Archives For Bible – Philippians

Second Sunday after Easter: Eighth Commandment: Gen. 2:8-3:13, Phil. 4:8-19, Lk. 12:13-34

April 16, 2012 — Leave a comment

Introduction
The Eighth Word introduces perhaps one of the areas of greatest conflict and stress in all of life: the areas of possessions and property, economics and money. If you are human, you struggle with being at peace with your situation in life and the world around us. Typical situation: Husband is laid back and the wife is stressed. This causes tension in marriages. Are we saving enough? What about health insurance? What about school? Are we giving enough? Are we charitable enough? Children grow up hearing – “That’s sooo expensive. That’s outrageous. That’s a rip off. We can’t afford that.” This can cause tension with kids: how come you get to buy a new four wheeler and can’t get those shoes? Or maybe you have money, but it’s just stressful. Do we buy this or that? Do we go ahead with the remodel or do we upgrade the car or replace the dryer? What if I lose my job? What if we can’t make the mortgage payments?

On the one hand, some of this stress is just called being grown ups, being mature. God wants His people to grow up into wisdom. But the great complicating factor, the thing that makes this truly stressful, worrisome, terrifying is the fact that every descendent of Adam has a fundamental distrust of God and His world. Because of our own sin, we are thieves. We cheat, we steal, we commit fraud, and vandalism. And because we know that we are untrustworthy, we suspect that everyone else and this world in general is untrustworthy. Whatever the gods of this place are up to (economic forces, societal pressures, bad guys, etc.), they are surely trying to steal and cheat.

Luther said that we are all thieves. Calvin said much the same. You steal from God when you do not tithe. You steal from the poor, when you don’t care for them. You steal from others when You try to get something for free or next to nothing. You steal from your wife/children when do not provide for them. Everyone is complicit in the evil economic systems in our world, run by wicked men. Continue Reading…

In Bible - Genesis, Bible - Luke, Bible - Philippians, Creation, Culture, Economics, Justice & Mercy, Sermon Outlines
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Advent Joy & the City of God

December 13, 2011 — Leave a comment

A summary of my sermon from yesterday is up over at Credenda.

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Third Sunday in Advent: Joy and the City of God

December 12, 2011 — Leave a comment

Introduction
The Third Sunday in Advent is called “Gaudete Sunday” which means “Rejoicing/Joyful Sunday.” This is because our fathers in the faith knew that learning the practice and discipline of waiting and longing could result in a joyless people. Waiting for the Lord shouldn’t be joyless, but this Sunday is a liturgical memorial of this fact. This Sunday we consider joy and the city of God.

Wake Up!
Isaiah 52 is a call to a city to wake up and get ready for a celebration, to put on strength and beauty (Is. 52:1). The city sold herself into slavery and went into exile (Is. 52:2-3), but Jerusalem needs to wake up because God is performing a new Exodus, God is coming back (Is. 52:4-6). It is a beautiful thing when you see the news of victory coming down from the mountains, specifically the message that your God has won and is coming (Is. 52:7). When the watchmen see it, they will shout and sing and celebrate in the ruins of the old city because Israel is coming home (Is. 52:8-9). Like the Exodus of old, God will bear his holy arm for everyone to see, and Israel will be escorted out of the dungeon of exile by God Himself (Is. 52:10-12). Continue Reading…

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Christmas Means We’re All Calvinists After All

December 8, 2011 — 2 Comments

Isaiah says that when God restores Israel, He will go before them and behind them (Is. 52:12). The first Advent of God was the incarnation, when God went before us, leading us out of the dungeon of sin and death. The final Advent of God at the end of history is when God comes up behind us, as our rearguard, finishing what was begun at the incarnation.

In other words, from Advent to Advent from first coming to second coming, God is the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the alpha and the omega.

Or, in other words, we are all Calvinists after all. The incarnation is God’s decisive, efficacious act of regeneration for the whole world. Because we could not prepare ourselves for Him, He came in order to prepare us for Him. Then He sent His Spirit to comfort, strengthen, and cheer us, continuing the work that was begun in us. And He will come again and finish what He started.

