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This is the manuscript of the sermon delivered at Christ Church on January 10, 2021. This is the second sermon in a sermon series "Great Imperatives For Effective Living"
Even with all the struggle and uncertainty of 2020 let's us rejoice that we find ourselves in 2021 with all of its opportunities for ministry to others and service to our Lord. So that we might do a better job for our Lord, ourselves, and others, we are going to look at some of the important and crucial things found in the writings of the apostle Paul as he wrote to the churches that were so dear to his heart.
We started, last week, with Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. In that letter Paul issues a challenge to all disciples of the Lord Jesus, to present their bodies as a living sacrifice in service to God and others.
Romans 12:1-2 NIV Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Today we are going to look at Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi. Philippi was a Roman colony, and its citizens enjoyed the privilege of being Roman citizens. They enjoyed the same legal rights there as if they lived in Rome itself. However Paul reminded these believers on two different occasions that their real citizenship was not Rome or the Roman Empire their real citizenship was heavenly.
For an audio recording of the sermon click the YouTube link at the end of this manuscript.
To see a video of the entire service click this link https://youtu.be/wUkSmJSGug8
Scripture Reading:
Philippians 1:27-30 NLT Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.
Text:
Philippians 1:27 NLT Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.
Introduction
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
That's from Psalm 90:12 NIV
The end of something tends to bring perspective. The end of a year, a project, a relationship, or a life, can make us take a step back to consider the time spent. What have we invested in? Where have we toiled? How have we performed, and when did we fall short?
Here is the way someone described it in a New Year' devotional that I just read yesterday;
You don’t remember, but it was scary. You tightly gripped the finger that steadied you.
A pause.
Another pause.
Then you let go. Your foot shot out instinctively; then the other. The room exploded in applause at your awkward, determined wobbling. Waiting arms stretched before you, calling you. Life had opened up in a way you had never experienced before, for once . . . you crawled, but now you walked.
It’s interesting that once we learn to walk, we don’t want to go back to crawling. In fact, we do more. We run, we hop, we skip. But there are challenges in all of that. And we move forward without a real understanding of how God created and enabled us to do it all.
So that we might do a better job for our Lord, ourselves, and others, in 2021 we are going to continue our look at some of the important and crucial things found in the writings of the apostle Paul to the churches that he loved.
We started, last week, with Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. In that letter Paul issues a challenge to all disciples of the Lord Jesus, to present their bodies as a living sacrifice in service to God and others.
Romans 12:1-2 NIV Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Paul makes that appeal to all Christians in Rome, because God has shown his great love to them. So they should be grateful. Paul uses the idea of a priest who offers a sacrifice. The sacrifice had to be perfect.
So we Christians should try to use every part of our bodies in a manner that pleases God. We should use our feet to go where God wants us to go. We should use our hands to give practical help to other people. We should use our ears sincerely to listen to other people’s problems. With our mouths, we should speak to encourage other people and to tell them the good news about Christ.
The right use of our bodies will be like the perfect sacrifice that pleases God. Then our worship would not just be a ceremony. When we present our bodies as a sacrifice it is the right kind of worship. It is spiritual. It is the worship that God wants.
John 4:23-24 NLT But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Sacrifice of our bodies shapes our Christian citizenship.
Today we are going to look at Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi.
Paul shared many thrilling truths in his letter to his beloved church at Philippi. The letter to the Philippians is a letter of gratitude and joy that reveals the love of Paul for this congregation. It records repeated expressions of the congregation’s love and support for him in his missionary ministries. With genuine love and wisdom and with great optimism, Paul gave them crucial information regarding their walk with God, and as he spoke to them, he speaks to us today.
Philippi was a Roman colony, and its citizens enjoyed the privilege of being Roman citizens. They enjoyed the same legal rights there as if they lived in Rome itself. However Paul reminded these believers on two different occasions that their real citizenship was not Rome or the Roman Empire their real citizenship was heavenly.
The first is in our text;
Philippians 1:27 NLT Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.
And then;
Philippians 3:20 NLT But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
Now Paul was not suggesting that they ignore the obligations of earthly citizenship, nor are we to ignore our obligations as citizens of the United States, but he challenged them to recognize their unique relationship with God and his kingdom work. He challenged them to live, while in the pagan city of Philippi, as citizens of the holy and higher kingdom of God. So we, while citizens of the United States are to live as citizens of the kingdom of God.
Near the end of his letter, Paul sent greetings to the saints in Caesar’s household.
Philippians 4:22-23 NLT And all the rest of God’s people send you greetings, too, especially those in Caesar’s household. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
This may have served as an additional challenge to the Philippians to be faithful and devoted servants of Jesus Christ because if someone could live for Christ in Caesar’s household, it follows that one could live for Christ in Philippi or in anywhere else. So our challenge is to live for Cnrist in Los Angeles.
It is interesting to notice that Paul presents four ways Paul hoped his readers would conduct themselves as citizens of the kingdom of God.
He would have them stand firm in one spirit with one mind.
He would have them strive together in a united effort.
He would have them stand firm against opposition.
He encouraged them to be willing to suffer for the sake of Christ
I. He would have them stand firm in one spirit with one mind (Phil. 1:27).
Let’s read our text again.
Philippians 1:27 NLT Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.
