Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

[The Grill Still in the box].

So I got this new grill for Christmas and this is such a great grill, I mean it says so right here on the box.

It is stainless steal with 4 burner...

But the question that you are probably asking is if I believe that this is such a great grill why is it still in the box?

How can I be so excited about a grill that is just sitting there in the box in all of these separate pieces that are accomplishing nothing on their own except for taking up space.

For the grill to produce all the wonderful things it promises on the box there is “Some Assembly Required”

It has all of this working potential, but until it is assembled in such a way that it fires up to cook my juicy steak, sizzling brat, or seasoned chicken then what good is it.

I can say I have a great new grill all I want, but as of right now all I have is a big box of separated parts taking up space in my garage.

The truth is I could talk to you all day about the incredible merits of this grill, but if unless you see it assembled and working as it was designed to work you aren’t going to believe me.

Tension

Tension

In our Summer series we are diving into the question of “What makes a Church a healthy Church”.

We are looking to answer this question from the book of Philippians because this book is a letter to the Church of Philippi that was for all we can see a healthy Church.

One of the things that is surprising about this Church is that it was made up of people who had very little in common.

In Chapter 16 of the book of Acts we read of the beginnings of this Church when Paul first went to Philippi and the lives of three people were transformed by the message of the Gospel.

Much like all the parts of my grill, these three people were were separated in many different ways.

They were separated ethnically, economically, culturally, occupationally and religiously.

They could not have been more different.

There was:

There was:

An Asian, wealthy, fashionista who worshipped God

A Greek, poor, fortune telling slave girl who was demon possessed

Last week, on Father’s Day, we upacked the idea that “The Main Thing Is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing” and that for the Christian the main thing is the Gospel.

The good news about who Jesus is and what He has done for us.

That is the main thing for the Christian.

A Roman, working class, pagan, jailer who treated Paul as a criminal

It is hard to imagine three people whose lives were more separated than these three.

They started out with nothing in common, but after they met Paul they all came together around the most important thing to have in common.

eemed to have nothing in common, except for the most important thing.

Each one of them encountered the transformational power of the message of the Gospel and this is what drew them together.

This is what they assembled around.

Last week, on Father’s Day, we unpacked the idea that “The Main Thing Is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing” and that for the Christian and the Christian Church the main thing is the Gospel.

This is what we assemble together around.

the

A

Last week, on Father’s Day, we upacked the idea that “The Main Thing Is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing” and that for the Christian the main thing is the Gospel.

The good news about who Jesus is and what He has done for us.

That is the main thing for the Christian.

Some Assembly Required.

My point is, that a church can become just like my grill here.

If the Church was somehow able to be packaged together in a box like my grill then there could also be a label on it that says: Assembly Required.

It has all of this working potential, but until we are all assembled together in the way that God designed us to operate, to fire us up and use us for his intended purposes, then we we too will be doing little more then just taking up space in this...big box.

The main thing about grilling is not just having a grill, but assembling it in such a way that it is useful for grilling.

It might all be there but it is not doing anything to bring me a juicy steak, sizzling brat, or spicy chicken.

( It’s a good thing we moved the service an hour closer to breakfast than lunch so you are not distracted by your grumbling stomach.)

You might burn theIf we were talking bout grilling, then we would probably say that the main thing about grilling is to have a grill.

So looking here on the stage you could then say that we have the Main thing covered, right?

Well not exactly.

It might be there but it is not doing anything.

It is still in all kinds of various pieces in the box that are not doing anything to bring me a juicy steak, sizzling brat, or spicy chicken.

It’s a good thing we moved the service an hour closer to breakfast than lunch so you are not distracted by your grumbling stomach.

It has all of this working potential, but until it is assembled in such a way that it fires up to cook my brats, steak or chicken then what good is it.

I can say I have a great new grill all I want, but as of right now all I have is a big box of separate pieces taking up space in my garage.

of a building we often mistake for the true Church.

My point is, that a church can become just like my grill here.

It has all of this working potential, but until we are all assembled together in the way that God designed us to operate, to spritually fire us up to accomplish his purposes then we we too will be doing little more then just taking up space in this big box of a room.

I don’t want that to be our Church.

I don’t want this to just be a place where people just “come”, but a place where people “become”.

That together we become the kind of people that Satan fears, God is pleased with and other people notice that there is something powerful happening when we assemble together.

I think that is what Paul wants for the Church in Philippi as well, so lets dive in and find out how he instructs them to get there.

Let’s find out how Paul calls this healthy Church into this from the book of Philippians.

We are finishing up the last 4 verses of chapter 1 in Philippians, page 980 in the Bible in the chairs.

As you turn there I will pray and then we will dive into these verses together.

, a church

How much is your salvation through Jesus Christ worth to you? Do you live like it?

Truth

Since we are covering just a few verses this morning I thought we could read all the way through them together and then take them a small section at a time.

To get a good understanding of where we are, we should remember that we are coming off of Paul’s famous statement in 1:21 where he says:

And even though he struggles between which of these two good things he would desire, he lands on wanting to remain in this world in order to continue in this Joyful Gospel Partnership that he shares with the Church in Philippi.

His greatest hope is that he might even get to visit them again.

Follow along in your Bible as I read:

And after sharing all of his personal thoughts on this he returns to instructing them in the Lord...

Such a powerful call for a Church.

Let’s start with that rather startling beginning.

I had to struggle with this some this week because it seems like an impossible command from Paul.

How on earth could any of our lives actually be worthy of the good news of Jesus Christ?

And yet that is what Paul calls the Philippian Church and every Christian Church.

We see the same thing found in Paul’s other letters:

“worthy”

Col

If the repeating theme of becoming “worthy” of the things of God feels overwhelming to you then I would say that you are thinking rightly on it, but there is something special in the way that Paul uses the word here in Philippians that helps us to better understand what he is after.

In most of your Bibles you probably have a small number right next to the word “worthy” and that if you follow that footnote down to the bottom or side margin in your Bible you will see that it says that the Greek word (axios) there means “Only behave as citizens worthy” of the Gospel.

In most of your Bibles you probably have a small number right next to the word “worthy” and that if you follow that number down to the bottom or side margin in your Bible you will see that it says that the Greek word (axios) there means “Only behave as citizens worthy” of the Gospel.

You see Paul typically used a little different phrasing, just “Walk in a manner worthy...” but he chooses to use a different phrase here because of who it is that he is writing to.

Remember that while Philippi was a city with heavy Greek heritage, at this point in history it is an established Roman colony.

This means that one of the most influential identities a person can have is to be a Roman Citizen.

Roman citizenship was not generously granted.

Just because you were born in or currently resided in an area that Rome ruled over did not make you a citizen.

You either had to be able trace your lineage back to one of the original Roman families or purchase your citizenship with an outlandish act of loyalty or an enormous amount of money.

So the distinction between those who were citizens and those who were not was a very relatable experience for the people in Philippi.

They understood the significance of the term better then you or I might today.

Truth is, many if not most of us take our citizenship for granted, but the people of Philippi saw first hand how important it really is.

This is why Paul chooses to use this word here in Philippians.

These people would have first hand knowledge of how citizenship works in both privileges and responsibilities.

Your loyalties could not be divided between Rome and anything or anyone else.

However you became a one, if you were a Roman citizen you were expected to behave like one.

Of course Paul wasn’t promoting Roman Citizenship here, even though he did have it, but only using the example of Roman citizenship to help these new Christians better understand how what they now had in Christ Jesus was to affect their every day life and decisions.

In chapter 3 he uses this phrasing again in saying...

In chapter 3 he uses this example again by saying...