TEXT: Philippians 1:1,2
TITLE: To Live have Grace & Peace
SERIES: To Live
TOPIC: Grace & Peace
OCCASION: Burnside Christian Church,
PROP.: Paul reminds the Philippian church how to live…and live with JOY!
INTRODUCTION: Good morning! It is really, really good to back home and to be here with this church family again. For those who maybe weren’t aware, Lindsay and I came home Thursday night after an extensive and exclusive 8 day vacation to the Iowa City Hospital.
Thank you to all of you who prayed, called, visited, sent cards, sent gifts, emailed, text messaged -- it was really nice of you to express your concern and care in this way.
I want to briefly explain what will happen in the next few weeks to come. Lindsay was in the hospital because of crohn’s related conditions. She had a 4 inch abscess that had formed due to a deteriorated section of her large intestine. The abscess didn’t burst and all the infection was contained. While we were in the hospital, the doctors treated the abscess until they felt it was safe for us to come home. We will have to go back to Iowa City hospital in 4 - 8 weeks potentially for surgery to remove the section of diseased large intestine. In the meantime, Lindsay has a PICC line and is receiving all of her nourishment through the PICC line.
This is what she gets to eat every day for 14 hours a day…no…not the milk, but bag of fluid. Appetizing, huh? She can only drink water. Can’t even have chewing gum.
So this is how you can specifically continue to pray:
Pray that Lindsay won’t need surgery, but if she does, that we will have the best doctors and surgeons.
Pray that Lindsay will be satisfied with the food she is getting and will not crave other foods
Pray that her PICC line doesn’t become infected
Pray for Mark’s busy summer schedule.
Thanks for your care and concern. It means a lot to us.
Ok…back in the saddle again. Here we go! By the way, Mark Pettit did an awesome job preaching! I was able to listen to the CD yesterday…it was on forgiveness! If you didn’t get to hear it live, request a copy at the sound booth!
Today, I am doing something that I’ve not done in a long time! I am going to be preaching through an entire book of the Bible. For the next 10 weeks, we are going to be studying, applying and learning the truths contained in the book of Philippians.
Two things I would ask of you for the next 10 weeks:
1. Bring your Bible and a pen. (there may be things you want to mark in your Bibles and I want to encourage you to do so!)
2. Read through Philippians each week.
So when we are done with this series, you will have read Philippians 10 times. It is only 4 chapters long. It will take you 15 minutes a each week to read it! I want you to have some owner ship to this letter. I want you to become very familiar with this letter. Underline parts that speak to you. Highlight parts you want to put to memory.
Ok? Got those two things?
So as you’re turning to Philippians, allow me to give you some background information on this short letter.
AUTHOR: This letter is a letter written by Paul.
DATE: Probably 61 or 62 AD
PURPOSE: Why did Paul write this letter? I want you to jot this down. This is important! This is why we are going to spend 10 weeks looking at this book:
Paul reminds the Philippian church how to live life.
In fact, that is the name of this sermon series: TO LIVE!
And Paul uses such words as - Joy, gladness, rejoice to describe how to live! Many commentators have suggested that the theme of Philippians is joy!
INTRODUCTION:
And can I be really honest with you? I’ve been planning on preaching through Philippians even before Lindsay got sick and went to Iowa City. And while we were up there and while I was working on my sermon, I came REALLY close to preaching something else this Sunday. Why? Because I wasn’t really excited about preaching about joy. My life this past week wasn’t very ‘joy filled’.
The experiences of being in a hospital with Lindsay, of watching her suffer, of being away from home and family and friends didn’t make me happy. And I thought, “How can I preach from a book of the Bible that emphasizes joy when I am not happy?”
And then I remembered something: Paul is the one who is writing about joy. And where was he when he was writing about living life with joy? In prison! In jail! Shackled. A stone’s throw away from Nero’s palace. This missionary - this powerful communicator - is sitting in jail, suffering, away from home, away from friends and family and he is writing to the Christians in Philippi about how to live life with joy!
How can he do that? How can he write about Joy under such circumstances?
ILLUSTRATION: In his book, Wild at Heart, John Eldridge says this:
“Life is not a problem to be solved; but an adventure to be lived.”
I think Paul understood this truth!
I needed to be reminded of that this past week. I think a lot of us view life as a problem. And problems need to be fixed. Or solved.
I used to love math. And I especially loved algebra. Where you would take an equation, and try to solve the equation by having it equal out.
I think a lot of people view life as an equation
(ME) + (the variable Y) = happiness
And we try to solve the equation by plugging different things into it that we believe will make us happy.
If only I could get out of the hospital THEN I would be happy.
If only I could get that car THEN I would be happy.
If only I could earn this much money each year, THEN I would be happy.
If only I could get into this college, THEN I would be happy!
If only I got THIS job, THEN I would be happy!
But life is NOT a problem to be solved; but an adventure to be lived!
THIS is what the Apostle Paul had come to understand. This is why he is writing this letter! This is what the Christians living in Philippi needed to understand. And I believe this is what the Christians living in Hancock County need to understand!
