Reshape - The Pathway to Joy.
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Good morning welcome to online service…so glad your are with us…… Happy mothers day!
Congratulations to Brenda on winning the raffle this weekend and hope you enjoy the flowers.
We want to let all of our mothers know how special your are.... and we appreciate each one of you!
This morning we are continuing our series entitled, REFRAME and we are looking at Paul’s letter to the Philippians.
In His letter Paul challenges the church in Philippi to be transform and reformed in their thinking…
Paul is challenging mindsets…
and he wants us to mind our minds…
There is the story of a new bride who was making her first big dinner for her husband... and she tries her hand at her mother’s brisket recipe, cutting off the ends of the roast the way her mother always did.
Her husband thinks the meat is amazing, but asks, “Why she cut off the ends — because that’s the best part!”
She answers, “That’s the way my mother and my grandmother always made it.”
The next week, they go to her parents house, and her mother prepares the famous brisket recipe, again cutting off the ends.
The young bride is sure that something is a little off, so the next time she sees her grandmother she asks her why she cut off the ends of the Brisket. And Grandma says, “it’s because that’s the only way it will fit in the pan!”
There is great lesson to be learned here...
It would be wise and prudent for us.... from time to time … to stop and consider our behaviors and practices.. because it so easy to live our lives on autopilot… doing thing a certain way because that’s the way it has always been done.
Paul and the church are living through difficult times… Paul is on death row waiting sentencing and the church is facing persecution...
Their lives have been disrupted… and the future is uncertain....
So, Paul doesn’t play down the challenges that they are facing, but rather wants the church to look at their world through the lense of Joy that comes through their Salvation.
Opener:
What is the most unique thing you have ordered online?
Do you have a song or a verse of scripture or slogan that keeps your spirits up?
The book of Philippians has been called “The Epistle of Joy.” Why do you think Paul always writes about Joy being in the present tense?
Paul uses the word joy 37 times and joy is always written in the present tense…
Here is the thing… If we concentrate only on past joys we can become over nostalgic…We can live in past victories… we can remember the good old days… but eventually we can be like the man who complained that even the nostalgia isn’t what it used to be…
Joy can’t be in the past tense nor can it be in the future tense…
Here is the thing... If we only anticipate future joy it can lead us to discontentment in the present…
12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
Joy needs to be in the present … we can rejoice now in the God of our Salvation…
There is this wonderful passage of Faith in the book of Habbakuk …
The Prophet Paints this picture of a dire situation… The Babylonians have come in and taken everything… and the land that they were depending on is now failing to produce fruit…
The fig tree is not blossoming and there is no fruit on the vines.... and fields are no longer yielding crops…and there are no cattle in the stalls…
Nothing is working out like it ought too… Habakkuk shows us how to have faith.. By reframing our situation in the light of God’s Salvation..
When nothing is working out the way that we think… the prophet says..
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
This was not merely resignation or saying: ‘Well, there is no use crying over spilt milk, or getting alarmed and excited, because we cannot do anything about it.’
Nor was it just applying the principle of psychological detachment. It was not taking oneself in hand and saying: ‘The best thing is not to think about it!
Put on Netflix, read a book and don’t think about your troubles!’—a sort of escapism.
Neither was it an attempt at being courageous.
Instead of mere resignation, or work up one’s courage.. Habakkuk.. says Yet… that is the marker of change in response… the marker of Faith! instead of being down in the dumps…instead of throwing in the towel.. instead of giving up… He says...
“ I will rejoice in the Lord…because the Joy of the lord is your strength.”.
Habakkuk ..chose a different pathway..
Today we are going to be looking at the Pathway to Joy...
One of the common metaphors in the Bible is that of a journey…
Israel was familiar with pilgrimages, they would travel from all over Palestine and beyond to celebrate the great feasts… in Jerusalem.
The psalms often uses the metaphor of a pilgrimage to describe the spiritual life..
Psalms 1 talks about not walking in the way of the ungodly or stand in the the path of sinners.
