THE POWER OF POSITIVE LIVING
THE POWER OF POSITIVE LIVING • Sermon • Submitted
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· 326 viewsThe power of Christ becomes real as we live in His Positive Example
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The message of Philippians
1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
As we look at Philippians Chapter 2 during this next five weeks, I want to give you a little background of Philippians Chapter 2 and the Book of Philippians. I want to take you back, if we can, 2,000 years ago, or thereabout, when the book was written. It was one of the earliest books written. It was obviously, and as you know, written to the Church at Philippi, that’s where we get the word “Philippians”, just like Ephesus you get the word Ephesians, and other books like that.
This is an epistle. Big word for a letter that was originally written by the Apostle Paul. Paul, as he would travel around in the early days of Christianity, they were starting churches. He would write back to them these letters. Sometimes they were admonitions, sometimes they were very positive, sometimes they were taking people to task for different sins.
So here he writes to the Church at Philippi. What you need to know about the Apostle Paul, at this point in his life, is he was actually in prison. You know in the latter part of his life he was in prison. He was in prison for the preaching of the gospel. He was being persecuted for that.
So he is in prison, having a pretty dark moment in his own life and he is writing to the Church at Philippi. Now at this particular time, the Church at Philippi was under a lot of persecution. There was some bad things happening in the Roman Empire.
It wasn’t easy to assemble. People WANTED to go to church and worship. But they couldn’t. As the church stood, they were in a dark day as well. So Paul is in this dark day in his own life, the Church is in a dark day, but then he writes this letter. It is one of the most positive, faith-filled letters in the entire New Testament.
Paul writes to encourage them, to remind them that although it seems dark, there is great light that comes through this faith that we have in Jesus Christ. In fact, it is so bright, that he actually puts a portion of a song inside of the letter. I mean, he quotes the song. That song is found in verses five through 13.
But this positive letter written in a time of darkness.
Background.:
Paul wrote Philippians while:
In Prison
Experienced Persecution
Had lots of Problems.
Yet he wrote one of the most Positive letters in the Bible during that time.
Fast Forward to today:
Let’s fast-forward 2,000 years to today in 2021. We certainly live in a difficult time. Every day we face personal challenges, from the stress of living during Covid. People have hardships of making ends meet, to the difficulty of connecting with family and friends and building trust-worthy relationships. On a corporate level, as a country and as the world, we have issues with the economy, pollution, global tensions.
Now with the strong rise of Leftism, the Woke Cancel Culture and Intersectional Theory there is this kind of general atmosphere of persecution of the Church. If people suspect you hold toTraditional and Biblical values they’ll call you a bigot. Some will work to get you fired or ostracized.
You’ll find that even people who say they are Christians will get upset if you push back or comment. They’ll say, that’s pushing politics etc… No it’s not. It’s the exact opposit, it’s politics pushing godless immorality and anti-religious ideology. They say, you are free to worship, but don’t you dare say or believe anything that the culture might find offensive. Folks, God is King. He is Creator. He has the right and the authority to tell us how to live and how to think. And He expects His people to represent His word. Because the Left has done a good job (bad job) of pushing God out of the culture and piping the Devil in, that even people who should no better look and act no different than the Devil’s children. And if one is to preach the Gospel that in no way offends the morality and the culture of sinners, then one has not preached the gospel at all.
Listen, the early church was counter cultural. It was counter political. It was Caesar who demanded absolute loyalty during Paul’s day. The Christians said, no, our religion, our morality, our idea of the body politic gets informed by the Bible. Jesus is King, not Caesar. We don’t have culture inform us, the Bible Critique’s culture and politics. That’s why Paul wrote Romans 12. Don’t let your mind and body become room temperature. Look to the Word and examine if what’s going on around you is noble, good and true. Could Jesus stand by and approve this or that?
Let me tell you that’s why they put Paul in jail. He upset the status quo. He didn’t just go along with society.
So we have the same things going on today.
While that this is happening, God continues to bless our local church. Just like He was blessing the Church a Philippi in a very dark time, He blesses us. We just celebrated baptism with a number of people. They had recently put their faith in Christ.
