The Message of Life

Sermon: FCC Afton 10-9-2022 The Message of Life Scripture: Philippians 2:12-18 Reminder: Children's Ministry meeting after service Worship Thought: you are not here to be entertained! You are here to worship your King and Savior. From getting up early and driving here, to the praise and worship time, to listening and applying the sermon, it is all part of worship- it is all part of your sacrifice before the Lord this morning. Read 2 Samuel 6:14-16 Video: "Dance Like David" & Tim Hawkin's "Hand Raising" Quote: Louie Gigglio- "For something to be worship, there must be sacrifice!" How are you sacrificing today for Jesus today? How would you worship Him if He stood before you today? Recap: -Last week, we enjoyed a break from Philippians and were blessed with Lonnie and Christian Student Fellowship and their powerful presentation. How awesome to have a representation of a mission that we are actively supporting and to hear what they are accomplishing. Two weeks ago, we opened Philippians chapter 2, continuing to examine Paul's instruction for Believers and Followers of Jesus Christ. We've discussed a lot over the last month about the depth of this letter, but it's important for us to understand the authenticity of Paul's instructions. This is not the writings of some privileged religious leader, some sort of "rules for thee, but not for me" type of situation- no, Paul is writing from the trenches, striving to make sure that these Believers, these friends of his, have a Biblical worldview and understand the realities of the world they live in, and know what God expects of them if they are ever to be mature Believers who are effective in accomplishing Jesus' commission to make disciples. Paul pleads with his friends, and with us here today, to build their faith and their lives on a foundation of Biblical understanding, something that is happening less and less every year in this world. The most recent statistic that has come out recently indicates that something like only 40% of the population in the US calls themselves Christians; only 25% of those has a Biblical worldview- that means that only about 10% of the US population knows what the Bible says about how to live in any giving situation, knows what God's moral standard is. That means that roughly 66% of the US population, or 75% of US "Christians" have an understanding about the absolute truths of God's standards or even how they should live to please God. And yet we wonder why our world is so screwed up and is straying away so far from God's will? Two weeks ago, we discussed Paul's direction for us to have the attitude of Christ. We discussed how Paul sets up this standard for Christian life that reflects our level of surrender to Christ and how well we will honor the Gospel of Christ. Paul tells us: you are all equal before Christ, both in your value as people and in how He desires to work through you and also in your absolute need for His saving grace, so stop focusing on others and begin examining yourself and your posture before the Master- and stop thinking so highly about yourself! You are just as separated from God and in need of His grace as anyone else, so stop doing things to puff yourself up as more important than you truly are! You cannot have the attitude of Christ and still be fixated on yourself and living for your own desires- you cannot be the center of your universe and Jesus still be the Master of your life. Paul reminds us to make our attitude that of Christ's, ready and willing to serve others, even when its of no benefit to you, and to be humble, because Jesus humbled Himself to come and save us. We are to model ourselves after Jesus. Today, we move deeper into Paul's letter; now that we know where our attitude and focus should be, let's continue to examine our posture before the Master. Read Philippians 2:12-18 Pray here! -We've talked before, even as recently as a couple of Wednesdays ago, about this truth: we are saved because of Christ's grace through the faith that we place in Him- and that the act of placing our faith in Jesus' grace to cover our sins and bring us back into right relationship with the Father, for salvation, begins a faith journey for us, a process called sanctification, or that process of becoming holier every day, because our God is holy and we want to thank Him for His grace and to honor Him. -Main Idea: We are saved by God's grace alone- that's not the end of the story, however; it's just the beginning. -We should not take God's grace for granted. As Paul asks in Romans 6:1 "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may abound more?" The answer, of course, is a resounding no! We must not adopt an attitude that makes it okay to sin because we are covered by God's grace and forgiveness. Neither can we skate by on the faith of our childhood, or even on the faith from the last decade- no, we must have a growing, maturing understanding of who God is that manifests in a deepening, growing, maturing faith and a life that everyday is becoming holier and more like Jesus! Paul follows up his instruction to have the attitude of Christ, along with which came a reminder of Christ's sacrifice and the attitude with which He approached our salvation, that He desired to be sacrificed on our behalf, not because we somehow deserved it, but because of God's great love for us, with this foundational, doctrinal truth: in