David prays in a number of places that God would lead him along the path of life.. He asks the Lord to teach him His ways and lead him in along a level path...
Psalms 119 speaks of the word of God being a lamp to our feet and a light to our path..
Here is the thing about a pathways— the longer you walk on a pathway the more established it becomes…
We are told that takes somewhere 21 - 66 days to establish a habit…
The longer we do something the more automated that behavior...for example ...when you get into your car, you automatically put on the seat belt. You don’t think about doing it or why you do it.
Our brain likes habits because they’re efficient. When you automate common actions, you free up mental resources for other tasks.
One of the reasons we struggle to break bad habits is that..the longer we do something the more ingrained it becomes… It create a neurological pathway in our brains...
That is why establishing the right pathway is important...
In the Bible there are two Paths --- the way of life and the way of death … there is the path of the righteous and the path of the wicked…
There is the right pathway?
Isaiah called it a Highway of Holiness… a path that leads towards sanctification or becoming more Christ ..... This is what Philippi an chapter two is all about..
T/s How do we walk on the pathway to joy?
1. Through Following the Way of The Holy Spirit
1. Through Following the Way of The Holy Spirit
lets read our text..
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Reading between the lines what do you thing was wrong with the Church in Philippi? What are the four motives for living in unity?
How does walking in the Holy Spirit promote unity ? (The Holy Spirit seeks to glorify God… Packer talks about spot light on Jesus)
Paul is dealing with the Benefits of Unity… the consolation, comfort and encouragement that comes from being in Christ..
There is the Comfort of love... Cooperate participation in the spirit —there is affection and sympathy…
These are all the benefits … but they are only retroactive through our participation.. .. benefits are not automatic…
We have to make space for these benefits to work
Paul has already said that when he considered the trials he was facing … that an easier option would be to depart and be with the Lord… If your were looking at the ledger — He would put it as credit… To die is gain....
but then he also weighs up the benefits… remaining… Paul considers the the partnership he has with the church.. together are partaking of the same suffering… but they together are also experiencing fruit...
Paul recognizes the Benefit of Staying connected would be greater…
But in order to get the benefits you have remain invested in each other…
To often we check out too soon..
Can you imagine you playing a sport… and your are in the middle of the game.. and you decide you are done…
Maybe you tired… maybe you have lost interest..…and you just walk off the field..
Well there is nobody benefits by checking out… You never experience the fruit of consolation.. comfort and encouragement… We forfeit those benefits…
The way that we get Benefits of Consolation, comfort and encouragement is thorough …
Allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts..
Paul says If there is participation with the spirit… meaning the fellowship with the Spirit and the fellowship the spirit gives us as a community
Before Jesus ascended, he told His disciples… that he as sending them the Holy Spirit…and the spirit would be with them and be in them..
The roll of the Spirit was to Indwell believers, empower, lead, convict and guide.... Holy Spirit would also Bring about Unity in the church body..
There are so many things that can bring disunity... small attitudes... belittling one another... doing things from our own motives ...
Paul tells us to avoid the things that divide...
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
When we sin against each other—by judging, being selfish, creating division, or the like—our relationship with the Spirit is hindered, and the unity of the Spirit suffers as well.
Unity with each other comes by God’s Spirit living in us.
When our horizontal relationships with each other are in order, we experience the vertical flow of the Spirit in our lives, and unity is the result.
The basis of our unity is the Holy Spirit..the benefits consolation, comfort and consolation..
T/s How do we find the pathway to joy?
1. Through Following the Way of The Holy Spirit.
2. Through Following the way of Humility
2. Through Following the way of Humility
Read
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
How is this passage different to our worlds idea of power and humility?
How do you think Unity is related to humility? How does the life of Jesus exemplify this humility? (Do you have any examples from the gospels where Jesus demonstrated humility- ie washing feet of his disciples)
How would things change if verses 3-8 marked your family life? Church life? Work life?
