The Lord is risen! Whatever the origins of our English word — and they are apparently too ancient and complicated to trace with certainty, even for Encyclopedia Brittanica — has come to function for us today as a two-syllable designation for “Resurrection Sunday.” That’s six syllables down to two. Easter is the highest day in the church calendar, the one Sunday that we specially celebrate the reality which we seek to live in light of every day of the year: that Jesus, the eternal Son of God, who lived on earth in full humanity, and died on the cross on Good Friday, rose again bodily, on Sunday morning. And this Easter we find ourselves at the halfway point of Philippians. In meditating on these verses, with Easter in view, I’ve paused over this word in verse 1. What does Paul mean that his “writ[ing] the same things . . . is ”? As I was pondering Easter this week, I started seeing the word everywhere. Apparently, we are a people very conscious of safety, and very interested in safety, and perhaps hardly realize how much. In the news just this week was more of the Boeing “safety crisis.” And I saw headlines that read, “Eclipse safety: NYS task force has been working since 2022 to prepare for April 8”, “Senators say Meta’s Zuckerberg is slow-walking child safety inquiries.” And I found appeals to safety in my own inbox: The city of Minneapolis directed me to get an HVAC “safety check” as part of a home inspection. I saw a message from SportsEngine with the call to action: “Keep your athlete safe.” And I received unwanted marketing emails that offered the option to “Safely Unsubscribe” (in small print at bottom). Some of our constant pursuit of safety is, of course, shallow and misguided and overly fearful. Our modern lives can be filled with petty and disordered desires for safety. And at the same time, there are wise, holy, reasonable desires for safety. That’s what Paul appeals to in verse 1: “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is for you.” EASTER JOY Before we focus on “Easter safety,” which will be our theme this morning, let me first say something about “Finally” at the beginning of verse 1. I know there’s a preacher joke here. “Just like a preacher! Paul says ‘Finally’ when he’s only halfway done!” However, this “finally” is actually a loose connecting phrase that can mean “finally” in some contexts, but in others, it can be “so then” or “in addition” or “above all.” The key here is that Paul just mentioned joy and rejoicing in 2:28–29. And before then, he mentioned gladness and rejoicing, twice each, in 2:17–18. And before that, he made a double mention of his own rejoicing in 1:18. Have you noticed how often Paul not only talks about joy in Philippians, but does it in pairs? We’ll see it again in 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” It’s like he just can’t say it enough. To say it just once doesn’t seem to do it. He needs to say it again. And Paul is aware of how often he’s talking about rejoicing, and doing so in pairs, and so after saying “rejoice in the Lord” in 3:1, he adds a little bit of a defense for it. He wants his readers to know he’s aware he might sound like a broken record, but he means it, in the best of ways. He’s not being lazy, or simple-minded. He doesn’t want to bore them, but to help them, to make them . He overcomes whatever dislike or distaste he might have for obvious repetition, and says, “To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is for you.” It's safe to keep saying, Rejoice in the Lord. It’s for your good. You can’t overdo rejoicing in the Lord. Now, you can all sorts of other things, while rejoicing in the Lord. You can underdo sorrow and grieving. You can underdo seriousness and playfulness. And you can overdo all those. You can overdo all sorts of good things. But joy in Christ, rightly understood, truly experienced, you cannot overdo. You cannot overdo rejoicing in Jesus. THREE SAFETIES Our question this morning on Easter is, What does Easter joy, the double joy, repeated joy, the great joy of the resurrection of Jesus, which is the beating heart of the joy of Christianity, I see three threats in these verses, and so three safeties for us in the Easter joy of rejoicing in the risen Christ. 1) EASTER JOY GIVES US SAFETY FROM FOES. To be clear, foes, or opponents (1:28), in and of themselves, are the least concern of these three threats. Still real, but the least troubling on their own. So, Paul says in verse 2: “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.” So, who are these “dogs” nipping at the Philippians’ heels? My family and good friends will tell you I’m not a dog person. I recognize that many of you are dog people. I can respect that — to a degree. Sometimes when dogs come up, I like to say, with a smile, “Well, you know what the Bible says about dogs, don’t you?” Let’s just say the picture is very negative — but it does have a twist. Dogs were the scum of ancient cities. They were unclean and nasty, like we think of rats today. Dogs would devour dead flesh and lick up spilled blood. And perhaps related to this, the Jews came to associate “Gentiles” (non-Jews) with dogs. Gentiles were unclean, according to the old covenant; they were outsiders. You may recall Jesus’s interaction with the Canaanite (Gentile) woman in Matthew 15 (and Mark 7), where he says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of . . . . It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to ” — the Gentiles. For Paul, there is an insightful irony in calling these foes “dogs,” because they presume that they are the insiders, and that Gentiles, like the Philippians and us, are the outsiders. We’re the dogs, unclean and unsafe, they think — unless we add old-covenant law-keeping (marked by circumcision) to faith in Jesus. We call these opponents “Judaizers.” They tried to Judaize Christianity; they tried to put Christ-believing Gentiles back under old-covenant Judaism, rather than letting them just be Gentile Christians in the new covenant without the baggage of the previous era. These Judaizers went around telling Gentile Christians that, essentially, they needed to become Jews physically in order to be truly saved, and safe.  And these Judaizers often dogged Paul’s ministry. They followed him around. After he’d bring the gospel to Gentiles, and move on to the next town, they’d sweep in and try to get new Gentile Christians to think they needed to add Judaism to their faith. So, when Paul calls them “dogs,” he’s not aiming to insult them but to use instructive irony for the sake of his readers. He’s turning the tables to make the point that believing Gentiles are actually the true Jews (spiritually), and these Judaizers have become the new Gentiles, the outsiders, the dogs. Now Christ has come, and been raised, and inaugurated a new covenant. With Easter Sunday, old is gone; behold, new has come.  And these Judaizing foes might think of themselves as doing good works, according to the old covenant, but in fact they are “evil workers.” In trying to circumcise Gentile flesh in obedience to the old covenant, they are, in fact, mutilators of the flesh. They have missed how Good Friday and Easter have remade the world. So, how does Easter joy, rejoicing in the risen Christ, make us from such foes, these and a thousand others? Specifically, rejoicing in the real Jesus fortifies our souls against trying to add anything to the grounds of our rejoicing. In rejoicing in him — in who he is, in what he accomplished for us at the cross, in his rising back to life, and in that he is alive today and our living Lord on the throne of the universe — we come to know a fullness of joy that will not be flanked or supplemented by anything else. Being satisfied in the risen Christ keeps us from being deceived by other shallow appeals to joy, and keeps us from temptations to try to add to him. Rejoicing in Jesus is practical. Are you to rejoice in him? Do you aim at this, and pray for this? When you open the Bible? When you pray? When you gather with fellow Christians, and when we come to worship together on Sunday mornings, and when you go to work, and when you live the rest of life, are you seeking to rejoice, to be satisfied, to be happy in the risen Christ? So, Easter joy gives us safety from foes. 2) EASTER JOY GIVES US SAFETY FROM OUR OWN FLESH. This is a greater concern — the danger of self-ruin, the threat of our own sinful hearts, various habits and patterns that would lead us to trust in ourselves for salvation. Or, we might say, the way that foes are a real threat to our souls is through our own sin. Foes harm us by deception. Then, being deceived, we move to trust in ourselves. Verse 3: “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.” Remember from verse 2 these Judaizing foes — who claim to be God’s true people, his Israel, the circumcision — they are actually the dogs, the new Gentile outsiders. Because, Paul says, in verse 3, with emphasis, are the circumcision. , both Jews like Paul and Gentiles like the Philippians, — and this is such an important “who” with the sequence that follows.  Here we get to the heart of the Christian life, which is the human heart. Oh get this clear on Easter Sunday. Get this heart. Get what it means to be God’s new-covenant people. Circumcision is not what makes and defines us. Human deeds and efforts and abilities do not make us and define us. Rather, what circumcision of the flesh had been pointing to all along is . That is, a new heart, new desires. A born-again soul. New creation in you. God opens the eyes of your soul to the wonder of his risen Son. He changes your heart to marvel at Jesus and rejoice in him. So, here in verse 3 we get three marks of what it means to really be a Christian. One, we “worship (live, walk, serve) by the Spirit of God.” That is, God has . He dwells in us. We the Holy Spirit. Can you believe that? If you are in Christ, you have the Holy Spirit. God himself, in his Spirit, somehow “dwells in” you. We saw it in 2:13: “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” What power against sin! What power to rejoice in the risen Christ! What power for taking the initiative to love and serve others and gladly do what Christ calls us to do.  The risen Christ has poured out his Spirit, and ushered in a new era of history following Easter. Now, God’s people are no longer under the tutelage of the old-covenant law, but have his own Spirit at work in us. We do not worship in the old era but in the new, with God’s own Spirit dwelling in us. And so, two, we “ in Christ Jesus.” Which is more joy language, but elevated. “Glory” is literally “boast” — we in Christ Jesus. “Boasting” is tricky in English because it has negative connotations. So the ESV translates it “glory” (as in 1:26). What makes boasting, or glorying, good or bad is its object. And so we boast, The Lord is risen! True Christians are those who in Christ Jesus as the sole grounds of our full acceptance with God. So, when someone asks, How do I get right with God? Or, how can I be truly — not in the little trivialities of this life but forever? We boast in Christ. “On my own, I’m ruined. But I glory in the risen Christ. I boast in the one who died for me and rose again. He is worthy. I in him!” So, “boasting” or “glorying” is stronger language for the rejoicing of verse 1. This is Easter joy. This is double joy. This is joy intensified, joy magnified, joy heightened, joy expanded, joy enriched, joy elevated, joy resurrected. Which means, third, by contrast, Christians are people who “put no confidence in the flesh.” We boast in the risen Christ, not self, for ultimate safety. And if you wonder what “flesh” means here, Paul will make it clear in verses 4–6, as we’ll see next week. In sum: putting “no confidence in the flesh” means not trusting in ourselves or any mere human effort or energy to get and keep us right with God. Not any privilege of our birth, nor any natural ability, nor hard work, nor achievement, nor human wisdom — nothing in us or related to us, whether who we are or what we’ve done. Rather, we in Jesus. Which leads then to one last safety that’s implicit beneath the first two. So, Easter joy gives us safety from foes and from our own flesh, and . . . 3) EASTER JOY GIVES US SAFETY FROM GOD’S RIGHTEOUS FURY AGAINST OUR SIN. This is the greatest threat of all: omnipotent wrath. The offense of our sin against the holy God is the final danger beneath the other dangers. The reason foes could be a danger is they might deceive us to put confidence in ourselves and our actions. And the reason putting confidence in ourselves is a danger is that this discounts the depth of our sin and leaves us unshielded, unsafe before the righteous justice of God against our rebellion. When Paul says that rejoicing in the Lord “is safe for you,” what’s at bottom is ultimate safety, final safety, eternal safety, safety of soul, safety from the divine justice that our sin deserves. But Easter joy keeps us safe from the righteous fury we deserve, because rejoicing in the risen Christ is the way we take cover in the Son of God who came, and died, and was raised, to deal with our sin and usher us safely with him into the very presence of God.  You might put it this way: the safest soul in all the universe is the one that rejoices in the risen Christ. Rejoicing in the Lord is a place of great safety, shielded from every real threat, even the greatest. God will not destroy those who delight in him. Delight in him is a stronghold (Nehemiah 8:10), a fortress, a safe place, because God always preserves those who delight in him. So, Cities Church, rejoice in the risen Christ! To say it again is no trouble for me, and safe for you.  The Lord is risen! SEEDS OF JOY AT THE TABLE As we come to the Table, let’s address a question some of us have on a high feast day like Easter, and in a book like Philippians that accents the importance of rejoicing in the Lord. What if you’re not feeling it? What if you don’t happy in the risen Christ? Perhaps you to rejoice in Jesus, you want to in him, but you’re a sinner, your heart’s not where you want it to be. One answer, among others, is this Table. This Table is not only for those who are boiling over with Easter delight, overflowing with joy in Jesus. It’s also for those who feel their hearts to be sluggish, and know they’re not rejoicing in the Lord like they want to, or like they should. And yet, in the ache of that desire is the seed of joy. In the longing. In the wanting is the seed of Easter joy that we come to nourish and strengthen at this Table. If you would say with us this morning, “I claim the risen Christ. However high or low my rejoicing, I know myself undeserving. I put no confidence in my flesh. But I do put my confidence, for final safety, in the risen Christ.” Then we would have you eat and drink with us, for joy.

1s

Mar 31, 2024

Something we need to keep in mind as we’re working through the Book of Philippians is that this is a very personal letter. It’s personal in that the apostle Paul tells us a lot about himself over these four chapters — he tells us how he’s doing in his current situation; he tells about how he relates to others and others to him, (; he tells us about his ministry intentions, he tells us about his past, he tells us about his values and goals — Paul gets personal in this letter, and I don’t think we see that any better than we do in our passage today, Chapter 2, verses 25–30. At one level, what Paul says in these verses has nothing to do with us — because he’s talking about details for his own day and about what he’s got going on. But then at another level — — Paul is modeling something for us here. Paul is an example for us, and I’ve not been exactly sure on what to call it. I’ve gone back and forth on this … I think you could call it “Christian realism” — meaning that Paul is in touch with reality in this world. He’s constantly aware of Ultimate Reality — he knows Jesus is real — he navigates the hardships and setbacks of life in a broken world. You must have both! Paul is not just a realist, he’s a “ realist.” We could call his example that (but apparently that term is already taken and used for something else, so never mind).  Instead, what if we just called Paul’s example here, ? In these verses in Philippians 2 we see the honesty of the apostle Paul.  Here’s what I mean: there’s no doubt that Paul. We see that in this letter — we see that in all his letters. The hope of the gospel was right here for Paul. But although Paul kept his eyes on heaven, his head was not stuck in the clouds. He was honest. And I want to show you that in these verses, because I think what we find here will help us as we navigate our own lives in this broken world. So let’s pray again and we’ll get started.  Father in heaven, by your grace, we trust this morning in your sovereign care for us and we rest in your great love for us in Christ. We remember now, that in this moment, we are here together beneath your smile, and that you are pleased to speak to us through your Word. By your Spirit, would you do that? Help us receive what you have for us, in Jesus’s name, amen.  Three ways we see the honesty of Paul:  1) PAUL MADE PRACTICAL MINISTRY DECISIONS. We’re going to be talking a lot about Epaphroditus, and if you’ve never encountered Epaphroditus before… Don’t worry, you can’t catch it!  It’s a name. Epaphroditus was the name of man that we read about only in the Book of Philippians. We first read about him here in Chapter 2 and then also in Chapter 4, verse 18. Based upon what Paul says, we can put together a pretty good picture of who he was.  First, with a name like “Epaphroditus” he definitely had a Gentile background. The name Epaphroditus was connected to the Greek goddess Aphrodite — and we know Jewish parents didn’t give out that name! This guy was a pagan from a pagan family. He was — but at some point this pagan man from a pagan background heard the gospel and believed   And he wasn’t just part of this church, but this church had chosen him to be their messenger and minister to Paul’s need. We see that in verse 25. Remember that Paul is in prison in Rome, and back then, prisoners relied upon the support of friends outside of prison to make sure their needs were met. Paul needed his friends to send him money. That’s why in Chapter 4, verse 18, Paul confirms for this church that he received the gift they sent him through Epaphroditus. So Epaphroditus, then, was the one this church had commissioned out to take Paul a gift of money. Which is a big deal. Epaphroditus was the representative of this church, sent from Philippi to Rome, with a stack of cash for Paul.  And by now — if we can put ourselves in the shoes of these first readers — by the time the church is reading this letter, Epaphroditus had been gone for months but now he’s back. Epaphroditus was most likely the one who brought this church the letter from Paul that they’re reading — and Paul wants to tell them why.  Paul wants to tell the church why Epaphroditus came back to Philippi and not someone else.  Notice the difference between what Paul says about Timothy and what he says about Epaphroditus. In verse 19 — y’all look back at verse 19 — Paul said that to send Timothy. See the word “hoped”?  Now look at verse 25. Paul says there he thought it was to send Epaphroditus. Why did he consider it necessary?  Paul gives us four reasons in the passage, and I want to show them to you right away, and then I’ll tell you the story. Paul says, “I have sent Epaphroditus back…” #1 — verse 26 — for he has been longing for you #2 — verse 26 — he has been distressed because you heard that he was ill Look at verse 28: “I am more eager to send him, therefore … #3 — that you may rejoice at seeing him again #4 — that I may be less anxious (less sorrow) These are the four reasons. Here’s the story: HIS MISSION SITUATION  First, we need a little context for what Epaphroditus has done.  Today, if you were in the City of Philippi (in Greece), and you wanted to travel west, to Rome, you can get there by car within a day. You’d have to ferry across the Ionian Sea, which would slow you down some, but in theory, you could get there in 20 hours. . If you made that same trip by foot, you’re looking at 235 hours, according to Google Maps, and it would take you a couple of weeks. That’s today. But if we were to go back a couple thousand years ago, to the year 60, traveling from Philippi to Rome — where this church was where Paul was in prison — it would have taken you a couple of months. So, from the time that Epaphroditus first left for Rome, to when the church could expect to hear anything back from him, it would have been at least four months. But if you add to that the fact that Epaphroditus got sick, verse 26, it would have been even longer. It was most likely around six months since this church had heard from Epaphroditus. Some commentators suspect six to nine months. UNDERSTANDABLY DISTRESSED Time is relative. That’s not a super long time. But it probably feels like a long time when you’re waiting to hear from somebody especially when they left with a bunch of cash! There would have been a moment when this church wondered: And Epaphroditus knew that they wondered that. Because Paul tells us in verse 26 that Epaphroditus was distressed that the church heard he was ill.   I’m sure it’s because they cared for one another and he wanted this church to know he was okay, but also remember, there’s cash involved. Epaphroditus wanted the church to know that He wanted them to know, not just that he survived, but that he did what they sent him to do! That’s at least one reason, in verse 26, that Epaphroditus had been to see his church family. This is not just generic homesickness. But he wanted his church to know that: he didn’t flake out; he didn’t take the money and run; and he didn’t die.  But he made it to Rome. He gave Paul the gift. He completed the mission. He wants his church to know that. And he knows they wanna know that. We’re talking about very basic, understandable desires. It makes sense. PAUL’S COMMON SENSE So when Paul is trying to figure out who is gonna get his letter and update back to the Philippians, do you see how these things factored in? Paul thought: Epaphroditus longs to go home; Epaphroditus is distressed because the church knows he was sick; this church would be really happy to see him; and man, I’d be less anxious if I sent Epaphroditus instead of Timothy (because I need Timothy to stay closer by for the meantime) — there are four reasons here why Paul considered it to send back Epaphroditus, and one thing all the reasons have in common is that they’re practical. It seems like Paul is just using good old common sense. He’s not over-spiritualizing things here — and this is for a man who had encountered the risen Lord Jesus in blinding light. Remember Paul had heard Jesus’s . He once had a prayer experience when he was caught up to the third heaven. There’s no doubt that Paul had his mind set on things above, not on things below — heaven was right here for Paul — sometimes when it came to decision-making, practical things mattered. Paul made practical ministry decisions.  Now this does not give us license to go bonkers and be super-pragmatic to our spiritual detriment — — but it does mean that in our Christian lives, and in our ministry together, we should take into account practical things. Paul did that and we should too. It’s being honest. Here’s a second way we see the honesty of Paul … 2) PAUL KNEW WHO TRULY DESERVED HONOR. Skip down to verse 29. Paul concludes everything he says about Epaphroditus with two commands. Verse 29, talking about Epaphroditus, he says:  So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men … Receive him and honor him.  But notice the second command about honor. Paul says to hold in honor — meaning, he’s not only talking about Epaphroditus here. He goes beyond Epaphroditus and he wants us to know something about honor in general. Paul wants us teach us something about the kind of person we honor in the church. And I’ll go ahead and say it: the idea of showing honor to certain individuals in our church, it’s a little uncomfortable for us. That we would make distinctions by showing honor to some people over others — that feels Victorian and un-democratic. So I wanna try to bring some clarity here.  First, when it comes to the topic of honor — of humans showing honor to other humans — that’s a universal human reality.  You could go anywhere in the world you want, look at any human culture under the sun, and you’re gonna find that in every human society, honor exists. One way or another, humans will find a way to distinguish other humans as being more celebrated than others. Showing honor will happen. And I’m not gonna get too deep into this, but I’ll just say that our society is very confused with this topic. At one level, we don’t want there to be any distinctions. That’s why everybody gets a trophy; nobody gets their feelings hurt; You are all equally good basketball players.  But then at another level, our society has created “The Celebrity.” As a society we make valuations and comparisons of other people for the shallowest of reasons. And we esteem our celebrities so highly in America that we actually let these people become a scorecard for how we view others. It’s nuts! Our society shows honor like crazy! And it’s a mess! CLARIFYING THE CONFUSION And it’s such a mess that we might think: “There should be no showing honor in the church.” “In the church, every single person should be treated the exact same.” “There should be NO holding certain individuals in honor.”  We might think that, but remember, it’s not just human to show honor, and it’s biblical. Because Paul clearly says here in verse 28 to “honor such men.” And that word “honor” means it. It means to treat someone with high esteem, to show special attention to them. It means to give someone deep respect. See, the issue is not that we show honor; it’s why we show honor. This topic all comes down to what we could call the honor-metric. What are the things we’re looking at to be the reason we show honor? For example, say a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into our assembly, and then a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in. If you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there” — if you do that, the Bible says That is evil — James Chapter 2, 1–4. It’s evil because you’ve made distinctions among yourselves based on worldly reasons. The Bible calls that partiality and it has no place in the church. That’s of the world! Don’t bring that in here. But showing honor is different, and it’s different because of the reason we show honor. Paul says in verse 30. He says to show honor to Epaphroditus and to those like him — he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.  Do you see how that honor-metric is so different from the world’s? It’s so counter-cultural. We honor those in the church, not because of their jewelry and jackets, but because of their sacrifice for the sake of the gospel. In the church, we treat as the highest those whom the world would call the lowest. We have a cross-shaped honor-metric. THE CROSS-SHAPED HONOR-METRIC To bring this home, pretend for a minute that on a Sunday morning, Taylor Swift visited our church. That would be great! And you know we’d say to Taylor? We’d say: (that’s what our ushers say). But, if Matthew and Kailie visited our church, whose last names I can’t tell you, and where they live, I can’t tell you — for security reasons — if they come here, we would try to find out days in advance, and we’d get here early and save a place for them to sit, and we’d throw a reception for them after the service so that you can greet them. We want to honor such people! — if we’re listening to Paul. If we’re listening to Paul, we show the most honor to those who most resemble the example of Jesus in Philippians 2:5–8.  Honor Epaphroditus. Honor those like him — because he did not count comfort in the world a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant and being found as worthless in the eyes of the empire. He humbled himself by risking his life in the work of Christ. He was willing to die for the advance the gospel. The apostle Paul cares nothing about worldly prestige. He burned that scorecard (we’re gonna see in Chapter 3). But he knew who truly deserved honor. That’s part of his honesty. Okay, here’s the last point. Third way we see Paul’s honesty: 3) PAUL UNDERSTOOD THAT DEATH IS STILL TERRIBLE. And I want to end on this point because of what our own church is going through in the loss of Kayla Rigney. I can’t help but see the providence of God here, in that the topic of death is in today’s passage after we just gathered yesterday to grieve in hope because of the death of Kayla. Look back at verse 25.  Epaphroditus was not just a member of the church at Philippi who they commissioned out, but he had become dear to Paul. Paul calls him in verse 25, “my brother and fellow worker and fellow solider.” And notice that this is different from what Paul said about Timothy in verse 22. Paul said Timothy was like his son, but he calls Epaphroditus his brother. Now I think this is important, because technically Timothy was Paul’s brother too — because all Christians, young and old, are sons and daughters of God and therefore fellow brothers and sisters.  But Paul doesn’t call Timothy his brother because he’s not being technical, he’s being personal. Personally, Timothy was like a son to Paul. Personally, Epaphroditus was like a brother. He was a colleague. He was Paul’s fellow comrade in arms. And for Paul to say this about someone is a gushing commendation. considered Epaphroditus to be a vital partner in his missionary work. And so already then, by verse 25, the church at Philippi would have read this, and it would have gotten their attention. Whatever they had been wondering at Epaphroditus, would have set the record straight. Paul was vouching for him. Paul is saying And then he keeps going. Look at verse 26 again:  “for he [Epaphroditus] has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed he was ill, near to death.” Paul confirms that and he was so sick that he almost died. Verse 27 — But God had mercy on him. Does everybody see that in verse 27? The mercy was that he did not die.  Paul says that God had mercy on Epaphroditus by keeping him from death — that wasn’t just mercy on Epaphroditus, but Paul says it was also mercy on him, verse 27, “lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.” The death of Epaphroditus would have multiplied Paul’s sorrow. So get this! Verse 27: Paul is saying that it’s a mercy not to die and that death causes sorrow.  You just told us in Chapter 1, verse 21 that to die is gain! You said that it is far better to depart and to be with Christ!  In Chapter 1 it sounds to me like the mercy dying.  But here in Chapter 2 the mercy is dying!  Which is it? It’s both.  For the Christian, it is true that death, because of where death takes you. Because to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8), and to be in the physical presence of Jesus is better than anything we can imagine.  For the Christian, death is never a tragedy in the technical sense because death is never the final ending, because “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).  This means that death has been so overpowered by Jesus that he has actually made death to be our chauffeur into his joy. Because of what Jesus did, death is now the vehicle that carries us into amazing grace bright shining as the sun … That is nowof death for Christians. That’s why Paul says what he does in Chapter 1. This is why we grieve . There’s hope! And church, there’s still grief. We can rejoice for death , but death itself, death as death, it’s our worst enemy. Death is the last enemy to be finally destroyed, and until then, until Revelation 20:14, we should hate death. We should hate it. Nothing in this world hurts more than death. It causes sorrow, Paul says.  And we know this, if we’re being honest like Paul. You know this if you’ve suffered the death of people you love. Because death is the separation of things that should be united. Death robs us. Death robs us of so much that could be — — with the people we love in this world.  So yes, Jesus has defeated death — thank you, Jesus! — death is But it’s not yet a destroyed enemy, and it’s still an enemy. Paul understood that death is still terrible.  And that’s what brings us to the Table. THE TABLE Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week — next Sunday is Easter. Easter would not be Easter unless death were terrible. That’s what makes the cross of Christ so wonderful, see. The wages of sin is death, and that’s precisely what Jesus set out to conquer. Jesus disarmed the worst that death could do to us by dying himself in our place. That’s why death does not have the final word. Jesus has won victory. And we’re gonna celebrate next Sunday! We have hope! But it’s fitting to enter Holy Week grieving in hope. Jesus invites us to bring that heaviness to him. 