obedience, work out your own salvation- we have a big part to play in this salvation/ surrender exchange, but it is also only made possible because God enables us to desire right relationship with Him and allows us to accept His offer of grace. God never forces us to accept His gift of grace. We must make the choice to accept His gift and commit to life that is worthy of the grace He offers, but the breadth of this exchange lays with God. Paul explains it this way in Ephesians: "We have redemption in Him through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the rights of His grace, that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding... We have also received an inheritance in Him, predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will, so that we who had already put our hope in the Messiah might bring praise to His glory. When you heard the message of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit." (Eph. 1:7, 11-13) You may have heard in there predestined, and may be screaming "Sounds an awful lot like Calvinism and TULIP, Josh!" But what we are talking about here is God making salvation available to everyone, not withholding it from anyone, as some are wont to do, and not making some pay a higher premium than others- as in, providing the Jews with the free gift, because they are God's chosen people, but then making Gentiles pay a steep price for salvation. John 3:16 tells us that it is because of God's great love for us that He hatched this whole plan to make His Son the sacrifice for us. He didn't have to love us that much; He didn't have to love the Gentiles that much- He could have left us out in the cold because we don't belong to the line of His covenant with Abraham. But 2 Peter 3:9 reminds us that God is patient with us, "not wanting any to perish, but for all to come to repentance." Predestination is real, Paul makes it clear. But it is not limited to any certain group of people. God has made His grace available to anyone who will accept it. One of my favorite preachers, Mike Winger, explains it this way: Christianity is like a taco truck. God is the owner of this amazing taco truck, the best taco truck around; salvation is the best, most delicious taco available, and the taco truck owner has decided to give them away for free! He pulls up outside and says, "My Son has paid for you all to have these tacos! Come and get them!" You've been predestined because everyone is predestined- He's making the tacos available to everyone. You've been elected because He has said, "Here I am. This is for you! Come get it!" The point here is that even though the free gift has been made available to you, you've still got to work out actually taking it. You've got to go to the window and say, "I'd like this gift, please." Even though they're free for everyone, He's not driving around just chucking them at people. And just because He has elected that you are welcome to the gift of a free taco, He is not going to force you to eat it, not going to shove it into your mouth or force you to swallow it. You've got to accept it willingly. Here's the bigger kicker, though: taking the gift of the free taco makes you a taco person now. It means that you begin to tell others about how great the taco truck is, about how they don't want to miss out on this free taco, and begin to bring them to meet the taco truck owner and His Son who paid for the tacos. Too many of us, however, just want to take the taco and sit at the little table by the taco truck and enjoy the ambiance; we want to look like a taco person without making any sacrifice, without putting any time in to show appreciation to the taco truck owner. Paul continues to set this foundation of Biblical truth for us. Jesus did all the work on our behalf- He didn't use His deity for His benefit, He took on the form of a slave, He humbled Himself, He went to the cross, He died to forgive our sins- so that we could have that free taco, the free gift of salvation. We have work to do in this transaction, though- we've got to ask for the gift and we've got to live a life that tells others about it, as well. Truth #1: Stop grumbling and arguing! -Having laid more Biblical foundation for us, Paul gets back to helping us understand how to shape our lives in a way that will glorify God and will point others toward Him: stop grumbling and arguing with each other. Grumbling, of course, is the act of repeatedly complaining about situations and circumstances. It does not mean not sharing what you're going through or not asking for help or prayer, but not letting it be your primary expression to others. Arguing is pretty self-explanatory- Paul is not referring to the kind of arguing that one would do when making an defense of the Gospel or in defending someone else who is being picked on or attacked. Paul is referring to bickering amongst Believers, arguments over trivial things like carpet color or even inter-church drama; he is also referring to those who would purposely create drama or fighting within the church that has no positive purpose. It is arguing and bickering simply for the sake of those activities. Paul calls us back to what he said just before about the attitude of Christ. He says, "Cut it out! This can't be about you! Your life is about serving the Master now. If you are focused on having the attitude of Christ, then you shouldn't be doing anything out of self-focus, so