Philippians: Volume 2
Content
1) Philippians 2:1-17: Shining Brightly for Christ
2) Philippians 2:9-13: Living with Heaven in Mind
3) Philippians 2:19-30: Friendship
4) Philippians 3:1-9: Lose Your Religion
Philippians 2:1-17: Shining Brightly for Christ
Amid
the struggles, amid the winds of the world around us, life can
sometimes be more than we feel we can bear. Things go on in the world
that cause us to question if we can ourselves go on. The winds of the
world blow at us and our spiritual flame flickers like an unprotected
candle. You could be sitting in your office on Thursday morning
and you get a call from your doctor. He says, "I need to see you this
afternoon. Can you come in at 2:00? You'd better bring your wife." Oh,
boy! Or, it might not be a call about you. Maybe a call from a doctor
about your mom or your dad saying, "We need to talk. We need to make
some decisions. We've got some tough choices ahead." And you know the
future may be pretty difficult. If you are a guy, you feel like you are
going to end up being the major caregiver to your mother or father. And
you are more equipped to build an engine than to take care of somebody.
How are you going to do it? How can you cope? How is it going to work?
The storms blow and you do not know if you can make it.
Or, you
are sitting at the kitchen table and you are going over all the list of
bills and wondering, where did they all come from? Where does it all go? I make a good living and it is gone before I even get to the bottom of
the envelopes. I know my kids are getting big. They are eating a lot
and yeah, that is probably part of where it goes. Food bills are
horrendous, but boy, they are getting to the point where they are going
to be driving pretty soon. They will need a car and then they are going
to be getting ready for college and I have got a college fund set up,
but it is a drop in the bucket compared to what they are probably going
to need. And I want to keep on tithing or I have been feeling like, you
know, God, I really want to give back to you what I owe you. I'd rather
live on 90 percent of what You give me with You than live on 100
percent by myself. I need Your help, Lord. But Lord, I don't know how I
can do it. It just seems like too much. And the financial pressures start to blow.
I
want you to see that when the winds of the world begin to blow, if you
are a born-again Christian, you are not a candle in the wind. We are
more like hurricane lamps that have an external source of power, the
oil, and a shield to protect the flame. The flame in a hurricane lamp
will shine continuously as long as the oil never runs out. This is what
your life is designed to be. Jesus said He would never leave you nor
forsake you. Your spiritual source of life will always be with you.
Turn to Philippians 2. The beginning verses are commonly
interpreted to be primarily about the unity of the church. But that is
not the main focus. I will explain. It starts off: "If you have an
encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his
love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any tenderness and
compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the
same love, being one in spirit and purpose." That sounds like the
church, doesn't it? But Paul is not teaching primarily about church unity.
The
very first word in this passage in the Greek is not the "if" but a word
that means "therefore." The simple adage that pastors are taught in
seminary is that a "therefore" is there for a reason. You have to study
the whole passage, the whole chapter in context in order to rightly
interpret it. It says in verse one: "If you have any encouragement from
being united in Christ or being in Christ." What does that mean? It
means that your life is already reserved in heaven with Christ. He has
your name written, if you are a Christian by choice, in the Book of
Life. It is guaranteed. It is as certain as gravity. Your security is
based upon the promise of God. The winds of the world can blow as much
as they want, they cannot blow you out. You have a certain future. That
is why Christ says, "Set your mind on things that are above."
Secondly,
it says, "If you have any comfort from his love." He wants your best
and you need to know that you have a lover. That is a word that is not
used often in churches, at least not in a positive sense, but I want to
redeem it. A true lover signifies someone who is totally devoted to
you, who will go beyond all bounds to have a healthy relationship with
you. You have such a lover in Christ. You have a lover who is
passionate about you, who died and suffered for you. The world's
version of a 'lover' falls far short of this definition. When someone
says they have a "lover" in this world they usually mean someone they
are having regular sexual relations with that is not their husband or
wife.
The world has perverted the true view of what a lover is.
It is a view that is shallow and narrow. It makes fornication sound
legitimate. A person can have many such "lovers" by this worldly
definition and not feel guilty about it because they are "lovers" and
not "illicit sexual partners", as they should be viewed. God thinks you
are important. You have a lover in God. Not simply someone who wants to
have pleasurable experiences with you, but someone who is passionate
about your total well-being. Christ is someone who proved Himself to be
your true lover. He is concerned for your eternal well-being. He wants
to have a clean and holy relationship with you, a relationship that
will make you a better person, a person more able to love others
through Him.
Then thirdly, "If you have any fellowship with the
spirit" teaches us that we have a partner in this life. You are not
left alone to live according to a standard of rules and regulations
with orders to do your best and then stand before God and see how you
measure up with your life is over. You are not alone in your walk with
Christ. The Holy Spirit is there to guide, to strengthen, to help. He
is called the "Spirit of Consolation," the "Spirit of Comfort," the
"Spirit of Truth." He is there to guide you, to help you, to assist you
in your life. You have a spiritual partner. You are not alone. The
ministry of the Spirit of God is to draw and form you to have a better
relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It is not to make you good
enough to earn heaven. Heaven is not a reward, it is a place God has
prepared for all those who love Him and want to be with Him!
Understanding this difference is important to understanding what the
Christian life is all about, what the "fellowship of the spirit" is all
about!
And then fourthly, "…if you have tenderness and
compassion." These two words basically describe our innermost feelings.
Literally, the root words refer to your spleen and your intestines.
That does not sound too romantic or emotionally appealing, but I want
you to understand why these words are used to describe emotional
feelings. How do you feel when you get that phone call from the doctor?
How do you feel when someone backstabs you? Where do you feel it? You
feel it in your 'guts', don't you? They saw this area as the center of
our passions, of our emotions, because that is where we 'feel' it.
