Good News: The Gospel Builds Christian Community

I’m excited to begin this series of sermons with you through the book of Philippians called good news. 2020 has been a year hasn’t it? The year started with the wild fires in Australia. Then there was the threat of World War 3 when the United States bombed Iran and killed one of their prominent leaders. We had to hear the bickering back and forth between political parties during the presidential impeachment trials. Kobe dies in a helicopter crash. Then we enter into the coronavirus pandemic that shuts down life as we know it. And shortly after, the murder of George Floyd on video creates an uproar and division in our country. And those are just some of the highlights, well, low lights. That’s not to mention the other murders, natural disasters, and tragic deaths. As I looked through a list of the happenings of this year. It’s been rough.

This year’s news is often depressing. It can leave us feeling hopeless. Like everything is wrong in the world. And that’s why I believe that God has led us to the book of Philippians. In a world filled with tragedy, darkness, and division, we could use some good news.

Philippians was written by the apostle Paul, and it was meant as a letter of encouragement for the church at Philippi. It’s different from Paul’s letters to other churches, because there are no real doctrinal issues or gross sin problems in the church. In this book, Paul is just encouraging these believers to stay united for the sake of the gospel during difficult times.

Overall, this book has a very joyous tone. Paul is constantly talking about the joy that he has, and is encouraging the Philippian believers to have joy as well. Now this is ironic, because as Paul is writing this letter, he is in jail. Not the most joyous of circumstances. But that’s the main point. Paul wants these believers to understand that even during adverse circumstances, even when they are experiencing opposition, even when there is a lot of bad news. They can still have joy.

You see true joy is not dependent upon our earthly circumstances. People often equate joy with happiness. While these terms are related, they are not exactly the same. The best way to explain it is that happiness is connected to some external factor. I have a new job, I have a new house, I have a new car. I’m happy. It’s a emotion of feeling good and having a smile on your face. But joy, joy has nothing to do with outward circumstances. Joy is a heart an attitude of the heart. Joy can be present even when happiness is not. The key to having joy is that it must be connected to something that is unchangeable. Something that is stable, and unfailing. Even in adverse situations, joy gives us hope, it gives us comfort, it gives peace, it gives us contentment, it gives us stability.

So Christian, where do you look for joy? The American dream is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Are you living your life seeking happiness or seeking joy? Are we just trying to accumulate more stuff, and gain more success, and obtain more pleasure? Or are we seeking the joy of the Lord that we are going to hear Paul talk about over and over again in this book? One theologian said that happiness comes from circumstances, but joy comes from relationships.

For the Christian, true joy is found in deep communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is stable source of joy that we need because He is unchanging and always present. Because relationship with God is the source of joy that Paul has. Paul is going to place a major emphasis on the gospel. Per 100 words, the word gospel is mentioned in the book of Philippians than in any other book. So this book is saturated with the gospel. And if you have been around church any amount of time, you know that the word gospel means what? Good News. The good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that brings to us salvation, allows us to have communion with God and brings us true, lasting joy. Even in adverse situations, the gospel gives us hope, the gospel gives us comfort, the gospel gives peace, the gospel gives us contentment,the gospel gives us stability. It truly is good news.

So this book is not just about happiness and encouragement. This book is about joy we receive from working together to fearlessly live and advance the gospel - The good news.

So let’s dig in shall we?

Philippians 1:1

Philippians 1:1 ESV

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

Paul and Timothy -Right of the bat. Notice the discipleship relationship. Paul had miraculously been transformed into a follower of Christ as he was on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians. And following his conversion, Paul set out to follow God’s will for his life. Part of that was training Timothy, who he calls his son in the faith. We need to have these relationships as a Christian. We need Paul’s who we can look to for spiritual guidance and example, and we also need Timothy’s those that we are leading and encouraging to grow in their faith.

They are introduced as servants of Jesus Christ. That word servants is the word doulos in the Greek. That word is also translated as slave in the Bible. A slave had no rights, no possessions, and was completely dependent upon his master to provide for his needs. This was a very humble introduction, but Paul did not need to exert his authority to the Philippian church. They needed to picture him as a slave who existed only to serve and glorify the greatest and most benevolent master - Jesus.

This letter was written to the saints, or those that had been set apart. And he makes special mention of the overseers and those deacons who were leading in service in the city of Philippi.

