PHILIPPIANS #13: RUBBISH

On May 22, 2026 By Pastor TomIn House Church, Philippians, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Glowing locked treasure chest glowing inside a freshly dug hole outdoors at sunset — A glowing treasure chest is uncovered at sunset in a scenic valley

This is the heart of the gospel: Jesus is surpassingly good. He, and he alone, is worth everything. Nothing else can compare to him, and when we have only him, then through him, we have everything we might need.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

You can also find us on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKzSHPFT466aXfNT2r9OD (This will open to the latest sermon. You can search from there if you are looking for a previous one)

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Philippians Part 13

We are working our way slowly through this passage in Philippians. These verses are very dense with meaning, so we’ll be spending several weeks here, but I want us to remember that each “lesson” goes along with the whole passage. Last time we looked at what Paul meant when he told the Philippians to watch out for those “mutilators of the flesh,” and that we are “the circumcision.” He continues:

For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh — ⁴ although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.
⁷ But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.

One of the key issues that came up repeatedly in the early church was the issue of following the Jewish law. Last time we looked at how Paul, throughout all his letters, makes it clear that we do not need to follow the various laws and regulations of the Jewish law. The Jewish leaders of the church in Jerusalem agreed with him, and made it clear in Acts chapter 15. Here, Paul says that we are the chosen people of God, who worship Jesus Christ, and “do not put confidence in the flesh.”

What does he mean by this expression? In the first place, he means that we do not put confidence in the fact that we have been circumcised, or that we were born Jewish, or went through Jewish conversion. Paul makes this clear by saying “I could put confidence in the flesh, if anyone could,” and lists his birth into the tribe of Benjamin, and his circumcision among such things. But he adds more. Not only was he born a Hebrew, but he points out he was a Pharisee, which was the strictest version of Judaism, and among Pharisees, he was particularly zealous. He claims that he was blameless in following the law.

Many Christians in modern times wonder how Paul could say he was blameless according to the law? The God’s Word version captures his thought very forcefully:

When it comes to winning God’s approval by obeying Jewish laws, I was perfect. (Philippians 3:6, GW)

We find this difficult to believe, because we have an understanding of the law that has been shaped by the teaching of Jesus. Jews at the time of Jesus and Paul had created a system for how to follow God’s law perfectly. So, for instance, God commanded this, through Moses:

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Exodus 20:8 ESV)

The Jews were worried about how to apply this, so they made up a bunch of additional rules that, in their minds, would guarantee that they followed this command properly. So, for instance, they came up with a number of steps they were allowed to walk on the Sabbath. They weren’t allowed to “work” by lighting lamps on the Sabbath, so they made sure they had enough oil in the lamps to burn for a whole night and day. They could do certain farm chores, like caring for their animals (almost everyone was involved with agriculture in some way), but not others. Now, the Bible never actually tells how many steps a person can walk on the Sabbath, or that a person shouldn’t light a lamp on the Sabbath. It never actually specifies exactly what should or shouldn’t be done on the Sabbath, except it excludes “work.” But at about this point in history, the man-made rules of this type began to be more important to them than the actual scripture.

What Paul is saying is that he followed all the man-made rules correctly. Jesus is the one who said “if you follow the rules, but you have sin in your heart, you have still broken the law.” By that measure, Paul was never blameless. But by the measure of man made rules, Paul had a perfect record.

There’s something else here, that we may not realize at first glance. What Paul is telling us here, and what we know from other sources, is that he was pursuing a career as a Jewish Rabbi, and he was headed for elite status. His mentor was Rabbi Gamaliel, whose teaching still provides some foundational ideas for Jews, even today. Paul was a rising star, an exceptionally intelligent scholar, with all the right connections, and all the right attitudes. His future was bright indeed. To understand better, imagine a young man today who went to Harvard Law School, and graduated summa cum laude. He passed the bar exam with ease, the very first time he took it. He clerked for a Supreme Court Justice, and knows several senators. Just when he seems poised to take the world by storm, he quits practicing law and becomes a missionary to the country of Djibouti. (If you haven’t heard of Djibouti, that’s the point).

Or, for a more mundane example, imagine someone who has worked her way up the levels in her company. She’s put in hard hours and sacrificed, and seems about to become the first female CEO of her company. But instead of doing that, she leaves, giving up all that hard work, and that huge opportunity.

That was Paul’s situation. He gave up everything he had worked to achieve. He gave up what others thought was a very bright future. He gave it all up because:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Jesus Christ is worth more than a bright future as an elite leader. Jesus Christ is worth more than an excellent career, or the praise of your peers, or money, or power, a nice retirement, or any of the other things we human beings think are valuable. In expressing this, Paul is simply putting the teachings of Jesus into practice. Jesus himself said:

³⁷ Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:37-39, ESV)

Nothing in this life, not even our closest relationships, are worth as much as Jesus. On another occasion, Jesus put it even more strongly:

²⁵ Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸ For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. ³³ So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-33, ESV)

Jesus makes it clear. When we become his disciples, we have only him, we are to be ready to give up everything else, even our own lives. Anything else we “have” is given through Jesus, and by Jesus, and must be subordinate to Jesus. He even says, in the Luke passage above: “Hey, you should consider this carefully before becoming my disciple. Can you handle this extreme cost?”

Now, does this mean you need to quit your job, divorce your spouse and neglect your children? Not at all. Jesus was using extreme language to make a point. I think what it means is that you have these things—really, everything—only in and through Jesus. I was a disciple of Jesus when I met Kari (so was she). We both felt that it was his desire for us to be married. You might say I am married to Kari through Jesus. In our marriage, my goal is for the will and work of Jesus to be done through me, with and for Kari. So you might say my marriage is for Jesus.

The same sorts of things should be true of our work. If you work in construction, then, for as long as you are in that industry, you are there for Jesus. Yes, you are there to earn a living, and maybe because you enjoy that kind of work. Or, maybe, because you have no other options right now. But regardless, if you are a disciple of Jesus, you are in construction (for the moment, anyway) because (at least for now) Jesus wants you there. Firstly, he wants to reach others who don’t know him, and he wants to do that through you. He also wants to encourage other disciples, and again, he wants to do it through you. And perhaps he wants to build things well—again, through you.

Here’s an analogy that might help. Picture a girl of about twelve years old whose parents abandoned her at a young age. She’s bounced around the foster system for some time. And now, she’s been adopted by a very rich (and kind) father. Before she was adopted, she had some worn out clothes and things—nothing of any real value. Now, as part of the rich father’s family, she has a nice house, and delicious food to eat, beautiful clothing, and opportunities in life that weren’t available to her before. All of the new, wonderful things in her life come through her adoption into the father’s family. She has none of it without the father. With the father, she has all of it.

That’s the way it is meant to be with us and Jesus. I have Jesus, and everything else I have is conditional upon how Jesus wants to use it in my life. My house is his to use. My job is his. I’m not pursuing my own goals, but his goals for my life. Now, that’s not necessarily to say I can never move or change jobs. But when I do, I do so in consultation with Jesus, seeking his purposes for my life, and for any change I might want to make. I have had times in my life when it seemed like Jesus was OK with me changing jobs. I’ve had other times when he made it clear he wanted me to stay put. But this is the deal: I really have nothing, except Jesus Christ.

Jesus put this in a parable for us:

⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, ⁴⁶ who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. (Matthew 13:44-46, ESV)

We give up everything in order to have the one thing that is beyond price: Jesus Christ himself. When we have Jesus, then we have everything. When we don’t have Jesus, nothing we have is worth anything.

In the nineteen fifties, there was a young man named Jim Elliot who, along with four other young men, determined that Jesus wanted, through them, to take the gospel to an unreached jungle tribe in the Amazon. A few years before this, Elliot had written:

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

He meant, among other things, that even his own life was not his own to keep. All people die; no one gets to “keep” their own life. So, even if he were to give up his life, he was not giving up anything that was truly his anyway. What he gained by giving Jesus his life was an eternal life that no one could ever take from him.

A few years after writing that, Elliot and his friends were murdered in the Amazon jungle by the tribe they were trying to reach with the gospel of Jesus. He fully gave up what he could not keep. But at least three things happened as a result. That awful event, along with Jim Elliot’s quote, inspired at least two generations of Christians to take seriously the call of Jesus to give our entire selves into his keeping. It also inspired many young people to become missionaries. Thirdly, their martyrdom was the catalyst that led to the peaceful conversion of that tribe to faith in Jesus Christ.

Jim Elliot might have been thinking of this passage in Philippians when he wrote his famous words. Nothing compares to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ. All things are worthless compared to Jesus. Everything that is good, that will endure, will also be found in and through Jesus Christ.

I let the world tempt me into thinking that I’m missing out, or that I need to chase down my own goals, to have the life I want. But scripture says that all things are rubbish compared to Jesus Christ. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you today.

PHILIPPIANS #11: JOY

On May 8, 2026 By Pastor TomIn apostle paul, House Church, Jesus, Philippians, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

If our joy is fully in the Lord, then our hearts will always be satisfied, because the one thing that Jesus gives us without limit is himself. If what we want is Jesus himself—not the stuff he can do for us, but his presence—then we can continually rejoice in the Lord. Even if Jesus is the desire of our heart, it may seem sometimes like we are not fully satisfied, but scripture tells us that the Lord is in us, and with us, even when the voices of the world, flesh and devil whisper that our experience says otherwise. We can count on the promises of God to be with us always.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

You can also find us on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKzSHPFT466aXfNT2r9OD (This will open to the latest sermon. You can search from there if you are looking for a previous one)

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¹ Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. (Philippians 3:1, ESV)

Just a quick language note. Some scholars see the first word of verse one (“finally” in the ESV) to mean that Paul was actually wrapping up his letter. They think, as a result, that the letter should end somewhere in chapter three, and that chapter 4 was not part of the same letter.

In the first place, if that were true, it doesn’t change the fact that God inspired and preserved all of the words of Philippians for us as part of his word.

However, I doubt that the claim is true in the first place. Every ancient copy of Philippians contains the whole letter, and there is no evidence that this was ever anything but a single letter, so that isn’t likely. In Greek there are actually two words here, that, taken together, literally mean something like “finally.” However, at that point in history, the expression wasn’t used in a strictly literal fashion. So, in English, we might say: “I was blown away,” but we do not mean that some great wind actually came and blew us away, or that we were in an explosion. So, the Greek expression here is, I think, better translated something like: “furthermore.” A few other translations pick up on this: “whatever happens” (NLT), “in addition” (CSB,) “now then” (GW), “further” (NIV).

You probably didn’t want, or need, to know that, but I mention it because some critical scholars use it to try and undermine the Bible, saying that Philippians was cobbled together out of two or three different letters. But the entire argument rests on a poor understanding of the Greek expression. I guess I’m telling you this because I’m sure you realize that there are skeptics, who don’t believe the Bible is even what we think it is. I’m showing you that, at least with regard to Philippians, the skeptics have virtually no ground to stand on. (This is a typical case, which is why I don’t have a ton of respect for skeptical biblical scholars).

Moving on to the text, Paul tells them to rejoice in the Lord, and adds that it is no trouble to write the same things to them. What does he mean? Well, for one thing, this is now the sixth time that he has used the word “rejoice.” He uses it nine times altogether in this letter. He also uses the verb form, “joy,” five additional times in the letter. So this is a major theme. Up until this point Paul has talked about rejoicing in a general way, or rejoicing for specific things. But now he says “Rejoice in the Lord.”