Life
is precious. Our emotions connect us to the world around us. They are
what make us feel alive, good or bad. Your emotions are the connection
between you and someone else. How we think and what we value inform our
emotions. Two people can have different emotional responses to the same
situation because they interpret it differently. Paul wants our
emotional responses to be guided and characterized by "tenderness and
compassion." This does not mean we excuse sin or wrong doing in order
to be "accepting" and "tolerant." But it does mean we are to first view
people through lenses of tenderness and compassion before we tell them
to go and "sin no more," as our Lord told the adulterous woman in John
8:10-11.
Verse 2 says: "Then make my joy complete." How? By
being "likeminded." My first question is, like what? Commonly, many
think that this refers to each other. That does not work, folks. We are
not like-minded and will never think totally alike. There are about 500
people that attend Trinity and few think alike on all issues. Paul is
not calling us to be robots and blindly follow some leader or teacher
in order to achieve absolute doctrinal unity, nor is that a desirable
thing. Then what is he saying? If we are not to think exactly like each
other, who we supposed to think like? Go back to verse 1 and look
forward to verse 5. They will tell you. Think like Christ! As you think
like Christ and I think like Christ, then our thinking becomes more
alike. And as we think more alike the unity within the church grows.
Paul
says in verse 5: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ
Jesus." The question immediately comes to one, what mind? I believe
"this mind" refers both backward and forward in this passage. It is the
central hinge on which the entire passage turns. It refers back to the
"lowliness of mind" of verse 3 and refers ahead to the concrete object
lesson of Christ's humble life, described in verses 6-8. Our thinking,
our mindset should be the same as Christ Jesus. To have, what I call, a
Christ-ian mindset, a Christ-like mindset. We are to have His
perspective life, His viewpoint about who we are, who God is, and how
we are supposed to be living in this world.
Look at verse 6.
"Who, being the very nature of God did not consider equality with God
something to be grasped." Why was He willing to give up His heavenly
experience and divine prerogatives, advantages, for a human experience
that included suffering, heartache, and death? He did it because He had
to become human to demonstrate His great love for you and for me. It is
in becoming human that the depths of His love can most be seen. Without
the life and work of Christ, the greatest of God's love would be
unknown to us. He did not just yell down to us, "Hey, you guys. I love
you." Those are just words. It was in Jesus Christ that we see God's
true character and love. You have a lover in Christ and He calls you to
reflect that love to others. "In as much as you have done this to the
least of these my brethren you have done it to me." First John tells
us, "Beloved, because God has so loved us, we ought to love one
another." Because we are beloved, we are to be a lover of those around
us in the same holy, true way. And as we do, we have Someone that will
sculpt our souls to be more like Christ.
The first verse uses
the Greek word "pnuma" for "spirit" to mean the Spirit of God. In verse
2, the word is "psyche." It refers to our innermost being, our souls.
It is telling us to have the same psyche--the same character, the same
general personality of being fellow lovers of Christ working together
with one heart and purpose. Amid the diversity of precious differences
between us there is to be a general core Christ-ian character,
Christ-ian personality that unites us in a common goal and purpose.
Look
at verse 7. It says, "He made himself nothing, taking the very nature
of a servant." His character resulted in servant-like behavior. He came
and lived to serve the needs of others. Paul exhorts us to let this One
sculpt our souls. It is like taking a lump of clay and forming and
molding it until you make something beautiful. You may think, "Well,
there is a lot of junk on my outside and I am not sure there can be
anything beautiful inside." You underestimate the power of God. It does
not matter how old or how young, how short or how tall, how skinny or
how full you are, God sees beauty and will sculpt your character into
something that will shine with a spiritual and moral beauty that will
benefit those around you, if you let Him.
Verse 8 tells us about
Christ's obedience attitude. "He became obedient to death, even death
on the cross." He came and lived His life on purpose. You are called to
live for Him. A long time ago I was told that we are called by Christ
to be living sacrifices and the problem with a living sacrifice is it
can always crawl off the altar. We let ourselves be distracted and we
pull away from what He wants to do in and through our lives. He calls
us to live for Him, to live a life on purpose, with determination.
Verses 12-16 expand on this theme.
Verse 12 says: "Therefore, as
a basis of everything I've said so far, therefore my dear friends as
you have always obeyed not only my presence but now much more my
absence, continue to work out your salvation in fear and trembling."
This verse is not saying that we earn our salvation. It is telling us
to work out what has been put in us. Your future is secure. He wants
you to let it out for others to see, to experience, to recognize its
reality so that they will want it also. So they will say, "I want what
they have. I want to know a God who can make a real difference in my
life."
To "work out your salvation in fear and trembling" means
to take your Christian life seriously. Your life matters to God. What
you do with it matters to God. It is serious business. It is important.
You may feel like the goal of your life is just to get through it and
then die. Just get through one more struggle as things keep on blowing
your life around, just whipped here and whipped there. The goal of your
life is to be steadfast before God and to bring His light to others.
The verse continues, "For it is God who works in you to will and to act
according to his good purpose." Do the people around you have any idea
that God is working on you? Do they see any difference? Do they sense
that there is a presence in your life?
It goes on in verse 14.
"Do everything without complaining or arguing." Living as a Christian
is going to be hard because it is worth doing. For way too long some of
you have been doing nothing hard, just getting along, just going
through little battles here and there. It is time for some of you to do
something hard, to take some steps to grow in your walk with Christ, to
grow in your witness before others, to truly be a disciple following
Jesus rather than part of the crowd saying, "Go get 'em, team." It is
time to step up for Christ and get involved!
And then he goes on
and concludes, "Do everything without complaining and arguing so that
you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a
crooked and depraved generation in which you. . ." It is saying you are
to be different from the crookedness and perversity that surround you.
It says that you were created to be like shining stars as you hold out
the word of life. In the morning when I walk out of the garage to get
in my car, I look at the stars and they shine bright against a black,
otherwise empty sky. Where there seems to be nothing, then there is
star, star, star. In your world there are people all around you in the
middle of nothing and you are called to be the star, to let a little of
the light of Christ shine through your life to make a difference to
them.
