Growing a Love for People

Introduction

The United States Military is great, I am thankful for people who want to go and serve our country.

But people who go into the US Navy Seals are absolutely insane.

If you have ever seen the training they go through it is crazy.

They go through this intense training and then go and do the most dangerous things.

In one mission they were going after Osama Bin Laden.

One of the most dangerous men on the planet.

They thought they got the location of where is was at so they moved.

Something that only a highly trained group would do.

The moved at one - depending on each other.

They knew that if something went wrong they were dead.

They had no backup. If they were caught, no one was coming to help them.

Throughout the mission the stayed together.

Their helicopter crashed during the mission, totally messing up the element of surprise.

They did not panic, they stayed together because they knew their life depended on each other.

They trained together, planned together, bled together before hand. They were DOING LIFE TOGETHER.

The objective was completed, they killed Osama Bin Laden and all made it out alive.

The only reason that they were able to do this is because they were united around one mission and each other.

Guys, no navy seal would ever attempt a mission like that alone, or just bring anyone.

This applies to our faith.

We have to find the people who will lock arms with us for the sake of the Gospel and grow in community with them.

It can’t just be anyone, we need real ones that will set us stright.

This mission is too hard to go solo, so we need a band of brothers.

Today we are going to look at a passage where Paul has a community of people.

but, he got here by praying for and with them through all circumstances

So lets pray then dive right in.

Servants’ for the Unity of the Gospel (vv. 1-2)

Philippians 1:1 CSB

Paul

We have yet to walk through a book that is written by Paul together, so let’s talk about him for just a minute.

You also might be asking how I know that Paul wrote the letter because it starts off by saying “Paul” at the begining? When we think of letters we sign our names at the bottom so people know who sent it, but it was not this way in the ancient times.

They would put their name first, who they were writing to, then they would do a little thanks giving or blessing, so that is what we are looking at today.

But who is Paul?

Before Paul was called Paul, he went by the name Saul.

He was a big deal.

He was born in a town called Tarsus, which was a major Roman city.

And he was ethnically Jewish.

So he had the faith of a Jewish person, but the power and influence that a Roman person would have.

This meant by even his birth status he had power.

So if you had power and were a person of faith you wanted to be a Pharisee.

If you have read your Bible you think of them as the bad guys, but this is who people generally wanted to be when they grew up.

So starting at the age of 4 Saul would have studied the Old Testament and memorized it.

He would have had the first 5 books of the Bible completely memorized, known it back and fourth, and up and down.

And guess what he was the best at it.

I know this because he was smart enough to study under a person named Gamaliel.

Gamaliel was the MOST respected Jewish Rabbi.

He was like going to hardvard for Jews.

It was hard to get in.

This guy did not take many people to train, he only took the elite.

So Saul learned the OT better than any of us could probably imagine.

The point was they wanted to know the Bible so well that when the Messiah would come to earth they would come to them because they were the most Holy and would be able to spot him.

The thing is, Jesus comes to the scene, but came for the:

poor not the powerful.

For all people, not just the super Jews.

He was smarter than them and explained things that they couldn't even though they studied the OT for a living.

Saul goes on to become a Christian terroist.

He is killing people thinking he is doing good for the Kingdom.

He was a part of the stoning of stephen.

But then God appears to him on the Road to Damascus in Acts 9.

God asks him why he was perscuting him, and Saul realizes what he has done.

God makes him blind and sends a man to him, and when this man lays hands on Saul his sight is restored and he starts living for Christ.

So fast forward, Saul turns to Paul and looking to Acts 16 and Paul goes to a town called Philippi.

There is no temple here, so he goes around trying to find Jewish people and he finds one lady.

She becomes a Christian.

He casts the demon out of another, they become a Christian.

Then he gets arrested, and the jailer comes to Christ.

So these three people start this church in Philippi that this letter is written to.

Now Paul, 10 years after he started this church is writing to them.

so let’s look back in the text

Philippians 1:1–2 CSB

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus: To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we see Paul wrote this, mentioned his partner Timothy, and he is writing to all the believers and church leaders at this church in Philippi.

but notice what he says about himself and Timothy.

That they were servants or slaves to Jesus.

This does not mean he was beaten or abused or what we think of in American slavery,

but what he is saying is that he was under full submission to Jesus.

Unity doesn’t come from hierarchy, it comes from shared submission to Jesus.

Because think about who we just talked about.

Paul who was as powerful as he was before he was a christian.

Who was the greatest missionary of all time.

Who planted all these churches.

Who wrote most of the New Testament

Like Paul “was that guy.”

He wasn’t sitting on the sidelines, he was running the whole playbook.

To him it did not matter.

He lowered himself.

Saying all I am is a slave to the Lord.

and that brought unity.

Then we see that Paul is going to start talking to them about him maintaining his relationship with them through prayer.

