A Center for Discipleship
Phil 1: 3-11 September 7, 2003
I thank my God every time I remember you. [4] In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy [5] because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, [6] being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
[7] It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. [8] God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
[9] And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, [10] so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, [11] filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.
CCI: The church that pleases God is one where love matures, where discernment flourishes and righteousness is found in Christ.
Intro: Over the last three weeks we have been looking at the Call of God in the lives of Jeremiah, Abram and the disciples. We have learned that God's call is part of God's over all plan, we have learned that God's call is unpredictable and will always stretch us to new heights for God, and then we learned that God's call is a call to leave all and follow Jesus. As a follower of Jesus Christ, God has called you both to follow Him and to be a part of his body. Today, the body of Christ in any place is discovered in God's church, both the local fellowship, like New Hope and the church world-wide.
God calls his church and gives us a mission, just as he calls individuals. Our mission statement is very simple and very powerful. New Hope Baptist is to be "equipping God's people to be Christ's presence in our community." This statement of mission is to guide us in whatever we do. It is a picture of who we are in Christ.
This morning I want us to think about this mission in the light of the prayer that Paul offered for the Philippian church.
The church in Philippi was very dear to Paul. Philippi was the first city he visited after God called him to leave Asia and go West into Macedonia. The church that was started in this city was a strong church that grew out of persecution. Lydia and Philippian jailer were early members of that church.
This letter was probably written while he was in prison. Verse 7 speaks of his chains. From his cell he is writing a letter that shares his heart. The Philippians have remained faithful to him. Many others have betrayed him, or turned their backs, but his friends in Philippi have remained faithful. So Paul opens his letter with a statement of joy for their faithful partnership with him. He is convinced that God will complete his work in them.
Then he prays for the church. And I believe that prayer reflects God's longing for the church today.
I. God longs for the church to be mature in love.
A. there is not a church anywhere that does not characterize itself as "friendly." Each church wants to believe that visitors who enter will sense that they are welcomed. Each church believes that members feel cared for by one another. And we call that love. These are good things, we need to be friendly, we need to care for visitors. But this is not what Paul was calling mature love.
The love we are called to exhibit is mature because it abounds in knowledge and depth of insight. The word abound, means "overflows," "is lavish," "is more than enough." Our love is to be without reserve, but that is not all, it is not enough to love much, but as Eugene Peterson has said, we are to "love well." That means that our love is to based in an understanding of God's love for us.
In Nicaragua when hurricane Mitch ravaged the country, there was a community that lost their entire crop of coffee. To make matters worse, when the second crop was ready, it was destroyed by drought. Having been devastated two seasons in a row, they asked for help. This had been a very productive community. International relief agencies stepped in to help and provided feeding stations for the community. They provided clothing and built a school and provided a teacher. The loved much. However, perhaps they did not love well. The community became dependant on the relief agency and when the third crop was ready, no one went to work in the fields, this very productive community became an empoverished community, not because they were not loved, but because they were not loved well.
To love well is to seek to know the beloved. To love well is to understand. To love well is care about the future of those you love. To love well is to look beyond what it will do for you. I believe it is very common for us to act in the name of love, yet to act in pure selfishness.
The love that God calls us to, is a love that is mature, it is a love that understands and forgives. A love that looks out for others. God longs for the church to be mature in love.
II. God longs for the church to be a place of discernment
It is good for us to love one another deeply and truly, but God also wants us to learn to discern what is best. The word discern, is the Greek word, "dokimazo" it means to analze, or test, or work hard to learn. I believe that every church is to be a place where God is glorified. But that does not mean that every church will or should look alike. Not every church is callled to the ministry of counseling. Not every church is called to start a pre-school. Not every church will have a bell choir. Not every church will evangelize by going door to door. Each of these may be good things, but what is God's best for our congregation. When Paul prayed for the church of Philippi, he prayed that they would be able to test all they do in love and discern the best, to find what was pure and blameless in their minsitry.
Once again, Eugene Peterson sheds light on what this is all about in his translation when he writes, "may your love be sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush."
Many times we are faced with a decision between the good alternatives. In 1933 Dietrich Bonhoeffer left Germany for England. He was discouraged with the response of the church to Hitler and so he left to pastor a german speaking church in England. This was a good decision, the church was responding well to his leadership. Then Karl Barth, who had been exiled to Switzerland wrote to ask him to consider returning to Germany because his message was needed. He had to decide between a good decision and the best. Bonhoeffer returned to Germany and ultimately was executed, however, his writings and reflections continue to affect the world. The mature love of the church helped him discern what was best.
The best is never the easiest, nor is it usually the most obvious. To find God's best, the church must seek discernment together. The diaconate must come to one mind, the church membership must pursue God's call. God longs for the church to be a place of discernment.
III. God longs for the church be filled with the righteousness of Christ.
According the prophet, all our righteousness is like filthy rags to God. That means that what is right before God will never be achieved through rules and laws. We know that, when we came to Christ, we confessed it. However, so often as a church, called to be a place of mature love, and called to be a place of discernment, we end up defining righteousness by our rules. In College, the christian schools we were related to defined how righteous they were by what they prohibited. Our school did permit dancing or tobacco, another school forbade tobacco and card playing, and a third prohibited card playing and movies. Who was more righteous? These things did not matter. They were man made rules to satisfy the supporters.
Paul said the righteousness that counts is the rightousness of Christ and that is what we are to be filled with. What does that look like? We can only know by looking at, and studying the life of Jesus. In him we find a longing for the Kingdom of God, a community where God rules. In Jesus we find forgiveness that is unconditional. If we are going to be filled with the righteousness of Christ, we will follow his example of Grace in the face of persecution. In Christ we find acceptance of the outcast. In Christ we find obedience to the Father. In Christ we find a willingness to sacrifice himself for others. These are the earmarks of the righteousness of Christ.
God longs for a church that is filled with the righteousness of Christ. It does not matter what our rules are. What matters is the life of Christ being lived through us.
APP: A church mature in love, a church that is a place of discernment, a church filled with the righteousness of Christ, this describes a church that is a center of discipleship. A disciple is one who loves as Christ loves, one who seeks Christ's will and one who lives the life of Christ. I believe that the church God longs for is a church that is a center for discipleship where followers of Jesus are supported by one another as they obey the New Commandment to love one another as Christ has love us, and are equipped to fulfill the Great Commision to go into all the world and proclaim the good news of Jesus. Will we be such a center for discipleship?
This morning we will be sharing together the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. As we gather for this time we come together as one body. We will share in the bread that symbolizes Jesus body broken on the cross for us. We will share together the juice that is a symbol of Jesus blood that was shed when he died on Calvary. And as we share these together, we are reminded that the church, this church is called to the visible presence of Christ in our community, we are the body of Christ. May we examine our hearts and our relationships and come today as one body supporting one another as we obey the New Commandment and equipping one another to fulfill the Great Commission.
AMEN.