God came in Christ in order to make us into a place where the Spirit could dwell in order to make this world a place that could bear the weight of heaven when it arrives at the end. It’s all of grace from first to last because it’s all of Jesus who is the first and the last. He was and is and is to come.

In Advent, Bible - Isaiah, Bible - Philippians, Calvin, Church Calendar, Grace, Theology - Christology, Theology - Eschatology, Theology - Pneumatology, Theology - Soteriology
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Advent 2: Hope and the City of God: Is. 55, Lk. 3, Phil. 1

December 5, 2011 — Leave a comment

Introduction
Our Advent and Christmas theme this year is the City of God. Last week we looked at faith and the city of God. This week we’re looking at hope and the city of God. While faith sees and obeys, hope is a fierce comfort, a fortress of rest in the future of God. “Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope” (Ps. 16:9). “Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord” (Ps. 31:24). “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance” (Ps. 42:5). “You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word” (Ps. 119:114). “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God” (Ps. 146:5). The NT writers tie hope particularly to the resurrection (e.g. Acts 2:24-32, 23:6, 24:15, 26:6-8, 28:20, Rom. 8:20-25). Hope is expectation, anticipation, desire and longing for God’s promises to be fulfilled.

Summary of the Texts: Isaiah imagines a future city with a marketplace with plenty of water for the thirsty and wine and milk for those without money (55:1). Other markets may have food for sale, but it will not satisfy (55:2). Isaiah says that if Israel listens to God, she will eat what is good (55:2). If she listens carefully, she will live (55:3). This city will be protected by God in a similar way to the way David protected Israel during His reign (55:3-4), but instead of conquering the threatening nations, they will run to the glory of Israel (55:5). If Israel seeks the Lord (55:6), turns from wickedness (55:7), and trusts God’s mysterious ways (55:8-9), listening to His word, they will be a city full of bread (55:10-11). Continue Reading…

In Advent, Bible - Isaiah, Bible - Luke, Bible - Philippians, Church Calendar, Sermon Outlines
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The Greater the Service, the Greater the Glory

September 19, 2011 — 1 Comment

Proverbs says that the glory of men is their strength. But since the first sin in the Garden of Eden it has been the tendency and the temptation of men to be lazy. Adam didn’t guard his wife, didn’t protect her from sin or the serpent; he didn’t work hard at what God had put in front of him. And in the curses following the Fall, God promised that His work would be even harder. There would be thorns and weeds, and he would have to work by the sweat of his brow and death would make his body weak and eventually die. But this does not change the fact that the glory of men is their strength, and if that was true in the Old Covenant, how much more so is this true in the New Covenant after the coming of the true man, the faithful Adam, Jesus Christ. And where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded. Where Adam gave in to the tempter, Jesus withstood. And then in addition to standing firm, Jesus went to the cross to display the greatest kind of strength there is, giving His life away for the world, giving His life away for His enemies. Jesus said that the greatest of all is the one who becomes the servant of all. The one who loses His life is the one who will find it. The one who seeks to save his life will lose it. But Jesus didn’t just say that, He lived it. He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made Himself of no reputation and took the form of a servant. And then He humbled Himself even to the point of death, even the shame and suffering of the cross. And that was the most glorious moment in the history of all time. That was the moment where the strength of God shone with the most glory. That was true strength, true glory because at the very moment when Jesus lost His life, He won life for the world. When Jesus became the servant of all, He was guaranteed to become the Lord of all. Continue Reading…

In Bible - 1 Peter, Bible - Philippians, Bible - Proverbs, Exhortations
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NSA Exhortation: The Humility of God: Phil. 2:1-13

March 7, 2011 — Leave a comment

Introduction
We have met our God most directly, most clearly in Jesus Christ. Who is God? Who is the Triune God? Who is our God? Our God is the One who was born of Mary, anointed with Spirit, crucified on a Roman cross, and resurrected on the third day. Our God is the God who does not consider it robbery to be God, but freely gives that status away (Phil. 2:6). Calvin and other Reformers sometimes referred to this as God “accommodating” Himself to us, lisping for our frail human souls, but John says that the Word which was from the beginning was the true and glorious revelation of God, that which was seen and heard and touched (1 Jn. 1:1-3). But this means that we serve a radically humble God. But what does it mean that God is humble?

