WORSHIP IS NOT WORK
(Father’s Day) June 20, 2010
Philippians 3:1-3
INTRODUCTION:
I want to show you a little video made by our Student Minister, Josh Cooper.
Show Video
Hudson Lawrence Cooper, 6 pounds, 15 ounces and 19 inches long came into this world on June 8, 2010. And Nicole’s and Josh’s lives will never, ever be the same. Hudson is their first child and that makes this day pretty special for Josh. It’s the first Father’s Day where he’s the father.
And when you become a father everything changes in your life. (Not just the diapers). Everything.
The sporty little car is replaced with a minivan, in Josh’s case the “mini” Cooper, goes in the minivan. Guys night out becomes a trip to Chuck E. Cheese. The Harley Fat Boy magically turns into a ’76 Goldwing (yes, it still stings). According to one expert, children go through four stages of dealing with their fathers. In stage one, they call you da-da. In stage 2 they grow and call you daddy. As they mature and reach stage 3 they call you dad. Finally in stage 4 they call you collect.
But regardless of the sacrifices, regardless of the collect calls and broken hearts, there is no greater joy or privilege than being a father.
And from the salutation to the benediction, Paul’s letter to the Philippians is a letter of joy. Even though it’s written from prison the joy of fatherhood permeates every word that flows from the Apostle’s pen.
On his second missionary journey Paul had answered a visionary call from a man in Macedonia saying, “Come over…and help us.” (Acts 16:9, 10). And Paul responded to that vision. He traveled to Philippi and birthed the first church in Macedonia.
They were his spiritual children. He was their spiritual father and this letter is one of the most beautiful examples of that kind of relationship in the New Testament. This letter celebrates a relationship between their missionary father and his children in the faith. His sacrifices, even prison, are for their benefit, and their growth as mature followers of Jesus is the Apostle’s goal.
“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this…that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:3-6).
His spiritual children are growing in Philippi, and Paul knows that joy as a spiritual father. And He wants to keep His children on the right track as they worship Jesus. That’s why he tells them…
I. Joy is the Foundation for our Worship
“Finally my brothers, rejoice in the Lord!”
One of the most famous scriptures on joy is found in this letter. Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice.”
This is one of the most important spiritual truths we can understand in Christ, and teach our children: “The Joy of the Lord is our strength.” Joy is the foundation for our worship! Therefore it will be one of the first areas the enemy attacks. That’s why the Apostle Paul tells his Philippian children these words from Philippians 2:12-16, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” It has nothing to do with earning God’s grace. It has everything to do with joy. It is understanding that God is working in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.
Complaining and arguing steals our joy. It comes about because we think getting our own way buys happiness. It’s exactly how everyone in this crooked and depraved generation thinks.
It’s not our way that buys joy. It’s understanding that God is working for our good, no matter what the circumstances. Trusting His providence, even in prison or pain. It allows God’s children to be different in this world of selfishness. “To shine like stars in the universe as we hold out the Word of Life.”
Joy is hard won. It’s a battle between selfishness and surrender, and this world can plainly see who’s winning in the battle. If complaining and arguing become our companions, Satan is victorious. If joy wins, God shines through us.
“Joy is like the hidden note in the glass. Joy is tuning in to what God is doing around you, seeing the world through his eyes, picking up on his delight in us as his children. Anyone can find happiness for a while. Happiness depends on what is happening to you. Joy is different; joy goes deeper. Joy is when your whole being sings because you have caught a glimpse of God at work. Joy can creep up on you and surprise you in unexpected places.”
In “Decision,” Joni Eareckson Tada writes:
Honesty is always the best policy, but especially when you’re surrounded by a crowd of women in a restroom during a break at a Christian women’s conference. One woman, putting on lipstick, said, “Oh, Joni, you always look so together, so happy in your wheelchair. I wish that I had your joy!” Several women around her nodded. “How do you do it?” she asked as she capped her lipstick.
“I don’t do it,” I said. “In fact, may I tell you honestly how I woke up this morning?”
“This is the average day,” I breathed deeply. “After my husband, Ken, leaves for work at 6:00 a.m., I am alone until I hear the front door open at 7:00 a.m. That’s when a friend arrives to get me up. “While I listen to her make coffee, I pray, ‘Oh, Lord, my friend will soon give me a bath, get me dressed, sit me up in my chair, brush my hair and teeth, and send me out the door. I don’t have the strength to face this routine one more time. I have no resources. I don’t have a smile to take into the day. But you do. May I have yours? God, I need you desperately.”
“So, what happens when your friend comes through the bedroom door?” one of them asked.
“I turn my head toward her and give her a smile sent straight from heaven. It’s not mine. It’s God’s. And so,” I said, gesturing to my paralyzed legs, “whatever joy you see today was hard won this morning.”
I have learned that the weaker we are, the more we need to lean on God; and the more we lean on God, the stronger we discover Him to be.”
This is the message the Apostle Paul was trying to communicate to His Philippian children, and to us from a prison cell. “It is no trouble for me to write the same thing to you again. And it is a safeguard for you. “
Joy is the foundation for our worship. And it’s a battle that takes place in our hearts and minds all week long. Sometimes that battle for joy is hard won!
II. Watch Out for Those Dogs
“Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus and who put no confidence in the flesh.”
When Paul uses the word “dogs” here he is not referring to your gentle Labrador retriever house pet. He’s talking about scavenging packs that plagued the cities. Sort of like we think about rats. It’s not a complimentary term of endearment. It’s like he’s saying, “They’re a bunch of weasels!”
In the Apostle’s absence some extremely dangerous false teaching had entered the church through men who said, “In order to have a right relationship with God through Christ you must first meet the requirements to become a Jew, including the old covenant rite of circumcision.”
