an attitude of servitude

 Philippians 2: 5-11

The text we are looking at today is one of the premiere portraits of Christ, and essential doctrinal statements in all  of Scripture.  It is such a rich passage, that it is possible to spend a month of Sundays in it and still not plum the depths of this passage.   In studying this passage, I had a difficult time trying to determine which direction to go with it.  It presents so many possibilities.

But I think that the direction that is most apparent, that is most intended by the Holy Spirit and in the context of the passage, is clearly presented in verse 5.  And I believe as much as possible we should always endeavor to stay in context to receive the greatest benefit from an exegetic study.

Verses 6-11 are often preached and presented as a great portrait of Christ and a doctrinal statement about Christ, but in context with verse 5 we learn what our response is to this example of Christ.  Vs. 5 says, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus…”  And this is so important to recognize that Paul is giving us a directive here to be like Jesus Christ.  To have the same attitude as Christ.  Not just to recognize the characteristics of Christ, but since we are disciples we should respond in obedience by following the pattern of Christ.

This concept is missing today in Christianity.  We present Christ from His glory to His suffering, as our Savior and our Substitute, but we fail to teach what our proper response is to the gospel.  We teach that we just need to have a relationship to Christ, we need to praise Him, to recognize His sacrifice for us, but then we basically want to end our responsibility with just saying the sinner’s prayer and maybe walking an aisle in church during an invitation.  But just as Romans 12 told us that following salvation we now were to begin our reasonable service in response to our salvation by presenting our lives to be living sacrifices for the kingdom, so Paul here in Philippians tells us that now that we are saved we are to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being servants of the kingdom of God.  This is our purpose in life, to now glorify Christ in our lives, by everything we do.

And Paul is not alone in this message.  Jesus himself said “You are my disciples IF you continue in my word.”  In another place He says, “if you love Me you will keep my commandments.”  And “a true disciple bears much fruit.”  And also Peter said in 1Pe 2:21 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,”  The  Greek word for example there is hypogrammos: which literally meant a writing copy, including all the letters of the alphabet, given to beginners as an aid in learning to draw them.  What that meant is that when you were learning to write, you would trace your line over the lines on the hypogrammos, and thereby you would learn how the letters were to be written.  And in the same way, Jesus Christ is our example, and we are to live our lives as He lived His life, tracing our lines over the lines that He made.  We have his pattern for our lives and we are instructed to follow Him, to live as He lived, to be Christ Jesus to the world.  That’s what it means to be a disciple.

Now then verse 5 is the preamble to this great doctrinal statement about Christ.  And so it should prompt us to ask,  who is Christ Jesus?  If we are to be like him, to follow his attitude and example, then we must know who He is.  And Paul gives us four pictures of Christ here in this passage;  that of a Sovereign, a Son, a Servant, and a Savior.  And we will look in detail at each one so that we might know what Christ’s attitude was that we might be able to copy it.

First of all, Christ is Sovereign.  Still in verse 5 we note that the usual order of Christ’s name is reversed.  Instead of the usual Jesus Christ, Paul turns it around to Christ Jesus, to emphasis the Messianic title of Christ.  This was the preferred order for Paul when referred to Jesus, because it emphasizes not the humanity of Christ, as the other apostles who had known Jesus as a man first, but the divine nature of the risen Christ, as Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus long after Jesus had risen from the dead and been exalted to heaven. 

The Messianic title of Christ was the Greek word for Messiah, who was foretold by the Old Testament prophets.  The One who was to come from the seed of David, a King that would sit forever on the throne and rule over the nations as promised to Abraham.  As Isaiah prophesied in Isa 9:6            “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.”

But who Paul presents to us here in verse 6 is so much more than merely a human sovereign, but a divine Sovereign.  Paul says in vs. 6, “who, although He existed in the form of God…”  Paul is establishing the deity of Jesus Christ.  That Jesus Christ is God, existing in the form or the nature or essential essence of God.  This principle is critical to Christianity.  You cannot be a Christian and not believe in the deity of Christ. 

In the first book of  John, the very first verse, the apostle John establishes the deity of Christ this way;  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made which was made.”  I find it awesome that John uses the title, “the Word” to describe Jesus.  He goes onto say in verse 14 of the same chapter, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  It not only reveals the deity of Christ, but the paramount importance of the Word of God, existing in Spirit, in Soul, that is the mind of God articulated in word, and then becoming flesh.

Both the deity of Christ and Christ as the Word of God is presented in Hebrews chapter 1, the very first verse as well.  “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.  And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.”  So we see that Christ is the Word, He is the Creator, He is the Sovereign over all the world, the King of Glory.  In His very nature God. 

Then secondly, Paul presents Jesus as the Son.  Vs. 6; “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”

The word for “form” used in this verse is from the Greek word “morphe”.  We get words like metamorphosis from this root.  And we already looked at what it meant when Paul used it in vs. 6 in relation to God.  He possessed all the essential nature and essence of God.  He was in the form of God.   And then Paul uses the same word “morphe” to describe His incarnation.  “He took the form of a servant.”  It’s the same word. Paul juxtaposes the form of God with the form of a servant.   Christ emptied Himself of His rights and privileges and glory that was His as God, and took on the clothing of a servant.  He never stopped being God, to having the nature of God, but put on the clothing of humanity, to become a servant.  Christ was fully God, existing before creation with God, then laying aside His glory to become one of His creation, to become one of us, to become a servant. 

Verse 6 says, He “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped…”  that means that He did not regard that equality with God as something to hold onto.  He was willing to relinquish His glory, His privilege, the honor and homage that was due Him, to become a son of man. The Son of God became the Son of Man so that sons of men might become sons of God.

Look at verse 7: “Being made in the likeness of men.”  Vs. 8 says it another way, “being found in appearance as a man.”  He was still  fully God.  But the Word, John says, became flesh and dwelt among us.”  Yet “John 1:10 says, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” 

What this means is that when Christ took on flesh and became man, He looked like a man.  He didn’t walk around with a halo over his head.  Other than at the transfiguration, He didn’t have a glow emanating from His person.  He looked just like an ordinary man.  Isaiah 52 tells us, that “He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.  He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”  He looked like a man.  He hurt like a man.  He cried like a man.  He grew tired like a man.  He sweated like a man.  He hungered like a man.  He grew thirsty like a man.  He was both son of man, and Son of God.  And we didn’t recognize Him as God.

