Because my voice gets really, really boring to me. Today I'm gonna invite Tia to come and do the reading for us. So let's welcome Tia. Lemme find it. Okay, we're gonna be reading from Philippians chapter four, verse 10, two. 23. I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. You have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need for, I have learned to be content.
Whatever the circumstances, I know what it is to be a need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, I can do everything through him who gives me strength. I. Yet it was good for you to share in my troubles.
Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. Not that I am looking for a gift, but I'm looking for what may be credited to your account. I have received full payment and even more.
I'm amply supplied now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God, and my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father, be glory forever and ever. Our men greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings all the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Beautiful. Let us pray. I gracious King, we submit ourselves to you today, this morning as we come to your word. We are not just trusting, but we're needing the Holy Spirit to come and reveal things to us. The mysteries of your kingdom, the power of the truth of the gospel. We need you. We are reliant upon you. Come and bring your word to life today in your people we pray.
Amen. So as we come to the end of this letter, we arrive at a passage that sums up pretty much what this letter's been about, and what has it been about. It's been about sacrificial partnership with Christ and with his people. Living under the riches of this sacrificial king that we serve, and this partnership is found in the waters of baptism. Our lives joined with his, our ministry in his ministry.
New creation, welcoming through the taking of his blood and his body, and communion that we live in. Partnership marked by this king's life, his death, and also his resurrection. What makes this passage so rich is Paul's skillful use of language. He's a brilliant writer. From verses 10 through to 17, he's using very formal commercial language, like business language. And then at verse 18, he takes a turn and he shifts to familiar Old Testament sacrificial language, and he's not.
Just talking about finances here, he's painting a theological picture for us. Paul is helping the Philippians and us see the context, our context, our lived reality in light of the gospel. And this passage that Paul so beautifully crafts at the center of it all is about mutual sacrificial reliance. He's putting two things in opposition with each other. That's partnership or friendship in Christ versus what I wanna refer to as stoic self-sufficiency.
You see in the Greek Roman world of the time, friendship was based on mutual benefits. See the stoics who were, quite, quite influential at the time, a group of it is, it is a group of ideas. The stoics referring to the philosophy of stoicism. Believed that if someone helped you, you were morally obliged to re repay that help later if you couldn't. The friendship was done. Equality of service was the rule in friendship. But Paul leans into this stoic ideal.
Not to affirm it in this passage, but to contrast it with the life in Christ that we have. At first glance, the actions might look very similar to us. So let's say that I go help Kel. Where are you, Kev? He's got some help that he needs at his house. So I go help Kelvin out with some stuff at his house, and I spend the whole day helping him and he doesn't feed me. He doesn't gimme anything to drink. He really just uses and abuses me, which is like.
So not Kev. In fact, if I went and helped Kev, we'd probably get little done and eat more. Yeah, yeah. He'd probably be like, well, we can worry about, worry about later, Luke. Now, the compelling to go help Kev looks very similar in these two ideologies. The stoics would say, yes, go help him as Christ would compel me to go help him. But. Christ's compulsion to go serve has no expectation of anything returned to me, and that's the radical difference between these two ideologies.
The stoic has the sweetener of, after helping Kel, he should repay me and this gospel. That Paul is inviting the Philippians into changes the motivation of life itself. That our life together in Christ and with E each other is not transactional. It's actually a life welcoming of transformation. And Paul's point here in this small passage is not subtle to the reader. He is taking this prevailing idea of the day and flipping it on its head to showcase the beauty of Christ's gospel.
Namely that difference of the life of self-sufficiency to a life of sufficiency in Christ alone. That self-sufficiency, according to Paul in life, produces no joy in any CIR circumstances ultimately, but Christ's sufficiency are, that's where we can experience joy in all things. Think about it. Paul is riding from prison, yet we see him rejoicing. How? Why? Because Jesus has risen. That's why he's king. Even in Shane's, Jesus has risen. Even in prison, Jesus is king. He smiles.
I just, I get this thought as I read Philippians and I'm like, I reckon, I reckon Paul's having moments of anguish. I reckon Paul's going, oh man, I wish this not to be. So, but I reckon for Paul, that deep understanding of Christ being risen, Christ being king, I reckon there were moments as he's sitting in, in, in jail and just a little smile comes on his face and he's like, it's all gonna be okay. Christ is king. He sits on the throne. Christ efficiency isn't just for those in chains.
