This is the copy of my notes from Sunday's sermon: I didn't say everything exactly as written here, but you get the gist. Comments welcome, particularly from those who were there, but also those who weren't!
The Example of Christ – Shining like
Stars.
Philippians 2:1-2:18
Introduction:
I recently read about a man by the name of Marshal Taylor. Marshal Taylor lived
in the USA in the late 1800’s and he was born to parents that were slaves. Marshal
Taylor experienced freedom and he began to know a taste of freedom that his
parents never knew. He had the privilege of being around some people who had
never been slaves and were wealthy. One of them gave this boy Taylor access to
a bicycle. In his day it was unheard of for a black man whose parents were
slaves to have a bicycle. He had this opportunity and he learned to ride this
bicycle. Eventually he found himself entered in a bicycle race.
At the starting line those who were racing against him told him because he was
a black man racing with the whites that they would kill him. They said as soon
as they rode out of sight they would get to him, beat him, and leave him
dead.
You can imagine what was going through his mind. When the starting gun sounded
he was off like lightning, never looking back. He went on to win that race. It
was the beginning of one of the most dramatic athletic careers ever know. This
man Marshal Major Taylor became the star of the athletic world at the turn of
the century. He was known as the fastest man in the world and literally nothing
could travel as fast as him. There was no train that could go as faster as
Taylor could ride. The automobile had not come along yet. Nothing could travel
as fast as Major Taylor on his bike.
He had been poor and suddenly his name; Major Taylor became a household word in
Europe and in America. He dined with dignitaries and he was the equivalent of
what today would be a multi-millionaire. Here is a man who went from poorest
poor to the highest height of riches and fame. Today the Olympic caliber
Bicycle Track in Indianapolis bears his name.
Link to passage/theme:
Many people enjoy a great story of rags to riches and Major Taylor’s is one of
the best. This morning we are going to look at a story that goes in the
opposite direction. It is even more amazing. Here is someone in riches. Here is
someone in the highest height, who goes down to the deepest depth. One who goes
from riches to rags in humility and does so voluntarily.
We will look at one of the greatest passages on our Lord Jesus Christ and we
will look at what he did in paying the penalty for your sin and my sin. This is
not a story of rags to riches but one who went from Majesty to Humility.
In the book of Philippians Paul has been exhorting his readers to a lifestyle
of humility and to put aside selfish interests. He had been encouraging them in
this way of humility and now in his final argument for this call to humility he
draws upon the greatest example ever known, the example of Jesus Christ and what
he did to go the dramatic distance of the Majesty of God to a despicable
criminals death on the cross.
Read Philippians 2:1-11
Mark Twain once said that few things are harder to put up with
than the annoyance of a good example. Perhaps the most annoying thing is our inability
to sufficiently mimic people who invite our respect in different areas in our
lives. For example, admiration for an excellent golfer, an accomplished
musician, or a great moral person can inspire us. But unless that person can
somehow enter into our own lives and share his or her skills, we can’t arrive
at the same heights of achievement as they have. It will take more than their
example for the ability to match their own accomplishments on the outside. It
takes power on the inside. It’s like trying to live the Christian life by an
external, outward imitation of Jesus Christ. Instead, the Christian life is to
be lived by “Incarnation.”
What do I mean by living the Christian life by incarnation? It
means that the person of Christ lives within us to give us power to live the
life that God expects of us. Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ
and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” In death, Christ was exalted to great power and authority at
the right hand of God the Father, and he offers us the same power and authority
through his death and by relationship with him.
The person of Christ is the centre of the
Christian faith, of my faith, of your faith. Without his presence in history,
his presence in us through Holy Spirit who he sent to us as a Comforter and
friend and without his example of pure godly living to draw on, we are simply
working it out for ourselves, indistinguishable from any other moral code or
set of values.
Paul begins the next section of his letter by
saying “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my
presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation
with fear and trembling.” He concludes this thought with vs. 13 “for it is God
who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
Put another way, Colossians 1:27 says: To them [the saints] God has chosen to make
known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory.
Our hope of glory, that is our hope to attain heaven, is
characterized by Jesus Christ literally living in our hearts and if we take his
example seriously – living him out in our lives.
Christ must live within to give us the power to
live the Christian life. The concept is not difficult, but the application often
is.
