You can listen to this sermon at The Gospel Coalition.
Pullquote
The murmuring against God was inevitably that murmuring against the leader. And, of course, that will always be so, won’t it? often the murmuring against the pastor is actually murmuring against the God who sent him to you. So this does give some indication, I think, that Paul plucks these two words out of the Old Testament, which is quite common for him to do, and plants them there on the conscience of the Philippians and says you’re not to be like those men in the desert whom God, in the end, killed and refused to allow them to go into the promised land.
Comment
The closing remarks before the Q&A are typical of Dick Lucas, who is quick on his feet and aware of his surroundings and audience. The theme of this sermon is joy and contentment in the Christian life, in the midst of trouble and suffering. He feels he’s rushed through the passage, and so he will “pray it in” to the hearts and minds of his hearers, reminding them that the children they hear outside are enjoying themselves, so we should enjoy the lives of service God has given us:
Willing to serve, willing to sacrifice. Well, what a rush. I’m afraid that’s been a bit inadequate. Let’s pray it in. Well, the children are enjoying their game, so let’s enjoy our lives, even though it means service and sacrifice. Let’s serve him gladly in the place to which he has put us. We’re not in prison in Rome. Most of us are in very pleasant places.
Transcription
Our Heavenly Father, we come to you in Christ’s name and ask for the help of the Spirit, for speaker and listener alike, a conscious of the immense responsibility of handling your word aright, both for our own lives and for those whom we speak to. So give us a right judgment in all things this morning, for Jesus’ sake. Amen. Amen. dreaded session as we turn to Philippians 2 the dreaded session in any day conference is that directly after lunch that’s what I put in my notes not knowing that Robin very cleverly would organize it so this dreaded second session was before lunch and therefore you have to listen if you want to get your lunch Dr. Barnhouse some of you may remember Dr. Barnhouse extraordinary wonderful American speaker certainly the rudest evangelist and one of the most effective I’ve ever heard he used always to speak after lunch at Keswick and of course no sane person was in the tent after lunch all the students had gone off into the hills after the morning Bible reading and came back to the evening meeting so he used to say open as he was praying for rain which actually wasn’t very much a matter of faith because in Keswick it was likely to rain and so at any rate the elderly came back to sleep through his after lunch says not that you could ever sleep through Dr. Barnhouse I can assure you and one day I’ll tell you more stories about him. Now the heading here in the NIV for chapter 2, at least here in my Bible, is imitating Christ’s humility. And it reminds me of one of the important ingredients in this little letter, the matter of example. We’re given the example of Christ, obviously in this famous passage in chapter 2 that we are going to look at. We’re given Paul’s example that he mentions explicitly in chapter 3 verse 17 as a pattern to follow. And I think it’s fair to say that both Timothy and Epaphroditus should not be left out. They have a very significant place at the end of chapter 2. We probably won’t get to them, but I do think they exemplify the two matters of service and sacrificial living. So they’re clearly intended to be patterns of leaders who are coming to encourage and help the church in Philippi. Examples, of course, are meant to be incentives. It was many, many years ago that John Stott taught me why incentives were important. And I don’t think you often hear it said in preaching. Because we all know what we ought to do, really, don’t we, as Christians? The question is we don’t want to do it. And that’s why the Bible, the New Testament in particular, is full of incentives. And once you’re aware of this, you’ll find them everywhere. You know, you’re constantly turned back to the Christ in the past. You’re turned up to Christ on the throne. You’re turned forward to Christ at his coming. These are intended to be incentives, not just doctrinal statements. See what he did. See what he is. See what is going to happen. These are incentives to us to live for him in this world. So there are quite simple incentives, which is what we’re going to come to in section 1, verses 1 to 4. But before I read it, I’d like you to look at verse 14, because I think it’ll help you get a grip on the chapter. I very much want to keep a control and a discipline on this session. And verse 14 tells us what’s going on and why Paul is writing. Do everything without complaining or arguing. now those two words come straight from the wilderness wanderings if you want something for your notes it’s Exodus 16 7 and Numbers 11 1 but you really don’t need a single verse because right through the wilderness wanderings there is this grumbling against God and against Moses and this arguing and bickering amongst one another these two words therefore seem to refer to the same thing as happened to the pilgrim people of God in the Old Testament and if you’re a Bible reader you’ll know that’s not surprising and that again and again in the New Testament Paul alludes to this as a pattern of what we are not to do so it’s in 1 Corinthians 10 and of course it’s in Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 all the time if you want to look at other cross references the murmurings were against the Lord because of the