SHINING STARS (PART 3)
PHILIPPIANS 12:14-16
03/14/95
Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman, a famous evangelist once made note of how the New Testament tells of forty people, each suffering from the same disease who were healed by Jesus. Of this number thirty-four were either brought to Jesus by friends, or Jesus was taken to them by friends. Only six of the forty found their own way to Jesus without assistance.
Of the people today who find their way to Jesus, most of them find their way through a friend. Because those friends are concerned about their souls. That what is to shine like stars. To bring others to the light of the World through our light. We has Christians need to be bringing others to Jesus. Not only through our words but through our deeds, by shining in this dark world.
We are continuing our study of Philippians 2:14-16, as we look at the different aspects of shining like lights or as the NIV puts it, like stars. Let us turn again to that passage of Scripture, Philippians 2:14-16, which is 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."
Over the past two weeks we have noted from this passage different aspects of "shining as lights". From Paul’s comments here we have seen that
1. We are to do all things with murmuring or complaining. This will certainly take away from our ability to shine.
2. We are also to do all things without disputing. That is fighting among ourselves to the point of division.
3. We are to be children of God.
4. Not only Children of God but children of God who are blameless, that is not living what could be seen as an evil lifestyle.
5. And Children of God who are harmless, which is to say not repaying evil for evil, but evil with good, and not doing evil that good may come.
6. And all this must be done in the mist of a crooked and perverse generation. A world full of darkness.
So when we accomplish these things we can begin to shine like stars. We begin to reflect the light of the Son of God. We begin to draw people to this light as they take notice of this light shining in the darkness. Our light need to bring them Jesus, to the only hope that this world has.
We can think of ourselves as lighthouses in this world. Showing people the way to safety and hope. Which is found in Jesus and in Jesus alone.
Fundamental to our ability to shine as lights or stars is that we "hold fast that word of Life." As stated in verse 16 of our passage. In fact all the other things that we have mentioned over that last few week rest in the "word of Life". It is the word of life that instructs us how to work out our salvation. It is that word of live that teaches us the dangers of murmuring and complaining, as we saw in the example of the people of Israel as they wondered in the desert.
It is by the word of life that we see they folly of disputing among ourselves. And it is by this word of Life that we can become blameless, that we learn how do be blameless. It is by this word of life that we learn what is it is to be harmless. It is by this word of life that we learn how to shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation.
As we look at verse 16 in our passage today let us first define what the Word of Life" is. Understand the life comes from one place and one place only. Be it physical life or spiritual life. Life originates from God. It has its source in nothing else. In Genesis we see that all life was created by God, it is sustained by God. Scripture goes on to say that it is that God who also gives Spiritual life to those who place there trust in Christ. These are basic teaching of the Scriptures.
So the Word of life is the word of He who as given life, God. The Word of Life is the Word of God, the Bible. This is the word which we are to hold fast to. This is the word that we are o hold out to others.
So lets is look to the scripture as see the proper way to hold out this "word of life". I believe we can see the proper method by looking at a young priest in the Old Testament by the name of Ezra. Ezra had just returned from to Jerusalem from exile. Without getting to far into the events surrounding his return, Ezra 7:10 tells us;
"For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel."
In this verse we can see what is necessary to hold fast that word of God and it’s proper order.
1. To seek the Law of God, or His commands
2. To do it, or obey those commands
3. Teach those commands to others
So let us follow this example given to us. To hold fast the word of life we must first be diligent in its study. We cannot hold fast to that which we do not know. It can’t rely on something that I don’t know. We need to seek the Law of God. We need to know what he expects from us. We need to know how to please him.
We can’t play the game unless we know the rules. How many people here understand the game of Cricket played by the English? Not many. So from that information I can safely say that we could not have a church cricket fellowship. Why? Because we don’t know the rules. And far to many Christians don’t know God’s commands. They don’t know his laws. They don’t know His words.
And if you don’t know His words, you hold fast to them. There needs to a yearning for the word
of God on the part of the Christians,
1 Peter 2:2 "as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby"
As Peter states just as Babies desire milk, we need to desire the milk of the word. And just as if you take milk away from a baby that baby will not grow, if you take the word of God away from a Christian that Christian will not grow. There are quite a few Christian who are starving themselves. Because that are not "holding fast to the word’ they are not seeking the word of Life, the word of God.
We need to seek the word of God, and implant that Word in our hearts that we may know God’s
law, and obey it.
Psalms 119:11 "Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You."
Might I suggest reading Psalm 119 perhaps when you get home today, or sometime this week. Read it and you will see the importance of seeking God’s word.
Seeking God’s word means reading God’s word. We each need to spent time daily in the Word of God. You cannot get the spiritual nourishment you need just by hearing a sermon once a week. We
need to each be reading the word of God daily.