God loves you. But He also loves your neighbor and your
work partner and your classmate who do not know Him yet. You are loved,
but your Father loves your brother as well and calls for you to be the
one to speak, to make a difference, to let him know that it is real and
you can do it if you are willing to shine for Him. Are you shining for
Him? The more you try and burn for you, the more you burn down and soon
out. But if you shine for Him, He has promised to be with you. There
are going to be battles. Spiritual and moral darkness will not accept
your presence without a fight. Paul tells us in verse 17 to "hold
tightly to the word of life" and be "faithful in our service" toward
God. If we do these things, not only will we become more like Jesus
Christ, but we will make an eternal difference to those who will also
hear His voice!
Philippians 2:9-13: Live with Heaven in Mind
When
it looks like the curtain has come down on a tragedy and tears are
running down your face because you do not like what is happening, I
want you to know that instead of the lights going out, God raises the
curtain again because it is not over. God sets the stage for a brand
new scene that causes the audience to erupt into praise and shouts of
joy. Turn to Philippians chapter two. We are going to look
at God's instructions of how to get good out of bad situations.
Philippians 2 shows us how to snatch victory out of the hands of
defeat. As Yogi Berra said, "It ain't over until it's over" and you
need to realize that God is the one who says when it is over.
Philippians
2:8-13 say: "Jesus humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
death on the cross. Therefore, because he humbled himself, obeyed and
died on the cross, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him
the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father.
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed, not only in my
presence but now much more in my absence, continue to work out you
salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to
will and to act according to his good purpose." As we look around our
problem infested world, it may look like death and evil win, but there
is more to the story. And if you miss it, you miss the purpose,
direction, and hope that God wants to give your life. Not just at the
end, but through each and every day as you walk toward that end.
Verse
9 says: "Therefore God exalted Christ to the highest place and gave him
the name that is above every other name." In the life of Jesus, it
looked like Satan and death won. If you saw the movie "The Passion," do
you remember how you felt as Jesus suffered and then gave up His last
breath on the cross? Do you remember the look on Satan's face, the
smirk? The smile that says "I have got you now!" His victory dance was
short-lived because death was swallowed up in victory--both in the
resurrection of Christ and also in the ascension of Christ where Jesus
was seated at the right hand of God the Father. God the Father exalted
Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is better than any
other name. The two phrases "the highest place" and "the name above
every other name" means that He has been given total authority.
The
word for "Lord" means master, supreme ruler, the one who has total
authority. He is Lord of all creation. He demonstrated His care and
dedication to us and He is entrusted with power and authority. It says:
"Therefore, Jesus earned the Father's reward by his self-sacrifice and
humility in obedience." It did not end at the cross for Jesus and you
need to remember it does not end with the grave for you.
First
Thessalonians tells us clearly: "For the Lord himself will come down
from heaven with a trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise
first and then after that, we who are still alive and are left will be
caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air
and so we shall be with the Lord forever." When it looks like it is
over, God sets the final stage. Keep heaven in mind. There is another
scene that we do not see played out during our lifetime. It goes beyond
what we can see. It is described for us in Revelation chapter 21.
Revelation 21:1-4 says: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and earth
had passed away. I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem coming down out
of heaven prepared as a bride, beautiful for her husband. And I heard a
loud voice of the throne saying, now the dwelling of God is with men
and he will live with them and they will be his people and God himself
will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their
eye. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the
old order of things is passed away." There is a new stage, a new
scene. It is not over yet. When it looks like it is over, God sets the
final scene. So keep heaven in mind! Live like you are a future citizen
of heaven, not as one who invests everything he or she has in the here
and now with no thought toward the implications of the eternal future
that is in God's control.
Jesus Himself promised, "If I go and
prepare a place for you, I will certainly come back and take you to be
with me that you might be where I am. That you and I and the Father
might be one." Second Timothy says it clearly. "Jesus, our Savior, has
destroyed death revealing real life here and now as well as an immortal
future life in eternity." Do not be short-sighted in life. There is
more than the here and now that you see. Keep heaven in mind!
Secondly,
when it looks like it is all over, you need to remember that Jesus is
in control. Verse 10: "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow
in heaven, on earth and even under the earth. Every tongue shall
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." Every being will acknowledge it,
but many will not accept it and be at peace with it. The Father
demonstrated His great love for us that He sent us His beloved Son. And
His Son demonstrated His great worthiness and great love for us by
giving His life for us. Therefore, the Father gave Him the keys to all
of His creation. He is essentially saying, "You are worthy of caring
for it. I trust you to use your authority effectively." Satan would not
use such authority for the greater good. Satan would use it for his own
glory. We would use it for our own aggrandizement. But Jesus used it as
a service opportunity to demonstrate God's love and mercy.
Inspired
by the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2, Peter recognized the supreme
position given Jesus Christ. When the church was just getting started
in the immediate days after Jesus' ascension, Peter went to those who
crucified Jesus and told them, "God has made this Jesus whom you
crucified both Lord and Christ." Ephesians makes it very clear. "God
placed all things under his feet." And Revelation paints a vivid
picture. "Then I heard the voice of a hundred million angels singing,
worthy is the Lamb who is slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom
and strength and honor and glory. Then I heard every creature in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and all the sea and all that is in
them singing, to him be praise and honor and glory forever and
forever." God has placed Jesus in control. He has been given the power
to control because He has the character that makes Him worthy of the
Father's trust.
Jesus said in John 14 that He has prepared a
place for you. It is not over until you are there. He said, "Do not
worry. I will return for you. You can count on it." Jesus promised that
He will return to earth to distribute justice and rule in a righteous
manner. Death does not end it for us. You can trust in His promises
concerning your future. He is worthy of our trust. Living with heaven
in mind will give your life and death special meaning.
