Philippians 2:3-5 "Respect Theology - Love Jesus"

"Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.  Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.  Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus."  Philippians 2:3-5

We don't have to manufacture the unity and humility that Scripture is speaking of.  We don't have to try and make it happen.  It is already ours in Christ Jesus.  Spiritual disunity in the Church is a result of pride, arrogance and looking to our own interests.  But this, clearly, is our issue, not God's.

By design, all who are truly in Christ have unity with one another.  And so long as we abide in Christ, our unity is apparent.  The problem is that most Christians abide in church doctrines, traditions, and theological systems instead of abiding in Christ Himself.  It's not that doctrines and traditions and systematic theology are wrong things -it's just that if we love our doctrines and traditions more than we actually love Jesus, the resulting disunity will also be apparent.

That what separates us as Believers seems more obvious than what unites us ought to be a glaring wake-up call.  Respect theology and traditions -but love Jesus and love each other.

Philippians 1:8-11 "Love, Knowledge, and Understanding"

I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.   Philippians 1:9-11

I sincerely would like to be pure and blameless.  It seems impossible.  I am so damaged.  Even when I try my hardest, I fall short; and even when I appear to be doing the right actions, it is often with the wrong motives.

Pure and blameless seems out of my league.  Yet Paul is praying for the Church in Philppi (and, I believe, for you and me).  And, importantly, he is not only praying, but identifying a path that leads to the very place I want to be.  Here is the path to being pure and blameless: Love -with Knowledge -and Understanding/Discernment.

In order for us to even come close, we need all three ingredients.  Love without knowledge and understanding is simply an emotional experience -all light, no heat.  Knowledge without love and understanding leads to arrogance and judgementalism.  Love and knowledge without understanding/discernment produces an atmosphere where anything goes and no internal transformation is expected.

When love happens in the context of understanding and knowledge, however, we attain compassion, wisdom and transformation.  Where true compassion, wisdom and transformation are operating, the Spirit of God is also operating since true compassion, true wisdom, true understanding and true love are from God.  Where the Spirit of God is operating, the Kingdom of God is being realized.

Clearly, there is an inherent connection between the Kingdom and the King (Jesus) and His righteousness.  It is in this fruitful environment that intimacy with God grows.  And intimacy with God produces spiritual transformation that leads to being pure and blameless in God's eyes.

So, for the Kingdom's sake, let's emulate Paul and pray for one another and for the Church that our love will overflow and that we will keep growing in knowledge and understanding.

Philippians 4:8 The Good Stuff

The connecting link between what we believe in our hearts and how we live in everyday life is what we think with our minds. There is a phrase among the computer geek crowd. GIGO. It means garbage in, garbage out. You see, a computer only does what it is told to do. If the programming isn’t right, the computer doesn’t run right. If the programming is garbage, the computer is garbage. A computer is only as good as its programming. Garbage in, garbage out.

Our brains are similar to a computer in this sense. Our thinking is determined by the quality of input. If we put in bad stuff –if we put in hatred, unbelief, jealousy, lust, greed, selfishness, hopelessness, discontentment –then, obviously the output is going to be garbage. Many times we as Christians see negative stuff in our lives –we see garbage output, and we immediately blame the devil, the world, the flesh, the people we work with, the people we live with –we are full of excuses about why there is garbage output in our lives. But the bottom line is that many times the garbage output is directly linked to garbage input.

If we have been struggling with lust or greed or selfishness or anger or any other negative thinking –and especially if it has been leading to negative living, the first thing we need to do is ask, “What have I been putting into my mind?” What television shows have I been watching? What movies have I been watching? What music have I been listening to? What web sites have I been visiting? What books have I been reading? It would be both naïve and foolish to think that there is no connection between what goes into our brains and what comes out in our lives.

And, in fact, this is what Paul was talking about in his letter to the church at Philippi. Philippians 4:8  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

Sometimes it seems we want to fill our minds with the good stuff, but find ourselves unable to concentrate on all this good stuff –we find that when we try to add this good stuff into our lives and into our thinking, it just doesn’t seem to fit. If we want the good stuff in our lives, we must make it a priority and put it in first. If we fill our minds with the trivial stuff and the unimportant and the useless and harmful stuff first, and then try to add some of the good stuff in as an afterthought, it just doesn’t fit -there isn’t room for what matters most.

Fill your minds with things that are excellent and praiseworthy. Notice the phrase “think about such things.” The word that Paul used here means to ponder or consider seriously, and give proper weight or value to, and allow these things to influence the way we live. In other words, Paul is saying, input this. Think these things first.