hardships of the way, weren’t they? And you get that absurd statement, let’s go back to Egypt and the leeks and onions. You know, that’s what they felt. Let’s go back to the world. And I guess that there are quite a number of young Christians who suddenly, you know, after the joy of conversion, maybe in one of your churches here, represented here, after a year or two, the joy begins perhaps to wear a little thin and the cost becomes apparent. And they suddenly realise they’re in for a lifetime of discipline and obedience. Do you not think sometimes in their hearts the thought comes, I wish I could go back to the world and it never happened. I wish I’d never met Philip over there and he’d tell me the gospel. So much easier to be like my friends in business or whatever. So it’s not altogether unusual, is it, to be like the people in the wilderness. Let’s go back to the old life. And this led, of course, to bickering among themselves and dissensions in the community. Whether the murmuring in Philippi was against their leaders, you can’t say. But it is interesting, isn’t it, in chapter 1, verse 1. It’s quite unusual for him here to say about overseers and deacons. Say one or two commentators have suggested that that might be because the murmuring against God was inevitably that murmuring against the leader. And, of course, that will always be so, won’t it? often the murmuring against the pastor is actually murmuring against the God who sent him to you. So this does give some indication, I think, that Paul plucks these two words out of the Old Testament, which is quite common for him to do, and plants them there on the conscience of the Philippians and says you’re not to be like those men in the desert whom God, in the end, killed and refused to allow them to go into the promised land. Of course it doesn’t mean that this sort of murmuring and bickering was as advanced in Philippi as it was in the desert. But this sinful discontent is frequently alluded to by New Testament writers and so naturally we must pay attention to it. And here what Paul is firmly doing in this chapter is simply to say stop it. perhaps he’s nipigate in the bud may not be very fully developed but it’s recognizable from the history of Israel and to do this in this chapter as you’ll see from verse 12 therefore my dear friends as you’ve always obeyed Paul is using his authority unapologetically so please don’t swallow the old popular myth that because he doesn’t say he’s an apostle in chapter 1 verse 1. This is just a friendly letter and he’s not going to use his rank. Paul is always the apostle and he calls all his churches to live under that authority and the church today is called to live under that authority of course. We are called to live under the authority of the apostles. Perhaps someone could tell that person to stop making a noise. It’s rather tiresome. Maybe one of the girls That’s just cleaning their teeth. I don’t know what it is. Right, well, let’s turn then to verses 1 to 5. It’s very personal and very emotional. I’ll give you three headings. They’re not particularly good headings, but they will do. Verses 1 to 5, the apostles’ appeal. Verses 6 to 11, the Lord’s example. And verse 12 to the end, the people’s obedience. So first then, the Apostles’ Appeal, verses 1 to 5, or perhaps just 1 to 4. If you have any encouragement from being united to Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only at your own interests, but also to the interests of others. The if here might, I think, better be since, because Paul is not doubting that they have these qualities in their fellowship. There’s nothing sour here. It’s not like if you’ve got any sort of sense of decency, you will. He’s not saying that. He knows that these things are true of the Philippians. It’s a real church, a church of loving Christians, founded by Paul and kept, of course, under his eye. So he’s inviting the Philippians to look at their present position and their undoubted experience as a community in Christ. Number one, if you have a union with Christ in the midst of this suffering, by the way, the suffering we do realize, don’t we, that suffering here is not somebody’s cancer. it is oppression from the world let’s get that clear we’re not just talking about suffering in that general way of sickness when this oppression comes union with Christ opens up as somebody has said a treasury of consolation and strength and verse 2 the second clause sorry not verse 2 the second clause builds on that if any comfort from his love well of course there’s comfort and strength from his love I don’t know if you saw that article by Chris Idol in Evangelicals Now a month or two back in which he made a very shrewd observation that the hymns sung until about the mid 1970s were again and again about the love of God for us but that since the mid 70s the majority of hymns the young people are singing are about our love to God. That’s a very unsafe change brothers and sisters. Our love to God is not something we can lean on, but we can lean on the comfort of his love for us. Three builds further, the third clause, if any fellowship with the Spirit. That means any partnership in the Spirit. Notice that he assumes that they all have received the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Spirit of unity. What a strange thing, then, that people can preach the Spirit and cause disunity in the churches, which must mean they’re out of touch with Paul’s letter. Here, all the Christians are assumed to be indwelt by the Spirit. Therefore, he can call upon them to have this partnership in the Spirit. And then he builds further, if any, tenderness and