Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Car Story

Several studies have shown that less than 20% of Americans regularly attend church.

Thom Rainer’s research team did a study several years back that only 6% of churches were actually growing.

These numbers were based off of churches that were not only growing in numbers but reflecting the communities population growth.

In 2050 the percentage of the US population attending church will be almost half of what is was in 1990.

That’s just a few of the daunting numbers coming out from studies that the American church is in trouble if something doesn’t change.

If you could purchase any car no matter the year, make or model.

What car would you purchase.

I want you to imagine that a man shows up at your door tomorrow morning and tells you that they are going to purchase your dream car.

The question I want to ask is: What can we do?

How can we help change those statistics and be a church that not only grows numerically but has a greater impact in the world.

Lets say you go to the dealership or wherever to purchase the car and this person pays for it in cash free and clear, you get home and he hands you the keys but it gets even better.

This person hands you a card and says’ all the gas is paid for, whenever you stop to fill this car of with gas, pay for it with this card, oh and not only the gas but the insurance is paid for as well as all the maintenance.

You didn’t pay a dime for this vehicle.

This person then gives you his phone number and says’ “As you’re driving the car around, I want you to tell other people about me and if they would call my number I will do the same for them.

The person leaves and you have a shiny new car sitting in your driveway.

I can imagine that most of us would be in shock and completely grateful for the kindness that was shown to us.

How crazy would it be though if you pulled the car into your garage and just left it there?

You had this shiny new car that had been given to you by the kindness of another person, but you decide to not let anyone know about it and hide it in your garage.

You know the car is there in your mind, but you choose not to drive the car and leave it hidden in the garage.

Switching over to today’s text, we are going to look at the gift that God gives us through Jesus Christ and that is salvation and forgiveness, but more important we are gong to look at how the gift of salvation changes our life.

So often, I think believer’s give mental assent to the truth of the gospel but it doesn’t truly change the way they live, think, or minister to others.

It’s as useless as parking a car that had been given to you in your garage and keeping it to yourself.

We are going to look at the passage this morning and see some encouragement from the Apostle Paul to the Church at Phillipi.

Recap:

Last week we broke down 1:27-2:11 and learned how important it was to strive for unity as a body of believers.

Paul lovingly introduced the idea that in order to strive and maintain unity, believer’s must personally look out to other’s interests and in humility put other’s before themselves.

The passage ends with the example of Christ and how Jesus made himself nothing, and humbled himself by dying on a cross in order that we could be restored back to a Holy God.

We looked at the significance of the truth that Jesus although was fully man and fully God, but was obedient to the point of death.

I told you last week that this section would be broken down into two parts.

We come to V. 12 this morning and notice the word “therefore.”

It’s essential for us to understand the fact that Paul continues his idea of practical Christian living through V. 18.

In order to understand what Paul is talking about in 12-18, let’s look at 2:5-11 again.

Therefore mean “because of this” So because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, our lives’ should look like _______________.

Philippians

Paul is going to get very practical in these verses with the church at Philippi and we must pay close attention to the idea he is stressing to the believer’s as we walk with the Lord in our daily life.

There are three main ideas in relation to how a Christian should live and conduct themselves in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The gospel compels believers to consistently live and grow in Christ.

V 12-13

We have read where Paul has encouraged the church throughout this letter and he continues doing that in V. 12 when he says’ “As you always have obeyed, so now not only in my presence but much more in my absence.”

Paul commends the believers for living out their faith in Christ and obeying the Lord in their daily walk.

He commends them but then commands them “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

That phrase can really throw us off if we aren’t careful.

We read that and think.

“Wait, work out our own salvation.”

Doesn’t the Bible say otherwise about salvation?

Ephesians 2:

Without a doubt, we know that God’s word tells us we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

When Paul says’ to work out your own salvation, he is not saying it in the sense of earning your way to a relationship with God.

Instead, he is saying once you are following after the Lord, live a life following after Christ’s example.

