INTRO.- ILL.- The story is told about a monastery in Portugal, perched high on a 3,000-foot cliff and accessible only by a terrifying ride in a swaying basket. The basket is pulled with a single rope by several strong men, perspiring under the strain of the fully loaded basket. One American tourist who visited the site got nervous halfway up the cliff when he noticed that the rope was old and frayed. Hoping to relieve his fear he asked, "How often do you change the rope?" The monk in charge replied, "Whenever it breaks!"
Brothers and sisters, how safe are you in life? That may depend on where you are. Not many of us will ever choose to be pulled up a 3,000-foot cliff in a swaying basket! NOT THIS GUY!
If you’re at home, you are probably fairly safe. And you may well have several items in your home to guard your safety: smoke alarm, fire extinguisher, carbon monoxide detector, emergency safety light, alarm system, etc.
If you’re in your car, you have seatbelts, air bags, side air bags, smart air bags, all-weather tires, antilock brakes, anti-whiplash headrests, tire pressure warning, etc. And some cars actually come with a collision avoidance system. CAN YOU BEAT THAT? This system warns you if an object is near while backing up your car. If you’ve ever backed into something it just might be a good investment.
Regardless of where we are, what we’re doing, we prefer to be safe. And common sense is probably the biggest safety device there is.
ILL.- A fellow was walking his long-haired dachshund and he met a friend who said “What a funny animal! How do you tell his head from his tail?”
“It’s very simple,” the dog’s owner replied. “You pull its tail and if it bites, it is his head.”
Common sense says that if a mad, mean growling dog is facing you, you don’t try to pet it! Common sense always pays off.
ILL.- A busy mother once overheard her two young daughters talking. One asked the other, “How do you know you are safe?” “Because I am holding Jesus tight with both my hands,” replied the sister.
“That is not safe,” said the other, “suppose the devil came along and cut off your two hands?” The little sister was momentarily troubled, then her face suddenly beamed with joy. “Oh, I forgot! Jesus is holding me, and Satan couldn’t cut off His hands, so I am safe!”
Yes, we are safe in the hands of Jesus! That’s the safest place to be wherever we are in this world!
PROP.- Our text in Philippians speaks of some spiritual safeguards that we have.
1-The repetition of truth – God’s Word
2- The recognition of evil - Legalism
3- The realization of worship – God’s Spirit
I. THE REPETITION OF TRUTH – GOD’S WORD
V. 1 “It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.”
Paul’s writing was the Word of God. That is, he was inspired by God’s Spirit to write words that would direct and bless the readers. Paul didn’t mind repeating himself.
He knew that repeating spiritual truths would help to protect them and direct them in life.
ILL.- Efforts of Carol Frazer, 17, to have a street named after singer Elvis Presley who died in 1977 were finally realized. The city fathers of suburban Whitehaven assigned the name of a subdivision lane as “Elvis Place.” (Actually, I think it’s Elvis Presley Blvd, and when? I don’t know. I think it happened a long time ago) Miss Frazer said she was so excited she didn’t know what to do. Probably watch another Elvis movie. But she has seen them all: Love Me Tender, 107 times, Loving You 110 times, King Creole 91 times, and Jailhouse Rock, 79 times.
Brothers and sisters, I’ve seen a few movies a second time and maybe even a third time, but not 110 times!
If we can watch movies and TV programs over and over, and still get something from them, what about listening to the Word of God over and over?
ILL.- On their way home from church, the husband and wife were discussing the sermon. The wife said, “It seems to me that he didn’t put enough fire into his sermon.” The husband replied, “In my opinion, he didn’t put enough of his sermon into the fire.” Boring and long sermons are not much fun, nor are they helpful. However, well prepared sermons and well delivered sermons can be a blessing and can stick with you a long time.
ILL.- As a student of Ozark Christian College in the mid-60’s I remember Boyce Mouton from Carthage, MO, standing up in our chapel services, offering to preach when the speaker didn’t show up that morning. Boyce said, “I promised the Lord I would never turn down an opportunity to testify for him.” Boyce went to the pulpit and preached a great 20-minute sermon entitled, “Fools for Christ” from I Corinthians chapter four.
Another time, I remember professor Bob Stacy preaching a sermon in chapel. He started that sermon with these words: “YOU OUGHT TO BE DEAD!” Did he ever grab our attention! He went on to preach a powerful sermon about being crucified with Christ.
Sermons like those are a safeguard in life. We need to hear them, over and over.
ILL.- In the paperback book HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY, James Weinland wrote, “A fact once learned may be so interesting, so important, so satisfying, or so shocking that no effort is required to remember it – it seems to be remember itself. But the ordinary run of little facts cannot be recalled without attention and effort.”
