Sermon Tone Analysis

Philippians 2: 1-18

Matt 5:13 reads as follows:  /“You are the salt of the earth; but ////if the salt has become tasteless, how ////can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men./

At a meeting some young people were discussing this text, “Ye are the salt of the earth.”

As many of you have done, I’m sure, they pondered what Jesus actually meant by these words.

One suggestion after another was made as to the meaning of “salt”.

“Salt imparts flavor,” said one.

“Salt preserves from decay,” another suggested.

I am sure you would agree that these two explanations seem valid.

But then a girl mentions another effect of salt: “Salt creates thirst,” ……How effective are you in creating a THIRST for Christ?

What inside you draws a person to want to know about Christ?

In effect I am enquiring into how healthy is your Christian walk before the Lord, because if you do not radiate the love you have for Christ by how your conduct before the world, by how you live, what you do, by your speech, by your relationships, the stuff you watch on TV, the internet….if

you don’t show the love you have for Christ in these practical things, what does it say about the value Christ has for you?

Turn with me to Philippians 2, we are going to read from verse 1-18.

Paul was addressing the Church in Philippi because of some members in the Church viewed themselves above others; more important than others and were displaying a un-Christ like attitude.

Philippians 2:1-18

 

·         *Their Sin*: I would point you to the sin of the Philippians: look at 2:2-3: /make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others/.

By mentioning these things, Paul obviously was implying that they were in fact behaving the opposite to his exhortation to them.

At the core of their outwardly visible sin, was the fact that Christ was not their first love.

Their focus in life was not in honoring Him, but was on themselves!

You can sum up their visible sin in one word: “WORLDLINESS”.

They were guilty of putting the world, and themselves before Christ: 1 John 2:15 /Do not love the world or anything in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world/

 

 

Worldly pride caused some of them to consider themselves better than others.

Where worldliness is present, the Spirit of God is resisted and the fruits of the Spirit are not displayed: can you see that there were an obvious lack of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in the Philippians?

They displayed the fruits of the world: sinful ambition, dissention, being loveless, being vain and conceited, sinful pride and selfishness.

You might even be tempted to look at them and wonder if they were really Christians at all, wouldn’t you?

But just look at Paul’s greeting to them and it is clear that they were in fact believers: Paul addressed his letter to the Saints in Christ in Philippi.

They were believers!

And it is in realizing this that the warning for us becomes clear: If the believers of Philippi, having been trained by Paul himself, could become worldly, then the same must be true for us as well!

How easy is it for us to fall into a pattern of sin and not even recognize it?

How worldly are YOU?

Where is your focus?

Is the pattern of your life that of glorifying God? Are you living your daily lives separately from your faith?

People, I’m not pointing the finger at you only!

I have been guilty of that same sin in my own life and had to repent before God!

I understand!

*What is the solution*?

If the Spirit of God is speaking to you today, what can you do to rectify the situation?

How can you change your life to be Christ Centered?

You see, being a Christian does not necessarily lead to good behavior; otherwise corrections like these in Philippians, or those in Corinthians or Galatians would not have been in the Bible!!

When we come to faith we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and are reborn as new men, but our newborn spirit is still trapped in this fleshly body which in effect wars against our spirit.

Just read Romans 7 “I do not understand what I do.

For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do”.

We do not automatically start behaving in a way worthy of the Gospel.

The Holy Spirit is resident in you, that is guaranteed.

You are saved eternally but you might still resist His work in you by being focused on yourself, or the world!

How do I change my behavior?

1.       Look at Paul’s prayer for the Philippians in ch1: /9 //And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God./

A changed behavior goes hand in hand with an increase in your love for Christ!

But notice that this is not a merely emotional love.

This love grows by an increase in knowledge.

As you learn by Scripture the character and nature of God, His works, His love, His mercy and grace, you get better insight and understanding into what God’s will is, as well as come to a better understanding of your own depravity and are better able to discern what is best on one hand, or what needs to be avoided.

Because you understand Him better and know Him better, and frankly come to know yourself better, your love for Him increases more and more and you want to honor Him by your conduct!

You then begin to live more and more a Christ centered life!

So step one: *Increase your knowledge*!

Cultivate the habit of daily reading , studying and meditating on Scripture.

2.

But just knowing Scripture is not enough!

Scripture tells us that we have to train ourselves to be godly in our behavior (1 Tim 4:7).

Obviously implied in this, is that if we don’t train ourselves, we will be worldly with the same worldly behavior patterns as the Philippians!

Remember that the Philippians were not without knowledge: they were personally trained by Paul!

My friend: *godliness is cultivated*: you train yourself to apply what you know!

The Greek word for training is* γυμνάζω** ** (gumnazoe) *from which we get “Gymnast”.

It conveys strenuous exercise.

Purposeful ,  single-minded commitment to change your behaviour from worldly to godly!

The Greek use of the word also indicates a continuous effort in training yourself to be godly!

A continuous applying of Scripture to your life!

Again: Left to itself, your mind will be worldly, because that is the effect your sinful flesh has on you!

If we do not exercise ourselves to godliness we will gravitate back to that same worldly state of mind the Philippians had when Paul had to reprimand them.

Your fleshly nature will come out!

Oh yes, being saved, the desire to honour God will be there: Come Sunday or the times you read the Bible, your conscience will accuse you.

You might make a decision to follow Christ, but unless you purposefully start to apply Scripture to every situation, that decision will quickly fizzle away.

In applying Scripture, you may ask yourselves questions like:

ü  what does Scripture say about the issue I am dealing with?

ü  How will my choice glorify God?

ü  Will this bring harm to someone?

ü  Will my actions cause someone’s faith to suffer?

ü   It might not be sin, but is it good for me?

ü  Can I help someone’s faith?

ü  Will it be helpful for my spiritual growth?

/ /

You must train yourself to consistently apply your knowledge as you are faced with issues day by day.

It is not cold-hearted legalism; it is God honouring, Christ centred, Spirit guided love that bears the fruit of obedience!

/ /

/3.      /Paul did not only reprimand the Philippians but used himself as a pattern for the Philippians to emulate: go back to 1:20: /I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me.

/

The example of Paul is the only way we can live a Christ honoring life: To live is Christ!

To have the mindset of Paul is not reserved for some super Christian like an Apostle.

It is the mind set on worshipping your Lord as the SOLE focus of your life.

To live is Christ!

Everything else is secondary to this focus: your relationships, your leisure time, your work are primarily aimed at honoring Him by the way you engage in them.

Any other mindset is worldly and lead to worldliness in our behavior.

4.      Have the right perspective; know your position: Ch 2:5-11 When Jesus, being equal with the Father in glory, was incarnated as a man, what did He do?

As a HUMAN BEING He took on the position of a “*servant*”.

He humbled himself because He was in human form!

The Greek word for “servant” is actually the word “Doulos”, meaning “SLAVE”!

If the Holy Son of God found it necessary to be a slave, when He came as a man imagine what we ought to be! My people: We are in a relationship with the awesome, majestic, holy God of heaven and earth!

A consuming Fire!