Living a Christ Honoring Life

Introduction

Good morning, my name is Jacob Winters, my wife Emily and I are very happy to be here with you all this morning and to celebrate The Lord’s Supper Together. I have some notes here if anyone would like some if you haven’t gotten them already, and if at any point you missed one at the end of service don’t be afraid to grab me and ask what it is!

This morning, we will be going through Phillipians 1 chapter and looking at some traits of a person who is living a Christ honoring life. I wonder if anyone here, when they hear that phrase “a Christ-honoring life” have someone you love come to mind? Anyone? Maybe that person is still with you, maybe that person is not. I can say for myself I know many god loving men and women, but having not grown up in the church and becoming a believer in my 20s, I don’t have many people like that, just yet, but I can recall when we buried one beloved great grandparent who I could have had that kind of relationship with if i were a Christian as child (or even raised inside a church), seeing in a family graveyard a headstone of some ancestor of mine that clearly indicated that this person was that to people, the kind of person that for sure heard the words, “well done, good and faithful servant”, from our Lord, when he crossed the other side. That’s what really matters, what our Lord thinks of us, how He sees us, and weather or not you were a willing (or unwilling) follower of us. Lets all agree just right now that it’s better to be the willing right?....Let’s all go and do our best to live a Christ honoring life. Let’s pray.

Prayer

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can be more like You, and made more into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all too often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possibly can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. I ask these things for your glory and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

Context

This letter, or Epistle is by it’s name to the church at Phillipi. This was a church that was loved by its planter, The Apostle Paul, very much, as you can see planted all throughout this letter. This church was unique in several ways, in fact it was the first church ever planted in Europe and historians date it’s founding in the early 50sAD and this letter would be written almost 10 years later. Phillip itself, was in Macedonia, what we would call modern Greece, and as you would imagine from it’s many pagan influences (from both the greek and roman influences around it), this would be the kind of place that it would be extremely and especially important for the Christian Church to come together and support, encourage, and love another.

These people were often shut out of the local cultures and conveniences, and from this they were known for being a very poor people and a very poor church. Despite this, they were still also known for their generosity, not holding back on showing love to other believers and the apostle himself, even to the point of going above their own means to do so. They loved God whole heartedly, so they didn’t let fear of loss or fear of man keep them from loving one-another and fulfilling their mission. Now yes, just like any other church, they had their problems and difficulties, of course they did, because the church is made up of people, but Jesus was at the center and much was right here.

From Paul’s letter to this church, we can gain a whole lot. We can see a model not only of healthy and God loving but church, but we also lots of encouragement for the individuals, the believers, the Christians that are within. One such lesson and theme that comes up in this first chapter is that The world will lie to you and say it has more for you than God, but it doesn’t, and never will. All around us is a world filled with lies and deception but for the believer we have access and a relationship with the perfect and Holy God who loves you completely and works all things for your good. With this knowledge, let us not only rejoice, but put into action with our lives, seeking to make them ones that honor Christ. So, let’s jump and From the text, I want you to see and do these actions as you live a Christ honoring life.

Message

The first action to see and do is to: Be filled with the fruit of righteousness. 1-11

1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus: To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.3 I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you,[a] 4 always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you[b] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart,[c] and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, 10 so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

We begin here with a clear indicator of who wrote the letter and who it was to. This letter was written by Paul (with the well known and well loved Timothy close at hand) in love and brotherhood in Jesus Christ to the saints, overseers, and deacons at the church Philippi. He greets them warmly and then offers fond remembrances and recollections of them, telling them that he is thinking and praying for them often and sees them as very much partners in everything he is doing even now while he was under house arrest in Rome. Paul writes to them about his confidence in Jesus that His work will be completed, and that as such in all things there is great confidence for the days ahead! In this greeting, Paul also offers to them what a key part of his prayers are for them, that they will continue to grow in knowledge and discernment of God/Christ, so that they can choose all matter of things well and be remove sin from their lives, that the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus would abounded in them to God’s Honor and Praise! So, Paul is praying that they would grow deeper in their affection, knowledge, and love of God so that their minds would grow deeper towards Him that through their actions and lives, they would glorify God all the more! He wanted them to be filled with the fruit of righteousness.

Let me ask you something, how disappointing is it, when you take a big ol bite into something, and discover that it is in fact not filled with what it was supposed to be? Like, and I can tell you from this one from experience you put a nice looking piece of cheese cake on your plate at the end of a family bbq, and maybe you're talking to your cousin so you don’t notice that it doesn’t handle quite right when you put it on your fork. Then as you bite down and that delectable sweet cheese cake hits your tongue, instead what you get is the tangy bitterness and surprise of it being lemon pie. Now, by itself, if you were expecting it, lemon pie isn’t bad, but when you were expecting great-aunt Murial’s one of kind famous cheesecake, it just aint right!

Just how bad is it then, brothers and sisters, when we Christians are filled with the wrong kinds of fruit? Lust, envy, gossip, unholyness, pride, sinfulness, disobedience to Christ’s mission. The thing is, almost everything you encounter in your week as you go out and about, almost everything in your flesh will scream, cry, beg, and trick you into believing that those things are better for you then what Jesus has for you. Why, because The world will lie to you and say it has more for you than God, but it doesn’t, and never will. So then, don’t believe the lies, look at yourself early and often, don’t suppose yourself to high up or immune to this, as it is a struggle against the flesh that every believer no matter how young or how old will be battling. Put aside what the world wants you lean into, sin, rebellion against God, and instead seek His face and be filled with fruit of righteousness.

