gospel.’ That changes the way that Paul looks at his circumstances.

That ought to re-frame the way that we look at our circumstances. We ought not to be surprised by hard circumstances that come into our experience. We should recognize that when those circumstances, when those trials come, we have an enormous privilege and gospel opportunity to make those circumstances count for the glory of God, for the spread of the gospel, for a witness to Christ. Paul could say ‘My circumstances may look bad to you, but they have served the greater progress of the gospel.’ And when those kinds of circumstances are encountered by us, we ought to be asking the question, “How in my response can I serve the further progress of the gospel, even in this circumstance?”

For every believer in every trial there is a way for that to happen, God never wastes those circumstances. He always has gospel purposes in your pain, suffering, difficulties, your hard circumstances. He always has gospel purposes.

That’s not the only thing He has going on, by the way! That’s one of the marvelous things about God’s providence: He does multiple things all at once. But He always has in view gospel purposes, even in your pain and suffering, and you see how it transforms the way that Paul looked at this difficulty. He could have been, like godly John the Baptist, in prison scratching his head, saying ‘Lord, what went wrong?’ Even John the Baptist reacted that way to his imprisonment, but Paul is not reacting that way because the big picture for him is the advance of the gospel, the progress of the gospel. And if his circumstances, however difficult, however dangerous, however discouraging that they are at the human level, serve the advance of the gospel, then Paul re-frames the whole way that he looks at his circumstances.

In responding to the Philippians, Paul says to the Philippians, ‘Don’t worry; my circumstances may look bad to you, but they have served the greater progress of the gospel.’ Next week, we will look at how Paul wants us to view his captors.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ For the Greater Progress of the Gospel: Phil 1:12-20 (Part II)

2011-02-17T14:01:00.002-06:00

In this section we see how Paul is answering some of the concerns that the Philippians for him because of his imprisonment and the spread of the gospel. The first thing Paul is going to do is teach them and us something about the providence of God. In the coming weeks, we’ll look at what Paul teaches us something about our concern for the promotion of the gospel, and our purpose in life. This week, we’ll look at the first: the providence of God.

I. God uses Paul’s imprisonment for His glory.

First of all, in verses 12-14, Paul is responding to the Philippians’ expressions of concern for him. ‘Paul, you’re in prison. If ever there was a time when you were needed, it’s now. What in the world is God doing? Won’t the gospel be hindered if you are imprisoned?

In response to the Philippians’ concern that the gospel is somehow going to be hindered by Paul being in prison, Paul says ‘My circumstances may look bad to you, but they have served the greater progress of the gospel.’ This is quite extraordinary. Paul actually goes on to give two examples of how his imprisonment has served the expansion of the gospel message in this region, and even all the way to Rome.

Rome is the economic, governmental, social, cultural center of the world. And Paul says, ‘Let me give you one example of how my imprisonment has served the expansion of the gospel message. For one thing,’ he says, ‘the whole Praetorian Guard has heard the gospel.’

Paul may be chained up, but he’s chained up to guards, and they’re hearing the gospel whether they want to hear it or not! And the Praetorian Guard happens to be the guard that guards Nero’s house! So the gospel has spread all the way to the guards who guard Nero’s house. In fact, Paul, in one of his letters, will greet those who are Christians in Nero’s house. Maybe it was through this very path: the guards are witnessed to; they embrace Christ; they tell others who then embrace Christ. But Paul is saying, ‘Look, even though I’m in prison, I’m sharing the gospel and the Praetorian Guard is hearing the gospel! The gospel is going forth. I’m chained up, but the gospel is not.’

And he says, ‘Let me give you another example.’ He says in verse 14, ‘There are brethren who are trusting in the Lord in ways that they have never trusted in the Lord before, just because I am in prison. They turn around, suddenly I’ve been sidelined, I’m in prison, and they say, ‘Well, we’re going to have to trust the Lord more than ever before, and if Paul’s voice has been muffled for a while, if he’s been sidelined, if he can’t be out in the streets and marketplace sharing the gospel, then I guess we need to be out in the streets and in the marketplaces sharing the gospel.’’ And so he says, “…They have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.” It’s as if in their very moment of crisis they say ‘Hey, we have to step up and trust the Lord, and we have to get out there and share the gospel.’ And so Paul gives two examples to the Philippians about how even though he’s chained up, even though he’s in prison, even though he’s awaiting sentencing, even though he is possibly awaiting death, nevertheless the gospel is not hindered. In fact, his imprisonment has served the purposes of the greater expansion, or the greater progress, of the gospel.