compassion. These are the qualities that Christ showed to us, and that by his power in us, he works out through us. You know, that’s the pattern of the Christian life, isn’t it, in the New Testament? What Christ has given me, I must pass on to others. If I have received his love and mercy, I must give love and mercy to other people and not hold resentments every day of the week and so on. It’s a very simple pattern, isn’t it? What he has given to me, I rejoice in, but then I must pass on. So, they’re lovely incentives, aren’t they? Is there an encouragement from being united to Christ? Yes. Is there any comfort from his love? Yes. Any fellowship with the Spirit? Partnership because of the Spirit? Well, surely yes. Any tenderness and compassion in your fellowship in Philippi? Well, yes, there is. Of course there was. Then make my joy complete. It’s quite strong, this. The if is, since you’ve got these things, I’m expecting that you’ll complete my joy. When Epaphroditus came with all that food and money, it was a great joy, but what he had to tell me sobered me. And I’m sending him back to you. And I want to say that because of what you received from Christ, you have a responsibility to complete my joy, being of one spirit and purpose, like-minded with the same love. The same mind brings us face-to-face with the most important verb in some ways in Philippians, which has to do with a mindset. Let this attitude be in you, which is in Christ. It’s the same word, family. And it means a mindset. It’s not just an intellectual thing. It’s heart and mind as well, as inevitably it would be with Paul, because, of course, to the Hebrew, the heart was the place where you did your thinking. Your emotions came from the lower part of you, your bowels. So, when he talks about this attitude, it’s a heart-mind attitude. And I think it’s a mindset. I’m not sure how we can work together in Christian work without a common mindset, can we? It seems to me that when you’re building up a staff or when you’re joining a church, you do need to know or come to know what the mindset is. How can you work with elders who have a different mindset? So, these things are worth looking at from the beginning, aren’t they? There is such a thing as a common mindset which makes it possible to work, and without which it’s almost impossible to work when things are tough, and when divisions may come. One of the reasons I don’t read the letter pages of church papers, they give me an ulcer, so I gave them up long, long ago, is that they are so often disparaging and critical and censorious. You might not think that we’re brothers and sisters. I’m just as much to blame. It seems to me if you’re a younger minister here and you’re going to be engaged in controversy, and some people have an undoubted gift and calling to that, it is very important to learn to disagree without being disagreeable. Because one of Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ greatest gifts is that he remained on happy terms with those he had disagreed with. If you read his biography, it’s very, very striking that. that for some reason he managed to maintain friendship and fellowship with people when he had made it clear that his own position was very different. So in finding this like-mindedness, there must be some kind of desire to find it, mustn’t there? And you get that exhortation throughout the letter. Chapter 3, verse 15, all of us who mature should take this view of things, and if on some point you think differently, etc. Chapter 4 verse 2, of course, is the famous case of these two distinguished ladies. And they were distinguished. They had worked with Paul in the gospel. He’s not looking down on them. It’s because they’re so important that their disagreement is so dangerous in the church. I plead with them to agree, you see. I plead for this like-mindedness. And if you’re starting a work, I think it’s something you’ve got to work at with your elders and the people you work with. this is the reason for, isn’t it, praying and talking together through things until we know that we’re on the same network together. We have a like mind as to what we’re trying to do. One in the spirit and one in purpose. I wonder if this is one of the attractions of the church plant, that you go with people who are with you. And one of the discouragements of taking on older congregations that have all but died knowing that if you go to them, it will take you at least three or four years to deal with all the agendas you meet. I’m sure that is so. And we need to pray that some people will have the courage and perseverance to go and recapture churches. But there’s nothing like as easy, is it? Because there’s not the same mindset when you arrive. If you look at chapter 2, verse 20, it’s an extraordinary comment, isn’t it, about this man? It’s very difficult almost to believe it. I have no one else like him who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. Well, it is an extraordinary comment, and I suppose only if you knew the situation in Rome could you fully understand the stark way in which Paul describes it. But it certainly means that Timothy was willing to put aside cherished objectives to serve in an urgent mission that he hadn’t expected. you know he might very well say to Paul well Paul I’m sorry I really can’t go now I’m just about to finish my bestseller Horrors in Corinth a story of my five visits to that church and focus want the book by February and it’s really going to bring me in a good income and I really must write it I’m under pressure to finish it it’s so easy isn’t it haven’t you felt that that you don’t want to be taken off a thing