Tag: Philippians

PHILIPPIANS #7: THE GLORY OF HUMILITY

On 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)

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Philippians Part 7

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 #4: SOMETIMES HYPOCRITES SPEAK THE TRUTH

On By Pastor TomIn apostle paul, Bible, Bible Teaching, Philippians, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The gospel is bigger and more important than anything: imprisonment, fear, or even hypocrisy.

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Philippians #4. Philippians 1:12-18

12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Philippians 1:12-18

Paul says that “what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.” The natural question is: “What is it that has happened to Paul?” Surprisingly, Paul doesn’t elaborate. Remember, the Philippians sent a gift with the messenger Epaphroditus, and almost certainly others accompanied him. Epaphroditus was sick, and stayed in Rome. But those others would have returned to Philippi, and told the believers there how Paul was doing, and what was going on with him. However now, probably months later, Paul is writing a letter. He’s on trial for his Christian faith. Because he’s a Roman citizen, his case will be decided by Caesar himself, or a close representative of Caesar. I would expect Paul to go into detail about how the case is going, and the attitude of the court toward him, and the evidence given, and things like that. But that’s not what Paul does. He says “what has happened to me has advanced the gospel.” And then, he goes on, as we see, by explaining, not what has happened to him, but rather, how the gospel has advanced.

It’s easy to jump over this small part until you really put yourself in the shoes of Paul, or the Philippian believers. Surely what is happening with Paul must be the most important thing in his life, right? At the moment, he lives under guard. If he is acquitted, he gets to go free. If he is not acquitted, he’ll be killed. This is literally life or death. But for Paul, the really important thing is that the gospel is advancing.

Paul was imprisoned by Caesar’s court. So, apparently, Paul took the opportunity of his imprisonment to tell Caesar’s guards about the gospel. At the end of the letter he writes: “All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household. (Philippians 4:22, ESV)” So, because Paul was imprisoned by Caesar, even members of Caesar’s own household became Christians! That was pretty incredible news, by any standards.

He adds that most of the Christians in Rome were bolder as a result of his imprisonment. This seems like the opposite of what I would expect. You would think that if one of the main leaders of Christianity were imprisoned for being a Christian, that would discourage other Christians. But instead, it did the opposite. I think this happened for several reasons.

First, Jesus himself told his followers that they were blessed if they were persecuted for following him:

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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 5:10-12, ESV)

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. (John 15:18-20, ESV)

So, Paul’s example probably reminded the other followers of Jesus that Jesus himself told us we would be persecuted for following him. He told us we would be blessed to suffer for him.

Second, when Paul refused to deny the gospel even when he was imprisoned for it, I think it showed other Christians that Paul (along with the other apostles) really meant what he said. If the gospel is true, then it is worth giving up or losing absolutely anything in this world, if by doing so we gain eternal life in the presence of the One True God. Paul showed that he absolutely believed that, that he really meant what he said when he claimed that Jesus was the true messiah, and all else was rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing him. His willingness to be imprisoned for Christ, and to continue to speak boldly about Jesus even while he was imprisoned for it, encouraged many others to be bold themselves.

Paul then mentions that while there some people who are preaching Christ from sincere motives, there are others who are preaching Christ not sincerely, but because they see Paul as a rival, and so they want him to feel bad, and to take advantage of his imprisonment to grow their own audience and influence, and to shrink his. But such people misunderstand the reality of Jesus. As long as they are actually preaching the true message of Christ, Paul doesn’t care how it might affect him personally. The real point is that the message of Christ is being preached.

