Pathway To Joy - Part 4: The If - Then Response

Pathway To Joy - Part 4: The If - Then Response By Pastor Bruce Shellhamer

Philippians 1:12-26 Philippians 2:1-4

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor”

“Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

“The culture needs an alternative to itself, not an echo of itself. Most people are exhausted by the division … and anger that characterizes culture today"

“It is pretty clear that the culture is tired of itself but doesn’t quite know how to escape. That is the perfect opportunity for the church to simply be the church. An exhausted culture needs an alternative to itself, not an echo of itself.”

“Since” you have been encouraged from being united with Christ, “since” you have been comforted from his love, “since” you have common sharing in the Spirit, “since” you have been treated with tenderness and compassion …

“be like-minded” “have the same love” “be one in spirit” “be of one mind” “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit” “in humility value others above yourselves” “Don’t look to your own interests, but to the interests of others”

Three clear directives: 1 - Be united 2 - Look to the interests of others before your own 3 - Avoid selfish ambition

“His (Paul’s) hope was that they (the Philippians) would fight together with one common purpose, one wish for the faith of the gospel. He wanted them to fight the Lord’s battle in the world, rather than fight with each other within the church. … The Lord is up to greater things than the order of the worship service or the color of the sanctuary carpet or even the wording of theological statements.” (from Let God Love You)

Paul’s words were “intended to encourage people who stood as a tiny island of commitment to the gospel amid a raging sea of pagan antagonism”

We can pray for, and unite in practical ways with our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Persecuted Church around the world

Being “Worthy of the gospel” is to live with integrity; to consistently live out what we believe, teach and preach

“People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care” - Theodore Roosevelt

Don’t react to suffering or persecution with aggression, but respond with grace

“Christians do not stive ‘against’ anybody, but for the faith. The Christian way is to refuse retaliation and to live such exemplary lives that our persecutors not only become ashamed of their conduct but want to become believers themselves.” Karl Barth

Strive for unity in the body by fighting against self-ambition and vain conceit

“I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

1 - Hold their tongues, refusing to speak uncharitably about fellow believers 2 - Cultivate humility that comes from understanding that they, like Paul, are the greatest of sinners and can only live in God’s sight by his grace 3 - Listen ‘long and patiently’ so they will understand their fellow Christian’s needs; 4 - Refuse to consider their time and calling so valuable that they cannot be interrupted to help with unexpected needs, no matter how small or menial 5 - Bear the burden of their brothers and sisters in the Lord, both by preserving their freedom and by forgiving their sinful abuse of that freedom 6 - Declare God’s word to their fellow believers when they need to hear it 7 - Understand that Christian authority is characterize by service and does not call attention to the person who performs the service”

“There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit.” Ronald Reagan

“There is no limit to what a congregation can do, or where the congregation can go, if they don’t care who gets the credit.”

“Christ has no body now but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he looks with compassion on this world … Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world”