Thirdly, He was a Servant.  And I think this characteristic of Christ is at the heart of the message that Paul is saying that we should have; an attitude of servitude. God has by his grace saved us from being condemned, cursed sons of men, to become Sons of God.  God has granted through his grace that we who were enslaved to sin might rule and reign with Christ as kings.  But all of that was made possible by the fact that Christ was willing to lay aside all His glory to become a servant.  And the attitude of a servant is what Paul is saying through the Holy Spirit that we also are to have now that we have been made sons of God.  This is our response to the sacrifice of Christ.  We become servants of Christ, by becoming servants of the body of Christ, the church.  This is the way we will bring about the unity of the church that Paul was speaking of earlier in this chapter. 

So Christ our example as a Servant.  Look at verse 7; He “emptied Himself.”  The KJV says it like this;  “He made himself of no reputation.” He came into the world in a way that people did not recognize him as God.  He did not come in the glory of the Almighty God, the Lord of all the heavens, the Creator of the universe.   He did not even come as even an earthly king, but he came as the lowest form of man; that of a slave.  “But emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”

Nothing illustrates that attitude of servitude more than John 13:3; “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, so got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.  Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.”  The disciples were all fighting and squabbling over who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and Jesus laid aside His garments, and washed his disciples feet. What a picture of humility.  Vs. 8 says, “He humbled Himself.” 

How this attitude is so lacking in the church today.  Our theology is so “Me” oriented.  God is little more than a Santa Claus type of genie that exists to make us happy and successful.  We’re like children at Christmas that are so fixated on what we are going to get.  And we don’t understand Christ’s words that it is better to give than to receive.  Christ gave up his throne in heaven for a stable on earth.  He gave up heavenly homage for earthly hatred.  He gave up the riches of heaven for the rejection of the world.  But Hebrews 12:2 says He was willing to do that for our sake, “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” So we also need to consider the joy set before us, as we endure the hardship of taking up our cross and following Christ, so that one day we too might be welcomed into heaven and sit down on thrones with Christ.  Jesus emptied himself by taking to himself another posture, another personage, another position, that of a servant.

And fourthly, Christ is our Savior. Phil 2:8            “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” What was the point of the cross? 2Cor. 5:21 tells us that            “God made Him who knew no sin (that is Jesus) to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  Way back before creation, God decided to make a special race of creatures, made in His image.  We were made body, soul and spirit.  A triune being like our Father. Man’s body made him world conscious, able to live in a physical world. Man’s soul made him self conscious, aware that he was an individual with a particular personality, nature, responsibilities.   And Man’s spirit made him God conscious, aware that he needed to worship God and initially able to do so.  We had fellowship with God because we were without sin. 

But Satan in his jealous rage seduced Eve to sin against the Word of God, and eat of the fruit and give it to her husband.  And according to the law of God, man died spiritually because of His sin.  Sin entered the human race and death through sin.  When man’s spirit died, God’s order of creation was turned upside down and instead of being governed by the Spirit of God, we were governed by our bodies, the lusts and passions of our bodies ruled our minds which became depraved, selfish and self serving as described in Romans 1, leading to all sorts of depravity.  Man was sinful by nature, thereby sinful in practice and without hope of restoring our relationship with God.  Man’s sin broke our relationship with God who is holy. 

But God’s plan was for man to be reconciled to Him.  “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe on Him might be saved.”  Jesus came to earth to live the perfect life in perfect submission to the Father’s will that we could never live.  Jesus was man the way God always intended man to be.  And by faith in Christ, faith in His deity, faith in His sinlessness, faith that He was the Messiah, faith in His righteousness, faith in His atonement for our sins on the cross, we receive the righteousness of Christ.  “God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”  That we might become as righteous as Christ.   This is the purpose of the cross, to reconcile us to God, that the order of human creation might be restored right side up.  That having been made holy, righteous by faith in Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit who gives life to our spirit again, (You must be born again.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit) and having been born again we are now Sons of God.  Yes, we’re still sons of men in the flesh, but thank God we are sons of God in the spirit.  And one day Christ will come back to take us home and He promised to remove this body of death and give us a new, glorified body to live forever as kings with God in His kingdom. 

But for now Paul is saying in vs. 5, we are to live like Jesus lived.  In appearance as just men.  Yet as Jesus our example living according to the Spirit of God who lives in us.  Our attitudes are to be ruled by the Holy Spirit.  Our actions are to be  ruled by the Holy Spirit.  Our language is to be ruled by the Holy Spirit.  Our wisdom is from the Holy Spirit.  Our discernment is through the Holy Spirit. Our emotions are under the control of the Holy Spirit.  Christ lives in us and through us. 

Our responsibility to God is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Phil. 3:7 says, “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” 

Have you become conformed to His death ladies and gentlemen?  Have you considered all things that you once claimed as your reputation, have you claimed it as loss for the sake of knowing Jesus?  Have you emptied yourself, taking on the form of a servant even as Christ served the church and gave himself up for her?  Are you being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ?  Have you been transformed from a son of man to a son of God by faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ?   

Vs. 11 tells us that one day, “at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”   In the days of the Roman empire when this was written the emperor of Rome, Caesar, was considered deity.  The law of the land was to worship Caesar as god.  They called him Savior and Lord.  He was the Savior of the people of nations that he conquered. He was the Lord of all the known civilized world.  Caesar’s word was absolute authority.  You obeyed the will of Caesar by threat of your life.   So in that day, it meant something to confess Jesus Christ as Lord.  I’m afraid in our culture, words like Lord and Savior have become so common that they have little meaning.  But in that day, one knew the consequences of confessing Jesus Christ is Lord.  It meant absolute obedience to the Sovereign of the universe.  It meant living in accordance to His will.  To forsaking all that living in the Roman world could offer, in exchange for all that the world to come in Christ would bring.  But though the times have changed, the confession has not.  Jesus Christ demands and deserves everything we are.  We are to be completely transformed in His image.  We are to live as He lived, serve as He served.  This is Christianity.  There isn’t any such thing as coming to Christ half way, but we need to follow him all the way, conforming to His death. 