We see new Christians, as long-time Christians, take bold steps of maturity in their faith, stepping out in service. Likewise, our church continues to regain its footing and grow as we recover from the blow of Covid.
We have a church that touches more than our town. We had a Vacation Bible School Training here yesterday. We had a diverse group of people from several different ethnicities. Several heart languages represented. We strengthened churches from all over Indiana some churches drove 3 hours to be here and bring the gospel message back to their home church.
So I think the parallels between 2,000 years ago and today are pretty amazing. The Philippians Chapter 2 message of positive living is more relevant than ever—to our church, to our city, to us as individuals.
Main Truth:
Postive living comes from thinking and acting like Jesus Christ. (v. 2)
Jesus gave the example of being a servant, a giver.
There are 2 types of people in the world, Givers and Takers.
We live in a consumer self-focused culture, so it’s natural for us to be takers, to be shoppers, whether it’s relationally, spiritually, or personally.
Jesus wants us to flip that around and become givers, servants.
4 Decisions you must make to experience Christ’s Power for living:
1. I must put humility before ego.
E dging
G od
O ut
If you want to discover significance through service, you do that by deciding to place humility before ego. Humility before ego. St. Augustine was asked one time—what are the three most important Christian virtues. He replied—humility, humility and humility. Yet this virtue of humility is in pretty short supply in our day.
Ted Turner said it so well—If I had any humility, I would be perfect.
This issue of ego. Maybe you remember the quote by Mohammed Ali, when he said
—when you are as great as I am, it’s hard to be humble.
By the way, do you know what ego is? I believe ego is kind of an acrostic, it stands for “Edging God Out”. You see, when you have a big ego, that’s what you do. You edge God out. You push God out of your life. And you miss all of this power of positive living that we are talking about. But you are also missing God’s presence. You see, maybe it’s been a long time since you’ve felt the presence of God in your life. Or you have had a real encounter with God. Maybe it’s because you have edged Him out of your life so you are missing out on His presence. But you also miss out on God’s peace when you edge Him out. God wants to give you peace in turbulent times. It’s one of the themes of the Book of Philippians. But you miss that when you edge God out. Likewise, you miss out on God’s promises, when you edge Him out. The Bible has at least 365 promises for your life. That is one for every day. You miss those promises when you edge God out and live with this ego. So the Bible says that ego is not the path to success, but humility is the path to significance. Humility is the path to significance. Maybe one of the reasons that we overlook humility is because we have a false understanding about what humility is. Trion Edwards said—true humility is not an abject, graveling, self-despising spirit. It is the right estimate of ourselves as God sees us. I like that. It’s the right estimate of ourselves as God sees us. How does God see us? Philippians 2:3 are your memory verses, a little out of order in your outline, but it offers this challenge. It says “When you do things” (whatever) “do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead be humble.” How does God see us? God sees us that when we go out and we try to do things our way, or we try to do things with our ego, or we try to do things with pride as our guide, that leads to destruction. Remember the Proverb—pride goes before the fall. So when God looks at us, He sees us as people that need His presence. That need His power. That need His promises. That’s the path to significance in real life.
What areas of your life are you allowing selfishness or pride to be your guide? Have you brought that selfishness and pride into the workplace? Have you brought it into your friendships, and are now putting yourself before other people? Have you brought it into your family? Have you brought it into your church, even. You probably heard about the guy who wrote the biography—Humility and the Great Ways I Obtained It. That’s how we all are. We are all writing that sometimes along the way. But as Spencer Kimball said—Humility is greatness in plain clothes. I like that. Humility is greatness in plain clothes. And humility is the path to God’s power. The path to God’s presence. The path to God’s promises in your life. Humility is the first step in discovering the positive life that God has for you.
I need to daily Edge myself out. Honestly, more often than not, I find myself fighting this battle. Humility does not come easily.
Jim Cymbala of Brooklyn Tab talked about humility. He said that—humility is a magnet for the Holy Spirit. I love that quote. That means if you want to experience all that God has for you, if you want to attract that positive power that comes through Jesus Christ, it comes with humility.
Of course, he didn’t make that up. It’s in the Bible. The very God who made and owns everything, He could brag all day said,
2 “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.