What makes Paul respond to his imprisonment in this way? How is it that Paul can look at his circumstances and not say, ‘Lord, what are You doing? Lord, I am the one apostle concerned to primarily spread the word of Christ to the Gentiles, and here You are locking me up in prison! Lord, I’m trying to serve You faithfully, and here I am clamped to a Roman soldier.’ Why isn’t Paul asking “Why me?” kinds of questions? For two reasons.

First, because the Apostle Paul believes Romans 8:28, he wrote it, after all! “God causes all things to work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose,” for those who love Him. Paul believes Romans 8:28. He believes in God’s providence over, His care for, His sovereign oversight of His people in such a way that He works everything in our lives for our good. Paul believes that, and so Paul doesn’t look at his circumstances and say, ‘Lord, my circumstances show that You don’t love me, You’re not in control. What’s going on here? Why me? What are You doing, Lord? Where are You?’ No, rather, Paul looks at his circumstances and he is confident that God is at work even in those circumstances.

The second reason is that God will build His Church. We will look at that next week, but for now, Paul is at peace because he knows that God is at work in all circumstances.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ For the Greater Progress of the Gospel: Phil 1:12-20 (Part I)

2011-02-15T15:28:00.003-06:00

Over the past week or so, we looked at a prayer Paul prayed for the Philippians. In this section, he is having to explain a little bit of a problem to the Philippians. The Philippians are deeply concerned because Paul is in chains. They’re concerned about the suffering that he is enduring; they are concerned about what the sentence is going to be against him by the Roman officials; they are afraid of the punishment or even the death that may well await him. They are concerned about the fact that the best evangelist in the world is in prison and not out there preaching Christ on the street. And, after all, the Philippians are partners with him in the gospel. They’re very concerned that the gospel be preached, and they’re concerned about the fact that the best evangelist in the world has been sidelined. And they’re concerned to figure out what God is doing in this: ‘Lord, what are You doing? You know of all the people that need to be imprisoned, Paul is not one of them! He’s the best of Your apostles in reaching the Gentiles. This part of the world,’ the Philippians would quickly point out, ‘has been evangelized in large measure because of the Apostle Paul. He’s the last guy that you would want in jail,’ they’re saying.

Now all these questions are running through the Philippians’ minds, so the Apostle Paul is writing to the Philippians to calmly explain to them the proper understanding of the events. And I want you to see three parts in this passage.

First of all, if you’ll take a look at verses 12-14, you’ll notice that Paul is explaining how his circumstances are actually furthering the cause of the gospel, rather than hindering the gospel. So he’s concerned to explain to the Philippians that their fears are unfounded; that his imprisonment isn’t going to result in the hindering of the gospel, but in fact, by God’s glorious sovereign providence, the gospel is going to spread all the more, despite his circumstances—and even because of his circumstances.

Secondly, if you look at verses 15-18, you’ll see him make an aside. He knows that the Philippians are wondering what their attitude ought to be to the people that are continuing to spread the gospel while Paul is chained up. After all, the Philippians are big supporters of Paul. They’ve been sending him money. In fact, in chapter four we’ll find out that Paul’s almost embarrassed by the fact that these relatively poor Philippians are sending him such generous gifts so that he can devote himself fully to the gospel. He’s their missionary. He’s their church planter. He’s their evangelist. They’re sending money to him. What should they think about these other people that are out there preaching the gospel while he’s chained up?

Well, he tells you in this section what you ought to think.

And then, thirdly, if you look at verses 19-20, he tells you what the burning hope is that he has that keeps him from being discouraged in his present situation.

