Philippians #6
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How many different kinds of lights could you name?
Main categories
lights that burn and lights that glow
Fires,
candles, campfires and the sun
light bulbs
incandescent, florescent and LED bulbs
night lights, flashlights, strobe lights, flood lights, spot lights, search lights, work lights, headlights,
bio-luminescence
Fireflies on the 4th of July
We could go on and on, but think about how many different kinds of lights there are.
We depend on light for everything. Our world revolves around light. Our phones and computer emit light so we can interact with that data.
WWII - London
Today we’re going to be talking about light.
I’m going to leave this flashlight here as a reminder, but I won’t leave it in the strobe setting. I imagine that would get annoying fairly quickly.
And how we as Christians compare to a these lights.
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.
Philippians 2:11-
The place that God inhabits SHINES with his glory.
The place that God inhabits SHINES with his glory.
Let’s look at v12
Paul felt the responsibility for his work to go forward (not run in vain).
v12 ‘therefore’
In our youth Bible study, when we come across a ‘therefore’ we always ask ourselves, “What is the therefore, there fore?” Why does Paul write, therefore.
Connects us with everything he’s already written in this letter, specifically the exhortation he’s given to live as citizens worthy of the Gospel v27
Last week we looked at how so often we are empty people, trying to fill ourselves up with stuff, with addiction, with vice, with entertainment, only to find ourselves more empty.
And ONLY through imitating and uniting with Jesus can we be full.
As he moves into v12, he’s saying, Jesus showed us the path of fullness: humble yourself and obey God.
in temporarily setting aside the independent use of some of his divine attributes, God highly exalts him, and he is made even more glorious than before.
When we’re talking about glory, be thinking about the sun. Glory is to God as rays are to the sun. It emanates from him and proclaims his majesty to all who look upon him.
So when he says ‘therefore’ he is connecting what he is about to say to this mind that we are to imitate from Christ.
1. Obey no matter what the leadership is doing.
1. Obey no matter what the leadership is doing.
v12
From the very first time I preached to you, your lives have reflected this worthiness for the Gospel. You have obeyed God.
And It’s not just because I was with you, for you demonstrated that even in my absence, you were not obeying because of me.
Teenagers are always on their best behavior when their parents leave the house for the whole afternoon.
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
Teenagers are always on their best behavior when their parents leave the house.
clean room, mow the lawn, make a couple freezer meals... etc
The temptation (not just for teenagers) in us is to be motivated primarily by our leaders.
This isn’t just irresponsibility or disobedience, but also complacency.
We don’t volunteer for things because we weren’t personally asked by Pastor Chris to do something.
At work, the boss didn’t ask me to do this, so I’m just cutting these corners.
You obey, not because you have apostolic authority and accountability constantly pushing you forward, but no matter what, you’re obeying.
‘Obeyed’ is not about following rules, but more about submitting to him (v1)
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
When you submit to Christ, HE becomes your primary motivation and not the leaders over you.
HOW do you obey?
v12b
work out your own salvation
v12b
What does this imply?
What does this imply?
Work?
we have to give some effort. WE have to get involved. We don’t get to sit back and just let things happen.
Labor because of your salvation.
Fear and trembling?
“God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind”
v9-11
Yes, there is a sense in which we live with Jesus forever, but where are we at this exaltation coronation ceremony? Are we holding Jesus’ hand? Are we there beaming with pride?
Beloved, we are bowing.
We must not exalt ourselves to sitting at his right hand, like the disciples tried to do. We all bow.
Working out our salvation is a significant and solemn task. Our Christianity is not a hobby! It is all consuming. Our primary purpose in life.
This is not some ra-ra-ra for the Red Brick Church. Whether you are in this church or God moves you elsewhere, this is clear, you are responsible to be diligently working out your heavenly citizenship.
We must not think that complacent, nominal christianity gives us any assurance of being true Christianity at all.
This is not just believing in a God, but bowing before the God that is Christ Jesus and submitting our lives to him.
We must WORK because of our salvation with FEAR because of who God is
2. Obey because God is working in you
2. Obey because God is working in you
Watch out! - When you have genuine faith from God, it is always a faith that works.
Quacking doesn’t make you a duck, but ducks quack.
v13
work out your salvation NOT because I am with you, but because GOD is in you
God is working in us in two ways.
We want to obey God because he gives us the desire to please him.
We do the work of obedience because God gives the the power to do it.
Here in lies an incredible tension.
We are to work out our salvation (not of works)
Does this say we work FOR salvation?
As we say here: quacking doesn’t make you a duck but, ducks quack.
God gives us the desire and power to do it.
Tension question: If God is working in us, why do we have to work?