Let’s start by considering a few other places in the New Testament that talk about rejoicing. Here’s Jesus:

¹¹ “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12, ESV)

When his disciples came back from their first training mission, they were amazed and thrilled that demonic spirits fled at the name of Jesus. Jesus said this:

²⁰ Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20, ESV)

Before he left this world, he told his disciples:

²² So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.( John 16:22, ESV)

In the book of Acts, when the apostles were first persecuted, their response was to rejoice:

So they took his advice, ⁴⁰ and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. ⁴¹ Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. (Acts 5:39-41, ESV)

Elsewhere Paul wrote:

²⁴ Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, (Colossians 1:24, ESV)

Peter wrote:

¹³ But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:13, ESV)

James used the noun form of the word (joy) rather than the verb (rejoice) but you can see that he means the same thing:

² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4, ESV)

Let’s have just one more, from Paul again:

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, ESV)

There are actually many, many more verses. So you see, this isn’t just a major theme in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Rejoicing is a major theme of the New Testament. The Greek verb “rejoice” is used 74 times in the New Testament, while the noun-form of the same word, “joy,” is used an additional 56 times. There are a few other words that have similar meanings, and are sometimes translated as joy or rejoice, but I didn’t include them in these results, because they come from different Greek words. In Greek, the word “joy” is related to the word “grace.” I’m not sure exactly where to go with that, other than that God’s grace brings about joy, and joy impresses upon us the experience of grace.

One thing we can see from the verses I quote above is that rejoicing is not dependent upon our circumstances. In fact, many times, the New Testament tells us to rejoice in trials and sufferings, or records people (like Peter and John, in Acts chapter 5, above) rejoicing in difficult situations.

This tells us that rejoicing is not primarily about accessing an emotion. Rejoicing is declaring to yourself (and others, depending on circumstances) the trust of what we have in Jesus.

I think it is vitally important that we rejoice in the Lord. Psalm 37:4 says this:

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Now, unfortunately, this verse gets misused constantly. Many people take it to mean something like this: “Become a committed Christian, and, in exchange, God will give you the things you want.”

But that’s not what the verse says, nor what it means. I think it is very similar to “rejoice in the Lord always.” It works like this: let the Lord himself be your deepest desire and joy. When what you want most of all is the Lord himself—not what he can do for you, not the blessings he gives you, bur rather, Jesus, for the sake of Jesus alone—then, your soul will be satisfied by Jesus himself. If what you desire more than anything is the Lord himself, that desire will be granted to you. The one thing that Jesus gives us without limit in this mortal life is himself. Nothing else is safe enough, good enough, strong enough, to be the deepest, most important desire of our hearts without corrupting us. If our deepest joy is Jesus himself, we are safe and at peace, and at rest. It is when we rejoice in “Jesus, plus _____” that our souls get shipwrecked. If I need something other than Jesus, or even something in addition to Jesus, to be joyful, satisfied and at peace, then I will never be at peace; I will never be truly joyful.

If we rejoice only in healing, or only when things go the way we want them to, or only when we feel OK, then our joy is not in the Lord. Then, our joy is contingent upon something else, and if we don’t have whatever that is, we don’t have joy. To rejoice in the Lord is to rejoice fully in Jesus. It is to have our joy contingent upon Jesus alone. When that is the case, we can rejoice and give thanks in all circumstances, because we are never without Jesus.

Rejoicing in the Lord is partly a discipline of the mind that we can learn and improve in. We need to remind ourselves of the amazing gift of Jesus, and focus on that, rather than on the things that bother us, or that we feel we lack. Don’t let “perfection” become the enemy of “improving.” If you aren’t used to disciplining your mind, of catching yourself worrying, or angry, and then refocusing on the joy we have in the Lord, it will be a slow process to begin with. It might be a slow process for your whole life. The point is not to achieve something, but to be moving in the right direction. So, suppose you catch yourself wishing you could change something that you really can’t (like, for instance, another human being) pay attention to your habit of thought. Release what you can’t change to the Lord, and focus on the joy we have in Jesus.

Rejoicing in the Lord is also an act of faith. Sometimes, Jesus feels distant. In fact, sometimes, he feels entirely absent. Please understand that this is part of the normal human condition in our mortal flesh. Our own sin, our flesh, the clamour of the world around us, the devil and his minions—all of these can interfere with our perception of the closeness of Jesus. But we need to remember that our perception of Jesus’ presence with us is flawed. Just because we can’t see it or feel it does not mean that Jesus isn’t there. In times like that, we are called to trust the Word of God, to trust beyond what we can perceive or understand. We are called to go on with life as if Jesus is right there by our side—because he actually is.

I am going to quote several different scriptures in which the Lord promises to be with us. Take a moment, right now, to pray something like this: Lord, please help me to hear and trust your promises that you are always with me, and will never leave me. Help me to trust you, even when I’m struggling to see or feel that this is true. Help me to rejoice entirely in you.

Now read these promises prayerfully. Take your time. Pause after each verse. Let the words sink in. You are not alone. Since coming to Jesus, you have never been alone. Jesus is the only worthy thing for you to fully rejoice in. So hear, trust, and rejoice:

⁵ Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” ⁶ So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6, ESV)

⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9, ESV)

And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20, CSB)

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. (John 14:18-20, CSB)

¹⁰ fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10, ESV)

¹ Now this is what the LORD says —
the one who created you, Jacob,
and the one who formed you, Israel —
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name; you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you,
and the rivers will not overwhelm you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be scorched,
and the flame will not burn you.
³ For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior.
I have given Egypt as a ransom for you,
Cush and Seba in your place.
⁴ Because you are precious in my sight
and honored, and I love you, (Isaiah 43:1-4, CSB)

Finally, this one:

²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
²⁸ We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

³¹ What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? ³³ Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. ³⁴ Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written: Because of you; we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.
³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:26-39, CSB)

PHILIPPIANS #7: THE GLORY OF HUMILITY

On March 6, 2026 By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Christianity, House Church, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Humility by Ernst Barlach by lacma is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

I feel that at least on this occasion, we should look at this text in the way that Paul clearly meant the Philippians to understand it. He wasn’t trying to write a hymn. If he was using a piece of an existing hymn, that is beside the point. He wasn’t creating a theology of Jesus, either. Instead, he was urging the Philippians to be humble in practical, loving ways.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

You can also find us on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKzSHPFT466aXfNT2r9OD (This will open to the latest sermon. You can search from there if you are looking for a previous one)

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Philippians #7. Philippians 2:1-10

¹ So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, ² complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:1-11, ESV)

Philippians 2:6-11 (the last half of our text today) is very significant for Christian theology about Jesus Christ. Many commentators also point out that those verses appear to be an ancient hymn. In Greek, the words in verses 6-8 create a rhythm, and they seem to be very deliberately chosen and placed to balance one another. However, commentators disagree on where the “hymn” starts and ends.

Also, of course, this text tells us some important things about Jesus, especially, that he is God, who came to earth as a man. There have been volumes written, fleshing out the theological implications of it.

However, I feel that at least on this occasion, we should look at this text in the way that Paul clearly meant the Philippians to understand it. He wasn’t trying to write a hymn. If he was using a piece of an existing hymn, that is beside the point. He wasn’t creating a theology of Jesus, either. Instead, he was urging the Philippians to be humble in practical, loving ways.

Paul has just been encouraging the Philippians to live as citizens of the gospel of Christ in a way that shows Christ as worthy above all. Remember, this letter is addressed to a group of Christians. Now Paul begins to explain that they are not just individual Christians who happen to go to church together; no, they are called to communal life together in unity and humility and truth. The way they are with one another communally is deeply connected to living as citizens of the kingdom of Christ.

Paul begins this section with a kind of rhetorical way of speaking, but his point is that we have been given so much through Jesus Christ. In him we have encouragement, comfort from love, participation in the Spirit, and sympathy. We have these things not only as individuals, but also together with one another. Let’s look at what Paul mentions:

The word encouragement means literally “coming alongside.” The idea here is that Christ comes alongside us through the Holy Spirit to comfort and encourage us. Not only that but in Christ, we have one another, and so we, too, come alongside one another. Many of you have come alongside us as we have dealt with the cancer of my daughter. I have a friend who has chronic head pain. Right now he is going through a tough time, and I’ve been coming alongside him, just letting him know he is not alone, that we are standing with him in spirit and in prayer.

Comfort from love. I prefer the HCSB: “consolation of love.” The Greek word for “comfort/consolation” means to speak tenderly alongside. Imagine a father with his arm around his five year old daughter after her beloved hamster has died. That’s an example of the consolation of love. We have that from Jesus, and through Christ, we can offer that to one another.

Participation in the spirit. The Greek word translated “participation” is koinonia, which includes a very strong idea of community and fellowship. Together, in the spirit, we have fellowship—close community—with God, and also with our fellow Christians.

Affection and sympathy. The word for affection is literally “intestines.” In English, “guts” are intestines, but “guts” can also mean courage. Some Australians and British, when they are deeply upset, may say that they are “gutted.” In a similar way, in ancient Greek, “guts” also meant, “deep feeling.” Personally, I think “affection” doesn’t convey the depth of feeling meant by the Greek word. Maybe it should be something more like “deeply caring.” It is combined with another Greek word here, which means mercy, or compassion. I don’t like the ESV translating this as “sympathy,” because the word “sympathy” comes almost directly from a different Greek word. So, I would call this “deep compassion,” or “deep caring.”

Paul is saying: “Have you received any of this through Christ?” The answer is meant to be an obvious “yes.” And then: “Do you have these things along with, and partially through, other believers?” Again the answer is “yes.” Then, because that is so, he says:

“complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” (Philippians 2:2, ESV)

I spent a ridiculous amount of time with the Greek, because, as the ESV correctly translates, it says “of the same mind,” and then “of one mind.” Why basically the same thing twice? The first “being of the same mind” could maybe be captured by “have the same mindset amongst yourselves.” It’s not about thinking thoughts, so much as it is about attitude. The second “one mind” is telling them to think about things in the same way. What things? What attitude? I’m so glad you asked, because the answer is in the following verses:

³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4, ESV)

I bet that almost anyone reading this today feels that it is in poor taste to boast, or to be conceited. Most people do not respect someone who boasts, or who is conceited. We tend to approve of people who are humble, especially when they might have reasons not to be. But that was not true in the ancient world. The powerful people never got tired of telling everyone else how great they were. Humility was not seen as a virtue. Philippi, that proud Roman colony, did not have time for humility. They were Roman citizens, better than everyone else who lived around them. The glory of Rome was their glory. But Paul tells them instead to be humble. The reason almost all modern Western people think of humility as good is because of passages like this one in the Bible. We don’t even realize how much the bible has influenced even secular people. What I’m trying to say is that this teaching would have been stunningly radical to those who first heard it.

I don’t know about you, but verses 3-4 above really cut to my heart, because I don’t want to live by them. I have had a certain amount of selfish ambition in my life, and it dies hard. I always had an ambition to be a famous author. If I’m honest, though I don’t know if today it remains an ambition, exactly, I still would really like to sell millions of my books. Then, I have such a high opinion of myself, and I find it challenging to think of others as more significant than me. I often don’t feel like my own interests are being sufficiently considered, so it’s hard to put the interest of others at the same level as my own. Then Paul really hits us:

⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11).

This is a profound passage. It provides a foundation for several important parts of Christian theology. But as we look at it today, I want us to remember it’s place in context. In context, Paul was not writing directly about the divinity of Jesus. As we have already begun to see, Paul wrote this to urge the Philippians to be humble. That’s how we’ll look at it today.

My Lord and savior, my ultimate hero, was profoundly humble. He was God in the flesh, and prior to his incarnation, he existed in a form that clearly showed his power and majesty. Jesus called himself “the son of man.” The son of man, in the Old Testament, was someone who appeared to various prophets in visions, shining in glory that so bright that it was painful to the eyes. But though Jesus could have come to earth “wearing” that unmistakable glory, instead he took on a form that no one paid any attention to: the form of a human, with no additional glory peeping through.

