It had been a hard winter in the Appalachian area. The snow had piled up deeper and deeper, the mercury dropped, rivers froze, people suffered. The Red Cross was using helicopters to fly in supplies to residents. One crew had been working day after day--long hours. They were on their way home late in the afternoon when they saw a little cabin submerged in the snow. There was a thin whisper of smoke coming from the chimney. The team figured the people in the cabin were probably about out of food, fuel, perhaps medicine. Because of the trees they had to put the helicopter down a mile away. They put on heavy packs with emergency supplies, trudged through heavy snow, waist deep, reached the cabin exhausted, panting, perspiring. They pounded on the door. A thin, gaunt mountain woman opened the door and the lead man gasped, "We're from the Red Cross." She was silent for a moment and then she said, "It's been a hard winter, Sonny. I just don't think we can give anything this year!
Now, if I tell you we’re going to introduce a series from Philippians on giving today, that may be exactly what you’re saying – “Sonny, I just don’t think we can give any more!” Don’t close the door yet. Talking about giving in the church isn’t just a drive to get more and more. It’s really an effort to help us all realign our priorities to match God’s priorities – not just with our money, but with all of our resources.
How’s that working for you? Someone once said, “Unsure of our direction, we double our speed.” Wow, what could better describe the current direction and speed of our culture? – unsure of the direction, and getting there faster and faster. Until once in a while, someone finally collapses under the weight and says, “Something’s gotta give!”
We all have just so many chips to play. We can’t do everything. That’s true of every one of us as individuals, and it’s true of us as a church body. We have to decide what we’ll do with our personal resources. My list is like your list. It doesn’t all get finished. No, there’s not enough time, not enough money, not enough energy, not enough emotion to do everything on the list. Something has to give. And we show what has priority in our lives by what gets our emotion, energy, money, and time, don’t we?
Philippians is one of 4 letters that Paul writes from a Roman prison. He’s waiting to go on trial, and could easily be executed as a result. Instead of sulking and whining about it, Paul writes this letter to the Christians of Philippi to encourage them. It’s so full of commands and comments about joy, that we call it “The epistle of joy.”
Philippians is also a thank-you letter about offerings they had taken up to help Paul. I find it interesting that the letter that has the most to say about being full of joy also has a lot to say about giving. In fact, over these next 4 weeks, we’re going to keep looking into Philippians and we’re going to call it “Giving ‘Till We Laugh.”
You heard right. There’s just nothing about the pain of giving in Philippians. There’s plenty about the need to be unselfish and to have a mindset that’s focused on giving, but there just isn’t much about how miserable we’re supposed to be as we do that!
One of the first ways to secure the joy of giving is to be sure that we have priorities worked through. In fact, that’s one message I’d like us to see in the book of Philippians this morning: Genuine joy involves a personal decision to have godly priorities.
Some things have to receive priority over others, and Paul helps highlight what those are either by command or by his example in this letter. I find 5 of them. As we highlight each one, do some self-inventory and ask yourself if these are the priorities that mark your world. We show our priorities by what we do with our time, money, energy, emotions, and thoughts. When it comes to choices, something has to give. What is it?
The first priority is that of…
1. Evangelism over Ego
Philippians 1:12-19 Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.
(stop there)
Quote - T. S. Eliot in Murder in the Cathedral. “The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”
Can you picture it? There were some people who were preaching while Paul was in prison, hoping somehow to cause grief for Paul. He could have let it get to him. He could have defended himself. He could have called on the faithful followers to put an end to it and protect his good reputation. Instead…
(v18) But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.
In other words, Paul cared more that people would know Jesus than that he would look good in peoples’ eyes.
Let’s make this simpler. There’s a priority problem when we care more about what people think of us than we care about them going to Heaven. That will have a bearing on all kinds of things – maybe the car we drive and how we dress – things we do to try to look good. It will tend to focus us on externals that really aren’t important. And every one of them is us, saying in effect: “I care more about how I look or sound to others than whether or not they live forever in Heaven.”