Thirdly,
we are not alone. Verse 12 says, "Therefore, continue to work out your
salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to
will and to act according to his good purpose." Did you catch that? God
is at work in you. The Almighty Creator, the Designer, the Sustainer of
the universe is actively involved in shaping your attitudes, inspiring
your actions and guiding your thought process; but never without your
participation. The God of the universe wants to be involved in your
life and the decisions you make. That should take your breath away.
You
have the Almighty God, the Controller, the Wise One, the One who has
the power and strength and love for your life saying, "I am here to
help. I want to be involved in your life. I want to give you what you
need to get you through this next week. I want to help you with those
temptations you are facing. I want to be with you when you talk to that
man because you are going to need all the patience you can muster, and
more." He is there to be with us and that should take our breath away.
Verse 12 says, "…with fear and trembling." Fear and trembling simply
means that you are to take it seriously, with respect and passion, to
hunger for, to long for, to know that He is there to work with you in
what He is trying to do in you.
The question is, "Will you work
with Him?" He wants to work on you, but He will not work on you, will
not work in you without you working on you. We all say that we want God
to work in us, to fix us. "Lord, will you just do that for me, take
that, give me more patience." And God says, "I'll give you more
patience, but there is only one way to get patience. You are going to
go through some hard things and then as you go through them, I will
strengthen you and you will grow patience." "Lord, give me more faith."
You will be faced with challenges that will test your belief in God.
Without that test, without that challenge, there is no need for faith.
God will grow it in you. God wants to work on you and work in you. He
is with you. You are not alone and that is why He says to work out your
salvation as God works in you.
Many think that salvation refers
only to what happens to us after we die physically. Although it does
refer to this truth it entails so much more. Ephesians 2:10 says: "…you
are created as his workmanship for good works to be active as he leads
which he has predestined from eternity past." He has designed you for
good works and He participates in your life to encourage those good
works to come out of your heart and into the lives of those around you.
Some
people practice piano for years and years and never play anyplace
except in their living room for themselves. God wants you to let it
out. Let that musical gift be a blessing to somebody else. Let out what
God has put in you. God wants to put good things in you so you will let
it out and be a blessing to others around you. Some of you do not want
to grow anymore. "Every time you talk about growing it gets hard and my
life is hard enough right now." The reason it is hard is because God
loves you and He wants the best for you, not as the materialistic world
we live in counts "best," but best from an eternal, spiritual
perspective. Let me say this. When you are healthy, wealthy, and
self-sufficient you do not think you need God. When you think you have
all the answers, God is not in the forefront of your mind. You think
about the next football game. "Is it time to trade in a car?" "You
know, that flowerbed out in front of the house needs to at least get
petunias in it this season." These concerns define your life. You have
no time or interest in considering the things of God. Is it any
surprise that God allows problems to come into our lives if that is
what it takes to get our attention?
This earthly life is
designed to include troublesome times because we need to be reminded
that this world is the not the end, that it is only temporary. Jesus
promised that we will always have troubles. The world will bring
troubles into our lives. It is not God, it is the world itself that
brings many of these troubles into our lives. "But take heart, I have
overcome the world," Jesus said. God is invested in your life. You are
not alone. God wants to work in and through you.
When it looks
like it is over, realize that actually it is just getting started. When
your earthly life ends, realize, it is just beginning. Al mentioned
Larry Peter. This blessed brother is struggling to breathe. His lungs
can barely take in oxygen. He can hardly see anything. He can hardly
hear. But soon his life is going to begin. Soon he is going to be
taking a deep breath right beside his Savior. He is going to look
across the valley of the shadow of death and see those little
wildflowers growing on the hill on the far side and see every petal on
them. He is going to hear the whisper of his Lord's voice in his ear.
"Well done, good and faithful servant." Larry's life is getting ready
to begin. It is getting ready to start for eternity.
In the days
and weeks and the months that God gives you, will they count for
anything, or are you just marking time in your life until you are
resting in a pine box? Will the days He gives you amount to anything?
If you let Him work in you and then work through you to touch others
around you, your life will count for something in God's eyes. God has
great things planned for your life, but you have to let Him in. You
have to invite Him. That starts the whole process. Until then, you are
trying to do it on your own.
Somebody e-mailed me a picture this
last week. When the hurricanes were blowing, there were all kinds of
billboards blown down. But one of them on Sand Lake Road in Orlando
stood strong but had its message changed. The high winds blew several
of the outer layers away to reveal an old sign that was covered over
quite some time ago. Remember a couple years ago when they had all
those black signs with white letters that were purchased by Christians.
"Don't make me come down there and talk to you. God." "Got Faith?"
Those type of signs. The people sponsoring these signs ran out of money
so they have not been seen for quite a while. And then during the
latest hurricane, one of the messages was revealed. It said: "We need
to talk. God." Was this just a coincidence, that it ripped away several
other signs to reveal this particular message? Can God make it any
clearer? What does He have to do? Give you a sign? Yeah. We laugh and
think it is cute. Do you realize God wants to talk to you? Do you
realize God wants to hear from you? Will you listen to Him? Will you
allow Him to work in your life?
Philippians 2:19-30: Friendship
On
the night that Jesus was betrayed, He looked around that group of men
and made a startling statement. He said, "I no longer call you
servants, now I call you friends." He did not look upon them as ones
who were following Him out of obligation, out of compulsion, out of
fear of punishment, but individuals with free choice who choose to
align their heart with the Father's heart. Here and now and also
forever. "I no longer call you servants. I call you friends."
We
are going to focus on real friendship. It is the ability to tie lives
and hearts together in a way that they beat together after the same
cares and concerns. Jesus said, "I call you friends." We are going to
look at the friendship exemplified by two men who traveled across
Europe to Rome to live with Paul in his confinement. We are going to
look at the qualities of friendship that they exhibited because they
will show us how Jesus is our friend, what He does for us. It will
challenge you to consider your friendship with Jesus. Can you
rightfully call Jesus your friend? He is a friend to you, but are you a
friend to Him? That is what we are going to look at in Philippians
2:19-30.