you’re doing and I think that’s why he says that Timothy has proved himself verse 22 because as a son with his father he served within the gospel of course mind you that meant he knows that when he’s told to do something he’s got to do it but there is something admirable in that about Timothy isn’t it that he was a willing servant of a number one sometimes it’s hard to be a number two some of us may be called to be a number two all our lives but it’s an honourable position that was Timothy’s position wasn’t it he was always a number two really until I suppose Ephesus and he was willing for it however we must get on Paul’s appeal then is summed up in verses the ground of the appeal is summed up in verses 1 to 4 now we go on secondly to Christ’s example and I’ll read verses 5 to 11 your mindset should be the same as that of Christ Jesus who being in the very nature being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped exploited but made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant probably better servant there than slave being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross. I’ll stop there for the moment. Now both O’Brien and Bokmul comment rather despairingly that there is an uncontainable deluge of doctorates, books, essays written on this famous passage verses 6 to 11. O’Brien even goes so far as to say that when he’d finally finished the proofs of his book, there was another on the doormat that morning. There’s something ludicrous about it. A lot of over-intellectualism. People spend their days when this has really been cleared up, basically, a long time ago. But it all goes back, as some of you will know, to the middle of the last century and the famous kenosis theory. Kenosis theory was based upon verse 7 and the phrase, he emptied himself. And the question was, what did he empty himself of? And much liberal theology came to the conclusion that if he was to be fully human, he must empty himself of a large measure of his deity. And that’s the controversy that was raging through the 20th century. And I don’t think it’s raging now, but you can pity the generation of my generation who had to write essays on this endlessly. All I need say is to tell you that the ultimate result of that controversy is under your nose today in the leadership of the Western churches. That is to say, an archbishop in North America can say this. The spirit of, and mean it, the spirit of Christ in the church today so leads us in knowledge and understanding that we can now understand that Jesus and some of the things he said in the Gospels was wrong. Do you see? Knossos said he emptied himself as his deity so he became fallible. And if he was fallible, therefore, his word can be changed. And the claim is that the spirit in the churches in North America is leading them on. So you see, the Episcopal Church, for those of you who are Anglicans, the Episcopal Church of America does not see itself as a naughty boy denying truths and being brought into under discipline. It sees itself as in the van of new spirituality, which requires dragging us out of our old-fashioned views. That’s how they see themselves. That’s why there’s no possibility of agreement, of course, if you think that. It would be very reassuring to know that the Archbishop of Canterbury did not for a moment see things this way. The temptation of the liberal is to think they can squeeze us into a conformity. While we got them to put up with women in charge of a congregation, we shall soon be able to persuade them to have bishops, and in the end they will give way on this matter of sexuality. That’s what the liberal really thinks. In time, we shall come round. So the negotiations go on indefinitely. That’s why they go on like this, because their liberal view is influenced by what they learn to students. that the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels is not speaking as God speaks, either more nor less. When Paul put this magnificent statement down, however, it was not primarily as a doctrinal statement which enabled people to write doctorates for time everlasting. It’s actually, and I know this sounds ridiculous over something which has been fought over by so many people and millions of tons of ink spilt over it. But may I just say it is really very simple and straightforward, as Paul means it here. Because what he’s wanting to tell us here is two things. That the divine Christ surrendered his privileges. He let go of his heavenly status at the right hand of God. He did not exploit who he was and the rights he had. And secondly, he became obedient to his father’s will to suffer even the horrendous death of the cross. And of course that death would never have come Paul’s way. He’s a Roman citizen. So what would never be right for a Roman citizen was felt right for the Son of God. See what it’s saying? It’s really horrendous, isn’t it? And these are the two issues in Philippi and Rome. Are you willing to surrender your status? Are you willing to accept the cross in your daily life and your ministry? So just for a moment, quite coolly, without emotion, consider what is here, because what is here are two really inconceivable realities that we preachers get very used to, and I think all Christians get very used to. First, that Almighty God was made man, took upon himself in the incarnation, our nature as a man, renounced his glory, and accepted the place of a nobody, a servant, reviled by the world and the established religion. Now that’s, you know that’s true, but it’s inconceivable, isn’t it, that God should do that. Inconceivable that our creator should be found in Jesus of Nazareth, prepared to be a