Sermon Tone Analysis

How to Build Hope

Paul knows something about hope and encouragement; here he is in the philippi jail writing about joy

Later on in his life Paul is in prison for being a Christian.

He writes a letter to the church in Philippi.

At this point she is 11 years of age.

It’s been four years since he’s physically been to Philippi.

The church in Philippi heard that Paul was suffering in prison.

They were concerned about his health, so they generously took up an offering, gave money, and sent it to Paul with a man they trusted named Epaphroditus, a deacon in the church.

On his way to be with Paul, Epahphrodites becomes ill, close to death.

Not only is Philippi’s founding pastor close to death, now their deacon is, and they church is waiting to see how their leaders will respond to the suffering they are going through.

In his dirty jail cell, Paul responds.

He sits down and writes to the Philippians to ease their anxieties.

What a privilege that God would preserve this letter centuries later of a man who writes of joy in his suffering.

He writes:

Question: what one thing would I want to have or have happen that would make my life easier and would bring me more happiness?

1) Surrender the Flesh (phil 3:1-7)

Lose to the flesh

what happens when you lose to the flesh, when you surrender the external desires and ambitions to whatever Christ would desire and give?

You Win Christ

External Hopes

Ritual - phil 3:5

Relationship- phil 3:5

Respectability- phil 3:5

Religion- phil 3:5

Paul walked away from Gamaliel

Paul walked away from prestige, Paul walked away from power, Paul walked away from stability

Now, quit comparing yourself to other people.

I’m going to tell you something, folks: There are people in this church who are smarter than you are.

And there are people in this church who are richer than you are.

And there are people in this church who are stronger than you are.

But nobody can love Jesus better than you can.

And you put it down: You can have all of Jesus you want.

And I don’t know how much of Jesus you have; but you probably have just about all you want.

And we need to just have a holy dissatisfaction.

If you’re satisfied with your spiritual life right now, it’s simply because you’re aiming too low.

You ought to be a growing Christian.

You ought to be moving up one step higher.

Education- Suicide, Shame

Fame-

Success-

Wealth-

Good Looks-

Children-

Richly all things to enjoy

How do you know if you are crossing the line in placing your hope in something versus just being blessed by what God has given?

It has been said that you don’t solve money problems with money.

How has that proven true in your life?

When is a time in your life when you realized you were holding on too tightly to something, and what did you do about it?

What are things that people place their hope in or hold onto that ultimately end up controlling them?

Why do you think Jesus was OK with Zacchaeus giving half of his money away, but asked the rich young ruler to give every penny away?

2) Suffer for the Faith (phil 3:8-11)

Suffer for the Lord

Gain fellowship and knowledge

now I know

There’s an old story that preachers love to tell about a social gathering.

And there was an old man who preached the gospel for many, many years there, and there was a very famous orator, an actor, there.

And somebody thought it would be a form of entertainment, I suppose, to hear from both of them.

They said, “Let’s have both of them recite something for us.”

The old preacher, who had preached for many, many years, was not learned; he was not educated, not eloquent, and not particularly gifted.

And then there was this artist, this man who knew elocution.

He knew acting.

He’d been on the stage.

He knew drama.

He was well educated and very well trained.

Somebody said, “Let’s ask them both to quote the Twenty-third Psalm.”

So everybody thought that was a good idea.

And so, first of all, the actor quoted the Twenty-third Psalm.

Oh, the expression!

It was so magnificent.

It was so beautiful.

He knew exactly where to put the emphasis.

Every word was perfect.

And the people were just awestruck.

And when he finished, they applauded.

Then the old preacher stood up, and he quoted the Twenty-third Psalm entirely different.

But he quoted those six magnificent verses.

There was no applause, but there was not a dry eye in the place.

And afterward somebody asked that actor, “You know, there was a dramatic difference between what you did and what the old preacher did.

There was a difference.

And you were both wonderful, but what was the difference?”

The actor said, “I’ve thought about it, and I know what the difference is.

I know the psalm; he knows the Shepherd.”

Amen?

That’s what we need to learn, friend.

It’s not merely the Word of God, but the God of the Word.

This is a man—this is the Apostle Paul who was a grizzled old warrior now in prison getting ready to die, and he’s still talking about knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he doesn’t think that he has already attained.

He’s not already perfect.

He wants to know more and more about the Lord Jesus Christ.

He wants that higher ground that Jim was leading us to sing about.

So what we need to do very first of all is to fix our focus.

I think one of the great dangers that every seminary student faces and every Bible student faces is to have orthodoxy without the Holy Spirit—you can backslide with a Bible under your arm—to be Bible-taught and not to be Spirit-taught.

A) Paul was willing to suffer to know the Lord Personally ()

Meology has replaced theology.

Now Paul said, “I want to know Him.”

The whole point here is relationship is more important than accomplishment—relationship is more important than accomplishment.

A friend

I come to the garden alone

while the dew is still on the roses

And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,