Sermon Tone Analysis

PAUL’S MENTAL ATTITUDE: CURSING TURNED TO BLESSING

 

     When a believer suffers momentum testing, he is closing in on the objec­tive of the Christian way of life!

Spiritual maturity is the next step!

In people testing, thought testing, system testing or disaster testing, the Christian’s mental attitude can be characterized by eager anticipation and stimulation de­spite the pain he suffers!

Metabolized Truth enables him to see how close he is to achieving maturity.

Paul himself is an example of the believer's attitude when beset by momentum testing after a major personal failure.

He had reached Spiritual self-esteem, (Which is vulnerable to arrogance) (2Co 12:7) and had successfully faced providential preventive suffering so that he gained Spiritual autonomy.

Then, in a resurgence of sentimentality, and in defiance of the Truth he knew, (Rom 11:2-5; Gal 2:7) and the warnings of the Holy Spirit, and through others, (Acts 21:10-14) and his own Spiritual common sense, Paul abandoned his thriving ministry to the Gentiles in the Aegean Quadrangle and returned to Jerusalem.

Paul blended sincerity, arrogance, and sentimentality producing a disastrous result!

His unbelieving countrymen were adamantly negative to the Gospel, as they had previously opposed Christ, and the legalistic Jewish Christians were negative to Truth.

To gain an audience with the Jews, Paul went so far as to compromise his integrity, taking a blasphemous religious vow in the Temple.

(Acts 21:21-24) Beginning with a riot in the Temple and an assassination plot against him, a two-year imprisonment ensued, which carried Paul to Rome.

Paul quickly recognized his failure and rebounded, (1Jn 1:9) so that the purpose of this long period of suffering changed from cursing to blessing.

Paul had initiated a sequence of suffering with his own decisions, but God converted cursing into blessing as soon as Paul used rebound and reentered his Spiritual life.

The apostle did not languish in his failure.

He evaluated his situation long enough to learn his lesson, then gratefully pressed forward in the plan of God.

MOMENTUM TESTING IN PHILIPPIANS  CHAPTER 3

     Leaving False Confidence Behind: Paul opens Philippians 3 by repeating a warning that he himself had disregarded in his Jerusalem fiasco.

Believers must beware of religion with all its emotional appeal, self-righteousness, coercion, and potential violence.

(Acts 14:11-19) In particular, Paul cites his own aristocratic background, zeal, and fame in Judaism.

Religion had channeled his intellect and energy, had flattered and promoted him, had given him tremendous /“confidence in the flesh.”/

(Php 3:4) Through his personal faith in Christ and inculcation with Truth, Paul had renounced his misplaced confidence in his old sin nature.

(Php 3:3) Instead of self, Christ was now the focus of his attention.

Personal love for God had superseded arrogance as the foundation of his attitude toward himself.

/But whatever things were gain [Profit] to me, those things [His status symbols in Israel] I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

More than that, I conclude all things to be loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for the sake of whom I have suffered the loss of all things [His Jewish celebrity, will, and desires]/ (John 12:25) /and conclude them [To be] human excrement, that I may gain Christ./

(Php 3:7-8)

     /“Gaining Christ”/ is a synonym for fulfilling the protocol plan of God.

(Php 1:20-21) Paul expresses his desire to advance in the operational Spiritual life all the way to Gate 8, Spiritual maturity, just as the humanity of Christ set the precedent for the royal family by attaining Spiritual maturity in the prototype Spiritual life!

     /That I may be found in Him [As a member of the royal family, in union with Christ] not having a righteousness of my own from the Law [Self-righteousness] but that [Divine righteousness] acquired through faith in Christ, that righteousness from God on the basis of faith./

(Php 3:9)

     To /“gain Christ”/ a person must first believe in Christ.

At the moment of faith alone in Christ alone, God permanently imputes His own absolute righteousness to every believer, eliminating any need to earn God's approbation, with the human righteousness of religion or of good deeds.