1s

Mar 24, 2024

We are about half way through the book of Philippians, and Paul has already packed a lot in. Over the next two weeks, we are going to look at instructions Paul gives regarding Timothy and Epaphroditus. This isn’t just Paul taking a break, and getting some logistics out of the way. Rather than this being a nice bonus for the the Philippians, Paul's sending of these men is more integral to his care for them. This is actually at the heart of Paul ministry to the Philippians. And in the next few moments, I hope with God's help, to show you that in the text.  The way our text is structured this morning is fairly straight forward. We see Paul say at the beginning and at the end stating what he wants to do, and he explains why in the middle. Verse 19, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you” In verses 20-22, he commends Timothy to them, and explains why Timothy is the guy to send. Verses 23-24, “I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust also in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.” I want to send Timothy to you, why? Because I have no one else like Timothy who cares for you all. Therefore I am excited to send Him to you, and trust Jesus that I will come soon as well. What Paul wants to do is clearly laid out, and we are going to spend the majority of our time developing the why in Paul’s mind. We are going to do a lot of foundation work, to understand Paul’s relationship to Timothy, which helps us in turn understand why he is eager to send him.  So there are 3 answers to the “why” question we will cover this morning.   1) Because Paul was a father to Timothy. 2) Because Timothy, was a son to Paul. 3) Because being physically present matters. 1) PAUL WAS A FATHER TO TIMOTHY (V.22). Verse 22, “But you know Timothy’s proven worth, as how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel” This is how Paul characterizes his relationship with Timothy. What do fathers aim to do? Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” It’s at least that, not exhaustive but a good overall picture of what father’s do. A FATHER WANTS TO LIVE OUT A GODLY LIFE. A father wants to live out and pass along a Godly life (a Godly mission and vision). What I mean by mission, is what we are called by God to do or be. What are our lives supposed to be about? What I mean by vision, is what it looks like to actually live it out. This could be summarized as a way of life or a “manner of life.” Put together, it is a singular passion to help your sons have a: “manner of life worthy of the Gospel of Christ” (1:27). That is what Paul is trying to teach to the Philippians, and has taught to Timothy. Paul's goal in life was to live for the glory of God, and to live as an example of Christ, which is to walk worthy of the Gospel of Christ.  So Paul having this Godly passion, lives it out for the good of others. And he does this, with a fatherly disposition. Let’s look at a three basic pieces of what it looks like to pass along a passion in a fatherly way. Let’s look at the fatherliness of Paul to Timothy. A FATHER INVITES HIS SON TO JOIN HIM IN THE WORK. A father invites his son into work that he is doing, he instructs his son in how to enter the work and share in it, and he works along side his son. They may not be doing the same exact thing at every point, but they are working together for a singular purpose. They are working together on something, not two different goals. The father is inviting the son to join him in a worthy passion and purpose. Fathers (& mother’s) ought to have meaningful work to invite our children into. And Paul tells us what is most important, we don’t need to find it on our own. For example, I was working along side my son, Jude. We were going to do some yard work. So I said to Jude, “I would like you to come outside and work hard to help me clean up the yard. Then if we get everything done and you listen well and are helpful, we can go to the store together and get some ice cream.” I’ll help with toys, then leaves together, cut wood together, stack together, etc… (join me in the work). An example from Paul in Acts 16:1-5, “Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.” Paul is doing worthy work for the Glory of God and the sake of the Gospel, and he invites Timothy to enter into the work with him. A FATHER IS DEEPLY INVESTED IN ACCOMPLISHING HIS TASK. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, contrasts his care for them with that of many others. 1 Corinthians 4:15–16, “For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me.” At minimum, there is an investment of care and concern Paul has for the Corinthians. There is a difference between a teacher and a parent. Paul’s affections for the Philippians are poured all over his letter to them. Philippians 4:9, “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me — practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” They are to practice things that have been displayed for them. They haven’t just been taught, they have been modeled certain things. In my example of cutting wood, I did not give Jude the instruction manual, or buy him a book called “Chainsaw-ing for Dummies”. Dummies should probably stay away from chainsaws. I had him watch how I stood and what I did. I cautioned him, I told him how to shut it down, I carefully instructed him where to point it, and how to hold it. And if your stressing at this point, I firmly put my hands over his, so that he couldn’t move them even if he tried. Great care is taken when things are important and have real consequences. An example from Paul, 1 Timothy 4:15, “Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.” 2 Timothy 2:2, “You then my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Paul is working with Timothy, and is passing something along to Timothy. He is deeply invested because he is something to him. Entrusting the gospel and a manner of live = how to live, not just how to think. He know he won’t always be there for Timothy, and I wont always be there to hold the chainsaw for Jude. That is the current case in Philippi, Paul just said “obey much more in my absence” (Phil 2:12). A father desires to reward His Son. It is a fathers delight to not only work with his son, and invest in his son, but to commend his son. To reward him with words of honor, or encouragement, or blessing, and sometimes also with ice cream. This is part of the whole thing.  Back to the yard work… I told Jude to join me in the work, to work hard, I will help him and teach him, and if he does well, we will get ice cream. The ice cream wasn’t just after the task, but it was part of the task. The father’s job is not done yet just because the task is finished. To encourage and reward a son is the privilege and joy of the father. He delights in rewarding the son. And the “well done” from dad, is greater than the ice cream cone. That’s what I did. I was a proud father, he worked really hard, and I told him that and there was joy in being able to reward him, and shared in the reward of ice cream as well. An example for Paul: Paul commends Timothy in the letter that Timothy helped him with. Philippians 2:20–23a, “For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. I hope therefore to send him just as soon…” 2) TIMOTHY WAS A SON TO PAUL (V.20-22). Paul was a good spiritual father to Timothy. We have seen the fatherliness of Paul. But, Paul’s focuses in these verses is not mainly on how he was a father to Timothy, but how Timothy was a son to him. We may naturally think, Paul was such a good father to Timothy, but let us not miss what Paul says, that Timothy was such an amazing son to Paul. There is responsibility and blessing on both sides. This is a two sided relationship. Paul can only benefit Timothy as a father in so much as Timothy responds as a faithful son. Paul described himself as a father to the Corinthian church, in Galatians, in Philemon.  He was fatherly by nature to many. But with Timothy he praises his sonliness to Paul: “My beloved and faithful child,” “my true child in the faith,” “as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.” Timothy was a model son to Paul in the gospel. Lets look at Timothy’s life and how this came to be. It started at home with a physical lineage of faith. 2 Timothy 1:5, “[Timothy], I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.” For all the talk of Paul being a spiritual father, Paul does not overlook his mother, and grandmother from whom he was not only a physical descendant, but a spiritual descendant. There is such a valuable investment of physical father and mothers, and Paul also wants us to have eyes to think of the spiritual family as well, and to consider a meaningful investment there as well. There is good reason to believe Timothy was taught and raised well, which was bearing fruit in his life and was a good foundation for him to remember and draw encouragement from. Timothy had displayed a pattern of faithfulness and was ready to receive instruction. Acts 16:1–5, “Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.” Timothy took advantage of what was in front of him, he wasn’t just sitting around. And when the opportunity came to join Paul in his work he gladly joined him and sacrificed for the work. As a son working with and learning from his father. A faithful father has a Godly passion that he wants to live out and pass on.  And a faithful son, responds by embracing and participating in the Godly vision a father has laid out for him. The son responds with a heart that says: “If my father wants to instruct, then I want to learn.” Paul has laid out his heart and life before Timothy, and he is so bold to tell him to imitate him and follow his example. And Timothy does that very thing, He comes under Paul wing to learn the ways of Christ from him. For us: To be invested in by a spiritual mother or father is an immense blessing, and something good to desire. And Timothy didn’t just sit around idle waiting for older help. He pursued Christ with the brothers around him. Most of our relationship will be brother to brother, sister to sister. We aren’t guaranteed, nor are we entitled to the investment of a spiritual mother or father. May those type of relationships happen more and more, as God sees fit, and may we like Timothy, take whatever God has given us right now and make good use of it.  Timothy having learned from Paul, now stands out uniquely as a partner in the gospel. Now Paul mentions three ways in which Timothy serves Paul so well as a son who is of one mind and spirit in Paul’s passion. Verse 20, “For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.” Timothy has seen Paul's love and care for the Philippians, and he has the same passion. There is a sincere care and concern for them. This isn’t just duty for Timothy, It isn’t half-hearted or lip service. Traveling is not an inconvenience for Timothy, it is closer to a no-brainer, of course! Verse 21, “For they all seek their own interests, not ” Paul contrasts Timothy with those around him. I don’t think Paul is saying there are no other Christians around him, but that they have not learned, and are not living out the example of Christ, and the example of Paul. But Timothy is looking to the interests of Christ Jesus, which means he: “not only looks to his own interest, but also the interests of others”, and “in humility counts others more significant than himself.” His care for the Philippians is the interest of Christ. Timothy has been able to get his own interests and concerns out of the way, so that he can seek the interest of Christ, and genuinely, sincerely, care about the welfare of the Philippians. He doesn’t need to carve out his own little niche of significance. He is content with serving the interest of Christ, by showing genuine concern for the Philippians and serving them in the gospel. Timothy is unique here, but what kind of uniqueness is this? “I have like Timothy” “They seek their own interests” Is it a uniqueness like, “there is no one who can shoot a basketball like Steph Curry? Something that we have no chance of accomplishing even if we devoted our whole lives to it?  No, its actually something that any Christian around Paul could be but they are not. 1 Cor. 4:17, “That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.” Paul is a model for everyone, and he expects that you can and should imitate him. This is a commendation for Timothy and a convicting word for others. Would Paul, or would Jesus, find anyone like Timothy here? How are we doing? Can we get our own interests, and our striving for empty glory out of the way, to serve the interests of Christ by caring for the welfare of one another? Can we follow the example of Timothy, who was imitating Paul and Christ? Can we serve others, when it doesn’t align also with our interests, or is inconvenient? Verse 22, “But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.” Last, Paul appeals to the fact that they already know this about Timothy. They should not need any convincing, because they themselves have witnessed Timothy’s proven worth as a son to Paul and as a Godly example to them. Proven: tried and tested as he has spent time with Paul and time in Philippi. Timothy has learned Paul’s ways, so that Paul can say if you imitate him you imitate me. To summarize where we are, we have covered two reasons why Paul wants to send Timothy to the saints in Philippi.  1) Because Paul has been a father to him and trained him in the gospel, and 2) because Timothy has been a proven son to Paul in the gospel. Both of these focus on , and last here we will focus on ? 3) BEING PHYSICALLY PRESENT MATTERS (V.19, 23-24). Paul values face to face interaction. It is so much more to him than a luxury, being with them gets at the very heart of his ministry. To see real faces, to shake real hands. Paul not only wants to send Timothy, but he wants to get there soon himself. As I mentioned at the beginning, sending Timothy isn’t just icing on the cake, but is part of the completion of Paul’s care to them.   Paul, with Timothy, in this letter has laid out: ____ ____ Paul sends Timothy to show them again what it is like to be united in mind and spirit, to in humility count others more significant, and to have the mind of Christ and walk worthy of the gospel of Christ Paul and Timothy want to go to the Philippians because: 1) They love them, he wants to hear good news and he anticipates joy from being with them again. 2) They are confident that the Lord is working in them, he is excited to see what the Lord has done, and he is excited to share about how he was delivered by their prayers. 3) And, because they want to be Christ to them, Paul wants to send more than words, it wasn’t enough for Paul to just tell them about unity, and humility, and walking according to the gospel, he wanted to Paul seems to think you can’t just mail that, or stream it to one another. Face to face he wants to remind them that “what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.” The Philippians are starting to suffer for the gospel (1:29), and Paul wants to encourage them that God is working through it to advance the gospel, his life is a testimony of it and he wants to be there in person to further encourage and help them in the suffering that God is allowing among them. Sometimes, all a situation might need is a godly, mature example present. An example to help steady the ship, or right the ship. Paul is confident that through the grace of God, and the work of the Spirit, in tandem with Timothy as a living example of Christ, that the Philippian church will be united and strengthened under the gospel and be of one mind and one Spirit. In all of this, Paul goes to great pains to get there and care for them, because the salvation they have in Christ matters more than anything else.  We have spent a bit of time this morning talking about horizontal relationship.  Paul and Timothy’s relationship. There connection and friendship with the Philippian church. But make no mistake, what animated Paul is the advance of the gospel for the glory and pleasure of His heavenly Father.   In the gospel, we have a father that does everything we talked about at the beginning. “God [the father] so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” “[and] to all who did receive [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” And as a son or daughter of God, we have a father who has a mission to save and sanctify us. He works for us, and with us, and in us through His Spirit. And!  He loves to reward His children. He works in us, so that he may in turn say to us “well done!” It is the joy of a father to be able to commend his son or daughter. It is your fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom. THE TABLE This table reminds us that Jesus died for our sins, so that by believing in Him we would become children of God and enjoy the smile of God the Father over us.

1s

Mar 17, 2024

In the winter of 2001, I was a sophomore at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. As a freshman I had become part of a ministry called Campus Outreach. Its theology was called “Reformed,” which I did not grow up with. In my teens, I heard talk about God being “sovereign,” but I had never wrestled with the of his sovereignty — that he was sovereign , over good and evil, over angels and demons, over sunny days and natural disasters, over my good deeds and my sin, and (most uncomfortably) sovereign over my own will and choices. But once I saw the verses, dozens of them (if not hundreds), I couldn’t deny that the Bible taught that God’s sovereignty was absolute, over all, no exceptions. But what I also knew from two decades of human life, and from dozens (if not hundreds) of verses, is that I was accountable. I had thoughts and feelings. I had a will and made real decisions that mattered and had consequences. So, how do I reconcile these two — not just my experience versus what the Bible says, but what the Bible says versus what the Bible says? So, that winter of 2001, a pastor from Minnesota, named John Piper, spoke at our Campus Outreach New Year’s conference in Atlanta, and not long after that event, I got on desiringGod.org to look for more messages.  There I listened to a sermon he had preached that Christmas Eve https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/gods-gift-our-work. And this one message put together for me, so clearly and memorably, how these major theological truths of God’s sovereignty and my human responsibility come together in my everyday Christian life and experience. The sermon was on the end of Romans chapter 6 (verses 22–23), but at a key moment Piper flipped over to Philippians 2:12–13 to explain this real-life dynamic, and as he did so, lights went on for me one after another. So, 23 years later, it’s personally significant for me to be assigned these verses, and I pray that for some in this room, new lights might go on like they did for me in those days. How the truth of God’s sovereignty and his choices relates to my responsibility and my choices, in fighting against sin and for Christlikeness, doesn’t all come together at once. Much of it is a lifetime journey. Yet, for me, there was a particular sermon, and a particular text — Philippians 2:12–13 — where new categories were created that have deeply affected my everyday life. HUMBLED AND EXALTED Last Sunday we stood in awe at the foot of the mountain of Christ’s accomplishment for us in verses 5–11. First, he chose to become man. He did not cling to the comforts of heaven, but he emptied himself of that privilege. Precisely because he was God, gracious and merciful, full of steadfast love and faithfulness, he took on our creatureliness and limitations and the pains and frustrations of our fallen world. His emptying himself was not an emptying of his deity, as if that were possible, but it was a , as verse 7 says. His emptying came through of humanity, not of deity. He… “ the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Then came that amazing “therefore” in verse 9, “ God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name . . . .” In the biblical pattern of self-humbling from Exodus to the Epistles, Jesus stands at the center as our greatest example: he humbled himself, and God exalted him. Jesus went down, down, down: human, death, the cross. And his Father brought him up: up from the grave, up in the ascension, up to the very throne of heaven. So we walked through three truths, in Pastor Jonathan’s sermon last week, about the example of Jesus https://www.citieschurch.com/sermons/the-example-of-jesus. Which leads us right into verses 12–18, and how Paul turns from Jesus’s obedience and his reward to ours. And so this morning we look at three truths about our following his example. Or: how we become like Jesus. 1. WE FOLLOW THE ONE WHO OBEYED AND WAS REWARDED. There is a second huge “therefore” in Philippians 2. The first one was verse 9. Jesus humbled himself; God exalted him. Now, verse 12: in light of Jesus’s self-humbling and God’s exalting him, . . . I can see at least two ways this “therefore” works in verse 12. One is the straightforward charge . God has highly exalted Jesus, now his name is above every name, and at his name every knee should bow and every tongue confess he is Lord; , Christians, obey. Simple as that. He is Lord; we are servants. He says it; we do it. Children obey their parents; servants obey their masters; and all the more, creatures obey your Creator, and Christians your Lord. But there’s also another way this “therefore” works, as an appeal to desire, as a pattern and promise of reward. I say that because the word “obedient” just appeared in verse 8 (and “obey” in verse 12). Jesus was “ to the point of death,” and because he obeyed, he was rewarded. Therefore, Christians, obey, like Jesus, that you might be rewarded, like Jesus. Humble yourself, like he did, that you too might be exalted. Which is crazy countercultural for self-exalting sinners! We want to be exalted, so what do we do? Exalt ourselves. In our own minds, in our words and humble brags, in what we post online, in how we angle for opportunities. And God says to us in our folly, “No, sinners, I do the exalting. Exalt yourself, and I’ll humble you. But humble yourself, and I will exalt you.” So, the in verse 12 is an appeal to desire, and a profound glimpse into what it meant for Jesus to endure the cross “for the joy set before him.” As man, Jesus humbled himself, obeying to the point of death, by his Father. And so too for us as we obey him. Christian obedience is from sheer duty and force of will. We obey for the joy set before us. And Paul puts his own joy on display in verses 17–18. Jump down there: “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering [this is his self-humbling obedience] upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.” Paul calls the Philippians’ obedience “the sacrificial offering of your faith.” This is like Romans 12:1: the Christian life of faith “as a living sacrifice” — God’s people no longer offer slaughtered animals as sacrifices, as they did under the first covenant, but offer themselves, all they are, their whole lives, in obedience to him. This is what Paul is giving his life to: that Christians like the saints in Philippi, and like us, would be living sacrifices, obedient to Christ.  And Paul, in prison in Rome for his labor, says to them, even if I die in this prison, I rejoice. The pursuit of joy got him into prison, and joy will be his if he never makes it out of prison — because he looks forward to the reward of being with Christ, and having worked for others’ joy in Christ. And in this joy, Paul casts his work in self-humbling terms. The Philippians’ lives of obedience are the main sacrifice, and his labor is just the drink offering, the side offering, the supplement to their healthy, obedient, Christians lives. So, first, like Paul, and like Jesus, we obey our Lord, in joy, anticipating reward. We follow the one who obeyed and was rewarded. 2. WE WORK THE SALVATION HE WORKED . Now, the rest of verse 12: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling . . .” So, the obedience that Christ, through Paul, is calling for here is “work out your own salvation.” I realize that sounds like nails on a chalkboard for some ears. If so, perhaps I could just warn you: this might feel uncomfortable for a few minutes. Remember we’re praying for biblical categories. And to get there, we may need to sit in the challenge of this “work out your own salvation.” It’s in the Bible. And this is a good translation. The Greek doesn’t fix our discomfort, but might only make us cringe a little bit more. What if we said “ your own salvation,” or “ to your own salvation,” or “ your own salvation”? As we sit in this tension, it’s okay to remember Christ’s obedience on the frontend and underneath — and in just a few minutes, we’ll see that we have even more help on the backend. But we need to linger here. Just because there’s help in front and back doesn’t mean our lives in the middle aren’t real. We need to stay here, in the call and dignity of the Christian life to be, to think, to feel, to will, to act. God is sovereign, and we are responsible. This word for “work out” is a typical word for “work” but with an intensifying prefix. The kind of work we’re getting at here is not just overflow. Some work feels effortless. But this work means . It’s the kind of work that requires effort to move inward desires into outward acts. In other places, this word is translated “produce” or “accomplish” or “perform.” So, this is not just overflow. It requires counting, reckoning, considering (as in verses 3, 5, and 6). There is effort to be given; energy to be expended; work to be done. “Work out your salvation,” Paul says. Not “work for” — Jesus uniquely worked for our salvation in verses 5–11 — but now we “work it out.” An important question to ask at this point is “salvation from what?” Paul implies the Philippians need deliverance, but from what? Well, what’s clearly at stake in chapter 2, going back to 1:27, is their unity (their fellowship, their relationships in the church). Paul says he longs to hear that they “are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.” And 2:2: “complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” He’s saying that because at present they’re not that. Then verse 3: “Do nothing from .” Note the two specific sins from which the Philippians and we need deliverance: selfish ambition and conceit. And Paul has more specifics to give in verse 14: “Do all things without .” Okay, so now we have at least four specific sins from which Paul says to “work out your salvation.” Want it, will it, act it, produce it. Christ died to save you from grumbling, from constant complaining and criticizing and scoffing and wallowing. He died to deliver you from petty disputes. So, trust him and don’t grumble. Trust him and be free from disputing. The new category this leads to is this: the Christian life is both gift and duty. Fighting sin is both a gift from God and a duty we act. Increasing holiness is both gift and duty. It is a gift of grace we receive from Jesus, and the way we receive a grace that involves our own thoughts and desires and actions is by having the thoughts and desires and doing the actions. That is, living out the gift, or working out your salvation. Look over to Philippians 3:12. Two of the best texts for getting this dynamic of the Christian life as both gift and duty are right here in Philippians. So, first 2:12–13. Now 3:12: “Not that I have already obtained this [resurrection to eternal life] or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” This is so important in getting the order right between God’s working and ours. Paul says, “I press on to make it my own” — I count, I will, I act, I choose righteousness, I fight sin, I press on — why? “Because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” Mark this: I don’t become his by pressing on. Rather, because I am his, because he already took hold of me, I strive and strain and press on. He worked for my salvation. Now I work it out over sin. (Other key texts that show this gift-and-duty dynamic: Hebrews 13:20–21; Romans 15:18; 1 Corinthians 15:10.) The Christian life is grace from beginning to end. Some graces we receive instead of our effort and action (justification) and some graces we receive as our effort and action. Which leads us to verse 13, but let me first try to make this more practical. Let me take you back to my time at Furman University. Now it’s the fall of 2002, my senior year, and I’m trying to figure out what to do after graduation. And I am awash in anxiety. I didn’t remember being so anxious in my life before then, and I don’t remember being as anxious since. So, I needed deliverance from anxiety. So what do I do? Just wait? How do you seek to be free from oppressive anxiety when God is sovereign and you are responsible? As one who is justified by faith in Jesus, how do I my salvation? First, I need truth to work with. I need a specific word to believe. So I found three biblical promises about anxiety: Matthew 6:34, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” 1 Peter 5:6–7, “Humble yourselves . . . under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” Philippians 4:67, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” So I printed them out, posted them next to my bed, and reviewed them every morning when I woke up, and every night when I went to sleep. And (with Christ before me and his Spirit in me), I of my deliverance from anxiety. God gave me the gift of deliverance from the dominance of anxiety in that season. And that doesn’t mean I don’t still fight anxiety as it comes in new ways in new times and seasons of life. But I know how to fight: recognize it, address it with promises of reward, pray for help, and act. So whether it’s sinful anxiety, selfish ambition and conceit, grumbling and disputing, or sinful anger or lust or greed, work out the deliverance Christ has worked for you. Don’t presume that God will defeat your sins while you’re passive. don’t presume to fight sin on our own. Look to the sovereign Christ, trust his promises, pray for his help, and act the miracle you seek to have from him. And just to comment very quickly on verses 15–16: I think Paul has in mind the relationship between unity in the church and witness in the world like he did in 1:27–28. There he said that our “standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” leads to the church “not [being] frightened in anything by your opponents” — and this is “a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation.” In working out our salvation against the relationship-killing sins of selfish ambition, conceit, grumbling, and disputing, we come to stand out “in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation.” Unified in Jesus, we “shine as lights in the world.” How? “Holding fast to the word of life,” that is, the message about true life, eternal life — the life and death of Jesus in place of our death to give us life. So, if ever you find yourself discouraged about the “crooked and twisted generation” in which you find yourself, remember two truths from Philippians 2: (1) this is nothing new for Christianity (this is how it usually is in this age) and (2) grumbling and disputing are not the Christian response. But exactly the opposite. The Christian response is this: hold fast to our word of life, work out our salvation from grumbling and disputing, and shine as lights in the world, not as more of the same darkness. What about that last phrase in v. 12, “with fear and trembling”? Now our third and final truth. 3. WE HAVE HIS SPIRIT AT WORK IN US. We finish with the end of verse 12 and with verse 13:  “work out your own salvation , for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” What in the world could Paul mean here by “with fear and trembling.” Perhaps “fear and trembling” only sounds negative in your ears. Fear and trembling, yikes. How about with hope and joy? Why fear and trembling? Scripture has a broader vision for inward fear and outward trembling than modern people. Throughout the Bible, “fear and trembling” is what wise, in-touch, healthy humans do when they find themselves in the presence of God almighty. Like Moses at Mount Sinai, as we saw in Hebrews 12:21: “I tremble with fear.” And Paul talks how the Corinthians received Titus, as a messenger from Christ, “with fear and trembling” (2 Corinthians 7:15). Or perhaps most instructive of all is the way the Gospel of Mark ends, with the women who found the tomb empty and heard from the angel, “He has risen; he is not here.” Mark 16:8: “They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them.” Or, as Matthew 28:8 reports, “They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy.” “Fear and trembling” is not only the response of someone taken aback by great horror, but also of someone struck with great joy. It’s the response of a believing heart in the presence of God himself — and it’s the appropriate response of a Christian who learns that God himself has come to dwell in me. Verse 13 provides, essentially, threefold confidence for us as we expend energy and effort to obey our Lord and live the Christian life. So, as we close, let me turn verse 13 and address it to you. First, brothers and sisters in Christ, you have God in you! What an awesome thing to the Holy Spirit, poured out on us, sent into our hearts, dwelling in us, leading us, working in us. You are not on your own to fight against sin and for Christlikeness. You have God in you! This is no standard joy. This is cause for fear and trembling. Second, he is in you not only to will but even to work! God works in us to (will and) work our work. He gives us new desires and willing, and even then doesn’t leave us to ourselves. He is in us to prompt, to lead, to empower, to execute our working out those holy desires through the exertion of effort. Third, all this stands on the rock of God’s own joy, his delight, his good pleasure. He is not reluctant in helping us fight sin and pursue Christlikeness. He is happy to do it, thrilled to do it. He delights to do it. He works in us, in our willing, in our working, for his good pleasure. We work with the grain of God’s own joy when we work out our deliverance from sin. So, we close with this question: What sin or sins came to mind this morning in our time of silent confession? Or, what do you most often confess week after week? Brothers and sisters, don’t just say it again, move on, continue in sin, and make empty confession again and again. Work out your salvation. Act the miracle. With Jesus before you and beneath you, and his Spirit in you and through you — hemmed in on every side by his grace — work out your salvation. Will it, work it, act it, do it — with prayerful dependence in every step. JESUS WILLED AND WORKED What makes possible our having the Holy Spirit at work in us to will and work, is that first the Spirit was at work in Christ to will and to work. How he worked, for the joy set before him, is an example we follow. How he worked, by the Spirit, is imitable. But what he accomplished at the cross for us is inimitable. At this Table, we do not mainly remember Jesus as our example but as the one who worked for us in a way in which we could not work for ourselves.

1s

Mar 10, 2024

The answer to that question the heart of the gospel.  It’s the most important thing that we could know about God — and the good news about is that God has made it clear to us in the Scriptures. At the cross, we know that … “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” — Galatians 3:13. For our sake, “[God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”  — 2 Corinthians 5:21. “Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God…” — 1 Peter 3:18.  The theological term for this is “substitutionary atonement.” It means that Jesus died us, our place. That is the main fact of the cross that we must understand and cling to, and when we do — — then we can begin to see that of the cross. Jesus was mainly our substitute, but he was also .  One way to say it is that … Jesus as our substitute means he went to the cross so that we wouldn’t have to. Jesus as our example means he went to the cross so that we would   Both are true — and in today’s passage, the call is that . In Philippians 2, verses 5–11, Paul shows us the example of Jesus, and he tells us to be like him. And I don’t think we could overstate just how amazing these verses are. Most commentators say that this is the most important passage in Philippians — One commentator says that not only is this passage the centerpiece of Philippians, but it’s the centerpiece of the entire New Testament! So I just wanna say: I’m so glad that God saved me and let’s me do what I get to do right now. I can’t believe I get to show you the things I get to show you today. There are three things I want us to see. They are three truths about the example of Jesus. Let’s pray and we’ll get started:   Three truths about the example of Jesus: 1) THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS IS PRACTICAL. When I say “practical” I mean that it’s immediately relevant. And this is important to keep in mind because by verse 6, the theological depth of this passage is overwhelming. Paul is mining the mystery of how Jesus thought in his pre-incarnate existence as the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. So this is deep! There’s a lot here! Which means we have to be careful that we don’t lose sight of the forest for the trees. Because what Paul says here about Jesus is meant to serve a direct purpose — which is what he’s just been talking about in verses 3 and 4: the topic is humility.  We saw this last week, verse 3:  “Do nothing from selfish ambition or That word “conceit” is extra special; it’s the Greek word , which means literally some English translations put it as “ conceit.” Acting like you’ve got something when really it’s a big bag of nothing. You get the idea. Remember that word. “Do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Then in verse 4, Paul just restates that same idea: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Paul is describing humility here, and it’s humility … You remember? We see the topic of unity in verses 1 and 2 and it goes back to the end of Chapter 1.  BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER Paul exhorts this church to be united, to have, which is not unity for its own sake. This is that displays that we’re living as — Chapter 1, verse 27.  So just for a second here, I want to bring together this passage with the end of Chapter 1. This is bringing together our last four weeks … First, OUR PRIMARY CALLING https://www.citieschurch.com/sermons/our-primary-calling as a local church is to live together in this world as a witness to the all-satisfying value of Jesus … And that life together is manifest through REAL CHURCH UNITY https://www.citieschurch.com/sermons/real-church-unity … And though it’s embattled unity from the outside and the inside, real church unity COMES THROUGH HUMILITY https://www.citieschurch.com/sermons/how-humility-serves-church-unity — And if we want to know about humility, we LOOK TO JESUS.  That’s Paul’s train of thought that leads us to verse 5.  So we need to remember that the example of Jesus in verses 5–11 is meant to be practical. Jesus has modeled for us how to be humble, and being humble is absolutely necessary if people are going to get along.  GOOD FOR MARRIAGE That’s why this passage is my favorite passage to preach at a wedding (getting along is helpful if you’re married). I’ve preached these verses maybe 20 times at weddings (which means some of you have had to hear it a lot).  This is no joke. A few years ago there was one couple, I officiated their wedding at the beginning of the year, preached Philippians 2, and then I did three other weddings later than year where I also preached Philippians 2, and that couple was at all those weddings. By the fourth time, I saw the couple before the wedding started, and I went up to them and said, Seriously. Young married couples listen up — also old married couples — and everybody in-between … you wanna know a secret to a good marriage?   If I could be personal for just a minute, today is March 3, 2024 which means that as of today, I’ve been married to my wife for 17 years.  And look, 17 years ago, I thought I was riding into our marriage on a white horse, but it wasn’t long before Jesus told me and I needed to get off. Humility changed my life and my marriage … and I’m not pretending to be the expert on humility [the expert on humility around here is David Mathis — bro wrote a book titled ] — I’ll just say that whatever I know about humility, I learned it from Jesus, and the passage. Philippians 2:5, “Have this mind — — have this among yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. So get ready. We’re about to learn humility from Jesus.  2) THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS SHOWS US TRUE HUMILITY. This is gonna be clear in the passage, but I think we could also just use our heads to figure out that if we want to learn about humility, we’re looking at the right place. Just think with me here, theologically. Two questions: Who is the humblest person to ever live? [Jesus] When was Jesus his most humblest? [at the cross] So add this up: we know the humblest person to ever live AND we know he was his most humblest, so then whatever we think about humility, it should be shaped by that — right?! Of course! And that’s where Paul takes us, starting in verse 6. This is the humility of “Christ Jesus” … “… who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” The cross of Christ the paragon of humility — and I hope we never think about humility again without thinking about the cross. (That’s one of my little goals for this sermon.) The cross was the ultimate, definitive display of humility by the humblest person to ever live — and so let’s see how Jesus got there. We’re gonna work our way backwards from verse 8. The end of verse 8: “even death on a cross.” That’s the lowest. But before Jesus got there, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. And before Jesus got to that obedience, he became human — but not just a human, he became a slave — And what led him to do that? Verse 6: “he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself.” THE HEADWATERS  And right there in verse 6, in that counting (that ) — that is the headwaters of Jesus’s humility. Verses 7 and 8 flows from that counting in verse 6. to “not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” A lot of it has to do with that word “a thing to be grasped.” Let’s focus in on that in verse 6, those words “to be grasped.” Now we know that Jesus is equal with God. He God. The Bible teaches us that Jesus, God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, is eternally begotten of God the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and these three real persons are of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence is undivided. JesusThat’s who he is. That’s his identity — so then what’s it mean that he did not count that as something “to be grasped”?  This word here is only used this one time in the entire Bible, and so we have to look around in classical Greek to see how it was used there to try to figure out Well the word could also be translated as “seize” or “take advantage of.” It means or or something that’s rightfully yours. Jesus didn’t do that with his ‘God-ness’ — his glory. He knew who he was, but he didn’t take advantage of his identity, instead, he emptied himself.  And that word “emptied himself” should send us back to verse 3, “vain conceit” (, empty glory). Part of the same Greek word in verse 3 that means “empty”is used here, but see here Jesus didn’t have vain conceit, he didn’t have “empty glory” — he emptied of the rights of his true glory. … There’s a little play on words going on — Jesus didn’t act like he had something but it was a big bag of nothing; Jesus had everything and he made himself nothing.  He emptied himself of the truest glory of all. Jesus, being eternally , his glory is immense and incomprehensible. He is almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute. He has always worked all things according to the counsel of his most righteous will, and he said: .  A — There could be no more extreme opposite to his glory. Nobody — not a single Jew and not a single Philippian shaped by the values of the Roman Empire — nobody would have ever thought that the man on the cross could be God. There was no category for that. Not for that kind of shame.  When Jesus emptied himself to the point of death on a cross, he subjected himself to not only people not recognizing him as God, but he also subjected himself to everyone thinking the absolute worst of him, and he never tried to set the record straight. And that was actually the thing that they went for, if we can remember his cross. And we have to join him there, okay … the humblest man to ever live in his most humblest moment.  It was three hours, from noon to 3pm on Good Friday. That was the humblest man’s humblest moment, but was there a most humblest moment humblest moment? —— but, I can’t help but think about what the onlookers said to him.  THAT IS WHO I AM! First I should tell you a story (and forgive me if you’ve heard this story before) …  When I was in 5th grade I won an art contest, which was pretty cool because I won like $100 bucks and my art (it was a drawing) was gonna be displayed at this big county-wide event. There was gonna be a big exhibit, art everywhere, and my first place art was gonna be there front and center. So my mom and dad took me to this thing so they could see the picture I drew — they had not seen it yet. So we got there, and you could see the ‘first place area’ at a distance, so we began to walk up toward my picture, and as we were walking up, the director of the exhibit was standing beside my picture talking to another kid my age — and as we got closer I realized that this kid was telling the director that my picture was his.  The director guy was super interested and he was asking this kid all about certain details in the picture, But then I was standing there with my parents and it was my name under the picture. With ever fiber of my being, I seized every possible fact I could to prove that the picture was mine. That’s picture! That’s name! That’s school! These are parents — That is who ! That’s me! Don’t deny me my glory! And I grasped for it.  Do you remember what they said to Jesus at the cross?  RADICAL SECURITY IN GOD We have to join him there. What did we say? … “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (see Matthew 27:40). Which was not a request. It was a statement. The scoffers didn’t just Jesus as God, they called him a fake. A liar.  , they said And do you know what he could have done?  We’ve read the Book of Exodus around here. He still did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but he emptied himself. He did not take advantage of his glory. He did not vindicate his identity, but … he yielded the vindication of his identity And that’s it. That’s true humility.  According to Jesus — the humblest person to ever live in his most humblest moment — he shows us that true humility is the faith-fueled refusal of self-vindication.  Or to say it positively, Jesus shows us that true humility is radical security in God.  Jesus was so confident that the Father would take care of him that he didn’t need to “.” He didn’t have to prove who he was, because he knew who he was and he knew the Father would make it plain at the right time.  So Jesus yielded … and yielded … and yielded … until he was dead on a cross … GIVEN THE NAME “Therefore has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.” From the lowest possible low, death on a cross, to the highest possible high, God the Father says See, Jesus did not vindicate himself, but the Father vindicated him by raising him from the dead and declaring his name. NAME! The name above every name — and that name could only be one! It’s the name Jesus is Yahweh.  And then in verse 10 Paul quotes from the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, Chapter 45. It’s a high point in Isaiah when God is declaring his unrivaled supremacy over all nations. Listen to Isaiah 45:21. This is God speaking: “21 And there is no other god besides me,  a righteous God and a Savior;  there is none besides me.  22 “Turn to me and be saved,  all the ends of the earth!  For I am God, and there is no other.  23 By myself I have sworn;  from my mouth has gone out in righteousness  a word that shall not return:  ‘To me every knee shall bow,  every tongue shall swear allegiance.’ God says that about himself in Isaiah 45 and now here, in Philippians 2, Paul says that’s about Jesus — “… 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.” And any Jewish person hearing this would get the message, but Paul is also doing something else here. And this brings us to the third truth to see … 3) THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS CHANGES THE WAY WE SEE LIFE IN THIS WORLD. Everybody focus on that sentence in verse 11, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” I want to make sure you see that word “Lord” in verse 11. Now the word “Lord” is a word that we use today, but I want us to think about it from the standpoint of this original audience in the First Century. Track with me: Anybody with a Jewish background would have heard the sentence “Jesus is Lord” to mean that Jesus is Yahweh.  That’s because the word “Lord” was the word substituted for the divine name “Yahweh” in the Old Testament.  Out of reverence, Jewish people would not speak the name “Yahweh” but instead, whenever “Yahweh” shows up in the Scriptures, they would say the Hebrew word(“Adonai” it a title that means “Lord”).  And so when the Greeks translated the Hebrew Old Testament, they put in their word for (Lord) which was . So at this time, was the word Jewish people used for Yahweh. For Jews, Jesus is meant Jesus is Yahweh. But for everybody else, for all the Gentiles, the word (lord) meant something else — because “Lord” was the title used for the Roman Emperor, the Caesar.  It is a well-documented fact by historians that people at this time called the Emperor Nero There’s evidence from things written at this time and from things found, that in a Roman colony like Philippi, there would have been what was basically propaganda all throughout the city that said “Caesar is Lord.” Historians call this the “imperial religion.” Political loyalty to Rome meant you worshiped the Roman Emperor — you called him Lord.  So for this little church at Philippi, as the Roman world around them was saying “Caesar is lord” — Paul says, No, And you know what else?  One day, everybody will know that. One day every knee will bow in all creation — every knee including Caesar’s knee — will bow before Jesus, and every tongue — including Caesar’s tongue — will confess, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” The one who died on a cross, the one who was mocked and despised, who was called a fake  — he is actually the One to whom every creature must answer. Every single creature to ever live will bow to Jesus — Jesus who Jesus who was the slave crucified … because he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. And we’re supposed to be like him. WE DON’T HAVE TO “GET MINE” And this changes everything. Especially if you’re surrounded by a world, by a culture, that is antagonistic to your faith. What if it’s a world that rejects you or even persecutes you, like the conflict that Paul and these Christians faced with the Romans. The Roman Empire had who these Christians were and what that meant. And that’s actually something we have in common with them. The surrounding world has never really understood who we are. I just was talking about this a couple of weeks ago with Pastor Mike Schumann. We were having lunch, and this place we were at was packed, and I was looking around and I said:  Nobody in here knows that we are children of God, that one day we’re gonna judge angels, that one day we’re going to inherit the whole world, one day this restaurant is gonna be ours … and nobody in here knows. And what that means, at a very practical level, is that we don’t have to go through this life always grasping to “get ours.” There might not be a more backwards way for a Christian to think than to have a kind of anxiety-driven, self-vindicating hustle mentality.  A lot of times though we can see life this way. We can think about life the way Marshawn Lynch thought about football.  Marshawn Lynch used to be the running back for the Seattle Seahawks, and once he was asked about his mentality on the football field, and he said:  “I feel like on that field, there’s no reason I can’t run through you … I know I’m gonna get got, but I’m gon’ get mine more than I get got, though.” That might work for an NFL running back, but not for life, not for Christians. The example of Jesus means: I don’t have to “get mine” — Because is going to take care of me. We don’t have to be afraid of going low, of being thought low. We don’t have to fear the cross because we know Who we are — and we know where all of this is headed. That’s what it means to be EASTER PEOPLE IN A GOOD FRIDAY WORLD. https://www.citieschurch.com/journal/easter-people-in-a-gfw And that was the witness of Kayla Rigney. Kayla walked through the valley of the shadow of death and she feared no evil because she was humble like Jesus, because she knew God would take care of her. See, Kayla is good Easter people. That’s who we’re called to be. That’s the example of Jesus. Our radical security in God is our humility. And because of Jesus, like Jesus, we can be truly humble, to the glory of God the Father.  And that’s what brings us to this Table. THE TABLE If you’re here today and you’re not a Christian, I doubt any of this makes sense to you. You have to know Jesus first, and we get to know him by trusting him. And so I want to invite you to do that. If you’ve never put your faith in Jesus, would you put your faith in Jesus right now? For those of us who have trusted in Jesus, for those of us who hope in him, let’s receive the bread and cup this morning and give him thanks. Jesus Christ is Lord! What a Savior!