SECOND THING YOU MUST DO:
2. I must put people before posessions.
The world tells you importance comes from:
Possessions
Power
Prestige
48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”
We can think we have avoided the temptation of things.
Jack Baugh shared a familiar parable our Friday night Devotions this weekend. It was the story of the Rich man and Lazarus. You know the story, the Rich man dressed in royal purple, threw big parties and had huge barbeques. All while poor Lazarus languished by the guys mailbox.
The rich man ended up in hell and Lazarus in heaven.
Jack said, you know who a rich man is? Well, you’re looking at one.
I have more Tshirts than I know what to do with.
I have a refridgerator full of food.
I have a mansion of a house compared to the majority of history.
I can drive a few miles and be waited on hand and foot while enjoying a sumptous meal.
Jesus said it’s hard for a rich man to enter heaven. Why because we can be seduced into thinking we are poor Lazarus while stepping over people as we get our bills, Amazon deliever, and coupons from the front gate.
We need to examine where we are in that story more often.
Many of you are making that choice to serve others. You will be packing Easter Eggs so kids can have a good time and hear the gospel Easter Saturday. I know others are looking at offering different life groups and making room by filling up the 9:30 am service so we can have more room in the 11 am service.
It’s not comfortable. You could do other things, more convenient etc...
The 3rd thing is:
3. I must choose to serve others. (v. 4)
Real significance comes when I decide to place serving others before serving self. Serving others before serving myself. Service is the act of putting people first in your life. The number one way to put people first in your life is through service. Instead of doing what most directly benefits my selfish interests, I’m going to forget about me, my ambitions, my desires, my comfort, for just a moment, and I’m going to think about this other person and what they need. Look how Paul puts it in Philippians. Let’s read this verse out loud together.
4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
Be willing to serve others is one of the greatest signs of spiritual maturity. Now, many people think being spiritually mature is measured by who has been a Christian the longest. Who goes to church the most. Who knows the most about the Bible. Who can pray the most eloquent prayer. Who can speak in public. But none of those things is a real sign of maturity or greatness. I can be a Christian for all of my life. I can go to church every day. I can have the Bible memorized in Hebrew, Greek and even Latin. But I can still be an immature child, spiritually speaking. Jesus said that a sure sign of maturity, a sure sign of greatness, is when a person is willing to serve other people. Look at our next verse, Matthew Chapter 23, Jesus said, “The greatest among you, must be a servant.” Underline that word—greatest. When a person puts the needs of others before their own, Jesus said that person is great. In fact, there is no one greater. That means that the greatest people in the church are not necessarily the ones that know the most, the ones that speak on Sunday, or even the ones who are most gifted in the arts. The greatest are those who are willing to serve other people. Those who are willing to give of their time and some of their life to serve other people. Serving other people is a key to real life. It is not only a sign of greatness or spiritual maturity, but it bring more joy and more fulfillment than continually serving your own interests. I don’t know why created us that way, but He did. We are happiest when we are serving other people. And that’s when we are most alive. We feel alive when we are giving to other people. If you don’t believe me, try it.
11 “But the greatest among you shall be your servant.
There’s a story of a wealthy woman touring India. She watched Mother Teresa care for the Lepers, the poor, the filthy. The lady blurted, “You couldn’t pay me all the money in the world to do that!”
Mother Teresa responded, “You couldn’t pay me that either.” She worked for a higher calling.
There are people here every week serving that you may not notice. They are behind the scenes. They come faithfully to support the stage and video in the sound booth. We have a number of people who just love babies. They are loving those kids for the Kingdom. We have volunteers who work with Tara, Pastor Mac, Sarah, week in and week out. They never ask for attention. But they shine. there are people that when we have a fellowship or get together, they come and set up and they stay after to take out the trash, vacuum and clean dishes.
I think right now that those people who serve in such a selfless way, I think they deserve a round of applause. But you know, those people will be back serving next week, even if we didn’t applaud for them. You want to know why? Because they don’t do it for the applause, they do it because by serving at The Journey. They have discovered that real significance and real joy come when we serve other people, not when we only focus on ourselves and on our own needs.