Though Jesus created all things, the rich and powerful and ambitious people had no time for him. He had every right in the universe, and yet he gave up every right. He submitted himself to the most horrific and humiliating form of death, death by crucifixion. Crucifixion was meant to kill, but slowly, agonizingly. In addition to the agony, it was meant to humiliate. Though all of our pictures of Jesus on the cross modestly cover his “private parts,” he was almost certainly completely naked on the cross. When he died, if not before, it is likely that his bowels and bladder emptied. This sort of thing is awful to think about, but sometimes we sort of romanticize the cross. It was not romantic. Certainly, the people who lived in the Roman empire at that time could not imagine a more agonizing or humiliating way to die. I’m still not sure I can. And this is what the most glorious being in existence submitted himself to, out of love for you and me.

Let’s consider this picture of humility. In the first place, it doesn’t mean thinking you are somehow worth less than others, or a poor excuse for a person. To think those things about himself would have been a sin, for Jesus, a lie. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis said:

Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call “humble” nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.

A humble person is interested in others as much as, or more then, herself. She will think that what others have to say is as important as what she might say. To her, the lives of others have as much right to be seen and respected as her own life.

I think one key aspect of what Paul is describing in this passage is that Jesus was secure in who he was. He was not insecure. He knew he was worthy, therefore, he didn’t need others to constantly affirm it. He knew he was God, and so, for his sense of personal well-being, it didn’t matter whether anyone else thought so. His only reason for wanting others to see that part of him was so that they would be saved. His own strong sense of self was the stable platform that allowed him to serve others, even if they never recognized him as God, or even as great.

In addition, Jesus trusted God to honor him at the right time and the right way. Even now, Jesus is not fully honored for who he is, and what he did for the human race. But, Paul explains that eventually, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

By the way, I don’t think that this is teaching that all people will be saved. It seems to me that some people will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and be filled with joy about it. For them, that confession will be the glad exclamation after a lifetime of following him, rejoicing that now all people who have ever lived are recognizing who He is.

But others will confess the truth about Jesus reluctantly, angrily, horrified that they must admit it is true. They will admit the truth, but it will only make them more angry, bitter and hateful. My point is that Paul is not teaching that every person who ever lives will welcome Jesus gladly and be saved. Everyone, whether they want to, or not, will be forced to admit who Jesus is: the Lord of all creation, the savior of those who trust in him. Those who are being saved will confess it with joy, but those who are not being saved will confess it with savage anger and hatred. When they confess, it will also be an admission that they were wrong in their attitude toward Jesus.

So Jesus was able to be humble because he knew who he was, and because he entrusted his honor and success to the Father. He was relaxed, not needing to insist that everyone treat him as he deserved to be treated.

We are called to the same kind of humility: that’s what Paul means when he says: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus..” But it can be daunting. Jesus was secure in who he was. He trusted the Father with all things, so he could be humble. But what if I’m not quite as secure in myself? What if I feel that I need to look out for my own interests, because no one else will?

Here’s the thing: Jesus offers us that same security and stability that he himself has. The Lord sees who we truly are, and he loves us. If that is true, it really does not matter what anyone else thinks of us. Through Jesus, we can be secure in ourselves, in our worth as human beings loved by God. Through Jesus we can learn to trust him to look after our interests for us. Jesus, for the most part, did not receive the respect he deserved during his life on earth. He trusted that his Father would work it all out in the light of eternity. So, we too, don’t have to get everything we want or deserve in this life. Our lives are bound up with Jesus, and we will be part of the Father’s exaltation of Jesus in the new creation.

Several years ago, before we transitioned to house church here in Tennessee, I preached “live” every Sunday morning. One week, I was really excited about what the Lord had showed me in the text, and eager to give the sermon. However, that morning, the weather was really bad, and it was a holiday weekend to boot. I found myself standing up to preach in front of my family and about five other people. I was disappointed that so few people were going to hear the cool stuff the Lord had showed me from the text. I prayed silently: Really Lord? You want me to preach this for five people, plus my family?

I felt the reply: What if you were only preaching to an audience of one?

What do you mean, Lord?

What if I was the only one you were preaching for? Would that be enough?

It occurred to me that if I was called to preach only to the President of the United States, I would feel honored. Shouldn’t I feel even more honored to preach for the Master and Creator of the Universe?

My sermons are for the Lord, which is a great honor for me. I can relax about who, or how many others hear/read them. I can stop thinking about myself. I wish I could tell you that I always feel that way. Truthfully, it’s still a struggle. But I find that the more my sense of security and self is grounded in the Lord, the less I worry about myself, and the more appropriately humble I can be. I’m not claiming to have this down all the time. But I think one of the keys to humility is to learn to be secure in the love of the Lord for me, and the value that he puts on me. Then, I don’t have to defend myself, or promote myself.

I find this is most difficult as an author. Since I’m not very famous, most people have not heard of me, and won’t go buy my books, because they don’t even know my books exist. The way of the world is to promote not only my books, but myself. I think this is true of most artistic endeavors, like music, graphic art, filmmaking, performing arts (like acting and dance), and so on. I don’t really know what to do about it, other than to be aware of the potential problem, and consciously invite the Lord into the process of marketing my artistic endeavors.

Over the years, many people that I know met my dad. After about the first ten times, I began to get used to the fact that people were almost universally positively impressed by him. I can’t count the number of times people would say something like: “Your dad is a pretty amazing guy, isn’t he?” He was. He led a full and adventurous life, and he had so many varied and interesting experiences. He was very intelligent, and well read, and thoughtful. But I think what actually made such an impression on people is that he was humble. He was genuinely interested in what other people thought, and who they were. He set aside his own agenda and interests to listen to others, and ask them questions.

To be humble we have to trust God with our own needs; we need to let him take care of our rights, and privileges and honor. Then, we are free to focus on others. Paul shows us what happens because Jesus did that. He did not insist upon his own, rightful honor. Instead he humbled himself, even submitted himself to humiliation and death. Therefore, says the scripture, God (the Father) will exalt him, and everyone on earth will recognize his true greatness and glory.

Even more amazing, to my mind, is that he will include us in bringing glory to him!

Let the Holy Spirit speak to you today.

PHILIPPIANS #3: A BUFFET OF THANKSGIVING

On January 3, 2026 By Pastor TomIn apostle paul, Bible, Bible Teaching, House Church, Jesus, Philippians, Podcast, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today we will consider Paul’s introductory prayer, offered right after his first greeting to the Philippians. These nine verses are filled with important ideas and rich food for our souls. Think of it as a kind of buffet. You may feel more hungry for the steak than the salad, and that’s fine. Maybe not every part of this passage will be equally meaningful for you. But let’s dig in and see what is on offer here.

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PHILIPPIANS 1:3-11

³ I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶ And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. ⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. ⁸ For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. ⁹ And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:3-11, ESV)

As I said in the introduction, the Philippians were a church with which Paul had few, if any, theological issues. He had deep, affectionate relationships with many in the church. So, he begins by mentioning that whenever he prays for them, he thanks the Lord, and prays with joy. Later in the letter, he will remind them explicitly that when they pray, they should do so with thanksgiving and joy.

I’ll say more about joy and thanksgiving in prayer when we get to that passage, but I do want to say something here, because it’s worth saying more than once. Sometimes, I pray about something, and when I’m done, I feel just as worried and bothered by it as I did before I prayed. But at other times, when I pray, I feel so much better afterwards. I think the difference is that during the times I don’t feel at peace, I have forgotten to thank the Lord when I pray.

When we give thanks as we pray, we are encouraging our hearts to trust the Lord. When I ask for the Lord’s help, adding “thank you,” is like saying, “I trust you to deal with this, Lord. I’ve asked you to do something, and I’m thanking you, because I trust that you have heard me, you understand my concerns, and you will do what is best.” When we thank him, we are putting the matter in the Lord’s hands, and leaving it with him. Just to be perfectly clear: saying “Thank you,” does not mean that I think the Lord will respond exactly how I want him to. It means I trust him to work in the best way, even if I don’t recognize it as the best way at this point in time. Thanking the Lord is a concrete way of releasing our concerns into the hands of the Lord.

Paul says he is thankful for the Philippians’ partnership in the gospel. The word for “partnership” is a pretty flexible word. In general it describes a close fellowship, an involvement with one another’s lives. I think Paul means a number of things by this word.

The first Philippian to become a Christian was a businesswoman called Lydia. As soon as she received Jesus, she invited Paul and his companions to stay with her. She said: “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house” (Acts 16:15, HCSB). Her newfound faith immediately led her to reach out to Paul and the missionaries and partner with them by giving them a place to stay. So, from the very first day, Lydia became a partner in the gospel. Apparently the other Philippians responded in a similar way.

The partnership undoubtedly included fellowship and friendship as well. The long, ongoing connection between Paul and the Philippians testifies to genuine love and concern for one another. And, for these Philippians, the partnership also included financial giving to enable Paul to continue to preach the gospel. If you remember, one of the reasons Paul is writing this letter is because the Philippians sent him a financial gift, and he wants to thank them. This was not the first time they gave him financial support. At the end of the letter, Paul again thanks them, explicitly, for their financial gift. He says:

⁵ And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. ¹⁶ Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. (Philippians 4:15-16, ESV)

We’ll talk about all this more when we get to those verses, but I want to make a few quick observations. In Paul’s mind, one way to be “a partner in the gospel” is to give financially, and one of the reasons he thanks the Lord for the Philippians is because they have partnered with him in that way from the very beginning of their Christian lives. This partnership of financial giving is not something that Paul demanded, but rather, the Philippians freely chose to enter into it. We’ll unpack more about this when we get to the end of the letter.

Next Paul writes one of the most comforting verses in the New Testament:

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

Their partnership in the gospel (and Paul’s too) began with God’s work in them. It continues until Jesus returns, and it continues as the work of the Lord. In other words, Paul is not saying, “I’m sure you will all be good Christians until Jesus returns. No, he says: “The Lord (not you), began the work within you, and it will be the Lord himself who brings it to completion.”

Sometimes we Christians get messed up in our theology. We think “Jesus forgave all of my sins by dying on the cross. Now, it’s up to me to live a good life to honor what Jesus did for me.” But that’s not the Biblical picture at all. Jesus did all that was needed to save us, and he also provides all that is needed for us to live as his people for the rest of our lives. We do not “complete” the work of Jesus by being good people after we’re saved. Jesus himself is the one who completes the work in us. From start to finish, the work is His.

Now, this is all a bit tricky. I’ve mentioned before that there are many tensions in the teaching of the Bible. This is one of them. We are saved entirely by grace. Not only that, but we live as Jesus wants us to live entirely by grace. Jesus is the one who does it within us. At the same time, we have the ability to either allow Jesus to complete his work, or to hinder him from doing the work within us. Our main job is to allow Jesus to do within us what he wants to. Sometimes, that means saying “no” to things we’d like to do, but which will hinder his work in us. Sometimes, that means saying “yes” to things we feel like we’d rather not do. It is all the work of Jesus, a work of grace. But we do have to be diligent about allowing Jesus to do what he wants to do in us and through us. And yet, don’t let this sound like a law you must follow. It is the Lord who provides the power and energy for us to be the people he wants us to be. Our part is to allow him to be at work in us. Our part is not so much to be good people, as it is just to not hinder him from making us into his people. Maybe what I’m trying to say is this: if you belong to Jesus, you will want him to guide you, and empower you to follow him. If you are consistently going your own way, and not too concerned about it, there is something wrong. On the other hand, if you belong to Jesus, he himself will empower you through the Holy Spirit to become more and more the person he wants you to be. You can allow your soul to rest as you trust him to do what you cannot do anyway.

Paul continues on in his gratefulness for the Philippians:

⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. ⁸ For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

Paul reaffirms the sense of fellowship and partnership he feels with them in the gospel. This is important. Christians are supposed to live in fellowship and partnership with other Christians. The idea of someone who is a Christian but does not belong to a church is wildly unbiblical. Even the idea of belonging to a church, but not really knowing or being involved in the lives of your fellow believers is completely against the Biblical view. When you become a Christian, you become part of the family of God, and you are supposed to become anchored to some specific part of that (i.e., a local church, and/or a small group in that church). Being a follower of Jesus involves being a partaker in the lives of other believers. This is not optional. If we don’t love others who belong to Jesus, then we need to seriously wonder if we even love Jesus.