Strengthened by Joyful Prayers (vv. 3-8)

Philippians 1:3–8 CSB

I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

So a little more background to this passage because it is the first sermon of the series. Paul was writing this from prison, and like I said this was 10 years ago that he planted the church. He does back once to visit them, but it has still been about 5 years since he has seen them.

Yet we still see how much prayer and joy Paul talks about having for them.

This is because

Joyful prayers are repeated, not random.

This is not a random thing that Paul is doing. He is praying for this church all the time.

Just look at the text

I thank God every time I have a memory of you.

I pray with joy for ALL of you in my prayers.

He is doing this from the first day that he planted the church.

Paul is intentional about this, because prayer is powerful.

guys

when you look at how Paul prays he rarely thanks God for things.

He isnt like us that thanks God for the items we have.

He always thanks God for people.

He sees other people and how they are doing and he does not compare; rather he humbles himself.

He sees people worshipping God with all they have and he doesnt envy it or wish he had a relationship with God like them, but thanks God for them.

That is my question to y’all, do you give thanks to God in prayer for other people?

If you aren’t it can seems easy to go, well I will just start now.

but what about on your worst days.

When nothing goes right.

When you lose the big game,

flunk the test,

a love one dies,

you are falsely accused of something,

Because that was Paul.

hated,

stoned almost to death,

and now in prison,

But still filled with joy.

Still loving God,

still loving others

and growing his love for others by praying for them.

You need people in your life who are going to pray for you, not just people to hang out with.

You don’t need buddies, you need people who will carry you when you can’t walk.

People you hang out with can be nice, but what happens when your life crashes?

Y’all I have buddies.

In high school there was someone who I would have said man they are my best friend, but looking back all we were was buddies.

We would go and hunt together - so we were hunting buddies.

We would fish together- we were fishing buddies.

I had a different group that I would go and life with - them were my lifting buddies.

But all of those were centered around something in life.

I got to college and realized that they were just buddies because I found some corner toters.

Just like the Navy Seals we talked about at the begining. They were all on the same page, and crazy enough to just go out and go.

I found a group of guys that were willing to dive deep into our faiths, lean into each other, do anything for each other, read the Word together, pray together.

There is power when you get a group of guys all on the same mission.

When I say corner toters what I mean is think back to Mark 2.

We talked about this in one of the messages last year.

There was the paralized man and he could not get to Jesus, so his four friends put him on a mat, and carried him there.

That is what we need in our lives.

When you life crashes, just like Paul,

Do you have people there to point you back to Jesus.

That is what the Philippians were to Paul.

The Philippians were there for Paul and Paul was there for them, because of their partnership in Christ.

He says that in verse 7 - I think about you because we are partners in grace!

Christ is what kept them together.

Paul had not seen them in years, but they still supported him.

He talks about even though he has been in and out of prison, and now back in prison they were there for him.

When he was in chains and with him defending the gospel.

Do you have these people?

The people that have your back?

And if you do not, how do we get there.

How do we get the corner toters?

It is simple, find the Godliest people you know and ask if you can get together, talk about where you are at Spiritually, and pray for each other!

and you have to pray for each other.

Look at Paul he had…

Purposeful Prayers for Growth (vv. 9-11)

Philippians 1:9–11 CSB

And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

This is the application of the sermon, if you want to grow in love with people you need Christ at the center and you need prayer.

If you only have buddies, start praying for them.

That they will believe in God and you can link arms with them and have a relationship that causes you to grow.

We all want to grow as Christians.

We want to grow in our knowledge of Christ, we want to grow in following his word, or at least we should.

It is laid out here, prayer, prayer, prayer… community, community, community.

Always, no matter what you are going through.

When you link arms with other Christians, you will grow.

In ancient battle when they used swords, shields, and spears, soliders would fight in close groups.

If you ever have seen like Lord of the Rings think about those types of battles.

In these times they would fight and their shields would lock together.

If they were being pushed by the enemies, they could overtake indivuals.

But as these groups would lock together, they would almost form a wall, giving them a better position in battle.

It is the same we have to lock our arms with others.

Feed off of each other

So we can grow.

We can grow in knowledge

discernment

and be pure and blameless.

You can’t do this on your own.

This is why Paul says in Corinthians that we are a body, that we all play a part.

If you are disconnected from the body you are in a bad spot.

If you see a leg distached from the body, blood everywhere, you are probably going to scream, cry, then call the cops.

You need people.

People who love Jesus and point you to Jesus.

We are going to be dysfunctional because we are all sinners, but we need each other.

And when you find your band of brothers pray for them every day.

Every time you think of them.

because

When we grow closer to Christ, He fills us with the fruit of righteousness that only comes from Him.

I want that for you.

You need that for your soul.

Love you guys, find those corner toters and pray for them.

Any thoughts, comments, questions, concerns, stones for heresy?

If not, let’s pray.