The Word, the Work, the Worthiness of Christ|10.19.25|Jesus Over Everything pt.3
Truly, I am grateful to be here. I'm excited to be here with all of you today. What we've been doing together as a church family through the course of this year, we've been highlighting and working on different disciplines. And know that is not like slapping each other's hands or condemning one another. It's not that sort of discipline. It's the discipline of doing the hard thing. And when we do that spiritually, we talked about our spiritual gifts that God gives us. We've talked about taking an actual Sabbath and resting as a spiritual discipline. And there's prayer, and there's fasting, and there's quite a few of them that don't get talked about enough anymore.(...) And so we're working our way through. Right now, we're talking about the discipline of studying scripture.(...) And we're using the book of Philippians to do it. And we're using this focus of Jesus over everything is what Paul is trying to teach the Philippians. Now last week-- I'm sorry, two weeks ago, Pastor Drew introduced this whole concept. And he gave us five steps to reading our Bible and five things to do. And they were excellent and concise. So we're going to review those in just a second. One thing he gave us was a way not to do it that all of us, myself included, are very, very tempted to do what he called the lucky dip method, where you just bring your Bible open and put your finger on a spot. And you hope and pray that this is a divine message just for you today. And we're very conditioned to think about the Bible in this way. Because if you have a Bible app on your phone,(...) it dings up all the time. Or you might have a screensaver that's a Bible verse. You walk into somebody's house, there's a Bible verse on the wall or it's stitched onto a pillow. And all of these are good. These are good ways to meet the scripture and to hope that God is putting that in front of you is a good thing. However, if that's the only way you read the Bible,
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your understanding of faith can start to sound a little bit convoluted. And to prove my point, we took Pastor Drew's sermon two weeks ago, which was an excellent sermon. And we bottled it all down to give you the highlights using the lucky dip method. And I want you to-- here you go.
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So start at the beginning, the lucky dip method. Yep. That's in there. And back in 1611, then you read slowly and ask questions. That's because that's the King James version. Your time and place, that's consistent. What is God's thing to me? What am I going to do about it? Don't make it too complicated, Matt. Good news.
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There you go. We're done, right? We all got it. We're now Bible scholars using the lucky dip method of the sermons. Now, you might sound like Pastor Drew sounds a little bit schizophrenic in that if you didn't know the context of everything else about it, right? So you don't want your faith to be just a hodgepodge of random thoughts.
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It's OK to start. But if you really want to start getting into the Word, for the purpose of really becoming connected to the God who created you, who loves you, who has good things for you, and has put it all down for you to study and open up daily and be re-inspired anew with these words, that's what we want for you. And so we want to give you these steps of how to get into your Bible. Pastor Drew shared with us real fast. Choose a translation you understand, kind of like he talked about in 1611, King James, this and that. If it doesn't make sense, it's not going to help you. If I suddenly started speaking to you in German,(...) you know, if I started doing the whole thing in German, I'd lose the whole room in a few seconds. Everybody would be hanging around to see how much I spit, but that's about it.(...) You know, you wouldn't get anything out of it. So choose a translation you can understand. Choose a time, a place, and a plan to study there. It's really easy to go online and say, I want to learn about the Apostle Paul.
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Boom. You can have that step by step, one day at a time, learn about the Apostle Paul, learn about the life of Jesus, learn about whatever you can find a plan for it. And honestly,(...) to do my own personal plug, there's a really tremendous Bible called the Quest Study Bible. It's an NIV, very easy to read. And in the very first pages, there's like 10 different study plans with beautiful little check boxes for you to cross off if you're a nerd like me and you really like lists and checking stuff off of lists. It's got like 10 of them there for you. I have it. My cat loves it. She has scratched the crap out of that Bible, made me look very holy because it's a very well-worn Bible. But anyhow, moving on, you want to understand the context, get a study Bible that at the beginning of the book, it says, this is what this is about. Oh, now I can have that in mind when I read it. And read slowly and ask questions and pray for God to speak to you and apply what he shows you. So all five of these steps are fantastic ways to start reading your Bible. What I want to do today is I want to walk with you through this and I do a little bit more specific of the way that I read through when I want to study something, when I want to internalize something. I have a method that I learned that I want to share with you guys today and we're going to walk through it together. So this is going to be like a really big Bible study, which is kind of what every Sunday should be. But essentially, I'm not going to try to wow you or impress you. I'm just going to walk you through the way that I do this, the way that I learned how to do it, was number one, the most important thing, everybody say this with me, just read it. If you get nothing else out of this whole series, just read your Bible. That's the most important thing.(...) Number two, I'll go back, I'll read it again. Slowly this time, I'll ask questions. I will highlight or underline key words that I start seeing consistently, I start seeing a thread, I'm like, "Oh, interesting, they connect." So I like to do that. Some people don't like to write in their Bibles. I really encourage you to do that with at least one of your Bibles.
