Finishing with Grace
Notes
Transcript
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. 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, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 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, 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. 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. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
Scripture: Philippians 2:5-18
Sermon Title: Finishing with Grace
Tonight we’re picking up where we left off last week, in the middle of the first section of Philippians 2, which scholars have entitled “Imitating Christ’s Humility.” The vision that was before last week was that of a pep talk, and our goal was to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ as we started out in chapter 1:27. I proposed that in 2:1, Paul is reviewing the fundamentals of the faith that this church held..namely, encouragement, comfort, and fellowship received through unity and love with the Trinity and displayed to one another. Then in verses 2-4 he them gives a game plan focused on unity, humility, and looking out for one another as they go forth to grow consistently, and then brought us back to chapter 1:28-30 where Paul reveals the enemy that is both outward and inward, telling them that faith is a sign of our salvation to believers and to non-believers, that we have been given by God to believe in Him as well as to suffer as Paul suffered. In the second part of this two-part series that has an Olympian tone, we find ourselves heading into the fourth quarter, the final rotation, the homestretch, however we want to look at it the fact of the matter is that victory is in sight, no matter how many points, kills, or jabs the enemy will get in the closing stages, it’s over. Team Christian, led by Christ has the match wrapped up with no possible way of defeat, but the church still has a job, still has a role, which we find in chapter 2:5-18.
Brothers and sisters, I want to take a cue from Christian rapper, Trip Lee…Yes, there are Christian rappers, no it is not an oxymoron. But I want to take a line from one of his songs in which he asks, “Can I brag on my Lord?” “Can I brag on my Lord?” the song follows up by saying “Go and brag on him, Trip!” Why am I bringing this up, as much as I love Christian rap and would love for you all to appreciate some of the artists I listen to, I’m not doing it to plug. Trip Lee’s prompting for the phrase comes from Jeremiah 9:23-24, where God speaks that his delight is in those who boast upon knowing him, Trip’s desire is to bring glory to God, and I think that’s what see happening with Paul here in verses 6-11. He could have just said, your attitude should be the saem as that of Christ Jesus, and gone on. But my thought is that Paul could not contain himself any longer, he felt the need to brag, the need to preach on his Lord, Jesus, his Savior and Master. Whether these words are his own or they were a common Christ hymn of the day, it doesn’t matter, because the purpose is to bring glory to Jesus as a role model and recognize his place throughout all time.
Paul emphasizes Christ’s humility here, that same attitude and attribute that we’re called to. Jesus did not seek to be equal with God, the Most High; he became one of us, a servant who is obedient thorugh all trials. Most of us consider humiliation something to be avoided; to be humiliated is to go through disgrace for having screwed up or been too weak, yet the base word of humiliation and humility is the same. Jesus betrayal, his hearings, his life, and his murder were nothing short than the most humiliating things he could have gone through, yet he was obedient to death on the cross! Jesus is the image of humility, that exclamation of “even death on a cross!” is a declaration that this church like us today, have a long way to go before we truly can say we’re disciplined in humility. (PAUSE) Paul doesn’t stop there though, Christ is eternal, his resurrection matters and his ascension matters, and so because Jesus was willing to go to death in humility, providing atonement for our sins, God the Father exalted him to the highest place. As we read in Matthew 20:16, “the last will be first, and the first will be last.” In the first Adam, all hope appeared to be lost, but the covenant was made that one day sin would be overcome. Thus the second, or last Adam, who is Jesus, brought that victory and therefore receives all glory and reverence; every tongue of every created being will bring praise to King Jesus because we are not worthy nor are we able to provide for our own salvation, we are not able to win the battle alone! Hallelujah brothers and sisters that we have received a call, that a way has provided for us to bow at the throne, if there is anyone here tonight who is hearing this message for the first time or maybe you’ve heard it dozens and hundreds of time before, but the Lord is opening your heart to submit to him; brothers and sisters, rejoice in confessing that Christ is Lord over all things, take hold that Jesus’ call to obedience is a call of freedom not of bondage! (PAUSE)
Our brother Paul brags on his Lord, and then sees fit to return to where he began. Chapter 1:27..Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ…what’s that conduct look like…Standing firm in on spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way, that now translates into chapter 2:12…Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling…once again not that our salvation is owned by us or earned by us, verse 13, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Brothers and sisters, our call in finishing God’s` kingdom work, in running the final leg before Christ kingdom comes in its fullness to earth, is to work out our salvation, without complaining or arguing, blameless and pure so that we may shine like stars in the universe…because we’re the most valuable players? No, because we submit, we serve, and we sacrifice in imitation of Jesus as we hold to the word of life. Jesus Christ is the light of the world, it is he who we emulate to shine as stars, but even more he makes us to shine like stars by his sanctifying work. The NIV translators have made that verse 16 to say that we hold out, adding an evangelistic tilt to the light in the darkness metaphor, which is perfectly fine and Paul I don’t think would disagree with it, but a better translation of the Greek word is to hold fast, that these Philippian saints and us believers in Holland, MI would be rooted and established in a generation, in a world that denies the sovereignty of God.
The call to work out our salvation is a call to be perfect. You’re probably thinking there goes Dan again with a crazy statement, we can’t be perfect, but hear me out please. What Paul is speaking to here over the entire passage is to grow, to grow in faith, to grow in love, to be firm in our hope and unity with Christ first, then with fellow humanity. Now if we accept that, if we take that as the call for all Christians, then we take the knowledge of our sure salvation, the knowledge that surely Christ has won the battle for us, yet we still have value and importance in this life and world being redeemed, it’s not just some crazy science experiment, then we have a call to be like Christ, to be blameless and pure, to be perfect. Jesus himself tells us this in Matthew 5:48, be perfect therefore as your heavenly father is perfect. The context of that message being the sermon on the mount where Christ is telling his followers to love both their neightbors and their enemies. Now we return to Philippians 2 and Paul isn’t just saying do these things in the church, no rather he’s call out their context “a crooked and depraved generation”, and then refers to his own sufferings and labors for them, that is the outreach of the gospel, that it would not return void. Above all these of course is the glorification of God though brothers and sisters. To be perfect, even as we are not perfect, is to love and to desire that God’s will be done, recognizing his providence, recognizing his purposes being above ours. I hope you hear tones of this morning’s message about not worry, about the Lord’s will and purposes being superior to our own. When I say be perfect, I’m saying to live for Jesus, to submit to his grace and then extend it to others…to not treasure earthly things, earthly wealth, but rather in humility—marked by fear and trembling, give our lives over to God as his children.
The last point that I want to emphasize in concluding this message is Paul’s closing statement, “I am glad and rejoice iwht all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.” This theme of rejoicing is one that runs through the book of Philippians. Paul calls upon them to rejoice and again I say rejoice. A special note this final usage is that it’s an expression of joy with someone else, it’s rejoicing in the fellowship of believers.