1s

Mar 03, 2024

Well, the war was finally over. At least that’s how it appeared. Following ten long years of battle, the Greeks had finally given up hope of taking the city, they’d gotten back on their ships, and set sail for home. The Trojans were overjoyed. Their opposition was gone. That night, they slept well. Really well. Surprisingly well, in fact, for a people who’d hung up their swords, set down their shields, taken off their armor, left all their doors unlocked despite the fact that members of the enemy army were, at that moment, inside their very gates, still armed, still dangerous, eager to shed blood, and standing no more than 5, 10, feet away from some of them as they laid down for bed.  But the Trojans didn’t see them. Had no idea they were there. They thought the war was over. They didn’t realize the war was being waged from within. That night they laid down and slept well, really well, surprisingly well, and many never woke up, because that same night, several members of the Greek army crawled out from a trap door of a wooden statue of a horse that’d been parked in the center of the city, and within a blink of an eye, captured all of Troy. Our unity as God’s people, our Holy Spirit unity, our unity centered on Jesus as our shared, surpassing treasure, is, as Pastor Jonathan showed us last week, an embattled unity. A unity amidst opposition.  The opposition comes from without – opponents out there who do not love Jesus and do not love his people. We saw them last week in chapter 1 verse 28. And, opposition also comes from within through the sin that still dwells in each one of us.  This sin is a danger to our unity together as God’s people. God, through the Apostle Paul, is calling us today to flee from it with everything we’ve got, in pursuit of something far better.  Let’s pray, and ask God, together, for his help. So, our focus is on unity amidst opposition from within. And we’re going to work our way through it in three steps: Unity directed, Unity developed, Unity Defended.  UNITY DIRECTED (VERSE 2) First, unity directed, and this is going to have us beginning with verse 2, where Paul says, “complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” One of the first things to note here is that Paul is taking a layered approach to directing the Philippians toward unity. He’s not, in other words, directing them toward it by way of four distinct, independent requests. Do this, this, this, and this, and if you do, then the combined result will be unity. Rather, he’s directing them to pursue unity itself, four times over, in more or less the same way.  We can see that with the first and the fourth phrase in this list. “(Complete my joy by) being of the same mind, (and) being of one mind.” Tremendous overlap between the two, wouldn’t you say? I mean to be of one mind is to have the same mind — one that holds to the same truths, calls out the same lies, gives priority to the same things. Both directives point to the same main idea of unity. And the third one, “being in full accord.” Well, to be in accord with someone is to be in agreement with them. They say that’s true, you agree that’s true. You say that’s false, they agree that’s false. They say that’s sin, you agree that’s sin. You’re in accord, you’re in agreement, you are of the same mind. You are of one mind. You’re experiencing unity. “Having the same love,” is basically right there as well — if you’re in accord with someone, of one mind with them, it’d be awfully strange if you were to find that your loves differed from one another. In fact, if you did happen to find your loves differed from one another, the most obvious explanation would be that you really aren’t of the same mind after all.  Paul, in other words, is directing these Philippians four-times over, though in slightly different ways, be unified, be unified, be unified, be unified. Paul is a brilliant communicator. He’s no slouch when it comes to writing. Repetition, by him, is never accidental. Why, then, is he repeating the same idea four times over?  Same reason any of us might repeat the same thing four times over. Emphasis. A hammering home the importance of one main idea. This thing really matters! Christian unity, Paul is saying, really matters. Like you really need to have it. So be unified. Be a people who, though likely very different in a whole host of other ways, nevertheless are of the same mind, have the same love, are in full accord and of one mind when it comes to who and what is most important in all the world — Jesus, and the glory of God. How do these people get such unity? How do they develop it? This will bring us back to verse one, Unity developed. UNITY DEVELOPED (VERSE 1) Once again, we have a fourfold pattern here. “So (1) if there is any encouragement in Christ, (2) any comfort from love, (3) any participation in the Spirit, (4) any affection and sympathy.” And this fourfold pattern makes up the first part of what is one big “if/then” statement. We know how an if/then statement works, right? “If its sunny, then the game will start at 6 pm. If it’s storming, then the game will be postponed till tomorrow.” This entire section of Philippians is one big “if/then” statement. Here, in verse one, are all the “ifs”. If encouragement, if comfort, if participation, if affection.” Followed by all the “thens” in verse two, which we just saw. So, if something, something, something, something, then be unified, then be unified, then be unified, then be unified. And, just as all the “thens” in verse two, though slightly different from one another, were hammering home the same main idea (be unified), so all the “ifs” here, though slightly different from one another, are too hammering home one main idea. Which, I believe, is this: “If you are experiencing the grace of being a Christian…”  Let me show you how I got that. Look at “Any participation in the Spirit” It’s the third phrase you see there in verse one. We’re going there because some of these other phrases are a bit vague, this one’s most clear. “Any participation in the Spirit.” Okay, so we’ve already seen “standing firm in one Spirit” (1:27). Here we have “participation, (also translated fellowship) in the Spirit.” And the thing we know right away, without doubt concerning participation/fellowship with the Spirit, is that there’s no way to have it, apart from being a Christian. If you’re not a Christian, you have no participation in the Spirit.  Jesus says it this way, speaking of the Holy Spirit in John 14, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper…even the Spirit of truth (The Holy Spirit), whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.” The world, non-Christians, cannot receive the Spirit. They have no participation, no fellowship, in the Spirit. Jesus says they don’t see him, or know him, and cannot receive him.  But, Jesus continues, saying of believers, “You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” Christians, followers of Jesus, know the Spirit. Have a participation in the Spirit. He dwells with them. In fact, he dwells in them.  So Paul, in saying, “If you have any participation in the Spirit…” is saying, “If you are experiencing the grace of being a Christian…”  Set that main idea next to the other phrases in this verse. First one, “If there is any encouragement in Christ.” Well, who are those who’ve received encouragement in Christ? Those who are, in fact, Christ. God’s promises are yes for those who are Christ. “Whoever has the Son has life, whoever does not have the Son does not have life.” Do you have encouragement in Christ? Let me ask another way, are you experiencing the grace of being a Christian?  Keep going down the list, “Any comfort from love.” This from the same man who wrote, “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Cor. 1:5). Comfort is experienced through Christ. Who are those who experience comfort from love? Those who are in the love of Christ. People who are Christians. Lastly, “Affection and sympathy.” What affection? Look back at 1:8, “For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection Christ Jesus.” Who are those who have the affection of Christ? Those who are in Christ. Those who are Christians. Paul’s main idea is, “If you are experiencing the grace of being a Christian.” In other words, unity is developed within God’s people who, together, experience the grace of being Christians. Paul says, verse one, “If you Philippians are experiencing the grace of being Christians, then live it out through unity with one another. If you’re all Christians, dwell in unity with one another. And, one way to do that is by defending the unity we have from the sin we have in ourselves. From our sin that threatens our unity from within. So, verses 3-4, Unity defended.  UNITY DEFENDED (VERSES 3-4) “Do nothing from selfish ambition and conceit.” This, my brothers and sisters, is the two-headed monster lurking within all of us — selfish ambition and conceit. And it is a threat to our unity as God’s people. A real, live, dressed to kill threat, that must not be coddled, must not be kept, but crushed beneath the feet of every single one of us. That’s why Paul says, “Do nothing, nothing, nothing from selfish ambition and conceit.” What is selfish ambition? It is, simply, the thing inside of all of us that says, “I gotta get mine.” And, we’ve seen it once already in this very book in Chapter 1. Talking about the people who are preaching Christ not sincerely, but thinking to afflict Paul in his imprisonment – it says they’re doing so motivated by “Selfish ambition.” That’s chapter 1:17.  Now, we’re seeing it again, this time alongside one of its strongest allies, conceit. And if selfish-ambition says, “I gotta get mine,” then conceit says, “mine is the most important, for I am the most important.” Together these two, selfish-ambition and conceit, take aim against our being of the same mind, and same love. They’d like our being in full accord to get twisted up into discord. Selfish ambition and conceit join hands with quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, disorder (2 Cor. 12:20). In fact James says of selfish-ambition specifically that wherever you happen to find it, there also will you find “disorder and every vile practice” (James 3:16).  For that reason, again, Paul warns, my brothers and sisters, “Do nothing from selfish-ambition or conceit but, in humility, count others more significant than yourselves.” Note, Paul could have just said, “Count others more significant than yourself.” He didn’t. He specified the action — “count others more significant than yourselves” and he specified the manner in which you are to do that action, “in humility.” The manner matters, so much so that if you get the manner wrong, the action is pointless. Selfish-ambition, after all, is not an action. It, too, is a manner. In fact, I think there’s even a way you could, in selfish ambition, “count others more significant than yourself.” You’re doing it, thinking, now what can I get from them now that they’re in my debt? The manner, doing it “in humility,” matters. So what is it? What is humility?  Merriam-Webster offers a definition, saying humility is “freedom from pride or arrogance.” I believe that’s true as far as it takes us. Humility is freeing. Frees us from pride, frees us from arrogance, frees us from the terrors of selfish-ambition.  Another definition, along similar lines, CS Lewis describes humility as: “not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” That’s good. Humility is not thinking you’re worthless. Not thinking you’re a worm. I mean, after all, both ways of thinking have the focus still on you. No, says Lewis, humility is a turning of the lens away from self. “Not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” Okay, so humility features a freedom from pride. Humility involves a focus away from self. But if not pride, and if not self, then what does humility focus upon? Others? I’ll have you know what’d happen to me if I turned from self to others and that’s all I did. It’d go something like this, “Wow, they’re kind of intimidating. They look impressive. I wonder what I need to do to be liked by them? To earn their approval? Make sure I don’t embarrass myself before them?” Does that sound like humility? Sounds more like selfish ambition to me. Humility includes a freedom from pride, and a focus away from self, but it must be so much more than that to be true humility. So let me suggest a definition given by Pastor John Piper, during a BCS Chapel about two years ago. I was at this chapel, on accident. Truth be told I didn’t know BCS even had chapel, of course, now that I think of it, it makes a lot of sense. But I’d just gone there on that Wednesday two years ago to check out their bookstore. Said to one guy in the bookstore, “Man, there’s a lot of cars in the lot today, what do you think is going on?” Quickly found out Piper was giving the chapel message so I headed on over. That message was on the topic of humility. Piper’s definition for humility went like this: “Humility is the disposition of the heart to be pleased with the infinite superiority of Christ over ourselves in every way.” I really like this definition for at least two reasons. First, it puts our focus on Christ, the only being beautiful and great enough to render our pride and self-ambition complete foolishness. Both our pride and our selfish ambition just burn up in the atmosphere of his presence.  Second, because this definition says we see this superiority of Christ and take pleasure in it. We don’t just see it. We don’t just acknowledge it. The world will one day see it, acknowledge it, and it will not bring them pleasure. But we see it, and oh, it just makes us happy! It pleases us.  It pleases us because he’s not just some Christ … He is our Christ. Not just some Savior. He is our Savior. Not just some King. He is our King.  We see him and say, “I know him, I love him, he’s the one that died for me, called me to himself, says I belong to him.”  We can say, “Jesus, be great! Be glorious! Keep shine bright like a billion blazing suns as we look upon you overjoyed and overwhelmed by the magnitude of your glory.  Now tell me a person could turn from such a moment and soon say, “Now how can I get mine?”  You don’t have to tell me. Truth be told I already know a person could do such a thing, because I’ve done it. Perhaps you have as well. See because we still got this part of us, the old self, which never truly stops whispering “Hey, seriously, you gotta start looking out for number one. You gotta make sure you’re getting yours. You got other people over there passing you by. Other people who don’t get how significant you really are. Get going. Get your hands up. Start grabbing for what you can before anyone else gets it instead of you.” But if we could just keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, even when that whisper starts up — keep our satisfaction in him unhindered, though the voice of selfish ambition tries to steer us away — then we will begin to hear that voice differently than we used to. We’ll stop hearing it and thinking, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” We’ll start hearing it and thinking, “Man I think there’s been some sort of mistake, voice. I think you must be confusing me with somebody else, or perhaps the somebody else that I used to be.  See, I’m a Christian now. On the day I became one, God’s word tells me all of heaven and its angels rejoiced in joy over me. My Father is the King of Heaven, he calls me his son, because that indeed is what I now am. God tells me he knew my name before I was even born because he wrote it out for me in his book of life. He formed my being, he’s counted the hairs upon my head, he knows just how many days I have left to live here before I get to go home to him.  And when I do get home, oh, I will see Jesus then, face-to-face. He will wipe away every tear from my eye, death shall cling to me no more, Jesus will bring me to my room, the one he’s made just for me, but he’ll say, “don’t settle in just yet, because I’ve set out a feast upon my table, and you must go and eat with me there. You, and all the others I’ve called to myself. From now till then, my treasure in heaven will be kept imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. My faith in Jesus will remain secured, for the Lord intercedes for me before the Father, as does the Spirit. God himself has promised that nothing shall be able to separate me from this love, for neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor even my own whispering voice of selfish ambition, will be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Oh, and there is much more we could say to our selfish ambition, but I believe what has already been said has well rendered all sense of “us getting ours here” quite ridiculous — scraps compared to what God has in store for you and me. No, no we don’t need to get ours in this world. But what we do get is one remarkable opportunity to look to the interests of others, with a peculiar form of intrigue, that asks, “Now how might that man, or that woman: be brought to enjoy Jesus more fully, see heaven more clearly, praise God more gladly, believe God more steadfastly, pray to God more fervently, serve God more joyfully, be even more compelled to live even more in accord to the reality of God. And how, how, might God use me, even me, to help them get there?  What a thrilling way to live. A way that both defends the unity we have together as a people and gives us a front row seat to what God is doing in the world through those all around us.  So, I want to close with four points of application. First two will go along with verse 3. Final two with verse 4. 1) IN HUMILITY, COUNT OTHERS MORE SIGNIFICANT, BY REMEMBERING WHOSE BLOOD WAS SPILLED FOR THEM.  We’re talking about you and other Christians, remember this is about unity within the family of faith — Christian to Christian unity. And you’re endeavoring to look at other Christians less through the lens of what they do for a living, their outward appearance, their personality, their quirks or areas of immaturity, and more through the lens of — wow, Jesus, my Jesus, spilled his blood for them. Has washed them clean in the sacrifice of his blood. Precious ointment was broken and poured out upon Jesus, Jesus has his very own body broken and poured out for them. My goodness, how significant, in the eyes of God, is this individual! 2) IN HUMILITY, CONSIDER HOW MUCH GOD DESIRES TO BRING THAT PERSON ALL THE WAY HOME.  God is, right now, working all things for the good of that Christian in front of you. God, right now, has predestined them, called them, justified them, and will glorify them. This is one of God’s sheep, and God loses none of his sheep, no one tears them out of his hand. They are the apple of his eye. They might not look all that awesome to you. They may have some areas to grow in. God will get them home. How might you, play a role, in getting them home? 3) IN HUMILITY, LOOK NOT ONLY TO YOUR INTEREST BUT ALSO TO THEIRS BY PRAYING FOR THEM. Paul prayed for these Philippians. He used his energy, that he could have used for other things. His mental focus, which he could have used for other things, to pray for others, prayers that no one else would ever see, other than God. It’s good for you to pray to God. It’s in your own interest to spend time in prayer before God. How do you look not only to your own interest but also the interest of others? By spending time in prayer to God on behalf of others. 4) IN HUMILITY, LOOK NOT ONLY TO YOUR INTEREST BUT ALSO TO THEIRS BY SHOWING UP FOR OTHERS EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE IT.  Brothers and sisters, be there for your church family. Don’t underestimate how your presence might encourage your church family. You’re tired during the week, bless your Community Group by showing up all the same as a reminder to them, fellowship matters. You’re exhausted by the time Sunday comes around, bless your church by showing up all the same as a reminder, corporate worship, hearing God’s word, being with God’s people, matters. You get a phone call from a friend late at night. You still got a lot to do to prepare for tomorrow. Pick the phone up, answer it, remind them, they matter to God, they matter also to you.   THE TABLE And all of these words to us are what bring us to the table, for it is at this table we’re reminded of how Jesus spilled his blood for us. It’s symbolized for us every Sunday when we drink the cup. At this table, we’re reminded Jesus left heaven, took on human flesh, so that he might dwell among us, and that he might have it broken for us. It’s symbolized for us every Sunday when we eat the bread. It’s at this table we remember, and we celebrate, that Jesus has come and has given himself, sacrificially, for the good of his people.

1s

Feb 25, 2024

So growing up in North Carolina, not too far from the coast, I’ve always had an interest in pirate history. For vacation over the last few years, I’ve been taking my family to a place called Topsail Island, which has all kinds of history related to the pirate Edward Teach, who was known as Blackbeard.  And I gotta be careful because I can really nerd out about this, so I’ll go ahead and tell you that the best pirate ship name I’ve ever heard of was a ship named That was the name of the ship led by the pirate Henry Avery back in the year 1695. Henry Avery started as a member of the British navy, and then he became a merchant sailor, and eventually he was promoted to be the first mate of a Spanish trading ship … but then he convinced the entire crew to commit mutiny and become pirates. They took over their trading ship and he renamed it —and by July 1695 he was attempting the single greatest pirate heist in history.  As the story goes, Avery had learned about a huge convoy of Indian ships sailing toward Mecca on the Arabian Sea. There were 25 ships total, owned by the emperor of India, and it’s most prized ship was carrying what would have been around $300 million dollars worth of cargo.  And Avery decided he’d capture it … . His solution was to recruit other pirate ships to help him. Basically, Avery organized a coalition of pirates, and together, with their own ‘pirate armada’ they pursued this convoy over several months, and by September 1695, they had destroyed or hijacked the entire fleet, they stole all the treasure, and Avery escaped and was never seen again. True story.  Henry Avery became a nightmarish legend within his own century — he and his crew were notorious for being cruel and vicious; they had a reputation for torturing their prisoners; Avery himself did barbaric things —  He and his crew were known for these things … But do you know one fact about them they were known for? Their unity. These were united pirates. They started by uniting together to commit mutiny. For months they united together to pursue this Indian fleet. Somehow, Avery convinced other pirates to unite together with his crew for the attack.  , so then why are they not known for their unity? Because they were pirates. They were the terrorists of the 17th century, and nobody admires the unity of terrorists.  UNITY FOR WHAT? I wanna start here by getting clear about something. Over the next couple of weeks in the Book of Philippians we’re gonna be looking at the topic of unity, and right away I want us to know that unity itself is worthless.  Unity for the sake of unity — like everybody just agreeing together and being on the same page — that does count for anything. The question is always what is the unity ? What matters is not agreeing together, but it’s what you’re agreeing together about. Being on the same page together is good only if what’s on that page is good! This makes sense to us, but it’s important for us to nail down because in our day “unity” or “being united” is a little bit of a cultural buzzword. And if we’re just listening to the world around us, we can make the mistake of thinking that unity by itself is a virtue, but it’s not — not even within churches. The apostle Paul in the Book of Philippians is concerned about a of unity — we’re gonna see that next week in Chapter 2, but here at the end of Chapter 1 is where we see .  In today’s passage, Paul gives us at least three defining marks of what real church unity and this is relevant for us because if our church will experience real, biblical unity, it’s gonna be marked by these three things. So I’m eager to to show them to you, but first, let’s pray again:   Three marks of real church unity. Here’s the first: 1) REAL CHURCH UNITY IS HOLY SPIRIT UNITY. This first mark is more like a foundation. Look again at verse 27 (we focused on the first part of verse 27 last week). Paul says,  “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit …” And let’s just stop right there for a minute and look at those three words “in one Spirit.” Y’all see those three words in verse 27? — “in one spirit” — if you see it say ‘ Those three words, “in one spirit,” is another way to talk about unity. And the “Spirit” here in verse 27 is — the NIV makes that a capital “s” in Spirit, and I think that’s right. In other places when Paul uses that phrase “in one Spirit” it’s pretty clear that he’s talking about the Holy Spirit. For example, in 1 Corinthians 12:13, Paul says,   “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” Paul’s talking about the Holy Spirit, and he’s making the case for unity in the Holy Spirit.  In Ephesians 2:18, after Paul has been explaining how Jesus has broken down the wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles, he says,  “For through him [Jesus] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” Again that’s the Holy Spirit. Paul is saying that whatever our differences are, as Christians we have unity the Holy Spirit.  See, Paul couldn’t care less about generic, why-can’t-we-all-just-get-along unity. Paul’s concern is that local churches are united This is supernatural, divinely-created unity. The foundational mark of real church unity is that it’s Holy Spirit unity. And Holy Spirit unity is doing something.  2) REAL CHURCH UNITY SHOWS OUR COMMON TREASURE. Here again, for this second mark, we’re still at a high level. I just want you to see the connection between “your manner of life being worthy of the gospel” and “you standing firm in one Spirit.”  If you like to draw lines and circles in your Bible, you can underline or bracket “let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ” and then circle “standing firm in one Spirit” — and then draw a line connecting the two. Paul is saying that if this church is living worthy of the gospel, it will be displayed in their Holy Spirit unity. If A is true, then B will be evident. Holy Spirit unity within a local church is the manifestation of that church And again, like we saw last week, if we zoom in more on what it means for us to live “worthy of the gospel” it does not mean that we deserve the gospel, but it means that our life together the gospel. The way we live lines up with who Jesus is.  So for our church to be worthy of the gospel it means that our church’s life together in this world witnesses to the all-satisfying value of Jesus.  And one way that is seen is through how we endure suffering (we saw that last week in verses 29–30); but another way that’s seen is through the church’s Holy Spirit unity that Paul describes here. Paul knows that if this church is treasuring Jesus above everything else, they will have Holy Spirit unity — they will have real church unity — which we can see is not unity for its own sake. It’s unity that points to something else. It shows our common treasure — and Paul is either gonna see that for himself or he’s gonna hear about it.  But now here’s a big question: how does this real church unity look?  What exactly does Paul want to see or hear in verse 27? This is where Paul is gonna give us some more details about what characterizes real church Holy Spirit unity. So we’re gonna focus in here and spend some time on this third mark. 3) REAL CHURCH UNITY IS READY FOR BATTLE.  We’re still in verse 27 (verse 27 is a long verse)! In the second half of verse 27 Paul describes for us how he hopes to find this church (or hear about this church), and he tells us three things. We’ve already seen the first. He hopes to find this church … First, standing firm in the Holy Spirit. Second, with one mind be striving (or ) side by side for the faith of the gospel. Third, to not be frightened in anything by their opponents. Now, notice that each of these three descriptions are all in the same metaphor. This is a battle metaphor, which makes sense in light of the context.  Remember that the background to this entire letter is that Paul is in prison. He’s in prison in Rome, writing to a local church that’s in the Roman colony of Philippi. So this whole thing is surrounded by opposition! That’s the reason for their shared suffering. When Paul mentions in verse 30 that the Philippians are engaged in the “same conflict” he’s had, he’s talking about them facing the same opposition, most likely from the Romans. Paul first mentions “opponents” in verse 28, but they’ve been there the whole time, and what’s why he uses this battle metaphor. And this tells us right away that real church unity is not idealistic. This is not rosy, posh unity, but it’s embattled unity. It’s unity not only for when things might be going their best, but it’s for when things are at their worst — this is unity that’s ready for battle. And that means three practical things I want you to see. Real church unity ready for battle means: FIRST, WE HOLD OUR GROUND. That’s in the idea of “standing firm” in verse 27. “Standing firm” is actually the main verb in the second half of verse 27 — it’s the main thing, you could say, that Paul wants to see or hear about in this church’s unity. And it’s a defensive image. It means you’re digging in your heels and maintaining. You’re holding your ground. And to do that means we avoid two things: we neither change our message nor retreat our witness.  These are two mistakes that have been made in church history, and we can see examples in America over the last 250 years.  Consider theological liberalism. Going back to the early 1800s, Liberal theology started to be a thing, and a big driver behind it was the fear that Christianity would become irrelevant to modern minds. The thinking was that the way to make Christianity appealing to more people is to make it fit with all the new theories of science and Enlightenment philosophy. So they watered down biblical authority, they played ‘cut and paste’ with certain parts of Scripture, and eventually what they ended up with was an entirely different religion.  Theological liberalism basically invented, “A God without wrath who brought a people without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through a Christ without a Cross.” (Richard Niebuhr).  They changed the message, see — but remember that Christianity , fundamentally, a message — it’s good news — and so when you change the message, you don’t actually have Christianity anymore. But the other mistake is to retreat our witness.  In this mistake, Christians might still hold on to the truths of Christian doctrine, but they withdrawal from society and barricade themselves in isolated communities. And you might immediately think of examples like Amish communities, and that’s one example, but this is broader than that. This retreat way of thinking can be in any church and community, and maybe more common is how we think this way as individuals. Anytime we as individuals “hide our light under a basket,” we’re doing this. This mentality is the flee mentality; it’s the “get away” mentality. It’s retreating our witness. Real church unity means we hold our ground — we neither change our message nor retreat our witness. SECOND, WE FIGHT FOR GOSPEL ADVANCE.  We see this at the end of verse 27, where Paul is explaining more of what it means to stand firm in the Holy Spirit. We are, “with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.” So this is an active unity. It’s not bunkered down, but it’s . That word “striving side by side” means literally that we’re we’re fighting side by side, together, on the same team.  We’re gonna see this word again in Chapter 4, and I’ll save some comments for when we get there, but I want you to see mainly, for today, that this side-by-side fighting is for a common goal more than it’s against a common enemy. It’s important here that Paul doesn’t define this side-by-side fighting by its opposition — the opposition will take different forms over the next 2,000 years — instead, Paul defines this side-by-side fighting by what it’s fighting for, it’s common goal — and he calls it “the faith of the gospel.” We’re contending side by side for that.  And this phrase here, “the faith of the gospel,” is unique. This is the only time Paul uses this exact phrase, so there’s some questions about what exactly he means.  But I think in context we can see that “the faith of the gospel” is a more comprehensive idea than just saying the “gospel.” “The faith of the gospel” is not only talking about the gospel message itself, but it also includes all the truths and implications of the gospel. One commentator says that Paul is stressing both the and the of the gospel.  Another way to put it is that Paul wants maximum gospel advance. He’s doesn’t just want people to hear the gospel, but he wants everyone to be mature in Christ (that’s what he tells us in Colossians 1:28). He wants as many people as possible to hear the gospel, believe the gospel, and then become like Jesus from the heart.  The way we’ve talked about that around here is that our goal in gospel advance includes both distance and depth. In other words, we want the gospel message to advance geographically. We want people who’ve never heard the gospel to hear it! We want neighbors to hear it! We want the good news of Jesus to spread everywhere! And so we give and go and labor for that.  , at the same time, we want the gospel of Jesus to have its fullest effect in our lives.  We want the gospel to advance to all peoples and And that’s something we fight for, together, for one another. That’s what discipleship is.  It means that as a local church, we are committed to helping one another follow Jesus, and that’s not easy. We’re gonna have to wrestle through some things together. There may even be times when we don’t all agree on every single detail; there may be times when we have to say or hear an uncomfortable word, but the goal is gospel advance. We want more of Jesus out there and more of Jesus in here! That’s what we’re fighting for. What I want for you, and what you want for me, and what we want for each other, is that Jesus be our all-consuming passion and all-satisfying treasure. An that doesn’t just happen, you’ve gotta fight for it. Real church unity means we’re fighting for it together.  Here’s the third detail within this battle metaphor. THIRD, WE ARE COURAGEOUS WHEN IT COSTS. Paul says in verse 27 that he hopes this church holds their ground, fights side by side for gospel advance, and that, verse 28, you are “not frightened in anything by your opponents.” A positive way to say “not be frightened” is to say be courageous. It means we’re not hindered by those who would stand against us with their threats. We press on in our witness. We keep going. We’re not surprised by the opposition, and we’re not stopped by it — and all this is much easier said than done until we start thinking about the cost involved. Courage is only courage if it comes with a cost threat. Well, what do you think it is? When we’re determined to hold our ground on what the Bible says, when we’re wrestling for gospel advance in this world, what’s at stake for us?  For Paul, it was literally his life. For the church at Philippi it could have been their lives too — but what about when it comes to our opposition? What cost is threatened by our opponents? This is different for churches in different parts of the world, but for us, I think the cost is our comfort.  Those who oppose us threaten to make things difficult for us. It means most basically that people will think badly of you — your neighbors think you’re stupid; you’re co-workers think you’re a bigot. That’s really hard for some of us. The fact that we could be ridiculed or mocked or unfairly criticized — that bothers us. But the truth is: being a Christian in a 21st-century progressive metro like ours is going against the grain — and that won’t be smooth. It won’t be easy. It’s not comfortable. It requires our courage.  WE CHOOSE JESUS And the courage we need is the same courage Paul had; it’s the same courage he wants to see in the church at Philippi. It’s a courage that has considered its gain far better than every good thing it could lose on earth, even including life itself.  See, this is where Paul’s thinking in verses 20–21 is still showing up. Whatever the opponents might take from us, Jesus is better and we choose him. The church, together, chooses Jesus no matter the cost. And so yeah, verse 28 tells us, it’s a clear sign to our opponents about how all of this is gonna go down. Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against his church; his gospel is advancing and it will keep advancing, and one day every knee will bow — we know the end of the story, and so we can have courage now.  Real church unity will have this kind of courage. Real church unity is ready for battle: we hold our ground, we fight for gospel advance, we are courageous when it costs. Paul wants that for the church in Philippi and he wants that for our church today. And that’s what brings us the Table. THE TABLE Look, you don’t get unity by aiming for unity — it’s just what happens when you all want the same thing. And in a word, for us, his name is Jesus. 