Proverbs 3:4-5 "Questioning My Own Understanding"

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Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.  Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will make your paths straight.

We seem to live in cycles; life is filled with ups and downs.   I’m pretty sure that it’s not just me –it’s all of us –we have our good moments and our not so good moments. Sometimes we’re up and everything is good and we are consistently walking in the Spirit instead of the flesh –and sometimes not so much.   And because the way of the Kingdom is so contrary to how our culture programs us to think, we can’t even always discern when we’re up and when we’re down.

Scripture reminds us of this when Jesus says things like,”The first will be last and the last will be first”  or  “If you cling to life, you lose it, but if you surrender your life to Jesus you gain eternal life.”   And that our righteousness –our attempts to please God are like filthy rags to God; and when we are weak, we are strong; blessed are those who are spiritually bankrupt and happy are those who mourn and the meek will inherit the earth.  According to Kingdom thinking, everything we think we understand, we don’t understand at all.

There is an old Chinese story that I heard somewhere –I don’t even remember where –that kind of illustrates what I’m trying to say:

      A very poor Chinese farmer had an old horse on which he relied for everything.  This old horse pulled the plow, drew the wagon, and was the farmer’s means of transportation to market and back.  One day, while the horse was out in the field grazing, a big, nasty bumblebee stung him on his rear flank, and that horse bolted –he ran off into the mountains.  The poor farmer went off searching for the horse, but was unable to find him.  The neighbors from the village came by and said, “We heard about your horse running off –we’re sorry for your bad luck.”  But the poor farmer just shrugged his shoulders and said, “Bad luck or good luck –who is to say?”

      A week later. The old horse came home –and he was accompanied by three beautiful, healthy wild horses, which the poor farmer was able to corral.  Again the neighbors came by and said, “We heard about your windfall –now you have four horses.  Congratulations on your good luck.”  But the farmer just shrugged his shoulders and said, “Good luck or bad luck –who is to say?”

      The farmer’s only son decided to make the most of the opportunity and set out to break the new horses so they could be put to work in the field or maybe sold for a profit.  But as he was trying to break the horses, he got thrown off and his leg was badly broken in several places.  Now he wouldn’t even be able to help in the field himself.  And the neighbors came by and said, “We are so sorry to hear of your son’s broken leg –such bad luck.”  But again the poor farmer shrugged his shoulders and said, “Bad luck or good luck  -who is to say?”

      Just a week later, war broke out between the provinces in China and the army came through conscripting able bodied males.  Because of the broken leg, the farmer’s son stayed home –and news soon came that all of the young men from the village had been killed in a single battle. 

The point of the story is that things are not always what they seem.   It’s human nature to misunderstand and misinterpret the circumstances around us.  Sometimes, when we think we are doing good, we’re really not doing so good –and sometimes when we think things are bad, God is actually at work doing something wonderful.

This principle is clearly shown in how our American culture thinks of strength and weakness.  We value the rugged individualist –the “I did it my way” mindset –the “I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps” idea.  We think we are strong if we don’t ever have to rely on anybody for anything.  We feel weak if we ever are need of someone else’s mercy.

But this is clearly the opposite of what the Bible teaches.   We are strongest when we know know our weakness.  We are strongest when we understand our absolute need for Father’s mercy.  We are strongest when we completely rely on God’s grace.  We are weakest when we rely on ourselves and trust our own understanding.

Romans 12:10,13 "Be Devoted To One Another"

Romans 12:10,13  “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love....Share with God’s people who are in need.  Practice hospitality.”

      Over a hundred years ago, the great evangelist Dwight L. Moody made an observation about church that I think is still true today.  He noticed that the vast majority of church people think that church is a place to come and rest –to be refreshed and renewed and empowered to go face another week.  

      While there is a sense, I suppose, in which church is a place of refreshment and rest, it is supposed to be more than that.  If all of us come on Sunday morning with a mind set of demanding that my own needs get met in a manner and style that I personally find comfortable, there are going to be a lot of other people that end up falling through the cracks and getting hurt.
 

      Let me give you a mental image to hang on to.  Picture in your mind a tightrope walker at the circus, 100 feet in the air, high above the center ring. Picture this tightrope walker walking slowly and carefully across the wide-open space high above, and then his foot slips –he falls.  Although it all happens in a moment, it’s a very intense moment –everyone in the audience gasps –and then a collective sigh of relief as the tightrope walker lands safely in the net below. 