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.⁸ The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.⁹ God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him.¹⁰ Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.¹¹ Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.¹² No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:7-12, HCSB)

…²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen.²¹ And we have this command from Him: The one who loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:20-21, HCSB)

Paul’s words demonstrate his love for the Philippians. A bit later in the letter we will see that the Philippian church is not perfect, by any means, and there are struggles in the way they love one another. Even so, they kept at it, and Paul reveals his own love for Jesus by showing us that he loves his fellow-believers.

Paul adds this to his prayer for the Philippians:

⁹And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

The first part of the prayer is about this business of loving other believers. Love should abound (that is, be plentiful, and even increase). Love should also be accompanied by knowledge and discernment. In other words, there is a time and place to discern whom we love, and how, and whether or not our fellowship with them is based upon truth and excellence. Our love should grow, and so should our discernment about who we welcome as fellow followers of Jesus. To make it clear: love does not mean that we should accept the corruption of the truth. It does not mean that we should never try to discern with whom we should fellowship. In fact, in addition to love, we need knowledge and discernment.

So, for instance, there are people who call themselves Christians who do not believe that Jesus is the only way to God. There are some who flatly deny parts of what the bible teaches: for instance, the teachings about sexuality which are so out of step with our current culture. But they have no reason for denying the Bible’s teaching on sexuality, while not denying what it says about God’s love. We can and should exercise discernment in our fellowship. I don’t have to judge the status of their salvation, but I can say that through knowledge and discernment, it is appropriate that I don’t have a great deal of fellowship with such people.

Paul ends his prayer with the hope that they will be “pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

Once again we return to the comfort of verse six. The fruit of righteousness comes through Christ Jesus, not through our own efforts. The very last phrase is important as well: “to the glory and praise of God.” This is also a comfort: God’s ultimate design is that we glorify him. And he has made it so that when we are glorifying him, it is also the best thing possible for us. Because it is about God’s glory, we can be sure that God himself will complete his work in us. And because it is about God’s glory, we can trust that God’s will is good for us.

So what is the Lord speaking to you about today? Do you need to be reminded to pray with thanksgiving? Again, if you find that your prayers are not bringing you to the peace you hope for, it might be because you need to thank the Lord as you pray?

Maybe you need to be reminded about partnership in the gospel. When we become believers, we join a family, and that ultimately leads to a deep fellowship and partnership with a small group of other followers of Jesus. That partnership shares in joy and pain, in plenty and in times of need. It involves the sharing of all of our lives with one another in the cause of the gospel. Do you hear the gracious invitation of Jesus to “plug-in,” to go all in with other believers? The idea of following Jesus mostly on your own, apart from other believers, is not a Biblical idea. It is directly contrary to scripture.

I think sooner or later we all need to hear the deep comfort of verse six: It is Jesus himself who began his good work in us, and it is Jesus himself who will complete it. God’s love for us, and our future as his people, rest upon Jesus Christ, not upon our own efforts. We trust Jesus to do what needs doing in us. Our main task is to not hinder him; that is to say yes to him.

Maybe we are eager to partner with other Christians, but we need to be reminded that discernment and knowledge are also important. There is such a thing as truth, and it matters, and even at times, knowledge and discernment should lead us into deep fellowship with some believers, and not with others who claim to be Christian.

Finally, do you need to be reminded that you were created to show a piece of God’s glory? It is a wonderful thing to remember, because it means that your whole life is God’s own project, for God’s own purposes, and those are good and wonderful.

PHILIPPIANS #1: INTRODUCTION

On November 7, 2025 By Pastor TomIn Church, House Church, Philippians, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Paul and his companions were a part of some very eventful happenings in the Roman Colony of Philippi.

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PHILIPPIANS #1: BACKGROUND, INTRODUCTION AND THE ENTIRE BOOK

We are going to begin a new series on the book of Philippians. I am excited for this. Philippians is one of my favorite books. It is a letter, written by the apostle Paul, to the Christians in the city of Philippi. Clearly, Paul had a warm relationship with the Philippian Christians, and the whole book is suffused with affection and joy.

Let’s start with a little bit of background on the city of Philippi, and some of the people and events associated with it.

In the book of Acts, we first hear about the city of Philippi shortly after Luke joins Paul and his companions. Luke was in a city named Troas on the western coast of Asia minor, not extremely far, as the crow flies, from Philippi. This is the first time that Luke, in his book of Acts, starts to write as if he himself were part of the events. Instead of writing: “they went and did this,” as he did for the first fifteen or so chapters of the book of Acts, Luke writes: “we went and did this.”

Luke traveled with Paul and his companions to Macedonia, after Paul had a vision in a dream that he was supposed to proclaim the gospel in that region. They landed at a Macedonian port (Neapolis), and then the companions traveled together to Philippi, which Luke describes as “a leading city of Macedonia.” After the events which took place in Philippi, it reads as if Luke is no longer accompanying Paul and his companions. In Acts chapter 20, Luke once again rejoins Paul—at Philippi—as he travels towards Jerusalem. The best guess is that this is after a period of about eight years. It seems clear that Luke made Philippi his home for that eight year period.

Paul’s first visit to Philippi was quite eventful. These events are described in Acts chapter 16:11-40. I will read these verses on the audio version of this sermon. If you are reading my words right now, I encourage you to stop for a moment, and go and read those same verses in your own Bible.

(I’m trusting that you have now read those verses). So, obviously, some major and unusual things took place with the beginnings of Christianity in Philippi. It was a very exciting time for the new Christians there.

Philippi was named after King Philip of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great. Later it was conquered by the Romans, and was the site of a decisive battle in the Roman civil war that took place as a result of the assassination of Julius Caesar (this was roughly 42 years before the birth of Jesus Christ). Twelve years later (30 BC), when Octavian/Augustus became Caesar, he made Philippi a Roman colony. This meant that citizens of Philippi, which is in Macedonia (north of Greece) had exactly the same rights and privileges as Romans who lived in Rome. City business was conducted in Latin, rather than Greek. Citizens were exempt from Roman taxes, and could own property just like Romans who lived in Rome. This was one reason that Paul’s status as a Roman citizen was such a big deal to the Philippians. They had violated his civil rights as a Roman in a Roman colony. To them, it was a shameful act, and they wanted it forgotten and covered up immediately.

I have done a little bit of ministry that sometimes reminds me of Paul and Silas (or Barnabas). My great friend Peter Churness and I have traveled to meet people we had not met previously, and stayed in strangers’ homes while we did some teaching, and eventually helped organize churches in those places. Some of you listening or reading are among those people. I have to say that staying in someone’s home, there is a closeness of fellowship that develops, especially if you keep in touch over a period of time. When we read Paul’s letter, we can hear the warmth he feels for these people.

So, when did Paul write this? It appears that he wrote it while he was awaiting trial in front of Caesar. In the book of Acts, near the end, we read that Paul, facing charges from local Jewish authorities who wanted him dead, made an appeal for Caesar to hear his case. This was his right as a Roman citizen. It appears that Paul wrote to the Philippians when he was in Rome, waiting for that trial. So, this would have been shortly after the ending of the book of Acts, in about 62 AD. Just from reading between the lines, it seems like the Philippians sent Paul a gift of money to support him while he awaited trial. It was delivered by a messenger named Epaphroditus and others. The others presumably returned to Philippi (about 800 miles away) but Epaphroditus was ill, and had to stay with Paul for some time. After he recovered fully, Paul wrote a letter to send with him back to the Philippians.

Some of you know how important I think it is to read the Bible the way it was written, that is, book, by book. You know that I also think it is vitally important to understand the textual context of any given verse. Happily, Philippians is a short book, which can be read quite quickly. So, I will complete this message by reading the entire book to you, so that we understand the context of the various parts. If you are a reader, more than a listener, please go and read the whole book of Philippians right now. It shouldn’t take much more than 20 minutes. Have some paper and a pen handy and briefly note down the verses that speak to you, and why. Next time, we’ll start in on the text in detail.

GRUMBLING vs LAMENT #5: Where are you God?

On October 16, 2025 By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, House Church, Lamenting, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Once again, during this series I encourage you to listen to the sermon, rather than simply reading the text. My right arm is in a sling, and I cannot type effectively. I am using voice dictation software to type these words, as well as any other content that I add to pastor Kevin’s message. Sometimes the results are not entirely accurate.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen. You can also find us on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKzSHPFT466aXfNT2r9OD

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Lament Part 5

“Where are You, Lord?” The psalmist in Psalm 10, seems to be asking this question. Have you asked this question or even thought it? You’d be very unusual if you haven’t. Though early in the Christian life we learn that God is omnipresent, or “everywhere present,” it often feels like He is not present to us in our current circumstance, especially if those circumstances are particularly difficult.

Technically speaking God is simultaneously present everywhere. How? He doesn’t explain that to us. It’s part and parcel of His “Godhood.” It’s one of His attributes, spoken about in Psalm 139. Note the following verses from this psalm.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

God is everywhere. Jonah experienced God even in the depths of the sea. While God is actually present everywhere, He is usually only manifestly present, or present in a way that we can experience Him, at certain times and locations. Almost unpredictably. People who have journeyed with God and are known to know Him well will tell you that you cannot manipulate or manufacture His presence. Either God will or won’t be present in a way that is obvious. And, when that happens, you know it. There’s nothing quite like His presence. David testified that in God’s presence, “there is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). When I have experienced the manifest presence of God on an individual level (as opposed to a congregational setting), and I can count on one hand the times that has happened in my 53 year relationship with Him, His presence satisfies every longing and infuses me with peace. It convinces me that there is no pleasure, no achievement and no material thing that can come remotely close to giving me what I have in Him. Asaph was a psalmist and he knew from his encounter with God’s manifest presence that there was nothing on the entire earth that could compete with it (Psalm 73:25,28– read this in a variety of translations).

Even though you can’t have this variety of God’s presence on demand– in fact, demanding it is a sure way to guarantee you won’t get it— God doesn’t respond to our impertinence– it is still good to ask the question, “Lord, where are you?” It’s a way of saying, “Lord, I need your comfort. I need your embrace. I am aching for a hug from you. I need to know that You are near. Please, please don’t delay.”

(Tom here now, almost until the end). The Lord does come to us through our feelings and our thoughts. He sometimes comes in a way that is hard to describe. We might call his speaking to us as a “spiritual” experience. But sometimes all that can be a little bit vague. We can find ourselves chasing a certain set of feelings, or experiences, but not actually getting them. However, as Kevin said, God does not show up for us in an experiential way simply because we demand it. Perhaps we aren’t even being demanding, but we desperately want some kind of experience with God, and it doesn’t happen. As Kevin has been pointing out this can be extremely difficult.

Thankfully, we do not have to rely on only our feelings or experiences. The Lord has given us three objective ways of experiencing his presence. These three ways do not require any particular feeling on our part. The first way is through reading the Bible. I’ve preached extensively on the remarkable text that we call the Bible. I’ve even written a book about it (Who Cares About the Bible?). We can have confidence that when we read the Bible (which we also refer to as “God’s Word”) we are, in fact, hearing from God. When we read the Bible, we are not making something up in our own heads. The text is there for any human being to see. Thousands of generations before us have read these same words. But when we feel abandoned by God, it is especially important that we continue to read the Bible.

When I teach and preach on a passage of Scripture, one of my goals is to help us understand the original, objective meaning, that the Holy Spirit intended through the human authors of the text. Preachers should do that. But there is another, more personal way, of reading the Bible. And that is to pray before you read, asking God to speak to you through his word. And then read the text as if God is speaking it directly to you. It may have been something that God originally wanted Isaiah to say to the people of Israel twenty-seven hundred years ago. But Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the word of God is living and active. That means that we can receive what God is saying to us through the Scripture as intended directly for us. We shouldn’t build doctrines on reading the Bible this way, but it can be tremendously helpful in our sense of God’s presence and love in our lives.