It means that even in our inability, even in our weakness, in our unproductive ways, and being sidelined and feeling in life, that we're unable, that we still find ourselves sitting as Paul was unable to participate. In able to get out into the world and declare the gospel that he's so desired and loved, we can sit there and go. It is well, Christ is king. You see, the Philippians didn't stop supporting or seeing Paul as a missionary of the gospel, even though he was in chains.
Even though he was in prison. They supported him sacrificially. Why I. Why he's not much for you? Si he, he's sitting in a jail. He's not a very good missionary. Sitting in jail, is he, how much, how much productivity can he give the church? How useful is he? But for, for the Philippians, that didn't matter because it mattered more to them proclaiming part gospel partnership, that that isn't about performance, but it's about finding that our value is not in our capability, it is in Christ alone.
So this isn't about prosperity or poverty. This letter. It's about joyful contentment in Christ through all things. No matter what happens in our lives, we've gotta sing about Jesus. This reminds me of a story from the Great Depression. My grandparents were born and raised through the Great Depression. Anyone have family members? I'm sure you all do actually. Just how are you here? If you don't, as I'm saying it, I'm like, that's stupid. Luke. That was so good.
During the Great Depression, there was this panel that came together and. And, on the panel it had this guy by the name of Clarence Darrow and he was an atheist lawyer. He was quite well known throughout the Chicago area, and they con, they formed this panel to go listen to the mostly black audience in Chicago's south side during the Great Depression and in Chicago, south side, where these mainly black people lived. Conditions were shocking. It was very, very bad.
There was little hope in regards to things. Will things get better? Can I get a job? No. Can I get food? Probably not. And that was the reality that these peoples lived in. And, and then Darrow ended his speech on this panel by asking the question to the community. And yet, through all these things you sing. Through all these things, you, you, you sing the best I've ever heard people sing before and he asks them a question, he says, but what do you have, have to sing about?
What is it that would make you want to sing in the misery that you find yourselves in? And without missing a beat. A woman in the crowd jumps to her feet and shouts out. We've got Jesus to sing about. We've got Jesus to sing about. Darrow was stunned, left speechless, which was very unusual for him from what I've read, because he just encountered something, the defied logic, and that was joy through tears. A community that is walking with the one who strengthens them through all things.
And this is what Paul is showing us. This woman understood just like Paul, that Jesus is king, and if he is king, he has all things. She didn't deny her pain. But she brought her pain under the rule and reign of King Jesus, and that changes everything. Paul sitting in the pain locked up, has chosen the same path as this woman to live under the rule and reign of Jesus as king. That means I am not alone. Our sufferings are shared.
Our rejoicing is shared in the community of faith that we live in deep partnership with Christ and his people, and this is why so funny. I love this reality of the letter of Philippians. This is why nowhere in the book, in the letter of Philippians, does Paul. Directly thank the Philippians for the gift that they gave him. Now, for some people that's made Paul hard to read. He comes across as sort of entitled or rude. But you gotta understand, Paul isn't ungrateful. So he's helping this church.
And us to understand that their gift is ultimately for Christ and his gospel, not just for Paul. You see the Philippians, were not wealthy. They were a small, under-resourced church. You, yet they gave sacrificially out of their little, not out of abundance, but out of a joy of gospel partnership. Because they delighted in seeing the gospel advanced, and that's our calling to live in a way that reflects our sacrificial king to one another.
A way that shares, that gives that devotes itself to the other in love. Not expecting any return or thanks. But rejoicing because we are one body with one mission and one shared blessing in our king, and this way of living actually opens us up to the true reality of what we call shalom, the peace of God because it's peace with God and peace with one another. We are not solo operators in our kingdom Call.
We are interdependent connected brothers and sisters in Christ, and there's freedom in living that type of way under that rule of our sacrificial king because it shifts our motivation from obtaining to finding ourselves in satisfaction with our Lord and our king. As Tim Keller writes in his small little book, the Freedom of Self Forgetfulness, he says this, the verdict is in, oh, there you go. The verdict is in. And now I perform on the basis of the verdict because he loves me and he accepts me.
I do not have to do things just to build up my resume. I can help people to help people, not so I feel better about myself. Joy for the sake of joy. Service for the sake of service to the king who served us first. The gospel frees us to let go of the plenty or the fear of lack. It grounds us in contentment knowing that we are secure under his reign. Paul can be content in chains because he's profoundly convinced that these sufferings are nothing compared to the new creation.
Breaking through God's story is real, even in imprisonment, even through suffering. And this brings us to a place that we may need to come back to time and time again. This is where it all starts for us. In our faithfulness to Jesus, and this is where it will end. And that is at the foot of the throne. We're not at the foot of the cross. We're at the foot of the throne. The cross speaks of sacrifice and love, absolutely, but the the throne speaks of hope, joy, peace, and promise.