I want us to be clear about Paul’s position in his own lifetime. We think of him as “The Great Apostle Paul,” a Christian missionary Hero, used by the Lord to write a large chunk of the New Testament. We don’t even know the names of his rivals who preached the gospel in an effort to spite him. But in his own lifetime, Paul planted house churches in fewer than a dozen cities. Many of the churches he himself planted did not respond well to Paul’s own teaching. Other people considered themselves rivals to Paul. Though the original twelve apostles accepted Paul as an fellow apostle, many other Christians did not. He was embroiled in controversy for most of his time as a Christian, both within the Christian community, and with the governing authorities. By the time of this writing, he was a prisoner, a “con.” He had no idea that the letters he wrote were inspired by the Holy Spirit and destined to become scripture. But none of those discouraging things really mattered to Paul. He knew he was called to spread the gospel, and so that’s what he did, as best as he could, and he rejoiced when other people spread the gospel too, even if they intended it to hurt Paul.

That is a point more pastors and Christian leaders could stand to remember. About fifteen years ago, not long after we started New Joy Fellowship, I helped a fellow pastor as he started a different church in our town, known as The Journey Church (TJC). TJC now has several hundred people in attendance each week. One of my own daughters goes there. Meanwhile, our own New Joy Fellowship remains as just two connected house churches. If everyone from both house churches came at the same time, we could still all squeeze into our living room (granted, it’s a big living room, but still). Over the years, I have often steered people to TJC, because they are looking for a faithful church in town that has many programs and resources that New Joy Fellowship doesn’t have. The point is this: I am not trying to build “my” church. I am contributing to the kingdom of God, and, at least with regard to weekly attendance numbers, I am called to a smaller field than my fellow-pastor who leads TJC.

This is a little off topic, but I think it’s somewhat relevant: If I had started a church that grew to hundreds of people in weekly attendance, I would have had to resign years ago, because my severe daily pain would have prevented me from devoting the energy necessary to a church that size. I can relax. I’m on “team gospel,” and that team is much bigger than any of the individuals on it. This was Paul’s own attitude, and Paul’s words here are one reason I feel at peace about my situation.

This attitude isn’t only for pastors and leaders. I want to reiterate something that has become important to our house church network. We are called to Walk with God; Walk with Others; Work in the Kingdom; and, Stay Salty. Our mission is not necessarily to enlarge our own church or ministry. Our mission is to be faithful to Jesus in all areas of our lives, and to be available to be used by him whether or not it grows our own church. In our little fellowship we have a manager who is known by his coworkers to be a Christian, and they come to him for prayer and encouragement. We have another manager who helps his employees with substance abuse issues, and general life problems, even though that has nothing to do with his actual job. We have an attorney who advocates for children. We have an oncology nurse, and a hospice nurse, a hospital nurse, and a prison nurse, all of whom faithfully shine the light in their workplaces. (We’ve got your nursing needs covered!). There are many others doing similar things in their places of work. We also have mothers and grandmothers who pour love and light into their families. The point is this New Joy Fellowship doesn’t exist to enlarge New Joy Fellowship. Instead, we gather to be encouraged and equipped to spread the gospel in every place we spend our daily lives. Trust me, I would like to see our churches grow. I might feel a little more financially secure if we did. But I am at peace if our people lead other people closer to the Lord, even if those people end up at other churches. The point is that we are being used for the kingdom of God.

Over the years, I’ve run into many Christians who speak of unity. But their vision of unity seems to be gathering a lot of Christians into one place while they lead a program for the gathering. That sort of thing has a place, I’m sure. But Paul shows us real unity here: it is rejoicing when someone else’s ministry grows while yours shrinks, because the end result is that the gospel spreads.

There is something else: Paul’s attitude toward those who are not sincere. For Paul, the main thing is this: are they preaching the true gospel? If so, he isn’t overly worried about the fact that they are people of questionable character. We need to think carefully here, because it could be easy to get the wrong idea. As I write this, only a few days ago, popular Evangelical author Philip Yancey has admitted to an eight-year adulterous affair. Although something about Yancey never really connected for me, I do know that many people felt blessed by his writing and speaking. And, of course, this sort of thing seems to happen all too often. Sometimes it’s a Christian music celebrity, sometimes a speaker or celebrity pastor, sometimes it’s an author. Anyway, someone that many people admire, someone who seemed to be bringing a Biblical message, turns out to be a massive hypocrite. Usually, the sin is sexual, but sometimes it’s money, or abuse of power.