servant of all mankind. See, what we’re being told here is not what is the nature of Christ, but what is the very nature of God. So God who is immortal, all-powerful, this is the nature of God to humble himself. And therefore, if we will not humble ourselves, we are freaks in his created order. every readmark learner knows this the son of man came into the world not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many there it is encapsulated and that’s not our nature even though we’re Christians is it we are troubled by this constant desire not to humble ourselves but it is exemplified I think in Timothy and Epaphroditus Timothy is a pattern of service and Epaphroditus of costly sacrificial living risking his life the second all but inconceivable reality is the call to serve mankind involved in such suffering the awful facing up to the wrath of God as he bore our sins in his own body on the tree and that it’s right isn’t it in the old children’s hymn to say we may not know we cannot tell what pains he had to bear because it is inconceivable so the incarnation and the sacrificial death of Christ are both if you think about it inconceivable unless they had happened theology real theology starts with facts we actually saw this life on earth and we saw this is what the apostles are telling us his sacrificial death so when we ask the question how can such a life of service and necessary suffering in the light of reproach and so on how can it be rightful as a pattern for the people of God and the simple answer of Philippians is it was right for the son of God and if it was right for the son of God it should be right for the people of God and its supreme rightness of course is shown by 9 to 11 therefore but you see this takes place after death at the resurrection therefore God exalted him to the highest place giving him the name that is above every name so this life that he lived this incarnation this humbling this going to the death of the cross that is what God sees as being of extraordinary so that he receives him back at his right hand and gives him a name above every name before whom everyone in the universe one day will bow whether willingly or unwillingly. So, coming down to earth, of course, we’re in much more mundane lives, aren’t we? But the reproach has to be borne by us as it was borne in its measure by him. Now forget for a moment the self-important Roman preachers and the murmuring people in Philippi. Just think over these two things for ourselves. The divine humility shames our pride and the cross shames our desire to avoid reproach and to duck out of the cost of being a thoroughgoing Bible-believing, Christ-confessing evangelical Christian in an apostate church. so I say this because what is wrong in Rome and wrong in Philippi compared with of course the wilderness is minor peccadillo as schoolmasters put it nevertheless you know as I looked at this and I’ve often thought this as I’ve been brooding on it if these things are small things and they may have been in the bud in Philippi I don’t know you ask the question, why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut? Why does Paul bring to his aid these glorious truths of Almighty God and the Incarnation and the Atonement? Why does he, like a bright beam, focus this upon ordinary Christians of Philippi and their behavior? Because even though it was small in its beginnings, what he sees there is something that is devastatingly sinful. And he wants to call the whole church back to repentance about murmuring and grumbling and bickering. In short, 1.6.11 is not there to drive theological research. And if you’ve got a brother or cousin who’s doing a PhD, just tell him to stop it on that one, will you? Only enough has been written. We don’t need any more. But tell him to live it. to live Christianly. There’ll never be a time when the church is an individual believer and we ourselves don’t need it. I’m going to now go straight to 12 and 13. Because I want to give good time to this, working out our salvation. The Christian’s obedience. Therefore, verse 12. 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. For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, In which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out or hold fast to the word of life. Probably hold fast. In order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering. Even if the thing goes against me in court next month or whenever it was. Even if I am being poured out like a drink offering. On the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoiced. Did you see the characteristic words? What does he want to see in Philippi? The sacrifice and service of your faith. The two words. The two great issues. Are you willing to sacrifice? Are you willing to serve? They’re all bound up together, of course. What then does it mean to work out your own salvation? Well, of course, the answer is to live in accordance with the pattern above. Verses 6 to 11. can I come down from the sublime to the ridiculous just for a moment because just after breakfast my memory as I say is very bad but when you have a memory like men you can remember things of 40 years ago even if you can’t remember what you did yesterday and about 30 or 40 years ago we had a big service at St. Helens and I was responsible for organizing a lot of it and the procession of clergy I ought to tell those of you who are not the Anglicans that we’re rather sort of prissy about this in the Anglican church. And that the senior men come at the end so that the bishop with his shepherd’s crook is meant to come right at the end because he’s the most important. And I don’t know, we