In Philippians 2:19-30 we see three genuine traits of
real friendship. First we are going to look at Timothy and then we are
going to look at Epaphroditus. Starting in verse 19 we read. "I hope in the Lord
to send Timothy to you soon that I also may be cheered when I receive
news about you. I have no one else like him who takes a genuine
interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests
not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself
because as a son with his father has served me in the work of the
gospel. I hope therefore to send him to you. As soon as I see how
things go with me and I am confident in the Lord that I myself will
come soon." This is Timothy, Paul's best friend.
And then Paul
talks about Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus is one of those strange names.
Anybody here know an Epaphroditus? It is one of those strange names
that you would have a hard time talking to him all day long calling him
Epaphroditus. "Epaphroditus, would you pass the salt?" "Epaphroditus,
will you go get the. . ..?" Pretty soon you would start saying
something else. Kind of like Theodore. It usually gets shortened to
Theo and so I am going to refer to Epaphroditus as a friend would and
call him EP. EP, Epaphroditus from Philippi. He is a friend of the
Philippians that has come to see Paul and help him in any way he can.
Look what it says in verse 25. "But I think it is necessary to send
back to you EP my brother, a fellow worker, a fellow soldier who is
also your messenger who you sent to take care of my needs. For he longs
for all of you and is distressed because you heard that he was ill.
Indeed he was ill and almost died but God had mercy on him and not on
him only but also on me to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore, I am
all the more eager to send him so that when you see him again, you may
be glad and I may have less anxiety. Welcome him in the Lord with great
joy and honor men like him because he almost died for the work of
Christ, risking his life to make up for the help that you could not
give me."
In both of these men we see the first quality of real
friendship. It is someone who cares about your concerns. Someone who
cares about your welfare. It says, "I have no one else like him who has
a genuine interest in your welfare." Now we contrast that to what he
said in verses 16-17 of chapter one, "There are those who preach Christ
out of selfish ambition, doing it for their own glory, doing it for
their own reputation." But Timothy, in contrast, has a genuine interest
in helping the Philippians on Paul's behalf. He is doing it for the
right reason. The word he uses for being like-minded, "I have no one
else like him," is the word that means having the same breath. It is to
have the same purpose, the same focus, seeing things the same way. "I
have no one else like him. He has been with me now for ten years. When
I was shipped off to jail, he came on his own and met me here in Rome
to care for my needs. I have no one else like him. He cares for me." It
is not a slam or putdown on Epaphroditus because EP is not his friend
first, he is the Philippians' friend. He belongs to them. He came to
help Paul. So EP is the Philippians' friend. Timothy is Paul's friend.
He has genuine interest. He cares for them in distinct ways.
Secondly,
a real friend is someone who helps when you need a hand. Someone who is
there when you need someone to come alongside you. In verse 22, he
essentially says, "Timothy has served with me in the work. He served
side-by-side with me. He has worked hand-in-hand with me. I have seen
his work ethic. I have seen his passion. I see his diligence. He comes
alongside and helps whenever I have needed help." Then in verse 25 we
have EP. It says, "EP, my fellow worker, my brother, my fellow
soldier." He is also the one who has come alongside him on behalf of
the Philippians to help.
Then thirdly, a real friend is someone
who does what you cannot do on your own. Notice that EP came from
Philippi on behalf of all the Philippians and Paul says in verse 23, "I
hope to send Timothy to you until I can come myself. I trust him. He is
trustworthy." A friend will come and do what you cannot do yourself. He
is likeminded. "He has proven his faithfulness to you that he cares
about you. I hope to send him to you until I can come myself in the
same way you sent EP to come and take care of my needs. Indeed he
worked so hard at it to your credit, he worked so hard at it he became
sick unto death. He almost worked himself to death but God spared his
life so that you would not be worried and I would not have sorrow upon
sorrow." A real friend is someone that you can count on. It is someone
that cares about your concerns. It is someone that helps when you need
a hand. It is someone who does what you cannot do by yourself.
A
friendship grows as we spend time together pursuing common interests.
We need friends. Friends are what we are designed by God to have. We
are social beings. We need someone who cares about us. We need someone,
at times, to do things for us. But the most important reason we need
friends, the reason you need friends the most, is that you cannot be a
Christian without friends. God calls you to serve, to love one another.
We are told to encourage one another, to carry one another's burdens,
to edify or build up one another. How can you encourage someone if you
do not know what discourages them? How can you carry their burdens if
you do not know what their burdens are? How can you build someone up if
you do not know what is tearing them down? God has put us in
relationships with friends to give us opportunity to grow our character
and to serve. He has put us in relationships to grow us, to make us, to
allow us to become Christ-like. We need friends for our own needs, but
we need friends to meet their needs so that we can grow in
Christlikeness.
Church is the training ground for friendships
and relationships that then branch out beyond this fellowship to those
around us in the world to reach them with the truth and the love of
Jesus Christ. Jesus says, "I call you friends." He has come to care
about your concerns. He has come to help you when you need help. And
also, He comes to do what we cannot do ourselves. He came to redeem us
from our sin. He came to restore our relationship to God. He came to
guide us through life when we do not know which way to turn. But how
about the other side? How is your friendship with God? Do you care
about His concerns? Do you take interest in what He is interested in?
Notice
what Paul said about Timothy. "He takes genuine interest in your
welfare." Many take interest in only their own concerns, but Timothy
took a genuine interest in the welfare of the Philippians. In verses 3
and 4 just before he said, "do nothing of selfish ambition or vain
conceit but in humility consider others better than yourself. Each of
you should look not only to your own interest, but also to the interest
of others." Now when you look to the interest of others, two
interesting things happen.