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And then how does this fit into the whole story? I'll read it a third time and I'll ask myself, "Okay, this was interesting going deep. Now let's step back and look at the big picture. How does this tie into the whole Bible? Because we have 66 books written over the course of several hundred years that really do all agree with each other. It's incredible and it's divinely inspired. So how does this fit into the whole story? All right? So what I'd like you to do, there is a Bible under the seat in front of you. If you want to grab that, you can read along in there or I will have it up on the screens and I'm going to do it on the screens. I tried going up and down from the Bible last service and I got dizzy. So I'm not going to do that this time. I'm just going to use the screen.
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But you absolutely, if you... Let me ask this question real fast. Okay, we're doing a Bible study with me. So you're going to notice moments that are ADHD because this just was going to happen.
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How many of you, I want to ask a question. I want you to raise your hands. How many of you own a Bible?
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Let's see it. Okay, most of the room. That's awesome. If you do not own a Bible, I mean this absolutely 100% genuine. Take the Bible that's under the seat in front of you. Take it home. We have more.
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I swear, we have so many. Take it. I really want you to have a Bible. Raise your hand if you have five Bibles.
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Yeah, we got a few of us. Okay. Anybody got 10 Bibles?
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Yeah. All right. We got a couple. Great. We have some Bible collectors. Fantastic. I love that. Pastor Drew last service was like, "Um, maybe I said Drew. You know."
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I've seen his office. He has more than 10 Bibles. I do too. I have collected them over my lifetime. Some are different translations. Some have different study notes in them. That one Bible I have, that quest Bible, asks questions for me in the margins. Questions I never would have thought to ask, but it asks them, and then it gives me an answer. And so that's fun. It's really fun. All right.
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Page 152 of the New Testament book that is underneath your seat. We're going to start reading this together. Step one is, say it again.(...) Just read it. All right. We're going to go through. I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to let my ADHD pull us off track.
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Maybe.
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I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually resulted in the progress of the gospel,
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so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ.
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And most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.
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Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. That's an interesting phrase. We'll come back to that. These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel.(...) The others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment.
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What does it matter? That's interesting. I would underline that. Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true. And in that, I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice. For I know that through your prayers and the help of the spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my salvation. It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. Highlight that.(...) 22, if I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet I cannot say which I will choose. If I am hard pressed between the two, my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I'm convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that by my presence again with you, or your boast might abound in Christ Jesus because of me.(...) Only live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or I'm absent and I hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and in no way frightened by those opposing you. For them, this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God's doing.(...) For he has graciously granted you the privilege, not only of believing in Christ, but also suffering for him as well, since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had.(...) And now here that I still have.(...) This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Amen. Step one, just read it. Don't stop.(...) You can allow yourself to get curious and like make a mark to come back. But step one, if you'd learn nothing else, just read it. Pick a book, start reading it.
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The word of the Lord never returns void. So what I noticed as I read through this the first time though, I noticed three things at play. And now we're gonna go back through the scriptures, looking for these highlights. First we have the word of Christ. Paul repeatedly said the word of Christ is being shared. The word of Christ is in you. And then he talked a lot about the work of Christ.
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And lastly, he finished off with the worthiness of Christ. I saw these three things being played out and we're gonna go back through it now. What do we do the second time? We read and ask questions. All right, so we're gonna read it again.
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And quite honestly, we're gonna take this section by section and I would like you to read this first section with me. Can we do that? It's all right here.
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I want you to know brothers and sisters, this is for everybody, okay, that what has happened to me has actually resulted in the progress of the gospel.
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Last week we learned that Paul was in prison and he mentions it again. How could be putting a pastor put in prison, raise your hand if you're excited and happy when that happens.
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Great, we have no very sarcastic people here today. I'm glad to hear that. It's not good news when a pastor goes to jail usually, but Paul is saying like, hey, something even better is happening than I ever could have guessed(...) because Jesus has put me in an opportunity to witness by my words and my actions to people I would never have the chance to talk to.
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This is a horrible thing that's happening to Paul, but he says, but the good news is being shared whenever it has been shared before. All right, read with me again. So that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ. It's not because he was embezzling church funds, it's because he's preaching the gospel, that he was arrested and that's rubbing some people the wrong way, but he's not backing down on the confidence of his faith and the good news that he is sharing.
