Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

Once a person gives his life to Jesus, he must press on toward the prize and stand firm in the Lord.

As we talked about last Sunday morning, to press on toward the goal is to strive with all our might for Christlikeness as we await the return of Christ when we will enjoy Christ and Christlikeness forever in Heaven.

In addition to pressing on toward the goal, however, we also need to stand firm in the Lord.

And the Lord Jesus is the perfect example of standing firm.

Jesus endured hostility from sinners but never grew weary or fainthearted ().

He was, in every respect, tempted as we are and yet he never sinned ().

He endured the cross, despising the shame, and then sat down at the right hand of the throne of God ().

Our Lord Jesus is the perfect example of standing firm and we are repeatedly called to follow his example and stand firm ourselves.

And Paul said to the Philippians that he hoped to find them standing firm in ...

The Philippians were divided by sinful pride, which was no doubt fueled by the false teaching that had come into the church.

The false teachers were known as the Judaizers and they taught that one had to work for salvation by keeping the Law of Moses.

They may have even taught that one could become perfect by keeping the Law.

That kind of thinking no doubt leads to the kind of pride that thinks itself better than others and refuses to be a servant to others.

That kind of attitude would have been best exemplified in the false teachers, but it also showed up in the members of the church.

It’s a mindset that doesn’t allow a man to humble himself before another.

It’s a mindset that doesn’t make a woman want to serve and sacrifice.

Because of that self-serving pride, Paul called the Philippians to follow the humble way of Jesus who, even though he was very God of very God, came in the likeness of men and being a man, humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

But Jesus didn’t just die, he was resurrected and exalted so that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Now, if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, then you will be saved!

Let me just pause here and say that if you haven’t believed on Jesus for salvation, you must believe this morning.

If you haven’t confessed Jesus as your Lord and Savior, what stops you from doing so this morning.

Repent of your sins, believe, and confess, and you will be saved from God’s wrath!

But you will not just be saved.

You will also be sanctified, that is, made more like Christ!

Saving faith in Jesus enables us to live the sanctified way of Jesus.

Our faith in Jesus enables us to resist pride and serve and sacrifice like our Lord.

But although we are saved and sanctified, we are still being saved and sanctified.

In other words, we aren’t home yet and so we must press on.

We must press on in right believing and right living.

We must press on in right believing and right living.

Right believing is believing that Jesus is the only way of salvation; that salvation is by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone.

Right living is the humble way of service and sacrifice perfectly displayed in our Lord Jesus.

But, as I said, we aren’t perfect so we must press on and we must stand firm.

[INTER] But what does it mean to stand firm?

[ILLUS] When I was in elementary school we had Field Day and I loved Field Day.

It was the one time of the year that I got to show off my athletic prowess, which seemed to leave me in third place in every event I entered.

One year our class competed in the tug-o-war against another class.

It was your classic underdog story.

They were giants but we were scrappy or maybe they were dogs and we were the scraps.

I can’t remember.

The context got underway and we were being immediately dragged toward defeat.

Our feet were sliding in the sand and we were helpless until I felt a rock under the sand.

I put all my weight on the rock and suddenly we stopped sliding and then we started to pull them toward defeat.

But then they would pull us their way again but I would find my rock and we would stop sliding.

That pattern continued until I couldn’t find the rock anymore.

That pattern continued until I couldn’t find the rock anymore.

We were sliding toward defeat and I had my legs scrambling in every direction searching for that rock, but I couldn’t find it and that other class, giant dogs that they were, won.

We were sliding toward defeat and I had my legs scrambling in every direction searching for that rock, but I couldn’t find it and that other class, giant dogs that they were, won.

The self-serving world in which we live; the self-serving false teaching that permeates our culture; and the self-serving pull of our flesh - all of this is constantly pulling us toward defeat.

If we don’t stand firm on Christ our Rock - believing on Him and living after Him - then we will lose.

[INTER] How do we keep this from happening?

How do we persevere, persist in faithfulness, keep standing on Christ?

How do we stand firm?

[TS] Well, there are some ACTIONS that we need to take and Paul gives them to us here in ...

[ILLUS]

[INTER] What actions do we need to take in order to stand firm?

MAJOR IDEAS

Action #1: You’ll need to imitate (v.

17).

[Exp] The call for other Christians to follow Paul is a common recurrence in Paul’s letters (cf.

; ; ).

But there are two important qualifications to Paul’s call to imitate him:

One, the call to imitate Paul only went so far as Paul imitation of Christ.

Thus, Paul said in ...

Two, the call to imitate Paul wasn’t a call to imitate him alone, but every disciple of Jesus “who walk(ed) according to the example” that Paul and others as they depended on Christ alone for salvation and pursued Christ in sanctification.

In , Paul wrote...

[App] One of the way we stand firm in Christ is by imitating others who are growing in Christ.

Paul told the Philippians in 4:9...

[App]

Paul is a great disciple of Jesus to imitate but all disciples of Jesus, especially those of us in leadership, should be worthy of imitation.

Deacon’s should live lives worthy of imitation!

Sunday School teachers should live lives worthy of imitation!

Pastors especially should live lives worthy of imitation!

Timothy was serving as pastor of the church in Ephesus when he wrote to him in ...

And then in , Paul wrote...

Likewise, in , the author calls church members to follow the godly example of their leaders...

And then listen to what Peter writes to us pastors in ...

But for everyone of us (whether we are in church leadership or not), there is someone further down the road with Christ than we are; someone we can and should imitate so that we can grow further in Christ likeness.

But what if we survey the church body (or the whole of church history for that matter) and conclude that there’s no one worth imitating?

But

One, it must be your sinful pride that is blinding you.

While no saint is perfect, there are people more mature than you in certain aspects of walking with Jesus.

There are people more mature than you in prayer, in understanding the Scriptures, in witnessing, etc.

Two, even if your sinful pride prevents you from imitating a saint (a fellow Christian), it surely wouldn’t prevent you from imitating the Savior.

[Illus]

And I believe as you imitate him, humility will set in, and you’ll see other followers of him you can imitate as well.

[TS] If you want to stand firm, find faithful followers of Jesus imitate.

[TS]

“Imitation is the highest form of flattery.”

Action #2: You’ll need to differentiate (vv.

18-21).

[Exp] There are two groups that we need to be able to tell apart.

[App]

[Illus]

[TS]

There are two groups that we need to be able to tell apart.

One group is the enemies of the cross.

Paul was talking about the Judaizers that he described back in v. 2, but also to all those who walk according to the way of the world (i.e., the way of Satan) rather than the way of Christ.

Their end is destruction.

Their god is their belly.

They glory in their shame.

They have their minds set on earthly things.