Who Are Gospel Partners?

I’m going to split my time this morning. In the first part of this morning I’m going to preach through the next passage from our series in Philippians. Then I’m going to spend a little time at the end giving a bit of a State of the Church address. I was going to save that part for during the meeting after service but this will help shorten that meeting up just a bit. It also helps me preach through the things we need to do in the coming year.

Charles Barkley - I am not a role model commercial.

From Yahoo Article:

One of the most fiercely debated commercials in Nike history arose from an alarming discovery.

Nike learned in early 1993 that its popularity had slipped among teenage males, a demographic that the shoe-apparel giant had long considered its bread and butter.

Reebok in particular had made inroads after unveiling an outdoor “Blacktop” version of its trendy Pump sneakers. Whereas roughly 92 percent of teenage male consumers previously preferred Nike to any other athletic footwear brand, that number plunged into the mid-70s as the calendar turned to 1993.

“Three was a lot of pressure,” former Nike advertising director Scott Bedbury said. “We needed to get the edge back with teenage males. We gave that brief to Wieden + Kennedy, and then we held onto our seats.”

What Nike’s longtime advertising agency came back with was an honest, thought-provoking commercial that challenged social norms. Notoriously outspoken Phoenix Suns star Charles Barkley boldly and defiantly declared that he was not a role model and that kids should be taught to emulate their parents, not athletes or celebrities.

“Just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids,” Barkley concluded.

The commercial first aired roughly two years after one of Barkley’s most controversial moments. In March 1991, the NBA suspended Barkley for one game and fined him $10,000 after he tried to spit at a racist heckler seated courtside in New Jersey but ended up hitting an 8-year-old girl.

There are conflicting opinions as to exactly who came up with the premise for the Nike spot.

Most at Nike recall the commercial being the brainchild of Jim Riswold, the brilliant Wieden + Kennedy creative director responsible for numerous beloved spots from that era including the Bo Knows campaign and ads pairing Michael Jordan with Spike Lee and with Bugs Bunny.

“I had overheard Charles talk on the subject, reformulated his words and made it into a commercial,” Riswold said. “It’s basic advertising. You find out what’s special about an athlete or person, and you write a spot that reflects that. It doesn’t work all the time, but it’s a good rule of thumb.”

In his aptly named 2002 memoir, I May Be Wrong but I Doubt It, Barkley takes credit for coming up with the concept.

“Nike didn’t come to me with the idea to do a commercial about role models — I went to Nike with that idea,” Barkley wrote.

“I just thought we as a society needed to do better in that area. So I asked, and Nike said, cool.”

As we think through what it means to be partners in the gospel, I want to take a look at how the Apostle Paul looked at those he was partnered with in the Gospel and what kind ohf character he valued in those who would be role models for them to imitate.o the question is, who did you want to be when you grew up? The apostle Paul’s answer is the same that he wants our answer to be: Jesus. We should want to be like Jesus.

We have seen in the last few passages from Philippians 2 that Paul told the Philippian church members to imitate Christ in His humility and God Glorifying service. We saw his admonition to them to be people who shine like lights up against the darkness of this world. All of this in the context of his view of them as partners in the gospel.

READ:

Philippians 2:19–30 ESV

19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. 20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. 23 I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, 24 and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also. 25 I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, 26 for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. 27 Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. 29 So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, 30 for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

PRAY

Our need for role models… We need to see people farther along in the faith than us that we can watch go through life and see how they respond to things and how they serve others.

The way Paul talks about these two guys is as a reflection of what he had just been describing in being a selfless servant like Jesus.

Timothy

Paul highlights some things about Timothy’s demeanor and care that may be him preparing them to listen to Timothy, his son in the faith.

Paul says he has no else like-minded.

Timothy genuinely cares for others.

He is truly concerned for the well-being of others.

Epaphroditus

God had mercy on him

Paul never commends these guys with anything other than what God had worked in them and for them. He recognizes that it is because of Jesus that they are the type of leaders they are; worthy of imitation.

Brother

Partners in:

Concern for one another

Love for one another

Faithful friendship

Service to God and to one another

Service in the Gospel

Relationships matter deeply

These things matter to partners in the gospel because they mattered to Jesus. He is the ultimate display of what it means to love someone., to care for their welfare, to serve them, and to lay down His life for them.

Imitate the selfless service, others centered, attitude of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:5–11 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Paul trusted Timothy and Epaphroditus to minister to the people because they reflected the selfless attitude of Christ. They mirrored what they had learned from Paul and he trusted these people that he loved, the Philippians to the care of Timothy and Epaphroditus.

Tracing the line through Philippians chapter 2:

Gospel connection:

Conclusion:

State of the Church

Where we are:

Celebrate what we have seen God do this past year:

Started out with a good group of people coming to Hope Deeper Classes

new attenders

nine people in membership class - still working to get individual interviews set up

Trunk or Treat Outreach

Dixon Christmas Walk - only church?

New Constitution/By-laws

Where we focus in 2022:

Prayer focus - For God to invade our hearts and our church and make us into what He wants us to be

Gospel Partnerships

Relationships in Discipleship/church community - Groups and fellowships like the White Elephant party

Gospel Advancement

Generosity

Deeper Service

The Next Generation - Kids Min

Outreach

Time of prayer before we enter into our members meeting.

Invite them to come up and kneel together and pray.

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