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And most of the brothers and sisters having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear. So Paul standing firm has led other people to step up and be willing to share. Has anybody ever been inspired by someone doing something hard? Like, did you hear about the guy who loved rock climbing? And he fell and got his arms stuck between two rocks.
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And he had to cut his arm off and he got out of the desert alive and then managed to survive. Amazing things happened like that. The willingness, the determination of this guy, he was given a vision of his wife and not yet born daughter and was told like, you can't give up. And so he managed to fight against impossible odds and get out. It's incredible, it's incredible. It made me want to go out and climb a mountain and not fall.(...) But we have stories like that all over the place, really encouraging, empowering stories. When we see people stepping out in faith and confidence, it inspires us to do the same. And that's what's happening here.(...) Paul's going through really hard times but him staying steadfast and all of that is making other people step up. Say with me again. Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry but others from good will.
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That is interesting. Let's continue on. These proclaim Christ out of love knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel.
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These being the ones who are speaking it out of love. Those who are preaching it with a clear conscience. Now we would think that we'd want to shut down and shut up the people who are doing it out of selfish ambition and whatnot but actually Paul says, he says, "The others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, "not sincerely, but intending to increase my suffering "in my imprisonment." They want not only the discomfort of being in prison to land on Paul, but also they want to tarnish his good name. Oh, your pastor's in prison. You should give up on that, dude.(...) He's no longer deserving of grace,(...) right? Is anybody deserving of grace? No, we're not deserving of grace. Grace is a gift that's given.(...) Now, Paul was put in prison for the right reasons.(...) That's a fair distinction, right? But at the same time, they're just looking at a blanking statement. Oh, your pastor's in prison. Your church must be terrible. You should have everybody come over to our church much, much better. Our lattes,(...) right?
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But they're doing it to build themselves up out of jealousy, out of envy, out of wanting to ruin something. They're trying to preach Christ by ruining somebody else. Now,(...) this is not usually what you want to give a thumbs up to. It's not really a pure motive. However, Paul says something very, very interesting, right? Read this with me. What does it matter? That's a good question, Paul. What does it matter? He says just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true. And in that, I rejoice.(...) Yes, and I will rejoice.
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This is very shocking,(...) but the gospel often is very shocking. He says, what matters is Christ being preached. Is your Bible being read? Are we remembering the sacrifice of Christ, which made a way for us to approach God? Because it's not by our own works that we can come to Him. It's the work of Christ in our lives that allow us to hear the truth. And so he's saying, even though they're probably doing it in not the best way,(...) he's saying the truth is, so long as Jesus is what is being preached,
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let Him preach.
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Now we have,
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this is a rocky road here, okay? We've actually got people in this congregation from all over the map, including a number of visitors who are here, probably only for today, and then they're gonna go back to their congregations. And that's good. That's beautiful. That's wonderful. We don't want people to be connected to Christ. We don't want people to be connected to New Life Lutheran Church. We don't want people to be connected to the Lutheran Church. We don't specifically want the Baptist or the Methodist. I don't care what the letters are on the front of your building. If when you go inside, you open your Bible and you hear the word of God being proclaimed, I am glad that you are there. I am so glad that you have a family there. I am so glad that you are hearing the words of life.
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We would love for you to visit us as often as possible. But even more than that,(...) we do not want you to come in here and warm up your chair and then leave, and that's all you did today.
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We want the word of Christ to be preached every single service, every single Sunday, every single day between Sunday. We want you to get up out of here and go out and share the word of Christ to as many people as you meet.
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Because that's when change happens. That's when life happens, is out there. When people see by your actions and they hear by your words what you really believe
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and who you really are. So we're happy to have you here. And if this is just a place, an opportunity for you to sit down and rest for today, okay.
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That is okay.(...) We are glad that you are here.
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We really hope that wherever you are, you get connected to a family who trusts in Christ.
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The only foundation for hope, for peace, for joy, for love, for all the other gifts that the Spirit can give. Amen?(...) Amen. And we will rejoice.
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Next section we're gonna see,(...) that was all about the word of Christ. We're seeing the word of Christ have an impact in the darkest of places, in a jail.
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More than 2000 years ago, before there was even the thought of prison reform,(...) it's a dark place.(...) And as Paul talks a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more about this dark place, we start to see the darkness that he's living in
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kind of starts to befuddle him.(...) And how does he hold on
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to his sanity, to his hope, to his joy, is by resting in the work of Christ. This is next section. I'm not gonna have you read this one with me. I think it's a good practice to start with, but I'm gonna read these ones for you, okay? For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my salvation. Some translations say deliverance, which is a little bit confusing because we know that Paul did not get out of prison. We know that he was executed while in prison.