1s

Feb 18, 2024

That’s an important question and the answer to that question is found in our passage today, still in Philippians Chapter 1 — which means we’ve been in the same chapter now for a total of six weeks. It’s been good to slow down in God’s word.  Paul has been saying amazing things in Philippians 1 Verse 27 actually marks the start of a new section. Up to this point, Paul has been giving a personal update. He’s been telling the church how he’s doing and what he’s been thinking, but now he turns to the church, and rather than ask them how they’re doing, he tells them .  Verse 27 starts a section of exhortation. Paul tells this church and in terms of relevance for our church, this is exactly what we need to hear right now.  What I’m about to say might sound like an overstatement, but I really believe it. I believe “God has decreed in himself from all eternity” that we would be in Philippians at this time there are things in this book that we especially need to hear the first part of the year of our Lord, 2024 — And among those things that we need to hear is the main exhortation from today’s passage. So here’s the plan for the sermon: I’m going to start, in just a minute, by giving you a summary of Paul’s main exhortation, and then we’re gonna break down that summary and look at it in three parts.  But before we get there, let’s take a minute and pray together. And the reason I want us to pray again is that I don’t know exactly what each of you anticipate over the next half-hour, but I’ve been praying that God would give us watershed clarity about our church’s primary calling, and I’d like to invite you to pray for that with me. So as I lead us in a prayer, if you can, from your heart, would you pray it with me? THE MAIN EXHORTATION Okay, we’re looking at verses 27–30, and we’re gonna focus mainly on the first part of verse 27. Here’s the summary of Paul’s main exhortation for us: It is absolutely necessary that our church’s life together in this world witness to the all-satisfying value of Jesus.  That’s what Paul wants us to know. Here it is again: Now let’s break it down in three parts. We’re gonna answer three questions: 1) WHY IS THIS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY? Notice that the first word in verse 27 is the word “only.” That’s how the sentence starts, and for that to make sense, we need to back up and see it in context. So remember what we saw last week:  Paul is in prison in Rome, awaiting a trial, and his life is in jeopardy. He’s not sure exactly what will happen to him, but he just knows that Christ is going to be honored in his body one of two ways: Either he’s gonna live or he’s gonna die.  And so he’s been thinking about that … and he concludes: it’s far better for him to depart from life in this world and to be with Christ — — But it’s more necessary for the church — or we might say, it’s “more strategic” for the church at Philippi — that he stays alive and remains here in the flesh.  In fact, it’s so important that he stay alive that he becomes convinced that’s what he’ll do. He says his life and he’s gonna continue serving this church, verse 25, “for your progress and joy in the faith.” That means, verse 26, that he’s gonna come see this church again in order to make them abound in their .  NEVER APART FROM JESUS Everybody look at verse 26 for a minute. Now I appreciate the way the NIV translates verse 26. Verse 26 in the NIV says, “so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.” The key phrase there is “your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound.” Now I want you to see that verse 26 is a restatement of verse 25.  Verse 26 is explaining more of what verse 25 means. Your progress and joy in the faith (verse 25) means that your boasting in Christ abounds (verse 26). In other words, if you’re growing in faith, if you’re joy in the faith is increasing, it means your confidence in Christ is increasing.  I don’t want us to miss this. Another way to say it is that: there’s no such thing as growth in the Christian life apart from abounding confidence . Do you wanna grow as a Christian? It means you must trust Jesus more …  You must Jesus more.  You must Jesus more.  You must Jesus more.  That’s the only way. There is no progress, there is no growth, apart from more of Jesus. And Paul says “That’s worth living for!” He wants that so badly for this church that he says, And so Paul is gonna come visit this church and he’s going to find them and and , but wait a minute! Paul is going to find this church on one condition. THE ALL-ENCOMPASSING ONLY And this is where the “only” of verse 27 comes in. This is a big word.  Paul is about to tell us the that the local church must remember — if their faith and joy are gonna increase, if they will have an abounding confidence in Christ, Now of course there’s all kinds of things that matter. There are lots of commands and instructions for churches in the New Testament, but what Paul is about to say is an all-encompassing non-negotiable!  As in: if they just do this one thing, everything else will take care of itself. , even if everything else goes perfectly, they will fail in their calling. This is a big deal, and I love this kind of simplicity. I have a “one thing” kind of brain, and over the years I’ve learned this the hard way … like last Saturday when I installed a new garbage disposal in our kitchen sink.  THE GARBAGE DISPOSAL I don’t know if any of you in here love garbage disposals, but if you do, I might hurt your feelings here. Last Saturday, I installed our third garbage disposal in about a five-year span. Garbage Disposal #2 stopped working and so I bought a new one, Garbage Disposal #3, and thought: “I’ve done this before; I’ve got YouTube; this should take about an hour.”  By Saturday afternoon, about four hours later, I had to take apart the entire thing. I had to move the electric cord from the old one to put it in the new one; I had to make a couple of trips to the hardware store; I redid the kitchen sink thing, I let the plumber’s puddy dry on that one thing — and after all that time, I was ready to debut this brand-new Insinkerator Badger 500.  So the family is all standing around, I called all the neighbors over, Mom and Dad flew in … I plugged it in, flipped the switch. Nothing happened. So I run around, check everything, check the breaker, try it again, still nothing.  And eventually I figured out that it was the outlet that was broken the whole time. the outlet. The old disposal was fine. I just needed electricity. That was the one thing. That was the most essential thing, and I overlooked it. I spent all that time and I had missed the one thing that was absolutely necessary.  And Paul does not want the church to do that! So he tells us the one thing.  Verse 27: “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Or in other words: Now why am I saying it like that? Well let’s focus on that phrase there “your manner of life” in verse 27. This is our second question: 2) WHY DOES VERSE 27 APPLY TO OUR CHURCH’S LIFE TOGETHER IN THIS WORLD? Paul says “ manner of life.” First, Paul is talking to the church corporately. “Your manner of life” doesn’t mean the individual lives of the members of this church, but he means the church’s life together. That’s gonna be more obvious as we keep reading because there’s nothing that Paul says here that could be done in isolation from one another. All that he says envisions and depends upon a corporate body. So this is about the local church together — our church’s . Now what does mean? This is fascinating. The Greek behind that phrase “let your manner of life be” is actually one word (πολιτεύομαι). It’s a verb that’s only used one other time in the New Testament, and a more exact translation of the verb is to say “live as a citizen.” Paul is saying, literally, “Only worthy of the gospel of Christ!” A CITIZEN OF WHAT? When we think of the word “citizen” we immediately think of our local, earthly context. We are citizens of America, of Minnesota — . But I want you to see something here. Turn over one page to Philippians 3, verse 20. In Philippians 3:20, Paul says there are those who set their minds on earthly things, 3:20, “But our citizenship is in heaven” — and from heaven “we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Get this: the noun there for “citizenship” in 3:20 is the same word used as a verb in Chapter 1, verse 27.  So when Paul says, “Only live as a worthy of the gospel” — he’s not talking about being a citizen of Rome or America or wherever, he’s talking about being a citizen of heaven.  That’s what he wants us to know! We are citizens of heaven. That’s who we are! Not heaven! We’re citizens of heaven, but we’re not in heaven yet! For now we live in , and we’re supposed to feel the tension here. It’s not supposed to be easy! We are called as citizens of heaven   And I don’t think we could emphasize this enough. According to Paul, this is to think about our lives in this world. We are citizens of heaven, and sometimes that we are so far from home, and so we pray everyday how Jesus taught us to pray:  “Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth just as it is in heaven!” We pray for that, and we become agents, ambassadors, for how that happens. That’s who the church is. That’s what we’re doing here! Our church is an embassy of heaven in this world — that steeple is our flag! — and we are here to point to another kingdom, a better country — from which our Savior is gonna come. And so whatever else we do, we do that. That’s what Paul is saying. He says to this whole church: Hey, I’m living for your progress and joy in the faith. I want your boasting in Christ to abound, so here’s the main thing:  Above all, live together in this world as citizens of heaven … And I’m summarizing that to mean: “witness to the all-satisfying value of Jesus.” So how do I get that? 3) WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WORTHY OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST? That word “worthy” in verse 27 is the idea of being congruent or fitting. “Worthy of the gospel” does not mean the gospel. We could the gospel — and this is important because I think there’s a common mistake we can make on this point.  We might all agree that we’re saved by grace, at least at the start, but sometimes it’s easy to think that then we gotta work hard to make sure we deserved the grace. Sometimes, by accident, we can think that living the Christian life is a kind of payback for the grace God showed us in the past. And I know about this because I used to think that way.  Y’all’ve heard the story before that when I was 17, I got into a terrible car wreck, and God spared my life. It was a clear miracle. And in the weeks and months after that, I really got my act together. I was gonna make the grace count, so I became very religious, very driven — I became spiritually proud, because I was doing so good!  And then one day, in Ephesians Chapter 2, I discovered the true meaning of grace. The gospel of God is his grace and grace can never be earned — that’s what it means for it to be . Grace is forever a gift we don’t deserve, which means the dumbest thing you can do is be proud. Grace humbles us … which means we don’t try to pay God back, we never could, we just keep getting more thankful. Because it’s just grace upon grace upon grace. So Paul is not saying to live as a citizen in a way that the gospel of Christ. He means live as a citizen of heaven in a way that with the gospel of Christ.  So what is that? What is congruent to, what fits with, the gospel of Christ? JESUS ABOVE ALL ELSE Jesus actually teaches us this … in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 10. You don’t have to turn there, I’m gonna read it for you. Maybe you’ve heard this verse before, but listen to what Jesus is saying, Matthew 10, verse 27: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” So you have father, mother, son, and daughter right here and you got Jesus over here on the other side. And Jesus says that if you love them more than you love me, you’re not worthy of me.  Which means, loving them more than me doesn’t add up to “who I am.” See, Jesus understands that he’s the most lovable person in the universe, so if we love anything more than the most lovable person in the universe, it doesn’t work! And so the only way our lives can fit with who Jesus is, is if we love him above everything else. To live worthy of Jesus, to live in a way that’s to him, to live in a way that with who Jesus is, it means we live in way that shows that Jesus is more valuable to me than anything else. What fits with Jesus is when Jesus is your all-satisfying treasure. That’s what Paul is getting at. He wants this church to follow his personal example.  AN EXTRA GRACE? And I think that becomes clear in verses 29–30. So skip there for a minute. We’re going to end here (next week we’ll look at the rest of verse 27 and verse 28), but for today, verses 29-30:  “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.” That word for “granted” in verse 29 is literally the word “graced.” It has been to you, or to you — and when Paul starts a sentence like that, we’re about to open a present, right? Paul is about to tell us something really good! He says “It has been graciously given to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him suffer for his sake.” I thought this was supposed to be a bonus. I thought this was supposed to be good? Does this mean that Paul thinks it’s a grace to suffer for Jesus? And church, we’re in deep waters here. This does not mean that suffering or pain itself is good — it’s not. We weep over suffering. We don’t want it. But the grace, the gift, is in how the suffering relates to our faith.  See, if it has been graced to you to believe in Jesus, that’s enough, right?! But if you are also graced to suffer for Jesus then it means your believing, your faith, is and in the highest degree. Now this is gonna be a little rough, but we need to go here. Hang with me.  A CHRISTIAN NAMED JOB Use your imagination for a minute and think of a hypothetical Christian. Imagine a hypothetical Christian man, and let’s call his name Job.  Job is a Christian. He believes in Jesus. He’s been forgiven, overcome by grace, Jesus is his greatest treasure. And also, Job has a lot of kids. This guy is blessed. Jesus has given him a big family and they all get along, they’re all friends. Jesus has also given him like 7,000 sheep and camels and oxen and donkeys. His garbage disposal never breaks. Job loves Jesus Jesus has given Job some pretty amazing gifts. He’s comfortable. Which, could make us wonder … is it really Jesus that he loves or is it the comfortable things that Jesus gives him? Which does he love the most? I don’t know. We don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t even know? Well, what if some of those comfortable things are taken away … See, if we’re honest, and this is the part that’s rough, it’s hard for us to say that we love Jesus more than our comfort until we lose our comfort.  See, there’s loving Jesus — — we love Jesus …but then there is loving Jesus when Jesus is all you have. When you know that the main gift Jesus has given you is himself. That’s deeper. The experience and expression of our faith in Jesus through suffering is deeper. That’s what Paul is talking about here.  Not just believing for the sake of Christ, but also suffering for the sake of Christ… MAXIMIZED WITNESS …which maximizes our witness. People will see that and say: Wow! This person believes! They believe so much in Jesus — Jesus is so valuable to them — they’re gonna keep loving him even when happens! They’re willing to give up! You mean, Jesus is more valuable to them than life itself?  You mean, for them, that is greater than anything?  Like they believe so much that when they die they will be with Jesus, that they consider death to be gain?! Wow! See, it has been graced to you, Paul says, that “for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” Then in verse 30, Paul says:  That means, church, we’re the same. Because you’ve been graced to suffer for the sake of Christ, it means that what you’re going through is what you saw me go through, and what I’m still going through.  IN THE SAME BOAT Verse 30 is what brings all of Chapter 1 together. The reason Paul spent so much time giving a personal update in Chapter 1 is because he knew that the church in Philippi was in the same boat he was. And this confirms that Paul intended his example to be followed. Everything that he said about his passion in Chapter 1 applies to the church corporately. He expects the church, as a whole body, to embrace Jesus as their all-consuming passion and all-satisfying treasure. So this is for us. It is absolutely necessary that our church’s life together in this world witness to the all-satisfying value of Jesus. That’s what we’re doing here.  That’s what brings us to the Table.  THE TABLE I want you to know that it’s not just that Jesus is more valuable than anything else, but it’s that he will truly satisfy your soul above anything else.  See, it’s one thing to know about a treasure that’s worth more than every other treasure in the world; but it’s another thing to know that the all-surpassing treasure is actually what you need. It’s what you’ve been looking for. It’s why you were made. Jesus is that treasure, and he’s the only one who can satisfy the deepest longings of your soul.

1s

Feb 11, 2024

   A few weeks ago, my 7-year-old informed me that he wanted to be — but not any older than that. “Buddy, why don’t you want to be any older than that?” I asked. “Well, because when you get old, you die.” Fair enough. 8 seemed safe and exciting enough, I guess (he has some 8-year-olds in his class), but 9 . . . now was a different story. Who knows what might happen then? Better stick with 8. It’s a sobering thing, isn’t it, to watch your children begin to wrestle with a reality like and then to force you, as a dad or mom, to try and something like death. I think our verses this morning are a great help to dads and moms and teenagers and twenty-somethings and sixty-somethings in answering the biggest questions we ever ask. What’s going to happen when we die? What does it mean to really ? A couple years ago, on June 28, 2021, my then 64-year-old dad had a heart attack. I’ll never forget the moments I spent beside his hospital bed that week, waiting for quadruple bypass surgery. I felt my own mortality, watching the strongest man I’d ever known now fighting for his life. I know some of you have experienced this. When you’re growing up, Dad is the embodiment of strength, almost immortal. I mean what Dad do? A toy breaks? Oh Dad’ll fix it. Want to know what makes an airplane fly? Dad will know that. My 3-year-old’s been worried that skunks are going to get into her room at night (longer story there), but I’ve said to her, “Honey, I promise Daddy won’t let any skunks in your room.” And she believes me! Because I’m . And then dads grow older and their arteries fail — or they get really sick, or their minds begin to go. Slowly, they’re a little less superhero, and a little more human. And in the process, we realize just how human . By God’s grace, my dad’s doing really well, but I thought of him leading up to this message because our conversations over these last couple years (one in particular) remind me of these verses. He told me that’s he more aware than ever that every day he has is a day he’s been given , that however many days he has left — whether hundreds or thousands or just one — he wants them to honor Jesus. My dad came close enough to death to be able to remind his son how to live. And that’s what we have in Philippians 1:19–26: We have a man, a spiritual father, who has come close enough to death that he’s able to tell us (whether we’re 8 or 38 or 68) how to live and die well. THE HAPPY, DRIVING PASSION As we’ve learned over the last several weeks, Paul wrote this letter from prison in Rome. The situation’s serious enough that his friends in Philippi are worried if they’ll ever see him again. And on top of the dangers and hardships of his imprisonment, he had enemies (even in the church) trying to make things even worse for him.  I don’t want it to be lost on us over these next few months in Philippians that the most joy-filled letter in the New Testament was written in horrible circumstances. That tells us something, doesn’t it, about how much joy we can expect to experience even on our hardest days. Look how joyful he is even now, even in prison! And they tell us about how much we can still help others enjoy Jesus — even on our hardest days. As Pastor Jonathan showed us last week, Paul responds to all of this — imprisonment, mistreatment, betrayal — in an otherworldly way, because he had a different passion than the world. And what was that passion? That passion is why he can rejoice while his enemies preach Christ (verses 15–18). That’s why he can rejoice even while he sits in prison (verses 12–14). That’s why he prays like he does, verses 9–11. That passion is why his love for these people runs deeper and richer than many of our relationships (verses 3–8). And now, in our verses this morning, he’s going to tell us about that passion. He leans in, after all of that, as if to say, Do you want the secret? “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” WHAT KIND OF DELIVERANCE? Our passage begins in verse 19:  * > “Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance…” Now, right away, what kind of deliverance do you think he’s talking about? What’s he going to be delivered ? Is he talking about deliverance from prison (which is what we probably assume) or is he talking about some other kind of deliverance? Let’s keep reading: * > “[I know that this will turn out for my deliverance,] as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.” He doesn’t go on to talk about judges changing their minds, or him developing some good will with the jailers, or about a large group of Christians putting together a petition. No, he says, I’m confident this will turn out for my deliverance because I’m confident that, , Christ will be honored in me. That phrase — “whether by life or by death” — that’s the biggest reason I don’t think he’s talking about being delivered from prison. He can’t die in prison and be delivered from prison. I might die here in prison, he’s saying, but I’ll still be delivered. Even if I’m never released from these chains, I’ll still be set free. How could that be? How could he be delivered without being delivered?  I think that question’s massively relevant for us, because some of you are praying for deliverance right now. Not from prison (because you’re here) — but what you’re suffering might feel worse than prison some days. Intense, prolonged conflict with someone you love. Hostility where you work. Cancer. A child who’s walked away from the faith — and maybe from you. . . . By the end of this sermon, I’m praying that you’ll be able to say, to anyone who cares about you: “Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this pain, this conflict, this cancer — mainly because the pain might finally let up in this life, or because the relationship will necessarily get better, or because the cancer will go into remission, but because I believe my life, and my suffering, will say something true and beautiful and loud about how much Jesus means to me. About how much he’s done for me. About how much I’m dying to go and spend the rest of my life with him.  What kind of deliverance is Paul expecting? Not mainly deliverance from prison (although, as we’ll see, he clearly expects that too). No, deliverance from spiritual ruin, from the intense temptations that come with suffering, from walking away from Christ. I’m confident I will be delivered, he says, because I’m confident that, whether I live or die, — and that’s all I really want.  “I count everything as loss,” he’ll say in chapter 3, “because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that and be found in him.” That’s what deliverance looks like, the most important kind of deliverance, the kind we all need, especially when suffering comes.  These next verses, then, are a mural of the delivered life — the life freed from self and sin and death, and filled with Jesus. Again, they teach us how to live and die well: * > “I know that Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death…” Verse 21: * > “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” We know that verse, and we we get it — but do we really get it? Could you explain it to a 7-year-old? These next verses help us see both sides of this precious, life-altering (and altering) verse. TO DIE IS GAIN Let’s start with death, though, with the second half of the verse: * > “[I know] that Christ will be honored in my body . . . by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” How is Christ honored in a dying person’s body? Our death honors Christ, he says, when we begin to see our death — not as the end, not as defeat, not ultimately as a tragedy — but as . So how could Paul look at death, even a death alone in horrible circumstances, and see victory, see reward? The next verses take us deeper. Beginning now in verse 22:  * > “If I am to live in the flesh, [to live is Christ] that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” Now, of course, Paul doesn’t really get to choose. “Which of you by being anxious,” Jesus asks, “can add to his span of life?” (Luke 12:25). Paul’s not actually choosing life or death here; he’s just letting us see . “I am hard pressed between the two,” he says. A big part of me wants to stay and live a little longer here with you (and we’ll see why in a minute), but if I’m honest, I’d rather go home. I’m so ready to feel my last aches and pains, to have my last hard conversations, to wipe away my last tears — more than anything, though, I’m so ready to finally, , tosee him, to set aside this old, foggy mirror and face to face: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace — the seeable, huggable, high-five-able . To get to know him, to know Jesus, as well as he’s known me all these years, 1 Corinthians 13:12. Oh how badly I want to stay, Paul’s saying, and help you see more clearly, and understand more deeply, and love more fully, and obey more joyfully, but it will be so much better if this apostle left you (for now) and went on to be a kindergartner, a beginner, in glory. Notice, he doesn’t diminish the goodness of this earthly life. From an earthly perspective, Paul’s life wasn’t all that great (it was horrible) when he wrote these verses — and he wanted to stay. God has filled this broken, sinful world with people and pleasures and experiences — with really good gifts — that hint at heaven and help us long for heaven. I have three small kids — there are moments every week where I stop and think, (There are plenty of other moments when I think, But there are so many moments I want to hold onto.)When we tickle them and they giggle until they cry. When they say certain words really wrong. When they learn how to do something for the first time, and then do that same thing a thousand times every day for a week. When they come, snuggle up next to you, and tell you they love you for no reason at all.  Having a Philippians 1:21 heart doesn’t mean you despise the God-given joys and giggles of life on earth — it means you realize that another life’s coming, another, one that’s better than this one, even at its best. And not better by a little, but better by far. “My desire is to depart and be with Christ,” verse 23, “for that is .” And what’s the ? It’s not weeks without work, or years without taxes. It’s not endless tee times on the golf course or more girls nights with your best friends. It’s not your favorite foods at your favorite restaurants and you never have to wait or pay. . . (I for one, by the way, believe all of that will happen in heaven, and that it’s all going to be better than we can even begin to think or imagine. Believe me, nothing you enjoy here is going to get in heaven.) He tells us what the better will be, though, in the same verse: * > “My desire is to depart and be is far better.” He puts a face to the gain. Death, for believers, is better than life because it’s death that finally gives us — all of Christ, with all our senses, meeting all our needs and satisfying all our lingering, gnawing desires. is our gain. In college, I read a paragraph that I’ll never forget. It still haunts me, in the very best way. It goes like this:  * > Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. (God Is the Gospel, 47) I still remember where I was on campus when I read that chapter. It felt like I had stumbled into a land I had never seen before, an ocean I’d never sailed before, a favorite meal I’d never tasted before. I really believe those were the moments when God heaven for me. When he was no longer the God who makes heaven, or who lets sinners like me into heaven, but that he himself is what makes heaven — that he would always be (even after thousands and thousands of years) the best part of living there. This Jesus is not just the only way to heaven; he really is what makes heaven worth wanting. He is the great meal. He’s the ocean. He is the treasure hidden in the field and the pearl of great price.  And if that’s true — if we really think that way — how awesome will he look when we die?  While everyone around us in the hospital clings to the last days they have here — while they scramble to try and make it to a couple more things on their “bucket lists” — we’re going to be the really strange people who have this deep and abiding peace, who talk about how much better life’s about to get, who feel free to spend the last days and hours we have on other people and their needs, who still smile even through horrible pain. We’re going to be the strange and beautiful people who use our last breaths — on the hospital bed, in hospice care, covered in wires and monitors — . When we die like that, what will that say about Jesus? You know if you’ve ever seen a saint die well. In those moments, Jesus looks more valuable than anything life could ever — or that death could ever . Don’t you want to die like that? As we turn to the first half of verse 21, then, I want us to see the relationship these two phrases: “To live is Christ” and “to die is gain.” We’re about to see what “to live is Christ” means as a way of life — what a strange person like this with the weeks and months and years they have. But before we even get to that, to the kinds of things they do, we’re already seeing who they — we’re seeing their heart, their passion. You see, the kind of person who honors Christ with their life will always be the kind of person who sees death as better than this life. They glorify God with their life because they want Jesus more than life. I first learned this, like many of you, from John Piper: * > “God is most glorified in us — in life and death, in joys and sorrows, in marriage and parenting and singleness — when we are most satisfied in him.” God will be most glorified when death is gain, when we know that the day we die will be the greatest day we’ve ever lived — yet. TO LIVE IS CHRIST Now, in the next couple verses, he turns to explain “to live is Christ.” How does he explain that? He’s already said, verse 22, “If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.” , that’s the first part of our answer. But what does “fruitful labor” actually mean?  He goes on to tell us in verses 24–26: * > “[My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.] But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. It would be better, far better, to go and be with Jesus, but I’m convinced it’s more necessary, for now, that I stay and keep laboring among you.” And what is the labor? What does he need to stay and do for them?  * > “Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, . . . .” The fruitful labor Paul stays to do is to work for others’ and in the faith. He stays to help them in their faith in Jesus (progress), and to help them find greater joy . If we live for another day or month or year, it’s because someone needs help believing in and enjoying Jesus. That’s how Paul thinks about his life — and yours. This is why you’re alive: to help someone else keep believing in Jesus. Do you think about your life that way? Do you look at your days, or weeks, or decades of life as a gift God has given you to give other people ? To live is Christ — to for one another. But what does it really mean, practically, to live for someone else’s “progress and joy in the faith”? Does Paul give us any hints about we’re supposed to actually do? He gives us of hints. His letters are filled with this kind of life. But we’ll limit ourselves to just Philippians for now. What does it look like to live for one another’s “progress and joy in the faith”? It looks like , and especially for each other’s souls (Philippians 1:9–11). It looks like to obey Christ, to live a life worthy of the gospel (Philippians 1:27).  It looks like for one another, like this church did for Paul (Philippians 4:14). It looks like , like Paul honors Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:29).  Sometimes it looks like : “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh” (Philippians 3:2). It looks like when there’s conflict or division, like Paul does in Philippians 4:2: “I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.” It looks like : “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:20–21). It looks like, get this, just having more conversations . Any of you can do all those things. These aren’t things apostles do, or even things pastors do; these are things Christians get to do for one another. We live, for however long we live, for one another’s progress and joy in the faith — to live is Christ. Paul strikes one more note here, in verse 26: * > “I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.” If I live, he’s saying, I want to give more reasons to worship Jesus — and not just a few reasons, but plenty of reasons (“so that in me you may to glory in Christ Jesus”). Paul’s not living for a bare-minimum Christianity, a bare-minimum spiritual influence on others. No, day by day, he wants to pile on the reasons, as many as he possibly can, for those he knows and loves to trust and enjoy Jesus.  So, when God brings someone into your life, are they better off spiritually for being there? Are they a lot better off spiritually for being there? What if you started looking at your relationships — family, community group and life group, neighbors, co-workers, friends — and tried to give them ample cause to love and glorify Jesus? How much more spiritual good could you do? How might the good you do then multiply through them into all of their relationships? Again, notice he says, “I am hard pressed between the two.” So even though to depart and Christ is far better, Paul really does want both. It’s gain to die, no question, but it’s not loss to stay and live for Christ. To live for Jesus, despite how much it cost him, despite how little fruit he saw at times, despite the fact that he might live the rest of his life in prison — to live for Jesus was its own reward. Therefore he could gladly say, To die is gain , and to live is Christ , my joy and my crown. BECAUSE YOU PRAY FOR ME Before we close, then, I want to go back briefly to the beginning of our passage and look at this kind of Christ-honoring life and this kind of Christ-honoring death happens. If God delivers us from walking away from Christ, from giving into temptation, from slowly drifting into worldliness, if he helps us honor Christ until the very end, ? Where do we get the strength and focus we need to keep going? Paul gives us two quick glimpses (so quick we might completely miss them), but I think they’re too good to pass over as a church. You’ve already heard these verses, but we need to hear them one more time: * > “Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance. . .” Why is Paul so confident that he’s going to make it to the end, that he’ll keep honoring Christ, even in prison, even under persecution, even if it costs him his life? What does he say? Do you ever pray like this church prayed for Paul? Does anyone pray like this for you? If we commit to praying like this for one another, Cities Church, we’ll be able to say things like we heard Paul say in verse 6: “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” — because we’ve prayed for you. I know you’ll honor Christ, whatever happens to you, because we’ve prayed for you. Or, verse 19, “I know this horrible circumstance will turn out for my deliverance” — because you prayed for me. Prison can’t overcome these kinds of prayers. Cancer can’t overcome these kinds of prayers. All the armies in the world couldn’t overcome prayers like these. Why? Because God answers prayers like these. . . . And he doesn’t answer from afar. No, he comes and helps us from inside of us, by his Spirit (“through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”). His Spirit lives within us. And as he does, his strength becomes our strength, his peace becomes our peace, his love becomes our love.  By the Spirit, right now, in whatever callings each of you have been given, you have everything you could possibly need to honor Christ — whether by life or by death — because lives in you. He’s going to help you.

