Paul and the Jail House Ministry (Part 4)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning, Hope each of you are well today.
Let me start you off with a question..... ready?
Did you give God thanks each day this week? And did you praise God for his work in and perhaps around you this week as you saw Him at work?
I want to remind you that each day is special, God is at work in and around us, we must be on the lookout, prayerfully seeking His face while giving thanks and praising Him along the way.
Over the past few weeks we have been walking through the Book of Philippians in the New Testament.
I would ask you to reflect on this question; what has God been saying to you, teaching you as you have been reading through the book of Philippians?
What a blessing it is my friends to know that God loves you and wants you to grow in the word as we you walk with Him. What a blessing it is...
So this morning we return to Philippians chapter 2, Verses 12-18.
12 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, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
As you look at this passage, I want you to consider the idea of living your faith in practical ways. What we live by faith is not some mystical way or journey, it is a live of faith, believing what we cannot see, yet we know is real, that we experience through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit and because of that we are obedient to His way and His word.
So lets consider the idea of living out your faith, fleshing it out.. growing it in a way that honors God..
So lets me share these thoughts with you, 4 of them.
1.) By obedience 2.) Without complaint, 3.) As a Light in the midst of Darkness
4.) With all rejoicing..
1. So the first one, living out or fleshing out your faith by obedience...
1. So the first one, living out or fleshing out your faith by obedience...
When you walk through the text, there is a central theme in this book, the believers at Philippi were to put their salvation to work.
Literally live out their faith..... Now please understand when we talk about work, or working. This by no means implies that we earn our salvation. Instead your salvation drives you to want to work to serve God.
So lets look at verse 12
12 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,
There is that word again, “therefore” because of Christ, His humble obedience to God and God’s plan.. we are reminded to be faithful and obedient as well.
Our salvation is God’s gift to us, and looking at it, we can see our salvation is a past event Eph 2:8-9,
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
And that salvation as a future consummation.. Romans 13;11
11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
So taking these two verses, we are reminded that our personal salvation is real and alive, a past event in each of us that has a future joy with it, but until that time as we see Jesus, we must live responsibly…
Now this phrase “working out your salvation” is not any reference to works, in the sense that you are helping make your salvation evident… instead the meaning is that you live in accord with your salvation, letting your relationship with Christ transform all your actions, your relationships, all your dealings with mankind.
To simplify it, living in obedience to the word of God it means we act like Christians.
So stop and think for a minute, is your faith in Christ lived out in all your circumstances.. in your joy an din your anger, in your good and bad times...
Your obedience to Christ should be evident in all your circumstances...
Why?
Verse 13 tells us that it is God who is at work in us...
13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Remember, Ephesians 2:10, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for what… for good works.
God desires to use us, and it begins with our obedience...
Now secondly, We should live our life without complaint and without grumbling…
2. We should live our life without complaint and without grumbling…
2. We should live our life without complaint and without grumbling…
Here in verse 14, Paul instructs the believers at Philippi to go about their life without complaint or grumbling… I think this is by far one of the most challenging commands to the church.... Look at verse 14
14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing,
What is Paul saying here and why is he telling him this...
Consider the nature of man....
Paul knew the nature of mankind… to fall back into selfishness and sin. So as he did earlier, admonishing them to seek the good of others above their own desires and to not be self seeking, the same are seen in Jude 16.
And looking backward, Paul knew Israel’s history, how the children of God were never satisfied with what was given to them in their wilderness journey.
Here was a people who were enslaved, and God delivered them. They were not warriors, yet God struck down Pharaoh and all his army in the Red sea. They were thirsty and God gave them water from a rock. They were hungry and God gave them manna, they complained about manna and God gave them quail. They complained and murmured, about everything and even against Moses.
In doing so, they sinned against God… for when a person complains and murmurs, you may project it upon a person but ultimately it is against God.
So, Paul warns against grumbling and complaint… instead of complaining against each other, bless each other and help each other...
I Peter 4:9 tells us
9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Let me ask you a question, are you easy to grumble and complain....
Ask yourself, is it justified or have you just announced to God that you’re not satisfied with what He has called you too..
As God’s people we must be careful with grumbling and complaining that we do not fall into sin and distance our self from the presence of God.
A prayer of repentance is the answer to our selfish desires and opinions...
Now lets move on… what else is Paul telling us here...
