You are not a church attender. Do not suppose that Christ shed his blood and broke his body and died on that cross to make you a church attender. You're not a consumer of religious goods and services. You're not here to be served. This isn't the Lakeside country club--where we meet for coffee, politic around, but spend the rest of the week going about our own business with no regard for HIS.
You're a partner, a "business" partner. Our business is advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:4-5). If your primary business isn't tending to the gospel of Jesus Christ, you have no other business with Lakeside (or any church). If you're here to find Jesus, we'll help you find Jesus, let's talk. If you're here to follow Jesus, we'll walk with you. If you're here to flourish, we'll help you develop your capacity as a leader. But if you have some other business, please take it elsewhere.
In every business partnership, we have to ask, "How are we doing?" "How's business?" "How well am I advancing God's business?" "How good of a partner am I?" "Am I more than just an attender at Lakeside?"
This morning we're going to evaluate our own lives around four themes found in Philippians 1. Far be it for anyone to judge you, or you judge someone else. This morning, judge yourself. Let the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit, test your heart.
Do I maintain a clear purpose (verses 12-14)?
In Philippians 1:12-14 Paul writes, "12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear."
As Paul wrote these verses, He was literally "chained" and "in prison" because of the gospel. Something I observe, in the normal course of conversation with folks, is how many how many people "feel" like they're in "chains" or a kind of "prison."
Some men refer to their wives as a "ball and chain." Now guys, saying something dumb like that is you just asking for a beating!
Some refer to work as being "chained to their desk." Maybe you're trapped in a salaried position, working 50-60 hours a week, feeling you have no life outside work. Maybe you're you in a go no-where job, working with people you can't stand, in a place you don't like.
Maybe you're a caregiver, and feel chained to a situation. My aunt cares for her twin grandsons. The twins have autism, and require constant attention. For her, there's no end in sight to the care those boys need. It's a life sentence.
Maybe you have a chronic health condition. I had a friend growing up named KJ who was bedridden from a young age. Whenever I visited, he'd use chains to pull himself up.
Sometimes simple responsibility can feel suffocating. We don't volunteer, because we want to be free. We don't marry, we want to be free. We neglect family obligations, we want to be free.
I think it's fair to say all of us in some way, at some time, have lamented feeling chained or in prison. Our chains can frustrate us, they can seem to limit us. But they don't frustrate God's purpose, nor do they limit God. Your prison, your chains, can become your pulpit, a platform from which you can inspire people to trust God.
Paul marvels how what's happened (against all odds) actually served to advance the gospel! He marvels how the unsavory people around him in his prison house, are finding faith. He marvels how other believers, who hear of his story, are taking courage and daring to preach Christ without fear. Just because you feel limited doesn't mean God is limited.
Being in chains or in prison is excruciating. But what's worse, is being in chains or in prison without a clear purpose. A clear purpose can turn a miserable circumstance into a kind of adventure. It can turn our attitude around from bitterness to joy, from daily drudgery to a joyful anticipation of wondering what God will do next. So how well do you maintain a clear sense of God's purpose in the midst of adversity?
Do I maintain a pure motive (verses 15-18)
In Philippians 1:15-18 Paul writes, "15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice."
Paul is wading into some pretty dark territory in these verses. Not everyone is motivated the same way. Some are motivated by envy. You want something, but you can't have it, so you go underground. Some are motivated by rivalry. Somebody is upstaging you, stealing the attention you feel you deserve, so you seek to discredit them through gossip, slander, or criticism. Some are motivated by goodwill. You just want to be kind and helpful, it feels good. Some are motivated by love. You want the very best for someone because you love them, you're loyal to them. Some are motivated by self-ambition, masked with a smile. You seem quite sincere on the surface, but behind the scenes you're stirring up trouble. You're determined to have your way at any cost.
Recently Mark Driscoll, the renown pastor of Mars Hill, was forced to step down and resign his position. No doubt, some of his detractors were motivated by envy, rivalry, and self-ambition. If you've ever been to a church conference, there are a lot of big egos on the national church stage, who'd love to upstage Mark Driscoll. Other detractors claimed to be motivated by goodwill and love. They felt Mark was verbally abusive. If you've ever follow Mark's ministry, he would sometimes speak from a very dark place. The concern is well-founded. Mars Hill Church is being dissolved, and people have taken to shaming and otherwise issuing death threats to Mark and his family.
