Celebrating the Gospel(wed)

Introduction

Good evening everyone and thank you all for coming out.

I’m looking forward to our groups starting next week and I hope you are signed up for them.

Tonight I want to preach a message Celebrating what God has done here and what He will do.

Open your Bibles to Phil 1 where I want us to see how Paul wrote to this church about celebrating Jesus and the gospel.

The book of Philipians is widely known as a book about Joy and this first chapter exmplifies Paul’s joy in various circumstances.

It is joy that allows us to celebrate as Paul did. He didn’t celebrate his circumstances, I believe he celebrated the Gospel.

Celebrating the gospel doesn’t always means celebrating in times of great victory, it means having a proper focus on Jesus, an understanding of your call, and be united around the message and truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tonight I want us to look back over the last year in Celebration of what God has done and with prayerful optimism of what God will do. That requires a proper perspective of reality through the lens of the Bible.

Follow along with me as I read this morning

Phil 1:12-20

Philippians 1:12–20 KJV 1900

12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; 13 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; 14 And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: 16 The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: 17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. 18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. 19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

PRAY

I. Celebrating the Trials

Paul wrote this letter from prison while he was chained to a Roman guard 24/7. So when he is talking about the things that have happened to him he isn’t speaking of any of the victories he had seen. He is referring to his false imprisonment that lasted for a couple of years.

The Apostle Paul is known as a man who was seeking to do something great for God. He was seeking to get the gospel to all that he came in contact with. He was living a life dedicated to the furtherance of the cause of Christ. In his time he was stoned, shipwrecked, and imprisoned, yet he had joy. He was celebrating the gospel no matter the circumstances.

He lived the truth of

Rom 8:28

Romans 8:28 KJV 1900

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

A church like this that preaches the gospel and seeks to have an impact on its community for Jesus I’m sure there have been and know there will be trials.

The question is what will you focus on during the trials?

Paul chose to focus on two things. First, he focused on Jesus.

A. Focus on Jesus

We like to think its abnormal for churches or people to endure difficult situations but in reality every church and every person faces difficulties at each stage of its existence. Just a Paul faced difficulties at each stage of his ministry. Those difficulties may look different in each of our lives but they are present in all of our lives.

What determines the long term effectiveness of a church and a Christian is what they choose to focus on and celebrate during the times of trials. Do we focus on the difficulties and what God could do or are we focused on Jesus and what God will do?

When we focus on Jesus and celebrate the power of the gospel we will focus on the 2nd thing Paul had his heart set to during difficult times and that was a focus on others.

B. Focus on Others

Phil 1:14-18

Philippians 1:14–18 KJV 1900

14 And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: 16 The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: 17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. 18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

Paul wrote to the Philippians about the brethren who had gained confidence in preaching the gospel because of his trials.

He saw how is trial would be one that could be used to impact others for the sake of the gospel.

He even heard of people preaching the gospel so that they would personally benefit and that his bonds would increase. He had no desire to stop them. He had no desire to see the truth of the gospel stop being preached because of his own personal dilemma.

His desire, his focus, was on Jesus, and on Others. Because he wanted others to know about Jesus how he knew Jesus.

This mindset has been coined in recent years as a Kingdom Mindset. A mindset that says we can look different but as long as we preach the gospel, we don’t have to be enemies.

Paul knew that if they believed the gospel they would be in Heaven together one day. He was more concernd about filling the throne room of God with worshippers than filling his churches with worshippers of himself or his way of doing things.

In the midst of trials he wasn’t trying to raise support for himself or his release, he was focused on raising awareness of Jesus and the good news of His death burial and resurrection.

Jesus was the greatest example of someone focused on others.

Matt 20:28

Matthew 20:28 KJV 1900

28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

He gave all that He was for the purpose of serving others.

As disciples of Christ we have the privelage of giving all that we have in service to Him. I’m not speaking of just finances, although we should be faithful in giving to the Lord through the local church. I am grateful for your faithfulness in giving and showing that you are truly believe in what God is doing here. I analyzed the finances of the last year and the second four months of the year actually brought in 10k more than the first four months of the year. It’s a testimony to your faith in the Lord.

Jesus gave of himself through his time and his efforts. Paul did the same.

Paul Celebrated the trials by focusing on Jesus and on others. Which allowed him to Celebrate the Task.

II. Celebrate the Task

The task that was set before Paul is the same task we face today.

Matthew 28:19-20

Matthew 28:19–20 KJV 1900

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

It is a calling that is placed upon each believer. It’s first a call to live

A. A Call to Live

Phil 1:21-23

Philippians 1:21–23 KJV 1900

21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:

Paul wrote of this same principle in

Gal 2:20

Galatians 2:20 KJV 1900

20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

It was a message that he delivered to all of the saints of God. To live is Christ. To truly live for Christ and allowing Him to be known through our words and actions is the great calling each of us that have put our faith in the gospel has the privilege and honor of carrying out.

It’s living in light of what God is going to do instead of what God did not do.