Philippi was a unique city located in what is now modern day grace. At this time, Philippi was a thriving city located on a major road used for the military and trade. This city was given the highest possible privilege. It was governed directly by Roman law. The city itself was laid out like the city of Rome. It had similar architecture and patterns. The people spoke Latin and wore Roman dress. This city was so much like Rome that it was often called “Little Rome”. It was here in this important city that God led Paul to begin the first church in Europe.

Let’s keep reading now Philippians 1:2-5

Philippians 1:2–5 ESV

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

You can see from the tone of just these first few verses that Paul loves this church. Later on in the book he would call this church his crown. If Paul was going to make a church planting portfolio, the church at Philippi was going to be his prime example. Paul says that he makes prayers for this church with joy, and then in verse 5 he tells us why. Because of their partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

I want to draw your attention this morning to that word partnership. In the original Greek, it is the word koinonia. It means to share something in common with someone, to have a united mission and goal. The same word is also translated as fellowship in the Bible.

To illustrate the meaning of this word during this time, think of it like this. The disciples Peter, Andrew, James and John were all fishermen. If they put their resources together to buy a boat to run their fishing business, they would have a koinonia. A partnership, a fellowship, a community of fishermen who were working together to catch fish and make a profit.

So that’s the idea here. Paul is saying that these believers in Philippians from the very beginning were a koinonia for the sake of the gospel. A community of believers who had come together with the common goal of advancing the gospel, and that brought him joy.

And that is our goal here today right? We want to be and build a community of believers who are coming together under the banner of Jesus Christ to encourage each others and advance the gospel.

But, building community can be difficult. Especially in our day. As a nation we are so divided. There’s so many different opinions and ways of thinking, and for many people, if you don’t think the same way that they do, they don’t want anything to do with you. We’re divided by race, politics, economics, and many other factors. We may be able to form some friendships around a certain activity or interest, but we keep things on the surface. We avoid the topics that can divide us. But we can’t really do that in Christian community because it is supposed to encompass every part of our lives.

Also, our culture is a very individualistic . It’s all about my beliefs, my opinions, my stuff, my agenda. As a whole, we focus so much on ourselves that it can be difficult to build true community with others.

Not to mention, right now we are going through this pandemic, and we’re told the best solution is to distance ourselves from other people. Which is not wrong, I’m not saying we should ignore those guidelines. It just makes building community even more difficult.

It seems like it’s nearly impossible to build community in the day that we live in. But I have good news. The gospel builds Christian community. I know these are difficult days. I know that it may seem like an impossible task to build a solid, Biblical, Christian community, but take heart Christians! The gospel still works! And if we really on the power of the Good News of Jesus Christ. God can continue to build community here today.

Paul mentions that the church in Philippi had this partnership in the gospel from the first day, so I thought it would be good for us to go back to the beginning of this church in Philippi and see how this gospel community came together, and I think this will be very applicable to us today.

First, it started with the leading of the Spirit

Building Christian Community The leading of the Spirit

For a little background. Paul is on his second missionary journey, so he’s traveling around to different regions spreading the gospel and starting churches. Let’s look at verses Acts 16:6-12

Acts 16:6–12 ESV

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days.

Now we see that Paul was going through Asia, but the Bible says that the Spirit did not allow him to speak there. He wanted to go over to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not allow them to go there. Then God gives Paul a vision and tells him to go over into Macedonia, and his first stop was Philippi.

Now why did the Spirit forbid them to speak in some places, but send them across the sea to another? I don’t know. The Bible doesn’t say why, but the key is that Paul and his crew were sensitive to the Spirit and were willing to listen to his promptings.

In order to build Christian community, we must be in tune with the Spirit. But I believe that most of us have opposite issue of Paul. Paul was so eager to share the gospel everywhere, and the Spirit had to hold him back. For most of us, I believe it’s more likely that the Spirit is saying go, but we are saying NO. We are reluctant to share the gospel in the places that God has placed us to be a witness. We must realize that the Spirit is directing us just like He was Paul. You don’t work at the job on accident, you don’t live in that neighborhood on accident, you don’t frequent that restaurant or shop at that store on accident. God is leading us whether we realize it or not, we just need to be in tune with the Spirit about how we are to engage those that we come into contact with, with the gospel. I say this to my basketball players all the time, “I would rather settle you down, than have to get you going.” I would rather them come out and play with a bunch of energy and maybe have to settle them down to get them to think about what they are doing, than to have them come out lethargic, slow, and timid. And the same is true for us and the gospel, I think it would be better for us to just be chomping at the bit to share the gospel with everybody at every opportunity and God have to say slow down. Not that person right now. Build this relationship first. Than for God to be saying YES, NOW, TELL THEM ABOUT ME. And we never act and miss the opportunity.