The throne is the fulfillment of the gospel. Yeah. Amen. Yes. Jesus is not on the on the cross anymore. He is on the throne, and from there he confirms the verdict to us. His people, all will be made new, all will be made right and all will be well once again. Amen. This gospel partnership. Have you thought about your gospel partnership with Christ in ways where. It is necessary to partner with others to see it achieved in your life.
Have you thought about it in such expansive ways as Paul highlights to us at the conclusion of Philippians that they're giving of a gift to him in prison, unable to run around and share the gospel news of Jesus, but confined to a jail. Have you thought about that? That is even that transaction, that giving of that gift is doing something in the world. It is breaking. It is rallying against, it is subverting against evil powers. Have you thought about your gospel partnership?
Just even in those practical ways of seeing someone in need and blessing them in their need without a desire of a thank you or any repayment and that that might be, that simple act might actually be a part of declaring Jesus as king in the world. Have you thought about it in such simplicity? 'cause Paul seems to think about it. Amen. In very expansive ways that our gospel partnership with Christ is not a set of ideals spoken to people. It is a life lived.
The gospel manifesting in and through you and I in all that we do. That's Paul's vision for us. Do you struggle? Do you struggle when you see others honored and you miss out? Is that a challenge for you? Do you really struggle when someone comes and meets a need and you cannot repay their need? Does that, does that just, oh, that really? Oh, I find that so hard. Do you struggle with that? Just reflect on that. I've got some questions here that in your.
Receiving and unable to repay that debt to a brother and sister. That in your doing that, in your humility, in your grace of receiving and unable to, to repay even in those moments, that is, that is declaring Christ as king. It's an interesting way of thinking about it, isn't it? And And do you struggle when honors are because? Because when we see another honor, when we see another succeed in the life of Christ, that honor and that success is ours.
Amen. Yeah. There's a bit of a reframe we need to do here by the power of the spirit, don't we? That our resistance in Christ is shared, then our mission in Christ is shared. Paul brings this letter to the end by painting that very picture that brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world are in this thing together of declaring Jesus Christ as king, and that their success is our success. Because we are his people. We are one people under the rule and reign of Jesus that you are living out.
The gospel isn't a personal calling, but a communal calling with your brothers and sisters in Christ. So I just want, I want us to just take a moment. I want you to close your eyes, just want you to enter into a time of just reflection as I ask a few questions. And a, and as we do this, I want us to be open to the spirit. I want us to be sensitive to the spirit and what he might be saying to you has, has it been hard? Has it been hard to live in sacrificial partnerships with others where?
Opportunities come to bear with others, to enter into others' struggles. Has that been hard? Is your story a story of being hurt and misused within the church, or are you finding yourself here today going, actually, I'm just apathetic. I'm disconnected from God's people and I just can't be bothered. Have you forgotten? Has the truth of the gospel, the truth of the foundation of our faith being communal, has that disappeared from your imagination in Christ Jesus?
I want you just invite the Holy Spirit to come. And start that conversation with us afresh. Do you need to taste the freedom of contentment in Christ today? Is that what you need? Is there a longing within your heart and your mind to fully partake of the truth that Christ is truly that risen king? As an invitation today to come to the throne, the phone throne of grace before our King of Kings and say, Lord, I need your help. Maybe in reflecting of these things, there's a call to repent.
Maybe in US today, there's a call to forgive and to release people from judgment and to pass that judgment into the care and concern of your king. Maybe there's a call to come and worship him. Whatever it is, the invitation is that we can come boldly. As citizens of heaven before the throne of grace, he is enough. As the days come, I want us to continue to ask these questions. Then it might be a rhythm of life that we open ourselves to what it means to live in Christ.
That that's not just a, an ideal, a thought, a wonderful sort of idea, but to live in Christ is an invitation to come and embody sets of practices together to actually live a life in Christ. Yeah. You see, the problem that we face, I think, in our formation as Christ followers has been our stunted reduced understanding of what the gospel is in Christ Jesus, which I think has caused many of us issues in responding to a vision of sacrificial partnership with Christ in community.
I. And that is namely that the gospel's been reduced to something that is very salvation centric. And my call, my conviction over many years has been that we as Christians need to lay that gospel down and pick up the gospel of scripture. The gospel is this, according to the word of God. To the words of Christ and his apostles is this, that God's promised, anointed one Messiah, Jesus is now king. That is the gospel. There are benefits of that gospel. Amen. That we are saved from sin and death.