We need to realize that diligent study of the word is very necessary. listen to the words Paul writes to Timothy 2 Timothy 2:14-15 "Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
If we do not seek the word of God, it can lead to what Paul states is the "ruin of the hearers". Which is to say those who do not know the Word of God as they should, and go around pretending they do will lead other to confusion and disputes. We need to be able to "rightly divide the word of Truth", so that we may lead others to God.
Back in Connecticut I can recall an election for president of one of the local VFW. One of those running for the office was a man who had changed his physical body to that of a woman. This of course did not go over to well with some of the members. But I remember reading a story on this in the newspaper, and the quoted one of the member as saying, "Well you know what the Bible says live and let live."
Now I don’t know where that saying comes from but I do now this, it does not come from the Bible. God does not say live and live. And there are many times when people supposedly, "quote the Bible" with words that are not found in the Bible.
So we need to be diligent students of the Bible. Seeking God’s laws. Meditating on the day and night. Feeding on them, implanting them in our hearts. When we do this, then we can begin to hold fast the word of Life.
The second thing which is necessary in holding fast the word of Life as noted by Ezra is we are to do the word of God. We are to obey His word. We are to apply the Word of God in a consistent manner. It is not just enough to hear the word, or just to read the Word we must put it into practice.
James 1:22-25 "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."
There are dangers in not being doers of the word.
1. We deceive ourselves- v.22 We begin to think we are were God wants us. And when we fail to be doers of the word as well as hearers we are the only ones who are fooled.
a. We don’t fool God. He knows are hearts b. We don’t fool the devil. When we are hearers of the word only we are right where the devil wants us.
2. When we are hearers of the Word only we deprive ourselves of the true blessings of God’s word. As verse 25 stated, we will be blessed when we put the Word of God into action by our works. As those NIKE adds tells us, JUST DO IT!
Something we need to realize in being just a hearer of the Word and not a doer is that the Christian community already as enough "Pharisees".
Matthew 23:1-3 "Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. "Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do."
We don’t need anymore Christians telling others how to act, we need more Christians to act the way they telling others to. The Pharisees which Jesus was speaking of, what they were saying was correct, their problem was the failed to practice what they preached. Much like many of today’s Christians.
So many of us know the responsibilities of the Christian. But so few of us act on them. There are far to many hearers only. We need more doers.
The last thing we see which is necessary for holding out the word of life from Ezra 7;10, is that we need to teach the word of God to others.
A word of caution here. This last thing can only come after the first two. We cannot teach the word of God if we have learned it ourselves. We cannot effectively teach the Word of God if we do not live it ourselves. To many people try to do this way. For teaching the Word of God is the natural followup to the study and application of the Word of Life. We saw this is that passage in Ezra. He wanted to seek the law of God, do the law of God, then teach it to the rest of the Israelites.
We need to understand that as people of God proclaiming the "word of life" or teaching the Word of life, is our primary function.
1 Peter 2:9-10 "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy."
We are responsible to "proclaim the praise of Him". Proclaim the praises of the one who has given us eternal life. Proclaim the one who has rescued us out of the darkness, and brought us into his light.
This just another way of saying that we are teach others about the wonderful salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. We are called to "hold out" that salvation to others. It is not an option. It’s a command.
Each person here who knows the Lord Jesus as their personal saviour is responsible to "hold our the Word of life to other" to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are responsible to teach others of the Good News of Jesus Christ.
So there it is. The hows, the whys and the what fors of shining like stars in a crooked and perverse generation. Now I am calling on you to begin to shine as you should. We have to many dim lights in the Christian church. To many lights that are not piercing the darkness of this world, but are themselves living in that darkness.
And I willing to say that the reason so few Christians shine as they should is because they have not done the things we see Ezra doing.
They have not sought God’s word. How many of you read the Bible on a daily basis. How many of you spent time with God every day. Do you seek God.
And what you do know of the Bible how many of you apply it in your lives. How many of you JUST DO IT. How many are hearers of the word only and not doers. How many are deceiving themselves into thinking I am doing what God wants, I’m OK. How many of us are right where the devil wants us.
And finally how many of us our proclaiming the praises of Him who has called us out of our darkness. How many of us even know how. Can each person here explain what one needs to do to be saved. Or what one has to be saved from. Can we each example the gospel message the we are separated from God because of our sin and without Christ we cannot hope to have eternal life.
Or have we neglected seeking God, and being a doer of the Word to the point that we cannot even teach others about our wonderful salvation.
We all need to shine. We all need to begin to get excited about the Lord and what He has done for us.
Sometimes I feel well maybe I am being a little to hard on you people. Sometimes I worry about hurting someone’s feelings. But I want you to ask yourself, when is the last time a invited someone to church? When is the last time a shared Jesus with someone? When is the last time you let the light that is in you shine into this dark world in which we live?
SHALL WE PRAY