We will examine each of these three things closely over the next few days and into next week: The first one, his circumstances; the second one, what to think about other preachers who are preaching while he is in prison; and then, third, what his hope is. In the first one, we’re going to be seeing Paul pointing them to the promise of God in his circumstances. In the second issue or question he raises (those others who are preaching the gospel), he’s going to point the Philippians and you and me to the propagation of the gospel - the spreading of the gospel - and ask us to consider that. The third issue is his purpose in life. He’s going to point us to the purpose not only of an apostle, not only of a disciple, but of all of us who are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, he’s going to point us to providence, he’s going to point us to the promotion of the gospel, and he’s going to point us to our purpose in life as he wrestles through this very practical question with the Philippians.

In answering the Philippians’ questions—they’re concerned about his imprisonment and its ramification on the spread of the gospel, they’re concerned to know how they ought to respond to the others who are not in prison who are preaching the gospel while Paul is imprisoned, they’re wondering where Paul’s heart is, how his spirits are—in answer to that question, Paul writes this section. In the course of it, he teaches us something about the providence of God, he teaches us something about our concern for the promotion of the gospel, and he teaches us something about our purpose in life. We’ll look at those three things, and draw three more conclusions by way of application of this passage over the next several days.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Love Abounding: Phil 1.7-11 (Part III)

2011-02-11T11:20:00.004-06:00

Over the two weeks we’ve looked at these five verses spanning the first two sections of Philippians. Paul is offering thanks for the love he shares with the Philippians because of their shared experience of the grace of the gospel. In the second part of this section Paul offers a seven-part prayer for the Philippians. We looked at the first three points of that prayer last week, first that they abound in love, then that they abound in knowledge, and then, thirdly, discernment.

Fourthly, he goes on to say that knowledge, that discretion, is going to be manifested in what you choose. He wants you to choose the excellent, so he’s praying that we would abound in love, grow in knowledge, increase in discernment, and, fourth, choose the excellent. He’s saying if you know true truth, if you have the knowledge of God, if you have the gift of discernment, that will lead your knowledge and discernment to choosing that which is excellent as opposed to that which is bad or that which is corrupt, choosing that which is eternal as opposed to that which is temporal and passing.

Paul is wanting knowledge to form in us discernment that leads to right choices—choosing the excellent.

This in turn leads to behavior, fifth, “to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.”

The choices that you make for that which is excellent are to living which is characterized by sincerity and integrity, so that you would be sincere and blameless until the Day of Christ.

Paul is talking about the cultivation of Christian sincerity and integrity in our behavior. Paul’s praying that there would be a moral unity in the life of the Philippians, that they would be outside what they are inside, that they would be at the home what they are in the world, that they would be sincere, and that they would walk with integrity. The world could look at them and say, not ‘you’re perfect,’ but there’s something about that person that could not be explained simply naturally. There’s evidence of a divine work of grace in that person. Paul had seen that in the Philippians, and so he prays that they would continue in sincerity and integrity.

Sixth, he goes on to pray that they would live in fruitful righteousness. Here Paul is praying for the production of fruit in the Christian life: that the result of the Spirit’s work of grace in their heart would be that they would bear fruit—much fruit—for God, through Jesus Christ.

Finally, seventh, he prays that they would live for God, live to God, live unto God, live before God, and that they would live for the glory of God.

So, seven things there. He prays that their love would abound, that their knowledge would grow, that their discernment would increase, that they would choose the excellent, that they would continue in sincerity and integrity, that they would live in fruitful righteousness, and that they would deliberately live for the glory of God.

Now. Let’s go back to my three questions to you last week. What do we learn about what we ought to desire for ourselves from this prayer? What do we learn about what we ought to rejoice for in one another? And, what do we learn about how we ought to be praying for one another?

It ought to be our personal desire to be Christians like this: growing in love, increasing in knowledge and discernment, choosing that which is excellent, living in sincerity and integrity, manifesting a fruitful righteousness, living for the glory of God. As Paul prays this for the Philippians, our hearts ought to be saying, “Lord, I want to be like that. That’s what I want to be like.”

Secondly, as we look at this prayer we ought to be saying to ourselves, “You know, what is it when I look at another person that I get excited about? What are the things that encourage me, interest me, as I look at another person. What are the things that catch my attention? Is it that person’s success? Is it that person’s social connections? Is it that person’s wealth or possessions? Is it that person’s background or family?” Or, as we look at one another, are the things that attract our attention and actually cause us to rejoice things like love, increasing in the knowledge of the truth, discernment, choosing that which is excellent, sincerity, integrity, fruitfulness in righteousness, and living for the glory of God?