Tension question: If God is working in us, why do we have to work?
We just looked at v 9-11 and know that God is majestically powerful!
Certainly he can do anything he wishes.
Can’t we just pray a prayer and God will just take care of it?
We know that Paul felt the responsibility for his work to go forward (not run in vain).
As we say here: quacking doesn’t make you a duck but, ducks quack.
If you haven’t heard anything I’ve said, I want you to hear this. (Old scottish preacher)
God redeems in order to inhabit
God redeems in order to inhabit
God saved us, not to make us feel happy. It’s not God’s purpose to enable us to fulfill the American dream. God redeemed us to live with us.
When God took our sins away, he had a very specific purpose: to dwell with us.
How many of you parents have ever found your children to play outside in the mud.
Do you let them come inside with muddy boots on your nice white carpet?
We say it’s to protect the carpet, but what do we really want. We want to be with our children. We want them with us, living with us.
God didn’t redeem us to keep the golden street of heaven clean, he clean our hearts to come and live with us. To indwell us. We are his temple. And one day we will be fully united with him, living with him on a new earth.
From the beginning of history, when Adam grabbed hold of his own glory rather than submitting to God, he separated himself from God. So God set about on a massive rescue plan to be born as a second Adam, a better Adam who would submit to God the Father and could save us from our sins. When he rose again and broke the power of death, he offers life to all who turn from sin to Jesus and promised us that someday he would come back for us. And that where he is, we may be there also. But until then, when we are living with Jesus, God the Holy Spirit lives in us.
Old Testament , God’s presence was displayed in the holy of holies in the Tabernacle and temple. but when Jesus died, what happened to the curtain: it ripped from top to bottom. We don’t need a human priest to come to God the Father, we go directly through great high priest, who in turn has made us all priests and heirs.
- must flee immorality
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
The culmination of the Bible
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
God redeems in order to inhabit
God redeems in order to inhabit
And when the Holy Spirit lives in us, he doesn’t control us like robots, but rather, unites with us. Giving us the desire and energy to obey him, and giving us the responsibility to listen to his voice.
Yes, God does work in us, but the responsibility to obey is ours.
When God fills us, as we learned in the past few weeks, we are not selfish, or conceited, we are humble and unified with each other.
v14 We do not grumble or fight (arguing).
This could be horribly convicting if you let it sink in.
it’s easy to look at others and say, stop complaining. Look I’m sorry Amazon didn’t offer next day delivery on your Nintendo Switch.
water cooler, facebook, texting, phone calls
You’ve probably met some people who don’t complain, they’re almost annoying.
how much of our communication with eachother is complaining
A life full of God is a life that doesn’t complain. (Do ALL THINGS)
Let the WORD of God challenge us this morning to be full of God and complain a little bit less this week.
A complaining heart is a heart that says, I deserve this. That is not the way things should be and I’m upset .
God has supplied everything I need, is this something I need to complain about. OR after you find yourself complaining, repent of a heart far from God, and replace it with thanksgiving.
See how many times you can flip your complaining this week to being thankful for what God has given you.
When someone treats you poorly this week, when something bad happens, when you’re just not feeling well, when you see the news, rather than complaining, see that event through the lens of this passage, that God empowers you with the desire and ability to be thankful.
a Life filled with God is a life (that doesn’t complain and) that doesn’t fight and argue.
Another very difficult attitude to practice.
This can only come when our hearts are humble. When we stop demanding our own way. When we count others as more significant than ourselves.
And when our lives look like this. When we do not grumble and complain. When we refuse to fight and argue, we are
v15-16 - blameless and innocent children of God
The process of sanctification in our lives should be stripping us little by little of our complaining and arguing hearts, and replacing them with blameless and innocent hearts.
We are his children. And when we act like his children and his temple, we shine.
The place that God inhabits shines with his glory.
The place that God inhabits shines with his glory.
Did your parents every reprimand you with your full name?
God redeems in order to inhabit -
It’s not God’s purpose to enable us to fulfill the American dream. God
Thomas Bartholomew Vichenheimer!
Augustus Toplady - A debter to mercy alone
Augustus Toplady - A debter to mercy alone
Their intensity and anger was parallel to the number of names included?
You knew it was serious if the said your first and last name, but if they included your middle name, it was over.
They weren’t just trying to get your attention, They’re drawing attention to the fact that your actions do not correspond to your name.
Your name declares that you are something different than is displayed in your actions.
ACT LIKE who you are. - children of God
When you act like who you are. When you employ God’s power to obey him, you shine.
The place that God inhabits shines with his glory.
If God is in you, you’re life stands in stark contrast to the world around you.