Man appropriates Salvation only according to Divine protocol: /“by grace are you saved through faith; [In Christ] . . .

not of works, lest anyone should boast.”/

(Eph 2:8-9)  After Salvation the believer must continue to follow Divine protocol.

*Human works cannot earn Salvation,* (Positional righteousness) *nor can human production, “Works” earn Spiritual maturity, *(Experiential righteousness) *or blessings after Salvation.

*(Gal 3:2-3) God's grace policy is consistent.

The believer lives the Christian way of life by following God's Commands.

As a teaching aid, the Spiritual life consolidates God's Commands, making His grace policy understandable, systematically presenting the means by which we /“grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”/

(2Pe 3:18)

     /That I may know Him [Spiritual Maturity] and the power of His resurrection [The resurrection Spiritual life] and the fellowship of His sufferings, [Thought, people, system and disaster testing] being conformed to His death; [Experiential death, /(John 12:24-26) /to His [Christ's] human nature's will and desires] /(Matt 26:39; (1Pe 4:1; Php 3:3-10)

     In Philippians 3:10 Paul emphasizes suffering, but he begins by stating the importance of post-Salvation Epistemological rehabilitation (With the Word of God) related to Spiritual self-esteem.

Although Paul is in Spiritual maturity as he writes, he is giving us the benefit of his experience in Spiritual self-esteem.

Therefore, he begins verse 10 with the infinitive of purpose of the verb, (Ginosko)/ “to know.”/

The infinitive of purpose indicates the objective or purpose of the action of the main verb, which is found in verse 8, /“I conclude all things to be loss.., that I may know Him.”/ Paul reached this conclusion through understanding Truth.

Knowing Christ, or Occupation with Christ, is one of the characteristics of Spiritual self-esteem.

From the Viewpoint of Spiritual self-esteem, Paul now turns his attention to the power of God, in the resurrection Spiritual life.

The Great Power Demonstration

     Jesus Christ experienced two unique deaths on the Cross.

The substitutionary Spiritual death of Christ provides eternal Salvation for the human race.

The physical death of Christ involved our Lord's body going into the grave, (Luk 23:50-53) And His soul and spirit, were taken by the Holy Spirit into Paradise, (Luk 23:43; Luk 23:46; John 19:30) and the Abyss, which is one of the compartments of Hades in the heart of the earth.

(Rom 10:7; (1Pe 3:18-19) In the resurrection of Christ, from His unique physical death, three categories of Divine power were displayed.

The omnipotence of God the Father became an agent of the resurrection of Christ.

(Acts 2:27; Acts 2:24; Rom 6:4; Eph 1:20; Col 2:12; (1Th 1:10; (1Pe 1:21) The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit also became an agent of Christ's resurrection.

(Rom 1:4; Rom 8:11) And Christ also had His part in His own resurrection.

(John 10:17-18) The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is now available to every member of the royal family for the execution of the protocol plan of God.

This magnificent grace provision is unknown to the believer until discovered in the New Testament, and communicated by the pastor under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

The Church Age is a tangible result of policy, the unique Divine policy of making the Spiritual life totally and equally available to every member of the royal family.

(Gal 3:28) One of the results of the baptism of the Holy Spirit at Salvation is the creation of a new Spiritual species, the royal family of God.

(2Co 5:17) The purpose of creating this new Spiritual species is to enable the Church Age believer to utilize Divine power, which is made available in three categories:

1.

The OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD THE FATHER related to providing our portfolio of invisible assets,

2. The OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD THE SON related to sustaining the universe and perpetuating human history,

3. The OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT related to empowering the Spiritual life.

Never before in human history has so much Divine power been made available to so many believers as in the great power demonstration of the Church Age.

The utilization of the Spiritual life is the basis for the believer having invisible impact during the Church Age.

There are three categories of impact:

1. PERSONAL IMPACT from blessing by association with the mature believer,

2. HISTORICAL IMPACT from blessing by association with the pivot of mature believers in a client nation to God,

3. INTERNATIONAL IMPACT from blessing by association for non-client nations through Spiritually mature missionaries sent out from a client nation.

