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Living Like A Follower - Philippians, Part 5 Series
Contributed by T.j. Conwell on Aug 28, 2022 (message contributor)
Summary: Each one of us should be involved in improving our relationship with God. We should be committed to knowing what His Word calls us to do, and we set out to do this with ONE purpose – to develop “a proven character”; to show people Who it is we serve … and WHY we willingly serve Him!
“Living Like a Follower” - Philippians, Part 5
Philippians Sermon Series, Part 5
Introduction
- Reminder about our level-set from series opener:
1. Christians must reflect the joy of Christ in everything we do
2. This means you and I are to make the Gospel personal, because it is!
3. Not telling shows them that we have nothing different/special to offer others
- This is a great book of discipleship; prayerfully help us draw closer to Christ
-- Living worthy of the Gospel means that we are to be found doing the work
-- RE: As Christians, we are in this together – but not for our ego, desires, or needs
- Quick summary of last week:
- Everything that we do should be done to the GLORY of GOD … expound
-- Our feelings/desires are not in the equation; why? B/C we don’t own ourselves
-- RE: 1 Cor 6:19-20, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
- To develop an attitude that reflects Jesus, He must be in everything that we do
-- We are called to BE THE CHURCH, to lift up Jesus to everyone
-- APP: Accepting it and serving as Christ did is our only job right now
-- RE Quote: “We have been given nothing by God that is not useful for God.”
- Read (NLT Version) Philippians 2:12-24 / Pray
- TR: How can we be faithful servants today?
Point 1 – Living for the Gospel will always require faithful labor
- Paul’s instruction, again, based on the previous verses, is encouragement (v12)
- You’ve not only done the right things when I’ve been with you
-- But (key) we must continue on even when Paul is not around us everyday
- Faithfulness is a VERY common theme with Paul, and with the entire Bible
-- Lesson: Faithfulness is NOT just following rules and regulations (not robots)
-- It is living to please God because that has become our life-long commitment
-- It is our submission that God requires, just like Jesus submitted (see v7)
- Lots of chatter on: “Work hard to show the results of your salvation” or other versions say: “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling”
-- But what does it really mean? What is we should work out, exactly?
- This text is often misused to instill fear into people; scare them into “doing”
-- Some take it as a warning them that it means that they can lose salvation
-- BTW, this is nonsense: FREE: John 10:27-30 puts that to bed
-- The Greek word translated "fear" in this context is “phobou”
-- It’s where we get phobia; BUT it can equally mean "respect" (reverence)
- The Greek verb rendered “work out” (katergazesthe) means:
-- “To continually work to bring something to completion”
-- We do this by actively pursuing obedience in the process of sanctification
-- Sanctification is what Jesus does within us, as we live and serve God
- APP: Therefore, we are called to work IN obedience as a response TO Christ
-- IMP: But this is NOT a condition of salvation, but an output of what He’s done
- It is a privilege to work for God, to be faithful to Him (see v13)
-- It’s not something we desire; but it is a work of the Holy Spirit in us
-- Romans 12:1, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.”
- FACT: Our natural desire is not to obey, to rebel against right living … why?
-- It is human nature to sin; therefore Paul encourages us to press through that!
-- How? In faithfulness of what we have been taught b/c of the example we have
- TR: So, if we are to live for Him, how do we get from here to there?
Point 2 – We must embrace (accept) the command to change
- (v14) is a real challenge for us, isn’t it? Imagine: live without complaining!!
-- But it’s obviously not impossible if God is telling us to do it
-- He has given us the ability to do so because we’ve chosen to be obedient
-- We choose to say, “yes Lord, I am yours” …
- Why? Why would Paul instruct us to live this way? (see v15)
-Living worthy of the Gospel produces a change within us – to desire Him!