If you’re here today and you don’t know Jesus as Savior, as Sovereign, then perhaps you never understood Jesus as a Servant.  He died for your sin so that you might be called Sons of God.  That you might receive the inheritance of a child of God.  And that inheritance is not a better life here on earth, but eternal life as a son of God, to sit on thrones with God for all eternity to rule and reign with Him.  I pray that you will surrender your life to him, to be conformed to his death on the cross that you might receive the righteousness of God and eternal life through His Spirit. 

attitude of gratitude

Philippians 2:1-5

As you know, we are continuing today in our ongoing study of Philippians.  And it’s rare that our scripture text coincides or fits with the theme of a holiday.  It just so happens that today it does, to a certain degree.  So in keeping with the Thanksgiving spirit, I have titled my message today, “having an attitude of gratitude.”

But more important than trying to preach a topical message about turkeys or pilgrims or giving thanks, I want to show today what the Bible says about the kind of attitude that marks a Christian response to salvation.  As I’ve said before recently, salvation is a two part message.  Unfortunately, we all want to stop at the first half.  The first half is the grace of God that leads to salvation, and then the second part is the response of the believer in sanctification.  The first half is learning that Christ became our sacrifice, and the second part is learning that we also are to become a living sacrifice to God.

So chapter 2 starts off with this word therefore, which we always prompts the question, what is it there for?  It references something that was said earlier.  And to answer that question we just need to look back at vs. 27 of the preceding chapter which says: “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.”

Now, I read you the whole preceding paragraph so that you could pick up on the word imagery that Paul is using.  His theme is unity, but with a particular emphasis.  The emphasis can be related for instance to an army on the field of battle.  He uses words like striving, and conflict, opponents, destruction to metaphorically give us a picture of a battle.  He’s talking about a unity that comes from a group of soldiers as they form a unit, bonded against their common enemy, and unified in their purpose.  He says, “Be of one mind.”  You’re in a conflict. Fight together in one spirit, one mind.

And then, starting in chapter 2, (and we have to remember that chapter designations are not in the original manuscripts, so there is not necessarily any break in this message, but rather a continuation) we have this exhortation in vs. 1-4 that not only in the battle, but also in the camp, or the fort, in the church, we are to have this unity among ourselves as well.  

What Paul is talking about is not outward unity, but inward unity in the church. There is a desire today for ecumenicalism at all costs.  But the Bible never teaches that.  The Bible says clearly in 2Cor. 6:14 “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.  "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you.  And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty.”

God never tells us to abandon doctrinal purity for the sake of ecumenical unity. 1Tim.  4:1 says that “the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.”  This is talking about false doctrine in the church.  They have strayed from the faith, they have strayed from the truth of God’s word, and they are adhering to doctrines that are spawned by demons, not by God, meant to deceive and destroy the flock.  So Jesus said I’m sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, and told us to be wise as serpents, yet as harmless as doves.   In other words, we don’t want to have unity with false doctrine, we want to stay away from people or churches or teachers that are adhering to false doctrine.

So if ecumenical unity is not what Paul is talking about, then what is he talking about?  Well, as I said earlier, he is talking about unity with one another in a local fellowship.  We strive together with the same purpose on the battlefield, and in the home camp, so to speak, or the church, we also need to be unified.  Now what does that mean?

He’s not talking about people that are externally connected by denominational membership, but internally connected.  If you put a bunch of marbles in the same bag, then you may have a certain unity.  But that which binds them together is the container.  It’s something external that holds them.   If the bag is torn open, the marbles are scattered because there is nothing intrinsic to hold them together.

But if you take a bunch of steel nails and put them in a bag, and you also put in a large magnet, if the bag is torn all the nails stay together.  Because they have an inward pull towards the magnet that is stronger than the forces of gravity.

 And that's how the church is to be, it is not a collection of marbles in the same bag, it is people who are drawn together because they're all magnetized by the same force, which is the power of Jesus Christ. That's the internal unity of the church. We are pulled to each other because we are drawn to each other by the power within us, which is Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 12 the church is illustrated as a body.  And it says there are different parts to the body, each of them having different purposes.  But all the parts are under the control of the head, which is Christ.  In fact, they have no purpose, no life at all, without being attached to the rest of the body.  A hand cannot live by itself and it has no purpose or function by itself. It depends upon the rest of the body for life and for control and for purpose.

So individually as members of a local body, the church, a fellowship of believers, we are to function in conjunction with the rest of the body under the headship, the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  This is why we were made a new creation.  This is the purpose of the church.  This is the sanctification part, the second part of our salvation.  And Paul is saying that this unity is essential for our well being, for our survival, and for our effectiveness as a body of believers in the ministry of the gospel. The church has to have this unity to be effective for Christ.

Now the opposite of unity would be everyone going their own way.  Everyone doing their own thing.  Disunity is marked by a selfish pursuit of self gratification.  An army is routed when one soldier says, “I’ve had enough of this, I’m going to save myself,” and deserts his post, and runs away from his duty.  He may be afraid of the sacrifice that he is called upon to make, and he says, “Forget this, I’m going to take care of myself.  I’m going to look after my own interests.”  And that attitude can and does become contagious.  You see people on one side and then the other abandoning their post, abandoning their commitments, and you’re more inclined to throw in the towel as well.  And before you know it, the whole group, the whole church is in a rout.  Soon everyone is off doing their own thing.

Folks, we weren’t saved for that.  We weren’t saved to be given a get out of jail card and then we can go do our own thing whenever we want, or whenever the conflict starts to be a drain on us, or whenever we feel like we aren’t getting everything out of life that we think we deserve or need.  We are called to participate in the conflict. 1Cor. 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

 And then Paul follows the word “therefore” with a series of phrases starting with the word “if”.  Most good commentators and Greek scholars agree that the word “if” would be better interpreted as since or because.  The word was correctly interpreted “if”, but the way it was used in the original Greek did not imply some sort of ambivalence, but rather a certainty that something was so.  And in our English language, we unfortunately only have one way of presenting “if”, and that is to present a questionable alternative.  That is not what Paul means here.  What he is saying is “since” or “because”.

So it’s as if Paul presents a four point summary of our position in vs. 1 and then in vs. 2, he presents the conclusion to each point.  Therefore since there is any encouragement in Christ, since there is any consolation of love, since there is any fellowship of the Spirit, since any affection and compassion… And then in verse 2 the response, point by point, “make my joy complete”, and here are the responses, “by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.”