Paul is looking over the Philippians and he’s seeing these characteristics in them, and he rejoices when he sees these kinds of grace-wrought moral characteristics in these Philippians because he knows that these things can only exist in them because God is at work, he says it point blank in verse 11: all these things come through Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can build a person like that.

But are these the things that we rejoice in? One of the ways that we can be an encouragement to one another is rejoicing in one another when these things are seen by us. We ought to be rejoicing in these things in one another.

And then finally, we need to be praying these things for one another. If Paul is praying these for the Philippians, surely we Christians need to be praying this prayer for one another: that we would abound in love and grow in knowledge, and increase in discernment, and choose what is excellent, and continue in integrity and sincerity, and live in fruitful righteousness, and live for the glory of God. May God make it so.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Love Abounding: Phil 1.7-11 (Part II)

2011-02-10T13:46:00.003-06:00

Tuesday we looked at the first part of this passage, the affection Paul feels for the Philippians because of their shared experience of the gospel. Today and part of next week, we’ll move into look at the detail of Paul’s prayer in verses 9-11. As we look at the prayer to think about what we desire to be as the people of God, what we rejoice in as we look at one another, and what we ought to be praying for ourselves and for one another.

II. Paul’s Prayer for the Philippians.

This prayer has about three parts to it. It’s a prayer first of all that they would grow in love, followed by a prayer that they would grow in knowledge and that prayer for knowledge comes in various parts. It talks about knowledge, and discernment, and choices – all based on true knowledge.

Then, the prayer segues into an expression of Paul’s desire that the Philippians would live a godly life. So you have this first petition that they would grow in love, then knowledge, then a godly life. I’ve outlined the prayer in seven parts, and as we look at those seven parts, remember that they all relate to one of those three themes: love, true knowledge, and godliness.

As you think about those seven parts, be asking yourself these three things: What ought I to be desiring myself because of what Paul prays here; what ought I to be rejoicing in, in my brothers and sisters in Christ, because of what Paul prays here; and what ought I to be praying for, for my brothers and sisters in Christ because of what Paul prays here? We’ll look at the first three parts this week and save the rest for next week.

First of all, “That your love may abound still more and more.” Paul has just made it emphatically known that this is a loving congregation that is easy for him to love, because they’re so loving. And yet the very first prayer for them is that they would abound all the more in love.

If the Philippians needed Paul to pray for them that they would abound in love, then surely the rest of us do. And so Paul’s prayer is a prayer for the increase of Christian love, real love; not sentimentality, but real Christian love.

Where there is a true knowledge of Christ, an apprehension of the grace of God to us in Jesus Christ, there is always love. Love is a hallmark of the true knowledge of God, of the experience of His grace, of the experience of His love. If you have really known God’s radical life-transforming love, you will manifest something of that love in your life in your relationships with others. And so Paul’s first prayer for the Philippians and for you and me would be that we abound in love.

Then secondly, he goes on to pray “that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge….” Knowledge of the truth; knowledge of God.

Paul is concerned for the Philippians and for you and me to increase in true, practical, character-transforming, biblical knowledge of God: love and knowledge go together. Love increases true knowledge of God and results from true knowledge of God, and true knowledge of God is to accompany Christian love and produce it. And so he prays that they would grow in the knowledge of God.

And think of how Paul groups that idea of truth and knowledge over and over in his ministry. In I Timothy 1:3-5, Paul tells you what the whole focus of his teaching ministry is (I Timothy 1:5), “The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience,

and a sincere faith.”Instruction and love—truth and love, knowledge and love—go together in the Christian life.

The more we truly know the truth, the more we ought to manifest that truth in Christian love, so that our reputation ought to be those who care with deep conviction about truth and who love generously and lavishly because of that deep conviction about the truth. In our world today that is countercultural, where most people think that in order to love you can’t believe that anything is true; Paul saying, no, gospel love is manifested precisely and only where true truth is embraced about God.

And then third, he goes on, to pray for “discernment.” It’s not enough that to grow in the knowledge of the truth; you need to know how to wield that truth in good judgment and discernment, and so notice his words:

“That you would abound in love more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.”