It really is a matter of priorities. How often have I held back from saying something that needed to be said because of the risk – you know what I’m talking about – the risk that the waitress might think you were a fanatic because you asked her if she has a church family, or the risk that your child’s teacher might label you “out there” because you actually suggested he could visit your small group study, or the risk that your neighbor might say “no” when you invite her to Christmas Eve services this year. When we let that stop us from saying what’s dying to said, we’ve mixed up priorities.
Evangelism and Ego don’t fit together. There’s not enough room for both. Something has to give.
2. Heaven over Here
Philippians 1:21-26 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.
Quote - William H. Willimon – “Despite the quest for wellness, risk-assessment analysis, and the good works of Ralph Nader, nobody has yet created a way to make life last forever. You and I will die. So we might as well get on with the only really pressing business there is: figuring out how to die well. If religion can help with that, it's interesting. If it can't, it's as bland as a bowl of wet, cold oat bran.”
I’m not sure how much I agree with that. Paul says we’re not just here to die well, and the church’s business isn’t religion. Our business is life.
In other words to die would be “gain” (v21) and would be “better by far” (v23)
2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
Have you given Heaven priority over “here”?
What about the way we live announces to those around us that, when we die, we’re actually expecting it to be a gain? How many of us live like we expect being gone from this life to be “better by far”?
What’s getting your time? your thoughts?
Where are you energies going? Are you laying up treasure in Heaven?
Heaven and “here” don’t fit together. Something has to give.
3. Service over Self
The focus and priorities of magazines has followed the trend over the years. First there was Life Magazine, then it narrowed to People. Then USA Today (which keeps “we,” but excludes the “them”). Self was the next title of interest. I can imagine that the next and most narrow magazine will have to be named Me.
Joke - A farmer was single and wanted a wife. His Newspaper ad read: "Man 35, wants woman about 25, with tractor. Send picture of tractor." Jesus calls us to serve others.
Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
This priority is when we say, “I would benefit from this, but your well-being matters to me. I have to share.”
It’s in these verses that we read how Jesus demonstrated this priority for us. He placed you ahead of Himself. It’s also later in this chapter that we read about Paul’s companions, Timothy and Epaphroditus. It’s obvious that having these young guys around to help him was a real blessing to Paul. But he is saying, in effect, “I would benefit from them, but your well-being matters to me.” So he’s sending them to help the Philippians. It was another way of saying that he had given service priority over self.
Ill - F. W. Borham - "The highest art in dominoes lies in matching your companion's pieces. Is he glad? It's a great thing to be able to rejoice with those who rejoice. Is he sad? It is a great thing to be able to weep with those who weep. It means, of course, that if you answer the challenge every time, it won't be long before your dominoes are gone. But it is worth remembering that victory in dominoes does not lie in accumulation, but in exhaustion. The player who is left with empty hands wins everything."
And now, we have hundreds of opportunities every week to put others above ourselves. It’s as minor as holding a door for someone and as major as making a huge financial sacrifice for someone else’s good.
Ill - 1994 Thurman Thomas, head bowed in his hands covering his face, sits on the Buffalo bench following his team's fourth straight Super Bowl loss. His 3 fumbles had helped seal Buffalo’s fate. He looks up, and standing before him is the Dallas Cowboys' star running back, Emmitt Smith. Smith has just been named MVP for Super Bowl XXVIII, and he’s carrying his small goddaughter. Smith looks down at her and says, "I want you to meet the greatest running back in the NFL, Mr. Thurman Thomas." That’s how you hold someone else as better than yourself.
This isn’t a gas station. Self and service don’t fit together. Something has to give.
4. Faith over Flesh
Paul begins chapter 3 by talking about all his earthly credentials – the things that he once regarded as his ticket into heaven. He was a super Jew – a law-keeper to the hilt, but now that he quit trusting his own achievements and started trusting in Jesus, listen to how he felt about those things.