1s

Feb 04, 2024

   So let’s start this morning with a pop quiz. I’ve got just a two-question theology quiz … I’m going to say two sentences and I want you to fill in the blanks. You ready? ____ ____ The Bible teaches us that in our our lives as Christians God is continuing the good work that he began in us (Philippians 1:6). That means that HE IS CONFORMING US INTO THE IMAGE OF JESUS. He is progressively, slowly but surely, making us more and more like Jesus, and we are called . EVERY CHRISTIAN IN HERE AGREE WITH THAT? We’re called to be like Jesus. JESUS OR PAUL? Okay, so what about verses like this: 1 Corinthians 4:16 — this is Paul speaking and he says: * > “… I urge you … be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.” 2 Timothy 1:3 — Paul tells Timothy: * > “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me …” And later in that letter, as an encouragement to Timothy, Paul says: * > “You followed teaching, conduct, aim in life, faith, patience, love, steadfastness, persecutions…” (3:10) Paul says later in this letter to the Philippians, 3:17, * > “Brothers, join in imitating me …” He says in Chapter 4, verse 9: * > “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me — …” So, fair question:  Well, the key here is Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:1 when he says: * > “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” Which means we are called to be like Jesus, and in all the ‘ways of Paul’ that we find in the New Testament, HE IS BEING LIKE JESUS. Paul models for us Christlikeness. Paul is an example of Christ that we should follow, including what he says here in this introduction, in this personal update. And so what is that? WHAT IS PAUL’S EXAMPLE HERE — WHAT IS PAUL’S EXAMPLE OVERALL? WHAT IS PAUL’S EXAMPLE? If we’re supposed to imitate Paul as he imitates Christ, we need to know what Paul was like.  Several years ago I was at a conference leading a workshop on leadership development, and I was making the case that, before churches can develop leaders, we need to know we want to develop. Standard precedes system. And I appealed to what Paul says here in Philippians, that Paul’s example is one we should follow, he sets a good standard, and so I asked the room: It was a workshop, so I had asked the folks to get in small groups and read through the Book of Acts and Paul’s letters, and try to summarize, from the Bible:   And I had a big post-it note, and after a few minutes, I was ready to write down some observations from the groups, so I asked everyone, about 50 people, And a dear sister raised her hand, and I had my marker ready to go, and I said, “Okay, tell us, what drove Paul?” She said: “Paul fought for women’s equality!” And I said, “Okay … yeah, Paul believed that.” Another guy, spoke up: “Paul wanted to make America great again!” Answers were all over the place. This story really happened (most of it) … I think about it twice a week, because it reminds me that although we can make biblical and theological arguments for all kinds of important things, there’s a difference between THINGS THAT ARE TRUE and a PASSION THAT DRIVES YOU. There’s a lot of good, true things, and we thank God for them, but only one thing can be an all-consuming passion — and we will never understand Paul until we know what that passion is.  We see it in Philippians 1. It will be most clear in our passage next week, but it comes through in our verses today, 12–18. We need to know can Paul say what he says here. And so if I had to summarize it, if I had to put Paul’s example in one sentence, it’s this: PAUL CARED MOST ABOUT THE GLORY OF GOD MAGNIFIED THROUGH THE ADVANCE OF THE GOSPEL.    That was Paul’s all-consuming passion. More than anything else, Paul was a who wanted the glory of God displayed through people hearing and learning and embracing the good news of Jesus Christ. That’s what drove him. That’s what led him to see the world the way he does here in verses 12–18, and that’s what I want to show you. I want to show you three ways that for Paul shaped the way we saw the world, and then I wanna give us some ideas for how we could follow his example.   THREE WAYS PAUL’S PASSION SHAPED HIS OUTLOOK So three ways that Paul’s passion shaped his outlook. We’re going to see these in the text, starting with verse 12. Paul’s passion FOR THE GLORY OF GOD MAGNIFIED THROUGH THE ADVANCE OF THE GOSPEL SHAPED … 1) THE WAY HE INTERPRETED HOW HE’S DOING. (VERSE 12) Look at verse 12. Pauls starts, “I want you to know, brothers, ….” And we can just stop right there for a minute. Remember that this is the introduction of a letter between good friends, and as good friends tend to do in communication, they start with an update on how they’re doing.  Paul wanted to know (which was the job of Timothy and Epaphroditus — they were supposed to bring news of this church back to Paul);  THIS CHURCH WANTED TO KNOW HOW PAUL WAS DOING (which is what he’s telling them here in this letter). Now the church at Philippi already knew what had happened to Paul. They knew that he was in Roman custody, in prison, in Rome. And we know from the New Testament that Paul faced different types of imprisonment with different conditions, .  The beginning of this church can be traced back to Paul and Silas being thrown into prison in Philippi in Acts 16. And in that imprisonment, the conditions were rough: Paul’s feet was locked into iron stocks. The best-case scenario of imprisonment was house arrest (which was the condition of Paul’s imprisonment in Acts 28), BUT WE’RE NOT SURE EXACTLY ABOUT THE CONDITION OF HIS IMPRISONMENT WHEN HE WRITES THIS LETTER — AND IN THIS WAY, WE’RE LIKE THE PHILIPPIAN CHURCH.  They knew Paul was in Roman custody, but they didn’t know the details — now that Roman custody in the first century was never a five-star hotel. Historically (this would have been around the year 60) it’s a fact that Roman prisons were absolutely . They would have been underground with little to no ventilation. It would have been almost completely dark, with a terrible stench, crawling with disease. These prisons were not built to hold prisoners for a long time, but only until they were tried or executed. Maybe Paul is on house arrest right now shackled to a Roman solider — but either way, he’s imprisoned in Rome, good grief, how’s he doing?That’s what this church wanted to know.  Paul says: “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.” We would expect that he wants us to know how bad it smells or how hungry he is or how terribly he’s been sleeping. Paul is in prison. —  THEOVERFILLED AMERICANO Understand that his answer here does not change his circumstances. The conditions were still terrible, and if he had the choice, he wanted to get out (in verse 19 he says that he hopes for that). So although his circumstances were bad and he did not like them, get this: HE INTERPRETED HOW HE’S DOING THROUGH THE LENS OF HIS COMFORT BUT THROUGH THE LENS OF HIS PASSION.  And I’m convinced that we do the same thing, which is why we complain as much as we do. We also interpret our circumstances through the lens of our passion, it’s just that for us OUR PASSION OUR COMFORT.  So if the church at Philippi were to ask us how we’re doing, the lens through which we answer that question is: “HAVE I GOTTEN I WANTED AND I WANTED IT?” We tend to look at the world this way. Let’s be honest. We live in the land of whiners, and it is so much the air we breathe that a lot of times we don’t even know we’re doing it.  For example, a long time ago, like last year, I would go to a coffee shop at the same time two days a week and order a 16oz Americano with light water — which means I wanted “this much room.” And I would show them “how much room” with my fingers. But consistently the coffee people, who are great people, they would fill my cup to the very top with water (even when I did the fingers) … and I’d try to let it go because I don’t wanna be that guy, but then when Melissa would call me to check in and ask me how my day was going, you know what I’d say? “Overfilled my Americano again.” Now part of that was tongue and cheek, but another part of me was really bothered by it, and in reality, subtly, when asked how I was doing, I assessed the question through the lens of my comfort, of me getting I want and I want it. Without meaning to, my passion is my comfort. Because that’s our default. And we know it.  But what if God has something better for us?  What if we followed Paul’s example and our passion was the glory of God magnified through the advance of the gospel? CLARIFYING OUR HUMANITY It would not mean that hard circumstances are less real, and it also would not mean that we never talk about them. Don’t misunderstand me here: We are humans and we have needs and we should be honest about that.  Later when Paul was in prison, he did ask Timothy to send him a coat and some books (see 2 Timothy 4:13). Paul told the Corinthians that he despaired of life itself when he was in Asia (see 2 Corinthians 1:8). Later in this letter, Paul talks about his anxiety and his potential sorrow (see Philippians 2:27–28).  So look, we’re ignoring our emotions. We’re burying our heads in the sand. We are talking about being super-humans, WE’RE TALKING ABOUT BEING CONSUMED BY A PASSION GREATER THAN OUR COMFORT so much so that the question of how we’re doing is interpreted, ultimately, through that passion. It’s not about knowing the right words to say. We should have no interest in shallow jargon. What I’m talking about here is seeing the world from a heart that is truly consumed with God. ULTIMATE NON-FOOLISHNESS The missionary Jim Elliot, who gave his life for the gospel, said,   * > “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” And we could also say:   “How we doing?” — there’s a lot of details we could get into, and I hope we can — we should — but what if we could be more like Paul and the question of how we’re doing takes us to: Okay, here’s the second thing to see about Paul’s passion for the glory of God through the advance of the gospel. 2) PAUL’S PASSION SHAPED HOW HE UNDERSTOOD THE IMPACT OF HIS WITNESS. (VERSES 13–14) So Paul said that his imprisonment, as inconvenient and uncomfortable as it was, really served to advance the gospel, AND NOW WE WANT TO KNOW IN WHAT WAY. And that’s what Paul explains for us in verses 13 and 14. He says that there are two different ways — there’s one way in how his witness impacted unbelievers (verse 13) and there’s another way his witness impacted fellow believers (verse 14). MANIFEST CHAINS Look at verse 13 first. Paul explains that his imprisonment advanced the gospel, verse 13,  * > “so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.” What is the “imperial guard”? Those were the Roman soldiers closest to the seat of imperial power. They would have guarded the palace and kept watch over prisoners. “All the rest” in verse 13 most likely refers to other Roman officials who worked in and around the capitol. It had been made known to these Roman unbelievers that Paul was in prison for Jesus.  Does that make sense? Everybody see this in verse 13? Well, I think Paul is actually saying something deeper here than it first appears. It helps, I think, to know that the word translated “imprisonment” in verse 13 could also be translated BONDS OR CHAINS. (If you read the New International Version you’ll see the word “chains.”)  And if we follow the original word order, a more literal way to translate verse 13 is to say: * > “so that my chains in Christ to the whole imperial guard and to all the rest.” Now what does this matter? Well it means that what’s new for Paul is not “his chains in Christ” — that was how Paul understood his whole life. That’s how he introduces himself in this letter: “Paul and Timothy, of Christ Jesus.” But what’s new here, is that BECAUSE PAUL IS IMPRISONED IN ROME, HIS CHAINS IN CHRIST HAVE BECOME MANIFEST IN ROME. I think there’s a double-meaning here. Ever since Jesus saved Paul, he’s been a new person who is BOUND TO CHRIST. That’s who he is. And now that he’s in Rome, literally in bonds, in chains, then what has been true about him is now … the literal chains are a symbol of his heart allegiance to Jesus … and this serves the advance of the gospel because Paul understands that his witness to Jesus is not a lamp hidden under a basket, but instead, his witness to Jesus, his testimony to the worthiness of Jesus, IS MADE VISIBLE IN THE EPICENTER OF THE WORLD’S SUPERPOWER.  The knowledge of Paul’s chains, the sound waves of his witness, are bouncing off the walls of the imperial palace. The Roman Empire has been infiltrated … not by a lobbyist, not by a protester, but by the talk of a man willing to give his life so that more and more people can hear about Jesus. BOOSTED CONFIDENCE But not only did Paul’s witness impact the unbelieving influencers of Rome, but it also impacted fellow believers, verse 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.” Paul’s imprisonment, his witness, boosted these Christians’ confidence in Jesus and that resulted in them being more bold to share the gospel without fear.  It was not that Paul made these brothers think: “Oh, prison is not that bad.” It’s that they said, “Jesus is that good. Jesus is worth it.” Jesus is worth the risk of what Paul is going through because the worst thing that could happen to me is that I get killed, but then I get to be with Jesus and the gospel keeps advancing … so I don’t think there’s any way we can lose here.  AT YOUR WORK Paul understood that what he was going through, his witness, was having that kind of effect — and one thing this means for us is: Don’t underestimate the impact of your witness when Jesus is more important to you than anything else. Think about your work right now. Your jobs. Sometimes there are opportunities at work to tell people straight up who Jesus is and what he did, but a lot more times there’s just you in how you react and in how you inhabit your situations, and I want us to learn from Paul’s example: Wherever you are, be where you are and love Jesus more than anything else … and see what happens. Your witness will have an impact. 3) PAUL’S PASSION SHAPED THE WAY HE VIEWED OTHER MINISTRIES. (VERSES 15–18) This is the final thing to see, in verse 15–18: Paul’s all-consuming passion for the glory of God manifested through the advance of the gospel shaped the way he viewed other ministries. Look at verse 15. So Paul says that his imprisonment has emboldened fellow believers to preach the gospel and now he explains the fine print: * > “15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.” So there are two different kinds of Christ preachers here with different motives.  Verse 16: * > “16 The latter [those who have a good will motive, they preach Christ] 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.” EARLY TRIBALISM AND TODAY Now who is he talking about there? First, we need to be clear that he is not talking about false teachers. We know what Paul has to say about false teachers. (Galatians 1:8).But these are people who are proclaiming . They’re talking about Jesus in truth, it’s just that their motive, what drives them, is selfish and competitive. They were trying to one-up Paul and while he was preoccupied with being in prison, while his ministry was “stalled,” they saw it as a chance for their ministry to take off. Isn’t it crazy that by the year 60 — we’re talking early days of the church — this kind of tribalism is already going on? I don’t need to tell you that tribalism is a problem in our day, right? A lot has changed in 2,000 years, . Sinful human nature is still the same, and there were gospel preachers in Paul’s day too who were driven by having a bigger social media platform than the next guy. They preached Jesus — they spoke the gospel — but they were driven by the clicks and likes and shares … they sought “their own interests” (see 2:21). And right away you could be thinking about different applications in our day, but let me caution you first to never be quick to think that you know somebody else’s motive. When it comes to other gospel-preaching churches or ministries or people, our first thought should be what Paul says in Romans 14:4, * > “Who am I to judge the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls.” It’s not our job to discern the hearts of every other ministry. But even if, like Paul here, we have a pretty good read that the motive is bad, even if there is personal enmity, is our passion for the gospel bigger than our egos such that we can cut through everything to the main issue of And if so, verse 18: * > “18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice.” WHAT DRIVES US? Do you see what’s happening here? It’s not that Paul is being soft — it’s not even that Paul is being charitable to those who don’t like him — it’s that he is so consumed with the glory of God through the advance of the gospel, THAT’S WHAT HE CARES ABOUT. That’s what drives him. That’s the lens through which he sees the world. And we just need more of that. See, I wonder if a lot of the divisions in our day are less about real differences and more about passion. What really drives us? Paul’s passion shaped his outlook … and ours will too — the question is: WHAT IS OUR PASSION? If we follow Paul’s example, our passion would be the glory of God magnified through the advance of the gospel — and we say, We don’t have an “all-consuming passion for Jesus” switch that we can just flip on, right? So how we do get this kind of passion? The question I’m asking is: I pray that Jesus would be our all-consuming passion. I can tell you that it will not happen apart from us being completely overcome by the grace of God. That’s the game-changer. It’s when our own hearts encounter and remember what Jesus has done to save us. Do you know how much he loves you? Do you know how committed he is to your everlasting joy? And he’s never going to leave you. He’s never going to forsake you. Even if everything else disappears, Jesus will stand by you like he did for Paul. And the more we get that, the more we know Jesus, the greater our passion will be, and that passion will shape our outlook. And that brings us to the Table.  THE TABLE We come to this Table each week, not on the merits of our passion. This is not a table for the zealous. It’s a table for the hungry who know that Jesus alone is our hope. In the Father’s great love, Jesus has died for us and made us his own. 

1s

Jan 29, 2024

   There once was a crew of Narnian’s who set sail for the east. Further east than any map of theirs had ever chartered, further east than any of their people had ever gone. Eastward all the way to the division between their world and Aslan’s country.  They took off, aboard the Dawn Treader, past the lone islands, past dragon island, past burnt island, and deathwater, and dark island. By the time they arrived upon Ramandu’s island, many of them were beginning to feel ready to turn round and go back home. Although they hadn’t reached Aslan’s country, they had gone a fairly good distance, further than any other ship and its crew had ever gone before. And they were feeling content about that, satisfied with that. That is, most of them. There was still one member of the crew who had yet to speak up, which was surprising, since that member of the crew was usually the one always speaking up. That member of the crew was a mouse, named Reepicheep.  His friend Lucy, wondering why he had yet to say anything, finally asked him, “Aren't you going to say anything, Reep?“ She’s thinking, “All these guys are ready to turn round, ready to say, “Good enough,” and go back home to “Life as usual” — Reepicheep, are you cool with that? Is that what you’re going to do? Reepicheep chose to answer her at a level of volume loud enough for all to hear, saying: * > “My own plans are made. While I can, I sail east in the Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I shall paddle east in my own boat. When it sinks, I shall swim east with my four paws. And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan's country, or shot over the edge of the world, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise.” Reepicheep was not one for, moderation. Not one for “life as usual.” Certainly not one to give up on adventure. Neither was the apostle Paul. Writing to his beloved Philippians, he gladly affirmed that they had already come so far in terms of their faith and conduct. Nevertheless, Paul sought to urge them onward, with a prayer to the tune of, “Philippians, grow deeper as Christians. Grow further as Christians. There is still more to be had before you.” Sail east, then paddle east, then swim east, until you hit the shore.  His words this morning, I pray, will have a stirring effect upon us. That God, through his word, would create in us an eager fervency to go on further, and further, and further as followers of Jesus. Let’s pray, and ask once more, for the Lord’s help toward that end. VERSE 9: ABOUNDS MORE AND MORE… So, Paul’s prayer is for the Philippians to grow, all the more, as Christians. We see it right away in the words of verse 9, * > “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more.” That phrase has such a delightful cadence to it, doesn’t it? Abound, more, and more. It rolls along so smoothly, in fact, that it can slip right past us, tiptoe into the sentence nearly unnoticed. But make no mistake, my brothers and sisters, this is no moderate, inconspicuous, tiptoeing concept. Abound, more, and more is immense. Far-reaching. Excessive. At a size or in a quantity that not only fills the space around it but then flows over, and spills out, and rushes onward, and then keeps right on going.  Abound more and more comes with no off switch, no handle with which to close the valves and stop the supply. It progresses onward, wholly unencumbered by the drag of “moderation” and the weight of being far too easily satisfied.  For love to abound more and more, is to have a love that increases on and on and on in glorious surplus.  Paul’s prayer regarding love is on a scale and to a degree we rarely fathom, let alone pray for.  If that’s the quantity of love he’s wanting to see within these Philippians, then what is its kind? What kind of love is Paul praying for? The immediate context would suggest we’re at least talking about love for other people — and especially so people within the church.  The verses before resound with Paul’s great love for these Philippians, describing how he held these brothers and sisters in his heart, and yearned for them all with the affection of Christ Jesus.  Some verses later will reveal what can come about as a result of a lack of love for others. Philippians 1:15, * > “Some preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love.” The former, thinking not to love Paul, but afflict him.  So Paul’s prayer for the Philippians to abound in love is very much sandwiched between an example of love for others, on one side, and lack of love for others, on the other. That said, I don’t believe Paul is praying only for the Philippians love . One reason simply being that he doesn’t define it as a love . He just says love. * > “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more.” Love, in the most comprehensive sense. Love with a capital L.  The kind of love that, as one writer puts it, “pervades ones entire being…and marks every attitude and action” (Motyer). Paul is praying that the Philippian church would become a people who are entirely marked by love. Love in their everything. As an aside, I believe he’d pray much of the same for us — Cities Church.  That we, in an age of skepticism (Is love even real?), shallowness (I love with one foot in and one foot out), and apathy (Love is lame, love is optional, love is whatever).  That we, in a world like that, in a world rife with dulled and shrunken hearts, would be a people bright, blazing, and alive with love! A people with love coursing through every fiber of our beings. A people secured in God’s love, and thereby set free to love. A people eager to grow and abound in love, more, and more, and more, and more — never letting up, and ever wanting increase.  Would we want him to pray such things for us? Are we, in our minds, already loving enough? Brothers and sisters, moderation in some things, sure, but love?  “WITH KNOWLEDGE AND DISCERNMENT…” Now, Paul isn’t praying for love to abound, period. But for love to abound — look with me, verse nine — “with knowledge and all discernment.”  Some of us in the room maybe just breathed a huge sigh of relief: “phew, knowledge and discernment.” Some of us felt a sense of reassurance now that knowledge and discernment have walked in the room. I get it. I do. But, why do you think you feel that way? Is it, perhaps, because you’re imagining that knowledge and discernment has a subduing effect upon love? That knowledge and discernment comes in and reduces loves down to a more manageable, less lifestyle-interfering size? Offers a sort of shield, safeguard, from ever really needing to feel love, ever really needing to act upon it, and mainly only ever needing to give it a nod here and there?  Is that, my brothers and sisters, how we think Paul understood the relationship between knowledge and discernment and love? Is that what we think Paul really desired for his beloved Philippians — that they would abound in a sort of semi-muted and tempered love? A convenient, only when comfortable love? No … It is a lie that love and knowledge clash with one another. It is a lie that love and knowledge hinder one another. It is a lie, hear me, that to grow in knowledge is to lessen in love, and vice-versa. In other words, if you are holding on to the claim that, “Hey, I’m kind of a knowledge guy. Other people do that love stuff — I’m exempt from that.” Or, if you are holding on to the claim that, “I’m just a lover, I leave that knowledge stuff to others, I just love people, I don’t need to do the knowledge thing.”  Consider that God abounds in both. He, the most knowledgeable and discerning being in all the universe is also, at one and the same time the most loving being in all the universe, and he sees no contradiction in that. In fact, he calls us to become more like him. We, every single one of us, no exceptions, are called to abound in both. You got a certain personality, certain inclinations, yes, of course, nevertheless, God calls you to abound, and even want to abound, in both.  And note, if you do abound in both, what you’ll then be enabled to do: verse 9 into 10… “APPROVE WHAT IS EXCELLENT” * > “9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent.” Love that abounds with knowledge and discernment, enables a person to approve what is excellent. And how helpful, for not all that’s in our world is excellent. There are some things in our world that are — certain behaviors, certain ideas, certain actions, certain words, certain possessions. There are many things in our world that are not. Without knowledge, our love, at best, would get evenly distributed between the two. We’d love some things that are truly worth loving, and we’d love some things that aren’t — without knowledge that’d be the best we could do. What we’d be far more likely do however, without knowledge — because we’re not morally neutral, but sinful — is devote the majority of our love toward what the world calls lovely, but is, in fact, a distortion of true loveliness. I’ve been there, perhaps you have as well. It is misguided love. Detrimental love. Love in vain.  Enter knowledge, like a beam of light into the dark. When our love begins to abound with knowledge, we find ourselves suddenly able to discern “what is good and acceptable and perfect” versus what isn’t. Suddenly able, as one writer notes, “to put our highest affections on the highest virtues and not get distracted by lesser, peripheral matters” (ESV Expository). In other words: not less love, not muted love, not love spread thin, but love perfectly aimed and sent fully into motion — Sign me up, right? And it just keeps getting better. Just think … What happens when you begin eating better? You get healthier, right? What happens when you start moving better, like better posture, better form? You reduce injury, avoid sore muscles, grow in physical ability. What happens when you begin sleeping better? You have more energy, feel more alert and focused… At least that’s what I’ve read. What happens when you start loving better? When you start regularly loving and approving what is excellent? Again, Paul tells us. See it in the second half of verse 10. Look with me there.  “BE PURE AND BLAMELESS, FILLED WITH FRUIT” * > “10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so pure and blameless for the day of Christ.” Be conformed to the image of His Son, who is, in himself, pure and blameless. Be transformed into that same image (of the Son) from one degree of glory to another. Be, in your character and conduct, pure and blameless. Now, I want to be absolutely clear, this does not earn us a righteous before God — that’s not what inward purity and blamelessness is for. That’s what Jesus’ death and resurrection is for, that’s what our faith in him is for. We receive the gift of righteous standing before God, by faith. We don’t work for it. We don’t earn it. But we do, after we’ve received it, begin to reflect it. And this to comes not from us, but from God. See in verses 10-11, * > “so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.” See, it’s all from him. It all comes through Jesus Christ. Our state of righteousness before God, our fruit of righteousness that reflects God — God is the source of both. Consider for a moment that: any love you have, any joy you possess, any peace you maintain, whatever patience you exhibit, whatever kindness you extend, every ounce of goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness within you, every last ounce of self-control, any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy … It all, every bit of it, has been given to you through Jesus Christ. You have only ever received the fruit of righteousness that comes through Christ.  And why? Paul’s logic is still progressing here. There’s still more. What’s the aim of it all? What’s the purpose? What’s the motivation? It is, quite simply, the glory of God. See it at the end of verse 11? * > “To the glory and praise of God.” That is the ultimate end, the goal. But there’s one last phrase for us to look at in this text. And this will be our last point. One final phrase that notes the specific context of our ultimate end of glorifying God. What’s the context? Verse 10: * > “So that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless .” For the great and holy day when Jesus comes to judge the living and the dead. So, our love abounds with knowledge and discernment. We’re enabled to approve what is excellent — And so we do. We approve what is excellent, and it begins to change us. Grows us in the sense of subtraction: Purity and blamelessness drive out our love for sin. Grows us in the sense of addition: Fruits of righteousness take root and grow. And all for the day of Christ! For the day our Master returns. For the day that the bridegroom comes to receive his bride. See we want to be a kind of people who live our entire lives in anticipation of that day … constantly, unrelentingly fastened upon that day … straining, longing to grow in purity and blamelessness, to grow in fruits of righteousness, for that day because when he comes we want to offer him our very selves and say:  “FOR THE DAY OF CHRIST” “Look! See what has happened in my heart, see the changes that’ve taken place in my mind, remember the trails of sin that were built there? The highways of sin that were paved there? Look now, how they’ve all eroded. Those stains caused by all my “yesses” to lust, all my nursing of envy, all my obedience to greed, all my contentment with pride, look now at how they’ve, through time spent with you, all faded away. Not even noticeable anymore. Those fields that used to be covered in weeds, thorns, and briers which so choked out my love for you. See how you’ve taught me, you’ve caused me to pull them each up, by the roots, and set them in the sun to whither and die.  You had made me yours before any of this improvement in me.  You had loved me at a time when I was still yet a sinner.  You had called me child and given me with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, when I had yet to do anything to deserve it.  And for love, for love, for love, I wanted my heart and mind on this day to be pure for you, blameless for you, filled with fruits of righteousness for you, beautiful for you.  That you might be glorified in this, my spiritual worship — the transformation by the renewal of my mind, the testing and discerning what is your will, what is good and acceptable and perfect. How worth it would it be to say such a thing to your Savior? How excellent? To the glory and praise of God: My brothers and sisters, abound in love. Abound in knowledge. Refuse to treat either of the two as optional. And put them to work.  To root out every single thing from your mind and heart and habits that is not excellent, that is not growing you in purity, that is not cultivating in you blamelessness, that is not producing in your fruits of righteousness.  If it is the way you use your phone, the way you relate to others, the way you talk, the places you let your mind wander, if it’s not excellent, not preparing you for the day of Christ — why, why, why keep them in your hand, keep them in your conduct, keep them in your heart, keep them in your mind?  A great day is coming, aim to present your very best to Jesus on that day. Sail east, paddle east, swim east, and sink your nose to the sunrise. It will be worth it, it will be excellent. Now, in just a few moments, we’re going to have a few individuals coming forward to be baptized as a display before you, their church family, of the faith that they have in Jesus. Their being baptized is also a fruit of their faith in Jesus, a desire to obey him in all things, including the call to be baptized. Their being baptized is also a proclamation that their life from here on out is not their own, for they now belong to God, and aim to live their lives for the glory of God.

1s

Jan 21, 2024

   There is no such thing as a perfect church. We don’t find one in the New Testament, and we can’t find one today. A perfect church, this side of heaven, is impossible. But what possible is a church that you can love. We know this because the apostle Paul the church at Philippi — and I don’t mean he loved this church in a general or principled way, but this is particular and genuine love. That’s clear in these verses right from the start. Now at one level, Paul’s introduction in Chapter 1 is pretty standard. Ancient letters always started with some personal reflections and thanksgiving — so that’s something we’d expect — but Paul goes above and beyond the normal and he gets deeply personal and openly affectionate. Just listen to his language here. He says: Verse 3: “I thank my God in .” Verse 7: “I ”  Verse 8: “I with the affection of Christ Jesus”  Paul really this church. That’s obvious in what he says, but okay, we might ask: So the apostle Paul loved a local church in the first century and that’s great, Well, if it’s possible for Paul to love a local church, then it’s possible for us to love a local church, and we can learn from his example.  So here’s the question I’m bringing to this passage:  What are some observations of Paul’s love for this church that could help us in our love for our church? That’s the question I’m asking, and I’ve got three observations I want to show you but even before we get there, I need to step back for a minute and question the premise: Or, I’ll put it this way:Should we love our church the way Paul loved this church? And again, we’re not talking about general or principled love, but particular, genuine love. Should we love our church like that? I think the answer is . We should aspire to love our church the way Paul loved the church at Philippi. That is a good and worthy ambition, but I could imagine that this is a debatable topic.  WHY LOVE THE CHURCH? Some might think that the is just being part of a church no matter how you feel about it. “  Others might have a looser idea and think that you don’t need to love your church, and you don’t even really need to be committed to it, just as long as you’re a Christian and you stay out of trouble and you show up every now and then, you’re fine.  So when I say that , am I being too idealistic or too extreme? I’d say neither. Not at all.  I think that you should love the church that you’re part of — if you’re part of this church (our church) you should love our church, for three reasons:  ____ ____ 1) JESUS COMMANDED IT.  John 13:34, * > “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” That applies to our church. 2) JESUS EMPOWERS IT.  1 John 4:7–9, 19 * > “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” As John says a few verses later … * > “We love because he first loved us.” The truth is, we’re not ever going to be able to love anybody truly until we understand God’s love for us. And that’s the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts. Do you know yourself to be loved by God? And that his love is a Never-Stopping, Never-Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love. God’s love for us in Christ is the power of our love for one another. 3) THE CHURCH IS PRECIOUS. This is just being practical: we should love our church because the local church is essential to following Jesus in this world, and one day your life in this world is going to be over, , all that will matter is Jesus, and so you are following Jesus with now really matters. Track with me here: who you are following Jesus with in this life, one day will be who you follow Jesus with. And that’s super important. Our lives together as a church is more precious that we realize, and I believe it’s too precious not to love. We should love our church.  And Paul can help us with this in Philippians 1, verses 3–8. I want to show you three observations of Paul’s love for this church, and then we’re gonna turn them into lessons for how we love our church. Here’s the first observation.  1) PAUL THANKED GOD FOR THIS CHURCH WHEN HE PRAYED FOR THEM. (VERSES 3–4) We see this in verses 3 and 4.  Paul says,  * > “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy.” This is pretty straightforward, but notice two things: First, Paul prayed for this church. Second, Paul thanked God for this church. “EVERY PRAYER OF MINE” First, we know that Paul is praying for this church because he says, * > “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all…” The mention of “prayer” in verse 4 explains what he means by “remembrance” in verse 3.  This means that Paul is not just randomly remembering this church and then giving thanks for them. It’s not that the church of Philippi just pops in his head and that makes him thankful, but Paul connects the remembering to praying. He remembers the church and he prays for the church. Now, is it the remembering the church that leads to the praying or is it the praying that leads to the remembering? We don’t know and that’s fine — we just need to see that Paul prayed for this church as a habit: he says “ of mine for you all.” And every time Paul prayed, he thanked God for them.  “I THANK MY GOD” This is important. And really, it gets into a larger topic on thanksgiving, and I won’t spend a lot of time on this, but I just want to remind you that thanksgiving is a choice. It’s not only an involuntary reaction, but thanksgiving is a heart-attitude and its expression is something we choose to do. Thanksgiving is a discipline. That’s why, in the Bible Reading Guide https://www.citieschurch.com/brg, that first little box each day says “Gratitude.” I can’t commend to you enough the habit of starting everyday by thanking God — knowing that some days will be harder than others.  Somedays all we can come up with is, “Thank you, Father, that I’m here. Thank you for waking me up.” This is a discipline and it’s one that shapes us. The more we give thanks, the more thankful we become. We can choose to give thanks.  That’s what Paul is doing here . Because there are other things that came into his mind when we thought about this church! They had some unity issues. There were some members of this church who were not getting along. This was not a perfect church, but Paul loved this church, and he prayed for this church, and every time he did, he thanked God for them! Of all the things he could have prayed, and a lot of things he probably did pray about as he kept praying, he made a point to thank God.  APPLICATION So what’s the lesson for us? It’s that we do what Paul did. Would you make it a habit to pray for our church and thank God for her? And yeah, there are other things to pray about, and we’ll get there, but first, from hearts that are mainly thankful, let’s choose to give thanks to God in prayer. Just count the blessings of God to us! Let’s be amazed that God has saved us and that he’s brought us together to follow Jesus in this life. Let’s pray for our church and thank God for her. That’s the first observation/lesson. Here’s the second.  2) PAUL KNEW THIS CHURCH WELL ENOUGH TO BE CONFIDENT OF GOD’S WORK IN THEM. (VERSES 6–7) This is in verses 6 and 7, and verse 6 is a verse you’ve probably heard before. I love this verse and this is a favorite verse for a lot of Christians because it highlights God’s faithfulness in our perseverance.  That’s the theology behind this verse. God lead us all the way home. He complete what he started. Pretty much every time Philippians 1:6 is quoted, it’s to support that truth, , but notice the context of verse 6. Paul loves this church, he prays for this church, he thanks God for this church; they’ve got a long history of partnership in the gospel, and he starts verse 6 with, “I’m sure of this” or more literally, “I have been convinced of this… that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” This is an amazing statement. Paul is saying,  This kind of statement cannot be said about everyone. Paul say this about everyone, so then how can he say it about the church in Philippi? Well, it’s because he knows this church well enough to know that their faith is real. That’s what he says in verse 7. “BECAUSE I HOLD YOU IN MY HEART” Verse 7 is meant to explain verse 6. It’s like Paul knows that what he says in verse 6 is bold. It’s a radical statement. This would have turned some heads. So in verse 7 he explains,  * > “It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart.” That’s Paul’s argument?! He has just said that he’s sure that this church, the individuals of this church, are going to persevere. God will save them completely. They are going to see Jesus one day — and his rationale for that confidence is: That’s not exactly an airtight theological argument. I don’t know if that would pass in my kids’ logic class. See, Paul isn’t making an argument here, he’s being personal. He is appealing to his relationship. He has this church in his heart, which means, he has a close-up, knows-them-by-name relationship, and in that relationship, through their partnership in the gospel, he has gotten to know them well enough to see that they’re the real deal. He’s seen their lives. He’s seen where they came from. He’s seen what they’ve been through. Paul knows this church well enough to be confident of God’s work in them, and he tells them.  So what’s the lesson for us? APPLICATION As an aspiration, we want to be a church that is known well enough by one another such that we can say to one another with confidence, That’s like the point of covenant membership! We want to be that kind of church. So here’s the application: get to know one another for this purpose. Cities Church, get to know other members of this church well enough that you can say to them, Know others well enough so that you say that, And I realize that no of us is going to every single member of this church — that’s not expected — but we all can know and be known by some, and if each one of us is doing that for some, then everyone will know and be known. That make sense? That’s why we have groups. Paul knew the church at Philippi well enough to be confident of God’s work in them and he told them. Let’s do the same at our church.  Third observation: 3) PAUL PARTNERED WITH THIS CHURCH FOR THE SAKE OF THE GOSPEL. (VERSES 5, 7–8) Now, the thing that’s behind Paul’s love for this church (and his joy in them, and how he knows them, and why he’s confident of God’s work in them) all comes back to their partnership in the gospel. Paul mentions this first in verse 3 (it’s the ground for why he prays for them with joy). He mentions it again in verse 7 to explain how he knows them so well. And the word he uses for “partnership” is the New Testament word that most times is translated as “fellowship.” He says in verse 7 “you are all partakers with me of grace.” This is an edifying participation, a fellowship. So when we see the phrase in verse 3, “partnership in the gospel,” we should think: That’s what he’s saying. And I think it’s important to keep “fellowship” in mind because it guards us against two mistaken mindsets in gospel partnerships, a functional mindset and an idle mindset. We don’t want either of those.  The functional mindset is one that is utilitarian. The main concern is not the quality or the nature of the partnership, but it’s all about the bottom line. That’s your work environment, right?  Sometimes at work you get stuck with co-workers who maybe are not your favorite, but you just gotta soldier through and get it done. We see this sometimes in professional sports. There’s a team that has an inter-conflict, they don’t really get along, but they have to lay the conflict aside and do their job, because they’re paid to perform and to win. It’s all about the bottom line. Well, that’s not what is going on here between Paul and the church at Philippi. This is not a mechanical, utilitarian partnership, but it’s a true fellowship. There’s mutual love. This is a friendship And the “in the gospel” part is what guards us against the other mistaken mindset, which is an idle mindset. See, Paul doesn’t just say: No, that’s not what this is. This is fellowship on mission. They love each other, and that’s great. They probably love to be together, and that’s great. But they’re not just hanging out, they’re trying to change the world.  They are pulling together their resources and their energies for the sake of the gospel, This was not an easy, picturesque partnership where everything they touch turned to gold. No!  Paul is in prison when he writes this letter! Epaphroditus almost died going back and forth for Paul and this church! This fellowship that they had was in the trenches of gospel witness and gospel advance that all Hell tried to stop. They were friends who remained friends through the ups and downs of costly action. See, fellowship in the gospel is to see real gospel advanceand it’s to stick together when things go badly … even when it’s inconvenient, when it hurts, when there’s imprisonment. This is an incredible partnership. I want this for us! APPLICATION Fellowship in the gospel means we’re giving ourselves to something bigger than ourselves and we’re giving ourselves together as friends.  There’s an old D. L. Moody quote when he said something like “The world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to him.”   And I just want to borrow that quote and basically change everything about it, but I want to say:  Oh, that the Twin Cities would see God at work in a church that has true fellowship in the gospel! — a church that loves one another and a church that is serious about Jesus getting all the glory whatever it takes. It’s not idealistic to want that for our church, or to believe that we could have it. We’re never going to be a perfect church — that’s impossible this side of heaven — but we can be a church that loves one another for the sake of the gospel, and Paul can help us.  Three lessons to take with us: ____ ____ Let’s go wide-open in spending our lives and in being spent for the sake of the gospel overcoming these Twin Cities and beyond. We want Jesus in all of his glory and love and joy to be impossible to ignore. That’s what brings us to the Table. THE TABLE Most of this sermon has been all observation and application (Paul did this, we can too) — but where’s the gospel? It comes back to the truth that we love because God first loved us. And he has proven his love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Jesus Christ died for us. Far be it from us to boast except in the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord! His death for us is everything. And that’s what we remember at this Table. * > To this we hold, our hope is only Jesus > For our lives are wholly bound to His If that’s your confession, if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, we invite you to eat and drink with us this morning. 