Now here is what Paul is saying in these two verses.  He is saying that in order for us to have unity with each other, we first of all have to have unity with Jesus Christ.  A good example of unity is a godly marriage. The verse I quoted while ago in 2 Cor. 6:14 about being bound together with unbelievers can also be a good verse for people who are contemplating marriage.  And the Bible tells us there and other places  that we should not be bound with an unbeliever in marriage.  The reason is, is that for a believer, the Lord of all their actions, the controlling guide of their lives, is in the headship of Jesus Christ.  And you can’t be joined to two heads.  When you are married you become one flesh.  When I counsel people about marriage, I always say that your loyalty and allegiance has to be first and foremost to God.  And if each person in the relationship is living for God first, then the relationship between each other will be in agreement.  But if one person is living for themselves, and the other is trying to live for God, then there won’t be unity, there will be disharmony. And in the church, if we are right with God first and foremost, then our gratitude for what He has done for us should result in an attitude of love for one another, resulting in a sincere desire to serve one another in humility as unto the Lord.

And that is what Paul is saying here.  As individual members of the body of Christ, we must all first of all be in conformity to Christ.  We must have the right relationship with Christ.  Look at Vs. 1. You’re a believer?  Then since you  have encouragement in Christ.  Encouragement by the way is from the Greek word “paraklēsis.”  It means to come alongside of someone to help them.  Jesus Christ has come alongside us to help us.  Before Christ we were helpless in our sinful state, with no way to reach God or appease Him.  So Christ became our Paraklete.  Our helper.  To make it possible by His substitutionary death to be reconciled to God.

And notice what Paul says our response is to be to that encouragement in verse 2.  We are to be of the same mind with one another in the church as Christ is to us.  What this means is best understood in reference to Christ being our encouragement.  Christ has become out helper, coming alongside us, so much so that He has planted His Spirit in us, to be our Helper. John 16:7 "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”  So where is the Helper working? In our minds, teaching us, encouraging us, strengthening us.  And Paul says in vs. 2 that in the church, we are to be of the same mind, to come alongside others in the church, being their paraklete, their helper, strengthening them, encouraging them, teaching them.

Secondly, since you are a believer, then you will have vs. 1, the “consolation of love.”  We know the height, the depth, the extent of God’s love to us that never fails, is always faithful.  So then our response to that love is in verse 2; in the church our response is maintaining the same love.  The same love that Christ had for us, the love that brought us to Christ, that love we can depend on no matter what the circumstances or how far we fell  or how bad we stumble, we are to maintain that same love for each other in the church.  As Christ loved the church so much that He laid down His life for her, then so should we respond in gratitude by laying down our lives for the church.  No one is going to ask you to commit hari kari on the altar.  But Romans 12: 1 does say that we are to become living sacrifices, offering to God lives to Him that are holy and acceptable, our reasonable service.  We should be thinking of others more highly than we think of ourselves.  You may be free to go here or there or go on vacation or go fishing or go surfing or whatever, but you ought to be thinking first of your brothers and sisters who are in the trenches and your love for them should cause you to override your selfish considerations, for the sake of putting others first.  (Illustration of Uriah, one of David’s mighty 30)

Third, since you’re a believer, you experience the fellowship of the Spirit.  Vs. 1 Fellowship is from the Greek word “koininea”.  It can also mean communion.  It means sharing.  The Holy Spirit, the Bible says communes with us, praying for us to the Father with groanings too deep for words.   That isn’t talking about speaking in tongues ladies and gentlemen.  That is a reference to groaning with us, weeping with us, suffering with us when words can’t describe what we’re feeling - the Holy Spirit feels and shares in our emotions with us.   And in verse 2, we see our response of gratitude, to respond to the church body by being united in spirit.

Now this phrase “united in spirit”  is made up of two words syn (together with) and psychos (soul, self, inner life, or the seat of the feelings, desires, affections). So the word refers to being 'united in spirit' or harmonious.  And a perfect illustration of that is that the church is  like members of a symphony orchestra.  We all play different instruments, but we are all tuned to the same key.  We all are following the same conductor.  We’re tuned to the same key:  the Word of God.  We are following the commands of the Maestro, our conductor Jesus Christ .

Fourthly, since you’re a believer, you know the compassion of Christ, the affections of Christ.  If you have a KJV Bible, you probably read it as “bowels and mercies”.  And if there was ever a good example of an old English rendering needing to be updated, this would be a good one.  I shudder to think what some people have done with that verse.  But bowels is the original meaning of the word.  In that day, the bowels, or the intestines and organs, were considered the seat or the origins of the emotions.  Today we might say, I love you with all my heart, and everyone knows that we’re not talking about our actual heart muscle, but our emotions, and will, and motives.  Back in Paul’s day, a young man might tell a young lady that he loved her with all of his bowel’s.  It meant the same thing as heart then, but unfortunately it doesn’t translate well in our culture.  Today if you said that your girlfriend would probably ask you if you needed a tissue.

So it means, compassion, affection.  But I think it goes even deeper than that, to our motives, our purposes.  We love them with a true love.  Sometimes we say, with every fiber of our being.  Maybe that’s it.  We’re not holding anything back.  We’re not being coy, or being facetious.  It’s a genuine, non-hypocritical love.  And that is what Paul says in verse 2 that our response should be as well.

Look at the last phrase of vs. 2, our response of gratitude should be “intent on one purpose.”  Intent on one purpose.  And what is that purpose?  Vs. 3; Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”  This is genuine agape love.  This is the mark of a true Christian, a true follower of Christ.  Not just saying I love Jesus, but living out the love of Jesus to the church, to the other members of the local body of Christ.  

This is the second greatest commandment.  The first is love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.  The second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.  Love your fellow church member the way you used to selfishly love yourself.  Let me tell you something folks, love, real agape love, real marriage love, real love for your children,  real love requires sacrifice.  It requires putting others ahead of yourself.  Putting others needs ahead of your own needs.  Love requires sacrifice.  But if you really love that person, you don’t mind that sacrifice so much do you?  You joyfully sacrifice for your kids because you love them.  A young man joyfully sacrifices and saves for his fiancé because he loves her.  A wife joyfully sacrifices and takes care of her husband or family because she loves them.  And in the church, we joyfully sacrifice for the needs of others because we love Christ.  And when we act out our love for Christ , then we find that we are acting in love for the church.

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving.  And as Christians we have a lot to be thankful for.  We are thankful for Christ’s encouragement, for Christ’s love, we are thankful for the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we are thankful for Christ’s compassion and affections for us.  But how do we show that thankfulness?  By cooking a turkey and eating so much we just about pop?  By just giving thanks?