By the way, this is one reason that the New Testament urges Christians not to live in sin (it isn’t the only reason, but it is one). When Christians are so clearly hypocrites, it tends to not be a good thing for the gospel. People can use our own failings as a way to dismiss the truth of what we say. That isn’t logical, but it is what people do. So, part of the reason we Christians are told to put off sinning is because it hurts the gospel when we don’t live like we believe it.

I think it is useful to think about this sort of thing in two ways, even though there is a tension between the two ways. First, we need to consider Paul’s attitude here, and it is this: even if the person bringing the message is a hypocrite, or a bad person, if the message itself is true, we can receive it and be blessed by it. God can use scoundrels to speak truth. We can receive all the good, and still recognize the sinfulness of the person who delivered it. Martin Luther was crystal clear on this with regard to communion. He wrote that even if the priest who spoke the blessing over communion was a bad person, we can still receive the good and pure and true communion as from Jesus. God is not limited by human sin. We trust God’s Word, even if it is brought to us by a broken vessel. The true Word of God is not tainted just because it came to us through sinful human beings.

Jesus himself said:

2 “The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees are the authorized interpreters of Moses’ Law. 3 So you must obey and follow everything they tell you to do; do not, however, imitate their actions, because they don’t practice what they preach. (Matthew 23:2-3, GNT)

We do this all the time in other areas of life. You’ve probably known a doctor or nurse who smokes, or is overweight. Maybe you’ve met a personal trainer who drinks a lot, or smokes weed. Even so, these health-related professionals give us good advice: don’t smoke, keep a healthy weight, don’t get drunk or high. The fact that they don’t keep their own advice does not make it bad advice.

So there is precedent for us to learn from anyone who speaks the truth, even if their actions are not consistent with their teachings. We, ourselves, should strive to live as we believe. That is clear. When we don’t, it can hurt the spread of the gospel. But we can receive every good gift as coming from God, even if the gift comes through a very flawed and sinful person.

In fact, when Christian leaders fail, it actually confirms the truth of part of the gospel. The gospel tells us first of all that we are sinful human beings, and we cannot save ourselves from our own sins. People like Philip Yancey are dramatic examples that confirm that this is true.

At the same time, the fact that their teaching is correct is not an endorsement of their sins and failings. This brings us to the second way to think about this: Christians in our day and age are far too influenced by “celebrity Christian culture.” We are prone to think that if someone is a well known speaker, singer or writer, they must be well known because God approves of them. But that was not true in Bible times, and it isn’t true now. I saw this online, and it’s worth quoting:

Platform is not proof of character.

We keep making this mistake.

Someone writes well, we assume they live well.

Someone preaches powerfully, we assume they walk uprightly.

Someone sells millions of books, we assume God is cosigning their integrity.

But gifting and character are not the same thing.

Anointing and obedience are not the same thing.

Influence and faithfulness are not the same thing.

“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:22-23)

I think the fact that we have a “Christian celebrity culture” is one of the most destructive things to the witness of the gospel in our time. We ought to have only one celebrity: Jesus Christ. No one else is worthy of our allegiance. We need to remember this:

20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. 21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. 22 It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. 23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.
24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.
26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. 31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD.” (1 Corinthians 1:20-31, NLT)

All of this points back to the gospel. Paul is hovering between life and death, but all he cares about is how the gospel is spreading. He has taken seriously some things that Jesus said:

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

Paul discovered the treasure, and was willing to give up everything else for it. The treasure is that God loves us so much that he came to earth and suffered a humiliating, tortuous death in order to restore our relationships to him, and to each other. He not only died, but he physically rose from death, opening the way so that we, too, will one day be eternally and physically resurrected, and live in the light of God’s boundless joy.

PHILIPPIANS #1: INTRODUCTION

On 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.