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But he has the door open like, "Maybe I'll go, maybe I won't." When you get a word like that, it's nice to grab what's called a Bible commentary. This is my big boring book that is interesting.
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Sound confusing? It's because I did that on purpose. The guy who wrote it, his name is M. Eugene Boring.
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And I'm like, "Yeah, he was the right guy to write this book." But it is my boring book that is interesting because what this does is this is just for the New Testament. It was a gift from my parents when I went to college. And what you can do is you can go to, it has all the Bible verses in there, and it has a tiny little commentary that's about maybe that long. And it says, "Oh, this word deliverance." In the Greek, you meant that. Or it could mean this.
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It's clear that Paul doesn't mean deliverance because then everything else he's saying doesn't make any sense. He's saying my salvation, I am resting in what Jesus Christ has done for me.(...) And I know that by staying faithful to Christ,
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I know he is faithful to me. And so I can rest in that, and whatever else happens, happens.
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Whatever else happens, happens. I don't care.
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I will preach the word of Christ because of the work of Christ in my life. And Paul says all these words on here, and it can be a little bit confusing, like, "Paul, where's your point?" And the whole thing is his point.(...) I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
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this will turn out for my salvation, which is a gift of God.
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All of this is the work of Christ. It's not Paul's work. It's the work of Christ. It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by my life or by my death. For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.
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Highlight that, underline it, exclamation mark.(...) It does not matter what happens to me so long as Christ is glorified through me, right? To live is Christ. If I live, I'm gonna keep talking about Jesus. And if I die, I get to go be with Jesus. Either way, I win, is what Paul says. And there have been so many sermons preached on just this verse alone. It's easy to go and find some further explanations. We're gonna move on, though. He says, "If I'm to live in the flesh, "that means a fruitful labor for me, "which I,(...) proof of labor for me, "yet I cannot say which I will choose." Here we see the real human Paul coming out. "I am hard pressed between the two. "My desire is to depart and be with Christ, "for that is far better."
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I love the raw honesty of Paul. Because remember prison 2,000 years ago, no prison reform. He's probably got maggots and worms in the bread they're giving him. Who knows what's running around in the jail cell with him, nipping at his heels. This is disgusting,(...) disgusting living. And he's stuck here for years.(...) And he is tired. He has other physical ailments we hear about. He's losing his sight.(...) At one point, people stopped visiting him because he's not getting released from prison. And they're just like, "Well, "I guess we'll go do something else." You know, he gets abandoned by a lot of people. And he says, "I just don't, I'm ready to be done."
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He just says, "I want so badly to give up.
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"And I don't know about you, but I've been there.
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"I've been there."
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Frustrated with God.
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When I felt he didn't live up to his promises.
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I thought life was gonna be easier,(...) more successful. I didn't want to go here.)
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Stuck in addictions.
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Wandering away from the faith I once knew.
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If that's you, you're not alone today, okay?
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Been there.
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I might be there again, I don't know. But I trust in this.
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God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins.
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When we confess them to one another. I am pressed hard between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better.
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But to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.
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You are not here by accident today, okay?
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In this building, online, anywhere, you were not here by accident. You were made with a purpose and you were made good. And the good God who made you, loves you and wants you here.
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Because he has something very special for you and it may not enrich your life.
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But the stranger next to you on the bus or the plane might hear something that saves their life.
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The fruits God puts into your life are not for you to consume or hoard, they are for you to share. He wants to work through you, be a conduit to the world. And Paul is in the depths, the darkestness, the darkestness, what the crap is that word? The darkest place of prison.
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And he's finding a way to share light. Not his own light but the light that was put in him by Christ.
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You are here for a purpose.
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Don't give up.
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Since I'm convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith. So that by my presence again with you, your boast might abound in Christ Jesus because of me. Again, this sounds like Paul might be glorifying himself but he's not. He's saying if Christ delivers me, it can only be explained by Christ.
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And so we can all celebrate Christ because of what he did for me.
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Not because of what I did for Christ but because of what Christ did for me.
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The work of Christ is what carries us through.
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The good times and the hard times.
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And we continue on.
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Only live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. So that whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel. Here's a spot I would love for you to underline or highlight live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
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Because it sounds like he was just telling us about the work is done by Christ, not by you. And now he says, go do some work. And it can feel a little bit disjointed. It can feel a little bit confusing but what's really happening here, he's saying in light of the good gift given to you, do your best to pursue Christ. And through your devotion to Christ, you will see an abundance come. Our work does not bring about our salvation, but out of the overflow of that gift of grace,
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new life can grow.