3. Be Lights in the Midst of the Darkness....
3. Be Lights in the Midst of the Darkness....
My friends, if there is one truth we know today. The world we live in is a dark place…
We see it daily in the way people treat each other, how mankind devalues the state of people. Man has forgot that from the smallest embryo as conception occurs, to the oldest person.. we are all created in the image of God.
Look back at our text… lets go back and look at verses 14 and 15 together
14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
So as we just examined, Paul has warned them against grumbling and complaining…
And the reasoning is just what we have discussed, it is so easy to fall into sin, deeper and deeper as we allow our hearts to fall into what we think is good for us or acceptable to us… instead of trusting God in the moment.
To refrain form sin, they would be without spot or blemish. They would be right in front of God and also an example in a dark world.
Look how Paul describes the world and its inhabitants, he says they are a dark and twisted generation.
Pay attention to the words Paul uses to describe the people around the church at Philippi. He says they are a crooked and twisted generation. The word crooked in the Greek, speaks to an immoral person.. and twisted is depraved..a people that have deviated from that which is good...
My friends, the world has not changed.. we look around and see its only getting worse, no one sees the value of their brothers and sisters, instead they only see what their selfish heart desires…
My friends we see it daily.. drug and sex trafficking… gambling and self seekers.. the list goes on and on..
But the cry fro Paul is to abstain from all this, to remain pure and holy.. so that we may shine as light in the world. The church had a great moral quality, they shone like stars in the universe, They needed to keep on keeping on...
I would remind you that daily we must monitor our words, our deeds for we are the ones who bear the light, the message of Jesus
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
My friends as the children of God we are to live our life as a blameless figure before God so that we might push back the darkness, shinning the light of His glorious message that the captives might see the hope of Jesus and be set free from sin..
Let me ask you a question..
Are you shinning the light of the gospel with your words and deeds?
We are supposed too....
If we fail… the consequences are, we have fallen into sin and the world remains in darkness… those God has prepared for us to reach, remains lost.
Those are terrible consequences, but true...
Now, just one last thought....
4. We do it All with Rejoicing.....
4. We do it All with Rejoicing.....
Here is a great question… Do we forget to rejoice?
Did you rejoice as you arose this morning?
Did you rejoice as you paid the bills?
I think there are times we treat the activities of the day with such commonality that we miss what God is doing with us… and the joy of working with Him is missed.
So go back to our text one more time
Verses 16-18
16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
The church at Philippi would succeed in all their efforts, if they held onto the word of life. If they help onto God’s word.
By holding fast to the word of life, the gospel… they were empowered to live.
Now look at verses 17-18, Paul is changing his tone a bit, it was very personal for him to see these churches like Philippi thrive and grow, he wanted them to succeed, and to do so for the glory of God,
But he makes it even a little more personal here, at the end of verse 16 he says “So that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”
Paul was proud of them, he loves these dear people at Philippi, and i am sure they loved Paul as well. He looked forward to the day of seeing Jesus where he could lay all His efforts at the feet of Jesus.
Paul wanted to rejoice in the fruit of His labor as he has served the Lord. My friends, we should desire to bring fruit, the deeds of our faithful service to the feet of Jesus as well. that we might present them to Him as a sweet offering, an acceptable gift of worship.
Paul didn’t want His Christian walk to be for nothing… He wanted to serve His Savior and do the very best He could for Jesus.
We should serve my friends and strive, push hard to raise up and be the people God has planned that we might serve him well...
Paul rejoiced that He was called and used of God… even though he describes his life as a drink offering that was being poured out… now this phrase “being poured out” suggests that something has happened or is about to happen… the climax of His life.
The sacrifice wasn’t all that he had given up, He rejoiced that they had sacrificed and sent him a gift, they had ministered to His needs.. this was a beautiful thing to Paul as well
He doesn’t know the timing of His departure from the world, he might speculate it is close… but no matter he rejoiced in a life given and lived for God..
He says we should rejoice as well… You see our sacrifice, the labor of our hands is a blessing to God. We should rejoice that we are able and willing… not to boast in what we do but instead to boast in what He has done in us that has produced this work.
Let everything about you rejoice in Jesus~
Have you rejoiced in all things?
Think about this past week what did you rejoice in?
But let me challenge you here, did you rejoice in the tougher things… that’s a bit harder, but He was with you in the midst of it all, so could you rejoice.
Paul in His jail house ministry…how are you fleshing out, growing your faith.
I hope you have done well this week.
pray....