Thankfulness and Discernment

Pray

Everyone wants to live a meaningful life don’t they?

To find purpose,

To acheive something,

To be of worth in some way.

Perhaps you look for worth in your career,

Or family.

Power, or wealth.

Maybe it’s to be respected.

What is it that gives you worth? In your head.

Hopefully most of us here know that our worth is found in Jesus our saviour.

But perhaps we struggle with that day to day.

Perhaps consider what it is that motivates you to get up and do whatever you do each day.

What is it you work and strive hard for?

To enjoy a nice house or holiday?

To enjoy a nice house or holiday?

To gain respect at work?

All of those,

What is it that gives you worth.

Well Philippians is a book in the NT written by the apostle Paul.

Paul, before he met Jesus, was a devout Jew, who persecuted and killed Christians.

His life had worth in his head, he was seen by fellow Jews to be the defender of the OT faith.

Perhaps Paul even thought his life had worth because he thought he was serving God.

Then, Jesus met him, in person.

And what was most extraordinary to Paul, was that this was after the death of Jesus on the cross.

He’d met the risen Lord Jesus, in person, physically!

Jesus then, was unquestionably the man he’d claimed to be all along!

The Son of God.

The saviour of all people!

And that changed everything for Paul.

He repented before God for his terrible sins.

And he found forgiveness and the hope of eternal life.

He found the Good News that all in this world needs. The Gospel.

So now, he, and indeed every Christians ever since,

needs a new ‘worth’ in life.

What is it that would give Paul worth now?

What would be his motivation?

Well we see Paul’s life and example all the way though much of the NT.

But here, in Philippians, we get a real taste of what a ‘worthy life’ really is, as Paul commends and encourages the Philippians church that he writes to here to ‘live a worthy life’.

If you’re a non-Christian here, then this book we’re going through over the next 8 weeks will give you a taste of what a life worth living is all about.

Christianity is not just about being a nice person for the sake of society,

phil

phil

so that one day we can sit on clouds and play harps forevermore.

No, Christianity is a life full of purpose. Full of worth, fully of meaning.

And when we get that purpose right, then as we see from this letter, it is a life full of joy, and thanksgiving, and rejoicing!

But we must make sure we are getting our purpose right.

Otherwise, we are just another worldly mantra, that promises all this, but ultimately delivers none of it!

Our purpose as Christians then is to live, and this is the title of our series in Philippians:

‘A life worthy of the Gospel’

The New International Version Chapter 1

27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Philippians 1:27 NIV

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel

Notice, we don’t; live a life to earn the gospel,

No, if we claim to be Christians, if we claim the gospel to be true for us.

That we are forgiven people, freely by Jesus, by his grace.

Then we ought to live in a manner worthy of that fact!

So if you find yourself living for yourself,

for your family,

for your career or job,

for comfort or leisure,

or alcohol,

or fast cars,

sports,

fitness,

extensions,

holidays, etc etc etc.

And you call yourself a Christian, then we need a powerful reset button - and Philippians is it!

There is no worth,

or lasting satisfaction or joy or thanksgiving or happiness in any of those things I just mentioned.

They might

They wont give your life purpose or worth.

No, what will give us worth and purpose, is,

knowing we have received the gospel of Jesus,

we then strive to live in a way that is worthy of it!

that commends

If Jesus saved us by grace, freely, to enjoy eternity with him, freed from judgement, hell. What is the only responce we should expect to see from Christians?

I’d like this series to be as practical as possible, so we will deliberately focus on how to relate these passages to living a worthy life.

And with that long introduction to the series done, let’s get through our first passage today.

To live a life of thankfulness to God,

Which means to live a life that honours him,

How do we honour him, to do all we can that his death and ressurection was not in vain.

To bring others intot he family.

In other words, to live a life worthy of the gospel.

And that I htink is what Phillipians can really help us with!

How do we live a life worthy of the gospel?

Getting thankfulness right v1-6

3 Reasons for thanksgiving v1-6

It is VERY easy to be thankful to God for all the things we perceive to be good in our lives isn’t it.

Thank you my child is a genius.

Thank you relative recovered from something.

Thank you the weather is good.

Thank you for my nice house

Thank you my coffee order arrived before the last batch ran out - thats was important for me on Friday!

All good things to thank God for,

but not good things to base the principle of a thankful life on!

Becasue, if our thankfulness to God is based on our perceived experience, then what do we do when we don’t have much to give thanks for.

What if like Paul, we’re in prison for our faith.

Chained and hungry.

No nice house, no family around,

and more seriously, probably only instant coffee with powdered milk!

Now we aren’t thankful, we’re wondering why God has not been kind to us.

But look at where Paul’s thankfulness is found.

Philippians 1:3–6 NIV

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

phil 1

His thankfulness is directed to God, for the fruit of the gospel being lived out in others,

Let’s make it really simple, and state it as 3 points:

and for the eternal salvation for those same people.