Number one, you build a relationship
of care, of give and take so that you will have an investment, you will
have a relationship with someone that can come along your side when you
need a friend. But more liberating than this is when you start looking
at other people's problems, taking your focus off yourself. When we do
this God starts taking care of our problems. Your problems seem to go
away. They seem to dissolve and become less important to you. Do you
care about His concerns? Do you put His priorities above your own or
are you looking only after your own interests?
Secondly, do you
help when Jesus needs help? Do you team with Jesus? Do you team with
others who are trying to serve Christ in helpful ways? We have all got
buddies. We have fishing buddies, we have biking buddies, we have
golfing buddies, we have shopping buddies. We have racing buddies, but
do you buddy with people who want to further the cause of Christ? Are
you teaming up with someone who wants to do something for God, who
wants to see some lives changed? You can keep them going. God puts us
in relationships to support and strengthen each other. That is why we
are called the body of Christ, to strengthen and encourage each other
to do our part. We do not have to do it all ourselves. But together
strengthening and helping we do what we are able to do. It makes a
tremendous difference to us when someone is able to do what we cannot
do alone.
And then thirdly, do you do what He wants done? Do you
follow His commands? Do you follow, care about what He wants
accomplished in this world? He has a dream, a hope for your neighbor,
for the kid in your class that nobody likes, for the overworked
employee at the supermarket who could use a word of encouragement. He
has a dream and a hope and He wants someone to speak just a word of
encouragement, to share the love of Christ with them. Are you willing
to be there? Will you own that priority? Will you do what He wants done?
This
is not a new concept. Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 58 said, "If you spend
yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the
oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night
will become like noon day. The Lord will guide you always and He will
satisfy your needs and strengthen your frame." You can focus on your
own priorities. You can care only about yourself. You can take care of
doing what you want to do for you. But is it not better to do what God
says and let Him do for you what He wants to do? To have Him do, to
have Him strengthen your frame, have Him satisfy your needs. As He sees
you stop looking at the mirror, looking at others and caring for
others, He will make your paths straight. That is His promise. He will
strengthen you. He will guide you. He will give you the light to get
through it. You do not have to do it alone. But the more you look in
the mirror, the more you focus only on your own problems.
The
more you look at yourself, the more self-centered you become. The more
you look at yourself, the more you start thinking, "Well, what is in it
for me." "This is my deal." "What am I getting out of church?" "What am
I getting out of this time together?" "What am I getting out of this
relationship?" "What am I getting out of this marriage?" "What am I
getting out of this friendship?" "I am not getting enough. I am going
to back away." And God says, "I was trying to grow you. You had a great
opportunity. This was a perfect environment for you to learn patience,
peace, and trust in me and you just walked away from it." God wants to
grow you. God has a dream for your character, for your personality. He
said, "I call you friends." Can you call yourself a friend of God?
Philippians 3:1-9: Lose Your Religion
If
you know much about me at all, you know that I love to drive. Perhaps I
enjoy it too much. I get a great deal of satisfaction carving through a
set of s-curves especially if they are banked. There is a sense of
oneness with man and machine that I enjoy, that sense of connectedness.
I do this and it does that. I even enjoy it when problems arise because
now there is a challenge, now there is something to fix to get back on
the road. But some of you do not enjoy driving. For some of you,
driving is a chore. It becomes an intrusion into your life. You spend
way too much time, you feel, stuck behind the wheel when there are so
many other things you would rather do. It is an intrusion into your
life. Others of you do not enjoy driving because it seems like there is
always someone there with you telling you what you did wrong and where
you need to go. Having a backseat driver with you can suck the joy out
of driving. And others of you have had some experiences that have
taught you how easily things can get out of control, especially when it
is wet or dark. All these cars zooming along and drivers not paying
attention to what they are doing, talking on the cell phone, kids
misbehaving in the backseat.
These same type of problems arise
in our spiritual lives and can suck the joy out of our faith and our
relationship with God. If you have someone always picking at you,
telling you what you are doing wrong and backseat driving your
spiritual walk, it will suck the joy right out of it. If coming on
Sunday morning or getting together on Wednesday night for shepherding
group or coming to ABF on Sunday morning seems like an intrusion into
your schedule because there are other things you would rather be doing
("Look, it is perfect weather for nine holes. What am I doing here?"),
it will suck the joy right out of your faith.
I want you to
consider, is your spiritual walk characterized by joy? If it is not,
then you need to make a change. God intended for your relationship with
Him to be characterized by joy. The third chapter of Philippians gives
us some safeguards that Paul has given us to protect our joy because he
wants us to have joy. There are hazards and roadblocks in this world
that will suck it out of our lives. Philippians chapter three talks
about a need for you to lose your religion in order to get something
better. I am talking about changing your belief system, the things upon
which your faith is based, the attitude, the operations which guide
your life and your walk with Christ. But before we read Philippians
chapter three, I want to stress that the joy Paul is talking about is
much different than merely satisfying our fleshly desires and wants. It
is not the mere satisfaction of fleshly longing. It is not simply
having a good time. Paul is talking about something much more
deep-seated and spiritually focused.
Philippians chapter three
beginning at verse one: "Finally, my brother rejoice in the Lord." He
repeats this throughout the book of Philippians. Philippians is a book
designed to help us achieve joy in our walks with Christ. So he is
telling you again to rejoice in the Lord, to have a sense of joy. He
says, "it is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again
because it is a safeguard to you." Paul wants to safeguard our joy
because there are all kinds of things that will try to pull it away
from us. God wants us to have joy in knowing Him and walking with Him
so He says in verse two, "Watch out for those dogs, those men who do
evil, those mutilators of the flesh." For us, dogs are something we
speak of kindly. But in those days, dogs were scavengers. They were
viewed as we would view a pack of wolves. Hyenas that would roam the
land preying on the weak and the helpless and that is what these men
were doing. Preying on new and weak believers casting doubt upon the
genuineness of their faith and robbing them of their joy.