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And not a new life that just stays with you, but it spreads out and out from you and out from them and out from them. So live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Live your life knowing that it's not by you. It's by his grace.
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Don't be quick to pass judgment. Don't be quick to compare. Don't be quick to push down and criticize. Be quick to forgive and to live humbly and to always be prepared to give an answer for the faith that is in you.
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So you can all be standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith.
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And in no way frightened by those opposing you. For them, this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation.(...) And this is God's doing.
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The Philippian church is being persecuted.
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We are very blessed in America that we do not face true persecution.
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Life is uncomfortable for us right now, to stand firm with God. On what the Bible says is right and wrong.
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It is uncomfortable.
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But few of us are facing what like Charlie Kirk has faced.
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He was not a perfect man.
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But he stood for certain principles and he was attacked for that. That's not normal. That shocks us because that's not normal here. We're not going to be able to do that. It shocks us because that's not normal here.
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We have people around the world in other nations where there's a strict legal doctrine. And if you do not fall inside of that, you are abused. You are banished. You will face so much true persecution. In America, it's very uncomfortable right now. I'll give you that. But it's not what Paul faced, what the Philippian church faced. People taking your home and all of your possessions and next to murdering you or other things like that, just because of your beliefs.
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But Paul says,(...) this is God's doing.
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And that's strange. For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well.
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And if this is my Bible right now, I put a big fat red question mark next to that because that's strange. It's a privilege to suffer. (Audience Murmuring)
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Privilege to suffer.
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If Christ Jesus was the perfect image
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of what a perfect human could be,
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he loved perfectly, he gave perfectly, he did miracles, he did wonders, he served others, not serving himself.
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And we're gonna read about that next week. So come back, come ready. They learned all about what Christ did for us. We said it in that creed. He did all of that perfectly.
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What happened to him?
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Right, they killed him.
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If he could be the perfect person,
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and yet they killed him for it. I don't know why we expect to believe in him and try to live like him, and yet everything goes perfectly well for us.
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It's really a fantasy to believe that.(...) We accept Jesus and suddenly you got your own yacht, your own jet, you never have any problems.(...) That's not following Christ.
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If you have wealth and riches,(...) good for you. That's a good thing. You can do a lot of good with that.
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But that's not a promise of the gospel.
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Jesus said, "Take heart because you will have trouble." In John chapter 17, he says, "You will have trouble,
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but be encouraged because I have overcome the world."
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Jesus conquered death. He conquered the separation that was between us and God.
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And he set us free from the fear of it, from the worry. And he says, "If you stand up for me, you are going to face persecution, but don't worry because I'm going to be with you."(...) Remember what he says in Matthew? He talks about how blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall receive mercy.(...) When we are at our weakest, God is at his best.
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And if we're living safe and secure, surrounded by all the riches and luxuries that life can afford,
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then we're not really getting to experience what Jesus has for us.
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I'm not saying go get yourself in trouble. Don't be stupid.
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But go through life knowing that no matter what, Jesus is with you. And if good or bad comes your way, don't lose heart because Jesus is with you.(...) Since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had, and now I hear that I still have.
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So Paul is telling us, remember, I came to you preaching the gospel, and I was beaten up and thrown in prison for it. And I'm still doing it. I'm not going to stop because to live is Christ and to die is gain.(...) But why do I do it?
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Because Christ is worthy.
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Because Christ came and did the exact same thing. He came and he suffered on our behalf. He gave up his life. He could have snapped his fingers and gotten off that cross and walked away and went about his life. But he didn't. He stayed there. He suffered. He endured for us because there was no other way for us to be reconnected to God.
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It was the only way for us to be restored to him. So Christ is worthy of us doing the hard and uncomfortable thing.
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And that's reaching out and sharing the word of Christ, living in the work of Christ, living in his forgiveness and his acceptance, because he is worthy.(...) Christ is worthy. And that's what I get from this story. So then I would, I would do,
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I'm not going to do all of this again, but I would read it a third time. After I've gone slowly through that, and I've highlighted and I've asked questions, I'll read it a third time, and I'll think about how does this fit into the whole story.
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And the whole story is that Jesus needs to be over everything. And if you're not dead, God's not done.
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He has bought you.
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He has redeemed you.(...) He has lifted you from the pit. And he will do it again.
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Because he's not done with you. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. And I know that's super cheesy.
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But in the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, it's the absolute truth.(...) Today you get to start over and do it again.
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Amen.