A Compsed Believer
Snap shots of a church
Philippians 1:3-11
An image of a healthy Believer
For the church to examine itself and see where it needs to improve
Intro:
Review last week
Photo composition
The Rule of Thirds
Lines
Balance
Framing
Selective focus
Look at the composition of a believer
- (1:3): there is the compositional element of a thankful heart.
Paul did not stand alone in the world.
He was not the only person living for God and sharing Christ.
He belonged to a great family, a family of believers who constituted the family of God.
They, too, were living for God and sharing Christ with a lost and needful world.
Remember that Paul was in prison in Rome and that he was a great distance from the Philippians’ believers.
He did not have their presence; all he had was the memory of their time together. And sitting there in prison, remembering their love and care and support, his heart swelled up with thanksgiving for them, and he thanked God for them.
Thought 1. What a lesson for us! If Paul thanked God for believers who were so far away from him, how much more should we thank God for each other.
We have the love and care and support of each other week by week and day by day, and we can call upon each other for help any hour of any day. Yet how often do we thank God for each other?
Another point is this: we should be following Paul's example and thanking God for all believers every day.
We are not alone in the world. God is building a body of people world-wide—a body of people who are just like us—committed to live for the Lord Jesus Christ and to carry His gospel of salvation and love and care to a world that reels under the weight of desperate need.
Between Prison And Monastery
Dr. David Soper, in God Is Inescapable, suggests that basically the difference between a prison and a monastery is just the difference between griping and gratitude. Undoubtedly this is true. Imprisoned criminals spend every waking moment griping; self-imprisoned saints spend every waking moment offering thanks. Dr. Soper says that when a criminal becomes a saint, a prison may become a monastery; when a saint gives up gratitude, a monastery may become a prison.
- (1:4): there is the compositional element of prayer.
Paul says that he always prayed for the church.
The idea is that he prayed all throughout the day for them.
Thought 1. What a dynamic lesson in prayer!
1) To pray by name for all the churches we know.
2) To take blocks of time (seasons of prayers) to pray for each church.
3) To always—all day long—pray for the churches of our living Lord.
53 churches in the association
16 in the green valley area
3. (1:4) there is the compositional element of joy.
Remember that Paul is in prison,
yet his heart is filled with joy. Joy (chara ) means an inner gladness; a deep seated pleasure.
It is a depth of assurance and confidence that ignites a cheerful and rejoicing heart. It is a cheerful heart that leads to cheerful and rejoicing behavior.
The joy of the Lord is not the same as the joy of the world.
The joy of the world is more of a temporary pleasure than joy.
The world's joy is always nagged by some incompleteness, some lack, some unfulfilling thing, some missing ingredient
There is the knowledge, the haunting awareness, that something can go wrong: circumstances can change or some situation can arise to disturb the joy (sickness, death, financial loss, war).
Several things need to be said about the believer's joy.
Joy comes from the gospel. Eternal life
4. (1:5: there is the compositional element of fellowship. Note two significant points.
1. The source of fellowship is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great salvation of God.
Christian believers have fellowship, a spiritual bond, a spiritual union because...
they have experienced the same salvation, the salvation of God.
they have embraced the same faith.
2. Fellowship forbids an unattached Christian life.
a. Christianity is first an individual matter, but then it becomes a social matter. The Christian is attached to Christ individually, but he is also attached to other believers. He walks with other believers in the Scriptures and in worship.
b. Christianity is first a spiritual organism, but then it becomes a spiritual organization.
Thought 1. One of the most critical needs facing the church today is the need for peace and unity in the Spirit of God—a strong fellowship rooted around the gospel of Christ. Among Christians there may be difficulties and disappointments along the way, but never a disruption where there is prayer fellowship" (Devotional Studies in Philippians, p.42).
5. (1:6): there is the compositional element of confidence in God's salvation. God will complete His good work in believers. Confidence and assurance are two of the striking traits of genuine believers
1. The believer has absolute confidence in the work of salvation or redemption which God has begun in his life. He has confidence through the presence of God's Spirit who dwells within him.
2. The work begun by God is a good work; that is, it is a work that revolutionizes or radically changes the life of the believer. No matter what kind of life a person was living, once God converts him, the new believer begins to live a
faith, humility, and control.
3. The good work is incomplete as long as the believer lives on this earth. He is never perfected, not while a man.
4. The good work is to be completed when Jesus Christ returns to this earth. At that time, the believer will be transformed into a perfect man and given a perfect body. He will become a perfect man who will live in the new heavens and earth with Christ. And he will
worship and serve the Lord Jesus in perfection throughout all eternity.
6. (1:7-8): there is the compositional element of "Christian partnership"
1. They were partners in heart. Paul loved them as he loved himself; he held them ever so dear to his heart and they constantly filled his thoughts.
2. They were partners in the sufferings of Paul. This means...
sympathy pain
Thought 1. What a striking picture of the kind of sympathy needed for those who suffer. We must learn to be partners in suffering. Then and only then can we bear each other's burdens and truly minister to each other.
3. They were partners in the gospel. The Philippians had not given up the gospel, nor had they become silent or complacent in sharing the gospel
4. They were partners in the grace of God. Paul was expressing the wonderful grace of God—
5. They were partners with Christ. The word "bowels" (splagchnois) means tender mercies, compassion, deep affection. And note: it is the tenderness of Jesus Christ that Paul says he has for the Philippians. He longs for them with the very affection and tenderness of Christ Himself.
Thought 2. The great need of the church today is for partnership—partnership among its members. Believers desperately need to become partners with each other and with the minister of God:
partners in heart
partners in suffering
partners in proclaiming and defending the gospel
partners in the grace of God
partners with the Lord Jesus Christ
7. (1:9-10) there is the compositional element of a growing and discerning love. Note this: love in the Bible never focuses upon good feelings.
The focus of love is knowledge. If we truly love someone, we want to know that person. In fact, we want to know all we can about the person.
Gather intelligence
possible and discern them so that we can please the person.
Note that Paul wants the believer's love to grow more and more. We need to know more and more about Christ and each other; we need to gather more and more understanding, more and more discernment, more and more intelligence about each other. The more we know about Christ and each other, the more our love for each other will grow.
1. A growing love is needed to approve things that are excellent
The more we love the Lord, the more we will choose the excellent and best for Him.
The more we love each other, the more we will choose the excellent and best for each other. A growing love will not want to do anything that would even come close to causing a person to stumble.
2. A growing love is needed to be sincere and pure.