Paul is praying for the Philippians - and for you and me – to cultivate good judgment and discretion.

How important is that? Have you ever known a parent with a really smart child, and that child is off in college, and that parent is concerned because that really well-educated, really gifted, really intelligent young person is making the goofiest choices you’ve ever seen in your life! And that parent is deeply concerned, because that parent doesn’t want his or her child just to be smart; he wants that child to use good judgment, be wise in discernment: that’s exactly what Paul is praying for the Philippians and you and me: not just that we would know stuff, but that we would have judgment and discretion and wisdom as we apply the truth which is ours.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ Love Abounding: Phil 1.7-11 (Part I)

2011-02-08T16:13:00.003-06:00

We’re looking at verses Philippians 1:7-11 for the next few days. These verses span two parts of this first chapter of this letter. If you look back to verse 3, from verse 3 to verse 8 Paul is expressing his joy in, his thanksgiving to God for, his love for, the Philippians. Repeatedly in various ways, Paul expresses gratitude to God for the Philippians, and he enumerates some of the reasons why he’s so joyful about them, why he’s rejoicing in, why he’s thankful for the Philippians. We will pick up this week right in the middle of that series of expressions of thanksgiving, Paul is speaking the way he is because of what he has just said in verse 6. So the first part of this passage, verses 7-8, continues and concludes the expression of thanksgiving that Paul has been making to God because of the Philippians. And again it reminds us of the reasons why he is thankful.

We’ll look at the second part of the passage in verses 9-11 next week, it is a Pauline prayer. We’re only half way into this chapter and we’re already finding a prayer of Paul for the Philippians.

In this great passage we have first an expression of Paul’s thankfulness, and then we have a glorious example of Paul’s prayers for God’s people.

I. Paul’s deep affection for the Philippians.

In verses 7 and 8, Paul is expressing his deep affection for the entire Philippian congregation, to give us a culmination to that section that runs from verse 3 all the way to verse 8, which is itself an expression of thankfulness and love. Allow your eyes to go back to verse 3, and follow the logic of Paul’s expression of thanksgiving. He says:

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.”

And then listen closely to verse 6:

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Paul wants you to understand that he has just said something that is astounding. He’s saying, ‘Philippians, I am absolutely confident that the work that God has started in you, He’s going to finish.’ Paul is so confident of this because he has already seen with his own eyes how the grace of God is transforming these Philippian Christians. When he has been in suffering, they have been right there with him. When he has been in need, even out of poverty they have given generously to him. What he cares about, they care about. He wants to see the world trusting in Jesus Christ. They want to see that too, and they have put their money where their mouths are in that regard, in supporting his missionary journeys.

They, with Paul, understand experientially and personally the sovereign grace of God, and they were united to Paul in that. So when Paul says in verse 7, “For it is only right for me to feel this way about you,” he is saying ‘I have every reason to have the confidence that I have in you, that God’s good work will be completed, because I’ve already seen what God’s grace is doing in your heart and life.

The Philippians had been knit together with Paul in Paul’s sufferings and ministry, and so Paul speaks confidently because he has already seen the change that God’s Holy Spirit has been working in their lives, he is an eye-witness of what the grace of God is already doing in them.

But not only is Paul rejoicing in what the grace of God is doing in the Philippians, in seeing what the grace of God is doing in the Philippians, it has knit Paul’s heart together with the Philippians.

Communion in the same grace and mission creates a band of brothers.

The unity that Paul experiences with the Philippians – their mutual love for one another, their deep affection for one another – grows out of the soil of their common experience of God’s sovereign grace and their common commitment to spreading the word of the gospel. Gospel love and Christian affection grow in the soil of grace and gospel service. In those things Paul has been able to perceive their heart, and they have been able to perceive Paul’s heart, which has pulled them together.

People are always talking today about ‘strategies for uniting the church.’ Paul is saying: The unity of the church is based on our common experience of and embrace of the sovereign, saving grace of God in Jesus Christ, and the mission that grows out of that. Just as Paul had been united in heart to the Philippians because they both had experienced God’s sovereign grace and they were both committed to this service of the gospel, so also gospel love and affection grow in every Christian congregation where the fundamental thing that holds us together is our awareness of having received unmerited favor from the living God, divine saving grace in Christ, which has made us brothers and sisters and given us a common purpose and mission in life to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth and to glorify God in all of life.