were very busy and there were about eight or nine of these ministers and clergy and I just shoved them into an order, you know, two, two, two, two, two, get into it. And off we went as the organ sounded with me bringing up the rare. yes I know and suddenly as I did it, as we started I realized that there was a bishop in the front the front too is quite wrong very discourteous of me and it was discourteous of me and he turned and looked at me and there was this quizzical look on his face and then he turned around and got on with it let me tell you he’s a missionary bishop a very fine Christian man and I thought to myself, good on you. You’re not worried about your prestige. You’re a missionary bishop and if you’re a missionary bishop you go out to serve the church, don’t you? But I was proud of him, you know. For a moment he thought to himself, does Dick know what he’s done? And Dick was feeling very discourteous. And then I thought, good on you. It doesn’t matter to your hoot. You see, that’s what Philippians is talking about, isn’t it? Saying, are you worried about yourself and your position? let’s bring it right down to earth this is Mrs Jones who’s done the flowers over the baptistry for 25 years and the pastor says to would you let somebody else share this because they’ve just joined the church and they’d love to help and then there’s a terrific volcano this is my place this is what I’ve always done and the pastor’s in the doghouse for months now let’s bring it right down to earth it’s just such a glorious passage that we need to realize it’s talking about the everyday, isn’t it? Are you worried about your prestige and position, where you stand in the queue? Or does it not matter who? Do you want long robes? Do you want greetings in the marketplace? Do you want the main seats at the dinner table? Do you want that? Very relevant in all life, isn’t it? Social patterns change, but we’re all sensitive to these things. So what actually Paul is saying when he says work out your salvation is live in accordance with Christ’s pattern. To which the objector says I don’t want to. So he’s told to read 13a. It is God who works in you to will. Of course you don’t want to. Which is why he works in you to make you want to. Objector. But I can’t do it even if I do want to. So you read 13b. God is at work in you both to will and to act in accordance with his purpose. Isn’t that encouraging? Isn’t it realistic too? I don’t want to, and if I wanted to, I can’t always manage it. But God is at work in me. So working out your salvation would not be possible if he was not working in me before. I have to work it out. Therefore, there is something for me to do. sanctification is not by faith alone. Oh, that dreadful old holiness hymn, holiness by faith in Jesus, not by effort of my own. If you don’t make any effort to be holy, you’ll soon be a backslider. If you don’t make any effort to work out your salvation, you’ll soon be a misery to yourself and your fellow Christians. And it’s not just your fellow Christians. You ought to do it with fear and trembling. Now, though that little phrase is used in the New Testament of our relationships with one another, I’m persuaded this does refer to our relationship to God. I may be wrong. Make up your own mind. Because I think he’s saying this is so serious. Realize that you’re doing this in the sight of God with trembling. He’s done this great thing for you through Christ on the cross. He’s put his spirit in your heart. He has done all this. So work out your salvation with a real sense of responsibility to the God who’s done so much for you. now it’s very very important to realize that salvation in Paul is and this is the only word I allow myself in a sermon and I’m not sure we should eschatological but I allow myself here we are saved from the wrath to come you will not know how great your salvation is until the day of the terror of the Lord comes when that great day of his wrath comes you will know how wonderful it is to be saved. That is what we are saved from. The first fruits of that salvation are to be found in our forgiveness and fellowship with God now. But the fact that we are saved by grace in that sense now does not lead to complacency but to live my life in accordance with the pathway to salvation that God has ordained for me. Warning, you may not agree with this, but I’m going to say it anyhow. Just turn to 1 Timothy, because I am persuaded that this is Paul’s understanding of salvation. He has ordained that we should be saved in a certain position of life. So in 1 Timothy 4, 15-16, he tells the minister, the teacher, to be diligent, to watch his life and doctrine closely, and to persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. That is to say, if you’re a pastor teacher, the road to salvation that God has ordained for you is to be a pastor teacher. You’re very fortunate. Because that word is constantly teaching you. But if you’re a pastor teacher, you swerve from the way that God has ordained for your ultimate salvation. If you do not give yourself diligently to that. Back a page. I know this is controversial. Chapter 2 to 15. Women will be saved through childbearing. That is, they say, the pathway to ultimate salvation normally, of course there are exceptions, the pathway to salvation for women normally in God’s created order is to bear children. That is their pathway to salvation. Now if you come back to chapter 1 of Philippians, you’ll find why this is so important. The translators can’t quite face up to it normally. So in verse 19, I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out to my deliverance. But the word is not