I believe Paul is saying here that an attitude of thankfulness should produce an attitude of gratitude.  And that gratitude results in a desire to be obedient to the One who sacrificed everything for us, that we might become the sons and daughters of God.  Our attitude should be like that of Christ Jesus, vs. 5, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of men.”

Jesus is our example.  He is our pattern.  And Jesus says to us, if any man wishes to follow Me, let him take up his cross.  The Christian life is not about self fulfillment or self gratification.  The Christian life is about self sacrifice.  But Paul says there is true joy in living a life of sacrifice.  Joy isn’t found in our circumstances, but in the inner peace and joy that God gives to those that love Him and are willing to give themselves up for Him. Phil. 2:17 “But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.”

conduct of the church

Philippians 1:27- 30

Well, as I prepared today’s message this week, like many of you I’m sure, I was still affected to some degree over the recent presidential election.  And I think that in many ways today’s passage is a response to that despondency that many Christians felt in the aftermath.  I spoke about this somewhat last Wednesday night and I’ll briefly repeat the gist of my introduction to that lesson in 1 Timothy  again this morning.  And the main point that I made last Wednesday was that while I am frustrated, I am not surprised by the outcome of the election.

However, my frustration is not with the liberals, or the homosexual community, or the abortion rights activists, or any of the other special interests groups that helped reelect this president.  My frustration is with the church.  According to some data I saw the other day, 78% of Americans consider themselves to be Christians.  And yet we have an election which is basically a referendum on abortion rights, homosexual marriage, legalizing marijuana, and legalizing certain forms of gambling, and all the above win the day.  Obviously the results show that the Christian community, the church, has become corrupted by the culture, rather than winning the culture.

Jesus said in Mat 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.”  The church is supposed to be the salt, the preservative, against the corruption that is in the world.  But instead, we have become so much like the culture, we have accepted so much of the world’s corruption into the church, that we are no longer salty.  We are just part of the corruption.  It has infiltrated the church.

For instance, homosexuality is now being debated whether or not it is a sin.  It’s being treated like something less than sinful.  And once you cross that line of taking something that God calls evil and you call it good, then there is a hard heartedness that follows that will not be forgiven.  Because forgiveness only  comes after repentance.  And where there is no repentance then there is no forgiveness. If homosexuality is not a sin, then the next step is to put it in the pulpit.  And in many mainline denominations across America that has already happened.

As a church we have stopped calling sin, sin.  We have grown cold.  We have lost our saltiness.  We are no longer the light to a dark world.  Our light has gone out in the church in America.  Jesus warned the seven churches in Revelation that if they did not repent and do the works that they did at first, He would remove their lampstand out of their place.  One of those churches was the church at Ephesus.  The very church Timothy was the pastor of.  And sure enough, a few years later Timothy was martyred, and within another century the church at Ephesus was history.

I believe the church in America has lost it’s saltiness.  And it is about ready to be thrown out and trampled under foot.  If something doesn’t change, God is going to remove our lampstand.  We didn’t exist 400 years ago, and we won’t be here much longer if we continue down this path.  We have lost our way, we have strayed from the truth.  We have replaced the absolute authority of God’s word with a watered down secular relativism that has damned the church and robbed our country of it’s moral compass.

The Old Testament counterpart to the church is the nation of Israel.  There are many, many corollaries and parallels between Israel and the church.  They were the nation of God, we are the kingdom of God.  They were God’s chosen people, we are chosen to become sons and daughters of God.  In the OT temple, Christ dwelled in the Holy of Holies.  In the NT Temple, Christ dwells in us, that we might be holy.  In the OT, the priests offered gifts and sacrifices, in the NT we are priests offering ourselves as living sacrifices to God.

But when the nation of Israel turned back to pagan gods and pagan practices, God sent prophet after prophet to warn them to turn back to God.  Instead, they hardened their hearts. God called them a stiff necked people and warned them that if they did not repent that he would send a nation to war against them and take away their lands, slaughter their armies, and take them into captivity.  Eventually that happened.  And though the judgment of God seems severe, God said it was actually for their salvation, that a remnant might be saved.  That they might turn back to the worship of the one true God and his law. By the time Christ appeared on the scene, there were only two tribes, Benjamin and Judah, left out of the original 12.  And even then most of them rejected their Messiah and so the gospel was given to the Gentiles.

Now 2000 years later I believe that today the church is in a similar place as the nation of Israel was in the days of the minor prophets.  The false prophets are going around proclaiming peace and safety and prosperity for the children of God.  That nothing bad is going to happen, that God doesn’t really care about sin and God has nothing but blessings in store for us.  And the few prophets like myself that are warning of God’s impending judgment, are ridiculed and scorned, and our message is rejected.  People don’t want to hear the truth, and they certainly don’t want to repent from all the pleasures that they enjoy in the world.  But I believe the church is living like Lot in the midst of Sodom and Gomorra and God’s judgment is inevitable.  And the Bible teaches that judgment will begin with the house of God.

Now as Paul writes to the church in Philippi it is important to understand the similarities between the Roman Empire of Paul’s day and our present day.  Philippi was a Roman colony.  It operated as a microcosm of Roman culture and society.  They worshipped many gods.  They were immoral.  They had every immoral sin in practice that we have today.  The citizens had a dependence upon the bread and circuses that were used by the emperors to curry favor from the masses. They prided themselves on belonging to the most powerful, influential empire in the world.  Rome was very comparable to America today in many ways.

But Paul’s message to the church at Philippi is a reminder that they are not citizens of Rome, but citizens of heaven.  And Paul’s message to us today is to remind us that our hope is in heaven and not in the kingdoms of this world. The word Paul uses in verse 27 is interpreted conduct in the NASB, or conversation in the KJV.  But it has as it’s root in the Greek the word polis, from which we get the word political, a city state, a free state.  You might recognize it in the word metropolis.  And he is using this word to say that they are to conduct themselves in a manner that would be proper behavior for a citizen. And he's not talking about a citizen of earth, he's talking about a citizen of heaven, a citizen of the Kingdom of God. Phil. 3:20 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  A good example of that kind of citizen is Abraham. Hebrews 11:9 “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” They were strangers and exiles on the earth. They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.

Paul says I want your life, I want your behavior as a church, as a Christian community in a pagan culture, to be worthy of the gospel that you believe and the gospel that you proclaim. In Phil. 2:15 “so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.” You are to conduct yourselves in a worthy way.