So let’s read our text. Philippians 1:1,2
“Paul and Timothy” (lets stop right there for a second. What we learn here is that Paul is writing this letter. Philippi was the first church planted in Europe. Phillipi is a Roman colony of about 50,000 people. It is referred to as “little Rome” because it looks like Rome and has a lot of ex-roman soldiers and citizens who live there. It definitely has the feel of a small Rome.
But then he includes this Timothy. Timothy was a young man that Paul took with him on his second missionary journey. Kind of Paul’s protégé. Paul was training Timothy to be a preacher. Paul is basically saying, “you remember Timothy? He’s part of my team. We’re together on this.”)
Lets continue reading
“servants of Christ Jesus” (That word servant is an all right word. But a better word is SLAVES! Doo-loss can either be translated servants or slaves. Some of you may actually have it all ready translated as SLAVE. That’s the better word. Why?
SERVANTS is a weenie word. Because when you’re a servant…when the end of the day comes, you get to go home and kick it with your family. You get to relax.
But when you’re a SLAVE, you’re on call 24-7. Whenever the master wants you, he calls you. Whatever the master wants you to do, you do it. Your will is not your own. Your will is whatever the master’s will is.
Do you see the difference here?
So what Paul is saying is that his life and Timothy’s life are viewed as slaves to Jesus Christ. That whatever Jesus would have them to do, Paul’s going to do it! Whatever Jesus wants Paul to say, Paul’s going to say it! Wherever Jesus wants Paul to go, Paul’s going to go there! He lives his life under the authority of Jesus Christ!
Paul is saying, I’m letting Jesus be Lord of my life. He will be making the decisions for me.
ILLUSTRATION: The Stool. For those of you who may be new here this morning, I’ve gotta tell you, I don’t normally preach while sitting on a stool. And for those of you who’ve been here a long time, you’re probably thinking: Why is Mark sitting down?
I’m glad you’ve asked. I want to share with you a video that will Illustrate perfectly this idea of doing whatever Jesus tells you to do…
(SHOW YOUTUBE VIDEO BY ONETIMEBLIND.COM
THE STOOL)
Who is going to sit on the stool of your life? Because according to the Apostle Paul, you get to choose. Either it’s you. Or it’s Jesus. For Paul, it was JESUS! And Paul says of Himself - “I’m a SLAVE of Jesus Christ!”
So my first point this morning is this:
I. Are you a servant or a slave to Jesus Christ?
Too often we are servants and sometimes, not very good servants. We serve only when its convenient or on our time table. We serve as long as it doesn’t cost too much. Or get in the way of my life.
Servants - expect to be paid. To receive some sort of benefit from their service. A “tip” so to speak. As Christians, we hide under the term: BLESSING. If I serve God, He will bless me.
While this may be true, I must ask - what if God doesn’t bless you for your service? What if it goes un-noticed? Unappreciated? Would you still serve?
Have you ever done something nice for someone and not received a thank-you card? Did it annoy you? Why? Because you wanted some appreciation for what you’ve done! I’m not saying it’s wrong to want to be thanked for doing something nice for someone…but perhaps there is more to serving than being thanked?
Slaves - are purchased by their master. Slaves do whatever is asked of them without complaining. We have been purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ!
In return for his sacrifice, we give our life fully to His calling. Whatever He says - we do. Wherever He sends - we go.
JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONE WHO IS IN CONTROL OF OUR LIFE. That’s what Paul is saying. He is saying, Jesus sits on MY stool and I do what He says.
(GET UP FROM STOOL) I don’t know about you, but I think I’ve been sitting on the stool for way too long. It’s time to get up and let Jesus take His rightful place as master and Lord over every area of my life!
Let’s keep reading our text this morning…
“To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons (saints is another term for Christian) (overseers is another term for elder. What would happen is that Paul would write this letter expecting the elders to read the letter to the church and then the deacons would take the letter and copy the letter so that it could be spread.)
And what punctuation mark is used after the word deacon? That’s right, a colon. For those who don’t know what a colon is. It’s THIS : that means get ready - You’re about to hear something very important. And here’s what he wants to tell all the Christians, the elders and the deacons. Let’s read verse 2)
“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Two things Paul wants to give the Christians, elders and deacons…GRACE & PEACE. These two go hand in hand whenever Paul writes a letter. In fact, Paul uses this phrase ‘GRACE AND PEACE’ to start off 10 of his letters as a greeting to the readers.
In Romans, 1st & 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st & 2nd Thessalonians and Titus Paul says, “Grace and Peace!”
ILLUSTRATION: From the time I was in 1st grade till I graduated High school I always took a sack lunch. Guess what I had EVERY day? 5 days a week, my lunch contained: Peanut Butter (creamy) & Jelly on white bread. With a small bag of Doritos, and a star crunch or Oatmeal cream pie along with a pint of Chocolate milk. I LOVE peanut butter and jelly. Guess what I had yesterday for lunch? Peanut Butter and Jelly! I never grow tired of it!
GRACE and PEACE go together like peanut butter and jelly. You can have one and it’s ok. But together, it just is better!