This briefly explains what Paul means when he declares that his purpose is to /“know Him and the power of His resurrection.”/

Paul now addresses the subject of suffering as he continues to describe his purpose in life: /“and [That I may know] the fellowship of His sufferings,”/ (Php 3:10) referring to our Lord's suffering for blessing, during His first advent.

(Heb 5:8; (1Pe 4:1-2)

     The Fellowship of Christ's Sufferings: As the way of growing the believer in the Spiritual life.

Three categories of suffering for blessing are available to every believer who reaches Spiritual adulthood.

1. PROVIDENTIAL PREVENTIVE SUFFERING challenges the believer's Spiritual self-esteem, hinders arrogance, and serves as a warm-up for momentum testing.

2.

MOMENTUM TESTING exercises the believer's Spiritual autonomy through people testing, thought testing, organization testing, and disaster testing.

3.    EVIDENCE TESTING demonstrates the Divine dynamics of Spiritual maturity and glorifies God to the maximum.

These unique systems of suffering for blessing were first experienced by the humanity of Christ in the prototype Spiritual life.

These same systems of suffering for blessing are now available to accelerate the momentum of every Spiritually adult       believer as he advances inside the operational Spiritual life./

“The fellowship of His sufferings” /describes the Church Age believer's utilization of Spiritually adult problem-solving devices.

The consistent application of these problem-solving devices equates adversity and prosperity, living and dying.

(Gal 2:20; Php 1:21) Paul cites the supreme example of our Lord's suffering when he speaks of /“having become like [Christ] with reference to His death.”/

(Experiential death) The Greek compound verb, (Summorphizo) in the passive voice, means /“growing into conformity”/ indicating the practical apprehension of the death of the human nature, in will, word, and thought, (Luk 22:42; John 8:28; John 12:49; John 14:10) and fulfilling his share of the sufferings to die to his own life, will, and word, following upon the example of Christ.

(John 12:24-26; Rom 6:5; Rom 8:10-13; (2Co 4:10-11)

     Our Lord shows the maximum example, of positive volition: In His mind, soul, spirit, and body: In the mentality (Spiritual Thinking) of His humanity, of experiential death, to His will, desire and self-preservation.

(Luk 12:50; Luk 22:44; Matt 26:38; Matt 26:53-54) In His spirit: He also died Spiritually on the cross when His soul was judged for our sins.

(Isa 53:10-11; Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34; Luk 23:44; (2Co 5:21) In His body: He also was tortured, rejected, betrayed, and died physically.

(Isa 53:3-9; Mark 15:15-20; John 18:2; John 19:33-34) We have nothing to complain about!

(Heb 12:3-4) Blood, (Heb 9:18; Heb 10:29; Heb 12:24; Heb 13:20) sweat, (Luk 22:44) and tears; (Heb 5:7) and not a bone was broken, (Num 9:12; John 19:36) in the Old Testament the lamb was symbolically judged for sins, (Exo 29:15) but literally bled to death!

(Exo 29:16) Christ was literally judged for our sins, (Rom 8:3) but did not bleed to death!

(John 19:30) All in a days work!

This is Amazing Grace!

So the blood of Christ, in the New Testament represents: Spiritual death, Judgment, Salvation, Propitiation, Sanctification, Atonement, Justification Redemption, or all the above depending on the context.

(Rev 1:5; (1Pe 1:2; Heb 13:12) Etc.

The same power that sustained Jesus on the Cross is now available to every member of the royal family.

As a result of Christ's strategic victory on the cross, four dynamic problem-solving devices were made available to every Church Age believer who achieves Spiritual adulthood through residence, function, and momentum inside the Spiritual life.

1. TOWARD GOD: Personal love for God as the motivational Virtue of Spiritual self-esteem.

2. TOWARD PEOPLE: Impersonal love for all mankind as the functional Virtue of Spiritual autonomy.

3. TOWARD TRUTH: hope as the goal orientation of Spiritual adulthood.