We need to ask God to give us a vision like He gave Paul. God show me what it would look like to see the office I work at turn to Jesus. What would it look like for me to reach every family on my street with the gospel. Ask God for that vision and the Spirit will direct us on where and when. We must be lead by the Spirit to build Christian community.

Transition: Next in Building Christian Community was sharing the gospel

Building Christian Community The leading of the Spirit Sharing the gospel

Now I wish we had time to go into detail with all these stories, but I will try to summarize them the best that I can. When Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke got to Philippi they got busy doing what God had called them to do - sharing the gospel.

First, they came upon a group of women meeting for prayer down by a river. There they met a woman named Lydia. Lydia was not from Philippi, she was from Thyatira, a city in Asia, but we find out that she had a home there in Philippi as well. The fact that she had two homes tells us that she was probably pretty well-off financially. The Bible tells us that she was a seller of purple goods. Purple dye was rare in this time, so only the wealthy were able to buy purple goods. So Lydia was like a wealthy fashionista. But she was also a worshipper of God. Now I thought this is interesting because it shows that there are people who may fear, respect, and even worship God, but are not actually followers of Christ. Even though Lydia new about God and even went to this prayer meeting with other ladies in the city, Lydia had never heard the gospel and wasn not yet a follower of Christ. Without the gospel, there is no conversion. Even if you are a good person and attend church, if you have never heard the gospel and as result repented of your sins and placed your faith in the death burial and resurrection of Christ. You are not yet a Christian.

The Bible says that when Paul spoke the gospel to this group of ladies, the Lord opened her heart, and she immediately decided to follow Jesus. She was baptized, and invited the missionary team to stay at her house during their time there.

Now let’s read verses Acts 16:16-18

Acts 16:16–18 ESV

As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

So this demon possessed slave girl is following them shouting out as they are trying to minister and Paul finally has enough and commands that this evil spirit come out of the slave girl. Now the Bible does not specifically tell us about her conversion, but we can assume by the fact that this evil spirit did not come back upon the girl that she probably heard the gospel and chose to follow Christ as well.

Now her owners were not happy about this. As we are told in verse 16, the slave girl made them a lot of money by being a fortune-teller. So when this evil spirit was gone, so was their livelihood. They seized Paul and Silas and brought them before the city officials and claimed that the were disturbing the city and teaching non-Roman customs. Well, the city officials had them beaten, then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was told to keep them safely, but he put them into the worst part of the prison and placed them in stocks. Now the stocks of their day were extremely uncomfortable. They weren’t like the stocks you would see in like early America. They would place their body in some type of unnatural, painful position, and fasten them in. So not only were they in prison, they were being tortured by this jailer. But look what happens next. Acts 16:25-26

Acts 16:25–26 ESV

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.

So as they are praying and singing hymns in the midst of their imprisonment, God sends an earthquake that frees all of the prisoners. Well, the jailer thought this was it for him. If those prisoners got free, he would not only lose his job, he was going to lose his life. So he took out his sword and was about to kill himself. But right before he commits suicide, Paul calls out to stop him and lets him know that they are all still their in the prison. The jailer runs in, sees all the prisoners still there, and asks Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?” He got them out of the prison and Paul and Silas shared with him and his family the gospel, and they were all saved and baptized.

It’s amazing what the gospel can do when we are faithful to share it and live it. But notice, they were all reached different ways.

Lydia was a wealthy fashion designer who was religious. Paul was able to reach her just by speaking the words of the gospel and she gladly received. If it was only always that easy, maybe we wouldn’t be as timid about sharing the gospel.