If we want to learn to LIVE life, (and that’s why we’re studying Philippians) then I would suggest these two things need to be a part of your daily living. So that’s where I’m coming from a little bit this morning…
First, lets talk about
2. GRACE
--GRACE
A lot of books have been written about God’s grace. A lot of songs have been written about God’s grace. God’s grace was fulfilled by the death of His son Jesus Christ on the cross. Grace is:
God’s Reward At Christ’s Expense
Grace is something so wonderful that it can’t be purchased, earned or deserved. It’s free. It’s for everyone. Only, not everyone receives it!
ILLUSTRATION: Kentucky Fried Chicken free meals. Not too long ago, Kentucky Fried Chicken was offering a free trial of their baked Chicken meal. All you had to do was go to this website and print off the free coupon.
Was the chicken for anyone? Yep! It was for EVERYONE! Were there conditions that needed to be met in order to receive the free Gift? Absolutely. You couldn’t just walk into KFC and say, “Hey…I heard you are giving away free chicken…I want some.” You had to meet the conditions in order to receive the free gift.
That’s how it is with God’s grace! Grace is the coupon to get into heaven. But you have to meet the conditions in order to get into heaven. You can’t just show up to heaven and tell God, “hey, I heard you’re giving away heaven…I want some.” You must meet the conditions in order to receive the free gift of heaven.
What are the conditions? How do I receive God’s grace?
Paul has all ready answered it for you. You have to become a SLAVE of Jesus Christ! And the reason that Paul is a slave of Jesus Christ is because He receives grace!
And if you want grace, you must become a slave to Jesus Christ! You have to live for Him. Serve Him. Love Him. Accept Him! And it starts by:
Hearing, believing, repenting, confessing, and being baptized into him!
Those are the conditions to receiving the free gift of Grace!!!!
HOW IT USED TO BE FOR PAUL…
That’s not how it used to be for Paul. It used to be, Paul was a Pharisee. He was trying to earn God’s favor by keeping the law and being a good person. He was a slave to the law. But one day Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus and it was there, that Paul became a SLAVE not to the law…but to Jesus Christ!
HOW IT IS FOR YOU?
Some of you are in the same boat as Paul was. You are a slave to your religion. You are a slave to your sin. You are a slave to your guilt. You are a slave to living just right.
And so what I want to give to you this morning, is the same that Paul wanted to give to the readers and Christians in Philippi - GRACE! For those who are burdened with sin and all the junk of their past -GRACE!
For those who are a slave to Jesus Christ - GRACE!
And then there’s the other side of it:
3. Peace.
To know the apostle Paul before He met Jesus was to know an angry man. A violent man. A very stern man in the defender of his religion. But after Paul met Jesus Christ, after he was humbled and became a slave of Jesus Christ, Paul starts writing these letters and talking about love, and patience, kindness, and gentleness.
Wow…what changed, Paul? You know what changed?
Paul became a slave of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ gave him peace! How so?
Jesus Christ gave Paul a purpose! All of a sudden, Paul wasn’t the one in control making decisions. His goal was now to live for Christ! There was no more pressure about succeeding or failing in life. There was no more pressure of having all the right answers in life or being put together perfectly.
All Paul did was ask: Where do you want me to go, Jesus? I’ll go do it! What do you want me to do? I’m available!
And what followed? PEACE!
Now for some of you, you are controlled by FEAR.
FEAR is in direct opposition to PEACE!
And we become a slave to Fear…fear controls us!
Fear of all of your broken relationships.
Fear of your past.
Fear of the future and what will happen? How will this work out?
Fear of sickness.
Fear of death.
Fear of being uncomfortable
Think about how many of us are controlled by that?
“Well I would love to give extra money this week, but what if I need that money?”
“I would love to go on a short term mission trip, but it’s just too hot…too expensive…too dangerous.”
Let me tell you, if you become a slave to Jesus Christ - PEACE! Jesus Christ is the giver of the peace that surpasses all understanding.
When the rest of the world is anxious about the future and the stock market and gas prices and the housing market and if the crops are going to get planted…PEACE!
So what do we learn? We learn that Jesus Christ is good! That if we become a slave of Jesus Christ, we have GRACE and we have PEACE.
What you need to answer this morning as we open up this whole topic of “how to live” is that if you really want to live, WHO is on the stool of your life? Is it you? If it is you, how is it going? Do you have grace? Do you have peace?
Because on the other side of our surrender to Jesus Christ is GRACE & PEACE!.
Let’s pray
“Father God, thank you so much for Jesus! Who was willing to come to earth to live to die. Thank you for raising him back to life that we might have eternal life! My prayer today is simple - for everyone of us in this room we have to do an evaluation of our life. That we will examine our lives and answer the question - Who is in control of our life? And my prayer is that each person would be able to say that JESUS CHRIST is lord and master over my life. And for those who cannot say that right now, that they may open up their hearts to find true grace and your true peace. For those who are Christians who are trying to solve the problem of life - teach us to enjoy the adventure. Thank you for your patience with us, and your enduring love that never fails. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ - our savior, our master, our Lord. AMEN
We come now to our time of decision…