deliverance as you’ll see from a note in your margin. The word is it will turn out to my salvation. His ultimate vindication. He’s not saying that your prayers will mean that I’m going to be set free in the court case next week. He doesn’t know about that. What he’s saying is that my road to salvation is to be an apostle and therefore verse 20 I eagerly expect hope I will no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage, so that as always Christ will be exalted in my body. So whether in life or death, Paul must go the way of his apostleship, for that is his road to salvation. That doesn’t mean salvation is uncertain, it just means that the gift God has given me has got to be worked out in the sovereign position that he’s given me in life. So accept the position you’re in, dear brother or sister. you see it’s so important to accept the position it may be that God has given you gifts of administration you may have wealth you may have wisdom you may have preaching gifts you know there are so many well that’s your pathway to salvation in working out those things so that Christ is exalted in your life your profession your work in the church and so on work outside the church just as much as inside the church so the apostle’s way to salvation is to do his work as God’s apostle in life and death he would prefer it to be death because then it would be with Christ which is far better but you see it’s a delightful little twist in an anticipation of what he’s going to say later he says I’ll give up my preference to die bless his heart just think what he’d been through just read 2 Corinthians 11 don’t you think he might feel it was time to retire to heaven don’t you think he might feel Lord just take me to yourself I’ve done enough but he says no I’m actually willing to forgive that because you need me you see it’s lovely isn’t it it’s an anticipation of what he’s going to say it’s a Timothy syndrome again I’m willing to do it for your sake even though I would prefer to do something else so the road to which God has called us all in whatever state of life we have is that of serving one another according to our gifts and abilities and serving him with gladness Willie pointed out a verse to me and I just couldn’t find it this morning in Deuteronomy where the Lord rebukes the people for not serving him with gladness we’re not to serve the Lord with groaning of the evangelicals of the 18th century it was said that there was a gentle groaning amongst them. Well, you know, it’s very easy to get like that, isn’t it? We’re a little flock and nobody’s listening to us and it’s a hard life. We wonder why we chose this way. We’re to serve the Lord with gladness. So the issues are not complicated, aren’t they? I would love Paul in Romans 12, 4. I’m not going to go into it now because there isn’t time to turn to it. But you remember that in Romans 12, 4 onwards, he says well if you’re a teacher teach. If you’re an administrator administrator. You know you think to yourself Paul couldn’t you make it a bit more eloquent? He’s just saying look if that’s where you are and what you’re given to do, do it. Because that’s your road to salvation. That God has ordained for you in his plan for your life. Which was predestined before the world began. So we’re responsible to God with fear and trembling. Is it possible? Verse 13 says it is possible. for it is almighty God who is working in you. Isn’t that a tremendous privilege? But it leaves us without excuse, doesn’t it? I don’t want to and I can’t, but God is at work in you. And so Paul says that will give him great joy because as he hears the news while he’s in prison not knowing what his future is going to be Timothy comes back and says they are blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation and they are shining like stars in the universe, holding on and out the word of life sacrifice and service so we’ll leave Timothy and Epaphroditus they exemplify those two things and it’s worth just reading them sometime perhaps tonight before the end of the day to see what examples they were of the very things that Paul is talking about. Willing to serve, willing to sacrifice. Well, what a rush. I’m afraid that’s been a bit inadequate. Let’s pray it in. Well, the children are enjoying their game, so let’s enjoy our lives, even though it means service and sacrifice. Let’s serve him gladly in the place to which he has put us. We’re not in prison in Rome. Most of us are in very pleasant places. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you’ve planted us in pleasant places and that even when things are not pleasant we have so many friends and so much help. Above all, we thank you that you’re working in us by your Holy Spirit. So make us willing and so make us act in accordance with this amazing pattern. Have mercy upon us that we do so little. and make us examples to others who are following us in the way we pray. In Christ’s name. Amen. Well, I gave my Australian friend over there permission to sleep as he arrived in Heathrow only this morning, but you’re still awake, aren’t you, brother? Still awake. Good man. You get the prize, and unfortunately, according to Philippians, it’s not till heaven. Right. Time for a few questions, if you wanted, But let’s have questions for the sake of it. One man’s question is another man’s ball. Isn’t that right? Oh, don’t be afraid. If you want to make a speech, make a speech.
Speaker 2 • 45:36
You said right at the beginning that Paul opens his heart in Philippians unlike any other. What? Paul opens his heart. What about
Speaker 1 • 45:44
2 Corinthians? I said 2 Corinthians.
Speaker 2 • 45:46
Yes, I did say.