1s

Jan 14, 2024

   When the apostle Paul first came to town, the city of Philippi was famous for its connections to two of the greatest emperors of the ancient world: Alexander the Great and Caesar Augustus. Paul came to Philippi in the winter 49/50 AD, to a population of about ten thousand (sizable but smaller than Thessalonica and Corinth), and when he wrote this letter ten years later, I don’t think it was lost on Paul how significant it was to be writing to “saints in Philippi.” That is, to Christians alive and well in no obscure city. The planting and growth and endurance of the church in the city of Philippi represented gospel advance deep into the Roman empire. The city, founded about 350 years before Christ, was about 8 miles northwest of port city Neapolis, in the region called Macedonia. The city was named for Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. Alexander conquered Greece in 338 BC and spread its language around the known world. So, when this city, named after Alexander’s father received a letter from Paul, almost four centuries later, , it was, in part, because of Alexander. But long past were the days of Alexander. The Romans took Philippi in 168 BC, and the city’s real claim to fame came in 42 BC, at the Battle of Philippi, when armies of Brutus and Cassius, who had assassinated Julius Caesar, were defeated by the coalition of Marc Antony and Octavian (who would become Augustus). After that, Philippi became a Roman colony, and located along the queen of long roads in the Roman empire, the city became the gateway between Asia and Europe. Far more important than history, it was a strategic city in terms of travel. Then enter Christianity in the first century. Today the reason the world knows and remembers Philippi is not because of Alexander the Great, and not because of Julius Caesar and Marc Antony and Augustus. The world remembers Philippi because of Jesus. His apostle Paul showed up there and planted his first church in Europe, and then years later wrote them this letter which we have in the New Testament. Let me just say, I love Philippians. I have a history with this book, and that in my most formative season of life. And I know I’m not alone. Many of us love this book, for a handful of reasons, and what I’d like to do in this sermon is celebrate several of those reasons why so many of us love Philippians — and why the pastors think this book in particular meets us in our life as a church here in the first half of 2024. So let’s take this twofold approach this morning, to introduce this Philippians series, which will take us up to Memorial Day, God willing. First, I’d like to answer three questions from verses 1 and 2, and then finish with four reasons why so many of us love Philippians. So, here’s three questions from verses 1–2:  (1) What do we know about the recipients of this letter?  (2) Why is this letter from Paul “and Timothy,” and not just Paul?  (3) What do they hope this letter will accomplish? 1) SAINTS IN PHILIPPI? First, what do we know about the recipients of this letter? Verse 1 says the letter is “to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.” As for Philippi, Acts 16 tells the story of Paul first coming to the city, and the unusual circumstances https://www.citieschurch.com/sermons/jesus-in-the-city of his coming there, and the conversion of Lydia and a jailer. But that was ten years before this letter, and I don’t think that amazing story actually plays much into this letter a decade later. But it is significant that Paul writes “to all the saints,” that is, to . He could have written only or mainly to the leaders, but he writes to the whole church, “to all the saints,” as he usually does in his letters. So, we might say this letter is congregational, not presbyterian. Yet, even though the whole letter is to the whole church, Paul does hat-tip the leaders, and mentions two offices, and note both terms are in the plural: “with the overseers and the deacons.” These two offices are the same two specified in 1 Timothy 3, where we find qualifications for both, with “able to teach” being the main difference in the requirements. Overseers = pastors = elders comprise the lead or teaching office in the church, while the deacons are the assisting office. 2) AND TIMOTHY? Question #2: Why is this letter from Paul “and Timothy,” and not just Paul? The first part of verse 1 says the letter is from “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus . . .” Paul is the apostle. He met the risen Jesus on the Damascus Road. Timothy is a younger associate that Paul picked up in Derbe not long before he first showed up in Philippi. So, why would Paul, the apostle, the one who really matters, it seems, have the letter come from both him , his junior partner? First, consider Paul’s magnanimous spirit. Rather than highlight his special authority, and exclude his collaborator, Paul is secure enough, and generous enough, to include Timothy with him. Now, Timothy (along with Silas and Luke) had been with him at that first trip to Philippi. So the Philippians knew Timothy. And as we’ll see in chapter 2, Paul hopes to send Timothy back to Philippi soon to check in on them (2:19).  Timothy also likely served as Paul’s assistant in composing this letter. He may have been the secretary as Paul dictated the letter. Ancient letter writing was not anything like writing emails, where you dash something off in a few minutes. Writing an epistle in the ancient world was like publishing a book — it was a long, involved, expensive process. Paul, together with Timothy, would have drafted the letter; then re-read and edited; then re-read again; then carefully written out a final copy. So, Timothy likely was involved significantly in producing the letter, like an editor and publisher would be for an author of a book. But again, Paul is the apostle. And generous as he is to include Timothy in the process, and name him, at the end of the day the letter comes under Paul’s apostolic authority. He signs off on everything in it. It represents him, and the risen Christ, from beginning to end. He speaks in the first person in verse 3, and speaks of Timothy in the third person in chapter 2. So, with Timothy listed here with Paul, “apostles” doesn’t fit them together. But together they are “servants of Christ Jesus.” Servants here is the same word for slaves (), which pairs with Lord or Master (). For Paul and Timothy to call themselves slaves is to say something about their Lord. Jesus is Lord, he is ; therefore they are , slaves. Jesus is said to be Lord at the end of verse 2 — grace and peace come from “God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The one who was so clearly fully human, just two decades before walking the roads of Galilee and the streets of Jerusalem, teaching with wisdom and authority, performing signs and wonders, suffering and dying, and purportedly rising again — this is exalted alongside “God the Father” as the divine source of the grace and peace Paul extends to the saints in Philippi. Which leads to our third and final question. GRACE AND PEACE? Third: What do Paul and Timothy want this letter to accomplish? Verse 2: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” As we’ll see in the coming months, Paul has some specific manifestations of Christ’s grace and peace in mind when he thinks of the present needs in Philippi. We might summarize it as fresh joy in Christ, leading to humility and unity (following internal conflicts), leading to joyful, effective witness in this Roman colony. This “grace and peace” Paul means to come to them through words, through this letter. So, the letter doesn’t just begin with a prayer for grace and peace; the letter itself is designed by Paul to be grace and peace to them.  Epaphroditus will carry this letter back to his home church (2:25–30). He had brought a gift to Paul from the Philippians (4:10, 14, 18), which was not their first gift to Paul. From the very beginning, the saints in Philippi had supported Paul (1:5; 4:15–16). These are clearly some of his best partners, which explains why this letter gushes with affection and joy. Paul deeply loves this church, and they make him happy. They are his “joy and crown” (4:1). If only all the churches could be like Philippi’s! This most recent gift (of perhaps food and supplies) they sent with Epaphroditus while Paul’s in prison in Rome, and apparently somewhere along the way Epaphroditus got sick, and almost died. Now, he’s recovered, and can go back, so this becomes an opportunity to write to the Philippians, and extend grace and peace to them in several ways: Paul thanks them for their gift, he updates them on his status in Rome, he commends Epaphroditus for his service, he prepares the way for Timothy to come soon, and he addresses the internal tension that has emerged in the church. From the beginning there had been external opposition to the gospel in Philippi. Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned at the get-go. Now, the church in Philippi is about ten years old (about the age of Cities Church!), and conflict is threatening from within. As we’ll see in chapter 4, two prominent women in the church are at odds, and likely others as well. So, Paul hopes that this letter, with its exhortations to pursue humility and seek unity will be a means God uses to bring about fresh and greater in Philippi, and that Paul’s words, his teaching, his letter, will be a means of God’s to this church, a church with so much to appreciate, and a few things to grow in. So, Paul loved the Philippians. And it’s a contagious love. I think that’s part of why so many of us love Philippians — how can you not when the apostle Paul loves this church so much and has so much grace to celebrate? WHY WE LOVE IT So, let’s close, then, with four brief reasons why we love Philippians, which relates to what we need as a church right now, and why the pastors are so excited for this focus in the weeks ahead. 1. JOY! First, this is an epistle of joy. As we will see, this letter overflows with joy, with brightness, with warmth (in contrast with, say, Galatians!). In Philippians we have more explicit mentions of joy, gladness, and rejoicing in such short space than anywhere else in the Bible. From the beginning, the whole epistle is warm and bright. Even with the trouble that comes to the surface in chapters 1, 3, and 4. And yet, in all this brightness and warmth and joy, this letter is written from prison in Rome. What an amazing person Jesus has made the apostle Paul. Singing at midnight in prison, after being beaten by rods. And now, ten years later, singing, in the form of this letter, while sitting in prison in Rome.  So, don’t mistake the joy of Philippians for the thin pleasures of a carefree life. Rather, the joy of Philippians, Christian joy, the joy of the gospel, is joy deep enough to survive, and thrive, in prison, in conflict, in struggle, in pain, in sickness, in death. Which really should put our lives, and our little problems and big ones, and our complaints and pains into perspective. The pastors’ prayer for us as we steep our souls in Philippians in these next five months is that Jesus would make us more like Paul. Beaten with rods, he sings. Imprisoned, he overflows with joy. Why? Not just because he had a buoyant personality, but because Jesus is Lord. The gospel is true. The Spirit is alive and poured out generously on those who love Jesus. God is sovereign. Christ is on the throne. He gives grace and peace, even in the worst of earthly circumstances. And I know it’s January, the coldest month. Winter is here, and we’re now entering into the thick of seasonal affective time, which is real, and especially in Minnesota. And one of the reasons the pastors chose Philippians, bright, warm, deeply joyful, for such a time as this is to help us through Winter 2024. So, we love Philippians because it’s an epistle of such deep joy. 2. BRIEF Second, we love Philippians because it’s relatively brief (in contrast to, say, Hebrews!). Philippians is brief enough for a short, focused but still deep study. Philippians is just 104 verses, which, I promise you, is brief enough for anyone in this room to memorize, if you put the work in over time. In fact, Pastor Jonathan and I plan to memorize Philippians in 2024. Want to join us?  Get this, 104 verses. There are 52 weeks in a year. That’s just two verses a week. You can do this. What better way to take on the sheer madness of a presidential election year than to memorize this brief epistle of deep, enduring joy?  3. ACCESSIBLE Third, we love Philippians because it’s so accessible. It’s relatively easy to understand (in contrast to, say, Galatians, or Leviticus, or Hebrews — our last three!). Here’s our hope as pastors in this season in the life of our church. We’ve been through a lot. God’s grace has sustained us, in finishing the Rooted campaign in 2023, and building out the education space, and losing three pastors last summer. The reason we chose Philippians for the first half of 2024 is that we hope this might be a time to refresh our souls. Listen, y’all have been amazing. The last three books of the Bible have not been easy ones! Galatians, then Leviticus, then Hebrews! Cities Church, you have done well, and it’s time for something more accessible. It’s time for Philippians, and to take it slow. 4. MEMORABLE Finally, we love Philippians because of the memorable passages. From 1:6 to 2:12–13 to 3:12–14 to 4:19, how many remarkable verses and passage there are in Philippians. So I made a list of my top-10 favorite verses in Philippians. It includes the four I just mentioned. It also includes 3:20–21 (on our citizenship being in heaven) and 4:4–8 (on not being anxious and setting our minds on the true, honorable, and just) and 4:11–13 (on all things through Christ who strengthens me), but let me end on my top three. The first two reveal the heart of Paul for Jesus. As Christians, in our best moments, we want to be like this: 1:21, * > To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 3:7–8, * > Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. In our best moments, when we are thinking our clearest, and our hearts are their purest, this too is what we want: for Christ to be our life, and to see death as gain because to depart and be with Christ is far better than being distant from him. And, with Paul, to count as loss anything else of gain we have in view of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus. And how do we know him? The last memorable passage reveals the heart of Jesus, and leads us to the Table. Chapter 2, verses 6–11. This is our salvation. Hear this for you, for your sin: * > [being] in the form of God, [Jesus] 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. The death he died was not for his sin; he had none. The death he died was for ours. And he went to the cross, as we saw in Hebrews, for the joy set before him. He humbled himself, knowing his Father would exalt him. He was obedient to death, knowing his Father would raise him, and reward him, and honor him, and honor himself in and through him, and that he would win for himself a people who trust in him.

1s

Jan 07, 2024

   Well, today, as you know, is the last day of 2023, and I want to begin his morning by telling you that the most important thing that you’ve done with your life in 2023 is to MAGNIFY THE GLORY OF GOD.  That’s why we exist. That’s what we’re here for, church! Our purpose is to magnify the glory of God, or we could say . Another word for this is “worship.” We exist to be worshipers of God, and that’s what I want to talk to you about today in Hebrews 13, verses 20–21. I just want to show you two things in these verses: ____ ____ Let’s pray:   1) WORSHIP IS THE GOAL.   Look again at verse 20. Verses 20–21 are the concluding benediction and doxology of the Book of Hebrews. The writer tells us his concluding prayer for us as Christian readers, and he directs all glory to God. Now in most English translations there are about 61 total words here in these two verses, and they all matter, but if we had to distill these two verses down to the main point of what the writer is saying, I think we can do it in SEVEN WORDS: The subject is ; the object is ; and the main verb is that God is us for a purpose — and that purpose, or goal, — BUT HOW AM I GETTING WORSHIP FROM VERSE 21? If you look at verse 21, we don’t see the word “worship.” PLEASING IN HIS SIGHT Well, I’m glad you asked! It has to do with that word “pleasing.” If you can, try to find that word “pleasing” in verse 21. It’s in the second line:  * > May God equip you with everything good that you may go his will “working in us that which is in his sight.” A lot of times there are words in the New Testament that get their meaning from the Old Testament, and that’s especially the case for the word “pleasing” in Hebrews. The word “pleasing” is a levitical word that has to do with worship. We see the word over and over again in the Book of Leviticus in reference to the offerings and sacrifices that people made to God. If the offering or sacrifice was according to what God had instructed, it was said to be to God, or to God (the original word could be translated either way). The idea is that God is pleased with the worship. This topic is actually a theme we see throughout the Old Testament. There are two kinds of worship: there is PLEASING WORSHIP and there is VAIN, EMPTY WORSHIP. We see this distinction right away in the Bible, starting with Cain and Abel.  Both brothers brought an offering to God, but God was only pleased with Abel’s offerings. Genesis 4:4, “And Yahweh had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.” So there are two ways to go here. There’s true worship that pleases God or false worship (so-called worship) that God rejects — and of course we want to be true worshipers. We want our worship to be pleasing to God. IN THE WRITER’S MIND And we know that this is in the writer’s mind in Hebrews Chapter 13 because of the immediate context here. We’re in verses 20–21, but just look back a little to verse 15. Hebrews 13:15. Follow with me here, verse 15: * > Through [Jesus] then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. The writer is talking about worship here. The word “pleasing” is in reference to sacrifices — . In the New Covenant, our ‘sacrifices’ — or our acts of worship — don’t involve animals anymore; it’s not tied to a certain time and place, but now our sacrifices, according to Hebrews 13:15–16, include things like praise — — and love and generosity to others. That is worship pleasing to God. That’s what the writer has been talking about in Chapter 13. But not only that, but turn back to Chapter 12, verse 28 for a second. This is just one page back. In Chapter 12, the writer has been describing the greater glory of the New Covenant, and then he says, Chapter 12, verse 28, * > Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God … And that word “acceptable” is the exact same word for “pleasing.” THE BIG TAKEAWAY So then, when we see the word “pleasing” in Chapter 13, verse 21, that God is “working in us that which is pleasing in his sight,” WE SHOULD THINK ABOUT WORSHIP. That’s what the writer has been talking about. Therefore, I think a short summary of what the writer is saying in verses 20–21 is: That’s the last thing this writer wants to leave us with in this book, in this word of exhortation. I think we should call this the BIG TAKEAWAY from the Book of Hebrews.  What is the ultimate difference it should make in our lives that we have seen that Jesus is better, that he is our great high priest, that the new covenant is superior to the old, that we need () endure in faith? What’s the point of all that? Worship. We want to magnify the glory and worth of God. Here’s the second and last thing to see. 2) WORSHIP APPLIES TO ALL OF LIFE.  There’s a parallel in verse 21 that I want you to see. God’s “working in us that which is pleasing in his sight” (which has to do with worship), that parallels and explains what it means that it’s God equipping us “to do his will.” One way to paraphrase the first part of verse 21 is to say:  God equips , which means . Our doing the will of God the worship of God. THE WILL OF GOD Now I know that sometimes we can have a lot of questions when it comes to the will of God — ‘And we can get stressed out about this— but the Bible is pretty straightforward here. In verse 21, the will of God is restated as that which is pleasing to God, and as we’ve seen, what the writer has in mind is worship. We worship God when we do his will. And here is where we need to be really clear about what worship means. If worship is doing God’s will — if worship is the goal, if it’s why we exist — then we need to know what worship is. Well, worship, now — because of Jesus, because of the first Christmas — is no longer restricted to a certain act in a certain place done in a very stipulated way.  We already saw that the writer of Hebrews calls praising God and doing good to others sacrifices — and we can do those anywhere.  Now what we’re doing together here worship — we gather here every Sunday for , but I’d actually argue that the most unique thing going on here is not the worship, but it’s the MUTUAL EDIFICATION. It’s that we’re worshiping God together, which builds one another up. That’s the one thing happening right now that won’t be happening tomorrow when we’re not gathered. But the worship continues. You come into this place as a worshiper of God, and you are commissioned out of this place as a worshiper of God. We are worshipers of God wherever we can do the will of God — that’s everywhere and anytime. Worship applies to all of life. It looks like Jesus. It means that we are radically centered on Jesus and we are Christlike from the heart. CENTERED ON JESUS Jesus is the one who changed the meaning of worship forever. Remember the conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at the well. This is in John 4. She brings us the topic of worship, because there was a dispute about true worship, so she asked Jesus, And Jesus basically said, Now that Jesus has come, all true worship is focused on Jesus himself. He is both the way to God, and the ‘place’ where God’s presence dwellsAnd we certainly see this in Hebrews! Just think of the ways that Jesus transformed Old Covenant worship. All the pieces of Old Covenant worship are now fulfilled in him: JESUS IS THE TEMPLE; JESUS IS THE HIGH PRIEST; JESUS IS THE SACRIFICE. It’s like Jesus became the entire worship service. True worship now is radically centered on Jesus … but it’s not just centered on him, it means that we actually .  BECOMING LIKE JESUS Turn back to Hebrews 10 for a minute, and we’re going to end on this. I think this passage in Hebrews 10 brings it all together. If you can, follow along with me in Hebrews 10, starting in verse 4: * > 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. > 5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world [which is what we celebrate at Christmastime!] > when Christ came into the world, he said, [to God] > “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, > but a body have you prepared for me; > 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings > you have taken no pleasure. Now that word for “prepared” there — “a body you have PREPARED for me” — that’s the same word that’s translated “equip” in Chapter 13, verse 21. God equips us to do his will. God ‘equipped’ Jesus with a body.  * > 7 Then [Jesus] said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, > as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ Now listen to how the writer explains this, verse 8, * > 8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. In other words, the old way of worship is over. The new way of worship is do the will of God. Verse 10, * > 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So worship is centered on Jesus — — but also worship now means that WE BECOME LIKE JESUS. We do what he did. A LIVING SACRIFICE Jesus completely surrendered himself to the will of God — “I’m here to do your will.” “Not my will, but yours be done,” he said, even with loud cries and tears. Jesus completely surrendered himself to God, which means that his whole life was a sacrifice that was pleasing to God. And now for us, through Jesus, WE DO THE SAME. Through Jesus, like Jesus, we also surrender our lives to the will of God. There’s no wonder the apostle Paul says what he says in Romans 12:1,  * > I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual worship. To be a living sacrifice New Covenant worship. That is our calling. That’s what it means to worship God. Jesus was the ultimate living sacrifice, and we, in him, become living sacrifices, completely surrendered to the will of God.  ABSOLUTE SURRENDER There’s a South African pastor from the 1800s named Andrew Murray, and he wrote a classic book, some of you may have heard of, called . My pastor growing up gave me his copy of the book years ago when I was trying to discern God’s will for my life, and there’s a key section in the book when Murray is talking about exactly what we’re talking about here. Listen to this.  Murray writes, * > Jesus gave up his life to God, and he thereby taught us that the only thing that life is worth living for is to give it back to God even unto death. If you take your life and spend it on yourself, even partly, you are abusing it. You are taking it away from its noblest use. O Christian, learn from Christ that the beauty of having life and will and body is that you can give it to God, and that then God will fill it with His glory … Christian, do you want a life of fellowship with God, and of glory and power and joy, even here upon earth? Remember, then, that there is but one way to secure it. Give your life up to God. That is the one way. That is what Christ did. (Absolute Surrender, 25). Many of you, as we have prayed for our church in this new season, we have prayed for INCREASED SURRENDER — and is what we mean. Increased surrender is a life of all-consuming worship. Increased surrender is to be a . This is not just for an hour and a half on Sunday morning, but you’re a living sacrifice over lunch this afternoon, and when you’re putting your kids to bed tonight, and when you step into the office tomorrow, and when you think hard about challenges in front of you … You’re a living sacrifice when you do good work, not half-hearted work, but excellent work as unto God, not man. You’re a living sacrifice when you show kindness to the people around you, and when you speak words of grace, and when you wake up early to read God’s word and to pray. You’re a living sacrifice when you do the uncomfortable thing for a purpose bigger than comfort, and when you steward your body well, and when you are generous with your time and resources, and when you endure in faith even as you’re surrounded by the whirlwind of suffering. You’re a living sacrifice when you testify of a joy down deep in your soul, even though the fig tree may not blossom … even though the cancer may not go away. When you are a living sacrifice, when you are surrendered to God like Jesus, through Jesus, it means simply that you belong to God. Every part of us and all that we have is his, and we want to magnify his glory and worth in everything. That’s why we exist. It’s the most important thing that we’ve done in 2023, we can do

1s

Dec 31, 2023

   This passage is not what you might have expected for the Sunday morning of Christmas Eve. The way the calendar falls this year, today is the 4th Sunday of Advent and tonight we will have a Christmas Eve Service, and we hope you come back for that service at 4:00pm today. If you are a guest or starting coming more recently, this past year we preached through the whole book of Hebrews, and then for these 4 weeks of advent, we have gone back to 4 passages in Hebrews that highlight the person and work of Jesus during his ministry on earth. Week one: we looked at Jesus being “for a little while lower than the angels.”  Week two: we looked at Jesus being “made like his brothers in every respect.” Week three: we looked at how Jesus “in the days of his flesh” related to us in his praying, and waiting and suffering. Week four: we are going to look at Jesus who “suffered outside the gate in order to  sanctify the people.” This passage highlights the purpose for which Jesus came. He came to save his people. His ability to save is the main purpose for all he did while he walked this earth. This morning the three things we will work through are: 1) Jesus came into the world to save the world 2) Jesus went outside the camp to save the world 3) We must go to Jesus to be saved. 1) JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE THE WORLD GOD CREATED THE WORLD In the beginning, before anything was created, there was God. A god from all eternity that existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A God that is the very definition of love, and was perfectly and eternally happy. He lacked nothing, was in need of nothing. And from his love and joy and freedom he created the world. He created the world as an overflow of all that he is. God created the universe and all the beauty and joy and life that is in it. He did not create because He was lonely, or bored or sad. God could have never created the world and would still be eternally joyful and happy but because he was full of love and joy, in his overflowing goodness he created a world and he created people. People that could know Him and delight in Him and have a relationship with Him. MANKIND REJECTED GOD But, it didn’t take long for mankind to leave the good design of God and look for another way.  In the Garden in Genesis 3, a doubt is planted in Adam and Eve’s mind by satan: That maybe God isn’t as good as they thought, maybe God shouldn’t be trusted, maybe they know what is better. And in rebellion to God, they sought to do what they thought was best, disobeyed God and sin entered the world.   And sin has wreaked havoc on the world. The world God created had been broken and the people God created had been broken. The world became a dark place that needed redemption, that needed saving. And the greatest problem wasn’t external it was internal. The sin in the hearts of human beings was the greatest problem then, and is the greatest problem now. Sin in the hearts of mankind is the cause of it all. GOD STILL LOVED THE WORLD, AND PLANNED TO SAVE THE WORLD Yet, God still loved the world and the people he created. And He had a plan from the very beginning to save His people from there sins. It wasn’t as if He was thrown for a loop and started to scramble; he always had a plan set in motion. And a few verses later after the rebellion of Adam and Eve, we see the first promise of hope for a world that was lost. GENESIS 3:15, God says to Satan who had deceived Eve, * > “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” From the very beginning of scripture, there was a declaration that evil would be defeated through a son that would be born of a woman. Then after that, Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden to the east, sent away from the presence of God, and the way back was blocked by an angel. And from the very day that Adam and Eve fell, God declared that he had a plan to save them and from that day forward, the people of God in faith began to wait for a son to come. We sing “come thou long expected Jesus” and thats right, all that way back to the garden! After that the world spirals out of control, sin toward God goes from bad to worse, and God judges the world through a flood in which only Noah and those with him are saved. Then a few chapters later God again speaks of a child to come. IN GENESIS 12 God comes to Abram, who is later renamed Abraham, and says: * > “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” God promised Abraham an offspring that will bless the whole world. And God through his prophets continued to speak about this son who is to come. Here are just a couple examples from the book of Isaiah: ISAIAH 9:6–7 shows us that this son will conquer and reign, * > “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” This is a son who will be a king forever. But also, much less seen and much less understood, this son will suffer and die for us. FROM ISAIAH 53, * > Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. * > Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. * > He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter… * > And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. * > Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied Much more could be said of the one who was to come. He was an example for us, and a teacher for us, but what we need is a savior. He came to save the world and the world desperately needed saving. We see God’s front and center purpose in one of the most popular verses of all time. Maybe you haven’t seen it as a Christmas verse before but it is… JOHN 3:16, * > “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” He came so that the world might be saved through Him And how would Jesus save the world? By dying for their sins. But the more specific answer in Hebrews is by suffering outside the camp. 2) JESUS WENT OUTSIDE THE CAMP TO SAVE THE WORLD (VERSES 10-12) As we get to the passage read a few moments ago about altars, and sin offerings, and suffering, it is contrasting what the people of Israel were commanded to do under the law that God had given them. We have seen from the beginning that God was going to send a savior to his people, but for the family of Israel (that became the nation of Israel), the way to forgiveness and relationship with God was seen through the sacrificial system.  That might be a little foreign to us, since we did not live in the time prior to Christ coming. But by looking back, we can enter into the waiting of Israel. As the people of God waited for the Son to come, they did it while living under the sacrificial system. Let’s read it here again and answer the question of Why Jesus suffered outside of the camp. HEBREWS 13:10–12, * > “We [followers of Jesus] have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.” TWO REASON HE SUFFERED OUTSIDE THE GATE FIRST, Jesus suffered and died outside the camp to show that He was the main point of the Day of Atonement. There were many different types of sacrifices, and occasions for them to be done, but this passage is talking specifically about the sin sacrifices on the day of Atonement. This was the sacrifice where the blood was brought into the Most Holy Place. The sin sacrifice on the day of atonement was the one time a year that the High Priest would go behind the inner most curtain, into the presence of God, before the Mercy Seat. The High Priest would need to follow meticulous instructions: Wash and put on Holy garments. Take fire and incense, so that smoke covered the mercy seat, so that he doesn’t die. First sacrifice a bull for his own sin and bring the blood in and sprinkle it. Then sacrifice a goat for the people, and bring its blood in for all the sins of the people. The fat of the animals would be burned on the bronze altar. But all the rest would be carried outside the camp and burned. The greatest and holiest sacrifice was taken outside the camp, so Jesus suffered outside the camp. Jesus death for sin had similarities with the day of atonement, we are supposed to see the connection, that Jesus is atoning for sin. He is like the Holiest sacrifice done under the law. SECOND, Jesus suffered outside the camp to show that true forgiveness of sin was never to be found in the sacrificial system. Jesus died outside of the camp in contrast to the sacrificial system, which had not been able to cleanse people from their sins. As we have worked through the book of Hebrews, the main theme has been that Jesus is Better. Jesus is the better thing that was needed, because He accomplished what the Old Testament sacrificial system could not do, and was not meant to do.  The sacrificial system was never meant to be the final way to relate to God. From it’s creation it was TEMPORARY and INSUFFICIENT. Jesus died outside the camp to show something new had come. HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF THE TERM PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE? The idea is making something artificially obsolete, whether perceived or in reality. In business and marketing it could be making you think, or perceive, that your phone is so old if it isn’t the latest version. Or, in reality, making a part intentionally cheap, or a phones memory too small. Both strategies have the goal of making you buy more stuff more often. A GOOD EXAMPLE OF PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE COULD BE: A bag of ice versus a refrigerator. It accomplishes its task, but is not a final and lasting solution. THE PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE OF THE OLD COVENANT The Old Covenant served as a temporary guardian and instructor so that we would be ready to receive the fulfillment of the promise of salvation. It was instructive for Israel and us to understand the seriousness of sin. Its incompleteness was to signal to us to look for something more. It helps us to understand Jesus and the way in which He came and died. I want to walk through the examples that show the “planned obsolescence” of the Old Covenant, and then explain why it matters. Ways we see the planned obsolescence of the Old Covenant: __ __ LEVITICUS 6:30, * > “But no sin offering shall be eaten from which any blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place; it shall be burned up with fire.” The day of atonement sacrifice also shows its insufficiency in the fact that the priests could not eat of it. Eating signifies sharing in. Eating signifies fellowship. Eating signifies peace. The day of atonement continued every year because it didn’t truly forgive sin, because the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin, which made the day of atonement a reminder of sin every year. The best sacrifice the OT system had to offer, done according to God instructions, was insufficient to take away the sins of the people. It was more an emblem of God’s forbearance of sin than His forgiveness of sin.  The Priest could not enter freely because their sins still remained. And the people could not eat of the sacrifice, because there sin still remained. It was not the answer for our sins, but it was a tutor and guide to prepare us to see and receive the real thing. We see that we need a different altar, and that is exactly what he have through Christ. , he was not sacrificed on the bronze altar. The best that the bronze altar could offer wasn’t enough. But Jesus, the promised son, was the new and compete sacrifice that take away sin. AND THE SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM HAS MADE US READY TO SEE THE SUFFICIENCY OF JESUS’S DEATH Jesus died once for sin and was raised, never to die again. This shows us that the forgiveness and atonement for sin was finally accomplished. * > “…he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” Jesus ascended to heaven, to the true tent where he, through his death, has opened up access for us all in Christ. * > “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” * > “We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us” We have an altar that we have the right to eat from, we have a sacrifice from which we can eat and be nourished. That we share in, that we have fellowship through, that gives us peace with God. We need to know the shadow so that we can see and understand when the real thing came. Jesus has reconciled us and now we have peace with God, and are no longer under the debt of our sin. The redeeming work of Jesus is written all over the Bible, he does not leave us out in the dark, he gives us all kinds of pointers so that we will “know it when we see it”.  And not just see it, but be able to confidently lean on Him when it comes to our doubts or fears. When we are staring right at something that we do not want in the face, we need to know that Jesus is who he said he was. That Jesus has forgiven us and has freed us from the fear of death. That Jesus is rock solid when we need Him the most and don’t have anything else to stand on.  Knowing what Jesus has done for us, verse 13 says, * > “Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.” 3) WE MUST GO TO JESUS TO BE SAVED (VERSE 13) We must go out of the camp to receive Jesus and be saved by Him. To leave the camp is spiritual not spatial. The camp for the Hebrews, was the Old Covenant law and system as a way to be righteous before God. For us there is no exact equivalent. The old covenant was a good, temporary covenant, given by God to the Hebrews that we were called to be done with because Christ, the substance had arrived. Even though there is no exact equivalent, the closest things for us would be the world. The camp and the city gates for the Jews was where their security was found, there status and identity, their citizenship, their hope and their salvation. And that is what the world can be for us. Is our hope in this world and in this life? Is our trust, our security, our hope and identity in our money, or our job, or our planned future? The camp for us is anything that we trust in contrary to Jesus. Do we put our trust in our money, or do we trust our good works, or our relative kindness above the person next to us? If the sacrificial system taught us anything, it is that sin is costly. It cost grain, and wine, and animals from the herd. And ultimately, the only sacrifice that could pay the cost of sin, was the death of Jesus, the son of God. That is the cost of sin. When go to him we will in some sense bear His reproach, but He is a treasure! We must remember, to go to him outside the camp, is not towards slavery but away from it. Remember that he says:  * > “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Our sin is the heavy burden. It is our sin that enslaves us. It is our sin that brings forth death.   And the fear of death is what causes us to keep such a tight grip on the world, to live for and to trust in only what we can see and acquire. But Jesus frees us from the fear of death by giving us eternal life through His Son. But we must leave the camp to be saved by Jesus. And we do this by faith. To go to Him is to believe that He alone can save you from your sins.   We remember the manger, but Jesus is no longer in the manger. We remember the cross, but Jesus is no longer on the cross. We remember the grave, but Jesus is no longer in the grave. Jesus came into the world, then went outside the camp, so that we could be saved. We go to Jesus, our great shepherd, our high priest and mediator, our savior and king, to adore him, to worship him, to praise Him and celebrate what he has done. This bring us to the table. THE TABLE The amazing part of the table is that Jesus is saying, “take, EAT, this is my body given for you.” Through Jesus we have the right to eat! We remember that Jesus is the bread of life. That we have been united to Jesus by faith and are reconciled to God.