I want to give you a quick example of what I’m talking about. When I was in college I went through a time of dark depression. During this time I went on a spiritual retreat. The leaders gave us a list of Bible verses to read. They told us to listen for the voice of God speaking through those verses. I went off by myself. I prayed before reading the first assigned passage. I asked the Lord to speak to me through the Bible. And then I read this verse:

¹ “Comfort, comfort my people,”
says your God.
² “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.
Tell her that her sad days are gone
and her sins are pardoned.
Yes, the LORD has punished her twice over
for all her sins.” Isaiah 40:1-2

This is a prophecy given by the prophet Isaiah. It speaks to the people of Judah after the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and laid waste to the entire kingdom of Judah. The people of Judah were now in exile, far from their homes. So originally, this text was announcing to God’s people that their exile in the land of Babylon would soon be over. It was a reassurance to them that God was not angry with them, and he was going to bring them back into their homeland. If I was preaching on this text I would make sure that my listeners all understood this.

However on that day, when I was under the dark cloud of depression, the Lord spoke to me through this Scripture in a unique way. I felt that he was proclaiming comfort directly to me in my depression. He was saying to me that the time of depression was now at an end, that my “sad days,” were over. That was what it meant to me to me as I read it. Thankfully, I believed the message that the Lord was given me through that Scripture. And then, it was so. My depression was over. Now, I would never preach on that text, and say that the meaning of that text was that everyone who is listening to me who was also depressed would now no longer be depressed. But this of how God speaks to us through his word. This didn’t take place in my head. It came from words that I did not make up.

A second place where God meets us, regardless of how we may feel, is in the sacrament of communion. We are taking real, actual bread into our bodies; real, actual wine (or, grape juice). Communion is not some kind of vague emotional experience. It is real bread, and real wine, in which Jesus has promised to be present. So, if you are wondering where you can find God, communion is one place he promises to meet us. It is not necessary for you to feel anything as you digest the bread and wine.

The third objective place where God meets us is through the fellowship of other Christians. Everyone who trusts Jesus has the Holy Spirit within them. Therefore, in a very real sense, when you are with other Christians, you are in the presence of God in a way that is outside of your self. The Bible seems to tell us that there is a special thing that happens when we gather together with other Christians specifically to worship the Lord. You may or may not feel anything as you worship the Lord with other Christians. Even so, he is there with you and the others, whether or not you feel it. You can look at the other people who are with you, and see that this is not something you are making up. God’s presence is also outside of ourselves.

The words of the Bible are not dependent on how you feel. The reality of the presence of the Lord through communion is not some vague experience. This is also true of the reality of God’s presence when his people meet together for worship.

No doubt there are times when we would really, really like to have some kind of an emotional experience of the presence of God. But by giving us the Bible, communion, and the fellowship of other believers, he has made it so that we can reliably be in his presence, no matter how we feel.

(We’ll close with a final paragraph from Kevin)

God sometimes uses silence and what appears to be aloofness to draw us to a deep longing for Him. When you are suffering, when you are confused, when you are desperate for His touch, ask “Where, Lord, can I find you?” And, be sure to include your faith community in your search for God’s incomparable touch. In time, He will provide a way to comfort you. He is faithful and He will not allow your despair to become permanent, if you turn to Him. Turn, turn to Him. Again. And again. Ask Him for the stamina you’ll need. He wants to do a deep work in you. Let Him.

2 SAMUEL #12: JUSTICE FOR THOSE WHO REJECT GOD’S LOVE

On March 14, 2025 By Pastor TomIn 2 Samuel, Bible, Bible Teaching, House Church, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

If someone rejects God, do you think God should force them to be eternally in His presence? It would mean that our choices don’t actually mean anything, that we aren’t, in fact, free. If there are no consequences for a choice, it’s not really a choice, is it? It’s meaningless to “choose” if everything will work out the same way, no matter what you choose.

Mephibosheth shows us what it looks like when we freely accept the faithful love of God. But in today’s passage, Hanun shows us what happens when we make the opposite choice and reject that love.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download 2 Samuel Part 12

Remember that in chapter eight, many of David’s military victories are described. Then, in chapter nine, we read about how David was kind to Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan. Now, in chapter 10, we get the details concerning how one of the wars described in chapter eight came about. Although it seems like chapter nine was an interruption in the flow of the narrative, actually, chapter nine fits perfectly with chapter ten.

In chapter nine, David reached out with the faithful love of God to Mephibosheth, who probably assumed that David was his enemy. Mephibosheth courageously responded to David’s overtures, and the result was a beautiful demonstration of God’s grace through David.

Now, in chapter ten, something similar happens. Nahash, king of Ammon, died. If you remember, it was Nahash who attacked the Israelite town of Jabesh-Gilead, shortly after Saul became king. This is recorded in 1 Samuel chapter eleven. Against all expectation, Saul attacked and defeated Nahash, and the armies of Ammon.

However, it appears from our text today (verse 2) that Nahash had helped David during the period he was running from Saul. This was probably more from a desire to keep the country of Israel unstable and divided, and to get revenge on Saul, than from any true kindness toward David on the part of Nahash.

Even so, when Nahash died, David sent ambassadors to his son, Hanun, to offer his condolences. Just as most kings in David’s situation would have considered Mephibosheth a threat, most would also have considered Hanun an enemy. In addition, the Ammonites were among those Canaanite tribes who worshipped idols and at times led the people of Israel away from the Lord. But David reached out to Hanun in his grief, seeking to show him the faithful love of God, just as he had done with Mephibosheth. In other words, this story starts the same way as the story of Mephibosheth in chapter nine. If you remember from last time, David said he wanted to show “the faithful love of God” to someone in Saul’s family. The Hebrew word for “faithful love of God” is hesed. That same word, hesed, is used here in chapter ten. David says he wants to show hesed to Hanun, in honor of his father (verse 20.

In this case, however, the results were very different from the situation with Mephibosheth. On the advice of his councilors, Nahash seized David’s emissaries, shaved off half their beards, and cut their robes off to show their bare buttocks. He sent them back to David that way, in utter humiliation. I think even today, we can get a sense for how rude and spiteful this was. It was like giving David “the finger” and saying “screw you!” It communicated an absolute lack of respect for David. It was more or less a declaration of war.

In other words, Hanun’s response to David, and to the faithful love of God, was pretty much the exact opposite of Mephibosheth’s response. Hanun rejected the faithful love of God that was offered to him through God’s chosen instrument, David.

Remember that Jesus and his apostles taught that even the Old Testament is ultimately about Jesus. These things actually happened, but God guided their happening in such a way as to reveal to us the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27, ESV2011)

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, 15 and you know that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2Tim 3:14-17, HCSB)

4 For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures. (Rom 15:4, HCSB)

12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart. (Heb 4:12, HCSB)

So, to really understand this, we need to remember that this is still all ultimately about Jesus. It should help us get to know him better. Last week, we saw that David revealed the heart of God’s ultimate Messiah, Jesus. The heart of Jesus is to find the lost and broken and show them God’s everlasting and faithful love. David lived that out, and Mephibosheth received that love.

But there is another possible outcome. Jesus wants to show God’s faithful and everlasting love to each person. But what about the person who doesn’t want it, who won’t receive it? That is what 2 Samuel 10 is all about. It is the other side of the same coin, the second part in the same story of God’s love for people. It is the story of what happens when people reject the faithful love of God.

Now, it is true, Hanun received some bad advice from his councilors. But even so, he believed his advisors, rather than the emissaries of the kind king, and the responsibility for that belief was all on him. Yes, he had people lying to him. But he also had David’s men telling him the truth, and Hanun made a choice to believe the lies rather than the truth. The consequences were all his own fault.

Now, I don’t know what would have happened if Hanun had repented and sent messengers to David acknowledging his wrong and asking for forgiveness. But Hanun, realizing that he had done wrong, proceeded to do even more wrong. He armed for war, and called on allies to help him. He was proud and stubborn and was willing to make both soldiers and civilians pay for his own mistakes.

The consequences were severe. David sent his army to besiege the capital city. Joab and his brother Abishai commanded the armies, and they defeated the Aramean allies of Hanun, while the army of Hanun fled back inside the walled city. Then the Arameans were upset, and sent another army. David himself took charge of the army of Israel, and the Arameans were defeated a second time. They never again helped the Ammonites. We are basically finding out the details of the military campaigns described in chapter eight.

Ultimately, though it took at least a year, the Ammonites themselves were utterly defeated and their capital city destroyed. Hanun lost his crown, and probably his head; while his people were made into heavy-laborers for the Israelites (these final events are recorded in 2 Samuel 12).

Hanun demonstrates for us what happens when we reject the faithful love of God that is offered through his chosen messiah, Jesus. Mephibosheth humbly received that love, and it blessed him for his entire life. But Hanun rejected it. It took some time, but ultimately, because he rejected it, he lost everything, and ruined the lives of tens of thousands of others.

We like to talk about the love and mercy and grace of God. I know I do. And that love and mercy and grace is indeed ours if we will simply trust the good heart of Jesus. When we receive it, we are brought into a daily relationship with Jesus, just as Mephibosheth had a daily relationship with David.

But the other side of the story is this: it does not go well for those who reject the love of God offered in Jesus Christ. Yes, it’s true, people lied to Hanun about David and his intentions. And the devil will use people and circumstances to lie to us about Jesus. But ultimately the truth was there for Hanun to choose, if he would just trust David. And the truth about Jesus is there, if we will just trust him. When we refuse to do that, we are inviting destruction upon ourselves. None of our allies or misplaced hopes will be able to save us.

This isn’t just an Old Testament teaching either. The writer of Hebrews says this:

¹ God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. ² For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. ³ For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said,
“In my anger I took an oath:
‘They will never enter my place of rest,’”
even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. ⁴ We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” ⁵ But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”
⁶ So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. ⁷ So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:
“Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts.” (Hebrews 4:1-7, NLT)

This is pretty clear: we need to rest from our own life that centered around our own desires and selfishness, our own works and ambitions, and instead rest in God’s great love for us, surrendering to him. We enter that rest by trusting the Word, that is Jesus. If we don’t, the good news we have heard about Jesus does not help us. That’s the lesson of Hanun, king of the Ammonites. When we reject the faithful love of God, we are inviting judgment onto ourselves.

Paul writes something similar in 1 Corinthians:

1 Now I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.

6 Now these things became examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did.

Those ancient Israelites chose not to trust God, and as a result they suffered the consequences.

Isaiah wrote:

In repentance and rest is your salvation. In quietness and trust is your strength. But you would have none of it. (Isaiah 30:15)

Jesus himself mourned because the people of Jerusalem refused to receive him, and he said that as a result they would experience much suffering and sorrow. He also said this:

16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God.

We usually only read verse 16. But verse 18 adds that if we reject God’s chosen messiah, we have condemned ourselves. About 75% of all Americans think there is a heaven, and they will go there when they die. 40% of people think it doesn’t even matter how you relate to God, he’ll accept everyone anyway. But the bible is clear: grace and truth and eternal life are offered through Jesus Christ alone. When you reject Jesus, you reject God, and you condemn yourself. John wrote:

11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1John 5:11-13, HCSB)

Hanun shows us the route of “not-life.” It is real. Some people do reject Jesus. Believing the lies someone told them is not an excuse for people when they also have the truth in front of them. There are consequences to rejecting God’s faithful love.

This is difficult for many people in modern Western culture. We think it’s unfair unless everyone is included, regardless of their response. But if you think about it, it makes a great deal of sense. If someone rejects God, do you think God should force them to be eternally in His presence? It would mean that our choices don’t actually mean anything, that we aren’t, in fact, free. If there are no consequences for a choice, it’s not really a choice, is it? It’s meaningless to “choose” if everything will work out the same way, no matter what you choose.