I don't know what motivates Mark, or his detractors. You'll drive yourself crazy trying to understand the motives of people. People who were friends are suddenly against you. People who were against you suddenly befriend you. If men don't know what's in their own hearts, how can you? Only God really knows I suppose.
I do know this however... one of the most godless cities in America was filled with the gospel because Mark dared preach where no one else dared to go. Hundreds, maybe thousands of churches, have been planted directly because of Mark's faithfulness. He's emboldened pastors around the world to speak hard truths more courageously. His writing has inspired legions of young people to take up theology. Tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, have found faith in Christ.
Here is what Paul says: "the important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives are true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice."
None of us have perfectly pure motivations. We're all mixed little bags. There is no excuse for blatant sin. We all need to continually check ourselves and be checked less we stumble. Our motives in the beginning are seldom our motives in the end. You can't preach the gospel long without ultimately being transformed by it.
If at the end of the day people can still see Christ through us... despite the stained glass that we are... then maybe we can all lighten up and find a reason to rejoice as Paul did.
A leaky vessel may lose a lot of water, but it can still carries enough living water to refresh God's people. I'd rather the church be filled with hundreds of leaky, imperfect vessels, than have a bunch of empty vessels carrying no water at all. Let's celebrate the effort being made, not denigrate the messengers.
Prediction... I think Mark Driscoll's best is still ahead of him.
Do I maintain an eternal hope (verses 19-25)
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God's provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.
A woman up at Lincoln Christian University was giving a devotion to the faculty, as she held a penny in her hand. She explained how if you take that penny, and hold it in front of your eye, it blocks your vision. But if you hold that same penny at arm's length, suddenly you can see clearly.
One of the hardest things for us to do is hold that penny at arm's length. We don't do a very good job keeping a larger, more hopeful perspective on things. Paul's hopeful thinking goes like this ::
(1) The gospel is advancing, Christ is being preached. (2) I'm surrounded by prayer warriors... God's going to honor your prayers (3) God is making provisions for me, right now, while I sit in chains. (4) God's going to give me deliverance and victory. I don't need to be ashamed of what is happening. (5) Whether I live or die, God wins, I win, we win. Christ gets exalted. (6) If I die, I depart and get to be with Christ forever. If I live, it's my privilege to keep on serving Christ with all of you.
Do I maintain a firm stance (verses 27-30)
"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel 28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved--and that by God. 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have."
When I first started preaching, there was a woman who opposed everything we tried to do. We tried to change the order of worship, she went nuclear. We tried to change the bulletin cover and format. Once I took an extra folding chair out of her classroom and put it in another. Little did I know, she had put her initials on "her chairs." She got angry after we threw away broken plates that had been kept decades.
Every Sunday this woman sneered at me while I preached. She would clip her fingernails, loudly, shuffle in her seat, and sigh like Al Gore. She would verbally scold me in front of guests. She would threaten me, and threaten our leaders. She would call up people and stir up quarrels. She was quite overwhelming, and made my life miserable. It's hard to explain the enormous psychological space that woman occupied in this young preachers mind!
A while back, our church held an event involving area churches. Wouldn't you know, this woman was in attendance! We struck up a conversation, just as if nothing had ever happened. I was one of the best pastors she'd had. She loves how the church has grown, and changed, and moved! We talked about her health, her family, and her son. We're like BFFs now!
I started thinking, what if I hadn't stood firm? What if I'd never changed the bulletin cover or the order of worship? What if I'd never borrowed those extra chairs? Cleaned out that storage closet? Kept on preaching? What if I kept letting her get bigger and bigger in my mind, and my faith in God, smaller and smaller? Well it didn't.
There are four essential ingredients to advancing together as partners:
We maintain a clear purpose... preaching Christ, advancing the gospel, from our prison cell, from our chains.
We maintain a pure motive... and rejoice at the work being done through imperfect servants like ourselves.
We maintain an eternal perspective... remembering as we serve God we have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
We maintain a firm stance, striving together in faith, never cowering in fear.