       Now picture the exact same scenario –the tightrope walker walking slowly and carefully when his foot slips and he falls to the net below -but this time the net breaks.  What happens if the tightrope walker falls and the net breaks?  Bad things.  The net is only useful if it is functioning properly.  If the net isn’t functioning properly, it may have actually caused the situation to be worse.  Maybe if the walker had realized that there was no net, he would have been more careful.  A false sense of security is a dangerous thing.


      That a safety net is something like what God has in mind for His Church to be –a safety net to catch people when they fall.  If we are going to be the church God desires us to be, we have to be a functional net.  This is a very practical matter; it’s not about how nice we look; it’s not about style; it doesn’t matter a whole lot exactly what programs we have and don’t have; it doesn’t matter too much which publishing company’s curriculum we use with the kids in children’s church; it doesn’t really matter how the chairs are set up in the sanctuary.  We all have preferences –and that’s ok, but much of what consumes the time and energy of the average church goer, doesn’t actually make a whole lot of difference in the bigger scheme of things.  What does make a difference, however, is making sure that when someone is falling –when somebody needs the safety net –our net holds.  


      Any given Sunday as we gather in all sorts of churches, some of us are truly hurting, needing to land in the safety net. I'm sure that no follower of Jesus wants the safety net to break –do we?  I believe that we all want to do our part to make sure that the church functions as it ought.  So, let’s talk about how we become the safety net that holds –let’s talk about how we become the church that is there when people are hurting and afraid and confused and struggling.

      When the church is functioning properly –when we are devoted to each other and love one another, and care about each other, we develop ministry sensitivity.  We learn to detect and recognize needs in others –we notice when others are struggling –we notice when others are hurting, and we mobilize to meet the needs. 

       Ministering to the needs of people around us, especially the needs of other Believers, especially the needs of those in our own fellowship, is an activity that all of us have a privilege and a responsibility to do.  We are all called to serve and minister to one another.

       The bottom line is this:  Get involved in the ministry of your church.  For the sake of Christ and the better good of His Body, don’t withhold what you have to offer.  Don’t be content to come and be ministered to, look for ways in which you can minister to others.  Take the initiative in ministry.  Look out for the needs and the feelings and struggles and the hurts of others, and use what God has given you  -do what you can to help.  And whatever you do, do it cheerfully and enthusiastically, just as if you were doing it for Jesus himself.  

"Worship With One Another" Acts 2:42-47

        “They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord's Supper and in prayer.
        A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity-- all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42-47)

        Now, remember, this happened within the context of a particular culture.  These early Christians sold their property and gave it to the church to care for the widows and orphans because with the persecution they were experiencing in Jerusalem following the birth of the church, there were lots of widows and orphans.  Persecution has a way of making like-minded people dig in and band together.  We have a whole different circumstance here in America, so, I’m thinking that you can probably relax just a little –I’m not going to ask you to sell your home and give the money to my ministry or even your local church. 

         Instead, I want to point out something that began there in Jerusalem –maybe was fostered by the persecution, but was then taught to all churches everywhere as the church grew and spread out –it’s the sense of community.  Community is God’s plan for the church.  While on the one hand, our faith –our relationship with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus is very personal and intimate, it is intended to play out –or perhaps I should say that it’s intended to be lived out in community.

 

         I know quite a few people who have told me in different ways at different times that they don’t feel the need to be involved in a local church –they don’t need to be a part of a faith community in order to be sincere, effective Christians.  I think those people haven’t read and understood God’s Word.  Together we grow –separated we shrivel and die.  We were never intended to be lone-ranger Christians.  We were intended to be a community.  This is God’s plan.  How do I know that this is God’s plan?  Let me put this into a perspective. 

        How many of you believe that the Bible teaches we shouldn’t lie?  Of course it does.  In fact, according to a quick search of the New International Version at biblegateway.com we are specifically commanded not to lie or practice deceit in 15 different places throughout the Bible.  If the Bible says something in 15 different places, we ought to take that seriously, shouldn’t we?

       How many of you know that the Bible teaches us not to steal?  It teaches us specifically not to steal in 10 different places.

      What about murder?  Again, we are told not to commit murder in around 15 different places.

      What about Adultery?  The Bible actually has a lot to say about adultery.  In fact, if we include other sexual sins, the Bible specifically commands against it in at least 40 places.