Much of the time it’s hard for us to remember spiritual truths. When they are presented in an interesting way or manner, it helps, but otherwise, we must work to remember the good stuff.
Paul said, “It’s no trouble for me to write the same things to you again…” Repetition is necessary in some cases! When it comes to Biblical truth, this truth needs to be repeated over and over.
ILL.- Preacher Ed Bousman used to say, “My desire is to read the New Testament every week or 52 times a year, but being sort of lazy by nature I only read it about 40 times a year or every week and a half.” Don’t we all wish we were that good about reading God’s Word? What a blessing and safeguard it would be!
Ps. 119:11 “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
How can we hide the Word of God in our hearts? Repetition is one good way. We need to hear it over and over. We need to repeat it over and over. We need to read it over and over.
ILL.- The new preacher had delivered the same sermon for three Sundays in a row. The church board and members were getting a bit concerned. One of the board members said to the preacher, ”That’s a wonderful sermon you’ve been preaching, but could you preach a different sermon?”
The preacher fired back, “I will preach a different sermon, as soon as folks in this church starting practicing this one.”
I may repeat a sermon occasionally, because I think we need a certain spiritual truth driven into our minds, over and over.
Repetition of spiritual truths from God’s Word are good for us, no matter how they are repeated! Please don’t get aggravated or irritated when you hear spiritual truths presented to you, over and over. Thank God for them! They are safeguards for your soul!
II. THE RECOGNITIOIN OF EVIL – LEGALISM
V. 2 “Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil…”
ILL.- The ten-year-old boy was walking with his parents on Elm Street in downtown Dallas. Spying a movie theater, the youngster ran off.
His frantic mother found him inside the theater thirty minutes later. Outside, she said to him, “Whatever possessed you go to in that place? You know that our pastor teaches that it’s wrong to go to movies.” “Mama,” he said, “I just couldn’t help myself. I smelled that popcorn, and it smelled so good that I had to buy some. And then the floor of that movie house was so slick I just slid inside.”
The recognition of evil in the world is a safeguard for us. We all need to be more spiritually alert to evil.
ILL.- Recently I took my car to have my tires rotated. When I picked up my car, they said, “You’ve got a badly worn tire on your car. It’s almost worn out.” I said, “What!” I was surprised. I was caught off-guard. I had not been alert to what was happening with my tires. Likewise, we often find ourselves caught off-guard spiritually. WE ARE NOT VERY SPIRITUALLY ALERT!
ILL.- When I was just a youngster I let my older brother and a friend of his talk me into stealing a watermelon from the neighbor’s garden. YES, I GOT CAUGHT! It was not a pleasant scene when that neighbor marched me into my own house to have me tell my dad what I had just done.
I was as “dumb as a box of rocks,” as they say. I was not spiritually alert at all. However, I think we all know our enemy is lot more clever and deceptive than blatantly asking us to steal a watermelon.
I Pet. 5:8 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around…” We all need to be spiritually alert or recognize the evil in our world.
The evil “dogs” to which Paul refers were the Judaizers, that is, they insisted that Christians must keep the law. Today we might call them “legalists.”
They demand that everything must be done by the letter of the law and no grace is allowed in any way, shape or form.
ILL.- The story was told some years ago of a pastor who found the roads blocked one Sunday morning and was forced to ice skate on the river to get to church, which he did. When he arrived the elders of the church were horrified that their preacher had skated on the Lord’s Day. After the service they held a meeting where the pastor explained that it was either skate to church or not go at all. Finally one elder asked, "Did you enjoy it?" When the preacher answered, "No," the board decided it was all right!
That’s the spirit of legalism.
Sometimes we think we are so right about things that we often force our “rightness” on people, without showing any mercy or grace at all.
ILL.- Chuck Swindoll in his book THE GRACE AWAKENING tells about a missionary family that quit the mission field because of peanut butter. They had been regularly receiving some peanut butter from America, which they enjoyed very much. Apparently, some other missionary families heard about it and said that they had to stop eating peanut butter since others didn’t have it.
The family didn’t stop eating peanut butter but neither did they flaunt it. They simply wanted to enjoy the peanut butter that some gracious Americans sent them. However, some of the other missionaries became so petty about it and pressured that family to the point that they got fed up and moved back to that states. How ridiculous! THAT’S NOTHING BUT LEGALISM!
ILL.- I know of a man who was once an elder in a church. In his own words, he told about going to call on a lady who had been attending the church. Apparently, she had been living with a man outside marriage. This elder plainly told her that she could not come to their church. Why? I assume he thought that she had to straighten up her life first.
