Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

As we reflect on the journey we’ve taken through the book of Philippians there are several themes that we see coming out again and again.

This morning as we wrap up our journey, I want to highlight some of where we’ve been and then try and put it into a context and give us something to take away and continue to apply as we move forward in our growth as Christians.

Phil 4:21-23

Full Circle

In many ways, we’ve come full circle in this letter.

If we go back to the opening of this letter, we read:

Phil 1:1

There were two key words that we picked up on there, one of which is repeated here in our text this morning.

Servants

We talked about Paul using the word doulos which means slave.

It was a person without any standing in society.

I’m going to come back to this term a bit later this morning.

Saints

This is a phrase that we don’t often use in reference to ourselves, but it is that Paul used to refer exactly to people like us.

We tend to think of saints as those that have completed their process, but one of the issues that Paul brought to us again and again is that Saints are still in the process.

We’re in process

We’re in process

Yes, though we are incomplete, we are in process.

We are already in process.

We are on that journey of sanctification.

As we are doing that we also need to recognize that we are called as partners with Jesus, as partners with Paul, Timothy, and the host of “saints” that have gone before us.

We are partners in the Gospel.

Not about me - All about Jesus

Partners in the Gospel

You and I are partners in the Gospel.

Whether we think of ourselves as that or not,

We are called by God

We are representatives of that call

We are partners with the Lord Jesus Himself in presenting the Gospel.

We may be taking people closer to God, or we may not be.

That is something for us to consider.

We learned there is value in finding others who can help us grow in our faith and put it into practice.

We all need role models to follow as we seek to follow the person of Jesus Christ.

Humility

Throughout the book of Philippians we’ve been learning about humility.

Perhaps the greatest statement of humility was Paul’s description of the example of Christ that we read in chapter 2...

Phil 2:5-

The idea of counting others better than ourselves.

We looked at these verses and we saw Jesus humble himself in comparison with God

emptying himself

taking on the form of a servant

being born in the likeness of men (limiting himself)

being obedient

obedient to the point of death

even death on a cross.

Each step is a step down!

The letter of Philippians is filled with JOY.

JOY = Jesus, Others, You!

This whole gospel thing has never been about you, or me.

It’s not even about the person next to you, or the poor, or the destitute on the street, or good works, or …

you can fill in the blank.

It has been, and always will be about Jesus.

Jesus is not just the reason for the season, Jesus is life.

Jesus is our life.

He is the source of our life.

We’ve learned from Paul over the past few weeks that we can try and do all the good things.

You can be polite,

be charitable,

be honest,

feed the hungry,

be kind to everyone you meet,

help the poor,

shelter the homeless,

give to every charity,

go to church every Sunday,

teach Sunday School,

preach,

but if you have not Christ...

…it’s nothing!

Phil 3

All these things are good things to do, we are to work on our faith, we are to work out our faith (), and we do that by doing good things, but it’s not about the good things!

It’s all about Jesus

It’s All About Jesus

It’s all about knowing the person of Jesus Christ and following Him.

One of my personal life verses comes from Philippians...

You and I, as followers of Christ are “in His Grip!”

It is one word that is used there for the phrase “make it my own” and “Made me his own.”

It has the same root as when Jesus reached out and “caught” Peter who was beginning to sink after walking on the water.

Picture that idea - Jesus catches us.

Most of you know that I’ve been in aquatics for several decades now, and my other job is at the Auburn Valley YMCA.

One of the things that I’ve learned from being in and around the pool as a lifeguard is, “Daddy always catches.” I’ve watched hundreds of times as a small child has stood triumphantly up on the side and commanded, “Daddy catch!” then with shrieks of joy leaped into the water.

I’ve watched so many times as children would be at one side of the pool and the parent at the other end as this same scene unfolds.

The child standing gleefully on the side of the pool calls for her daddy.

Daddy at the other side turns to see (often much to his horror) his child standing on the precipice of doom ready to hurl herself into the nautical abyss.

The child cries out, “Catch me daddy!” and cheerfully hurls herself out over the waters whose depth is utterly unknown and of no possible concern to her; she is confident that Daddy’s arms will catch her.

Suddenly, at the other end of the pool the water is being churned into a white froth as Daddy becomes Michael Phelps.

Back where the child is, her smile radiates from her face as with her eyes laughingly staring at him, she splashes into the water and disappears beneath the surface.

In seconds she is pulled to the surface by her daddy’s outstretched arms.

She’s still smiling, and the look on her face slowly brings a smile to her daddy as he catches his breath.

“Daddy” always catches!

Most of us who have been following Christ for any length of time would say that this is true.

We know God is there, we know God watches over us, but we don’t always trust that knowledge.

Paul assures us in chapter 4, the Lord is near, and for this reason we can rejoice.

Phil 4:4-5

And he goes on to share with us in verses 6 about how we should pray.

Why should we pray?

Seriously, Why?

I believe that more often than not what prayer does is remind us that we’re not the one in control.

It reminds us again that God is in control, that God is the one that we can ask whatever it is that we need.