This section well known passage… scholars have examined this… and it has become major part of theology… Especially when it comes to the deity of Christ…
This section is written as Poetry…
We are not sure whether Paul wrote this or if he is quoting something that someone else that had previously written… But it is a beautiful section of scripture…
When we write in prose we have linear movement in a text.. we go from One point to the next… preaching in often in this form… Poetry does something different where it gives us layers of meanings....
There are several strands or stories that come together… There is the story of Jesus --- starting with his pre-incanation.. that he was in the form of God and existed with God all the way through is life to His Glorification… Then there are these echos in the text... the Story of man --- who also participates in suffering and future glorification… There is the echos of Caesar worship…where there weakness would be looked down upon… self exaltation… There are Echos - of the vocation of God and mission in salvation… There are echos of the Suffering Servant…and the writings of Isaiah… which is now fulfilled in Christ…
What poetry gives us is various textures… The message that Paul is conveying is that of having the right attitude…
Paul knew that our thoughts and attitudes are the basis of our speech and our actions... and so ultimately direct the whole course of our lives…
The rsv translation, and the neb has ‘Let your bearing towards one another arise out of your life in Christ Jesus’.
How do we have the same attitude that is in Christ?
we need to ask...
a. How we handle power?
When we think of power — talking about rights… Paul has used the image of citizenship…
The Philippians lived in a city proud of its citizenship in the Roman Empire. While being a Greek city, they were a Roman colony with Roman citizens’ rights..
The greeks prized wisdom and the Romans prized power and citizenship…
Once when Paul was about to be flogged — He used his citizenship card.. which would have been illegal For Roman Citzens
A good example of how we might use power — is thinking what are my rights… In this country we believe in freedoms and rights in this country .. But there is always responsibility that comes with power.
What often happens when we have power and rights granted to us, we’re reluctant to give them up.
Why? Because we’re afraid that that they will be used against us and we will vunerable…come from weakness.
Paul deals with this Perspective of Power.... He wants us to Consider imitating the attitude that we find in Jesus....
Consider who Jesus is!!
Jesus is the second person of the this triune God... ...He was equal with God.. the word Theos - One supreme God who is creator and sustainer of the universe..
Paul tells us that Jesus did not consider being equal to God… “Something to be used to his own advantage.”
Jesus could have come in power.... Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and earth… He could have come like a knight in shining armor to rescue mankind…
But Jesus chose a different Path...
Paul tells us that Jesus who was equal with God... took on the role of the servant..
That was Jesus didn’t come to be served but to serve
even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
A reporter was interviewing a successful job counselor who had placed hundreds of workers in their vocations quite happily.
When asked the secret of his success, the man replied: “If you want to find out what a worker is really like, don’t give him responsibilities—give him privileges.
Most people can handle responsibilities if you pay them enough, but it takes a real leader to handle privileges. A leader will use his privileges to help others and build the organization; a lesser man will use privileges to promote himself.”
Jesus used His heavenly privileges for the sake of others—for our sake
Instead of coming to us from the position of power - he emptied himself..Christ voluntarily gave of himself, making himself nothing
the GR word kenosis.. speaks of laying something aside... Jesus didn't stop being God but rather laid aside his glory so that he could take on the form of God servant.. No deity was subtracted (though he did renounce some of the rights of deity); rather humanity was added to His nature.
He went from the form of God to the form of a servant ....the greek word morphe.. in essence --- fully God, but at the same time fully man. being in the likeness of man. The word here anthropos... anthropology... human..
It’s God taking on human likeness, being made in human likeness.
Jesus became like us—physically, mentally, emotionally. We know that Jesus experienced a full range of emotions that we experience. He experienced extreme joy and extreme sorrow, both of them. There were times when it says Jesus was angry. Not in a way that caused Him to sin, but He experienced anger.
This would have been incredible thought in Greco Roman world .... Because they did not prize humility, but despised it…
. Instead of holding on to His “rights and privileges,” He chose a different path. .
The implication is that if Jesus is willing to set aside His own rights in obedience to the Father’s higher purposes, we ought to do the same..