This is the part of the Christian message that most people don’t like. In fact many people say that ideas like this are judgmental, and mean and intolerant. Do a thought experiment with me. Imagine you are at the top of a cliff, and there are many bushes all around you, so you can’t see the ground under your feet. You come upon a sign that says, “Warning! Stay Back! If you walk forward from here you may die!” Is that sign mean and judgmental, or intolerant? Of course not. The message is there to protect you from making a tragic mistake. Or imagine an inviting swimming hole in a small river. Next to the water a sign says: “Do not Swim Here! Dangerous currents and undertow! High risk of Drowning!” Is that sign being cruel and bigoted? Of course not. It is an entirely appropriate warning, trying to protect you from throwing away your own life out of foolish ignorance. The truly cruel and horrible thing to do would be to let people fall of the cliff, or drown in the swimming hole, because you were afraid of offending them by posting such signs.

Listen to God’s heart-cry toward us:

¹⁰ “Son of man, give the people of Israel this message: You are saying, ‘Our sins are heavy upon us; we are wasting away! How can we survive?’ ¹¹ As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die? (Ezekiel 33:10-11, NLT)

It might surprise you to learn that Jesus spoke about hell more than any other person in the Bible. He did not want anyone to suffer eternal separation from God, and that is why he came and died for us. But he was very clear about what happens if we reject the faithful love of God offered to us through Himself. He was so clear about it, because he does not want anyone to perish:

³ This is good and pleases God our Savior. ⁴ He wants all people to be saved and to learn the truth. ⁵ There is one God. There is also one mediator between God and humans—a human, Christ Jesus. ⁶ He sacrificed himself for all people to free them from their sins. (1 Timothy 2:3-6, GW)

Jesus Christ does offer forgiveness, second, third and 233^rd chances, love, grace and peace. He offers us daily relationship with himself, and joy. But outside of Jesus, none of that is ours. It all comes only in and through Jesus. If we reject Jesus, we reject it all, and none of the other things we rely on will be able to save us. So let’s pay attention to the lesson of Hanun, and today, let us not harden our hearts. Let’s be like Mephibosheth, not Hanun.

Listen to the Holy Spirit right now.

2 SAMUEL #9: GOD’S HOUSE?

On February 7, 2025 By Pastor TomIn 2 Samuel, Bible, Bible Teaching, House Church, Old Testament, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Photo by Filippo Bergamaschi on Pexels.com

God’s true presence is not found inside of special buildings, but rather, within the community of his people as they gather together to worship, learn and serve.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download 2 Samuel Part 9

2 Samuel #9 . 2 Samuel Chapter 7:1-29 ; 1 Chronicles 17:1-26

Last time we examined the covenant the Lord established with David: to make one of his descendants the Messiah, the forever-King and savior of God’s people. We also considered God’s over the top grace offered to David and to us, and the security knowing that when we want to do God’s will, even if, by mistake, we try to do the wrong thing, the Lord will make sure to keep us from pursuing it. I think there is yet one more lesson to glean from this passage.

David set up various full-time ministries for the tent of meeting, and then he wanted to build the Lord a permanent temple in Jerusalem. The prophet Nathan agreed with David, and they were ready to start the project when the Lord spoke to Nathan, and told them to wait.

It wasn’t that David’s heart was in the wrong place, or Nathan’s instincts. They just didn’t fully understand the Lord (no one ever does, of course). The Lord wanted to show David and Nathan a few things. The first thing the Lord wanted to make sure they knew is this: He doesn’t need a house. He says this:

⁵ “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD has declared: Are you the one to build a house for me to live in? ⁶ I have never lived in a house, from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until this very day. I have always moved from one place to another with a tent and a Tabernacle as my dwelling. ⁷ Yet no matter where I have gone with the Israelites, I have never once complained to Israel’s tribal leaders, the shepherds of my people Israel. I have never asked them, “Why haven’t you built me a beautiful cedar house?”’ (2 Samuel 7:5-7, NLT)

During the historical period in which David lived, most people believed that gods were attached to specific places and people-groups. This is important in understanding the Old Testament. The Philistines had a primary god named “Dagon.” They built a temple for him, and made an idol of him. The Canaanite peoples who lived nearby also believed in Dagon—but not as their god. He was the god of the Philistines, and no one needed to worry about him—unless you went into Philistine territory. If you did that, then you needed to respect Dagon, because that was where he lived. The Ammonites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan river, and to the south, worshipped a god named Moloch. For their part, the Philistines theoretically believed that Moloch was a deity, but they didn’t worship him because his territory was some distance from where they lived. There were various other gods in the region as well, including the one known as Baal. It is likely that all of the non-Israeli people around the area had some level of belief in Yahweh, the God of Israel. But they thought of him like every other ‘god.’ To them, he must be just the god of the Israelites, and only really powerful in Israelite territory.

The Israelites were continually tempted to believe in the Lord in the same way: as their personal god, one among many, generally most powerful only in their own territory. But the Lord had been continually trying to get them to see the truth: that there is only one real God, the Lord Himself, and that he is God over every people and place. That was one reason the Lord had never, before this, asked his people to build a temple for him. I think God was trying to stop the Israelites from getting the idea that he really was just like all the gods of the people who lived around and near the Israelites. They might tend to get stuck on that idea if there was a permanent temple in which he “lived.” The idea that the Lord traveled with Israel wherever they went was entirely new and unique in the ancient world. No one had ever heard of a God who went with his people, wandering anywhere he chose, even into the territory of other gods. No one had ever really conceived of the idea that there was only one true God. So, a temple might tempt the Israelites to think of God as only a local, Israelite deity.

By the way, the Canaanites worshipped a god they called “Baal.” In the ancient Canaanite legends, Baal demanded a bigger and better temple. So the Lord’s response also shows David how different he is from the supposed “god” of the people who lived nearby.

Now, eventually, of course, Solomon, David’s son, did build a temple to the Lord. Why would God do that? Did he change his mind? One way in which it was very different from the temples of the gods of the surrounding people is that there was no statue (idol) of God anywhere. But I think the main issue was this: During Solomon’s reign there was much more peace with surrounding cultures, because the Israelites had conquered them. Because they lived at peace, the Israelites started befriending their non-Israelite neighbors, and going with them to worship sites on top of high hills, where the heathen people worshipped their false gods. Therefore, one purpose of the temple in Solomon’s time was to bring the Israelites together to worship the Lord alone. Even though, as we know, a person can worship the Lord anywhere, the Israelites were being drawn to worship false gods when they went to other places. The temple, when Solomon finally built it, was intended to make sure they would worship the Lord only, and do so together as one people. Even so, in the end, that didn’t really work out. Solomon himself recognized the limits of a temple. After it was built, he prayed:

18 “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! (2Chr 6:18, ESV)

So God wants us to understand that he lives everywhere. He doesn’t need a dwelling place on earth. I get a little crazy when I hear Christians calling their church buildings “the house of God.” No church building, not even the most magnificent cathedral, is a place where God “lives.” If you want to see “the house of God,” look around at your fellow believers, and look in the mirror.

¹⁹ Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, ²⁰ for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NLT)

We believers are individually temples of the Holy Spirit, but most especially, believers who live and worship together are the place where the Holy Spirit “lives.” The Lord lives “in his body,” and his body is made up of the people of the church (not the building).

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27, ESV)

¹¹ Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. ¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
¹⁴ Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. ¹⁵ Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. ¹⁶ He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. (Ephesians 4:11-16, NLT)

God “lives” in each of us individually, and also in a special way with all of us together. None of this has anything to do with physical buildings. So this was one reason God didn’t want David to build a temple.

This might sound a bit startling, but stay with me: a building accomplishes nothing spiritual.

A building is completely unnecessary to real church, and often has a negative impact on making disciples. History bears out what I am saying here. It was precisely at that point in time – during the time of Solomon and his temple – when the people of Israel began to go astray again and worship other things. The temple did not help in the least, and an argument might be made that it hurt. Solomon’s temple was destroyed four hundred years later, and about a century after that, another was made. Four hundred years after that, king Herod built a third temple to please the Jewish people who were his subjects. It was even more magnificent than Solomon’s temple. Even with these amazing temples, the Jews utterly failed to walk with God. Let me make it very clear – the magnificent temple of the Jews did not help them when it came to actually receiving God’s salvation in Jesus Christ.

Jesus himself found the most receptive hearts far away from the temple – in the outlying areas of Palestine, not in Jerusalem. The temple, as God gave it to the people, was intended to help people recognize the Messiah when he came to earth. But most people missed the point entirely, and instead made the temple itself into a kind of idol.

Some people make church buildings into an idol as well. The closest thing in the New Testament that we have to modern church buildings is the synagogue. Jesus apparently was regular in going to the synagogues. But most of his real ministry and disciple-making took place outside of weekly worship services.

After the time of Jesus, the church worshipped in private homes, in small groups, for almost three hundred years. Even now, that period stands as one of the most effective disciple-making eras in history. After Christianity finally became legal in the Roman empire, Christians began creating buildings for their church meetings. The emergence of this trend of constructing dedicated physical church buildings coincides with the beginning of a long decline in Christianity. In fact, it wasn’t long after this that Europe entered what we call “the dark ages.” We can’t blame all of the problems of the dark ages on church buildings, but it was a period where Christianity was focused on buildings and institutions, and did very little real disciple-making that truly transformed lives.

A building dedicated to worship sometimes has practical value. However, a lot of church buildings are used for only a few hours each week – which doesn’t seem very practical after all. If the bible and history teach us anything about worship-buildings, it is that they often lead believers to live with the wrong focus, and sometimes to entirely miss the point.

I want to be honest here. I think one of the reasons New Joy Fellowship (our church here in Lebanon, TN) has not grown much numerically is because we have not built a church building. I think a lot of folks would be up for that – to build something we could look at and see and touch and say “We did that. That’s ours.” I deeply wish that people would be that committed to building a life that belongs entirely to Jesus and to living for his purposes. I think a lot of people who might otherwise come back to our worship after visiting just don’t feel like it is really “church” without a church building. I want to be blunt: when we have a building, we can divert our attention to religious activity that keeps God at arm’s length. But when there is no building, we are confronted with what it is really about: walking with God, walking in fellowship with each other, and working in God’s kingdom. If you have a building you can “have church” without those things. But if you don’t have a building, and you don’t have those things, you don’t have a church. It’s easier to have a building – you can pretend to be a church without really engaging with Jesus.

I’m not saying it is wrong for churches to build their own buildings to worship in. But I am saying it is unnecessary, and often it slows down spiritual growth and disciple-making.

Let’s see what Jesus said about worshipping in a particular building:

21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:21-24)

Jesus essentially says here that worship is not about a place. It is about turning to God in spirit and truth. In fact, that is the kind of worship God is seeking, not people who just want to go to a certain place. God said to David, look, the place of worship for the past four-hundred years has been that moldy tent, wherever it happens to be parked. Why do you suddenly think that isn’t good enough?

So, what does all this do for your relationship with God today? First, I want to encourage you to hold on to the understanding that a real church is a community of people who trust Jesus and walk in fellowship with God, and in fellowship with one another, and allow God to use their lives for his kingdom purposes. It has nothing to do with where, when or in what building they worship.

There are people who take things too far the other way. They claim it is not important to have dedicated times of worship with other believers. They think “Hey, my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. I don’t need to be part of a worshipping community.” But that picture is not Biblical either. Such a thing would not even have occurred to the apostles, or any Christians throughout history, until quite recently. Historically, all cultures were very communal, and the idea of an individual who doesn’t need a community was entirely unknown in Biblical times, and even for centuries afterwards. So, to be clear, though Christians don’t need a church building, they do need a church—that is, a community of people with whom they regularly worship and serve.

David and Nathan were both godly men who thought at first that a building for God was important. So don’t feel bad if you have thought that in the past. But understand, God told Nathan and David, “No, it isn’t important. I don’t want a building right now.”

