Sermon Tone Analysis
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*Fellowship in the Gospel (Phil.
1:3-11)*
Fellowship has a great tradition among us Baptists.
Follow along with me as I read *Philippians 1:3-11.*
The word “fellowship” gathers up into a unified whole every aspect of Christian experience.
Paul thanked his brothers and sisters for their /fellowship in /the /gospel.
/I want to thank you for the fellowship in the gospel we’ve shared from the first day I became your pastor until now.
Every single aspect of our fellowship as Christians is based on God’s call for us to serve Him in the gospel/.
/If you’re here for any other reason than that, you’re here for the wrong reason.
Burgaw Baptist has a great location in this town.
I know it’s convenient for you to come here.
But location shouldn’t be the reason you’re here.
I know there are mighty fine cooks in this church.
Claudette and I have enjoyed tremendously the dinners each evening.
But if you’re a part of this church because they have the best cooks of any church around, you’re here for the wrong reason.
Every church and every Christian throughout the world is bound together for one supreme reason: to serve Christ through the gospel.
Every one of the reasons for being part of this church fellowship we’ve mentioned are useful in promoting our fellowship in the gospel, but they must always be subservient to it, and not a substitution for it.
Let’s let the apostle Paul help us see this truth even more clearly.
These verses are rather simple to outline.
(I) In vv.
3-6, Paul thanks God for the relationship he has with the Philippian Christians.
Claudette’s and my return to Burgaw for these services has given us a great opportunity to express our thanks to God for you all.
(II) In vv.
7-8, Paul speaks of his present relationship with those in the church at Philippi.
(III) And in vv.
9-11, he prays for the Philippians’ future with a prayer that has a very specific focus: that they might continue to grow as disciples.
Paul adds various depths of meaning to this simple outline when he adds, in v. 4, that all of his prayers for them are filled with joy/.
/These services have provided us with a great opportunity to activate our memories of the past we shared together in our journey to God’s kingdom, with a deep sense of joy.
That joy no doubt will remain as we pray for each other in the future.
He adds another level of meaning when he writes, “I have you in/ /my heart.”
(v.
7) That's Paul’s way of saying he loved them.
Paul places another, and fina,l level of meaning to his words when he prayed, in vv.
9-11, that they would continue to grow in Christian virtue, letting the Holy Spirit produce in them the fruits of all righteousness, to the glory of God.
Now, can you think of anything better to pray for than that?
Let’s look more closely at the first of these three levels of meaning Paul gave to his expression of thanks to God for the past, present, and future relationship he had with the Christians at Philippi.
*PAUL REMEMBERED THE PHILIPPIANS WITH JOY.
*Fred Craddock has said that, “. .
*.being a believer is to a large extent an act of memory.”
*Who of us could ever forget what Christ did for us on the cross?
How then could we forget our brothers for whom Christ died?
We could no more do that than a mother could forget her child.
Yet memories come in black and white.
They can be good or bad; and there are, I suppose, those that fall somewhere in between.
But memories, even if bad, can serve a good purpose.
Konrad Adenauer was the first premier* *of what was formerly known as West Germany, serving from 1949 to 1963.
He opposed Nazism, and helped found the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to help control Soviet expansion.
He died at age 91.
Adenauer had a lot of bitter memories of Nazi Germany.
He had sworn to do all he could to steer Germany in a new direction for good.
After World War II, he seized a golden candlestick from the basement of Gestapo headquarters in Cologne.
Until the day he died he kept that candlestick on his shaving table, so that every morning as he was preparing for another day he could see the candlestick and remember his commitment.
So an object that brought bad memories to Adenauer inspired him to work for the good of his beloved Germany.
Church, like people, have memories that come in both white and black.
You’ve experienced some black ones over the past few years.
I’m sure that even thinking of them still pains you.
Even such black memories can inspire us.
Jeremy wore inch thick, coke bottle glasses*, *and a perfect bowl haircut.
He knew the answers to everything, and was the teacher’s pet.
This really ticked off all of the other children.
One day, after an uncharacteristic absence from school, Jeremy showed up in class with a big grin on his face, wearing a Mickey Mouse hat.
The teacher asked Jeremy where he got his hat.
“I went to Disneyland yesterday!” he said excitedly.
“Oh really,” said the teacher.
“Why don't you tell us about your day-trip to Disneyland.” “Okay!” said Jeremy.
“Well, I went to Disneyland, and the first thing I saw was the parking lot.
That parking lot must hold a million cars.
I got on a tram that carried me around the parking lot until I got to the place where you buy the tickets.
So I got off and stood in line.
I bought a ticket and I also bought this cool hat!”
“And then what did you do?” as the teacher.
“Well, I got back on the tram and rode around the parking lot some more,” said Jeremy.
“That was really fun!
I rode that tram all day!”
“All day?” asked the teacher.
“Did you go through the turnstiles and under the bridge to Main Street U.S.A., Adventureland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and the rest of the park?”
Jeremy thought for a moment and said, “No.
Was I suppose to?”
It’s sad that Jeremy rode around Disneyland all day, seeing the people’s happy faces, but never found out what they were smiling about.
It’s sad that people come to church and see people with smiling faces, and yet never find out what they’re smiling about.
They hear people talk about the joy they’ve found in Jesus, but are clueless as to how to have that joy themselves.
When someone visits here, do they experience joy?
Do the smiles on your faces invite them to stay?
The really hard question to answer is, “Is our joy real?
Does it result from our commitment to the gospel?
There’s no true “koinonia” in the church that isn’t centered in the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
Many Christians enjoy other aspects of the church they think make up Christian fellowship, and end up missing the real thing.
It seemed easy for Paul to love the believers at Philippi.
That’s exactly what he does next.
He expresses his love for his fellow believers whose hearts were one with his in the service of the gospel.
*PAUL LOVED THE PHILIPPIANS.
*Much of what is considered love today actually is nothing more than mere sentimentality or emotion.
Christian love isn’t based on emotion, even though emotions participate in it.
Paul had emotional ties to the Philippians.
He told them, “I have you in my heart.”/
/He also told them, in verse 8,/ /“God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.”
The literal meaning of the word “affection” will amuse you.
It means “bowels.”
Paul’s longing for his brothers in Christ affected his insides.
Still, we must understand that Paul’s love for the Philippians wasn’t based on emotion.
What was their mutual participation in the gospel based on?
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