It
says in verse three, "For it is we, not them, in contrast, who are the
circumcision. It is we who worship the spirit of God, who glorify
Christ Jesus and who put no confidence in the flesh. Although I myself
have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reason
to put confidence in the flesh, I have more." That seems like an
arrogant statement by Paul. An arrogant statement that says, "I have
done everything right by the flesh. Everything a man can do right, I
have done." But Paul was not arrogant, he was telling the facts of his
life. He lists his achievements for us. "I was circumcised on the
eighth day, I was of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of Hebrews. In regard to the law, I am a Pharisee. In regard to
zeal, I persecuted the church. In terms of legalistic righteousness, I
am faultless. But, whatever was to my profit, for all the good that
was, for all it counts for, I now consider it loss or nothing,
worthless. In fact, worse than worthless. It took me away from the
truth. Much more I consider everything a loss compared to the
surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whose sake I
have lost all those things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain
Christ and be found in him not having the righteousness of my own that
comes from the law but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness that comes through God and by faith." Paul tells us that
we need to lose our religion.
Religion is humankind's system of
defining God and what God has said, of doing good, being punished for
bad. It is a system that is based upon rewards or punishment for our
actions. We need to lose our religion because we do not need it.
Look
at verse three. "…rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in
the flesh." He explains further in the book of Romans that true
circumcision, that thing which set the Jews apart, that physical sign
that set the Jews apart, was only an outward semblance of a real
difference. He said in Romans 2:29 that true circumcision is done in
the heart by the Spirit. It is not mere cutting of the flesh that
pleases God but a reborn heart that matters. Remember when Jesus met
the woman at the well? The woman said, "Master, I perceive that you are
a teacher and we Samaritans, all of our fathers, have worshiped here
on this mountain, but you and the Jews say that we need to worship in
Jerusalem. Are we ok? Are they right, are we wrong, are they wrong?
Where do we stand?" And Jesus said with a smile, "There will come a
day, and that day is today, when you will not be worshiping God here
or worshiping God there, but those who worship the Father will worship
him in spirit and in truth."
It is not a physical place that
matters in worship. It is the heart that matters. You have not
worshiped by simply sitting in church no more than the Jews worshiped
by being in Jerusalem or the Pharisees worshiped by being on Mt.
Gerazim. They stood there, but worship is from the heart and with
honesty, with humility, with openness before God. If during the worship
time, if during the song time your heart was open to God, you
worshiped in spirit and truth. Whether you sang or not, whether you
made a noise with your mouth is frankly, irrelevant. What was your
heart doing when this was going on? Were you lifting your spirit to
Him? Were you saying, "Lord, you are faithful. Lord, I need the
strength you have for me today. I want the hope you have for tomorrow.
Lord, you have done it for centuries for other people, I want you to do
it for me. Lord, I long for a relationship with you." That is worship.
If your heart is doing that, that is worshiping in spirit and in
truth. You do not need Jerusalem. You do not need Mt. Gerazim. You need
spirit and truth.
If anyone was capable of earning his salvation
it was Paul. In Philippians 3:5-6, Paul lists his religious
credentials. "For I was circumcised when I was eight days old, having
been born into a pure-blooded Jewish family that is a branch of the
tribe of Benjamin. So I am a real Jew if there ever was one! What's
more, I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest
obedience to the Jewish law. And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly
persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I
was never accused of any fault." It was not by chance that God chose
Paul as His apostle. He was doing everything correct according to his
religion and we needed to have that example to know that he still did
not cut it. He followed all the traditions. He was as kosher as a
Nathan's hot dog.
Everything about him, everything he was
supposed to be doing he did. When he was supposed to go to the
synagogue, he was there. When he was supposed to say a prayer, he would
say the prayer. He knew all the things to do in the right order. "I was
of the people of Israel. I was of the chosen people, the covenant
people, the people of promise." He was of Israel. They were the
covenant people. "I was of the people that were chosen by God, the
favored people by God, the people whom God promised would have this
land. I am of the tribe of Benjamin." Benjamin is the tribe in which
the capital, Jerusalem, resides. God chose the land of Benjamin to
plant the capital--Jerusalem. It was this tribe from which the first
king of all Israel was chosen. It stood with Judah against all the
other tribes who departed to form a different nation founded on a
corrupted form of the original Jewish religion. Paul's physical
heritage was the best.
Paul could say: "Everyone respected me.
My mom would say, 'my son is a Pharisee,' with pride. And as for zeal,
I persecuted the church. I was passionate for God. There is nothing
that could stand between me and what I would do for my God. I would
follow His decrees to the letter. I would consent to have people killed
for defiling the name of God. I persecuted the church because I thought
they were corrupting the name of Yahweh by saying that Jesus was
Yahweh, God's Son, which was blasphemy to me. And finally, with regard
to legalistic righteousness, I was faultless. I was blameless. I had no
human accusers."
Paul did not say, regarding sin, "I was
sinless" because there was sin in Paul's life. There was pride; there
was arrogance; there was hatred. But no one else could see that.
Blameless in this passage means that no one could blame him of
violating the laws and traditions. Faultless means that no one could
find fault in the things he was doing. Other people could not see his
heart but God saw it. Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus and
said, "Saul, why are you persecuting me?" He was named after the first
king of Israel. His mother was very proud of that. And then God changed
his name from Saul to Paul, which means "little, diminished." Little
Paul, little Pablo. And that is when Paul became great. Lose your
religion because religion like this is based upon your lineage, who you
are related to, where you are raised. Are you better than someone else
because of the color of your skin or the language you speak or the
nation in which you were born?