The focus that God wanted was on his work to bring salvation into the world. He wanted his people to receive the Messiah and put their trust in him. That is the focus he wants for us also. Jesus said:

19 Again, I assure you: If two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.” (Matt 18:19-20, HCSB)

The word “where” means “whatever place you happen to be in.” The full presence of God, and full authority of heaven is found among God’s people gathered together, not in a building somewhere.

Now, I want to speak directly to New Joy Fellowship and to the people of Life Together Churches for a few moments. It’s easy to say “come help us build a building.” People understand that. It’s a helpful thing to motivate people. It is a simple vision to grasp and it is less threatening than real discipleship.

But I want to challenge you to present new people with a vision to “come help us build disciples.” Think about it this way. Not a single church building that now exists will be there in the New Creation. Not. One. But every single disciple that we make will be there with us. Let’s not waste time and money building what is after all, a fake church. I mean it. A building is not a church, no matter how many crosses and altars you slap on it. Let’s put our time into real church. We can present the vision clearly and simply. We want to make disciples. We do that by walking with God, walking with others and working in the kingdom. Let’s build a real house of God in that way!

2 SAMUEL #7: GOD’S HOLINESS AND WORSHIP

On January 17, 2025January 9, 2025 By Pastor TomIn 2 Samuel, Bible, Bible Teaching, House Church, Old Testament, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Worship is not necessarily an expression of spontaneous feelings, though that can be part of it. One of the things that liturgical churches get right is that we can make a plan for how to worship God, and follow through on it, regardless of how we feel. Worship is based upon the objective truth that God is God. He is Holy, whether we really get that or not. He is good, whether we feel that at the moment, or not. All of the good things in our lives have come about because of him, whether we recognize that or not. And so, we can decide to worship God, even when we “don’t feel like it.”

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Second Samuel# 7. 2 Samuel 6:12-23

Last time we considered the holiness of God. When we realize how holy God is, and how sinful we are, and how much Jesus has done for us, the appropriate response is worship and thanksgiving.

I want to return to God’s holiness before we talk more about worship. Last time we mostly considered how God’s holiness is a problem for sinful humans (which means: all humans). We talked about how God’s holiness destroys sin. But it’s an even bigger problem than that. Bear with me as we look at it another way.

Pause, and try to think of a time when you were filled with some deep, positive emotion. Maybe it was profound gratitude as you held your kids or grandkids on your lap. Perhaps it was an inward delight as you listened to some really good music. It could have been a time when you were the one playing the music, and everything came together, and you felt lifted above yourself. Another such moment might come when you are looking at beautiful scenery, or, perhaps, some stunning artwork. Possibly, you felt a kind of inward rush of admiration and awe when you read a great book, or saw an amazing movie. Maybe it was a recognition of how blessed you are to be loved by the important people in your life. It could also be that time you were at a sporting event, and together with the whole crowd, you were there for an amazing win, even though your team was the underdog. I could go on, but I hope you know what I’m talking about. There are moments in life when we experience joy, or hope, or longing, or some kind of sweet, deep emotion. Think about something like one of these things. Picture it, especially how you felt. Stop reading and just enter that wonderful memory for a little while.

OK, now what I want to say is this: That terrific moment, that amazing feeling you had, originated from the holy presence of God. James writes this:

¹⁶ Do not be deceived, my dear friends! ¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect present comes from heaven; it comes down from God, the Creator of the heavenly lights, who does not change or cause darkness by turning. ¹⁸ By his own will he brought us into being through the word of truth, so that we should have first place among all his creatures. (James 1:16-18, GNT)

The apostle Paul, preaching to people in the town of Lystra about God, put it like this:

¹⁷ But he has always given evidence of his existence by the good things he does: he gives you rain from heaven and crops at the right times; he gives you food and fills your hearts with happiness.” (Acts 14:17, GNT)

Everything good, beautiful, praiseworthy, excellent, joyful, gratitude-inducing comes from the presence of God. In fact, it may be that everything that brings us true joy is a by-product of God’s holiness. That doesn’t mean that all of these things are automatically righteous. For instance, I can imagine that someone having an extra-marital affair might feel real joy in being loved by their lover. That doesn’t mean God has approved and blessed the adulterous relationship. It just means the joy of feeling loved is an echo of the fact that we were made for the love of God. But that echo doesn’t mean it’s righteous – it means that God has created us for relationship, and even in illicit relationships what we are really seeking is God himself. The euphoria of affairs wear off eventually, and they tend to be wildly self-destructive to the closest people in your life. My main argument is that joy always points toward God, but it doesn’t necessarily mean everything that gives you joy is blessed and approved by God.

God scatters these moments to all people, whether or not they have trusted Jesus. But they are always temporary, sometimes only momentary. And that hints at the problem: Without the intervention of Jesus, eventually we would be separated from all such joy, happiness, contentment, goodness, and so on, forever. It isn’t just that we will be separated from an uncomprehensible God who is “other” in his holiness. It is that, because of our inborn sin, we would be separated from everything we crave, everything we love and find joy in, everything we so deeply need.

In our text today, the Lord offers David and his people just a hint of that. This terrible and holy Ark, the instrument of the death of Uzzah, is also the instrument of tremendous blessing to Obed-edom, on whose land the Ark now stood. His whole family was blessed by good fortune. David was encouraged by this. He saw that God is not just holy, but is also loving and good. In fact, the love and goodness are part of the holiness. So David returned to the Ark with many people to joyfully bring it to Jerusalem, to be a blessing available to all of the people of Israel.

Verse 13 shows us that David, or the priests, or both, had searched the scriptures to see what they had done wrong the first time. They now knew it should be carried with poles through the rings that were secured to the four corners of the Ark. And that is what they did.

After the first six steps, the priests carrying it stopped, while the people sacrificed a bull. There is significance to the number six. In six days, God created the earth, and on the seventh, he rested. He set aside the seventh day as holy. Seven was considered the number representing God’s perfect work. So David and the priests set aside the seventh step as holy, and offered an approved sacrifice for worship. As they proceeded, David and the others with him were filled with joy and thankfulness to God.

⁵David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of fir wood instruments, lyres, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals. (2Sam 6:5, HCSB)

¹⁴David was dancing with all his might before the LORD wearing a linen ephod.¹⁵He and the whole house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of the ram’s horn. (2 Samuel 6:14-15).

David, filled with the Holy Spirit, understood more than probably anyone else in his generation that God is wonderful and good. And so he entered whole-heartedly into worship. There is a sense of extravagance and freedom here. There are all sorts of instruments. People are shouting, and dancing and blowing horns. God’s grace and joy are filling the people.

Now, I want to point out a few things about this. First, it shows us that we don’t have to be narrow in how we worship God. Some people sang. Others danced. We have six different instruments named, and it sounds like there may have been others used that weren’t specified. Worship, as described here, included free and open expressions of joy through music and dancing. The instruments listed here are a lot more like guitars, bass and drum than they are like a pipe organ. It looks like there was a lot of spontaneity also.

David’s first wife, Michal, did not approve. She told David that he made a fool of himself. David’s response is one of the best verses in 2 Samuel:

²¹ David replied to Michal, “I was dancing before the LORD who chose me over your father and his whole family to appoint me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel. I will celebrate before the LORD, ²² and I will humble myself even more and humiliate myself. (2Sam 6:21-22, HCSB)

David understood that the only opinion about worship that matters is God’s opinion. He worshipped the way he did for the Lord, not for anyone else. He was willing to go even further, and look even more foolish for the Lord. David understood the awesome power of God’s holiness, and how gracious God is to come close to us anyway. Not only that, but David also understood that part of God’s holiness is his sheer goodness. In David’s mind, nothing at all could compare with the wonder, goodness, glory and holiness of God. He refused to hold back anything from the Lord.

I think we need to be encouraged by this to give honor and worship to God, even if it means looking silly to the people around us. If you are worried about how you look, you will not be able to fully worship God. When I’m not playing guitar, sometimes I raise my hands. I do this sometimes even when I’m not “feeling the vibe.” I do it because God is worthy to raise my hands to – he deserves that kind of honor, and, in fact, much more. I do it to remind myself to quit thinking what others around me might be thinking, and wonder instead what God thinks. Worship should not be governed by what we think is socially expected, but rather by how we can truly honor God.

The second point is this: Worship should not be governed by what we think is socially expected, but rather by how we can truly honor God. Yes, I know I just said that, but this time, turn it around the other way. I’ve been in worship services where the social expectation is that you raise your hands and dance and jump up and down. I think that is terrific if those things are the way you express honor to God. But sometimes, I want to honor God by kneeling quietly, or bowing my head and standing still, or just singing with all my heart. I should not allow social expectations to force me to raise my hands or dance, any more than I should allow them to stop me from doing those things.

Now, please don’t use that as an excuse to stand with your hands in your pocket, refusing to give God the honor he deserves. I’m just saying, don’t let what others think you should do, or what others are doing (or not doing) be your guide for how you worship. Freely and fully express yourself to God in keeping with the person he made you to be. Sometimes the Holy Spirit may nudge you to go out on a limb and be more expressive, even if what he wants you to do feels a bit uncomfortable or unnatural. You might, in fact, look foolish if you worship that way. David shows us the way. If your choice is between looking like a fool to other human beings, or looking like a fool to the Lord, it’s obvious that we should choose the first.

Sometimes the Spirit may nudge you and remind you not to put on a show for others, but to focus on Him alone. Listen to that too.

I do want to make sure we understand worship. You can worship through singing, but worship incorporates more than just singing. As we receive the Lord’s Supper in faith, we are worshipping. When we thank God for a meal, or for a good gift of any kind, we are worshipping. The heart of worship is thanking God for all of his good gifts, and, above all, thanking God for who he is, which is sometimes called “giving glory to God.” Those thanks, and that “giving glory” can be offered in a variety of ways: singing, praying, saying liturgy, reading scripture out loud, having a time of silence.

One way to worship is to enjoy God’s gifts while consciously acknowledging the fact that they come from him. For example, I used to worship while I was skiing in the Cascade Mountains. I recognized that the mountains, and my ability to enjoy them that moment while skiing, were gifts from God. My heart was lifted up to God while I skied.

The Bible also teaches us that worship is most unique and precious when it is done alongside other believers. Something special happens when believers worship together that is more meaningful and powerful than worshipping alone. Being with other believers helps to keep us humble–because we need each other to worship God in the way that delights him most. While there are examples of believers worshipping alone in the Bible, by far the most numerous examples of worship involve more than one person. People who suggest that the only worship that they “need” to do is being in nature by themselves misunderstand the nature of worship. As deeply introverted as I am, I cannot deny that God created us, and redeemed us, to worship him alongside others of his people.

Also, worship is not necessarily an expression of spontaneous feelings, though that can be part of it. One of the things that liturgical churches get right is that we can make a plan for how to worship God, and follow through on it, regardless of how we feel. Worship is based upon the objective truth that God is God. He is Holy, whether we really get that or not. He is good, whether we feel that at the moment, or not. All of the good things in our lives have come about because of him, whether we recognize that or not. And so, we can decide to worship God, even when we don’t “feel” like it.

Our God is holy. I think one reason David and his people worshipped so extravagantly, is because they had a very recent reminder of how holy God is, and how big the gap was between them; and yet they also had a reminder of how good and gracious he is to bridge that gap himself.

Let the Holy Spirit speak to you about this today.

1 SAMUEL #9. UNFAILING GRACE

On November 3, 2023 By Pastor TomIn 1 Samuel, Bible Teaching, House Church, Old Testament, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The things that God did for his people in the past are supposed to be considered part of his faithfulness to us in the present. What God did for previous generations, he also did for us. God’s goodness to others is part of his goodness to us, because we belong to his people. His faithfulness does not end when we make mistakes. He walks with us even when we choose the wrong path, and redeems us in our mistakes, if we will let him.

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1 Samuel # 9. God’s faithfulness to us at all times. 1 Samuel 12:1-25

Think for a moment about some decision you made, or action you took that you now know was a mistake. What would you change today, if you could? How would your life be different?

