Shine as Lights (Part 3)

Introduction

Major Ideas

Conclusion

Notes

Third command in this passage: …be glad and rejoice with me (v. 18).

Paul sets an amazing example of ministerial sacrifice in vv. 17-18.

#1: Be glad and rejoice to be a sacrifice so someone else may come to know Christ and grow in Christ-likeness.

#2: Be glad and rejoice to be a compliment to someone else’s faith.

#3: Be glad and rejoice to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, the Kingdom of God. Remember that Paul has in mind the day of Christ, the return of Jesus. On that day we will understand better than ever before the grand scope of the Kingdom of God. When we see people from every tribe, language, and nation gathered before the Lamb, it’ll be breathtaking, shocking, something our eyes will struggle to take in, and something our minds will struggle to grasp.

[ILLUSTRATION]

I went to an IMAX theatre once. A normal move screen is big but an IMAX movie screen is bigger than big. There’s an IMAX theatre at the Exploreum downtown. If you’ve ever been there, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

I don’t even remember the movie I saw at that IMAX theatre, but I remember the screen looked normal through the advertisements and trailers for other movies. When the movie got started, however, the screen started to spread out, growing larger and larger. During the movie, my eyes struggled to take it all in. Maybe because I was sitting too close or maybe just because the screen was so large, my eyes couldn’t see both sides of the screen at the same time. It was more screen than my eyes could handle.

[APPLICATION]

I think it will feel similar - only infinitely larger - when we realize in heaven the grand design of which we are a part.

When we see the Kingdom of God with our eyes, we won’t be able to take it all in! It will be too much! It will overflow our hearts!

But not one of us will think of the part we played in the Kingdom; the part God assigned to us in the Kingdom as insignificant.

Sometimes our part may seem small. Maybe things don’t seem to be going well with the part we play. Maybe things are stressful at home, at work, or you just feel ineffective in the part God has you playing.

Don’t you think Paul felt that way?

Sure, he preached the gospel in new places to new faces, but once churches got started they often had problems. That was even true for the church in Philippi. Don’t you think that sometimes Paul felt like he was ineffective? Don’t you think he was tempted to feel - at least at times - that his part was small?

But Paul could look beyond that temptation to the day of Christ, to the day in which he would see the big picture of which he had been a part. On that day he would be glad and rejoice in the part that he had played in the Kingdom.

He says to the Philippians in effect, “Sacrifice may seem hard now. Being the compliment to someone else’s act of faith or growth in Christ-likeness may not seem glorious. But you should be glad and rejoice with me because Christ comes we will all thank God for the part we played.