Some people use verse 12 and 13 as a proof text that we must work
for our salvation. But who is Paul addressing when he writes this letter?
People who are already Christians.
In Philippians 1:1 he calls the Philippians “saints.” This clearly
signifies that they have already received Christ as Lord and Saviour. They have
already been “set apart” which is the verb form of the word saint: Saints are
set apart for something. Saints are not “super Christians”. Saints, in the
biblical sense are people like you and me. We are “set apart” to be like Jesus
Christ. And in terms of this passage, we are “set apart” to be people marked by
humility and obedience.
Buzz
Groups:
So, if
saints are those who have been set apart, normal people living in humility and
obedience...and as Christians we are called to be imitators of Christ as it
outlines in verses 1-11 of this passage – discuss in twos and threes around
you, people who have been imitators of Christ Jesus to you? Who are people who
have inspired you to seek Christ more?
Feedback
Back to verse 12 and 13 then. There are some dangers in
interpretation when we look at verse 12. What does Paul mean when he commands
us to “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling?”
The key that unlocks the door to this question can
be found in the words “work out.” In the original, the word means, “working
something to completion.” To “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”
is to complete that which was already begun by the person and work of Christ on
the cross. Since salvation is a gift, we must be good stewards of the gift of
salvation that Christ already has given us purchased by His own blood. The
Bible tells us that our righteousness is credited to us because of our faith,
and if we have saving faith we will act upon that faith. James chapter 2
instructs us that faith without works is dead, right? Therefore, if we have
received the gift of salvation by faith, as a natural outgrowth of that, we
will act upon that faith—faith is not faith unless it is acted upon.
ILL. Imagine for a moment that a friend has given you a Red Letter
Day voucher for one parachute jump out of an airplane. Eliya can I’m sure
relate to this – anyone else done a parachute jump? You thank your friend for
this gift and tell him that you have the courage to make that jump. You even go
to the airport, the jumpmaster shows you the proper procedure of making a
parachute jump and you strap on the parachute equipment. The jumpmaster tells
you he carefully packed the chute himself. You tell him that you have the
belief that the chute will open when you pull the ripcord after counting to
four as you leap from the plane. But when the time comes, and the green light
goes on, you remain in your seat and refuse to jump out for fear the chute
won’t open. Your prior statement that you believed that believed that the chute
would open is not backed up by jumping out of the plane.
The same is true of faith. You may say you have
faith in Christ, but when it comes to obeying Him, you just can’t seem to do
it. That kind of “faith” is no faith at all. Faith is belief put into action.
Taking this idea of faith a step further, when we
set out to perform a certain task, we have its completion in mind. We don’t mow
part of the lawn and leave the rest of it to grow into a jungle. We don’t go on
holiday to the South of France and but stop at the ferry port in Dover or at
Stansted airport and call it a holiday. We must drive on south or board our
plane until we reach our destination in Nice or wherever else we might be going.
I’ll be honest when I say that most of my learning of New
Testament Greek while at University has got lost somewhere in nappy brain over
the last few years. But this passage holds an example of where a knowledge of
the original comes in handy. The Greek word for “work out” is in the middle
voice. When a word is in the middle voice in biblical Greek, the subject both
performs and is affected by an action. Let’s put this in simple terms. It means
that God effects an action in us and at the same time we perform the same
action. We allow God to work in our lives and simultaneously we must “work out”
the Christian life through obedience and humility.
Let’s look again at vs. 12 in a different light:
Paul commands us “to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Although
Paul addresses the Philippians church and the word “your” is in the plural, by
application this verse places responsibility upon us also as individuals. Your
momma or daddy or brother or pastor cannot work out your salvation. It is up to
you to live out the Christian life. The good news is that as you “work out”
your salvation which = living out the Christian life, God is working in you.
Verse 14 "Do all things without murmuring and disputing that
you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the
midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in
the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of
Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain."
Anyone
think they know a little about stars and constellations?
QUIZ
This is a passage which speaks of the need to see radical change,
change that would make dictators fire their army, vegetarians barbecue hamster,
and Eskimos give up fur. Change that would make sinful men become blameless,
evil men become harmless. Change that would make us want to shine before men,
not that people can see how wonderful we are, but so that God can be glorified.
Change that comes with our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and
saviour. Both speak of the need to shine in a world that is full of darkness.
