Rejoice! Again, Rejoice!

A Letter to a Beloved Church - Philippians

ILLUST: This is where we are - Current Events - How do we respond?

Protesters wanting to burn churches for “justice”

Govt. posting on church doors that it’s illegal to sing

Church becoming irrelevant, meaningless to believers

Background of Philippians: Acts 16:11-40

2nd missionary journey - AD 50-51 visit

Lydia and ladies - households converted

Slave girl demon exorcised, hurt local commerce, Paul and Silas jailed

Jailer converted, family, too

AD 61-62 letter (10 years passed)

KEY WORD - REJOICE - show great joy, delight

This is Paul’s “feel-good” church - perfect? Nope! Heart for the Lord? Oh, yeah!

Gentile, Women, Generous, Loyal

(so they can accept some correction, if necessary, and it always is)

Key Verses: 1:21, 2:3, 2:6-8, 2:10, 4:8, 4:13

A Christ-Centered Introduction

Paul Tripp Quote: If you understand what is promised to us in eternity, why in the world would you attach yourself to the earth?

Current events, $$, stress, worry, success...

This letter is not for the lukewarm “Christian,” the ones that check out

This is to encourage the faithful, stick it out, it may actually get worse

(good at Philippi so far, but wait 10 years, AD 70)

Similarities? sure. Minor issues, yeah, us, too.

Goals of this Series on Philippians

4 main sections: Paul’s situation, Unity, Legalists, Thanks (glorifying Christ in all!)

Cherish God’s Word - above all that is going on in the world

Foster a desire to live according to God’s will

Encouragement where we are strong

Challenge where we may need help (issues?)

Choose - Christ or the enemy

Seeing Christ in Philippians, Right From the Start

1- Praise God for Who He is - Adoration of Him

He bought us

He allows us to serve Him - bond-servants

He allows us to be used by Him, for Him - humility needed

He set us apart - saints - the word is who Christians are, citizenship, in process of being perfected

For His glory, not ours - Paul will keep emphasizing this

We have the church, because of Christ

Cornerstone is no less important to Christ than Philippi

God gives us grace - Christ is our gift, unmerited favor

Christ provides peace - inexplicable calm in the middle of the world that rages around us, secure in Christ’s strength

2- Confession

When we adore Him, acknowledge Him, we may feel inadequate, or we may just be convicted of where we can fall short - humility again

Me? I try to fix things on my own - figure things out MY way - forget Who I serve

The LORD will help me manage each day

You, too!

We can let circumstances dictate our response - instead of seeing how God can work through any circumstance

We forget to go to Him, the Master (REM: bond-servant) - He’s in control!

We are to be at His service, and that takes a willingness to surrender and follow

How surrendered are we? Paul’s letter will be a challenge.

3- Thankfulness

Great reminder to be thankful for offering us a relationship with the Father

Through Jesus, by grace through faith - His grace is sufficient (reference)

Are we thankful for the church? How? Why?

I love having a family that has a common bond in Christ

I want to be closer and closer to this family - that can be a challenge

Serving alongside me - it’s easy for us, for anyone, to feel alone

Pastors in the church - leaders, those willing to fight for this family and truth

(not asking for thanks, I am thankful God led me here)

Thankfulness for His Word, our guide

This letter, so rich with familiar passages: (LIST)

4- What Do We Need? How Can this Passage Help?

Demonstrations and reminders of His grace

We need God to guide us, lead us, in very mighty ways, every day

He already does, do we notice?

We need God to speak to us, and for us to slow down, shut up, and listen

I pray for Him to be the voice in my head to tell me:

to shut up

when to defend Him

when to speak His Word

when to be silent and pray

We need to strive to be “saints” set apart

We then need God’s protection to do that, as we live that out

WE NEED TO STOP RELYING ON US, TRUST IN HIM

In very real and tangible ways

5- What Can We Commit To?

Desire to follow Him, His will - then DO IT.

Alone times, quiet times, when nobody is watching

Be the surrendered saint, disciple

Meditate on His Word - read it, pray it, study it, repeat!

(Phil. takes 10-15 minutes to read)

Understand it, and not take it out of context just to feel good

Understand our new nature (new creation, 2 Cor. 5:17)- so that we can better reflect Him in that new creation

ME? I’ll commit to being the best, faithful, surrendered pastor for this church, His church!

I’m committed to being a fellow servant (note the order of the intro) with y’all!

6- Last, How Can We Meet Needs of Others?

Our community needs this message of grace, peace

Maybe even people in our own church need this

Peace is not going to come from a political decision - EVER

2 Chron. 7:14 and others, not about us!

God promises to heal US - SPIRITUALLY

Help others by prioritizing our own lives (like O2 mask on plane)

Christ - church - family - community - workplace - etc....

Center life on Christ - no compromise

Focus on rejoicing in Christ - see Him at work in EVERYthing

Many oppose us - govt., non-believers, even religious groups

Many not on our side

Pray that God would open their eyes, hearts, minds

We need to be the instruments of the message of grace and peace

CLOSE

This epistle - formed and built upon the foundation of Christ, with the world spinning out of control (or so it seems) - so…REJOICE!

Challenge - mimic Christ, humbly, securely, joyfully, triumphantly

Grace - unmerited favor, the gift of Christ

Peace - “may all things be well with you” - spiritually

US - accept God’s gift - grace - Jesus

Allow ourselves to surrender to Him, and off we go - REJOICE!