SHINING STARS (PART 2)
PHILIPPIANS 2:14-16
03/08/95
Most of you are aware of that I happen to like Christian contemporary music. One of the groups that I particularly like is a group called the Newsboys. As I was listening to their songs I noticed that one would fit in well with what I am trying to get across in our series of sermons on being shining stars. In order to save myself any embarrassment I will quote portions of the song, rather then sing then to you.
"Dull as dirt you can’t assert the kind of light that might persuade a strict dictator to retire, fire the army, teach the poor origami. And try as you may there isn’t a way to explain the kind of change that would make an Eskimo renounce fur that would make a vegetarian barbecue hamster, unless you trace this about-face to a certain sign"
Then chorus of the song which goes, "SHINE Make’em wonder what you got, Make’em wish that they were not on the outside looking bored, SHINE let it shine before all men, let’em see good works and then, let’em glorify the Lord."
While the song may be looked at as somewhat humorous, the point that it is making is the same point Paul is making in the passage of scripture we currently looking at.
Before we go any further lets turn to that passage Phil. 2:14-16. Page 1017 in your pew Bibles;
"Do all things without murmuring and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain."
Both the song and the passage speak of the need to see radical change, change that would make dictators fire their army, vegetarians barbecue hamster, and Eskimos give up fur. Change the would make sinful men become blameless , evil men become harmless. Change that make us want to shine before men, not that people can see hope wonderful we are, but so that God can be glorified. Change that comes with our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and saviour. Both speak of the need to shine in a world that is full of darkness.
There are far to many Christians who are not shining as lights, or as stars as the NIV puts it. Statistics show that 95% of all born again Christians have not lead anyone to the Lord. That is not what Christ had in mind when He called on all of us to go forth and make disciples of all nations. We need to shine.
As we noted a couple of weeks of go that beginning of this shining comes through working our own salvation, through obedience to the Lord. And God gives us not only hope but assurance that we can be successful because as Phil. 2:13 states He is working in us. Last week we noted two things that prevent us from shining as stars, murmuring or complaining, and fighting amongst ourselves.
So let us know look at verse 15 as Paul reveals to us how to shine as stars. He notes three things in this verse. We are to be
1. Blameless
2. Harmless
3 Children of God
These are three things Paul states must be present if we are to shine as we should.
The first one I wish to point out is that we must first be children of God. Now there are those who say that all people are children of God. But scripture reveals that this just is not true. Only those who have received the Holy Spirit through their profession of faith in Christ, can be called the Children of God.
Romans 8:14-17 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."
Galatians 3:26 "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." Of course sons of God meaning children of God.
So the first step in shining as stars is having a personal relationship with Christ. When we profess Him as our saviour scriptures tells us we begin to walk in his light and not the darkness of the world.
But here Paul is telling us that it is not enough just to be a Christian. It is not enough to just be Children of God. While it is enough to get you into heaven, it is not enough to shine as lights or stars.
In others words talk is cheap! Anyone can say they are Christian, but Paul states in order to shine as we should we need to be blameless and harmless Christians. We need to practice that which we preach.
But what does it mean to be blameless or harmless? Does it mean that we are to live perfect lives? Does it mean that we are to be door mats and never say a peep about wrongs done to us?
Let’s take a look first of all what it means to be blameless. The Greek word Paul uses here for "blameless" is "am’-emp-tos" which basically means, "free from fault of defect". In other word’s Paul is saying that there should be no obvious fault found in us. It certainly does not mean that we do not sin.
1 John 1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." To put this another way is to say that we are not perfect, just forgiven. We all sin. But it is when we let that sin control our lives, when we let it go unconfessed, when we let it become part of who we are, it is then when we are no longer blameless.
What Paul is saying is that we are to live in such a way that those who oppose have "nothing evil to say about us".
Titus 2:7-8 "in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you."
This is what it is to live blamelessly. showing a life of good works, knowing doctrine or the word of God, having integrity and sound speech, which is to say not cursing, being vulgar. The person who lives like this well indeed shine as a star in this dark world.
We must live blamelessly lest we be found to be hypocrites, living inconsistent lives buy preaching one thing and living another. For no man will trust or believe a hypocrite. No will take our message of Christ seriously if we do not live that message ourselves.
Now let’s look at what it means to be harmless. In the verse Paul uses the Greek word ack-er-ah-yos. Which in this context basically means, "without mixture of evil or innocent".
This word is only used three times in the New Testament, in Matthew 10:16 Where Jesus tell his disciples, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and
harmless as doves.
Then again in Romans 16:19 where Paul writes, "For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil."
And in verse 15 of our passage.
So from these three instances we can see that the word denote that we;
1. Are to be free from any taint or suspicion of evil. What we do should be looked at as coming from love and not hate, from good and not evil.
2. That we should not be accused of saying one thing and meaning another. Or two faced.
3. There should be no fear of us that we may cause harm to someone, or be violent to those who oppose us.
We should be as Christ taught harmless as doves. The dove to us symbolize peace. That is also what the Christian be a symbol of, peace.