         These are some of the foundational commandments of the Bible.  We all know the truth about these things.  The Bible speaks clearly and often about lying, stealing, killing and adultery.  And yet if we roll together all of the times the Bible speaks specifically about these things, it still isn’t as many times as the Bible gives us commandments about how we should treat one another in the church. 

        There are more “one another” commandments showing us how to treat others in the Body of Christ –the community of Believers than all the other commandments combined.  Don’t you agree that is amazing?  Don’t you agree that’s significant?  Can you see that this shows us a little bit about the heart of God?  God wants us to take our personal, intimate relationship with Him and live it out within the context of Christian community.

"Enourage One Another" Hebrews 3:12-14

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Hebrews 3:12-14

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

         This word translated here as encourage is translated in some versions of the Bible as exhort. Encourage each other daily –or exhort each other daily. In our language there is a slight difference between exhorting and encouraging. Encouraging is when we say something like, “Your doing a good job –keep up the good work.” Exhorting is more like giving warnings and instructions –like, “Be careful here –your getting a little too close to the edge –why don’t you back up just a little and try it again –I’m sure you’ll get it right this time.” The Greek word that was actually used here, parakaleo, means a little of both. It describes someone who comes along side and encourages and strengthens and warns and helps out. It denotes a truly concerned friend who wants you to be successful. And because he is a concerned friend, he is willing to confront issues that might trip you up or cause you problems. This is what we are told we are supposed to be for one another.

         There is something else that the writer of Hebrews wants us to understand.  It has to do with the purpose of life.  The purpose of life is to hold firmly to the faith and not become distracted by and/or hardened by sin's deceitfulness.  And, the writer here is saying that this is one of the clear goals of Christian community -to exhort and encourage one another to stay the course, to remain faithful, to hold firmly till the end.

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         About 80 years ago a group of serious Christians in Germany formed what came to be known as the Confessing Church.  You might remember that at this time, Germany was controlled by the Nazis –and the church in Germany was also controlled by the Nazis –and this Confessing Church stood opposed to the national church that was was no longer teaching truth but was instead teaching Nazi political propaganda.  The Confessing Church, of course, out of necessity became an underground church.   

         This underground church started an underground seminary whose goal it was to train pastors who would be disciplined and faithful in the face of heresy and persecution.  The main teacher at this underground seminary was a young man –only 29 years old, named Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  All of the pastors who met to be taught at this seminary knew that they lived on the edge of eternity.  They knew that at any time they could be arrested and executed.  They knew that it was dangerous to fellowship together with other true Believers.  It was dangerous to pray together and eat together and discuss the Word of God.  Those were frightening times.  Yet, they met together.  They had a different view of the church than we do.  They viewed church through the eyes of warfare.  World War II was literal, of course, –but the church was involved in a spiritual war as well.

         Accordingly, young men and women gathered in darkened basements at night time to plot strategies to sabotage the rule of Satan in their country.  They plotted to liberate spiritual captives.  They saw that by meeting together they were planting explosives of righteousness and truth along the bridges and walls of the devil's fortress.  When they left each other they would say, “You and I will die for this cause and hold hands in the resurrection.”  And when they met safely again on another day they tearfully embraced and sang songs of thanksgiving because the squad of witnesses had returned safely, sometimes even bringing some liberated captives along with them.

         We don’t see church quite like that do we?  Eventually, Bonhoeffer was arrested and, ultimately, hung.  Before he died, though, while in prison he wrote a book entitled Life Together about the lessons learned at the underground seminary.  In this little book, he wrote: “The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer…  God has put His Word into the mouths of men in order that it may be communicated to other men.  When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others.  God has willed that we should seek Him and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man.  Therefore, a Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him.  He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged…. He needs his brother as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation.”

         We are not living in Nazi Germany.  We don’t have to meet underground.  We are not in danger of being arrested and executed.  But we are in danger of being distracted and as the writer of Hebrews put it, hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.  Any one of us is in danger of falling away from God through an unbelieving heart.    And in this, our obligation to one another in this church is the same today as it was for those brave men and women of whom Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote when he said, “The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer…”  and, “A Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him.  He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged…. He needs his brother as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation.”

         What would happen, I wonder, if true Christians worldwide made the commitment to true fellowship and truly became an encouraging, exhorting church?  What would happen if all of us who believe were committed to making sure that none of our brothers and sisters got confused or discouraged enough to give up?  What if each of us decided it is my job to be an encouraging believer as I learn to love the Body of Christ in tangible and meaningful ways and seek the good of the Kingdom before my own?