Absolutely. But it is a benefit of the gospel that is. The gospel that he, the father, his anointed one Messiah, Jesus the Christ has been proclaimed king over what? All things heaven and earth. Come on, get excited about it. This is, this is life. That announcement is life. That king Jesus has authority. Over all things that no powers or principalities, spirits or kings of the world can come and fought that the declared gospel, that Jesus is the risen king. Nothing comes against him.
And in scripture they use language of kingdom. And as we've seen in Philippians citizenship, these words are used quite regularly. So when we come to give ourselves to Christ, commit our following to him, scripture uses imagination like kingdom and citizenship. When we come to know and submit to Christ, we are in fact giving our allegiance and loyalty as citizens to a king, we commit our lives under his waves and receive responsibilities of entering his kingdom.
And these responsibilities are to our king, but extend to our fellow citizens in this kingdom. Throughout Philippians, Paul is littering these responsibilities as citizens of the Kingdom of heaven. Throughout his letter, he's helping to build a picture of life in Christ as his people. And I want to go through them so that there's some clarity around what Paul is trying to communicate us to us through his letter as I want, as I go through them step by step.
Just allow your hearts to be open and soft to where God might be pushing us to push in further into these responsibilities. So my first responsibility that I can see in the book of Philippians is that we are called to a life of obedience, not posturing. Now, I'm not gonna read these scriptures. That's, that's up to you to go do that, but I will speak and articulate what I can see in them. Firstly that we are called to cultivating a life of obedience.
As citizens of heaven, we are called to actively pursue lives that please God by aligning with Christ's values through deep encouragement with his word and life together in community. This is with him and with others. Secondly, obedience requires reliance and community. True obedience, not just intellectual agreement, is a life relied upon Christ's goodness, because none of us know him perfectly.
Do we e We must discern and deeply apply his commands together, which means we've gotta do the hard work together people. Of seeing the teachings of Christ in scripture and then translating them into our lives today. How do we practice these commands together in 2025 together? How do we practice his commands in the situations that's unfolding in my life today? We must do that to together, to discern and to seek the ways of Christ.
Yeah. Thirdly, the kingdom culture overthrows, worldly posturing in Christ's kingdom. There is no place for flattery, self-promotion, or shaming others in Christ's kingdom. The call of obedience is to realize that we, every single one of us stands equally in need of grace and in fact, in the kingdom. The least is made most, yeah, that we are a kingdom type of people. That does not elevate the VIPs or the, the popular people, but we elevate those that are pushed to the side that have no voice.
Secondly, another responsibility Paul articulates to us. In the third chapter, chapter of Philippians, he says that we are to pursue res resilience, um, over, not being, pushed into conformity. So faithfulness over comfort is one of our responsibilities as citizens of his kingdom. Blending in or prioritizing comfort for ourselves or even, even at times for others at the cost of gospel faithfulness, is to actually surrender our responsibilities as citizens of heaven.
My wife reminded us as house church leaders on Monday night. That comfort and growth never sit in the same room. Oh, that's, that's a joyful encouragement, isn't it? It's like, can't it just be a little bit of comfort and then growth as well, you know? But comfort and growth, they don't sit in the same room, they don't live in the same stages of life, and the kingdom of God is going to call us to lay down our comfort and pick up growing in reliance of his ways together.
Jesus sets the example, doesn't he? Christ intentionally went against social norms to love the outcast, often upsetting the powers of his day and his life models to us costly obedience for the sake of love. He doesn't conform to the ways of the world, but he, in fact, at times goes against the ways of the world, which means he gets pushed to the side as well, and as gospel citizens, that is something that we need to expect. And, and then thirdly. We're misunderstood and marginalized.
We stand with the misunderstood and marginalized Following Jesus can mean losing our social status or even influence in our lives. As citizens of a different Kim kingdom, we should expect to be misunderstood and push to the margins. At times. There's a cost to following Jesus. To following Jesus under his rule and reign. There's a cost at times.
Then a third responsibility that we are welcomed into is humility, not self-confidence, and take that from the second chapter of Philippians, that true humility is Christ's confidence, not self-confidence. A humble person doesn't draw attention to themselves or their efforts. Instead, a humble person finds joy in trusting Jesus and thinking of others more than themselves. A humble person.