Humility & Unity
Paul’s central exhortation is to let the same mind which was in Christ be in us (Phil. 2:5). What is that mind? It is the mind that gladly gives up what is rightfully yours. The text is wonderfully chiastic:

A. Form of God (2:6)
B. Likeness of man (2:7)
C. Humbled himself; obedient to death (2:8a)
D. Death on a cross (2:8b)
C’. God exalted Him; God gave Him a name (2:9)
B’. Every knee will bow (2:10)
A’. Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (2:11)

Humility is Confident and Brave
Notice two things: First, Jesus did not give up His deity. He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. It was not lie for Jesus to claim to be God. It was not grand theft for Him to claim that title. But notice secondly, that it is because it is His that He can make Himself of no reputation. In other words, it is the certainty that Jesus has that He is God that allows Him to freely take on the likeness of man. It is God security in Himself as Lord that allows Him to take on the form of a servant. Or from the other way around, it is great insecurity that refuses to risk reputation. It is uncertainty that refuses to serve. The humility of God rightly reckons what is true, what it would not be robbery to consider as true, and in that security and certainty gladly takes risks for the sake of others. In other words, humility is confident and brave.

Humility is Obedient
Notice that central to humility is obedience (Phil 2:8). Humility is not wishy-washy. Humility is not apathetic. Jesus humbled Himself and obeyed. Humility reckons what is true, and then gladly accepts orders. Jesus was so certain of who He was and what was to come that He could obey even to the point of death and even to the point of a cursed death on a cross. Humility is confident, and humility is obedient. This means that humility doesn’t give in to easier routes; humility isn’t a push over. When Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem, that was humility not a stubborn streak.

Humility loves Glory
Hebrews say that Jesus endured the cross and despised the shame of it for the joy that was set before Him (Heb. 12:2). That joy was the glory of sitting at the right hand of the throne of God. That was the joy of being exalted and given the name above every name. But this isn’t merely a means to an end. The humility of God on display in the incarnation was not a onetime exception to the rule. The humility of God revealed in Jesus was a display of God’s eternal humility: God’s eternal confidence, God’s eternal obedience and sacrificial love, God’s eternal glory. In other words, even though the incarnation and death and resurrection were a onetime historical accomplishment, those events reveal the kind of God we serve, the God who humbles Himself for the sake of others. God “esteems others better than Himself” (Phil. 2:3). In other words, God’s glory is His humility. It’s the glory of God to be a God who gives up reputation, who serves, etc. In the book of Revelation, Jesus is a lamb that was slain on the throne.

And notice how Christ’s humility is related to the goal of unity and mission. It is that confident, obedient humility that is glorious and is glorified.

Applications
Humility in this community:
1. Differences of background, personality, gifts, etc. : Humility is confident, secure, obedient, sacrificial, and revels in the glory. Roommates, Exams, Grades, Finances, Beauty, Intelligence, etc.

2. Differences in the churches, teaching style, emphases: Humility is confident, secure, obedient, sacrificial, and revels in the glory.

Humility at home:
1. Some of you will be going home: Humility is confident, secure, obedient, sacrificial, and revels in the glory at home, with your parents, with old friends, at your home church, in the challenges.

Humility on Spring Break:
1. Humility is confident and secure. You know who you are in Christ, and what He has called you to.
2. Humility is obedient and sacrificial. It is the height of arrogance to disobey the King.
3. Humility sees the glory in the cross.

In Bible - Philippians, NSA Exhortations
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Second Sunday of Advent: Is. 40:1-11, Phil. 1:1-11, Lk. 3:1-18

December 2, 2009 — Leave a comment

Introduction
We continue our Advent series this morning looking at our three readings, meditating on what it means that our God is the God who comes to His people.