The next action to see and do is to: Honor Christ with your whole being.12-20

12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually advanced the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to everyone else, that my imprisonment is because I am in Christ. 14 Most of the brothers have gained confidence in the Lord from my imprisonment and dare even more to speak the word[d] fearlessly. 15 To be sure, some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of good will. 16 These preach out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; 17 the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment. 18 What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice 19 because I know this will lead to my salvation[e] through your prayers and help from the Spirit of Jesus Christ. 20 My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all courage, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

Paul writes to them here, essentially saying, “Hey so know this, with everything that has happened to me in my arrest, a lot of good things has happened through it. In fact, the gospel has advanced quite a bit! Now everyone in the elite imperial guard knows about me and who Christ is! Most of the Christians in the town I am in have gained confidence in witnessing through this and do so fearlessly! Now yes, there are some that are preaching Jesus’ name in order to cause me harm, yes, it is true, but there are great many that are not! So, then what does it matter to me, even if it does bring me harm because either way Jesus is being lifted up and preached among the people here in Rome!? As you can see, I am overjoyed by this! I will continue to have joy as I know that no matter what happens to me, I have salvation in Jesus Christ. So then, I will not fear anything at all ever but enter any trial in life with courage, I will go at it with my whole being because my whole being, my whole body is all about Christ being highly honored!

There is a true story in your bible, in the book of acts, where a couple pretended to honor Jesus with their whole body, with their whole self, but where not, held something back, and it ended very badly for them. This happened in the very early days of the Christian Church, a time when believers were united in loving and supporting one another, and held nothing back in furthering Christ’s mission. At this time, came an encourager, who would go on to be counted among the apostles and a close partner to Paul, Barnabas. Barnabas, was on fire for God, and sold his land and gave all the proceeds to the church to use as it needed. This led to him being beloved and honored, and 2 people saw this and wanted that attention, Annanias and Saphaira. They would go on, to do the same thing. Only, instead of giving all the proceeds to the church, they lied and held some back for themselves. First, Annanias was confronted by the apostle Peter, he lied, Annias died, and instantly fell dead. A little while later, Peter gave Saphaira a chance as well, but she fell to. They wanted the “good” but not the hard or bad that comes with serving God with their whole being, and it did not work out for them.

What did they fall for, what are we too often prone to fall to? This The lies of the world. And remember: The world will lie to you and say it has more for you than God, but it doesn’t, and never will. They believed the worlds lie and died and remember what the bible says, the wages of sin is death but, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord! Which would you rather serve with your whole body? Which is really worth your time? Now, I want you to really think about this. And I don’t mean just say this one and not that one, I mean and look and see where you, were I, were we have it wrong. Which would rather serve, which do you serve with your whole body? And what do you need to change, what do you need to get right with God, repent of and come before His forgiving throne so that you can surely and once and for all serve God with your whole body?

Another action to see and do is to: Live standing firm in The Gospel. 21-30

21 For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don’t know which one I should choose. 23 I am torn between the two. I long to depart and be with Christ—which is far better— 24 but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. 25 Since I am persuaded of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that, because of my coming to you again, your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound.27 Just one thing: As citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, in one accord,[f] contending together for the faith of the gospel, 28 not being frightened in any way by your opponents. This is a sign of destruction for them, but of your salvation—and this is from God. 29 For it has been granted to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are engaged in the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I have.

And here are those famous words from Paul, for me, to live is Christ, to die is gain. What does he mean by that? He explains it afterwards, that if he keeps living it means fruitful work for him that would mean good for a great many souls, however for him personally it would be better for him to just die right then and get to be with Jesus. That’s what he wants, to be with Jesus, but since he knows the good he knows it will better if he is with them for a little while longer so he expects he will remain some short time, that they will have more faith and joy and that more believers will be able to boast in Jesus all the more. So then, Paul charges them, live as people with a worthy life, live as if you are a citizen of heaven, because you are. So, whether or not I get to come and see you or not, I will hear that you are now listening to this church: “together in the spirit, acting together in accordance, working together with faith in the gospel, and not frightened by the enemy.”

So you work together in unity in the spirit with confidence and faith in the gospel and do not run from the enemy, but charge boldly at him and watch the enemy run! This suffering you are going through right now, and will, yes you are suffering right along with me and get to suffer just as Jesus did! It is a gift of refining! Do not fret!

Brothers and sisters, hear that charge from the apostle to us today! Live your lives standing together, living it standing together for the gospel! Go forward with it, go forward with Christ’s banner raised high and fear no longer in your heart or glimmering in your eyes, for the fear is only a faint by the enemy meant to distract you! Go forward and you cannot fail! But the world wants you, the world wants the church, the world want’s Christ’s mission to fail, the world says it’s bad. So then remember that The world will lie to you and say it has more for you than God, but it doesn’t, and never will. God has more for you! Just look at Paul here and Phillippian church, who were going through things that we here in the American church will probably never have to suffer, now let me say, yes we all have our struggles, but don’t let them scare you, let them give you confidence, as the apostle charges here, if you proceed seeking after God’s glory, The Enemy will not stand!

Conclusion

Beloved, this all true, but requires that you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Have you done this? Have you put away your sin? Why are you waiting. You have heard the words, you know that The world will lie to you and say it has more for you than God, but it doesn’t, and never will. You know what the world has to offer is a lie. So, why do you delay? If you need to come to Jesus, now is the day, and i’d be more than happy to talk to you today after service. If you are already a believer, and you have a sin that you have been holding onto, let me encourage you, their is nothing to gain by holding on. God has something much bigger and much more special in mind for you than what you had in mind, so let go. Believe and repent. Let’s pray.

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can be more like You, and made more into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all too often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possibly can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.