Do be harmless means that although we oppose abortion we should not go around killing doctors, who perform abortion, or the people who work for them. That is not being harmless in any sense of the word.
Listen to Romans 2:23-24 "You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," as it is written."
Though Paul writes this to believing Jews who were being inconsistent, this same rebuke can be applied to some Christians. Being harmless does not mean trying to change people to our way of thinking through violent means. Paul states our reaction to evil should not be to repay evil with evil but repay evil with good.
Romans 12:17-21 "Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. "Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
That is what is to be harmless Christians. We are to love our enemies they way the Lord Jesus taught us to. We are to never do evil that good may come.
So that is what it is to be blameless and harmless. And when we accomplish those things, and keep in mind that it is God who will work those things in us, we can "shine as lights" or "as stars". So let us take a minute and look at the words Paul is using here.
I made mention of the Septuagint last week. You may recall that it is a Ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament. This most likely would have been the translation both Paul and our Lord Jesus would have been familiar with.
Now the word Paul uses here for "lights" or "stars" as the NIV translates it, means literally "ill-um-in-aries". And it is the same word in found in the Septuagint in Genesis 1:14 & 16.
I would like to read those two verses to you.
Genesis 1:14 "Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;"
Genesis 1:16 "Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also."
So this is the type of light which Paul states we ought to be. A light which can be seen by all men. That is the life of Christian, one the shines, one that pierces the darkness of this world. In Genesis we see reference to the sun and moon. We all know that it is the moon which reflects the light of the sun.
We also need to reflect the light of the Son, the Son of God. He is the one who gives us this light. We are a reflection of Him when we are obedient and follow His example.
We are to be light to other people that they themselves might enter into the light which is Jesus Christ.
Romans 2:19 "and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness," People need to see the radiance of God’s Son in us, we need to shine.
Listen to the words of our Saviour as he taught on this very subject. Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
Again we see that our light needs to be bright and be seen by all people. Light is useless unless it dispels darkness. When we shine we are like city on a hill, something which cannot be hidden.
And when we murmur and complain, when we fight with one another, when we do not live blameless and harmless lives, it is at those times when we place our light under a basket. We make our light useless.
So we need to shine. Why? So that men can see the good works we do in the Lord and give glory to our Father in heaven.
You see we need to shine as lights because we live in what Paul calls a "crooked and perverse generation." The world was an evil place in Paul’s day, and it remains a perverse and evil place today. We live in a world that is very desperate for light, a world which is full of darkness.
We live in what some theologians are calling a "post-Christian culture". What they are saying is that what was once considered to be the norm as far as morality goes, is no longer accepted by the majority.
For example the majority of the people no longer believe the absolute teaching of the Scripture, it was quite normal in our society for every one to attend church, this is no longer the case. It was once the norm for people to accept the morality of God as taught in the Scripture, this is not longer true.
We live in culture where things such divorce, adultery, fornication, living together without marriage, homosexuality, are all accepted without question.
Up until less then fifty years ago we called these things sin, know we call them alternative lifestyles. Those who still hold to the morality in the Bible are called religious fanatics, old fashion, or homophobic. What was the norm then is no longer the norm now.
We indeed live in a crooked and perverse generation. A generation where we must shine like lights, shine like stars that all men may see, and flee from the darkness and flee toward the light.
As I stated earlier light does not do any good unless it is used to dispel light. That means we need to be a light in the world, not a light just to ourselves. Light is only good in darkness, is no good in a light.
I think of the question I like to ask, "If you are in a car traveling the speed of light and you turn on your headlights, does it do any good?"
If you a Christian and you only act like a Christian around other Christians, if you only let the light of Jesus shine around others who are shining does it do any good? NO!!
We need to shine into the world. We are to be separate from the world, but not isolated from it. We are to in the world but not of the world. In this regard we can look at the word’s of the Lord Jesus in John 17:15 "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world."
He has sent us into the world, that we should reflect the light of the world which is Jesus Christ.
So we have seen that we are commanded to shine as stars, or as lights into a crooked and perverse generation. As we can from this verse there are three things by which we must focus our attention.
1. In order to shine we must be children of God, for children of God are children of the light, as Eph 5:8 tells us. To shine we must first know Lord Jesus as our personal Saviour.
2. We must not only be children of God, but if we hope to shine we must act like children of God. We must be blameless, giving no reason for people to speak evil of us. WE must also be harmless, not repaying evil for evil, but repaying evil with good, and not doing evil that good may come.
3. And the final focus of this verse is we need to let our lights shine into a dark world, or else our light is pointless. We need to let others see the light of Christ in us.
Please allow me to close this sermon just as I opened it by reading to you from that song by the Newsboys. Keep these words in mind as you seek to shine for the Lord,
"SHINE Make’em wonder what you got, Make’em wish that they were not on the outside looking bored, SHINE let it shine before all men, let’em see good works and then, let’em glorify the Lord."
SHALL WE PRAY