True humility in Christ centeredness is actually finding yourself being lost in the joys, in the burdens of the concerns of others more than yourself. Secondly, freedom in distrust, self distrust. There's a great spiritual strength, I believe, for us to lean into, and that is admitting our weaknesses and not relying upon ourselves. JI Packer A. A guy that is no longer alive said this.
The way of true spiritual strength that leads to real fruitfulness in Christ life and service is the humble, self distrustful way to consciously recognize our weaknesses. Did everyone get that? Who didn't? Do you want me to read it again? Yes, the true way of spiritual strength. Is that leads to real fruitfulness in Christian life and service is the humble, self distrustful way of consciously recognizing weaknesses that we become people. They are not, they're not defensive about our weaknesses.
But actually joyfully open to recognize them before others in love and before Christ. And that that that reality of us being open to recognizing where we are weak actually makes him strong, heavenly citizens embrace weakness. Living as citizens of heaven mean letting go of self-confidence, graceful, joyful expectancy even in our shortcomings because our king is strong in and through our weaknesses. And then lastly, joy and contentment, not cynicism.
And greed is another kingdom responsibility, which we just covered this morning. Cynicism destroys the soul. Cynicism offers no joy or transformation. It numbs the heart and blocks truth. As JRR Tolkien said, the greater path of truth is always hidden in the regions out of the reach of cynicism. Secondly, greed is a trap people. Like quicksand, greed traps us in a cycle of dissatisfaction. The more we clinging to it, the harder it becomes to live free and fully from it.
And then finally, the gospel calls us to simplicity. That is another responsibility we have as citizens that Paul teaches us that the good news of Jesus frees us from a life of cynicism and greed. And allows us to be open to cultivating faith, hope, love, and joy. And we begin to recognize that these things like being a cynic, being greed, motivated, wanting more, are in fact just distractions of what true life really is. So notice these traits.
Notice these responsibilities of obedience, reliance, humility, joy, and contentment, they can all be had with plenty in life or with little, despite our circumstances, we know we can know the closeness of God and that his kingdom will advance and no, no chains can stop it from seeing its full completion in the world to your homework today. Yeah. Yeah, I'm giving you homework. This is like we, no, no, no. This is not, this is not what we normally do.
No. I'm giving you homework to go and meditate. Invite the spirit to reveal. Invite your brothers and your sisters to speak into our shared kingdom responsibilities articulated in Paul's letter. Where can we grow church communally? Where can we grow? In obedience, where can we grow in reliance together, humility, joy, and contentment? How can we do that together as a family? That is not my responsibility. That's our responsibility to cultivate these things. Let me conclude with this.
Nijay Gupta sums up Philippians in this way. He says, the good citizen of the gospel kingdom of Jesus is a person filled with the good news of the great savior, living fully and deeply here on earth, but driven by the mission and ethos. Mission and ethos, ethos, values, responsibilities of the heavenly Commonwealth government. Yeah. To the praise of God. That is what Philippians, according to Nijay is all about.
So brothers and sisters, my joy and my crown, as Paul put it in Philippians, let us together work together to live fully and deeply here. And now as citizens of heaven in our lives today, let us join together Seeing the Kingdom of Heaven invade Earth through its mission of making all things new again through the subversive nature of being sacrificial servants.
Doing all these things, devoting our lives to these things for one purpose and reason, and that is to the glory and praise of our God and King. King Jesus. Amen. Beautiful. I'm done and you probably are too. I don't know. I so get sick of my own voice, but God, God's continuing to do a good work in us, isn't he? He's so faithful that even in spite of our weaknesses, even in spite of our waywardness, God is faithful. He's so faithful people, no matter where you find yourselves today.
God is faithful. Now, whether you now, whether if you, if you're in that prison that you find, that you see in Paul, you go, I feel like Paul, I feel like I'm trapped. God is king. Whether you feel incapable because life feels like it's falling apart, God is king. Whether something has come upon you over the last few weeks where you're going, I don't know, a way out of this mess, God is king. All things will be made new. God is king. He sits on his throne.
I've shared this story a couple of times 'cause I wanna be vulnerable with you continuously. Is that I had, I had a season where life was not good for me and I wanted out. I wanted out. I was in the depths of depression. I. I couldn't work. I was confined to home in a room for about a year and a half, and I remember in the midst of that, about eight, nine months in, just battling every day crying as I woke up. Why didn't you take me, Lord?
I remember standing in my mom and dad's kitchen looking out the backyard. Just a beautiful daylight today. Sun's out. And I just remember God just saying something so simple to me. I am on the throne and in the midst of that, all will be well, Luke, all will be well. God is on the throne people. Amen.