Hey, I thought that’s what the church existed for? That is, to minister to the hurting, the helpless, the blind, and the spiritually blind! What he did was nothing more than legalism.
And legalism is a great evil in the world today, believe it or not. It was in Paul’s time and it is in our time.
Legalism is that which says, “You must do it this way, my way or else it’s the highway.” Legalism tries to put people into a certain mold by pointing to the letter of law rather by loving them. And loving people is what Jesus did!
Legalism is a killer of people and churches and we need to be aware of this and put a stop to it. We need to be alert to all evil which can hinder or put a stop to Christian growth.
III. THE REALIZATION OF WORSHIP – GOD’S SPIRIT
V. 3 “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.”
Worship, true worship, genuine worship, spirit-induced worship is a safeguard for the Christian. It helps to direct us and keep us safe.
ILL.- Preacher Tony Evans of PROMISE KEEPERS fame wrote, “On August 14, 2003 Lois and I were in New York preparing to return to Dallas when the lights went out. That’s right! We were two of the fifty million people affected by the largest electrical blackout in U.S. history. I’ll never forget that day since our lives and plans were turned upside down.
“One of the many challenges that faced us that day was finding a place to stay, since all flights had been cancelled. We finally located a hotel that had a remaining room and settled in for the evening. The problem was that because there was no power, there were no lights, no air conditioning, no TV and worst of all no warm food!
"When we got to our room we opened the blinds only to discover that the hotel across the street was full of lights. People were talking and eating and enjoying themselves. We decided we needed to ‘cross over’ to see how this was possible. When we entered this hotel the air was cool, TV’s were on everywhere and people were in high spirits. It was a totally different atmosphere from where we were staying just a few yards away. Why was there such a major contrast? It really was rather simple. Our hotel had no generator, while the other hotel did.
“They possessed a power source that enabled them to transcend the darkness, and it made all the difference in the world. Today many are living in darkness and despair because they have never understood the unique, life-giving ministry of the Holy Spirit. When His ministry is taught and clearly understood it will bring light and life to those living in the darkest of circumstances.”
Brothers and sisters, not only does the Holy Spirit give life to people, He also gives life to our worship of God almighty! And the realization of true worship is something that every Christian and every church needs! True spiritual worship enhances and helps us in life. It can help to direct our lives, give us strength, etc.
One of the problems that we have had for many years in our churches is that of putting God in a box, our box, the box that only allows God to be what we think He is.
ILL.- I have a small paperback book in my library entitled, YOUR GOD IS TOO SMALL, by J. B. Phillips of the Phillips New Testament. I believe the book was first published in 1961. Phillips wrote that some people were asked the question, “Do you think God understands radar?” In nearly every case they said, “No.” In their minds, they believed that God was not very intelligent or able.
This might be like saying today that God doesn’t understand lightning, tornados, hurricanes, atomic bombs, etc., etc. What in the world are we thinking? If we think that God doesn’t understand these things and can’t handle everything then we’re worshipping the wrong God! Likewise, we often put God in a box when it comes to worship.
We think God can only be worshipped in a certain way….the way we’ve always worshipped Him! NOT! God doesn’t care how He is worshipped as long as He is worshipped in spirit and in truth! SPIRITUALLY AND TRUTHFULLY!
God can be worshipped with traditional Christian music and with contemporary Christian music. God can be worshipped on Saturday night as well as He can be worshipped on Sunday morning. God can be worshipped in blue jeans as well as He can be worshipped in a suit. God can be worshipped with the raising of hands or without the raising of hands. God can be worshipped with an “Amen” or without the hearing of an “Amen,” which is what happens in our church all the time!
Brothers and sisters, one important thing for spiritual growth and protection to take place in our lives and in the church is that we worship in spirit and truth. We must worship in a way that allows God’s Spirit to work in us! We must pray that God’s Spirit will get to us and work in us!
CONCLUSION---------------------------------------
ILL.- It is said that the “Stop—Look—Listen” warning slogan was devised by Ralph R. Upton in 1912. He was a safety man for the Puget Sound Power Company of Seattle, Washington, and wished to improve the signs then in use at railroad crossings, which read: “Look Out for the Engine.”
Life is full of hazards, spiritual hazards more than physical hazards.
II Thess. 3:2-3 “Pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”
The greatest safeguard we have in life is the Lord. We must “stop, look, …and listen” to Him! We must watch for evil. Listen to God’s Word. And allow the worship of Christ to strengthen our hearts and safeguard our lives.