We all know that you can’t go back and unsay those cruel words, or un-make that decision that led you to where you are today. I’m not going to pretend that I’ve found a way to do that. But I do think that through 1 Samuel chapter 12, God is offering grace even after we have stepped out on the wrong road. It isn’t grace to go back. It is grace to go on.

In first Samuel chapter 8, the people asked God, through Samuel, to give them a king. This was a rejection of God’s plan for them as a nation. It was a choice to exchange the freedom and protection they could have had in following the Lord for the false-security of a king who would take care of them, but also rule over them. Samuel, in his wisdom, knew it was a mistake. He talked to God about it, who affirmed Samuel’s instinct that it was a mistake. But the people were determined.

Not only did they want a king, they wanted a certain kind of king. Their requirements were also a mistake. But the people were determined. The Lord allowed them to choose their own way. They did, and their choice was a major mistake. Even so, God let them go ahead with it, and helped them to find a king. The man who met their specifications was Saul, a big impressive looking fellow who was also insecure and spiritually insensitive and ignorant.

Even so, the Lord began to use Saul right away. In choosing him, the Lord removed an old shame from many thousands of people, and set up Israel with a magnificent big champion to match a Philistine giant whom no one yet knew about.

God chose Saul through the prophet Samuel. First Samuel anointed Saul in private. Later he was chosen by God in a public assembly of the leaders of Israel. Even so, nothing really happened. After the events we looked at last time – after a great military victory – the people finally made Saul an honest king.

15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there in the LORD’s presence they made Saul king. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings in the LORD’s presence, and Saul and all the men of Israel greatly rejoiced. 1 Sam 11:15 (HCSB)

So you see, even their approach to the king was not one of faith in the Lord and his choice. They waited until Saul gave them something of what they were looking for – military victory – before they fully accepted God’s help in choosing the king.

After it was finally all official, Samuel stood before the people and made a speech. That speech is the text of 1 Samuel chapter 12.

In the first place (12:1-5), Samuel wanted to make sure his conscience was clear. He also wanted to draw a contrast between his own actions, and the rights of a king. Samuel has never taken anything that wasn’t his. Yet he had warned the people in 8:10-18 that the King would have the right to take many things from the people in taxes to run his household and the kingdom. The people affirmed that Samuel had been a good and fair leader. There is an unspoken implication to this part of Samuel’s speech “So – in me, God gave you a good and fair leader who listened to him and did right. But you wanted a king!”

Next, Samuel reminded them of God’s faithfulness. The Lord led them out of Egypt as a great nation – but without a king. They had Moses, a prophet, and Aaron, a priest, but no king. And the Lord cared for them and provided for them. Although Samuel doesn’t mention this explicitly, the troubles the people had in the wilderness during the exodus were not due to lack of a king, but rather to disobedience to the Lord.

During the time of the Judges, the people had troubles again. But Samuel points out two things. First, the trouble was their own doing, not because they lacked a king. It came because they quit following the Lord. Second, when they repented and cried out for God’s help, he was gracious and delivered them.

11 So the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel. He rescued you from the power of the enemies around you, and you lived securely.

There is something else about part of Samuel’s speech that is striking: most of the incidents he described of God’s goodness to the people happened to previous generations of Israelites, not to the people with whom he was speaking. However, he speaks as if God had done all this for the present generation. This is something important that Moses taught the people of Israel long before. Every generation of Israelites was called to remember the great acts of God in the past, and to live like God had done those things for themselves, in this present generation. The people of God are heirs to all that God has done in the past. God’s work in the past should be considered a sign of his faithfulness in the present.

We live in a highly individualized society, and on top of that, our culture is obsessed with the future, and new things. But there are other ways to live, other ways to view the world. God’s people in ancient times were much more communal, and much more in touch with the past. If God did something for past generations, it was counted very much as if he had done it for the present generation. If God did something for me, he did it for his people. If he did it for his people he did it for me.

I think we should learn from this way of looking at the world. I find that I easily forget the things God has done in the past even in my own life. I hardly even consider things he has done for others, or what he did for previous generations of his people. But if we start to see ourselves as part of the intergenerational community of God’s people, then his faithfulness to us becomes overwhelmingly apparent. Twenty years ago God healed my friend Adam from a broken back. The healing was documented by before and after x-rays. A few years ago, he healed my friend Doug from twisted intestines – again documented before and after by CT scan. But those healings weren’t just for Adam and Doug – they were for me, for all of us in the community of faith. And they weren’t just for those moments in the past – they were for us now, and for future generations. I could easily name a dozen other amazing things God has done for me, and for people I know. And then add in God’s graciousness to Christians I don’t even know, and then to his people of previous generations, and suddenly, God’s grace and faithfulness become overwhelming. I think it would be very helpful if we began to consider God’s faithfulness to his people as a whole, including his faithfulness to previous generations. The writer of Hebrews encourages us to do exactly that. After writing about God’s mighty acts for his people in the past, he says this:

¹ Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,² keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne. (Hebrews 12:1-2, HCSB)

There is a great cloud of witnesses to God’s faithfulness to his people. We belong to God’s people. His goodness to them is also his goodness to us. Everything God did in the past, he did for us, the people of God.

⁴ For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures. (Romans 15:4, HCSB)

Let that sink in, and let it lead us to lay aside all heaviness and sin, and run our race with perseverance, knowing that we too, are a part of that group of witnesses.

Back to Samuel’s speech. The overall point Samuel is making is that when they followed the Lord faithfully, he delivered his people, protected them, and they lived in peace and security. All this took place without a human king. The Lord was their king. Samuel is saying – look, when you were faithful to God, the old way worked just fine. God did so much for you. Even so, you are ignoring everything he did for you. You are claiming it just isn’t working out, when the reason it isn’t working out is your own stubbornness, your own turning away from God.

After the people heard this, they recognized that Samuel was right. They felt bad about what they had done, and they were afraid. I would bet that no one reading this – even you folks who live outside the United States – has asked God to give you a king. But have you asked him for something that was a mistake? Have you ever determined to go ahead your own way, and later realized it was a mistake – maybe even a huge error of judgment?

1 Samuel 12 gives a picture of how God deals with us in those kinds of situations. I always want to go back and do it over, only correctly this time. I want to have my mistakes undone. But God doesn’t work that way.

Sometimes, I enjoy playing computer games. One of the great things about computer games, is that you can mess up, you can even die – and it doesn’t matter. You just start the game over from the last point at which you saved it. I have often thought – and maybe you have too – wouldn’t it be cool if life was like a computer game? If you blow it, you just get a “do-over.” If you make a bad choice, you go back to that point and make a right choice now.

But there is something else about computer games. They are fun, but they are also meaningless. I don’t mean that it is evil or wrong to play them. But the choices you make within a computer game are meaningless. Death in a computer game is meaningless in real life. Life in a computer game is meaningless. We need to understand something here: choices without consequences have no meaning.

There is a famous old story about an ordinary young man who falls in love with a princess, and she loves him back. The father of the princess, the king, is not pleased. He decrees that the young man be placed in front of two doors, with a choice to open one or the other. Behind one of the doors is a beautiful maiden, however, not his beloved princess. If he chooses her door, he will be married to her immediately and they will be exiled to another kingdom. Behind the other door is an angry, hungry tiger which will surely kill him. He doesn’t know which door holds the lady and which holds the tiger. However, the princess, the young man’s lover, knows the secret of the doors. If she tells him to open the tiger-door, he will be killed in agony. But if she tells him to open the lady-door, he will be married to the beautiful maiden behind that one, and the princess who loves him will be left alone. She signals him secretly to open one of the doors. Here’s the question: which door did she tell him to open?

This story has endured for over a hundred years, in part because there is an agony in knowing that the choices matter. However, as a thought experiment, change the story a little. Suppose that no matter which door he chose, the tiger would be there. Or, no matter which door he chose, he would get the princess herself and they would live happily ever after. The story is no longer compelling if the choices do not result in some consequence.

Imagine I held in one hand a bag containing a candy bar, and in the other hand, a bag containing a piece of scrap wood that was good for nothing. If you think you might have a shot at the candy bar, it would be fun to try and make the right choice. If you knew that no matter what you chose, I would give you the wood, you wouldn’t bother even playing. If you knew that no matter what you did, I would give you the candy bar, you might be happy about the candy, but you would probably think going through the motion of choosing is pretty pointless and stupid – in fact, meaningless.

So we see that with the Israelites, the Lord gave them their free and meaningful choice. If He undid their choice, it would mean their choices would have no consequences, and therefore no meaning, and therefore they would not actually have free choice. The same is true of our choices. So the Lord doesn’t undo them.

What the Lord did do for the Israelites was promise to walk with them through the consequences they brought on themselves. He works even with their wrong choices, and accomplishes his purposes in spite of them. So, Samuel encourages them to walk with the Lord NOW.

20 Samuel replied, “Don’t be afraid. Even though you have committed all this evil, don’t turn away from following the LORD. Instead, worship the LORD with all your heart. 21 Don’t turn away to follow worthless things that can’t profit or deliver you; they are worthless. 22 The LORD will not abandon His people, because of His great name and because He has determined to make you His own people.

23 “As for me, I vow that I will not sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. I will teach you the good and right way. 24 Above all, fear the LORD and worship Him faithfully with all your heart; consider the great things He has done for you. 25 However, if you continue to do what is evil, both you and your king will be swept away.” (1 Samuel 12:20-25)

It was not God’s plan for Israel to be led by a king. Once they made that choice they had some difficult consequences to follow, as we will see. But even so, God worked through that mistake. In fact he worked through it in a mighty and amazing way. Eventually he used the monarchy of mistake as a way to bring his salvation to the entire world; Jesus, in his human ancestry, was descended from the kings of Israel.

Maybe it was a mistake for you to take the job you have right now. Perhaps the Lord was calling you to something else, but you just didn’t have the faith to take the risk. OK, so you messed up. But don’t turn away from following the Lord. He can do great things through this. Just be sure to let him.

Maybe you married the wrong person. People think this all the time. They think that somehow they missed out on their real soul mate, and now their entire marriage was a mistake. Fine, what if it was? God can and will work through this marriage, if you let him. Even now, don’t turn away from following the Lord. Don’t follow worthless things. God will redeem your mistake and make it beautiful, if you allow him to.

I’m not only talking about honest mistakes, either. The people of Israel knew that God didn’t want them to have a human king. They did it anyway. In the same way, sometimes we deliberately make a sinful choice. God can redeem even those choices; maybe especially those choices.

God is so good. He wants our lives to have meaning, so he allows our choices to be free and real. And yet, even when we make the wrong choice, if we turn back to him, he can work through any circumstance we might create for ourselves, and make good come out of it.

Once again I’m reminded of Romans 8:28:

²⁸ We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28, HCSB)

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Clear Bible

Category: House Church

PHILIPPIANS #13: RUBBISH

PHILIPPIANS #11: JOY

PHILIPPIANS #7: THE GLORY OF HUMILITY

Philippians #7. Philippians 2:1-10

PHILIPPIANS #3: A BUFFET OF THANKSGIVING

PHILIPPIANS 1:3-11

PHILIPPIANS #1: INTRODUCTION

PHILIPPIANS #1: BACKGROUND, INTRODUCTION AND THE ENTIRE BOOK

GRUMBLING vs LAMENT #5: Where are you God?

2 SAMUEL #12: JUSTICE FOR THOSE WHO REJECT GOD’S LOVE

2 SAMUEL #9: GOD’S HOUSE?

2 Samuel #9 . 2 Samuel Chapter 7:1-29 ; 1 Chronicles 17:1-26

2 SAMUEL #7: GOD’S HOLINESS AND WORSHIP

Second Samuel# 7. 2 Samuel 6:12-23

1 SAMUEL #9. UNFAILING GRACE

1 Samuel # 9. God’s faithfulness to us at all times. 1 Samuel 12:1-25