1s

Dec 24, 2023

   Well today’s the third Sunday of Advent — just 8 days to go before Christmas — and the reason we’re looking at this passage today is because of a little phrase at the beginning of verse 7 — and if it’s possible, I want you to see this. So if you can, either with your own Bible or on your phone or you might have to look with a neighbor, everybody get a look at verse 7. It starts with the words: * > “in the days of his flesh.” That phrase is important. “In the days of his flesh” is a good translation. If you read the NIV translation, it says at the start of verse 7: * > “During the days of Jesus’s life on earth.” That’s a good interpretation of what the writer of Hebrews is talking about. He starts verse 7 by pointing us back to the time in history when Jesus lived on this earth as a man. HE WANTS US TO THINK ABOUT JESUS LIVING HERE IN FLESH AND BLOOD LIKE OURS.  It has to do with the context and I’ll explain this super briefly … It starts in Chapter 2, verse 17 (which we saw last week) when the writer tells us that JESUS IS OUR MERCIFUL AND FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST BECAUSE IN EVERY RESPECT HE WAS MADE LIKE US. Then at the end of Chapter 4, verse 15 the writer repeats this same idea and says that JESUS IS OUR HIGH PRIEST WHO IS ABLE TO SYMPATHIZE WITH OUR WEAKNESSES BECAUSE IN EVERY RESPECT HE HAS BEEN TEMPTED AS WE ARE, YET WITHOUT SIN. So Chapter 2, verse 17 and Chapter 4, verse 15 repeat the same idea. It’s not just that Jesus is our high priest, but it’s that Jesus is our high priest . That’s what qualifies Jesus to be our high priest. It’s because Jesus .  THAT’S THE POINT THE WRITER HAS BEEN MAKING — THAT’S THE CONTEXT — AND SO NOW IN CHAPTER 5 HE’S ABOUT TO DRIVE THAT POINT HOME. That’s why he starts in verse 7, “in the days of his flesh” … or “During the days of Jesus’s life on earth.” The writer is about to prove to us, with an example from Jesus’s life on earth, that Jesus gets us. And we’re on the edge of our seats! This is going to be fascinating. I’m interested in this. And so here’s a question for us: IN THE DAYS OF HIS FLESH What about the humble conditions of Jesus’s birth? Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, was born in a stable. He had very simple beginnings. The days of his flesh started as something people can relate to. Or what about the time at the wedding in Cana when Jesus turned the water to wine? This was Jesus’s first recorded miracle, which is something only Jesus can do, but it was such an The party host had run out of wine. They had this big wedding celebration, with tons of people, and they ran out of wine, which was probably embarrassing, and Mary, Jesus’s mom, was there, and she said: “Jesus, help them out.” He gave the people wine. In the days of his flesh Jesus met a super practical need. (See John 2:1–12) Or what about that time Jesus came to the home of Lazarus, his friend, after Lazarus had died. Jesus stepped into a place surrounded by the family members and friends of Lazarus and they were all grieving, and Jesus himself was grieved. He was moved and troubled, and the Bible tells us that Jesus wept. In the days of his flesh Jesus was sad. (See John 11:1–44) There’s also the time when crowds were following Jesus and parents started bringing their kids to him, in hopes Jesus might touch them and maybe bless them, People didn’t think kids were that cute in the first-century world, so the disciples were telling these parents to beat it, but Jesus said , and then he scooped up the children in his arms, and said, We either will have Jesus as those who are helpless, or we won’t have him. In the days of his flesh Jesus demolished pretense. (See Luke 18:15–17). Or what about the time Jesus spoke to Zacchaeus up in the tree? What a moment! Jesus was on his way into Jericho, and there was another big crowd swarming him, and Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, but the crowd was too big and Zacchaeus was too short (the literal Greek there is “wee little man”). He climbed up in a sycamore tree hoping to get a good view of Jesus as he walked by but rather than pass by him, Jesus came right to him, in the tree, and Jesus looked up and said,It was a wonderful surprise for Zacchaeus and amazing irony. In the days of his flesh Jesus had a sense of humor. (See Luke 19:1–10) Then there’s the time when Jesus turned the tables on the way James and John thought about greatness. Or there’s when Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple. Or in John 4, when Jesus was walking from Judea to Galilee, just before he talked to the woman at the well, the text says, * > “Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, sat by the well…” Jesus never sinned, but he confronted sin and human weakness head-on, things like selfish ambition or greed or fear or hunger or disappointment or weariness. Jesus knows about all that, and they’re all examples of how he gets us, but the writer of Hebrews doesn’t talk about any of these examples. Instead, the writer of Hebrews takes us back to one scene in the Gospels when Jesus was alone.  If you want to see how Jesus really gets us, if you wanna know how much he knows what it’s like to be us, go to the Garden of Gethsemane. … JESUS’S EXCRUCIATING PRAYER Now the writer doesn’t mention “Gethsemane” by name, and at one level, Jesus’s whole life involved the kind of humiliation we see there, but verse 7 seems to be talking more about a specific event. Jesus “offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death.”  This sends us back to the Thursday night before Jesus was crucified. We know that he got alone to pray, in Gethsemane, and the Gospel writers tell us that Jesus in prayer. His soul was sorrowful and troubled, and he with God the Father, not only shedding tears but even sweating blood, and he cried, * > “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). Now the Gospels tell us that Jesus prayed often. He was constantly getting away to a place of solitude for prayer. But Gethsemane was the place where Jesus experienced EXCRUCIATING PRAYER … “loud cries and tears” … this was a painful kind of praying … and because Jesus experienced prayer like that, I can be assured that he knows what it’s like to be me, and he knows what it’s like to be you. ACCORDING TO THE ARGUMENT OF HEBREWS, BECAUSE JESUS PRAYED LIKE THIS IN THE DAYS OF HIS LIFE ON EARTH, IT VERIFIES THAT HE KNOWS WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE US. And that’s what I want us to linger on today. We’re going to focus in with one question: We’re just going to focus on one answer. It’s that Jesus had to wait. JESUS HAD TO WAIT We hate to wait, don’t we? If you think about it, pretty much all of popular technology is created to conquer waiting. We’ve been shaped to think that waiting is a problem, when really, waiting is basic to being human. It’s basic to our creaturely existence. And as much as we try to overcome that with our technology, waiting will always be what God expects of us in our relationship with him — and Jesus knows what it’s like. Notice in verse 7 that the writer of Hebrews doesn’t spell out the exact content of what Jesus prayed, but he does give us the and of prayer. The category is “prayers and supplications” (or “petitions”). This means that Jesus was God the Father for something. He requested something. And the manner — he requested something — was with “loud cries and tears.” So if we put these together, it means that Jesus was something. This was a kind of request. And now add to this that God is described in verse 7 as “him who was able to save him from death.” So get this: Jesus earnestly requested something from him who was able to save him from death. … To be saved from death. This is another reason why I think Gethsemane is in the writer’s mind. Jesus earnestly wanted to be saved from death. Jesus asked the Father, Nowwe know that Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him, but he did not relish the cross itself. He despised the shame of the cross. Jesus dreaded his suffering.  THE DREAD OF SUFFERING And sometimes I wonder if we really appreciate this fact about Jesus. I think we can tend to think that Jesus was able to endure his suffering because he had special powers as the Son of God. This is complex, and I’m suspicious that somewhere in here in how we think about this, we imagine that Jesus’s deity was the underwriter of his endurance. We think: And it’s true that Jesus was never less than God — he was in every respect like his Father, and in every respect like us — so we would be misguided to think that his deity is what got him through his suffering. Gethsemane certainly corrects that.  Jesus looked forward to having nails driven through his hands about as much as you would. Just imagine that you knew today that tomorrow, by noon, you were going to have spikes nailed through your hands and feet, and giant thorns crammed in your head, and then before that, you were going to get scourged, beaten 39 times, so that the skin of your bare back is just shredded. And the physical pain wasn’t even the worst part. If you knew that was going to happen to you tomorrow, how would you sleep tonight? I get nervous about the dentist!  What if you knew in 12 hours you were going to experience the worst pain ever inflicted upon a man? What would you sound like when you prayed? Jesus is like us here … and he prayed hard … it was excruciating prayer … THE WHIRLWIND This is not an easy question, because Hebrews says God did. Look at the end of verse 7: Jesus prayed … * > “to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.” But wait a minute, we know what happened. The Father did remove the cup. The crucifixion was every bit as horrible as Jesus dreaded, and probably worse. … it’s that Jesus was saved death, but he was not saved from dying. The resurrection was God’s answer to Jesus’s prayer — which means Jesus was not saved from experiencing the horrible thing, he was saved from the horrible thing having the final say. And this means that there was a time, in the suffering of Jesus, when it seemed like his prayer would not be answered. Sunday morning did not happen like that! Jesus had to endure the waiting … which became in Gethsemane a whirlwind of suffering. And we tiptoe into mystery here. Jesus knew and believed that this Father would never abandon him, but then also: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It’s a whirlwind, see … The big realities and truths of God are less clear in the whirlwind of suffering — We know what God can do. We ask him to do it. But we’re stuck in this whirlwind where we’re not sure if he’s doing anything, and we have to wait. Have you ever been there? NO EAGLE LANDING Answered prayers are a wonderful thing. I’ve got a list in my mind of several different prayers I’ve prayed over the years and the ways God has answered them. And it’s amazing. God is good, and we should be so encouraged and rejoice together when God answers our prayers.  I saw last week, in a little video, there was a guy who was out fishing, and he happened to see this Bald Eagle a long ways off across this lake, and when he saw the eagle, he prayed, “God, would you let me get close to that eagle today and get a good look at him?”  That’s what the guy says to the camera, and he’s doing a selfie video, telling this story. He asked God to get him get close to the eagle, and then he pans out with his camera and the eagle No joke! This Bald Eagle came and landed on his shoulder. And I don’t even know this guy, I don’t know his theology, but I’m like, “Yes! That’s awesome!” Can God make an eagle land on somebody’s shoulder? Absolutely!  But no eagle landed in Gethsemane … and although God does answer our prayers and we’re thankful for that, there’s a lot of times we don’t have Bald Eagles on our shoulders …and Jesus gets that.  Jesus prayed an excruciating prayer and he had to wait. Just like you and me.  And in the waiting, his obedience was not easy. HIS OBEDIENCE WAS NOT EASY Hebrews 5:8, * > “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.” The way the writer says this means it’s what we would assume. Similar to what we talked about earlier, it’s natural for us that Jesus as the Son of God somehow came pre-programmed to always obey.  Or if we pretend the whole world was a big carnival full of carnival games, we might think that all the games were somehow rigged for Jesus to always win. Like instead of the basketball goal rim being bent in (so that the ball barely fits), we might imagine that when Jesus shot, the rim was stretched out extra wide. We might say: “Because he was a son, obedience was easy.” But Hebrews 5:8 says: * > “ he was a son, he obedience .” And we know that was the case for all of Jesus’s life, but that was especially the case in Gethsemane. Gethsemane assures us that Jesus’s obedience was authentic obedience. It was not laboratory obedience in a controlled environment. This was obedience in the waiting, in the whirlwind … which means although his heart always desired obedience, THE PRACTICE OF THAT OBEDIENCE WAS TESTED. It was pressured. It was challenged. All of Jesus’s obedience was predicated on “not my will, but yours be done” but how Jesus had to live out that obedience was in varied and unpredictable circumstances. It was as varied and unpredictable as the world we step into every day. That was Gethsemane. And Gethsemane became a school. He learned obedience in that waiting, and it was not easy. WE CAN GO TO HIM I’ve heard it said before, by older and wiser Christians, that the deeper you grow in your faith, the more aware you are of your sinfulness. The idea is that as you mature in faith you sin fewer times, but you also become more aware of how pervasive and subtle your sinfulness is. C. S. Lewis said, * > When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. This gives me some comfort when I feel like an idiot. Which I’d say has increased in the last few years, I hope that’s a good sign. Just the other day I was riding in the car with one my children who was driving, and this kid is a good driver. But we were in traffic and there was a moment when they had to hit the breaks, and it was one of those times when you gasp — you can’t help it. You just react, and I did …  And I’ve thought long and hard about this … I think Jesus would have gasped too. Jesus had reactions. It was a scary split second. But the problem wasn’t the reaction … it was the comment I made right after it. And I knew right away I was wrong. You know there’s usually a moment like that, in our sin, where we come to a kind of crossroads and we either go this way and double-down and try to justify our sin and act like it’s not a big deal, or we go the other way, admit we’re wrong and confess it right away … which, if this way were more comfortable we’d do it more, but it’s not. Because you feel the shame and regret. That’s not the kind of dad I want to be. That’s not the kind of person I want to be.  So what do I do with that? … I go to Jesus who learned obedience through what he suffered.  HE KNOWS WHERE WE’RE COMING FROM Verse 10: “And being made perfect…” — the idea here is completeness; this is referring to Jesus’s resurrection and exaltation after ‘the days of his flesh was mission accomplished,’ after he suffered in our place and died on the cross — God raised Jesus and enthroned him, and “he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.” Which means he is not just the Son who reigns, but he’s the High Priest who has made atonement for us, and who intercedes for us. Jesus is seated on the throne of his rule, but it’s also a throne of grace, and I can go to him. Because he knows where we’re coming from.  He’s been here, in the days of his flesh, full scary split seconds and temptations, and he’s been to Gethsemane … to the waiting and the whirlwind. Jesus has been here and he learned obedience. And he is so kind to us.  This is where we have to remember Chapter 2 verse 11, that Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters. He really gets us, and one thing that means is that his love for us is a love for us where we are. I want you to know that. Jesus loves you where you are, not where you pretend to be, or even where you aspire to be. Jesus loves us in the days of our flesh, during the days and moments of our lives on this earth in all our weakness and failure. And so the invitation this morning is to come to him.  That’s the invitation of this Table.

1s

Dec 17, 2023

   I was watching the Super Bowl this past February, expecting to see the newest commercials from Doritos and Budweiser and Coca-Cola, when this unusual music began to play. On the screen were still shots of kids doing adorable things — helping each other, hugging, arm around the family dog. At the end the words came up,  * > Jesus didn’t want us to act like adults. . . . He gets us. It was a heart-warming riff on Jesus’s teaching about being childlike. I liked it. This is the Super Bowl, with hundreds of millions of people watching, and a 30-second spot comes up commending Jesus. I love Jesus. I worship Jesus. Yeah, let’s commend Jesus. Then another spot came up in the second half. Harsher music. Pictures of adults demonstrating manifest outrage and hatred, in each other’s faces. Sometimes it’s a physical altercation — and all from the last three years. Then the message:  * > Jesus loved the people we hate. . . . He gets us. And my response was, Ouch and yes. The ads are from a non-profit looking to “put Jesus in the middle of culture.” They paid $20 million for the Super Bowl ads and plan to spend $3 billion in the coming years. So, I’ve seen more of these “He gets us” ads in recent months. Sometimes, I like them. Other times I cringe a little, concerned it will give a skewed impression about Jesus. * > Jesus was judged wrongly. > Jesus had strained relationships, too. > Jesus welcomes the weird. > Jesus was fed up with politics, too. > Jesus invited everyone to sit at his table. > Jesus chose forgiveness. Then last week I took my twin sons to their first Minnesota Wild hockey game at the X, and now there’s a hockey “He gets us” on the thin digital screens around the side of the arena: * > Jesus had great lettuce, too. Lettuce means hockey hair. I had to ask my boys for help on that. I don’t want to be too picky, but I wonder if “great lettuce” might represent some mission drift for the “He gets us” campaign. Admittedly, it doesn’t speak to me personally like it would if it said, “Jesus was losing his hair, too.” OUR PIONEER AND CHAMPION Hebrews 2 is a “he gets us” passage. But it’s also clear that he not only us, but he us. He rescues us. Saves us. is good; as we’ll see, that can real, genuine help for us in our need. But , on its own, doesn’t do a whole lot for us. Yes, he gets us. He really does. And this is a slice of what we celebrate in Advent. But there’s no real joy in Advent if he gets us and doesn’t also help us, save us, change us, lift us up. In Advent, we celebrate that he became man, fully human like us, not just to be one of us but to save us. Verse 10 has a name for Jesus that I’ve come to love, and it’s hard to find an equivalent word for it in English. The ESV has : God “make[s] the of [our] salvation perfect through suffering.” is a good translation. But I want to fill out the meaning for us a little bit. The Greek word is . It’s built on the word , which means . So , we might say, is “the originator” or “the beginner.” The problem is we mean something else by “beginner” in English: “a person just starting to learn a skill or take part in an activity.” Jesus is not a “beginner” in that sense. Rather, he’s a “beginner” in the sense that he’s the leader who and others follow him. Like a pioneer. But he doesn’t just go first into uncharted territory, but into battle. So “champion” or “hero” could be a good translation of as well. And he’s a champion who we don’t just watch from afar. We’re connected to him and come with him. He doesn’t just fight for us; he leads the charge; we follow in his wake. So, Jesus as our , is both our hero and example. He is “the beginner” in that he births the people, and he leads into the battle, and he rescues us through faith in him, and then also he inspires us as our model who we follow. We benefit from what he does for us, and couldn’t do for ourselves, and yet in his work for us, he opens up a path that we might follow in his steps. And Advent is where our “beginner” begins, so to speak. That is, Advent is the beginning of his humanity, and his getting us, and saving us, and helping us; but Advent is not the beginning of his person.  So, let’s walk with Hebrews chapter 2 through the Advent drama of our “beginner,” our “champion,” from the very beginning until now. There are four distinct stages here in the drama of Hebrews 2 — four movements in the story of Advent. 1) JESUS DID NOT START LIKE US. That is, our champion, our “beginner,” did not begin like we did. His was not created like ours. He is a divine person, the second person of the eternal Threeness. His humanity was created, conceived in Mary’s womb and born in Bethlehem, but not his person. The book of Hebrews begins with glimpses of his godhood. Before any world, any creation existed, he existed and was “appointed the heir of all things.” Then God (the Father) made the world. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” — he is distinct from the Father in his person and same as his Father in divine nature. “And,” verse 3 adds, “he upholds the universe by the word of his power” — as only God can do. So, the story of Advent begins before time, before creation, before “the beginning.” Jesus himself is God, and if you have eyes to see, it’s all over the New Testament. Greg Lanier, in his recent book , shows how the deity of Christ shines through, on just about every page in the New Testament, in five ways other than the simple declaration that he is God () and other exalted terms: 1. He is before Advent, and before creation. 2. He is the unique “Son” of the heavenly Father, eternally begotten. 3. He is called “Lord” which refers to God’s Old Testament covenant name (Yahweh). 4. He receives worship. 5. He relates to the Father and Spirit in ways that reveal his person as one of the divine Threeness. So, let’s get this clear before we move on to talk about his humanity and his getting us. In Jesus, a man did not become God. Rather, God became man. We say that Jesus is , but we do not mean that he became God and man . There is a profound asymmetry in the story of the God-man: he has been God for all eternity, and he at the first Christmas. 2) JESUS WAS MADE LIKE US. Now we come to his first Advent and the first Christmas, when God made God in the image of God. Without ceasing to be God, God the Son took on humanity. He added humanity to his divine person.  Humanity, as a created nature, is “compatible” with the uncreated divine nature. Deity and humanity are not a zero-sum game. The divine Son did not have to jettison any eternal deity (as if that’s even possible) to take on humanity. Uncreated deity and created humanity operate at different levels of reality, so to speak. Without ceasing, in any way, to be fully God, the Son took on our full created nature and became fully human. As verse 17 says, he was “made like his brothers in every respect.” Look at verses 11–14: * > For he who sanctifies [Jesus] and those who are sanctified [us] all have one source [one nature]. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” 13 And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” 14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things . . . We’ll come back to finish verse 14. But let me just say about these Old Testament quotations in verses 13–14 that Pastor Jonathan explained them so well in the sermon on February 12 https://www.citieschurch.com/sermons/why-did-jesus-suffer as pointing to Jesus’s solidarity with us in our suffering.  “Flesh and blood” in verse 14 refers to our humanity. We are flesh and blood, and so Jesus became one of us — to which Hebrews 4:15 adds, “without sin.” Sin is not an essential part of what it means to be human. Jesus was fully human, made like us in every respect, and “without sin.” So, then, what’s included in this “every respect” of our humanity? What does it mean for Jesus to be fully human, like us? One of the biggest moments in the collective formation of early Christians in saying what the Scriptures teach about the humanity of Christ is a church council called Chalcedon in 451 AD. The Chalcedonian creed says Jesus is “perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, .”  Jesus has a fully HUMAN BODY. He “became flesh,” which means at least a human body. He was born and grew and grew tired. He became thirsty and hungry. He suffered, and he died. And his human body was raised and glorified, and he sits right now, on heaven’s throne, in a risen, glorified human body. But becoming fully human also involved taking “a rational soul,” or “the inner man,” including HUMAN EMOTIONS. He marveled. He expressed sorrow. He was “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled” and wept (John 11:33–35). And he rejoiced and was happy. John Calvin memorably summed it up, “Christ has put on our feelings along with our flesh.” A “rational soul” also includes a HUMAN MIND, in addition to his divine mind. So, Jesus “increased in wisdom” as well as in stature (Luke 2:52), and most strikingly, he says about the timing of his second coming, “Concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, , but only the Father” (Mark 13:32). With respect to his humanity, and his human mind, there are things he does not know. His human knowledge is limited, like all human minds. Yet, at the same time, for this unique two-natured person of Christ, he also knows all things with respect to his divine mind. As one-natured humans, this is beyond our experience and ability to understand, but divine and human minds are compatible, and this is no contradiction for the unique person of Christ but a unique glory. So too with his HUMAN WILL, in addition to the divine will. Jesus says, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). Jesus, speaking with respect to his human will, says that he came “not of [his] own will” but his Father’s. And that divine will, while not proper to his humanity, is proper to his person as God. So, when he prays in Gethsemane, “Not as I will, as you will,” he aligns his human will with the divine will, which also is his as God. So, Jesus has a fully human body and emotions and mind and will. And verse 11 says, “That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers.” He is not ashamed to call you brother, or sister. Jesus could have been a brother in our nature, and yet ashamed to call us his brothers. But mark this, he is not the kind of brother. He is not ashamed of his siblings. He’s not worried that our weaknesses and immaturities, or even our follies, will mar his reputation. He’s not stuck with us and embarrassed by it. That’s not how Jesus is with me, and with us. I want to be like Jesus is with me. I want to be like this as a dad, and be like this as a friend, and be like this as a pastor: not mainly concerned about how others’ behavior reflects on me, but mainly concerned about my brother or sister in Christ, so that I can be loving, rather than self-focused, and especially in the very moment when love is needed most. 3) JESUS SUFFERED LIKE US. That is, being fully human, he suffered both with us and for us. Suffering is an important aspect as his being fully human, and saving us in his full humanity. As God only, he could not suffer. God is “impassible,” unable to be afflicted or be moved from outside. But not humanity. So, Jesus becoming fully human involved not only a human body and reasoning human soul, and emotions, and mind, and will, but also he entered as man into our fallen world, which is under the curse of sin, and even though he himself was not a sinner, he was, as a creature, susceptible to the afflictions and assaults and sufferings and pains of our world. He entered into our suffering, and did so in two senses. One, he suffered . He knows what it’s like to suffer in created flesh and blood. And verse 10 says that he was made “perfect through suffering.” This language of “perfect” or “complete” is important in Hebrews. Verse 10 doesn’t mean that Jesus was imperfect, or sinful, but that he was , or , for his calling, as our champion and high priest, through his suffering. Having become man, he was not yet complete, not yet ready, but needed to be made ready, complete, perfected through suffering. Hebrews 5:8 says,  * > Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. Which leads, then, to a second sense in which he suffered: . Not only does he, as man, suffer with us, but he, as the God-man, suffers . Which leads to the connection here between suffering and death.  Verse 9 introduced “the suffering of death,” of Jesus suffering for us, in our place: “by the grace of God he tasted death for everyone.” Jesus not only experienced suffering with us but for us. He not only gets us, but saves us, and that “through death.”  Now look at the rest of verse 14 and verse 15, and two achievements of Jesus for us through his human “suffering of death” at the cross. Pick it up in the middle of verse 14: Jesus shared in our humanity, * > that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. The first achievement through his human death is that he defeated Satan. His suffering unto death conquers the one who had the power of death. We should not forget this as a Christmas theme: * > “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8) How? * > “he appeared in order to take away sins.” (1 John 3:5) They go together. Jesus destroys the devil by taking away sins. The weapon Satan had against us was unforgiven sin, “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.” But , Jesus “set [this] aside, nailing it to the cross” and in so doing, God “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in [Jesus]” (Colossians 2:14–15). So, the first achievement is destroying Satan, and second in Hebrews 2:15 is delivering us. How? We might expect what follows in verse 17, but not expect verse 18. Verse 17 gives us one reason that he had to be made like us in every respect: * > so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. We had sinned and needed covering before the holy God. We had a “record of debt that stood against us” because we were . So, to rescue us, God needed not only to become fully man, and suffer with us, but suffer , unto death, that his death might be for us, his brothers, the death we deserved for our sins. That’s what it means when the high priest “makes propitiation for the sins of the people.” The people’s sin against the holy and infinitely worthy God deserves his righteous, omnipotent wrath. And in becoming human, and suffering with us, and unto death, for us, Jesus absorbs the just penalty due us that we might be delivered from hell and the justice due our sin. And verse 18 gives us one more reason, embedded in the first, for why Jesus was made like us, in every respect, including suffering, and suffering unto death in our place. 4) JESUS HELPS US RIGHT NOW. Verse 17 is amazing in that he deals with our sin, and gets us right with God, and verse 18 is amazing in that he’s ready and eager to help us right now. He both makes atonement for us in his death, and he rises again, and sends his Spirit, that he might help us in our struggles right now. Look at verse 18: * > *  >>  For because he himself has when , he is able to help those who are being . Because Jesus suffered, he can help us in our suffering. That is, because he suffered unto death to atone for our sins, he is able to indwell us by his Spirit, draw near to us in our time of need, and help us in whatever tests and challenges and trials and temptations we face in the ongoing struggle of the Christian life. Jesus not only saves us sin’s curse, but also sin’s temptations. He atones for our sins, and stands ready to come to our aid in temptation and in our own suffering. Having saved us from sin’s guilt, he is poised to save us from sin’s power. So, as Hebrews 12:2 says, Jesus is not only the founder, the , the beginner, the champion of our faith, but . He’s not only the beginner but finisher. Our champion not only leads the way and goes ahead of us to face the foe, but he also doubles back to check on us, to help us, to keep us. So, let’s close with this question: What help do you need this Advent? How are you suffering? What’s your present trial, or trials? What’s testing your faith most right now? What’s tempting you to sin or give up? What’s your biggest need this Advent? In Advent, we don’t just remember what he did in the past; we remember who he is in the present. Christmas is not only a ; it’s an . Get his help. He not only gets us; he helps us. WHAT CHILD IS THIS? So, as we come to the Table here in Advent, let’s ask for his help afresh. What need do you bring to the Table this morning? How do you need his help to persevere? The one who meets us here at the Table is fully divine, the second person of the eternal Godhead, who in his happy, expansive, overflowing, gracious nature, took our full humanity to come rescue us. And he suffered with us, . He destroyed Satan, and he delivers from our sins. And he rose from the dead, and ascended, and he is now enthroned in heaven, and he stands ready, by his Spirit, to help us in the fight of faith.