Even as he comes to the conclusion of his expression of thankfulness, we learn that communion in the same grace and mission creates a band of brothers and sisters that gospel love and Christian affection grow up in a congregation which has the soil of grace and of gospel service.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ He Finishes What He Starts: Phil 1.6 (Part IV)

2011-02-07T17:20:00.002-06:00

Over the past several days, we’ve been looking at this verse and six things I wanted to study more closely within it. We began by, first, reflecting on the joy that Paul has for the Philippians because of the salvation they have, because it is God’s work, and His work from start to finish. We also looked two more things last week: the second, salvation is a good work, because it makes us fit for the enjoyment of God and the third: our salvation, this good work, is unfinished here.

Fourthly, salvation is a certain work, because God always finishes what He starts. Yes, the Apostle Paul says, “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus,” and therefore by implication it’s not going to be perfected, it’s not going to be completed, it’s not going to be finished until then; but it is a certain work. It is absolutely certain that He will complete it, and that’s why in the song that by Augustus Toplady he writes that in heaven you will be “more happy, but not more secure.” Because God finishes what He starts. God doesn’t leave off in the middle of His work. He finishes what He starts.

Fifth, salvation is a perfect work of God, because God only does things perfectly. “He who began a good work in you will perfect it in the day of Christ Jesus.” The Apostle Paul is saying you can bet your bottom dollar that God will complete His work, because God does not fail to complete what He starts; God does not do imperfect work; God always, to the fullest degree of perfection, completes the work that He begins; and so, you will be made perfect. And you can be confident that not only will God not forsake you, but that one day He will perfect you, because God doesn’t do second-rate work.

And sixth and finally, Paul teaches us that salvation is a work that will only be perfect in the day and the appearing and the judgment of Christ:

“I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

The Apostle Paul is saying that this will be the day when you are fully and finally perfected: in the day of the appearing of Christ Jesus. He’s saying that your perfection will not occur until then, and it will not occur until the perfection of all other saints.

The author of Hebrews talks about this in chapter 11. In verse 39 (he’s been talking about these great saints of the Old Testament and New), and he says,

“All these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised….”

He’s saying that the things that God had promised them they did not receive in this life. Why? He tells you in verse 40, he says:

“Because God had provided something better for us.”

Now is that the word you’re looking for? You’re waiting for "them," aren't you? Because God has provided something better for – them? No! Suddenly it’s because God has provided something better for us. That’s a strange argumentation. God didn’t give to them what He had promised, because He has something better for – us. What in the world does he mean? Look at the next phrase: “…So that apart from us they should not be made…..perfect.”

You see what the author of Hebrews is saying (and I have a sneaking suspicion he learned this from Paul): that it will be the day of the coming, the appearing, the judgment, the reign, the rule of Jesus Christ, when all the saints at the same time—from Adam to the very last person who is converted before the coming of Christ—at the exact same moment, we will be perfected. Nobody before anybody else in Christ. All at the same time. All to His praise and all to His glory. .

And the Apostle Paul says, ‘Philippians, I can only imagine what you’re going to go through in this life. (Now, Paul had a pretty good guess, similar to what he himself had experienced for the gospel.) But though he could only imagine what they were going to go through in this life, he was certain of this: that God was going to perfect in the Last Day what He had started in them, and therefore the Apostle Paul could be confident.

If your ultimate assurance and confidence in this life is because of something that you have done, because of something you have achieved, because of something you have attained…well, you’re in for a long, discouraging life. That rug can be pulled out from under you any time and a hundred times. But if your preservation is based on God’s work, then nothing can shake you. And that’s the kind of confidence we need in this kind of a world.

Gleanings in Philippians ~ He Finishes What He Starts: Phil 1.6 (Part III)

2011-02-03T16:50:00.002-06:00

Over the past couple days, we’ve been looking at this verse together, and in this verse there are six things I want to study more closely. Tuesday, we reflected on the joy that Paul has for the Philippians because of the salvation they have, because it is God’s work, and His work from start to finish. Today, I want to look at two more items.