Now how does a citizen of heaven conduct himself? Follow verse 27, "In a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ."  In other words, consistent with what we know, consistent with what we teach, consistent with what we preach, consistent with what we believe. That is the integrity of the church.  We have to practice what we preach, and what we preach is the transforming power of the gospel of salvation.  That is the issue in the church today. The church is impotent to have any affect on society, because the church has lost it’s integrity.

When he mentions the gospel of Christ here, what he refers to is the good news of salvation, the good news of eternal life which God has sent into the world, that men can be saved from sin unto holiness. And the church has to live that out, our lives evidence that we have been delivered from darkness to light, from death to life, from sin to righteousness.  As I said last Wednesday night, only half of the gospel story is being taught today at best.  IF they even tell you about salvation in most churches they leave out the second half of salvation.   And the second half is vital.  For instance, when we studied Romans, we learned in the first half of Christ’s sacrifice for us.  But in the second half we learned that we were to become a sacrifice for Christ.  But most of the church today stops at the first half.  We are more than happy to accept God’s grace, but unwilling to sacrifice anything in response.  We have the mentality that we can come to Christ just as we are and stay just as we are.  We don’t have to sacrifice anything for Christ.  But that’s not the truth of the gospel is that salvation and sanctification are inseparable in real Christianity.

Paul said in Romans 12: 1,   “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Salvation results in a transformation.  And that transformation we call sanctification.  That is when we allow the Holy Spirit to live through us as Christ would live, becoming a light to a dark world.  But our self centeredness is keeping us from the life of sanctification that God requires. Hebrews 12:14  talks about “the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”  We are to be transformed.

And then Paul adds, "So that whether I come to see you or remain absent, I may hear about you."  This reminds me of  a definition of character that I heard once.  It said character is defined by what you do when no one is looking.  Not whether you can get away with it or not, whether or not you think anyone cares, but doing right, doing it as unto the Lord, regardless.  Because whether you realize it or not, someone is always looking.  For one, God is watching.  And Hebrews says in 12:1, “since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, [the saints who have gone on before us] let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Now what are the characteristics of a church that is acting worthy of the gospel? How am I understand it? Paul gives us four characteristics of a church that is conducting itself worthy of the gospel:  they are standing, sharing, striving and suffering.

First of all, a church that is behaving itself is standing, verse 27, "I want to hear of you that you are standing firm.” The Greek word is used to refer to a soldier who will not budge from his post, that you will be at your post and not move...no compromise with error, no compromise with sin, an unyielding testimony for the Word of God and the Christ of God. Stand firm, don't move doctrinally, don't move in terms of conduct from where you are to stand.  Don’t abandon your post in defense of the gospel.  Don’t stray from the truth of the word.  Don’t move to the left or right in response to the culture in regards to doctrine.  And stand firm in your personal life, your life of holiness, set apart for a sacrificial life to God.  Satan will try to ruin you doctrinally, try to ruin you financially, try to ruin you in terms of sexual purity, in terms of sobriety, whatever way he can undermine or destroy your testimony.  Stand firm.  Having done everything, stand firm.

A second word that Paul brings up is implied in the next section, that's the word sharing. In our standing firm there must be a sharing.  So he says, "I want to hear that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind."  God calls individuals to salvation, but he wants to bind individuals together into a unit called the church.  A single soldier can be overrun at his post, but a battalion of soldiers can hold the fort. And the church is the weapon he has formed that will prevail over Satan.  Christ said to Peter, “Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”   God wants us to work together in this battle.  You might think you can worship God sitting on your surfboard, or sitting on your fishing boat, or laying out on the beach and you don’t need anyone else.  But God defines worship as service.  And our service is done together through fellowship and serving one another as unto the Lord.  Eccl. 4:12 says, “And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.”  We need each other, and God needs us to work with each other to be effective.

But the only way to unity is through purity.  That’s why Paul’s order here is so important.  You never sacrifice doctrinal purity for the sake of unity.  God devised the body of Christ to have many parts, and many functions. But for the body of Christ to function properly, they all have to be under the headship of Jesus Christ.  An example is an orchestra.  The only way to have unity in an orchestra, is if everyone is tuned to the same key. And the only key to unity is being conformed to Jesus Christ and His gospel.  I cannot have unity with those that do not hold to the truth of the gospel of salvation just for the purpose of getting along.

Thirdly, Paul says, the purpose of this unity is not just to get along but to “strive together for the faith of the gospel." The term he uses here is synathleō. We get the word "athletics" from it, athlete. It means to struggle along with someone. It's talking about team sports. To struggle along with someone as a team of athletes battling against the opposition to win the victory.   So the church is to operate in community to defend the gospel.  To contend for the faith. Jude1:3 “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.  For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” We need each other to fight the battle.

And the last word, suffering. What does he say? Expect it. If a church is doing what it ought to it won't be easy. It has been granted for Christ's sake not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake, it is a gift of grace. He uses the word granted here related to charis; grace, God has chosen you not only for salvation, He's chosen you for suffering and He's chosen you to experience, Paul says, the very same conflict which you saw in me. You saw it when I was at Philippi, Acts 16, and you now hear about it in me here in Rome. It goes with the territory...suffering.

But unfortunately suffering is a foreign concept to evangelical thinking today.  Rather than prophesying suffering, these false prophets are prophesying prosperity and blessing. Jeremiah 14:14  “Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds.”  Why do they preach this message?  Because it is what people want to hear.  It may be the popular message and it may be what builds congregations, but it’s not from God.

No, Paul says in Phil. 3:10 that  when we are tuned to Jesus Christ, then it is going to mean that we are going to participate in “the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

Listen, the only way that the church is going to be really relevant as salt and light in this culture, is when we can say with Paul in Gal.  2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”  That means we are willing to give up our lives for Christ, even as He gave Himself up for us.  And when our families see us living like that, as men and women who don’t just claim to be followers of Christ but actually do follow the example of Christ, when our neighbors and coworkers see us living like that, then the world will be drawn to our testimony rather than repelled by it.  When our walk matches our talk.

