THE PASTOR’S POINTS
Bible Teaching Ministry of
CEDAR LODGE BAPTIST CHURCH
Thomasville, NC
Dr. Russell Brownworth, Pastor
God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.Philippians 1:8-11 (NIV)
So we live in a land that is severely deficient in its joy. All our technology and intelligence haven’t produced it. Owen Hanson contends that we haven’t produced civilization either: "After thousands of years, western civilization has advanced to where we bolt our doors and windows at night while jungle natives sleep in open huts."
The reality of that in our day is startling. Each night on the news we are reminded of the need to bolt those doors and windows. You can’t go on vacation to Miami anymore (without a bullet-proof vest)!! Metal detectors in the schools and at the courthouse are visible witnesses to the fear and anguish people feel.
Paul knew such conditions. His cell was a reward for faithful service to another prisoner who’d been crucified some years before. It was dark, definitely cold in the winter and sweltering in the summer. Disease and rats were close companions. Food was scarce, and there were no bathrooms. Survival was the everyday issue. Given the same conditions, the modern-day prisoner would file a lawsuit for violation of his rights. However, it isn’t Paul’s conditions that make us marvel, it is his state of mind UNDER the conditions. How could Paul maintain such a joyful attitude in the midst of so horrid a living arrangement?
Let’s talk here -- Nobody wants to live like Paul had to live. We all prefer to be pampered. Remember what the preacher said when you married? "Do you take her for richer and poorer, in sickness and health, for better, for worse...?" You said, "I do." But what you really thought was, "Richer, health and better works for me!"
How can we have the kind of genuine and lasting joy that allows us to really be joyful in all circumstances? Doesn’t that take a special kind of power? Paul’s answer is really a personal testimony. It is outlined thus:
"CHRISTIAN JOY KNOWS GENUINE LOVE, WHICH PRODUCES A CHRISTIAN LIFESTYLE WITH UNMISTAKABLE STYLE."
Whoa, Paul; slow it down -- let’s hear that in bite-sized chunks. Show us the marks of a genuine Christian lifestyle that produce genuine joy.
Partiality For God’s People
God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:8
Paul’s close relationship with Jesus gave birth to a close relationship with the ones Jesus loves. In fact, Paul said that the feelings he had for the folks at Philippi were directly from Jesus. The English word "affection" is translated from a word that is the route-source of our word "spleen". This indicates a visceral affection, a heartfelt love. William Barclay has it, "So Paul is saying: ’I yearn for you with the very compassion of Jesus Christ himself. I love you as Jesus loves you.’" Paul loved the church folks genuinely, but he couldn’t claim originality, it was Jesus who gave him this affection for them.
Christian joy is connected to genuine love. Elsewhere Barclay calls it "the love that likes too!" You can tell when there’s a sense of belonging to each other in a group. Pastor Stephen Brown expresses it, "Everybody that belongs to Jesus belongs to everybody that belongs to Jesus." The bottom line is that love is only available in the family of Christ.
That comes via the new birth, and this is a letter directed from one believer to other believers. But something else sweetened the equation -- they were also involved together in the work of spreading the gospel. There’s something special about working with people you love. For a few years our church put together a "Tour of Bethlehem". We set up a village on the church’s front lawn and the people dressed in costume; we even had a manger with a live baby, and a cross-maker, hammering on his latest consignment. The final year we did that production, help was scarce.
On the final day of preparation only Leroy Brown showed up. Leroy was 86. We worked together in the cold, drizzling rain, climbing stairs, hammering together a manger, stapling palm fronds to the "houses". At an age when most men are rocking, Leroy was still working on getting the good news out. What a gift to the body of Christ. What a privilege for me to work with him! In many ways the church of Jesus is so imperfect -- we can be stale and unappetizing at times. However, when there is genuine love for Jesus, there will be genuine love between brothers; because everyone that truly loves Jesus loves everyone that truly loves Jesus.
Partiality for the people of God will produce genuine joy!
Prayer for God’s people to grow in love
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ Philippians 1:9-11a (NIV)
Growth in love does not mean, "Oh, I love you more today than yesterday." Rather it is a maturing process in the life of a believer that progresses toward fruit bearing. In an article for "Christianity Today" titled "A Tale of Two Kittens", Margaret Clarkson draws a spiritual lesson from two cats she had as pets.
The first, Mehitable, was a plain calico cat born in a shed down by the river behind Clarkson’s home. This cat never forgot her early upbringing. She hunted, fished, and survived on her own. When thirsty, she drank from the river. Figaro, her handsome black successor, was different. He too loved life by the river. But he didn’t hunt except for occasional sport. And he refused to drink from the river. If Clarkson forgot to fill his water bowl, especially in the summer, he’d soon become listless. Clarkson commented, "To live at the edge of a great flowing river and to suffer thirst -- how sad!"
Paul’s joy (and ours) is demonstrated in his prayer that the people of God remember how great the river of living water is, and to drink deeply. As you nurture a young plant or tree through the tender years, until it is able to bear fruit, so Paul prayed for the young Philippian church to mature in the things of God to bear spiritual fruit.
