Philippians 4:10-23 - Joy in partnership

Philippians 4:10-23

Reading:

¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Following Paul’s Example

¹⁵ All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

¹⁷ Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. ¹⁸ For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

 

Sermon Notes

Intro: gospel and religion

Religion: I obey; therefore I’m accepted

Gospel: I’m accepted; therefore I obey

Religion: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity

Gospel: Motivation is based on grateful joy

Religion: I obey God in order to get things from God

Gospel: I obey God to get God – to delight and resemble him

 

Intro: gospel and religion

Religion: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or myself, since I believe, like Job’s friends, that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.

Gospel: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle, but I know that while God may allow this for my training, he will exercise his fatherly love within my trial.

 

Intro: gospel and religion

Religion: When I am criticized, I am furious or devastated because it is essential for me to think of myself as a “good person.” Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.

Gospel: When I am criticized, I struggle, but it is not essential for me to think of myself as a “good person.” My identity is not built on my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ.

 

Intro: gospel and religion

Religion: My prayer life consists largely of petition and only heats up when I am in need. My main purpose in prayer is to control circumstances.

Gospel: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with him.

 

Intro: gospel and religion

Religion: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to people who fail. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel humble but not confident - I feel like a failure.

Gospel: My self-view is not based on a view of myself as a moral achiever. In Christ I am at once sinful and lost, yet accepted. I am so bad he had to die for me, and so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper humility as well as deeper confidence, without either sniveling or swaggering.

 

Intro: gospel and religion

Religion: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work or how moral I am, so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to others.

Gospel: My identity and self-worth are centered on the One who died for his enemies, including me. Only by sheer grace am I what I am, so I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. I have no inner need to win arguments.

 

Intro: gospel and religion

Religion: Since I look to my pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols—talents, moral record, personal discipline, social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them, so they are my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I say I believe about God.

Gospel: I have many good things in my life—family, work, etc., but none of these good things are ultimate things to me. I don’t absolutely have to have them, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despair they can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.

 

Where there’s salvation there’s…

Giving

• As Brian Jones used to say, you can tell the health of a church by the prayer meeting and the offering bag.

• He’s not wrong…

• Just look at Zacchaeus

• As a reaction to Zacchaeus change in heart to money, Jesus says: Luke 19:9 ‘Today salvation has come to this house…’

• Paul rejoices in the Philippians’ gift

• It shows that they are the real deal

 

Where there’s salvation there‘s:

Contentment

• Paul is not angling for another gift

• He has learned contentment

• The ability to live in both humble and exalted circumstances

• I can do all this in him who makes me able

• Knowledge of Jesus grabs the heart

• Example of Jesus shows the way

• Power of Jesus makes it possible

 

Where there’s giving there’s:

Reward

• Every earthly resource is vulnerable

• It can be lost

• Our giving will come back to us with heavenly compound interest

• Our giving will come back to us as heavenly assistance on earth

2 Cor 9:6-15

 

Where there’s giving there’s:

Partnership

• Partnership is all the way through…

• Partnership in the gospel - Phil 1:5

• Partnership in grace - Phil 1:7

• Partnership in the Spirit (Phil 2:1) leading to humility

• Partnership in Jesus’ sufferings - Phil 3:10

• Partnership in giving and receiving Phil 4:14

 

In practice

• Do you believe the gospel?

• Or are you stuck in a religion of your own making?

• Start with thankfulness

• Then get giving!

• Cheerfully, regularly, generously and proportionately

• To the church and to the poor

• Whilst you live and after you die

 

Summing up…

• Come and be a member of our joyful partnership!

• This is church