Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Our focus this year is to lean into prayer and outreach as a church.

We want to lean in closer to God and then go out further into the lives of the people who regularly surround us.

And this is a good goal for our church.

This will be a good way for us to grow this year as we seek to be faithful in our worship of God—But life will not stop for us while we pursue these goals.

And the truth is that reorienting our lives in a way that gives us the space to draw near to God and the space to reach out to others will increase spiritual warfare in our lives.

Our own sinful flesh and our enemy does not want us to draw near to God because the flesh knows that as we draw closer to God the flesh will suffer.

What do I mean—I mean that selfishness will be diminished.

Our own comfort will not be ruling our decisions.

The closer we draw near to regular relationship with God the more we become like Jesus which is far different than our flesh.

And the enemy will fight against this drawing near because the more our eyes and hearts take in the glory and love of our God the more we will be discontent with the things of this world.

We will hunger for the eternal kingdom in such a way that we are not content to “wait” to get there but will work to “bring” the kingdom down.

We will want to fill our lives with worship and prayer and evangelism.

We will want to talk about God and study God and display God with our lives because where God is there Heaven is.

And this is an affront to the enemy.

This steals territory from the enemy—and so we can expect some oppression and push back as we do this.

So with all that in mind the elder and soon to be elder think that the best book we can be in as we start off 2023 pushing into these two focuses: prayer and outreach: is Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

So this morning our sermon will be an introduction to this letter, highlighting why it will be good for us to dwell in for a number of weeks.

So let’s look now at 5 themes in Philippians that will minister to us as we embark on these focuses of prayer and outreach in 2023.

I. Philippians is about Fellowship

If you were with us last week we were looking at the church in Acts 2:42-47 and we saw that they were devoted to fellowship.

And fellowship is not just eating but is more lIke J.R.R Tolkien’s fellowship of the ring—a group of people bonded together by a great undertaking—a striving together toward a worthy goal.

This kind of fellowship cements the bond of friendship and family.

A pastor in New Mexico in writing on Philippians commented that the church could be called “The Fellowship of the Cross”.

As we study Philippians together this bond—in Jesus Christ is highlighted again and again as Paul is grateful for the Philippian church in how they have ministered with him in the proclamation of the gospel.

In making much of Jesus.

And we as individual believers—and as a church—need our fellowship to be united in Christ.

God’s word says in Philippians 2:1-2 “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”

Friends, the reality is that many churches have fellowship but not all fellowship is built on Jesus.

Some churches fellowship based on a pleasing aesthetic—they like the way the church looks, it’s graphics, it’s social media, the look of its members appeals to them— “these are my kinds of people.

I want to be in a church that looks and feels like this.”

Some churches fellowship based on a certain kind of outreach— “this church has AWANA.

This church has a coffee shop ministry.

This church has a thriving women’s ministry.

Or this church is in the nations.”

And this draws people in.

Or it could be something else—and I’m not saying that these things are bad.

Churches who draw people together is great.

Churches that have thriving ministry’s are great.

We want to be that kind of church.

But these things must not be the basis of our fellowship.

We must not unite around trinkets and baubles when we have the true treasure of Christ and his gospel as our fellowship.

Philippians will help us see that in all things—in every stage of church and Christian life—Christ and his gospel—the glorious truth that God saves sinners in Jesus the messiah—that this is the basis for our true fellowship.

Programs will come and go.

The people who worship in our chruch may change and so the look with them.

But what never changes is the rock solid truth of Jesus Christ.

On this profession Christ says, “I will build my church—and on this profession we have our true fellowship with one another.”

Philippians will help ground us in true fellowship so that as we draw near to God in prayer and reach out to our communities with the gospel we have this solid foundation by which to build on.

II.

Philippians is About the Joy of the Gospel.

Friends—you and I could use more joy in our lives—amen?

Joy is different than happiness.

Happiness has everything to do with our circumstances.

What is happening around us affects our happiness but it doesn’t affect our joy.

And as I say this maybe it sounds foreign to you—maybe joy and happiness feel the same—all too often what we do as a people is we try to find our joy in the outward circumstances of life.

We cast our joy on the rising and the falling of our happiness.

Philippians reminds us that joy is to be centered on the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Which never changes.

Despite our circumstances the truth of who the children of God are in Jesus Christ does not change.

When happiness eludes us—joy is present.

Paul writes Philippians while he is in Roman jail.

And I can guarantee that Paul was not happy to be imprisoned.

But he was joyful in Christ.

Paul uses the Greek word for joy or rejoice 16 times in Philippians which only has 104 verses in its four chapters.

He consistently from a Roman prison to an oppressed church in Philippi says rejoice, rejoice, have joy.

And Pauls source of joy is found is the truth of the gospel.

He says in Philippians 3:12 “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

The joy of the gospel is that Jesus Christ has made us his own.

The larger narrative of Scripture is that we as a people have rebelled against our God.

We have died in our sin.

We are hopelessly lost and unable to come to God.

But God who is rich in mercy has lavished His love on us in Jesus Christ.

I was lost but now I’m found.

I was dead but now I’m alive.

Hell was my future but now Heaven is my home.

Because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

And Paul’s words in Romans 8:38-39 ring true—“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We belong to God—he has purchased us with his own blood—and nothing can separate us from the love that God has for us.

This means when life is going good—when everything is lining up, when we are happy our joy is rooted in the love of God for us displayed through Christ.

And when life is not so good—things seem to be falling apart and happiness is hard to find—our joy is abundant because it is rooted in the love of God for us displayed through Jesus Christ.

In Philippians 4:11-13 Paul says—“I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.

In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Philippians will help you and I center our lives around the joy of the gospel and not the circumstances of life.

III.

Philippians is About Gospel Spread

You might not know this about me but I desperately want to hike the Appalachian Trail.

It has been a goal of mine since I was a teenager.

Someday I’m going to attempt what is called a “Thru hike”.

That’s when you hike 2,200 miles through 14 states from Mt. Springer in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine in one go.

It takes anywhere from 4-6 months depending on how fast you hike.

It’s a goal I have.

I want to spread my friends ashes on Mt.

Katahdin.

I want to challenge myself.

I want to spend time in God’s creation.

These are all good reasons to hike the AT.

But sometimes it’s an escapist fantasy for me.

When life gets hard I day dream about hitting the trail and leaving the world behind and hiking from Georgia to Maine and then from Main to Georgia—endlessly like some kind of mountain hermit.