Keep It Centered

Can lead into this with inverted crab soccer.

or

Anyone ever heard the phrase “keepin it real”? talk about it, how it was used.

It makes me think about an old bald guy trying to hang out with people he’s too old to hang out with. Oh wait…

What does it mean to keep it real as a Christian? If you’re a Christian then that’s a question you should really think about, maybe in a less “trying-to-be-cool” way, but you should be thinking about it. What does it mean to keep the main thing the main thing? What should you be focussed on as a Christian? That’s what we’re talking about tonight.

The Gospel should be at the center of our lives.

The gospel is the story of God pursuing sinful humanity through his Son Jesus Christ.

Give some background for Philippians.

Pray

Paul is really excited as this book opens. He talks about joy through the whole book, but really at the open Paul is giddy! It’s because the people in the church at Philippi this first part of keeping it real as Christians.

It’s not just for pastors.

If you’re a Christian, the Gospel should be at the center of your life.

Just like in inverted crab soccer everyone was trying to get the exercise ball to the center of the court, every Christ follower, not just pastors, should have the Gospel at the center of their lives.

or

Do any of you remember when I tore my Achilles? What if I had tried to go on without it affecting everything I did? draw this out

That’s really what it’s like for a Christian to not let the Gospel affect every part of your life. It just won’t work out well. If you’re going to follow Jesus, it has to affect every part of your life. No matter who you are, where you are, what you do, it affects everything!

read 1-8

Paul is so excited because the Philippians have joined him, not left him, in making Jesus and the Gospel first in all things. It’s a pastor’s joy for his people to do that!

Matthew 22:37 ESV

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

vs 5; Don’t think you’re a spectator in the church.

vs 6; You don’t need a back up plan, this Gospel is real and Christ will finish what he started in you when he returns!

The ministry of the Gospel should be at the center of your life if you’re a Christian, regardless of what you do everyday. It doesn’t matter if you’re in school, at work, or a pastor. The Gospel should be what motivates you!

If you’re not active in the church, you’re just going to a building, not being the church.

Paul tells us a couple ways that every one of us can keep it real as Christ followers.

Keep your heart focussed on the Gospel.

If the Gospel is the most important thing in your life, then you will live your whole life according to it. It it’s not, then you won’t. Your life will show if it’s truly important to you.

You can use the CFA guess the sauce game from dym.

If you really love CFA, then you’ll know the sauces.

or

read 9-11

Paul is saying “here is how you carry on God’s work until you see Him”.

vs 9; It starts with love.

He loves us.

1 John 4:19 ESV

We love because he first loved us.

Then we love.

Matthew 22:37–39 ESV

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

This love makes us want to know God better and then we can better live according to his Word, that’s what verses 10-11 are telling us. If the Gospel is at the center of your heart then you will live according to it. You will think, “what has God told me about this” when you’re making decisions… If you’re life doesn’t look like this, then you need to make some changes.

This readies us for the next thing Paul tells us, we must advance the Gospel.

A life centered on the Gospel has a different mission.

If the Gospel is central to your life the your life’s mission will be to spread the Gospel to others, as Jesus instructed in and .

When I was in college, one morning I caught a pop tart on fire in the toaster oven. I freaked out and went and told my room mate. He just got up and blew it out.

I ran and told him because there was a danger that I needed to let someone know about it. If i had just walked away, that would have been bad. Ramp that up. I walk in and see a room on fire, and just walk out of the house without telling anyone. That’s awful. Ramp that up even more, Scripture says that those who die without putting faith in Jesus, it’s a fire that always burns and never burns out.

If you have the Gospel at the center of your life and truly believe what the Bible says, that Jesus is the only way to be saved from Hell, then your life has to have a different mission from those who don’t believe this.

read 12-18

Paul is in prison, and his first concern is the advance of the Gospel.

He was preaching to the soldiers. Not complaining, just excited to preach the Gospel to new people!

People outside the prison are trying to frustrate him, but again he’s just glad the Gospel is advancing.

As a Christian, your life’s mission is to advance the Gospel.

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Whatever you do… that’s where God has put you to tell others about Him. That’s where you spread the Gospel. That’s your mission field.

We’re all called to have the Gospel at the center of our lives, to live it and to spread it.

Are you doing this?

If the Gospel was removed from your life, would your life look different?