Sermon Tone Analysis

Sermon 4

Sermon 4

Series: A Beautiful Hope in a Desperate World

Sermon title: Work It Out!

Intro:

One raw winter night a man heard an irregular thumping sound against the kitchen storm door.

He went to a window and watched as tiny shivering sparrows, attracted to the evident warmth inside, beat in vain against the glass.

Touched, the farmer bundled up and trudged through fresh snow to open the barn for the struggling birds.

He turned on the lights, tossed some hay in a corner, and sprinkled a trail of saltine crackers to direct them to the barn.

But the sparrows, which had scattered in all directions when he emerged from the house, still hid in the darkness, afraid of him.

He tried various tactics: circling behind the birds to drive them toward the barn, tossing cracker crumbs in the air toward them, retreating to his house to see if they’d flutter into the barn on their own.

Nothing worked.

He, a huge alien creature, had terrified them; the birds could not understand that he actually desired to help.

He withdrew to his house and watched the doomed sparrows though a window.

As he stared, a thought hit him like lightening from a clear blue sky: if only I could become a bird-one of them-just for a moment.

Then I wouldn’t frighten them so.

I could show them the way to warmth and safety.

At the same moment, another thought dawned on him.

He had grasped the whole principle of the Incarnation.

A man’s becoming a bird is nothing compared to God’s becoming a man.

The concept of a sovereign being as big as the universe He created, confining Himself to a human body was-and is-too much for some people to believe.

–Paul Harvey.

Transition:

Last week we read in Philippians chapter 2 about the example of Christ’s sacrifice for us.

Paul used the mind of Christ as the perfect example of the submissive mind.

We concluded last week with a discussion of Christ’s death and resurrection and how that same death and resurrection power is meant for all Christians now as we pick up our cross and die to self, daily.

This week, we continue in chapter 2 and Paul is continuing his thoughts on this topic as Paul exhorts the Christians in Philippi to consider what Christ did and let that motivate them to live a life of obedience.

Lets read the text.

Our text to today is Philippian 2:12-15, but to get the full context we need to start reading in .

RECAP:

Notice the word “therefore”.

Whenever we see that we must ask, “What’s it there for?”

We see that this referring back to the passage just before it, discussing Christ’s humble obedience to the point of death on the cross and how upon his death, God exalted Him.

So, Paul is saying because of the example of Christ, this is your incentive, continue to work out your salvation.

So what does this mean to work out your salvation?

From the context he is referring to obeying.

Obeying what?

He is referring to all the exhortations that he had given so far.

These were all ways that the Philippians should obey to live lives of authentic Christianity and make the gospel of Christ attractive to the lost.

What were they?

· Remember who we are, we are citizens of heaven.

· Remember whose we are, we belong to Jesus Christ and he deserves our full allegiance.

· Have a single mind or be laser focused to spread the gospel of Christ

· Be unquestionably Christian by having convincing conduct and courageous confidence.

· Have a submissive mind, the mind of Christ.

Paul calls all of this activity, “working out our salvation.

“

Wait a minute; did Paul say we have to do those 5 steps to be saved?

Aren’t we saved by grace?

What does this mean?

Yes, we are saved by grace.

There are many verses that teach this like:

·

So what is Paul talking about, is he contradicting himself here?

The three steps

The Bible teaches that Salvation is a three-step process.

Regeneration and Justification of once I was saved, a one time event, next is sanctification, the act of being saved, a life long process of becoming more like Christ, and one day we will finally be saved completely in the step we call glorification.

· Step one is Regeneration and Justification.

This is what most people refer to as getting saved or being born again.

It is a one-time experience of life where Jesus prompts our heart to respond to Him and ask forgiveness for our sins, we turn from our sins and ask Jesus to live inside us and be Lord of our life.

We know from scripture that once this takes place it can not be undone.

In that moment we are baptized into the body of Christ, we are made new creatures, Holy Spirit comes to live inside us, and we are declared innocent by God.

o : Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

Jesus said in :

28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

[1]

o Give hand illustration.

o Coffee and creamer illustration.

Born again- You can’t be unborn.

· Step 2 is Sanctification: This is the work of Being Saved.

At the moment of conversion, Christ comes to live in us, through the Holy Spirit.

But we find that we are still very sinful people and don’t look anything like Christ.

We are supposed to be little Christ’s yet, we still act a whole lot like the old creature that we once we were.

Because of this we are miserable and frustrated because there is this war going on inside of us.

Look at Romans Chapter 7:15.

What a struggle!

Sanctification is daily discipline of becoming more like Christ.

It is a life long process of Salvation on Earth.

It is getting to experience heaven on earth.

The · Someone said once, that sanctification is being a little more like Christ today than we were yesterday and tomorrow being a little more like Christ than we are today.

· Some people view their Christian walk as moving forward, standing still, or backsliding.

Its either forward or stagnant or backwards.

But I have found it not to be true.

It’s more like going upward or going down.

Like a rocket, when we become a Christian we often take off fast in the faith, but then sin creeps back in, the world entangles us and suddenly our engines cool down and we fall.

I have never found in my experience a period of stagnation, I am either moving upwards or I am falling downwards.

There is no static position in the Christian walk.

· “Peter commands us to grow in Grace”

· “Christ accepts us as we are, but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are.”

(Walter Trobisch).

· “Christ accepts us as we are, but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are.”

(Walter Trobisch).

· William Evans: One day Billy and Ruth Graham were driving thru a long stretch of road construction.

They had numerous slowdowns, detours, and smooth pavement stretched out before them.

The sign caught Ruth's attention: "End of Construction.

Thanks for your patience."

She commented that those words would be a fitting inscription on her tombstone someday.

· In Justification we are declared righteous, that in sanctification we may become righteous.

Justification is what God does for us, while sanctification is what God does in us.

Justification puts us into a right relationship to God, while sanctification exhibits the fruit of that relationship.

The final step is Glorification; this will not take place till Christ returns.

We will finally be saved.