1s

Dec 10, 2023

   Welcome to Advent.  * > What is Advent? * > What kind season is Advent? * > Where are we waiting? Over the last week I’ve been praying, for my own soul and for our church, that this Advent would be THE GREATEST ADVENT EVER. And I’m not exactly sure how that happens, but I think it has to start with us knowing that we’re waiting in a land of deep darkness. And this land of deep darkness is also a land of ashes.  DARKNESS and ASHES go together in the Bible. Isaiah and Job both use the language of darkness and ashes to talk about lowliness and a sense of despair. Isaiah tells us that a sign of humiliation is when one spreads ashes beneath them. Job, in his suffering, sat in ashes. He said he had — which meant that he was undone. He felt like he was over. He felt doomedand out of luck, and he was just stuck with a sense of dread (see Isaiah 9:6; Job 10:21–22; Job 2:8, 30:19). That’s what darkness and ashes can do to you. You can’t see beyond where you are. Everything kind of closes in around you. What once was , but you’ve still got the memory. What might have been , but you’ve still got this unfulfilled dream. And this shouldn’t make you cynical — we should never be cynical — but there is a kind of heavy dose of realism that recognizes this world is broken, and superficial solutions do not work.  That’s the world we live in. John Bunyan called this world the City of Destruction. It’s the land of darkness and ashes. And I need to say all this to you this morning because I know that on your radio and in the places you shop, you’re hearing “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” and “holly jolly rockin’ around the Christmas tree” — and look, that’s great, I love it, we’re gonna get there — but first, we’re in a season of waiting, and we need to know that we’re waiting in a land of darkness and ashes. That’s vital to the real meaning of this whole thing.  And this morning I want to show you that in Hebrews Chapter 2. We find three truths here that we need to remember this Advent: ____ ____ 1) CURRENT REALITY Let’s start in verse 5. Everybody take a look at verse 5: * > “For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.” There’s a couple of things to quickly note here … OVER ANGELS First is the angels … The writer mentions angels because that’s been a big part of Chapter 1. Remember the writer starts the Book of Hebrews by showing us the supremacy of Jesus. He gives us ten glorious facts about Jesus, and the last one is that JESUS IS SUPERIOR TO THE ANGELS, and from Chapter 1, verse 4 all the way through the end of the chapter, he backs up that claim with seven different passages from the Old Testament.  He uses the Old Testament to the point that Jesus is greater than the angels, and so in Chapter 2, verse 5, when he says, “It was not to angels that God subjected the world to come” what’s implied here is that God subjected the world to come Basically the writer is resuming his exposition from Chapter 1. He took a little break in Chapter 2, verses 1–4 to warn us not to neglect our great salvation, but now he is back to stressing the superiority of Jesus, and what he says here in verse 5 is right in line with Chapter 1, verse 13. Look at that for a second. Chapter 1, verse 13. * > “And to which of the angels has he [God] ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? The point here is that God didn’t say that to angels, HE SAID THAT TO JESUS. God the Father told Jesus to “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” — and enemies being your footstool IS ANOTHER WAY TO SAY THEY’RE SUBJECTED TO YOU — right? See how that fits together? If they’re your footstool it means you are higher than them. So in Chapter 2, verse 5, the writer is repeating that same idea in the same construction we’ve seen in Chapter 1: “Not angels, but Jesus.” Jesus is greater than the angels, and the reason he’s greater is because he sits at the top. Jesus reigns over everything. The writer is still showing us the supremacy of Jesus.  THE WORLD TO COME Now the second thing to notice in verse 5 is that phrase “the world to come.” Y’all see that in verse 5? Literally, it’s “the world that is coming.” The future world.  So God did not subject the future world to angels, he subjected the future world to Jesus, and when it comes to this future world, look what the writer says: It’s the end of verse 5. He says, * > “… the world to come, of which we are speaking.” Now did y’all know that in Chapter 1 the writer has been speaking about the future world? Did we pick that up? What has the writer said in Chapter 1 that sounds like the world to come? It’s the fact that . Jesus has been raised from the dead and exalted, and that’s the hallmark of the world to come. It’s that Jesus is the Davidic King and he is seated on his heavenly throne, and the future world is subjected to him.  Because the writer has been talking about the reign of Jesus, that’s why he can say he’s been talking about the world to come.  PSALM 8 EXCURSION And on that point, the writer says verse 6: “It has been testified somewhere…” and then he quotes from Psalm 8, * > “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?” And there’s a long debate on exactly what the writer of Hebrews is doing with this quote. So I want to take a little excursion here for a minute and talk about this, and it’s gonna get a little complex, so look at your neighbor and say . When we looked at this passage earlier this year, Pastor Kenny (I miss that guy) he said that the question is on whether the writer of Hebrews is thinking about humans in general or is he thinking about the Messiah in particular … and Kenny said the answer is . And I think that’s right. In other words, I think both humanity in general and Jesus in particular are in view here, but I wanna say that humanity is in the background, and Jesus is in the foreground. This has to do with a biblical-theological theme in Scripture that Jesus is the Last Adam. Just like the first Adam represented all humanity in old creation, Jesus is the Last Adam and he represents all of redeemed humanity in the new creation. And as our representative, it means there are several things said of Jesus that are also said of his redeemed humanity.  One amazing place we see this is in the Book of Daniel Chapter 7, verses 13–14. Daniel has a vision, “And behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man…” And the son of man came to the Ancient of Days and , to this son of man, is given dominion and glory and a kingdom — all supremacy. Daniel is clearly talking about the Messiah, the Son of man, but then a few verses later he says that will have dominion and glory and kingdom (see 7:18). So which is it? Who has dominion? The Son of man or the saints? The answer is , because the Son of man, the Last Adam, is the representative of the saints, and we inherit his dominion with him.  And this same theology shows up in the very last chapter of the Bible. In the Book of Revelation, which is all about the glory of Jesus, listen to John’s vision in Revelation 22, verse 3. * > “3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” So the servants of the Lamb, the saints of the Most High, redeemed humanity — will reign forever. That’s us. Did you know that? The point is that as Jesus reigns, Jesus our representative, the Last Adam, as he reigns, we reign with him. That’s a biblical-theological theme, and that’s what’s going on here with Psalm 8. There’s the Son of Man and redeemed humanity, there’s Christ and Christians — and both are in view, but I see Jesus as still in the foreground here like he’s been in Chapter 1.  And the big reason is because I think the writer of Hebrews understands Psalm 8 in its context to be about the Messiah (and that’s for about five amazing reasons I can’t get into now), but why it matters is because I think the writer is applying Psalm 8 to Jesus right away in verse 6 … now I’m not 100% sure that’s what the writer is trying to do, but I’m like 93% sure, so I need you to work with me.  Okay, look at your neighbor and say Now look at verse 6. In verse 6, see those little quote marks? There’s where he’s quoting Psalm 8, which is addressed to God, and he says: * > “What is man, that you are mindful of him, > or the son of man, that you care for him? > 7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; > you have crowned him with glory and honor, > 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.”  Now from this point onward, the writer is just gonna break this down for us. First he highlights what is meant by “subjection.” He explains: * > “Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.” That’s what he’s saying. And the foreground here is that GOD THE FATHER HAS GIVEN JESUS TOTAL CONTROL. That’s what it means to be the King who reigns over the future world. Jesus himself said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” We repeat that every Sunday at our commission and we believe it. It’s true. Right now, really and truly, Jesus reigns. WHY WE EXIST That’s why this church exists. Some of y’all know this story. I tell it in the Foyer, that in the early years, anytime I’d meet with someone to talk about church planting, I tried to start every conversation by saying: “First off, Jesus reigns. Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth, and he doesn’t need us.” And that’s still true. We should never forget that. Our church — with our mission to go deep as disciples and to send out droves of disciples — that’s not a “have to,” that’s a “get to.” Because Jesus doesn’t need us. We only get to be part of what he’s doing because he chooses to work with us. All of our ministry is a “get to” when we understand that Jesus is the one who reigns.  And he reigns because that’s what it means to be King. That’s what it means to be Lord and to have all authority. And Jesus has that authority right now. This is current reality. Jesus reigns. Now here’s the next thing to see, in the last sentence of verse 8. This is our second point. Obvious Predicament. 2) OBVIOUS PREDICAMENT Look at the last sentence of verse 8: * > “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.” That means there’s a problem here. There’s an obvious predicament — The writer has just told us that Jesus reigns over everything. God the Father has put the future world in subjection to him. Jesus has total control — but just look around for a minute … At present, if we open our eyes to what’s going on, it sure doesn’t look like everything is in subjection to Jesus. And that’s been the case for a long time … like a couple thousand years. And I love how the old poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow captures this. (Who lives in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis? All right, this is your guy.) His poem “Christmas Bells” has been put to music and it’s a great song, but Longfellow wrote the poem in 1863, during the Civil War, which was a horrible time, his family suffered greatly. He starts the poem,  * > I heard the bells on Christmas Day > Their old, familiar carols play, > And wild and sweet > The words repeat > Of peace on earth, good-will to men! But then later he says,  * > And in despair I bowed my head; > “There is no peace on earth,” I said; > “For hate is strong, > And mocks the song > Of peace on earth, good-will to men!” We get that tension: there’s the CURRENT REALITY that Jesus reigns and the OBVIOUS PREDICAMENT that a lot of people over whom Jesus reigns hate him and they live in rebellion against him.   One commentator says that there are two underlying issues in this passage:  ____ ____ Both of these issues have to do with GLORY AND SUFFERING. If Jesus reigns, why is there still suffering and evil in this world? If Jesus is the one who reigns, why did he experience suffering and evil himself? THE QUESTION IS: IF JESUS TRULY REIGNS, WHY ARE WE STILL DEALING WITH DARKNESS AND ASHES? This has to be one of the most important questions for Christians to figure out. HI, MEET INAUGURATED ESCHATOLOGY And the key here is understanding that we, right now, are living in between two worlds. There is this present world (old creation under Adam), and there is the future world (new creation under Christ). And although right now we’re living in the present world (old creation), the future world — through the life, death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus — the future world (new creation) has been inaugurated here. Jesus has initiated, or , the future world into this old world. The theological word for that is inaugurated eschatology. Any of y’all like the show ? There’s this one episode, Season 8, when Dwight throws a garden party (Season 8, Episode 4). In preparing for this garden party at Schrute Farms, he reads a book about garden party etiquette and he works really hard to make this a proper party. And so he stands at the entrance of the party, dressed in a tuxedo and a top hat, and when each guest arrives, he announces their names to introduce them.  He had read that it’s a way to honor your guests. The louder and more formal you shout their names, the more you honor them.  And so when Jim and Pam arrive with their daughter, Cece, Dwight shouts: “James, Pamela, and Peepee Halpert!” (and the joke is that he shouts the wrong name). But what’s the connection to the resurrection of Jesus? It’s that when Jesus was raised from the dead, that was like God the Father shouting Jesus’s name. He formally introduced Jesus to this present world, saying “Here is the Son of God! Here is the Lord of all! Here is the King of Kings who reigns over everything!” … except that Jesus, rather than staying here and reigning in this present world, he ascended to his heavenly throne where he reigns over the future world that is coming. STILL WAITING So this present world is not the same because the future world has been introduced, and the future world is not fully here, because it’s been introduced — so see, we live in between two worlds.  Jesus reigns over the future world that is coming, but right now, in this world, his future-world reign is manifest spiritually. So remember in the Gospels all the parables Jesus told about the kingdom of God. There’s a hiddenness to it. Like a mustard seed, it’s small for now, but it won’t always be. For now, the reign of Jesus means he sends his Spirit and the good news of his reign, which being announced and believed all over the world … (we’re not perfect yet, he’s still working on us, these bodies are mortal) but happy surrender to the reign of Jesus is active in us. We’ve been born again spiritually as part of that future world, but the full consummation of that future world is still waiting for Jesus’s physical return. We’re still waiting for his final physical entrance, his Second and Last ADVENT … which we should remember at Advent. We’re still waiting … And this waiting is in a land of darkness and ashes. That’s obvious. And that brings us to our third and final truth to see here. #1 is CURRENT REALITY (Jesus reigns); #2 is OBVIOUS PREDICAMENT (we’re still waiting for the consummation of his reign) … and now finally, #3 … active hope. 3) ACTIVE HOPE Verse 9, * > “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” The writer here affirms again what he’s been saying this whole time, that Jesus reigns. Jesus is the Son of Man who has been crowned with glory and honor. Although we see a land of darkness and ashes, we know what’s true about Jesus. We know that by his resurrection God has crowned him, enthroned him, as King over all. That’s no new information to what the writer has been saying in Chapter 1, but what new here is the application from Psalm 8: Jesus is “him who for a little while was made lower than the angels” and then that Jesus was crowned with glory and honor. This means that now the writer is not just stating the fact that Jesus reigns, but he’s telling us Jesus came to reign. And it’s that his reign came through suffering.  It’s that Jesus reigns him “who for a little while was made lower than the angels.” That’s referring to Jesus’s first Advent. It means that Jesus, who is superior to angels, for a little while, for a time within redemptive history, Jesus humbled himself and stepped into this present world to be lower than angels. “Mild he lays his glory by.” He became human like us, here in this world, and he subjected himself to human suffering. Jesus experienced the darkness and ashes of this land. Y’all know that we as humans love stories, and we especially love a good underdog story, what’s called the ‘Rags to Riches’ plot. It’s ancient storyline. And it can at least be traced back to an old Norwegian fairytale called “Askeladden.” You’ve probably heard this story before. It’s about a son who is the runt of his family, he’s always overlooked, he gets the worst chores, but then later, against great odds, he becomes a glorious hero-king. His name “Askeladden” means “Ash Boy” because he was given the job of working in the kitchen, down at the bottom of the castle, where there were no windows. It was dark and he had to scrub dishes and clean the ashes of the hearth. It was dirty, lowly work. We know this story as Cinder-ella (“Cinder” as in a fire-cinder, like ashes). If you can remember, Cinderella’s job was down in the kitchen where it was dark, she scrubbed pots and pans, and swept ashes. It was dirty work. That’s the setting of this great fairytale, darkness and ashes. But of course we know what comes. There’s a transformation, there’s an ascension, and the rest is happily ever after. And the reason we love that story is because it echoes a truer and greater story. When Jesus, for a little while was made lower than the angels, he came here to experience darkness and ashes to the fullest extent. He took the lowest of lowly jobs, suffering to the point of death, even death on a cross. And that wasn’t accident. That was not a wrench thrown into God’s plan. But it was actually through his suffering, because of his suffering, that God has highly exalted him. God has raised him and enthroned him as the reigning king — He is not dead nor doth he sleep! — And he understands the darkness and ashes, because he’s been here. That’s our active hope. It means we wait in a land of darkness and ashes, but we don’t have to fret over it. We don’t like it, that’s okay, but we don’t fret over it, because we know darkness and ashes is not the end of the story. Jesus is reigning over the world to come, and now we wait for the consummation of that world … when we, as his brothers and sisters, as ourselves Ash-boys and Cinderellas, will reign with him. More on that next week.  But for today, we come now to this Table. THE TABLE And we come to this Table with a simple prayer: “Come, Lord Jesus.” What make this the greatest Advent ever is if Jesus returned. We should pray for that and hope in that, even at this Table this morning. 

1s

Dec 03, 2023

   Well, the day has come — our very last sermon in the book of Hebrews. Our text this morning is this incredible book’s conclusion. But don’t let that word fool you — it’s not a CONCLUSION like the kind we may be accustomed to — one that simply states all the main points we’ve already covered. No, but here at the letter’s end our author is yet pushing us onward — further into the margins of our care for one another, and deeper into the realities of the God whom we worship.  Of the three main points of this sermon, the first will correspond to the former, our care for one another, points two and three with the latter, the deep realities of our God. Here’s the three points: Our Prayer, God’s Power, Jesus’ Unique Glory. Before we go any further, LET’S PRAY and ask God for his help.  1) PRAY FOR US First point, prayer. Our text opens with the entreaty, v. 18 “PRAY FOR US.” And I think one litmus test for us, this morning, of how deep the realities of Hebrews have permeated our souls, is how we react to those three words – “PRAY FOR US.”  AS ONE NEAR GOD For example, when you hear “PRAY FOR US,” you may think, “WHY PRAY, I MEAN, WOULD THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE EVEN HEAR ME? I’M NO WRITER TO THE HEBREWS. I’M NO APOSTLE PAUL. I’M JUST A STANDARD ISSUE, RUN-OF-THE-MILL CHRISTIAN.” Hebrews would reply, “BROTHER, SISTER, IF YOU’RE A CHRISTIAN, THEN HOW COULD GOD NOT HEAR YOU WHEN YOU PRAY?” Recall how Hebrews has labored to show that to be a Christian is to be one who is INTENSELY near to God. One who recognizes that there’s “A BETTER HOPE (THAT’S BEEN) INTRODUCED, THROUGH WHICH WE DRAW NEAR TO GOD.” (7:19) As one who believes that “(Jesus) is able to save to the uttermost those who DRAW NEAR TO GOD through him.” (7:25) One who has, “CONFIDENCE TO ENTER the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,” (10:19-20) One who, because you have a “great priest over the house of God, should “DRAW NEAR with a true heart in FULL ASSURANCE of faith” (10:21-22). One who “with confidence (can) DRAW NEAR TO THE THRONE OF GRACE, (to) receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). Do you pray as one dialing up a long-distance phone call? Do you pray as one wishfully-thinking – perhaps God will hear me, eventually. If you’re a Christian, you live all your days – morning, noon, night, at work, at home, good times, bad times, before the face of God. So when we hear the writer’s request to, “Pray for us,” we should think, “OF COURSE HE’S ASKING US TO PRAY FOR HIM, WE’RE CHRISTIANS — WHEN WE PRAY, WE PRAY WITH GOD IN THE ROOM. HOW COULD HE NOT HEAR US?”  AS ONE DEDICATED TO OTHERS You may read, “Pray for us” and think, “WHY PRAY, IT’S NOT LIKE IT’S MY RESPONSIBILITY.” HEBREWS WOULD SAY, “ACTUALLY, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, ONE ANOTHER’S SPIRITUAL GOOD IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY.” No, not responsibility in the sense of control – we can’t manage or manufacture another’s spiritual good. But it is our responsibility to work toward, put effort toward, our brothers and sisters spiritual good. Hence the exhortations, “Exhort one another EVERY DAY, as long as it is called “today,” (3:13) and “Stir one another up to love and good works, NOT neglecting to meet together,” (10:24) and “SEE TO IT that no one fails to obtain the grace of God” (12:15) and now, “pray for us.” This is no mere preface to the paragraph for us to gloss over, but a real, live call to action to work and labor for the good of your brothers and sisters in the faith through prayer.  There’s two more possibilities. AS CHRISTLIKE You may read, “Pray for us” and think, “WHY PRAY, ISN’T THAT A BIT TOO MENIAL OF A TASK? TOO SIMPLE? LIKE, ‘GIVE ME SOMETHING THAT TAKES A BIT MORE SKILL AND KNOWLEDGE, NOT THIS LITTLE STUFF LIKE PRAYER.’” Hebrews would say, “HAVE YOU MISSED MY DESCRIPTION OF WHAT JESUS, YOUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST, HAS BEEN DOING FOR THE SAKE OF HIS PEOPLE, FOR THE PAST 2,000 YEARS?” * > “(Jesus) is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25) Jesus prays for his people. In fact, that is what he is doing for you and me, before his Father, right in this very moment. The author to the Hebrews — and this should shock us — in saying, “pray for us” invites us to join Jesus in his prayer ministry — praying with the same names on our lips that are also on his. AS THOSE WHO BELIEVE IT DOES SOMETHING Lastly, You may think, “WHY PRAY, IT’S NOT LIKE IT’S ACTUALLY GOING TO CHANGE ANYTHING.” Hebrews would say, verse 19 of today’s text, “I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the SOONER.”  Hear the urgency in those words, “I URGE YOU the MORE EARNESTLY to do this?” Like, “I’m really asking you to do this, it’s really important, I’m expecting it of you. He’s SO after their prayer, in fact, that he even gives them personal testimony, v. 18, “For we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things” lest any doubt about their motives arise and cause them not to pray.  That’d be quite the ridiculous ask if prayer changed nothing. He goes further, “I urge you the more earnestly to do this IN ORDER THAT I MAY BE RESTORED TO YOU SOONER.” See that. Sooner. Like, “LISTEN, MY CURRENT LOCATION WILL CHANGE, AND THE TIME OF MY ARRIVAL WILL CHANGE, AND THINGS WILL MOVE INTO MOTION, EVENTS WILL FALL LIKE DOMINOES — I’LL BE RESTORED TO YOU, SOONER, IF YOU PRAY.” Implication: if you don’t pray, well then, I might not.  Interestingly, it seems he is, after all, confident that these Hebrews will respond in prayer. Look at the hint in verse 23, * > “You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon.” In other words, “SINCE I KNOW THAT THROUGH THEIR PRAYERS I WILL BE RESTORED TO THEM SOONER, THEN TIMOTHY BETTER HURRY UP, BECAUSE I’M TAKING OFF HERE, SHORTLY.” He’ll come with me, but only if he gets here soon.  FIRST POINT, PRAY. NOW, SECOND, GOD’S POWER. 2) GOD’S POWER Hebrews follows his exhortation to his readers to pray for him more earnestly with his own prayer, in the form of a benediction, for them (verses 20-21). And very prominent in his benediction — certainly anchoring and supporting his prayer — is the unparalleled power of God. Now, God’s power has already been implied. In verse 19, note the passive language — not “I’ll go to you sooner” but “I WILL BE restored to you sooner.” It’s not him that’s going to do the restoring, but God. God’s power will be called upon in v. 21, It is God who “will EQUIP them with everything good, and WORK IN THEM that which is pleasing.” But nowhere is God’s power more plainly evident than in verse 20, God’s raising of Jesus from the dead.  Interestingly, the wording here doesn’t seem to emphasize the NEW LIFE to which Jesus was raised TO, but rather on the death he was taken OUT FROM. “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus.” Death, and the fact that the same Jesus who went into it, God brought out from it, that’s what’s in view. In order to grasp just how that bringing out of death shows us about God’s power, we need to begin by asking, “What is death in the first place?”  Well, Death is the pitiless wall between man and every one of God’s promises. Death is the dividing line between man and everlasting joy, peace, and life. Death is the chasm of darkness that swallows sinners whole. Death is the final ticking of the clock, the “game over” moment, the snuffing out of ones hope, happiness, and wholeness. Death is the thing that all of us naturally fear. Because Death is the thing that we are all born into. And Death is the thing that we all deserve.  Even more, Death, if it were to be the end for Christians, would render our preaching vain, and our faith vain, and prove we are still hopelessly lost in our sins, and of all people most to be pitied. As it is, we’re not hopelessly lost in our sin, and death doesn’t render our faith in vain, because Jesus, has been: * > “crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” (Heb. 2:9) Jesus, through death, destroyed the one who had the power of death, that is, the devil, (Heb. 2:14). And Jesus “has delivered all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Heb. 2:15). For the Christian, that death is dead and buried. That Death has breathed its last. That “Death has swallowed up in victory, and been robbed of it’s sting” because it was in Jesus’ death, (Col. 2:14), that God canceled our record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, nailing them to the cross. And it was in Jesus’ death that God disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him (Col. 2:15). And the proof of all this – our own freedom and victory over the death which had us so enslaved and shackled in its grasp – is in a Messiah who breathes – 3 days following his own death.  Hebrews, aiming throughout this letter to instill in his brothers and sisters a confidence in God – confidence that God can keep his promises, keep his people, equip them with all they need, work in them that which he pleases, and both hear and answer their prayers – says, “Allow me to remind you who bound the hands of the greatest enemy the world has ever known!” HOW POWERFUL IS GOD? Powerful enough to conquer the grave. More than that, conquer the grave FOR THE GOOD of his people.  It think it’s fair to say we don’t often associate power with peace, do we? We associate power with destruction. Power with violence. Power, when we hear about it on the news or see it in the papers, is not usually, to us, a good thing. But our God, verse 20, is the “God of peace” because he puts his power to work for the good of his people — to bring them peace with him, and downstream from that peace, a growing peace with self, with others, with the world, leading on into the final peace, final rest, heaven. Col. 1:20, * > “God, through Jesus, reconciled to himself all things making peace by the blood of his cross.” For that reason we call it, Eph. 6:15, “the gospel of peace.” DO YOU BELIEVE THAT? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT GOD PUTS HIS POWER TO WORK FOR YOU? THAT YOU’RE NOT RUNNING ON YOUR OWN STRENGTH IN THIS CHRISTIAN LIFE? IT’S NOT ALL UP TO YOU? But that it is INSTEAD the God who conquered the grave who EQUIPS YOU with everything good that you may do his will (verse 21)? Just look at that verse: It’s HIS power that is without limit (equipping you), and it is HIS will – the very thing he wants, the very thing he desires – that he’s equipping you for (verse 21). It’s what HE finds pleasing that he’s moving you toward. And if the grave could not stop him, WHY WOULD SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS EQUIPPING YOU FOR THE VERY THINGS THAT HE DESIRES FOR YOU TO BE AND DO THIS SIDE OF GLORY?  BROTHER, WILL HE REQUIRE A VACATION IN A SEASON WHERE YOU MOST NEED HIM NEAR? SISTER, WILL HE SUFFER EXHAUSTION AND NEED REST WHEN YOU MOST NEED HIS STRENGTH? CHURCH, WILL THERE EVER COME A DAY WHEN YOU GO TO HIM AND SAY, “LORD, I NEED MORE FAITH, I NEED MORE HOPE, I NEED MORE STRENGTH, I NEED MORE LOVE,” AND HIM SAY, “LOOK, YOU ASKED ME FOR THESE THINGS LAST WEEK, AND I GAVE THEM TO YOU, BUT I’M OFF TODAY, YOU’LL NEED TO WAIT A BIT TILL I REVIVE?” We might feel that way when others ask things of us. God does not. His power never waivers, JUST ASK THE GRAVE. So pray. Pray in light of God’s power, and run the Christian life in light of God’s power. Final point, marvel at the unique glory of Jesus.  3) JESUS’ UNIQUE GLORY Turn to the description of Jesus we get here, starting halfway through verse 20, “Our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep.” It’s a description not many of us would expect to come at the tail end of this letter. “OUR LORD JESUS, THE GREAT HIGH PRIEST” – that’s what we’d expect, not “Our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep.”  It’s imagery that shifts the focus a bit in a surprising way. I mean for so much of this book we’ve been dialed in on the Temple – the priests and sacrifices there – but “shepherd of the sheep” bumps the lens. Zooms it out past the Temple to the rolling hills and pastureland beyond it – focusing in there, as it were, on a group of sheep, traveling together: not wandering about and changing direction, but moving forward; not headed toward arid ground but luscious field; not walking in crippling fear, but contented peace.  They’re sheep, not known for consensus, nor intelligence, nor bravery, – yet, they seem to have all. WHY? Because, as we see most clearly though this lens, they have a great shepherd. Beautiful, BUT WHAT’S THE CONNECTION TO HEBREWS? WHY THE TRANSITION FROM JESUS AS GREAT HIGH PRIEST TO JESUS AS GREAT SHEPHERD, ESPECIALLY HERE AT THE VERY TALE END OF THE LETTER? Well, consider two of the major themes of this book. Jesus as the Great High Priest, who’s offered the better sacrifice, and has now sat down on the throne beside his father. And, Jesus’ people bound for the better country, the city with foundations, and their need to keep moving onward, toward it.  The first, Jesus as Priest, happens at a very fixed-point on the map, so to speak – the true Temple in heaven. The second, the journey of Jesus’ people, does not happen at a fixed point on the map. It moves as the people progress toward glory.  I think Hebrews leaves us with the image of Jesus as the Great Shepherd, so as to say, “JESUS IS THE GREAT HIGH PRIEST, WHO’S FINISHED HIS WORK ON BEHALF OF HIS PEOPLE AND SAT DOWN ON THE THRONE, HE IS. AND HE IS ALSO, THE GREAT SHEPHERD WHO NOW CONTINUES TO LEAD HIS PEOPLE ONWARD, AS THEY TRAVEL TOWARD THAT VERY THRONE.” He’s not in other words, the kind of priest that says from his throne, “MY WORK IS FINISHED, I’LL SEE YOU WHEN YOU GET HERE,” but a priest who completes his Temple work, and also grabs his shepherds crook, saying, “NOW, FOLLOW ME THROUGH THE WILDERNESS AS I LEAD YOU THERE.” The book ends with God’s people bound for glory. As God’s people travel on, they look to their shepherd – eyes fixed on Jesus. As they look to him, WHAT DO THEY SEE? IN THE BLOOD One final point here: See there’s that little phrase at the very end of verse 20, * > “By the blood of the eternal covenant.” WHERE DOES THAT CONNECT TO? Are we to read, “by the blood” as referring to HOW the God of peace brought back Jesus from the dead? Like, “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, BY the blood of the eternal covenant?” — The blood being the means by which God brought back Jesus from the dead? That’s what many suggest, but to be honest, that seems a bit strange to me. After all, throughout this book, the point of Jesus’ blood – overwhelmingly – has been that it is for his people. He bleeds for HIS people. That’s WHO the blood is for. In fact, Hebrews notes this as an area of contrast between Jesus, and the high priests in Jerusalem, saying, “the high priest goes into the Most Holy Place but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers FOR HIMSELF AND for the unintentional sins of the people” (Heb. 9:7). It’s a point of contrast – Jesus’ blood not being for himself, but purely for the sins of his people.  A second suggestion is to read it as, “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, BY VIRTUE OF the blood of the eternal covenant.” So Jesus BECAME the Great Shepherd by virtue of the fact that he shed his blood. Makes more sense— after all he is the shepherd who lays down his life, bleeds, for the sheep.  BUT COULD THERE BE MORE? Could Hebrews, at the end of this letter which has been so riveted upon the glories of Jesus, be doing something other than noting the mechanics either of Jesus’ resurrection, or of how Jesus became the Great Shepherd? Here’s what I want to suggest to you is the final image of Jesus that we get at the close of this book. I was greatly helped by Pastor David Mathis in working through this. He noted that the literal rendering of this passage in Greek would read, “May the God of peace who brought up from the dead the shepherd of the sheep, the great one in the blood of the eternal covenant, the Lord of us, Jesus.” Hear that? The “great one IN the blood of the eternal covenant.”  I don’t think the focus here is on the mechanics of Jesus’ resurrection or his becoming shepherd — But is instead on the glory of Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, who as his sheep (scared, tired, discouraged as they can be at times) lift their eyes up to him, see him adorned in the blood of the eternal covenant — venerated by it, celebrated by it, glorified by it.  They see adorned in the blood of victory, not of defeat. Cloaked in the symbol of battle won, not lost. Arrayed in the proof of power possessed, authority shown, and glory made clear. His blood adorning him in awesome splendor. The great one in the blood which dismantled death, defeated Satan, and paid for our sins in full – that is who they see. What an encouraging reminder for the sheep to look up and see the blood by which their very souls were bought. What a cause for them to bow once more before their Great Shepherd. And what an image, what a picture, to leave us with at the close of such a glorious letter. As the hymn goes, * > “crown him the Lord of love! Behold his hands and side - Rich wounds, yet visible above, In beauty glorified.” TO THE TABLE Jesus’ blood is what now brings us to the table. Here, we bask in the presence of our great shepherd and receive from his hand — a meal which anticipates a better meal, which he is bringing us to. It’s a meal that celebrates Jesus – his blood spilled in death, the death that dismantled the grave. And so if you recognize this blood as a symbol of Jesus’ victory and the means by which you have been reconciled to God, we invite you to eat and drink with us. 

1s

Nov 26, 2023