Isaiah 40:1-11
The prophet begins by declaring God’s word to His people, crying, “comfort, comfort!” God says to “speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry out to her that her “armies are full” and that her “iniquity is satisfied,” and she has taken from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins (40:1-2). This comfort is bound up in the fact that a new Exodus is coming. The voice issues a command to turn to the “way of Yahweh” and to make straight a “highway for our God” (40:3, cf. Is. 11:16). The “way” goes back to the first sin after which God guarded the “way” to the tree of life (Gen. 3:24), and the story continues in the Exodus where God led Israel in the “way” out of Egypt arrayed for battle (Ex. 13:17-18). Like the original Exodus, Isaiah foretells great upheaval: the topography of the world is going to dramatically change (40:4-5). And in the context of the Exodus we should not miss the fact that the “topography” is primarily people. The “voice” says to cry out that all flesh is grass, it fades and withers, and only the word of God stands forever (40:6-8). This reminds us of the “voice” that thundered at Sinai and how the people cowered in fear and asked that they might not hear the voice any more. But that word is a good word, good news that God Himself will come and rule in righteousness and truth (40:9-11).

Luke 3:1-18
Luke says that John fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy when he began preaching a baptism of repentance at the Jordan River. Notice the seven rulers listed in the opening verses of this passage: From Caesar to the high priests (3:1-2). But it is not to any of those seven that the “word of God” comes. The word of God comes to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness (3:2). John is the beginning of the new week, the new creation, a new conquest of the world. He is like Moses and the seven powers are set up as various sorts of Pharaohs. John is also like Moses on the far side of the Jordan promising that Joshua is coming to lead them across the Jordan into the new Canaan. John may appear to be a nobody, but the Word he has received is designed to seriously mess with the landscape (3:4-6). John calls his followers the “children of snakes” and calls them to bear fruit worthy of repentance (3:7). His baptism is also a baptism of “repentance” (3:3). Given the Exodus imagery, John is calling the multitudes to embrace the calling to be the second generation in the wilderness that went in to possess the land. The baptism for repentance is a crossing of the Jordan into Canaan. And if they are baptized, they must take the land though bearing the fruit of repentance which is justice and mercy (3:10-14). This is why they must wait for the Christ who will lead them into the land in the power of the Spirit (3:15-17, cf. Josh 3). This is the good news that Isaiah foretold.

Philippians 1:1-11
Paul and Timothy identify themselves as “slaves of King Jesus” and address the “holy ones” in Philippi with the grace and peace of God (1:1-2). They rejoice in the fellowship they share in the “good news” from the “first day,” knowing that God will complete the good work in them that He has begun. Paul may have several thoughts in mind as He writes, including the beginning of the gospel in John’s ministry as the “first day” of the new creation, the new good work that God has begun in the world and in us (1:3-6). In that sense, “the day of Jesus Christ” may refer to the coming judgment in 70 AD, and it may also look forward to the final seventh day, the final Sabbath. Paul emphasizes that fellowship by describing how the Philippians are “partakers of grace” with him in defense and confirmation of the good news (1:7). And Paul’s prayer is for this to increase and abound, that their love and knowledge may overflow with the fruits of righteousness (1:9-11).

Conclusions and Applications
One of the great messages of Advent is “repent!” And the challenge is getting this command right. God calls all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30), and this still applies, whether you are an unbeliever, a new believer, or an old believer. The command is to repent because the conquest is not yet finished. And the lessons of Joshua continue to be lessons for us. That second generation was faithful in beginning the conquest, but they grew weary and relaxed as time went on. Their great failure to drive out the enemies from the land left their children to pick up the pieces (e.g. Judges). Repentance is the call to continue the work of the new creation by the Spirit, turning the old crooked world into the new heavens and new earth, and this conquest comes through the fruits of justice and mercy and love. And God gently leads us in this way by speaking comfort and grace and peace to us in Jesus, assuring us that He will complete the good work He has begun in us.

In Advent, Bible - Isaiah, Bible - Luke, Bible - Philippians
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