Religion is also based upon
achievements. Jesus saw the people of Israel who were boasting, "I am
of Abraham. I am Abraham's son," and basically said, "Big deal! God
could raise up children of Abraham from these rocks sitting on the side
of the road. You think that makes you something? You are just a stone
in God's sight. You are a dead stone in God's sight." He saw their
behavior, saw their actions and said, "You worship in vain, in
emptiness. Your teachings are but rules taught by men. They let go of
the commands of God. They abandon the commands of God. They let go of
them and instead hold on to the traditions of men. You are sacrificing
God's rules, God's guidelines for man's traditions." Jesus saw their
achievements and said, "Do you remember the prophet Isaiah? He was
right in what he said about you. Isaiah said you are hypocrites. You
honor me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me." Religion
will make you dead as stones. It will tie you to traditions rather than
tying you to God. It will leave you heartless. No passion, no joy. And
so Paul says, "Lose your religion. Find something better."
Verse
7 says, "But whatever was my profit I now consider loss for the sake of
Christ. As good as I was, my resume was perfect. But now it means
nothing compared with what Christ has done and who Christ is in my
life. What is more, I now consider everything a loss compared to the
surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Everyone knew
Jesus as a man in that day. No one denied that Jesus lived and died.
They knew him as a man. They knew he had friends. They knew he had
disciples. Jesus, the person, the man that people loved, that people
cared for, that people now were dying for. But Jesus was more than a
friend to Paul. Christ Jesus was his Lord and Savior. "That I know
Christ Jesus as my Lord, as the one who has control, who has power. And
I consider all those other things as rubbish, that I might gain Christ."
And
then verse 9, "…and be found in him not having a righteousness of my
own that comes from the law, but that which is found, that which is
through faith in Christ." The righteousness that comes from God and
that is worked out in our lives occurs as we walk by faith. He is
justified and we are justified because of the purposely shed blood of
Jesus Christ on our behalf. "To know Christ" and "to gain Christ" are
in the active voice. But being "found in Him" is passive. Ultimately,
our salvation is a gift of God. As we find ourselves in Christ we are
to seek to know Him better. To know Christ is to have a personal
relationship with Him. It is to walk with Him on a daily basis,
conscious of His presence, living as though He were with you at all
times.
Are you walking with Jesus or are you living by a set of
standards and rules? I keep something in my office to remind me of how
joy can be sapped from us. It is the 1993 Vehicle Code. It is quite
large. There are no pictures. It is all fine print and subparagraphed.
How would you like to learn to drive with your father sitting with this
book in his lap as you get ready to turn the key for the first time?
"Let me turn to page one," he says. God help you. It would suck the joy
right out of driving. Most of you did not learn to drive that way. You
learned maybe like I did, sitting in my father's lap driving an old
International tractor or when you get older driving a truck off road or
a boat. Most of us learn to drive by watching how it is done. Doing it
with somebody else who gives you just a little bit of learning at a
time. Jesus invites you to walk in relationship with Him rather than
just living by rules and regulations. Regulations without Christ will
kill the joy in your life.
Consider as you go through your day
that Jesus is with you. "Lord, how do you want me to respond to this
situation? What would you have me do? Turn away? Say something? Go off
and do something else? Make a difference here. Lord, what would you
have me do? We are in this together, Lord, direct me and guide me. Tell
me when I need to turn. Show me." Learn to walk in relationship with
Him, not by mere regulations.
Secondly, obey for completion not
out of compulsion. I think you know what I mean by "compulsion." It
means doing something because we have to not because we want to. "I
have to" lasts about as long as the person who is going to punish you
is watching. How do you respond when you see a radar car ahead of you?
And how do you respond after you get past it? Listen carefully to what
James said. "Patiently work through the challenges you face because
amid them God is building a perfect and complete character." If you are
like me, when a trial or temptation comes up, you groan. "Oh, no." Kind
of like a kid who gets homework in class. "Oh, I thought she was going
to forget." But realize, that teacher gave you homework because she
wants you to learn. That teacher wants you to understand. And she wants
you to get it not simply so you will get a good grade, but so you will
understand it because tomorrow you have to learn something else that
builds on top of that. We get trials and we say, "Oh, Lord, why did
this happen to me? Lord, get me out of this one." Or, we look for the
escape, to get out of them, when God wants to build our character
through these trials. He wants to complete us in our walk with Christ.
Thirdly,
work in partnership, not in isolation. The wonderful thing about
establishing a relationship with Christ is that where He leads, He
provides. He will give you the resources, the strength to accomplish
everything He has required you to do. So do not try and do it alone. Do
not be like Paul was before His conversion. Jesus said, "I will send
you the Spirit to live within you and be your guide. I will not abandon
you." Do not go it alone. Do it in partnership with God and also with
others in the body of Christ.
A long, long time ago, just after
Katie graduated from high school, she got a little yellow Volkswagon
bug. They were fun cars. This one had nice chrome wheels, sat nice and
low, it was just right. But the trouble was, it had a stick shift and
Katie was a great driver, but she had never learned to use the clutch
and the shifter. Being her best friend and the love of her life, I was
going to teach her. Anybody else ever do that and regret it? I told her
everything she needed to do and then I told her everything she needed
to do and I told her what she needed to do five times. After the fifth
time, I got out of the car and sat on the curb of the parking lot and
watched her the first time she tried to do it without me in the car.
She did not need a critic, she did not need someone badgering, watching
over her shoulder. She just needed a calm, relaxed encourager that
believed in her. It is the same way with our spiritual walk. Someone
who is willing to let you fail while still accepting you is much better
than a backseat critic. Never accept immoral behavior but in the many
areas of life that are morally neutral be an encourager not a critic!
Be that person's partner in accomplishing the goal not a criticizing
obstacle.
Finally, remember that the Christian life is about
building your life with Christ, not building a resume. Build a
relationship with Him now and He will hold His arms to you and say,
"There is my friend" and I will say, "There is my buddy. There is the
one who saw me through all these things." Build a life with Christ, not
a resume. Paul was building the best resume that could be built and he
said it was garbage, actually worse than garbage because it was a
distraction from what God really wanted for him. Do you have joy? Is
there a sense of joy in your walk with Christ? Is it an adventure? Or,
do you consider God an intrusion into your life?