If we live like that, we can expect some suffering to go along with it.  It happened to Paul, it happened to Christ, and we should expect it to happen to us.  But if it results in the furtherance of the gospel, if it results in the furtherance of the kingdom, if it results in the furtherance of Christ’s church, then we should say with Paul, bring it on!   For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  Everything I once counted as gain in this world, I now count as loss for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

This is the triumph of the church.  This is the victory of the church.  Not to see a conservative politician in the White House for a few more years, though that might be nice.  Not to see some laws overturned in this country, though that might be nice.  But to see men’s and women’s hearts changed by the power of the gospel.  To see men and women transformed from citizens of the kingdom of darkness into citizens of the kingdom of heaven.  That is the purpose of this church that Christ has built upon the rock of the gospel, and this church the gates of hell will not overpower.

no fear

Philippians 1:20
Today’s message probably won’t fit into the 3 point outline, 2 illustrations, one joke and a poem paradigm that’s typical fare in most pulpits nowadays.  But I doubt that if you’re here you’re looking for that anyway.  Hopefully, you’re here this morning because you want to know the unadulterated truth of God’s word. I believe that the truth of God’s word is the anchor of the soul, and it’s desperately needed in these turbulent last days.

A couple of weeks ago I passed out a questionnaire on doctrine that I also sent out by email.  I hope that you have had a chance to start looking at some of those questions and have begun searching the scriptures to see what the Bible says concerning some of those issues. Today we are going to be looking at one of those questions in particular in the process of going through our study of Philippians.

 In today’s passage, Paul is addressing his commitment to the ministry of the gospel.  We started looking at this last week.  In that message, I said that I think that verse 21 was actually Paul’s life motto.  In fact, to some degree or another, I’m sure that it was the motto of every Apostle or prophet, or even any contemporary man or woman of God that has been used in a mighty way to present the gospel to the world, whether or not he may have claimed this particular verse.  But as I said last week, the statement, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” should be the purpose of every committed Christian everywhere in every age.

Basically it means that whether we live or die in the flesh is of little concern to us.  What should be of utmost importance is that we are consumed with Christ and to live for Him is our greatest goal.  Nothing else in life comes first but Christ.  He takes preeminence in everything we do.  Christ should take preeminence over your social schedule, over your friends, over your loved ones, over your career, over your business, over your free time, over your “me” time.  Christ should have the preeminence always.  And when you have that kind of sold out attitude, then you, like Paul will be able to say, whether I live or die is of no consequence to me.  I want to live for the Lord and I want my life to count for the Lord and nothing else is more important to me than that.

I know it is a difficult thing to say.  And I know it is an even more difficult thing to live like that.  The magnetism of this world will constantly be pulling on you to draw you away from your commitment.  But what we must constantly be doing is encouraging one another to persevere in this commitment to Christ.  That is one reason why we need to be in church whenever we can.  Because the gravity of the  world is working against us 24/7.  And we need to be encouraged and strengthened to stay the course.  To persevere in the faith and the ministry of the gospel.

So, as we looked at last week, we first of all have to come to the point where we are willing, if necessary to physically lay down our life for Christ. But before you can come to that point, you first must lay down your life by laying down your goals, laying down your agenda, laying down your  aspirations, laying down your ambitions at the foot of the cross.  That’s what Rom. 12: 1 means when it says we are to present our bodies to Christ as a living sacrifice.  This is what it’s talking about in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives through me.”  See, I’m not living according to my agenda anymore, but I now live according to Christ’s agenda.  He has saved me, He has changed me, and He lives in me, and I now live the life that He wants to live through me.  I am merely a clay vessel that the Spirit of Christ occupies and works through.  And if you have that mentality, or should I say spirituality, where the desires of the flesh are no longer important, and you are walking in the spirit, then, and only then will you really be in a position to say, “for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

I think the best illustration of this is a soldier.  A soldier must come to the place where he is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.  He must be willing to lay down his life in service for his country.  But in order to get him to that point, his superiors will first of all strip him of everything that he once held dear, and remake him into a new man.  They will take him away from his family, take away his freedoms, take away his pride, and they do all that to conform him to the image of the soldier that they know is necessary if he is to be able to serve his country effectively.

Paul uses that same metaphor in talking about our Christian life.  Listen to 2 Tim. 2:3, Paul says, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.  No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” Hebrews 12:1 talks about the same commitment from the viewpoint of an athlete.  “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Now when we understand that level of committment, when we come to the place where we are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, when we are truly followers of Christ, willing to lay down what we think is important in our lives, willing to take up our cross and follow him, then we find ourselves in agreement with what Paul said in Phil. 3:10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”  It’s 100%.  All or nothing, to know Christ.

When we come to that place we find that we have victory over death.  Then we can say with Hosea, “O death where is your sting?  O grave, where is your victory?”  Death no longer has dominion over us.  It no longer has the power to make us afraid. As Hebrews 2:14 says, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

Now this is the hope of the Christian.  The penalty of death is what we were saved from.  We are set free from judgment and damnation; eternal death.  We are set free from the curse of sin and death that came upon mankind back in the Garden of Eden.  We who have accepted the atonement of Jesus Christ have been set free from death, and have been given eternal life.  This is our hope.  This is the future glory of the Christian. This is what the hope of Christianity is all about.  It’s not just about having a better life here and now.  It’s not about having a supernatural genie at our beck and call to order around and deliver us from every sort of discomfort here on earth.  No, our hope is in heaven.  Our hope is eternal life.  Our hope is life beyond the curse of death that every man, woman and child on earth is under.

This is what Paul is saying in verse 20; “according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”  Whether he lived or died, Paul knew that Christ would be exalted.  Did you know Christ is exalted in the death of a Christian?  You know why?  Not only because of the testimony of a changed life here on earth, but the testimony to the great cloud of witnesses in heaven, that another cursed, condemned son of the devil was saved, redeemed and made holy before God by the power of the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from sin and by His triumph over sin and over death and over hell and over the devil, He has saved us from the curse of sin.  Christ is exalted every time a child of God enters into heaven.  Heaven rejoices, and 10,000 cheering angels stand at attention, when Jesus welcomes home a child of God.  Christ is exalted.

Then having established this fact, Paul continues in Phil. 1:22  “But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose.
But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.”  Paul says, if God chooses to let me live, then that simply gives me more opportunity in the flesh to produce fruit through my labors.  And Paul knows that is a good thing.  Because one day, folks, Rom 14:12 says that  “each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”  And God is going to judge our work that we have done in the flesh and Paul planned on doing more work if he stayed.

1Cor. 3:13 says that at the day of judgment, “each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”  Listen, there is nothing on this earth that cannot be destroyed by fire.  Everything you worked for in this life will be destroyed by fire.  So where is your reward?  The only things that will not be destroyed are things which are spiritual.  Only spiritual things cannot be destroyed by fire, and they are the works which will bring a reward in heaven.