In Genesis 17 God made a covenant with Abraham to be His God, and Abraham and all his descendants and their households would be God’s chosen people to demonstrate God’s goodness to all the other nations. The sign of those who belonged to this covenant was circumcision. All male descendants of Abraham (and their servants) who were 8 days old would be circumcised to indicate they were among God’s covenant people.
And there were teachers in Philippi that said, “Before you can experience the grace of Jesus you must be obedient to this law.”
Paul calls these teachers “dogs,” evildoers and mutilators of the flesh because they had turned circumcision into a requirement for a right relationship with Jesus.
Someone tells about a wealthy man’s wife, who was dying. She was a very wise lady, and her last wish was to have a portrait of her painted. But she wanted the painter to paint a tremendously large diamond ring on her finger. The diamond on that ring, if it had been real, would have cost more than the husband’s entire fortune.
Soon after she died, her husband got engaged to a young girl half his age. Before she would marry him, she required that he give her the diamond ring in the painting of his wife. The diamond ring, in American culture, is a sign of an existing intimate relationship moving toward marriage. But when the ring becomes a requirement for a relationship to move toward marriage, wisdom would suggest you don’t have a right and healthy relationship.
In the same way, the Judaizers turned the sign into a requirement when they required the Christians at Philippi Community Christian Church to be circumcised in order to have a right relationship with God. Paul responds to the false teaching by returning circumcision to its proper place, as a sign of a right relationship with God and not a requirement for a right relationship with God. In fact, Paul points out how he possessed all the outward signs of a right relationship with God, but he warns the Philippians that outward signs are not guarantees for relational and inward realities.
Just because you smile and say you’re fine on Sunday morning doesn’t mean you didn’t argue with your kids or spouse all the way from your home to church this morning. Just because you serve in the church or know the Christian terms doesn’t mean that you are in God’s will or you are growing in godly wisdom. And just because you carry a Bible and attend church does not obligate God to forgive your sins and give you eternal life in Heaven.
You see, we have a real habit in churches of making the ring more important than the relationship.
Baptism becomes a duty which saves us instead of a death, burial and resurrection into a new relationship.
We begin to believe that God loves us when we do good things and work really hard in the church. And all of a sudden we are doing these things to get to heaven and our relationship with Jesus through His Holy Spirit is non-existent.
We wear the ring, but completely ignore the groom, and worship becomes work instead of a love affair.
That’s why the Apostle Paul ends this section with Philippians 3:4-11
It was Paul’s relationship with Jesus that gave him confidence, not his works or his history. Everything was rubbish in comparison to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus as His Lord.
Righteousness would come by faith. It was from God. It flowed from a heart that wanted to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.
Worship, thanksgiving, and joy flow through this relationship. The Apostle Paul had been healed, even with thorns in His flesh. The joy of this graceful relationship flowed through every part of his body.
Tony Campolo tells a story about being in a church in Oregon where he was asked to pray for a man who had cancer. Campolo prayed boldly for the man’s healing.
That next week he got a telephone call from the man’s wife. She said, “You prayed for my husband. He had cancer.” Campolo thought when he heard her use the past tense verb that his cancer has been eradicated! But before he could think much about it she said, “He died.” Campolo felt terrible.
But she continued, “Don’t feel bad. When he came into that church that Sunday he was filled with anger. He knew he was going to be dead in a short period of time, and he hated God. He was 58 years old, and he wanted to see his children and grandchildren grow up. He was angry that this all-powerful God didn’t take away his sickness and heal him. He would lie in bed and curse God. The more his anger grew toward God, the more miserable he was to everybody around him. It was an awful thing to be in his presence.
But the lady told Campolo, “After you prayed for him, a peace had come over him and a joy had come into him. Tony, the last three days have been the best days of our lives. We’ve sung. We’ve laughed. We’ve read Scripture. We prayed. Oh, they’ve been wonderful days. And I called to thank you for laying your hands on him and praying for healing.”
And then she said something incredibly profound. She said, “He wasn’t cured, but he was healed.”
We all want to be cured, but what we really need is to be healed. And Jesus is Jehovah Ropha “The Lord that heals.”
Max Lucado writes:
I have everything I need for joy!” Robert Reed said. His hands are twisted and his feet are useless. He can’t bathe himself. He can’t feed himself. He can’t brush his teeth, comb his hair, or put on his underwear. Strips of Velcro hold his shirts together. His speech drags like a worn out audiocassette. Robert has cerebral palsy.
The disease keeps him from driving a car, riding a bike, and going for a walk. But it didn’t keep him from graduating from high school or attending Abilene Christian University, from which he graduated with a degree in Latin. Having cerebral palsy didn’t keep him from teaching at St. Louis Junior College or from venturing overseas on five mission trips.
And Robert’s disease didn’t prevent him from becoming a missionary in Portugal.
He moved to Lisbon, alone, in 1972. There he rented a hotel room and began studying Portuguese. He found a restaurant owner who would feed him after the rush hour and a tutor who would instruct him in the language.
Then he stationed himself daily in a park, where he distributed brochures about Christ. Within six years he led seventy people to the Lord, one of whom became his wife, Rosa.
I heard Robert speak recently. I watched other men carry him in his wheelchair onto the platform. I watched them lay a Bible in his lap. I watched his stiff fingers force open the pages. And I watched people in the audience wipe away tears of admiration from their faces. Robert could have asked for sympathy or pity, but he did just the opposite. He held his bent hand up in the air and boasted, “I have everything I need for joy.”
His shirts are held together by Velcro, but his life is held together by joy.
May our children see lives held together by joy instead of the Velcro this world offers!
Let’s pray.