The threat of divisiveness or disunity has always threatened the church’s witness. This is as true today, as it was true in the early days of the Christian movement. How can a church full of people with different backgrounds, genes, personality types, ways of communicating and thinking, struggles, emotions, values, desires, experiences expectations, and convictions ever expect to find unity?
We are talking about Paul's letter to the Philippian church today but he also spent some time in his letter to the church in Rome dealing with divisive issues, like certain foods and celebration of special days.
The folk who were in Bible Study will remember this passage but I want to go over it briefly today.
Romans 14:1-9 NLT Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them. Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? Their own master will judge whether they stand or fall. And with the Lord’s help, they will stand and receive his approval. In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him. Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God. For we don’t live for ourselves or die for ourselves. If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and rose again for this very purpose—to be Lord both of the living and of the dead.
You see otright, blatant sin is not the only danger to a church’s spiritual health and unity. Certain attitudes and behavior can destroy fellowship and fruitfulness, and they have crippled the work, the witness, and the unity of countless congregations throughout church history. These problems are caused by differences between Christians over matters that are neither commanded nor forbidden in Scripture. They are matters of personal preference and historic tradition, which, when imposed on others, inevitably cause confusion, strife, ill will, abused consciences, and disharmony.
When people have different opinions about certain actions, that are not commanded or forbidden in scripture, Christians should respect each other.
We need to recognize that there are many handicaps or hindrances to maintaining a unity of mind and spirit.
1. The individuality of persons can often create disunity.
2. Honest differences of opinion can sometimes be very divisive.
3. Physical and emotional fatigue can often create disunity. That’s happening today with COVID, racial justice, political differences, and other things.
4. We must recognize that our enemy the devil is always seeking to divide the people of God so that he might, if possible, conquer them.
The apostle Paul was urging the church in Philippi to take steps toward unity within the body in order that they might reflect God’s grace and goodness.
Philippians 1:27 NLT Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.
II. He would have them strive together in a united effort.
A. We must strive together side by side for the sake of the gospel.
Jesus’ followers should work together like dedicated members on a winning team. We should cooperate in redemptive activity like the members of a choir singing in perfect harmony. We should seek to avoid any discord so that we don't cast a bad reflection on the message we proclaim.
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 NLT And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
B. We must strive together to protect the purity of our faith.
Truth has always been attacked by error. Some people try to mix error with truth. So we must strive together to protect the purity of our message.
John 14:6 NLT Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
The gospel is all about Jesus. It’s about Him, it’s from Him, and it’s for His glory. There is no gospel without Jesus. No one comes to the Father, no one has eternal life, no one has loving fellowship with God apart from Jesus, the real Jesus, the true Jesus.
C. We must strive together side by side in proclaiming the good news
Like I said last week Paul challenged the Philippian Christians, and I challenge us today to have the mind of Christ.
Philippians 2:4-8 NLT Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges ; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
III. He would have them stand firm against opposition.
In Paul’s world, preaching a message of a crucified but risen Savior was not a popular thing to do. Because of the numbers of idols and shrines, people with vested interests opposed any religion that served as a competitor for the status quo.
Bravery, with a refusal to surrender to fear, was an essential for success in the face of opposition to the gospel message.
Here’s an example,
Acts of the Apostles 14:19-22 NLT Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.
We may not face arrest or violence like Paul but we shouldn’t run off in terror when we are confronted by those who oppose our Christian message.
IV. He encouraged them to be willing to suffer for the sake of Christ.
Philippians 1:29-30 NLT For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.
In Philippi it was not popular and socially acceptable to be a professing Christian and that's the case in many parts of the world today. If we want be true followers of Jesus Christ, we must be willing to suffer as he suffered and as others have suffered for their faith.
Conclusion
What is the shape of your Christian life today? As those who seek for a city whose builder and maker is God, our faith should lead us to believe that God's ultimate purpose for us was not earthly, but heavenly.
Like it says in
Hebrews 11:8-10 NLT It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.
Remember the scripture we read earlier?
Philippians 3:20 NLT But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
We must demonstrate the characteristics of heavenly citizenship today. Philippi was a Roman colony, and the citizens of Rome were encouraged to dress like Romans, act like Romans, think like Romans, speak like Romans, and never forget that they were Romans.
Paul encouraged the saints at Philippi to dress, act, think, and speak differently in a way that would be worthy of Jesus Christ.
I said it last week and I’ll say it again today; If you want to change your behavior, you first have to change your beliefs. If you want your conduct to become Christlike your thinking must become Christlike. For only by a revolutionary change in your thoughts can you experience a revolutionary change in your conduct.
Philippians 4:8-9 NLT And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
Paul challenged the Philippian Christians, and I challenge us today.
Let us strive with the help of the Holy Spirit to be good citizens of the kingdom of God everyday.
Do people know you are citizens of the kingdom of God, part of God’s family? The early believers did not keep it a secret that they were part of the household of God. Their lives were testimonies of who they belonged to and the same should be known about us.,
When you and I believe in Jesus, we become part of a new family, the family of God. As His children, we bear His name and His reputation. Wherever we go and whatever we do, we carry the name of Christ. Being in Him makes us part of a new family. The family of God
John 3:1-3 NLT says "See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure."
How do you become a part of this family?
Romans 10:9-10 NLT If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
Sermon Audio
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