Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Growing up my mom taught piano lessons to about 30 students in our home on a weekly basis on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from the early afternoon to the early evening.

Because of this, in the summer time my mom would be able to not only watch myself but also some of my friends whose parents had to work while their kids were out of school in the summer.

I’ll always remember those sweet summer months as a kid playing with friends, going to the pool, throwing the baseball around, and going on trips to Springfield.

One summer day in particular a friend and I were hungry and looking through what we had in the kitchen to make a quick sandwich so that we could go back outside to play.

We’re looking through the lunch meat options and see the usual turkey, ham, and bologna… We look in the pantry and see that there’s peanut butter, jelly, and honey.

Now, some food combinations of things just naturally go together… Baseball and hot dogs.

Peanut butter and chocolate.

Popcorn and butter.

Burgers and fries.

Biscuits and gravy.

Peanut butter and jelly.

Zach and I are in the kitchen trying to think of something out of the box that would be a good combination.

Turkey and peanut butter… Not a success.

Ham and honey… Not a success.

Bologna and peanut butter?

10/10.

Maybe that combination doesn’t sound particularly appealing to you, but to a couple of 10 year old hungry boys, that sandwich hit the spot and has been a running joke ever since.

Our world has other combinations that people think go together: Hard work and success.

Bonfires and the fall.

In the Bible we find a different combination that characterizes God’s people: Courageousness and Compassion.

We read in the Bible how we are called to stand unapologetically on God’s Word and how we are called to demonstrate compassion toward people who might disagree with us.

This combination might not make sense in the eyes of the world, but to God’s people these are two things that must go together.

The Gospel must be proclaimed faithfully and courageously.

As we proclaim the Gospel, we must stay humble and always remember our need for Jesus and never think that we have it all figured out or that we are good enough on our own.

Paul longs for his brothers and sisters in Christ to grow in their walk, stand on the Gospel, and to look out for others.

As Philippians 1 concludes, we find a terrible chapter break as Philippians 2:1-4 go hand in hand with Paul’s concluding thought here.

How can you and I fulfill our calling and do these Christian Commands?

The only way is by living a life worthy of the Gospel and living on earth as citizens of heaven.

Let’s read how we can stand strong and stay humble because of the Gospel.

Stand Strong in the Gospel (1:27-30)

Live a life worthy of the Gospel.

The Gospel cost Jesus His life!

The Gospel will change true believers so deeply that they are willing to suffer rejection, slander, and shame for the cross of Christ.

Further, the Gospel will change the way that we live our life so that we walk in a worthy manner.

This means that everything about our lives changes because of the Gospel.

Paul talks about this type of “walk” at other places in his letters.

He says the same in Ephesians 4:1 as he says this

Paul says that we are citizens of heaven and that there are certain things that we are supposed to do.

Think of the responsibilities of citizens of countries or kingdoms.

You are supposed to look out for the general welfare of other citizens

Your Christian life doesn’t end whenever the Holy Spirit seals you… That’s when your Christian life begins.

The Christian life is one of obedience to God’s Word.

Stand firm in verse 27 is in reference to standing in a fixed position with those to your left and right… This is a picture of the church in battle position.

Greek phalanx was formidable as the hoplites would work as a mobile unit with one another.

Some hoplites on the front lines would hold their shields in the front to block the enemies attack and the hoplites behind would hold their shields in any gaps, while other hoplites would be ready to thrust their spears into would be attackers.

The Greek phalanx created a nearly impenetrable wall that the enemy couldn’t defeat because of the strength, training, and solid materials used by the Greeks.

However, the phalanx had one potential weakness.

All it took was one soldier to not do their job and the entire group of soldiers would pay the price.

If one hoplite didn’t keep their shield where it was supposed to be, or if one hoplite wasn’t ready to attack whenever their friend pulled their shield away, the enemy could capitalize and bring about destruction.

Philippi is a Roman colony made up of a good number of retired Roman soldiers.