How different will you be from everyone around you if you never complained?
When the world looks at our relationships and sees peace and unity, humility and care for each other, it displays that God dwells in us.
They have ‘glory’ in view
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
They have ‘glory’ in view
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Will we display the glory of God by living this way?
So in v16 Paul reminds us of our mission. He reminded us of our purpose in v5-11 to glorify God, but here’s is our mission.
v16
Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Philippians 2. Blameless Children (2:14–16)
the Philippians shine as they “hold out” (NIV) the brilliant word of life.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
The GOSPEL is the power of God.
What does your testimony look like to the world?
I don’t have it in me to stop complaining.
I don’t have it in me to stop arguing.
But God is in me, and gives me hope in the darkest times, and provides for all my true needs, and empowers me to want to be close to him and live like a child of his kingdom.
And you can have that too, if you turn from your sin and submit to king Jesus.
If you can’t think of one thing to be thankful for in the midst of your complaining, be thankful for the Gospel. that Jesus saved you.
So that we can say as Paul said, we’ve lived our life and remained faithful to the end. All our effort to live for Jesus is not in vain, and that no matter what life throws at us, no matter what darkness God allows to bring us through,
when the gospel has redeemed us
and God inhabits us
we can say as Paul says in v 17
even if I die as a martyr, I rejoice. And you can rejoice.
Not even death can take away my joy.
Life is so difficult.
Where can we find the strength to go on?
Where can we cling to for hope when life seems to be crumbling through our fingers? When our children’s health is failing, or when they don’t love God. When our job opportunity falls through, when our relationship with our spouse is crumbling?
When we can’t stop sinning?
Where can we get the courage to not give up?
The Gospel - If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, God the Spirit is inside you giving you the will and the ability to REJOICE and keep going.
And he’s given you other believers to build you up.
You see, joy is not the same as happiness.
God doesn’t exist to make you happy. He exists for his own glory!
God works in your life to fulfill your design: to glorify him!
Joy is the deep assurance that no matter what happens, I have peace that God will do what is good.
We sing about how Great our God is.
He is higher than any other, he is healer, awesome in power!
And then we kick him off the throne of our heart and say, I know what I deserve, and I didn’t get it, and I’m mad about it, and I’ll argue and fight to get it.
But when we give God control of our hearts, his glory shines through our peacemaking and our thankfulness.
We shine as lights who are consumed with the gospel changing everything about us.
Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
v16b
labor in vain may link to Isaiah’s description of the new heavens and earth
Quite likely, Paul’s language reflects the promise of : when God creates the new heavens and the new earth, his people will rejoice (vv. 18–19) and will long enjoy the works of their toil (v. 22), for their labor will not be in vain (v. 23).12
12 LXX: τὰ ἔργα τῶν πόνων αὐτῶν παλαιώσουσιν. οἱ δὲ ἐκλεκτοί μου οὐ κοπιάσουσιν εἰς κενόν. . . . Cf. also 49:1–4.
Silva, M. (2005). Philippians (2nd ed., p. 127). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
v17 not even death can take away my joy
Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
Augustus Toplady - 17 hundreds
A debtor to mercy alone
Of covenant mercy I sing
I come with Your righteousness on
My humble offering to bring
The judgments of Your holy law
With me can have nothing to do
My Savior’s obedience and blood
Hide all my transgressions
From view
VERSE 2
The work which Your goodness began
The arm of Your strength will complete
Your promise is yes and amen
And never was forfeited yet
The future or things that are now
No power below or above
Can make You Your purpose forego
Or sever my soul from Your love
VERSE 3
My name from the palms of Your hands
Eternity will not erase
Impressed on Your heart it remains
In marks of indelible grace
Yes I, to the end will endure
Until I bow down at Your throne
Forever and always secure
Forever and always secure
A debtor to mercy alone
Can we remember that we’ve been redeemed? That we are secure? That he will complete this good work in us?
God has redeemed us, and has taken up residence in us, so now we can shine as lights.
What kind of light are we showing to others?
What kind of light are we showing to others?
Are we a little lightning bug where our Christianity shows up at church and then is gone the rest of the week.
Are we a strobe light that flashes constantly with obedience on then off and on and off, like we can’t decide whether we will really shine to show people the way.
Maybe today we need to be a little nightlight. Nothing impressive, but a steady consistent stream that lights up the whole dark world with the glory of Jesus.
Shine your light this week by putting off complaining and arguing and putting on the humility of Jesus.
Shine your light this week by putting off complaining and arguing and putting on the humility of Jesus.
How should our church live worthy of the gospel?
In one mind and in one Spirit, partner side by side for the faith of the gospel.