how do you have anything to argue about? Moreover, if you are focused on serving the Master, how do you have anything to grumble about? In Romans 8:18, Paul reflects this idea: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." The situations and circumstances are not worth grumbling about compared to what God is doing in you and wants to do through you! Let me take you back to a thought that we discussed a couple of weeks ago: you have nothing grumble, complain, or argue about, because Jesus saw you in your rebellion and in the depths of your sin and still went to the cross for you, still took your sin on Himself for you! So, Christian, why should you listen to this command? Why should you strive to change your fleshly response to the circumstances you are in? Why should you change your attitude into the attitude of Christ? 1. Having a spirit of grumbling and arguing is contrary to the attitude of Christ and dishonors the sacrifice that He paid on your behalf. The situation going on in your life may be dire, it may be terribly painful; you may be ready for the race to be over, for the Lord to call you home, but you don't know what God is trying to do in you or through you, either to grow your faith and maturity or to prepare and equip you to help in someone else's life, so when you grumble, you may be speaking against, setting your spirit against, the mighty work that God is trying to do in you. Rather, give thanks- even if all you feel you have to give thanks about is that you are drawing breath for another day, or even simply that God Himself is good and worthy of praise. 1 Thess. 5:18 says "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." The same is true about arguing with other Believers. We are called to have one mind and to have unity, not to argue with each other. 2 Timothy 2:23-24 says, "Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, and able to teach." Titus 3:9 follows this: "But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless." 2. So you can be pure and blameless children of God who are faultless in a crooked generation. God has called us to be pure and blameless, to set a faultless standard for the world. We cannot be pure and blameless if we are guilty of constant complaining and starting foolish arguments within the church or in front of the world. God has called us to be unified in faith- Ephesians 4:12-13 "to build up the Body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ's fullness." The world seeing the church fractured, arguing and fighting amongst ourselves, is one of the biggest reasons that people reject coming into church fellowship- and that blame falls squarely on us. 3. So that we can shine like stars in the world. In Matthew 5:16, Jesus instructed us, "In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven." Why are we called to not grumble and argue? Why are we called to be pure and blameless children of God? Because the world is watching- and what they see out of you and I may be what causes them to want to glorify God and come into relationship with Him- or it may drive them away from ever wanting to know about Him. Christian, do everything without grumbling or arguing- or as Colossians 3:23 says, "Do everything with all your heart, as working for the Lord." Or in 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Do everything for the glory of God." People are watching how you live- strive to live up to the moral standard that the Bible has set for you! Truth #2: Hold firmly to the message of life! -What is the message of life? The Gospel message- the message of forgiveness, that Christ died for you, to forgive your sins, and to allow you to come back into right relationship with God. Seems so simple, but Paul says hold firmly to it! Take hold of it securely and don't let it go! Put it in the safety deposit box of your heart and keep it secure! Why? His instruction to hold firmly to the Gospel, to your faith in Jesus, can be read: things are going to come at you to try to dislodge your faith and knock you off track, because the last thing the enemy wants is for you to be firm in your faith, for you to live it out, to grow in it, and to be effective in reaching the world for the Kingdom of God. Persecution is going to come against you. Doubt is going to come against you. Your flesh is going to come against you. Hold firm and don't let anything shake you or knock you off course! Paul encourages us to hold firmly and reminds us that we are part of his spiritual legacy- he doesn't want everything he had been pouring into us to have been, his labor for the Kingdom, to have been for nothing. Rather, he wants to rejoice beside us after we have successfully run the race of this life. We say the same about our Timothies, those whose lives we have poured into, those whose faith we mentor: "Hey, stay on track! I want you beside me at the end of this race!" Paul says, even if I am poured out as an offering for you because of persecution, still I will rejoice with you because you have held firmly to your faith in the face of anything that comes. Hold firmly to your faith! Don't let anything keep you from taking another step toward Christ each day, from becoming more like Jesus each day, from pouring into others every day, from sacrificing to worship the Savior each day. Invitation: Are you living your life to serve Christ today? How are you sacrificing for Him today?