Roman soldiers didn’t fight in a phalanx formation, they fought in a formation called a testudo - kind of like a tortoise - but it served a similar purpose of allowing the soldiers to be united and stand firm against their opponent.

This church was familiar with the idea that they are stronger together than apart.

In a battle, soldiers would struggle side by side, but they’d be stronger side by side than they would be by themselves.

This is the same principle with the church.

The only way that we as individuals will survive the attacks of the enemy and of our society will be by standing side by side with our brothers and sisters in arms and standing firm on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We do this by being of one accord, contending for the faith together, and not being frightened by our opponents.

Notice, there have always been opponents for Christians and there will always be opponents for Christians.

Suffering - As we stand strong for the Gospel, we can reasonably expect to experience suffering as a result.

We see in Paul’s life that whenever he preached the Gospel, he experienced suffering more often than not.

Suffering stinks, we don’t want to spend more time suffering than we have to usually, but suffering serves a purpose.

See, our God is big enough to where suffering isn’t the end - suffering can and is used to glorify God and make us more like Jesus.

Paul shares that this church has been granted the ability not only to believe in Jesus but to suffer for Christ!

Our salvation is a gift from God that we could never deserve or earn by ourselves.

It’s only by God’s amazing grace that we are saved.

Paul says that suffering is the same way.

How can this be the case?

We understand that salvation is a gift… but how can suffering be a gift?

Look at these 4 verses.

For people who don’t stand firm in opposition, they will be destroyed… But for those who do stand firm in opposition, it’s a sign of our salvation.

It’s our assurance that we belong to God.

Whenever you suffer and the song in your soul is “It Is Well with My Soul” that’s nothing but God’s divine grace that has completely changed your heart and your desires.

Who in their right mind views suffering as a net positive?

No one other than the Christian!

Yet this is common for followers of Jesus.

Suffering for Jesus is an honor.

In the book of Acts we see the birth of the New Testament church as they are filled with the Holy Spirit after Jesus’ ascended back to heaven and they went out to proclaim the Gospel and make disciples.

As they did this there was an incredible revival that broke out as the Holy Spirit convicted thousands and thousands of people in Jerusalem initially and eventually the surrounding areas.

Again, Philippians 1:29, it’s granted on Christ’s behalf for us to believe in Him… It was the same in Acts as the Holy Spirit convicted thousands of people at a time.

But what followed these dramatic experiences?

Moments of suffering.

Peter and John and others would be imprisoned numerous times in Acts and in Acts 5 we read that the disciples are healing people left and right through the power of the Holy Spirit and are imprisoned because people from other towns are traveling to Jerusalem just to see what’s happening.

The rulers are panicking about the power and influence and decide to do something… We read in Acts 5:17-18 this

This should be the end of the story, right?

The apostles are in jail and they are finally suffering for following Jesus.

This should be where things stop… But the Bible continues with God’s providence

The Jewish leaders are trying to figure out what happened and how on earth they escaped the prison.

They discover that they’re teaching in the temple and round them up once again threatening to put them back into prison.

This cycle happens throughout the book of Acts.

Followers of Jesus would preach the Gospel, lives would be changed, and Christians would be punished for their actions.

Each time, though, the Christians who suffer rejoice.

Look at what we find in Acts 5:41

These Christians thought that it was a privilege to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ.

Paul viewed it as a privilege to suffer for the name of Jesus.

The only way that you and I will view suffering for Jesus to be a privilege is to stand upon the Gospel.

The only way that we will have the right perspective during difficult times with people who are not Christians is to know what we believe and to stand upon His Word without apology.

The only way that you and I here at FBC Salem will be able to stand firm as a congregation against the avalanche of selfishness, idolatry, and evilness of our secular society is to stand firm upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel doesn’t change, folks.

God’s Word doesn’t mean one thing today and something different tomorrow… That’s what newspaper headlines do… not the Word of God.

This week at Camp Joy we talked a lot about what truth is.

Something isn’t true just because someone says that it is right.