Paul stresses the importance of the daily walk of a believer to strive to follow Jesus and follow his example because life is tough and if we just sit around hoping that we will naturally grow in Christ without discipling ourselves, we are wrong.

I think we can all agree that we live in a culture filled with shortcuts.

We like quick fixes and finding ways to make life easier.

I’m guilty of this so often.

It’s much easier to drive through Chikc-Fil-A than go home and prepare a meal.

Grocery shopping has become incredibly easy with quick pick-up or you can even have groceries delivered now.

With technology advancing, life becomes easier in certain areas but our walk with Christ is much different from the quick-fix, shortcut world.

Following the Lord requires trust and obedience on a daily basis and there isn’t a magical pill or a drive-through we can go through to grow in the Lord.

We grow in the Lord by simply trusting Him, spending time with him, and faithfully following Him every single day.

What I’ve noticed as a follower of Christ is that some days will be easier than others.

You may have an incredible day in your walk with the Lord and feel like you’ve reached this amazing peak but then the very next day you may feel like you want to give up and take the easy way out.

The beauty of a life with Christ is that we grow more like him everyday as we follow him and we mature as Christians the longer we live life and walk in obedience.

Paul teaches the idea of Sanctification in V. 12 and the importance of working out salvation with fear and trembling which means with reverence and sincere loyalty.

We should live a life in awe of who God is and what he has done for us through Jesus Christ.

We must fight the temptation to go through the motions and become stagnant in our walk with Christ.

If we are not consistently growing, we are living a fruitless life.

In order to cultivate a garden, you have to water it and provide nourishment for the plants.

Much like that, our walk with Christ has to be one of cultivation and growth.

But in order to grow we must first have a deep respect and awe for the Lord.

Listen to

Respecting and standing in awe before a Holy God is the beginning to a life that will grow and mature.

Paul not only gives the believer’s a command to work out their salvation but he tells them their source of growth.

Paul is not telling the believer’s they are alone in this journey to work out their own salvation because who is working in them?

God.

We must be encouraged by this verse this morning because as we walk with Christ, we know that God is working in us and helping us along the way.

The struggle is real on a day to day basis but we need to take heart that God works in us to help us face the struggles and temptations.

This takes all forms of pride out of the picture because it is not by our own strength or our own will that we grow in Christ, It is God working in us for his good pleasure.

Paul taught this message throughout his ministry.

Some may have looked at him as being this spiritual giant who’s faith and life was unattainable but Paul NEVER took the glory of the fame.

Instead he pointed his success in ministry and life to God working in Him.

Listen to his words in

As we work out our salvation, we cannot take the credit but we must point to the truth that God is with us helping us along this journey of life.

He is working in our lives’ even when we don’t know.

So in order to live a life glorifying to the Lord, we must simply trust.

We must trust that no matter what happens in our life, God is working in us as we work out our salvation with reverence and loyalty to Jesus Christ.

So Paul covers the truth of living and growing in Christ, now he turns to how believers should live out their walk.

2. The effect of new life in Christ is a bright and bold witness.

2. The effect of new life in Christ is a bright and bold witness.

We see the importance of living a life striving to be like Christ and resting on God’s work within us.

Now, Paul turns to giving a picture of what a Christians attitude should be in relation to living in a world that is broken and fallen because of sin.

I think we can all agree that living out one’s faith in Christ will lead to a changed life and changed behavior.

We see highlight one of the behaviors that is a result of a changed life.

Paul isn’t simply addressing one particular sin believers struggle with but the main idea that Paul is trying to communicate is that all of life should be lived out to the glory of God and when believer’s complain or argue, it brings glory away from God and onto themselves.

Doing some in depth study to the word “Grumbling” in V. 14, we see a couple differnt applications.

complaining about the situation a person is in.

Looking at the context, we know the church at Philippi lived in a culture that persecuted them.

Paul did not want the church to grumble or complain.

Grumbling referred to complaining about others behind their back.

Whispering about others.