There are two very important considerations Paul mentions -- "knowledge" and "depth of insight". The former is knowing; the latter is knowing what to do about knowing. Here is the essence of what Paul prayed about. He wanted this group of believers to take their newly found faith in Christ and educate it with Biblical truth. The ultimate goal is to be the blameless body of Christ in word and deed. Paul’s focus is not on "seeing the sin" of our contemporaries. Note that he wants his protege’ church to "discern what is best". The emphasis is not picking-out the bad, but seeking out that which is good and allowing it to be the hub of your life’s wheel.
This is what intelligently communicates the gospel to our society. Our society craves people with moral values. Moral wisdom (the ability to discern good and bad in the actions of men, coupled with the knowledge of what to do with that knowledge) doesn’t happen overnight. But it CAN happen!
Question: How can I do this? How can I apply the bible truth I’ve learned?
The answer lies in "being" more than doing. The one thing for which this world waits and watches are believers who will practice what is preached. There comes a time in every school when the theoretical is put away, and the practical is lived-out. Watch the logic:
OUR PREACHING: Christ is crucified, and we’re following Him!
OUR PRACTICE: (SHOULD BE) Today I picked-up my cross, and died for the world, that they might be reconciled to God.
Somewhere along the line, 20th century believers have got to start acting like first century believers. If we will practice the preaching it will manifest itself in an epidemic of kindness -- toward pagans! Now, I know that is a radical thought, but that’s what Jesus did! Jesus loved people, and demonstrated that love. At some point in every conversation recorded in Scripture between Jesus and a lost person, He found some point of connection to apply his ministry.
The woman at the well had her personal life in a shambles, she was isolated. Jesus showed her how living water could heal her inner hurt.
Nicodemus knew a lifetime of keeping all the rules and knowing the right people hadn’t drawn him one jot or tittle closer to God. Jesus brought to him the "new birth," a chance to start clean with God. In our day, we have people in shambles in and out of the church. They are the pagans and "pagan-living Christians".
Ken Smith talks about his church and launching out to meet needs in this world, "We had not taught our people to break down those walls separating the church from the world."
I love the account of the agricultural products salesman. Traveling through New England, he happened on a farmhouse where the farmer was just sitting on the porch, rocking. Stopping the car, he began his pitch as he made his way through the gate, "Sir, you need to purchase this book from me. It will tell you how to increase your knowledge of modern farming techniques by more than 500%." Without missing a stroke of the rocking chair, the Yankee farmer replied, "Son, I really don’t need that book -- I’m already doing 500% less than I know about farming."
Believers know about how to bring someone to Christ (we were all pagans once). Believers also know it’s the right thing to lead others to Him. The problem is that 99% of us never put what knowledge we have to work in bringing others to Christ. And that is the joy problem with connections. Jesus’ ministry (and that which He passed on to us) was one of reconciliation -- making the connection between man and God. For Jesus, that was His joy ("...who for the JOY set before him..." He 12.2b NIV), and it can be ours. When is the last time you made the effort to be a witness to Christ?
Praise
"...to the glory and praise of God." Philippians 1.11 (NIV)
When the final chapter closes on earth, it will be praise and glory in Heaven forever. One of the purposes for which we were created is to praise God. Once I had the experience of driving along in my automobile, listening to the radio. There was a wonderful song of praise playing, and, without any warning, the lump came up in my throat, accompanied by that strange, sinking feeling of being awed in the presence of God. The tears started flowing. I wasn’t unhappy -- just absolutely filled with joy and praise for God. I was so happy in Jesus I almost ran into a truck!
Paul had a peculiar partiality for believers. He prayed that they might grow in love and learn to praise God. The "how" was largely left in the conscience of each person. That is the reality about joy -- it comes in all sizes and colors. Joy is universally adaptable to who and what Christ wants you to be. What are you good at? Can you use it to praise God?
In his younger days as a composer, Franz Joseph Haydn was criticized for the light-hearted nature of his church music. It was a somber time in most churches of the 1750’s. Haydn explained,
"I cannot help it. I give forth what is in me. When I think of the Divine Being, my heart is so full of joy that the notes fly off as from a spindle. And as I have a cheerful heart, He will pardon me if I serve Him cheerfully."
When Haydn came to the end of his days, he was weakened and confined to a wheelchair. Shortly before he died he attended the Vienna Music Hall, where they were to perform his oratorio, "The Creation". When the orchestra reached the passage, "Let there be light" the chorus and instruments burst forth in such power that the crowd couldn’t restrain its enthusiasm.
The huge assembly rose as one in spontaneous applause. Haydn struggled to his feet and motioned for silence. He said, "Not me," pointing his hand towards Heaven, and fell back in his wheelchair, exhausted. With his life, his gifts, and all he was -- in the way God gave him, Franz Joseph Haydn gave praise to Almighty God. And what joy it gave him!