1 - God’s Gracious work in others

- I thank my God he says - it is God’s work whenever we see His people do good things for him.

2nd, Paul is thankful when

2 - Others actively participation in the gospel

He is thrilled to have seen and enjoyed the partnership of the Philippians in the gospel.

We’ll find out later in the letter, that they have sent financial support to Paul,

they have sent people to care for him in prison.

They have made sacrifices for the gospel - for their love of Paul and each other.

Can you image Paul writing,

I thank God every-time I hear one of you has had a home extension,

or sent a child to private school,

or mortgaged yourself to the max

or bought a costa coffee everyday of the week for the last 7 years. (£7665)

That type of principle behind thankfulness ends up with us saying that

we should do everything we can to get what we feel we need in this life

so you can say thank you God once you have it!

We had friends who moved to a nice big house in North London.

When we went to see them they kept saying how God had really blessed them with the house, that they can’t believe how kind he’s been to them. That it was a wonderful gift from Him.

3 - Ultimately - Confidence in eternal salvation whatever comes our way

I don’t think Paul would have been thanking God for their house.

Perhaps he would have been thinking like me, well clearly God loves you more than he loves me then!

But at least God loves me more than those other friends of ours who live in a right dump.

It’s terrible theology,

If you work hard, earn hard, save hard, and stretch out your mortgages -

‘God’ can bless you with much more than others -

If you work hard, earn hard, save hard, and stretch out your mortgages God can bless you with much more! But that is not a life worthy of the gospel.

But that is not a life worthy of the gospel.

A life worthy of the gospel, is one where others thank God, for your partnership in the Gospel with them.

Were we are united in suffering and serving Jesus, for the gospel.

Where we are able to say of one another that we are thankful to God for you becasue we can see his work in your life,

where they can say in v7 of you

Philippians 1:7 NIV

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.

Where we can honestly say v8

Philippians 1:8 NIV

God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

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Paul, as should we, would have been thanking God for the family that didn’t upgrade and gave some money to a missionary trying to reach the lost.

Or a family that moved for the purpose of sacrificially serving at a church plant.

To the people who have always lived healthily ‘below their means’ so they can give generously.

To the church that willingly and encouragingly sends their own peolpe,

who they don’t really want to loose, to go and do God’s work somewhere else!

To the couple who love their church friends enough to babysit selflessly, so a marriage that refects Christ can be improved,

To the corporate professional who works with all his heart soul and mind to please Jesus, not himself. So that he earns the respect of others so he can speak of Jesus.

To the mum and dad who puts raising children to know the Lord, above his or her own career.

To the family who did put everything they could into an extension, but so that they could have more neighbours and church friends round to share and enjoy the gospel of Jesus.

I could go on all day, but you get the point.

A life worthy of the gospel, is one that causes others to thank God for your partnership in the Gospel.

That’s the sort of thankful people we want to be isn’t it!

Freed from what this world thinks we should be thankful for,

And free to always thank God for the grace and gospel motivation we see in others becaseu of his kindness.

It is also therefore one that finds it’s basis for a thankful life in the grace of God being lived out in others.

In short - We need to be thankful to God for the sacrificial activity of our Christian brothers and sisters, and we also need to be those sacrificial brothers and sisters.

I am not saying, mortgages, extensions, private schools, Mercedes etc are all bad things.

I am saying that those decisions need to be made asking one simple question -

But to add a caviate to wwhat I’ve said, I am not saying, mortgages, extensions, private schools etc are all bad things. I am saying that those decsions need to be made asking that question - Does this serve the gospel.

Does this serve the gospel and our Christian brothers and sisters (the church)?

IE - Can I rightly, and can others rightly give thanks to God for this decision.

Sometimes we will decide it does serve the gospel,

sometimes we will decide it doesn’t,

and sometimes it wont matter either way.

Sometimes people will judge us wrongly anyway, but all of that is not the issue

But that’s the question to ask:

does this decision serve the gospel?

And that is exactly what Paul now prays for the Philippians:

The second caviat, is not to make the mistake of thinking

3 - Ultimately - Confidence in eternal salvation whatever comes our way

That they will know how to answer that question all the time!

2 - Getting God’s Will right

Philippians 1:9–11 NIV

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

phil 1 9-

You see, the whole time we are putting the gospel first, we are loving each other and Jesus more.

The more we truely love each other and Jesus, the moer we are putting the gospel first.

It We will well up with thankfulness as we hear of the great love others have shown by makeing sacrfiices for the gospel.

Paul prays that their love might abound, in v9 - tells us how to learn how to love more which we’ll come to in a moment, and then compares our love with, v10,

And so this prayer is refelcting all we have talked about.

He prays that our love might abound, in v9 - tells us how to learn how to love more, and then compares our love with in v10,

discerning what is best and that we may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ

To discern, in other words to do the right thing by God, for the gospel, is the way we can be pure when Christ returns. And it’s the way we love each other and Jesus.

v11 - reinforces the same point again, if we are pure and blameless, by discerning God’s will, it is the same as being ‘filled with the fruit of righteousness’.