4. I must place obedience above conformity to the world.
Here, of course, I am comparing obedience to God with conformity to the world. I mean it’s easy to go along with the world, to kind of do just what everyone else is doing. But when you make that radical counter-cultural, non-conformist decision to be obedient to God, that’s where real living happens. As a matter of fact, greatness is always defined by non-conformity and counter-cultural living. Jesus, Himself, modeled that. Earlier I mentioned there was a passage in Philippians which was an early song that the church sung. This is the Scripture
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
. It says, “Christ Himself was like God Himself in everything. But He did not think that being equal with God was something to be used for His own benefit, but He gave up His place with God and made Himself nothing. He was born to be a man and became like a servant. And when He was living as a man, He humbled Himself and was fully obedient to God. Even when that caused His death, death on a cross.” Circle those words—fully obedient to God. That’s the decision that we have to make. Jesus made that decision. He was the most counter-cultural person who ever lived. He was also the most significant. Look, you are already on the way. Just by being here today, being in church today, you are making a counter-cultural decision. You are choosing to live a life of non-conformity by being in church, by taking notes on this message, by seeking to live a life after God. Yes, these are the keys for positive living. But my challenge is, let’s not stop the decisions in here. Let’s not let it end in what we do in here, just start the process of serving. George McDonald said, “Obedience is the key to every door.” I love what Duechert Bonoffer, pastor in the Nazi occupation of Germany, when he said, “One act of obedience is better than 100 sermons.” I want you to decide these things that we are talking about today. But don’t just let it stop in here. Decide to take your faith outside of church, to live out these decisions in your daily life, every day. Let’s not keep our obedience in here. Let’s take it outside.
Over the next few weeks you will have opportunities to connect. You can be part of the Easter Weekend events. Packing eggs. The men plan to offer Breakfast after Easter Sunrise Service.
Some of you will open your homes for Bible Study and fellowship. Some of you will be part of our local missonis Pastor Mac will be heading up soon.
Romans 12:2 challenges us to do that. It says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind then you will also be able to determine what God really wants what is good, pleasing and perfect.” When you decide to live a live of obedience to God, that’s the steps in knowing God’s will.
George McDonald said also, “I find that doing the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about His plans. In other words, when you take a small step of obedience, that reveals more and more of God’s will for your life. You see obedience in one area of your life. Obedience, even in a small area of your life, will bring obedience into other areas of your life.
Look, obedience is a difficult word. I know sometimes when I think about obedience, I think that it is an impossible task. I mean, one of the things you should know about me is that I certainly don’t have it all together when it comes to the Christian life. You know, I see that God calls us to be fully obedient to Him.
How do you do that? The Bible teaches that whether you are new Christian or an older Christian, or you are just being to explore this, the key to obedience is to take the first small step of obedience. Just take a small step of obedience toward God and then you experience His will and His blessing, and then you can take the next step and the next step and the next step. It is all about these small steps.
You see, God desires the obedience that we are capable of here and now. He doesn’t expect perfection. He expects that we are moving in the right direction. So what action of obedience could you take this week that will help you move closer to the positive life, to the significance that God has for you. Maybe it is just something small, like being out there after the Egg Hunt helping to clean up, or signing up to serve at one of the services on Sunday. Maybe its something big like helping with Foster kids, somethings we will bring up in a few weeks. Or maybe it’s the decision to be baptized. That’s one of your next steps on the right hand side of your connection card. Maybe you need to be baptized, the first step of obedience for Christians is to be baptized.
Maybe it’s simply joining the church and being someone who can be counted upon.
Let’s bow our heads. I want to pray a prayer that is my prayer because I’m on this journey with you. So when I struggle in this area and so do you, maybe just in your heart you will echo—me, too.
Dear God, sometimes I am guilty of putting myself before others. I am trying to inflate my own ego versus recognizing my need for You. So God, today, I just want to bow down before You and say God I don’t want to miss out on anything that you have for me. Now, help me to be a non-conformist, not to go the way of the world, but be obedient to You and experience real significance, real life that makes a difference now and for all eternity.
Commitment Challenges:
I will pray for Easter weekend services to have a big impact on our community.
I will fill eggs.
I will pray for people to get saved over the Lenten season.
I will choose a place of service on Sundays.
I will invite people to join us for this series.
Next Week: The power of Positive Relationships