So the question arises, then, when Paul says in verse 23, that his desire was to “depart and be with Christ,” what exactly is he talking about?  Or maybe the better question is where is he talking about?  Because obviously, Paul’s confidence is that when he dies, he fully expects to be with Christ.  In fact, in another passage 2 Cor. 5:8, Paul says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.  But where is that exactly?

For me, I came to this question the hard way.  Two weeks before I got married, my dad died.  And though he had been in poor health for a number of years, it still rocked me to the core like nothing else on earth.  And when I came to the point where I was able to start thinking logically,  the first thing I wanted to know was exactly where my dad was right then.  I had always heard about heaven.  I believed in heaven.  And yet my understanding of heaven was like a lot of other Christians.  It was a doctrine made up of a lot of disjointed references in scripture, which when I really started examining them I found they were sometimes talking about separate things.  I discovered that most of what passes for the Christian view of heaven really is something that is found in Revelation and Isaiah, both of which refer to a new heaven and a new earth that is yet to be created.  A place and a time that will be ushered in at the end of the ages, when Christ shall rule over all the earth, and Satan and his angels will forever be taken out, when this present earth shall be destroyed, and God will make all things new.

And so I sat about the quest of finding out what the Bible said about heaven.  I wanted to know where my dad was right now.  And I think it is important for all of us to know.  If you don’t know where you’re going when you die, then how can you have the joy and confidence that Paul had when he faced death?

Now there are a lot of different opinions and views about heaven that are already out there in books and commentaries.  And a lot of it is purely speculative.  Because there is a great deal concerning heaven and the doctrines concerning eschatology that we cannot be dogmatic about.  In fact, being dogmatic and being speculative about something that the Bible does not get all that precise about has caused a great deal of problems in the church and to the cause of Christ.  Harold Camping is a good example of how Satan used someone who is all dogmatic about things the Bible is deliberately not clear about to bring shame upon the church.

So we want to avoid both extremes;  that of avoiding the issue of heaven altogether and that of becoming obsessed over something we have only a glimpse of in scripture.  But first of all, we can absolutely know for sure, just from the first two verses that I just referenced, that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.  Both Phil. 1:23  and 2 Cor. 5:8 confirm that.

Furthermore, Jesus Himself said to the thief on the cross who was saved by faith in Christ that He would be with that man immediately upon death.  Luke 23:43 Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."  So we can have every assurance that we will not experience what some call soul sleep, or Purgatory, or some other type of existence once dead that isn’t with Christ.

But the question still remains, where exactly are we talking about?  Notice in Luke that Jesus said “today you will be with Me in Paradise.”  Where was that?  We know that Jesus’ body was in the grave for three days.  But Jesus’ spirit wasn’t in the grave.  He said He would be with him that day in Paradise.  Yet when Christ rose from the dead, He said to Mary Magdalene, in John 20:17,  "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father;'"  So according to Jesus own words, He had been somewhere other than in heaven with God the Father.

I believe that the Bible makes it clear that Jesus went to Hades. 1Peter 3:18  “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,  who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.”  Now I don’t have time to explain all of that verse here today, but note that it says Jesus was dead in the flesh, but alive in the spirit, and in the spirit He preached to disobedient spirits in prison.

Jesus Himself gives us more insight into that place in Luke chapter 16 starting in verse 19.  (READ)  Now there are a couple of things I want you to see in this passage.  One is that I don’t believe it is a parable.  Jesus taught many things using parables.  But many times he introduced parables as parables.  Jesus doesn’t do that here.  Secondly, never in any parable does Jesus name one of the characters.  But here Jesus names the poor man as Lazarus.  So I don’t believe it is a parable, but an actual story of real people.  However, even if it were a parable, Jesus would not  make up some fairy tale place just to make a point.  Furthermore, this teaching is completely in harmony with the Jewish understanding of Sheol, which is mentioned frequently in the Old Testament as the place of the dead.  The Old Testament doesn’t really talk about heaven.  But it does talk about Sheol, which was the abode of the dead awaiting judgment.

Now notice that in this story Jesus describes two distinct places in one location.  One is a place of torment.  That is called Hades in many parts of the Bible.  It is a different place from Hell or the Lake of Fire that is described in Revelation 20:11.  Many theologians believe that Hades occupied the lower regions of the bowels of the earth.  The Bible talks about Jesus descending into Hades. Eph 4:9 “(Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?”

It is my belief that Jesus is describing the resting place of the dead. This is why Jesus referred to death as sleep.  The body is dead, but the spirit is alive. In the case of those that rejected Christ, then theirs is a place of torment.  In the case of the redeemed, theirs is a place of comfort.  And I believe the Bible teaches that as Christians we will experience the presence of Christ.  Jesus is God, and one of God’s greatest characteristics is that He is omnipresent.  He is able to be everywhere.  And He promises to be there with us.

But God doesn’t leave us there. Jesus was the first fruits of the resurrection, and we too will be resurrected like He was.  Jesus promised to come again to claim His bride.  Listen to 1Thess. 4:13  “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

Paul knew the comfort of hope in heaven.  He had seen things, caught up in the third heaven that he was not allowed to speak of.  Things that were impossible to describe.  Things that were beyond our comprehension.  Maybe we aren’t told everything about that place or that time for us in the future because  we can’t comprehend it.  It would be like trying to describe a sunset to someone who had been blind from birth. As 1Cor. 2:9 says, “ just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM."

Paul said in our text in Philippians that to depart and be with the Lord would be so much better than living here on earth.  And yet he knows that if he is allowed to live here, it’s going to result in fruitful labor.  His labor was for the church.  God had chosen him to be a useful vessel in establishing the church and he knew that God wasn’t through with him yet.  He was looking forward to glory.  He was looking forward to being free from this body of death, and yet he was more than willing to live his life in service for the kingdom of heaven here on earth, the church, the body of Christ.  Paul was looking to the future reward.

I hope that you will come to the same level of commitment and maturity as Paul.  You have been chosen to be priests and kings in the Kingdom of Heaven.  And one day, whether we are alive in the flesh or the flesh is dead and we are alive in the spirit, Christ is coming back to judge the living and the dead.  It’s my hope, and I trust your hope, that we will not be ashamed on that day, but we will hear Christ say, '’Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'’