But then there was the demon possessed slave girl. She was tormented, abused, and oppressed. Most people would look at her and just say she was a lost cause. But how many of ya’ll know that with God there are no lost causes. It took a miracle, a mighty movement of God in this girls life, but God used Paul to remove the evil spirit that was ruling this girls life. She may have still been a slave, but she was finally free. Her life had been eternally changed. It’s a great picture of the power of God

And then there was this cruel jailer. Commissioned to keep Paul and Silas safe, but chose to unnecessarily torture them. He was cold, towards this missionaries and the message of the gospel because he felt that it underminded the authority of the Roman government. But this man saw the example of Paul and Silas. He experienced their kindness and mercy. They should have allowed him to just kill himself so they could escape, but perhaps for the first time in his life, he found people that cared for his soul. And his only response was I want to be like you guys, “What must I do to be saved.”

All engaged in different ways, but all received the same gospel. The gospel works ya’ll. There are plenty of Lydia’s in our city who are just good hard working, God-fearing people who need to get a clear understanding of the gospel and they are ready to follow. There are plenty of people like the slave girl who are under oppression of sin and guilt and worldly influences. God can move in a mighty way and move these people towards repentance. There are plenty of people like the jailer who are indifferent or hostile to the gospel, but through your example and kindness may choose to follow Jesus. These people are all around us, but we must be faithful to share and live the gospel.

And when we do that, we can build Christian community. Because despite all of our differences we can be uniting for the gospel.

Building Christian Community The leading of the Spirit Sharing the gospel Uniting for the gospel

After Paul and Silas were released from prison, they went back to Lydia’s house where they met with the brothers and sisters before they left. It had only been a short time, but these new believers in Philippi were already meeting together in Christian community. Just from the three people we met in this chapter, we can tell this was a diverse group. It would have been easier for each of these individuals to just have a “personal” relationship with God. They could have all just been lone wolf Christians and not have to deal with all of their differences.

Lydia was Asian, the slave girl was probably Greek, the jailer was a Roman. Lydia was wealthy, the slave girl poor, the jailer a blue-collar middle class guy. You can imagine they probably had different views on the Roman government. I’m sure Lydia hated the taxes, the slave girl was looking for social reform, the jailer was a government worker so he supported his employer with his “Make Rome Great Again” hat. There was probably language barriers, cultural barriers, personality barriers. But guess what - None of that stuff mattered because they all heard and believed the same gospel. I’m sure they had some interesting small group discussions, but they put their differences to the side for the sake of the gospel and built a gospel-centered community.

Going back to Philippians 1, Paul said that they had koinonia, they had fellowship, partnership, they had community for the sake of the gospel from the beginning, and that brought Paul great joy.

You see what Paul is trying to show us is that under the banner of the gospel, we can recognize our differences, but celebrate our unity in Christ. We are not made to live in isolation. It is interwoven into our DNA that we thrive in community. But our flesh, our sinful nature tells us to divide and isolate.

That’s why there is so much division in our world today. And that division often turns into hatred. But at the same time, there’s this desire for people to come together and all be on the same page. Because God put that desire for community inside of us. And we can protest, and have forums and panel discussions, and conferences and all these different things. I’m not against these things. But the truth is, we are never all going to get on the same page. The only thing that can bring together such a wide spectrum of people is the gospel.

This church wasn’t perfect. Paul is often talking to them about unity throughout the book. So we know that there had to have been some schisms in the church. But all in all, they were able to come together for sake of advancing the gospel.

They understood the main thing that I want you to take away this morning.

Community is an essential part of Christianity

Quickly let me give you three reason why Community is essential to your Christian Life

I. We need Christian friendships

Most friendships are formed through commonality. Whether it’s the same experiences, or same interests. We can become friends when we have common ground. Unbelievers can have friendships, and we can and should have friendships with unbelievers. But Christian friendships are much deeper because we have a commonality that is much deeper. We have a common Savior in Jesus, the same Holy Spirit living inside of us, we are going to spend eternity in the same heaven. There’s a deeper commonality we share with other Christians.

But not only that, built into Christianity are the means to deal with conflict and differences. We learn about sin, repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and humility. These are all necessary to maintain relationships. So we need Christian community to build these Christian friendships

II. We need co-Laborers

We don’t just need friends, we need people that will come alongside of us and serve with us as we serve the Lord.

If you ever worked a job or been a part of time that had to work together to accomplish a goal, you know what this is like. You have a common goal, you share similar experiences, you share with each other different things you’ve learned, you encourage each other, you help each other, you complain about the boss together. (JK). But you get the picture. It’s great to know that there are people around you that are striving for the same thing, and for us that should be the spread of the gospel. So we need Co- laborers.