There are far to many Christians who are not
shining as stars as the NIV puts it. I think there is a danger in thinking that
what and who we were before we come to Christ are not a problem in our new
life. The fundamental truth of our conversion is that it doesn’t always come
overnight – it takes work, effort, patience, discipline, help, support,
time...we are all left in our new Christian lives with baggage, bad habits and
attitudes, behaviours which take a bit longer to adapt to the change that Holy
Spirit brings.
The hope of verse 15 is that we can become blameless, pure and
fulfilled as children of God if we look to Jesus as the example of godly
living.
Blameless, pure and children of God. These are three things Paul
states must be present if we are to shine as we should. We become these things
when we accept Jesus example, when we acknowledge our need for him and we allow
him to be incarnated in us to exact change.
But what does it mean to be blameless or pure? Does it mean that
we are to live perfect lives? Does it mean that we are to be door mats and
never say a peep about wrongs done to us?
The Greek word Paul uses
here for "blameless" is "am’-emp-tos" which basically
means, "free from fault of defect". In other word’s Paul is saying
that there should be no obvious fault found in us. It certainly does not mean
that we do not sin.
We have to face reality here – and the Bible is good at pointing
that out!
1 John
1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth
is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not
sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."
To put this another way is to say that we are not perfect, just
forgiven. We all sin. But it is when we let that sin control our lives, when we
let it go unconfessed, when we let it become part of who we are, it is then
when we are no longer blameless. Paul’s advice would be - Keep short accounts,
tell others when you are struggling, be honest and transparent...go back to the
example of Jesus.
Titus 2:7-8 says: in everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your
teaching show integrity, seriousness 8and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those
who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
The Septuagint is an Ancient Greek translation of
the Old Testament, which is probably the version that Paul knew and read on a
regular basis. We see here in verse 15 that the word Paul uses here for "lights" or
"stars" as the NIV translates it, means literally
"ill-um-in-aries". And it is the same word in found in the Septuagint
in Genesis 1:14 & 16.
I would like to read those two verses to you:
Genesis 1:14 "Then God said, "Let there
be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and
let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;"
Genesis 1:16 "Then God made two great lights:
the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He
made the stars also."
So this is the type of light which Paul states we
ought to be. A light which can be seen by all. A light that pierces the
darkness of this world.
In Genesis we see reference to the sun and moon. We all know that
it is the moon which reflects the light of the sun.
We also need to reflect the light of the Son, the
Son of God. He is the one who gives us this light. We are a reflection of Him
when we are obedient and follow His example, when we seek to imitate him and be
blameless, pure and obedient as children.
We are to be light to other people that they
themselves might enter into the light which is Jesus Christ.
Jesus himself taught on this very subject. Matthew
5:14-16 from the Message is a great translation Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the
God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public
with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you
don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a
light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine!
Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll
prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
Light is useless unless it dispels darkness. It isn’t light if it
isn’t messing with the darkness. And when we murmur and complain, when we fight
with one another, when we do not live blameless and harmless lives, it is at
those times when we place our light under a basket. We make our light useless.
The light isn’t about us, although by shining light we will draw
attention to ourselves. We need to shine as lights because we live in what Paul
calls a "crooked and perverse generation." When we refuse to share in
gossip, when we offer hospitality to those in need, when we give up our time to
volunteer outside the church or give our money away or take part in fundraising
activity, when we stand up for those who are bullied or persecuted we shine
light into dark places and it is the darkness that has to flee, not the light. We
live in a world that is very desperate for light, a world which is full of
darkness.
The Bible calls all of us to crucify ourselves. To take up our cross daily. We
are to die to our own needs and our selfish interest. We are to crucify our own
selfish interests that we might live to Christ. The implication of all this is
not only that Jesus Christ is exalted, but that when we are obedient to Christ
and follow his example through humility and obedience we share in that glory. That
glory and imitation of Jesus in our lives will shine like stars to those around
us and makes a difference.
Let’s pray...
I promised a while ago to post my notes from the seminar at Soul Survivor B of the above name. Led by Gemma Foster, one of the Soul Survivor Pastors, it was an excellent and whistlestop tour of some of the most difficult and controversial passages in the Bible concerning women - not just in leadership but in relationship and in creation.
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