Speaker 1 • 45:48
I said 2 Corinthians as well, but of course it’s a much more drastic situation 2 Corinthians, isn’t it, with the super apostles. He personally was under tremendous threat from their ministry. Just as I said, the ordinary pastors in India are under threat from the super apostles. He does reveal himself in 2 Corinthians wonderfully. But I think chapter 1 of Philippians is as moving as any other passage, aren’t you? He’s not afraid, is he, to show us what he felt and that he could be hurt and that he had joys and sorrows like we do? Brian, speak out to some deaf ladies in church. I think that’s what’s in his mind here. What do you think he means in 1.24.5? Convinced of this I know I will remain and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith. It’s fairly general that. I suppose it could be general, couldn’t it? I don’t think I can say any more. But I always think it’s probably worthwhile to relate a phrase like that to the main issue in the letter. It probably was a more general progress, such as you get in the prayer in chapter 1, 9, and 10, which is fairly general, isn’t it? He wants their love to abound in knowledge. In other words, he sings sincerity and love and a bubbly heart are not enough. And that does need saying, doesn’t it, to some youth groups today, that music for three hours and three quarters in the meeting, leaving the speaker just ten minutes to give some instruction is not adequate. Isn’t that right? You know? I never know why we call them worship services. They ought to be called word services. What God has to say to us is much more important than what we have to say to him in the end, isn’t it? So, yeah, we do worship him, but in answer to his revelation, And everything we do, therefore, corporately, should first of all say, God has something to say to us. In the light of that, we worship him and praise him and then go and live on Monday. So I think the Philippians have probably lots to learn, don’t you? They’re a very young church. I forgot to say that, Brian. They’re a very young church. It’s ten years old. I think a church, I don’t know what David would say, sitting at the back there looking very wise, but it would say it’s a young church, wouldn’t you, at ten years old? All these churches are young churches, aren’t they? We do have behind us an enormous amount, don’t we, of knowledge from our forefathers. They didn’t have any of that. You can go and read Calvin. I’ve been reading Machain today. I’ve just rediscovered Murray McCheyne. Some of you young men read Murray McCheyne. He’s a bit gloomy sometimes, but he’s a great guy. And his servants are terrific, aren’t they? Now, you see, we have all that behind us, But the Philippians couldn’t turn to their library and find Calvin or Murray McCheyne or Carson or whatever, could they? Or even John’s Gospel. No, that’s right, brother. That’s right, brother. They’re very dependent on their apostle, aren’t they? Mark, brother, you’re a wise man. put us straight.
Speaker 3 • 49:30
Where does 1 verse 6 fit in? About he who’s begun a good work and he will bring it to completion of the day of Christ. Is he worried that they’re a bit shaken by all the division?
Speaker 1 • 49:42
Yes, I think he is. But I think what he’s really saying is that the good work doesn’t come to completion until the day of Christ. That’s the point. And we’re going to see that next Wednesday when we look at that passage in chapter 3 about the perfectionist who in some extraordinary way said that they’d arrived at the resurrection in this life. Now what that exactly means, if anybody could tell me what that exactly means before next Wednesday, I’d be very grateful. But it’s a terrific claim, isn’t it? And what he’s saying is you do not arrive at completion until the life of the world to come. We’re always in the race. And we don’t reach the prize until then. You see, that old holiness teaching did an awful lot of harm, didn’t it? Because it gave the impression to people that they could reach a position of victory over sin that they could maintain. And so they went back to the mission field, having saved up for many years to come to Keswick or somewhere like that. Went back to the mission field and discovered that they were still sinners. And that the other missionary picking his nose at breakfast was more than they could stand. Isn’t that right? And they burst out. Will you stop that behavior? You see? And then they were so ashamed. They said, I’m so sorry I burst out at breakfast. But I didn’t think I could stand looking at you at breakfast anymore. And then what happened to that message they’d heard? They’d been told they could advance to a position which we don’t reach until the life of the world to come. We’re always wrestling. Do you know that awful little slogan, nestle, don’t wrestle? Brother, if you nestle and don’t wrestle, you’ll backslide. There’s a place for nestling. When you’re dealing with that person right at the end of life, then they need to rest on the promises of God, don’t they? But for the ordinary young Christian in your congregation, the more wrestling with sin they do, the better. Because within us there’s a volcano of sinfulness, And outside us there’s the world. And then there’s the devil as well. So we’re in the battle. And we need to say to many a Christian. Don’t you know there’s a war on. If you don’t understand this. Read Ryle on Hellen. He’s still the best on many of this. We’re known by peace in our heart. And we’re known by war in our heart. Both. The imagination that we can get out of the war. And still be fruitful Christians. Is a myth. One more. And then we’ll go to our lunch. dear brother speak up
Speaker 4 • 52:23
do you think there’s anything in the two stand firm’s 127 and 4.1
Speaker 1 • 52:29
John
Speaker 4 • 52:31
do you think there’s anything in that as a sort of theme of the
Speaker 1 • 52:35
yes well I do think stand firm is a very important thrust going through the letter that’s why he says I did say that the passage 127 to 30 is controlling and that when he says I want to hear that you’re standing firm without being scared it is fundamental to the whole letter but don’t let’s forget don’t get gloomy about it next week we’re going to find that in all this even right up against it as he was in Rome with rival preachers can you imagine what a pain in the neck that was and then Philippians facing hostility a harsh postulation for the first time. What is his final word? Rejoice always. But not, this is not superficial, is it? This is not call up another hymn. This is rejoice in the Lord. He’s the only center in which I can find rejoicing in that situation. It’s always in him I can find delight and comfort and love. Isn’t that right? So don’t let us think we’re going to finish on a shallow note. We’re not. Do look at those three great exhortations in chapter 4 before you come next Wednesday, because they summarize the whole letter as you’d expect.
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