II. Salvation is a good work, because it makes us fit for the enjoyment of God

The work of God’s grace in us is a good, blessed, noble, and an excellent work, because God’s grace works in us to make us who were bad to be good; it makes those of us who did not want to enjoy God to want to enjoy God. It makes us who did not want to glorify God to want to glorify God, and so it makes us fit to glorify and enjoy Him, to fellowship with and commune with Him forever!

The work of grace in us makes us to be godly, so that we might enjoy fellowship with God. Paul emphasizes this. “He began [what?] a good work in you.” This is a work that Satan never does, when you see that being built in you, you know that it is not the work of Satan. Oh, you may see grievous interruptions in that work, but when you see that work being worked in you, you know who is working that work in you: it’s God. It’s a good work, and it’s a work that only God does.

III. This salvation, this good work, is unfinished work here

“He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Paul is telling us that the work of grace is only begun in this life, but it is never ever finished here. The Christian life is not one uninterrupted climb heavenward, nor is it catapulting to perfection and then a continuous experience of perfection in this life. It is a life filled with peaks and valleys, and sometimes the valleys are so deep that we never ever think that we’re going to climb out of them. This word is one of the most encouraging words to me in all of Scripture, without this word, I could easily despair. Paul saying this work is never finished here. If I thought that it would finish here, that would be the end of me, because I know what I’m like. And here’s Paul saying that this work of grace is never finished here. As long as we are in this imperfect world, there will always be something more—much more—to do.

Wise saints have always understood that. There is a hymn in our hymnal by a great hymn writer, Thomas Kelly in his hymn, Praise the Savior, Ye Who Know Him, writes these words:

“Trust in Him, ye saints, forever.

He is faithful, changing never.

Neither force nor guile can sever

Those He loves from Him.

“Keep us, Lord, O keep us cleaving

To Thyself and still believing,

Till the hour of our receiving

Promised joys with Thee.”

[It could almost be a paraphrase of Philippians 1:6. Then, listen to his last stanza.]

“Then [the Day of Christ Jesus] we shall be where we would be,

Then we shall be what we should be;

Things that are not now, nor could be,

He is saying, “Then we shall be where we would be…” (We’ll be where we want to be, with Him); “Then we shall be what we should be…” (We’ll be what we ought to have been, the way God made us before the fall of Adam, the very image of His own self); “Things that are not now, nor could be…” (It can’t be like this now in this fallen world, where we’re imperfect); “…Soon shall be our own.” (But it will be then, on that great Day.)

You see, there’s this recognition that salvation is an unfinished work here. John Newton, in less poetic language but just only less, put it this way when he said:

“I am not what I ought to be – ah, how imperfect and deficient I am! I am not what I wish to be. I abhor the evil in me, and I would cleave to that which is good. I am not what I hope to be; soon, soon, I will put off with mortality both sin and imperfection; but though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say I am not what I once was: a slave to sin and Satan. And so, therefore, I can heartily join with the Apostle Paul and say, ‘By the grace of God, I am what I am.’”

That’s where Christians live. And that’s what the Apostle Paul is saying. He’s saying, ‘Dear Philippian Christians, don’t think that this work of perfection comes to a terminus in this life. It does not. It is always unfinished in this life, and it is vital for us to remember it; else we will drive ourselves crazy.’

When I first started teaching, a godly, consecrated young couple who were headed for the mission field—more zeal for Christ than I could have touched with a ten-foot pole—and yet they were in my office deeply discouraged, because in the Bible college that they had just come from their president had stood up and he had said, “I have not sinned in three years. I exhort you to experience the higher life, perfect love, and a triumph over this sin in this life.” And they were deeply discouraged because they knew that that was not what they were experiencing. And the problem was that the Bible college president was teaching false doctrine. He was teaching them that believers can be perfected in this life, and the Apostle Paul is saying to you point blank, he’s looking you eyeball to eyeball, ‘That will not happen until the day of Christ Jesus!’ And it’s so, so encouraging to know that!

Gleanings in Philippians ~ He Finishes What He Starts: Phil 1.6 (Part II)

2011-02-01T10:14:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, we looked at the reason for Paul’s joy and thankfulness regarding the Philippians. We said that the reason for it is because God is at work in the totality of a believer’s salvation.