Then finally,

III. We need accountability

We need people that can keep us on the straight and narrow. We need people who will call us out if we are not living out what we claim we believe. In a true Christian community, we will not let each other live in sin or passivity. We will reprove, rebuke, and exhort each other with love through the Word of God. It’s easy to get off track when there is not someone to keep you accountable. It should be enough to know that God is always present and always watching, but it sure helps knowing that there are other people who will be all up in yo grill if you start slipping.

We need Christian friendships, We need co-laborers, we need accountability.

Community is an essential part of Christianity.

Why was Paul joyful? Because of their partnership in the faith. Because of their community for the sake of the gospel. Christian joy comes from our relationship with Christ, and our fellowship and partnership with our brothers and sisters in Christ. If you are not experiencing joy in your life it may be that you don’t know Christ or you aren’t part of true Christian community.

Hebrews 10:23-25

Hebrews 10:23–25 ESV

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

We must keep a gospel focus. Now we hit a bunch of different areas, so I want to break this down into a few different action steps.

First and foremost, if you are listening and you don’t know Christ. That is the first step for you. You may be like Lydia who was religious, but had never heard a clear presentation of the gospel. Or perhaps you are like the slave girl who is going through deep spiritual trouble, or maybe like the jailer was who cold to Christianity. Whatever your situation I pray that you would listen and respond to the gospel. We are all sinners, and because of our sin, we deserve to spend an eternity separated from God in hell. But God, sent His Son Jesus to sacrifice himself to pay that penalty for our sins. He left heaven and came to earth. He live a perfect life, but endured the most excruciating death on the cross. But three days later, he rose again in victory over death and hell. That’s the gospel. Jesus said to receive salvation we need to repent and believe the gospel. We need to turn from ourselves and stop trusting in trying to be a good person and trust in Jesus and Him alone. We must commit out lives to following Him. If you’ve never repented of your sin and made that commitment to Christ I urge you to make today the day of your salvation. If you know that you are not a follower of Christ or you are not sure about your salvation. You are not sure that if you were to die right now that you would open your eyes in heaven. I urge you to speak to me after the service...

Second action step is this. If you saved, and you are not a part of a community of believers who are working together to advance. If you are a Christian, you need to be a member of a local church. So if you are here, you are saved, and you are not, you are missing out. I know in our day church membership does not seem like a big deal. Again going back to that idea of individualism. I can just always be a visitor. I can just keep going from church to church and not make any type of commitment to be a part of Christian community. That doesn’t make me any less of a Christian. Which is true. But again, we were made to thrive in community. We need the friendships, we need the co-laborers, we need the accountability. If you don’t have a church to call your own. I think our church is a great Christian community to be a part of. If you are interested in knowing what it means to be a member at Unashamed, there is a sign up sheet on the back table that says Explore interest. Just put your information there, and we’ll get in contact with you about the steps in our membership process.

Third if you are part of Christian community here or elsewhere. Get involved. Don’t be the show up on Sunday Christian and never heard from again part of the body. Again during this pandemic season, it looks a little different, but seek to grow gospel-centered relationships in your Christian community. One great way to do that in our church is being a part of growth group. That’s where we open God’s Word up and study a little deeper into the sermons on a more personal level. Again, looks a little different now since we are meeting online right now, but I think those that have been regularly attend that it is always a refreshing time to see your brothers and sisters in Christ. Talk the Word, and get to know each other on a deeper level. Also, if you are not currently serving anywhere in the church, then we need to find somewhere for you to serve! There’s plenty of positions in our church that need to be filled. And as you serve alongside other believers, you will start to develop those relationships. So please let me know if you are looking to get more involved and we will find you a place.

And finally, share the gospel. We saw in Acts 16 the power of the gospel to change lives of various kinds. Let’s no by shy with the gospel message. Don’t say NO when the Spirit is saying GO. Let’s be faithful to live and share the gospel as we go throughout our day. Let’s ask God to direct us to the right people, to help us say the right words, and help us to take the right approach to build our Christian community here at Unashamed Church.

So receive Christ if you have never done that, be part of Christian community, be involved in your Christian community if you are part of one, and then let’s be faith to share the gospel. Funny how all that breaks down into our mission statement. Know God, Grow in Love, Serve the Lord, Engage the world. Didn’t do that on purpose it just came out that way.