Philippians 3:7-11 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
All earthly status and achievement was rubbish in light of having Jesus as Lord. Paul was putting priority in faith over flesh.
Quote - There are only 2 kinds of religion in the world ... You can list every "ism," every cult, every religion in southern California under one category. They all say, "Do, do, do." Only Christianity says, "Done." Christ has done it all.
The church needs help with this. In downtown Vienna, there are several very old, beautiful church buildings, the most famous of which is St. Stephens. It’s huge. When I tried to take a picture of it, It was too tall to fit into the frame. The inside is huge and ornate – full of beautiful craftsmanship. But that’s where it ends. Tourists come from all over the world to see it, but the atmosphere was more like Cherryvale Mall than one of worship!
We all need to examine this. We might dress up, make sure we’re physically present, be able to list the 12 Apostles, the 10 Commandments, the 8 sons of Jesse, the 7 churches of Asia Minor, the 6 days of creation, and the 4 Spiritual Laws, but what’s going on inside is what matters to the Lord!
Ill - Whenever someone comes with a desire to be re-baptized, I don’t ask them, “What were you wearing? What kind of water was it? Where did it happen? What time of day was it?” I ask: “What was going on inside of you? What was happening to your soul? Did you do this because of faith? What unseen work was God doing that makes it important?” In other words, what was behind your actions? Where was your belief in Christ? Was this a matter of faith, or just going through motions?
Later in this 3rd chapter, Paul contrasts these 2 priorities for us:
Philippians 3:17-21 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Faith and flesh won’t fit together. Something has to give.
5. Relationships over Rat-race
This letter is full of people: Timothy, Epaphroditus, others who preach, evil workers, Euodia, Syntyche, Clement, “The rest of my fellow workers”, all the saints, esp. those of Caesar’s household.
While Paul was “taking care of business” in this letter, the business was people and relationships. He could have kept it formal and just talked about business sounding things. Instead, he riddles it with people, his personal feelings, and his personal joys and struggles. In the church our “business” is people. And in our personal lives, people and relationships are what matter and deserve priority over the rat race.
Every thing in life boils down to this. All created things work toward this. The 2 greatest commandments are about RELATIONSHIPS. 1. Love the Lord your God, 2. Love your neighbor.
II Cor 5:5 says that God has made us for this very purpose: to have an eternal relationship with Him. And from that relationship comes our reason for relationships with each other. That’s why, in Acts 2:42, one of the 4 big practices of the first church was fellowship.
Yet, we too often race out of here before checking up on each other. Or, we never have contact with each other for 6 more days until the next Sunday. Families find it easy to skip meals together – after all, everyone’s too busy.
Take a look at where your time goes. Try to answer if you’re giving your relationships priority over the race.
The rat-race is murder on relationships. There’s not room for both. Something has to give.
Conclusion:
There they are. How did you do? Remember, there are a few specific ways to answer if you’re showing godly priorities in your life.
What are you doing with your time?
What are you doing with your money? your energy?
What are you doing with your thoughts?
How are you employing your personal resources?
The reason for asking those questions gets back to this whole concept of joy. Genuine joy involves a personal decision to have godly priorities.
Jesus set the ultimate example of this when He went to the cross. It wasn’t just to be an example, but it certainly showed what He held to be most important. He wasn’t here to be comfortable or to please Himself. He said that He came not be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom.
Hebrews 12:2-3
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Do you realize that you were Jesus’ priority? You were the joy set before Him. Jesus counted having you with Him forever to be a higher priority than His own comfort, security, even life.
If you and I were going to be allowed into Heaven, something had to give. Someone had to give. We blew the only other way long ago.
Good news: Someone did give! Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. Now, it’s up to each of us to respond to that gift and receive it as our own. Until we do, it’s of no use to us.
John 1:12-13
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