And so I want you to see six things that we learn here. The main thing is: God is at work in your salvation, it is God’s work from start to finish. We’ll look at one thing this week and the other five over the next couple weeks.

I. Salvation is God’s work.

Paul emphasizes that:

“I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you….”

Paul is emphasizing the initiative of God in salvation. Salvation is God’s work and his of initiation. Paul emphasizes this over and over. Think of Ephesians 2:1 – “For you were…” what? “…dead in your trespasses and sins.”

Verse 5: “But God made you alive in Jesus Christ.” Who took the initiative in that salvation? You? No! You were dead. Dead people are notoriously bad initiators! But God took the initiative and made you alive in Christ!

And not just Paul, the Apostle John emphasizes this. In John 1:12, he explains where belief in Christ comes from, and he describes it beautifully in the first part of that verse:

“As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God.”

What John is saying in that verse is that those who receive [trust in Jesus Christ…those who place their faith for salvation in Jesus Christ] are accounted by God, appointed by God, adopted by God, as His own children. And John is just marveling at this glorious thing, and he’s speaking about faith in Christ with the beautiful image of “receiving Him.”

But after showing you that picture of faith, and saying that all those who believe are the children of God – they’re not just pardoned of their sins, but welcomed into God’s family – you welcomed Jesus into your home, and God welcomes you into His.

Then he tells you (second half of the verse) – how did this happen?

“To those who believe in His name…who were born not of blood….” It was not by genealogy that you believed in Jesus Christ.

And then he says, “…nor of the will of the flesh.” It’s not our own human nature in our innate ability and will power that leads us to be able to exercise saving faith.

They are born “…of God.” God takes the initiative? Why? Because we’re dead. We can’t, and Paul is celebrating this truth that salvation is God’s work.

Luke talks about this in Acts 11. Peter has just come back to the church in Jerusalem, saying, ‘I was with some Gentiles and I saw the Holy Spirit poured out on these Gentiles. I think the Holy Spirit has been given to the Gentiles, too.’

And the church in Jerusalem responds, ‘Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.’ But notice, it’s not that the Gentiles have taken the initiative in this. God has granted it to the Gentiles.

Paul, in II Thessalonians 2:13-14, says:

“…We should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation…and it was for this He called you through our gospel…”

So Paul says, ‘Your salvation started, before the beginning, when God chose you. And even when we were preaching, it was God who was calling you through our preaching of the gospel. It was God who was taking the initiative to draw you to Himself.’ It is not that I sought the Lord, and then He sought me. No, John says it this way: We love because He loved first. Or, as we sing it in that beautiful old Southern hymn,

“I sought the Lord, but afterward I knew

He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me.

It was not I who found, O Savior true;

No, I was found of Thee.”

He was the seeker, mover, initiator.

Paul is emphasizing that in this passage: He was the one who, “…Began a good work in you.”

Paul is not just saying that God began that work and then left the rest up to you; he is saying that this salvation is all of grace; that from beginning to end it is the work of God.

He’s not saying that there is nothing that you have to do. He’s not saying that faith is not important. He’s not saying that your living is not important. He’s not saying that your actions are not important.

Paul is emphasizing the initiative of God’s grace in your salvation from beginning to end, and he does it all the time.

Paul is emphasizing that God is at work in you now, and this gives Paul enormous confidence; it is the basis of our confidence and assurance as well. God’s involvement, His initiative, His preservation of us, is the very ground of our experience of confidence in the Christian life.

If you’ve been a Christian very long, you’ve found occasion when you have had to look into your heart and see things there that you would hope nobody else saw. If your goodness and improvement is the ground of your confidence, you’re never going to have confidence. But if God’s work in you is the ground of your confidence, the fact that He will persevere to the end, or as John Newton put it:

“Through many dangers, toils, and snares

I have already come.

Grace has brought me safe thus far,"

[And now I’ll take it from here? No, no, no, no, no!]

“And grace will lead me home.”

This is what Paul is celebrating. He knows they're going to be persecuted and still sin, but Paul is joyful and thankful and confident because it is God who is at work in them! Paul is not being rosy-eyed. He is not in denial. He is wide-eyed at the realities the Philippians face, but he is even wider-eyed at the reality of God’s sovereign initiative in salvation which goes from beginning to end.