When we consider the attitude of Christ… we need to ask ourselves..
a. How do I handle power?
b. What have I laid aside?
Paul deals with the extent of Jesus obedience that he became human... to the point of death.. Even death on a cross… There was a point that he could of stopped but he followed through to the point of death…taking on the sins of mankind…
T/s How do we find the pathway to joy?
1. Through being a participant in Life.
2. Through Having a Christ attitude towards others.
3. Through Exalting Christ
3. Through Exalting Christ
Raymond Edman was a missionary, a college president, an educator, an author, and friend to countless Christians and seekers alike. Billy Graham once called him the most unforgettable Christian he ever met.
He preached his last sermon at Wheaton College..That morning, Dr. Edman shared this story of meeting awith the king of Ethiopia some years earlier.
In order to have an audience with the king, he had to observe strict protocol. If he didn't meet and follow through on each criterion, he wouldn't be judged worthy of coming into this king's presence.
Dr. Edman then drew a parallel with attending weekday chapel services at Wheaton. "You have an audience with the King of Kings," he said.
The ruler of Ethiopia or any other nation would fall on his face and cast his crown in the presence of the Almighty.
Dr. Edman wondered if those in the audience really comprehended the awesome act of worship.
He went on to offer practical suggestions of how to make chapel more meaningful, how to come to a better realization of being in the transforming presence of God...
While he was preaching — He actually passed away during that sermon… . It was the last and greatest sermon… Frightening but unforgettable sermon..
We exalt God when we worship.
The word worship comes from the old English word that means "worthship." With that definition in mind, we don't worship God for what we get out of it, but to give God the honor that is due him, recognizing his worth, his value, his place in our church, and his claim on our lives.
Paul tells us
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Read
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Should Christs exaltation impact our worship? Why is Jesus worthy of our worship?
The Father has exalted Jesus above all others.. His name surpasses all other names. He has been given a pre-eminant name.... The name which is forever above every name that is JHWH..
The Church Father Gregory of Nyssa… said that the greatness of God is incommunicable.
“ The only proper way to name God is as above every name. God exceeds every operation of the intellect. God cannot be contained in any nominal definition.”
The only appropriate way to respond is bow down…
Paul says…God has exalted Christ..
So that every knee .. in Heaven.... under the earth…shall bow down.. and every language will acknowledge - Jesus as Lord.. This gives Glory to the Father..
In other words Every part of creation will pay homage to Jesus, bowing at His name
We exalt God when we…
b Acknowledge our Part in the Work of salvation
b Acknowledge our Part in the Work of salvation
Read
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
Paul now appeals again to their obedience... In his absence that they would continue on this road to holiness..
There is this dichotomy in this verse of Our involvement and God’s and our involvement in our Sanctification..
It is God who saves— Pauls message was one of salvation by Grace through faith… Working out our salvation speaks of our human responsibility to take hold of that salvation.
Moisés Silva , “It is impossible to tone down the force with which Paul here points to our conscious activity in sanctification.…
We are to “work out” our salvation, to grow into maturity, into the full stature of Christ.
Paul says do this with fear and trembling… there have a couple of times that I have been shocked by electricity… and you learn pretty quick to respect the power… When the Bible says work out your salvation with fear and trembling… that is what it’s talking about… know that you are walking before a holy God who loves us… but we reverence him..
Continue to work out your salvation with fear... deep reverence.. When we do this we make room for God to work in us..
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
What does it mean to you to work out your salvation with fear and trembling? How is this balanced with God working out his good pleasure?
Sometimes as we going down the path… we thing that the journey is all about fulfilling a destination…
Arriving where we are meant to be… God want us to be in his perfect will even more than we desire it…
But God is more concerned about our willingness to obey..
God ultimate Goal for our lives is the working of His pleasure into our lives...
Ultimately God is working his pleasure into our lives…
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Conclusion
.
What we need is to ask Invite God into our journey..
11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
We are starting our Zoom Community group at 10:30 morning… you have just enough time to grab a snack and join us… .