Living out the calling of God on our lives isn’t always beautiful but it’s always beneficial in the end.

Some of you may have heard of a missionary named Adoniram Judson. He and his wife Ann, went to Burma in 1813 where Judson would spend nearly forty years translating the Bible and preaching the gospel. They labored for 6 years before seeing one Burmese person get saved.

During Judson’s time in Burma he suffered as few would be willing: he was denied permission from the king to preach the gospel, was imprisoned numerous times, suffered the death of his first and second wife and several of his children, and endured many other difficulties. Yet he was faithful to the work God had called him to do. Before his death in 1850, he translated the Bible into Burmese and wrote an English-Burmese Dictionary. Speaking of the trials he endured, he wrote, “Had it not been for…an assured conviction that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I must have sunk under my accumulated sufferings.”

Adoniram Judson lived for Christ because he realized that living for Christ mean that it was also a call to Die.

B. A Call to Die

I know, that sounds a little dramatic. And it isn’t necessarily a call to die physically, although church history is riddled with stories of men and women that have been martyred for their faith and there are plenty of men and women today in foreign countries being persecuted for their faith.

For us in 21st century American I believe the application of this text can be taken to mean we are called to die to our own ideals of how life should be. We are called to die to ourselves. We are called to lay our desires down at the foot of the cross and let Jesus give us the desires He would have us pursue.

In American we will find many Christinas living lives for the pursuit of the American dream. If all we pursue is the American dream I’m afraid we will find it to be a Christian nightmare.

The Christian life is a selfless one. It’s one that I’m thankful to have seen evidenced in the heart of our people over the last year. Willing to give towards #4Bristol and get out into the community. A desire to serve the Lord faithfully and step up into areas of spiritual leadership in your homes and in the church. It’s been an encouragement to me as your pastor to see how the gospel is transforming lives here and bringing new families to us.

You’ve chosen to deny yourselves and invest in others.

When God used Elisha to fill the widows vessels he did not ask her to get vessels that were full, he did not ask her to get vessels that were half empty, he called on her to get vessels that were completely empty of anything and then God would fill them.

Thats what our call to Celebrate the task is. Celebrating our own emptiness, Celebrating our weakness, and reveling and glorifying God in his fulness and goodness as he pours into us when we die to our selves.

We can Celebrate the Trials, We can Celebrate the Task, and lastly, we should celebrate together.

III. Celebrate Together

Phil 1:27

Philippians 1:27 KJV 1900

27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

The word conversation in the text there means our walk or our lives. We are to let our lives represent the gospel of Christ.

When we as individuals are living our lives as it becomes the gospel of Jesus and represents him, we will find that we are together two ways. First, we are together in One Spirit.

A. In One Spirit

The phrase one spirit speaks of the fact that we should have unity and shared convictions.

Acts 2:46

Acts 2:46 KJV 1900

46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

Our unity is not found in our agreement upon everything.

Unity is not found in the color of the paint or the arrangements of the chairs. Unity is not found in agreement of attire or other matters of opinion based upon biblical principles.

Unity is found in the Gospel through the Holy Spirit.

Not everyone looks at a situation and sees it the same...

I recently read about a lady who said “I was curious when I found two black-and-white negatives in a drawer. I had them made into prints. I was pleasanlty surprised to see that they were of a younger, slimmer me, taken on one of my first dates with my husband. When i showed him the photos, his face lit up. ‘Wow, look at that!’ he said with appreciation. ‘It’s my Old Plymouth’”

See, the unity of that marriage was affected by the different viewpoints however that couple, prayerfully, didn’t get divorced over that little disagreement because their unity wasn’t found what they saw in the picture. Their unity and a church’s unity is found in their agreement on the Gospel and willingness to yield to the Spirit as He directs each individual life according to the Word of God.

I’m thankful for the unity of believers I sense here at Glastonbury and your wilingness to love and follow your Pastor as he seeks to modernize and update methodology to get out the message of the gospel.

Don Sisk, a man in his late 80’s who served as a missionary to Japan for a number of years, worked at Baptist International Missions Inc., and now continues to serve on staff at West Coast Baptist College is quoted as saying “Methods always change but the Message never does”

Just because it may look different doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

Unity isn’t found in our opinions, it is found in the Word of God through the illumation of the Holy Spirit.

Then we are to be of one mind

B. In One Mind

As the Spirit illuminates truth to us and we allow our opinions to be just that, opinions, we will find ourselves of one mind as a body of believers when we are focused on the same person, Jesus Christ.

Phil 2:5

Philippians 2:5 KJV 1900

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

When we have the mind of Christ as believers, there will be unity. We will be focused on loving God and loving others.

Time of Response

God blesses faithfulness. God blesses unity. It’s my prayer this message has helped you see how Celebrating this church is a Celebration of the Gospel. It’s a Celebration of the trials God has brought you through. It’s a Celebration of the Task at hand of getting the gospel out and it’s a Celebration of the Unity found when believers love God, Serve Others , and make an impact.