So the question is,

if loving more, is based on discerning God’s will more, which in turn prepare ourselves to be blameless and pure, and all of this is the fruit of righteousness, How do we do it.

How do we know God’s will, which is the key to lovingin each other and living by the gospel?

Well we’re told in 2 simple words: Knowldge and INsight.

Knowldge is simple, read your bibles.

Paul’s understanding of knowldge would have been from the OT, where to know God would have been to develop and grow a relationship with Him,

through an acknowledgement and understanding of his works.

So, for example, he might read about the flood in Noah’s time and appropriately fear and respect God, and seek to trust him for salvation.

Studying God in his word, which shows us who he is.

Understand Him more, understand his salavtion plan,

grow your knowledge of the life and character of Jesus.

But knowldge with out insight is pointless.

The bible college I went to used to say, theology without application isn’t theology at all!

Inother words, to know about God,

but to have no response to him,

shows that you haven’t understood him at all!

Imagine you’re standing in the middle of the road AND Assuming you want to live, and you know a car is coming at you, then you will move!

Otherwise your knowledge isn’t knowledge at all. It’s nothing to you.

And that’s what Paul means by depth of insight.

We must apply what we learn and know about the gospel, about Jesus!

Otherwise, we are not living for Him or the gospel at all!

Loving each other and Jesus is the same

2 reasons for affection 7-8

Paul wants our deep study and enjoymen tof the bible to infect us with Jesus.

So we are insightful as to his will in every situation.

1 - Sharing grace in times of need

Grace of giving - grace of suffering - giving money and people we love dearly is a wonderful way to enjoy God’s grace

For Paul, Christ is the source of the love that he embraces, he wants christ’s love to infect his whole personality’.

2 -

We want our knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord, to so permeate our souls and minds that we cannot think or act outside of his desire.

Here at Christ is seen to be ‘the source of the love that embraces and lays claim to the apostle’s whole personality’. Christ loves the Philippians in and through Paul. Note Bengel’s oft-quoted statement: ‘It is not Paul who lives within Paul, but Jesus Christ, which is why Paul is not moved by the bowels of Paul but by the bowels of Jesus Christ’.48

We learn and desire to apply so much the truth about Jesus,

We’ve grown in so much knowldge AND insight, wanting to apply it, understand it accept it

An often quoted phrase about this is from a Bengel’s oft-quoted statement: ‘It is not Paul who lives within Paul, but Jesus Christ, which is why Paul is not moved by the bowels of Paul but by the bowels of Jesus Christ’.48

that It is not ourselves that any longer live inside of ourselves but Jesus himself.

So we are no longer swayed so much by ourselves and our circumstances,

but by Jesus and his circumstances.

To discern God’s will, to live a life worthy of the gospel,

our heart must consume the bible, and Jesus must consume our heart.

loves the Philippians in and through Paul. Note Bengel’s oft-quoted statement: ‘It is not Paul who lives within Paul, but Jesus Christ, which is why Paul is not moved by the bowels of Paul but by the bowels of Jesus Christ’.48

So there is our first lesson in how to ‘live a life worthy of the gospel.

O’Brien, P. T. (1991). The Epistle to the Philippians: a commentary on the Greek text (p. 72). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Remember -

The relationship between, Love, knowledge and life v9-11

It starts with the Gospel - the good news.

We are saved and made right in God’s eyes by Jesus alone.

Knowledge

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistle to the Philippians 3. Intercession for Love and Discernment (1:9–11)

Paul’s view of knowledge was largely determined by the OT. To know God meant to be in a close personal relationship with him because he had made himself known. There was the element of an obedient and grateful acknowledgement of his deeds on behalf of his people. The knowledge of God began with a fear of him, was linked with his demands, and often was described as knowing his will. In the OT, as well as in the writings of Paul, knowledge was not a fixed quantum but rather something that developed in the life of people as they were obedient.

And now we desire Jesus to consume our hearts so much that we grow in knowldge, intent on discerning his will.

And therefore we live lives of love, that alwasy ask the question.

Does this serve the gospel and the church?

That is a life worthy of the gospel we already have in Christ.

PRAY

Love, knowledge and life

Knowldege into life

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistle to the Philippians 3. Intercession for Love and Discernment (1:9–11)

Paul’s prayer, then, was not that some fresh elements such as knowledge and insight might be introduced into their love as though these were two separate ingredients that were lacking or deficient. Rather, the content of the petition was that the love of God within the readers might increase beyond all measure, and that as it increased it might penetrate more deeply into that personal relation with God through Christ as well as into all types of situations involving practical conduct.

1:10 The purpose of this love increasing in knowledge and tact was that they might be able to distinguish the really important issues in their lives together, and to act on the basis of such distinctions. Paul’s goal for them was that they might be fully prepared for the second coming as those who are both pure and blameless.

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