Philippians 1:18b-30

Philippians 1:18b-30 Message by Luke Bates at The Red Door Community Church.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
All right, so we're gonna read from,we're still in chapter one, and we're

(00:04):
finishing off chapter one this morning,and we're reading from verse 18 B, which
is just that second half of the verse, andthen all the way through to chapter 30.
So let's read that together.
Hey, are we ready?
Yeah.
Awesome.
Yes, I will continue to rejoicebecause I know this will lead to my

(00:26):
salvation through your prayers andhelp from the spirit of Jesus Christ.
My eager expectation and hope is that Iwill not be ashamed about anything but
that now always with all courage, Christ.
Would be highly honored in mybody, whether by life or by death.

(00:50):
For me to live is Christand to die is gain.
Now, if I live on in the flesh, thismeans fruitful work for me, and I
don't know which one I should choose.
I'm torn between the two.
I long to depart and be withChrist, which is far better.

(01:13):
But to remain in the flesh ismore necessary for your sake.
Since I am persuaded of this, I know thatI will remain and continue with you all
for you of, of you, for your progress andjoy in the faith, so that because of my
coming to you again, you're boasting inJesus Christ may abound just one thing.

(01:39):
As citizens of heaven, live your lifeworthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Then whether I come and see you oran absent, I will hear about you.
That you are standing firm in one spirit,in one accord, condemning together
for the faith of the gospel, not beingfrightened in any way of your opponents.

(02:04):
This is a sign of destruction for them.
But of your salvation, and this is fromGod, for it has been granted to you on
Christ's behalf, not only to believein him, but also to suffer for him.
Since you are engaged in thesame struggle that you saw I
had and now here that I have,

(02:26):
there's a great difference about knowingabout something and then living something.
Imagine speaking to someonewho has studied a map of a
terrain for a hiking trail.
They've got profoundknowledge about the trail.

(02:48):
They know the weatherpatterns of that trail.
They know everything you canknow about the trail, but that
person has never walked the trail.
Compare speaking to someone who haspacked her bags, put on her shoes, and
hiked that trail many times for all theknowledge of that first person may have.

(03:12):
There's something deeper, moredependable about talking to the
person who has walked the trail.
There's a great difference between knowingabout something and living that something.
I remember as a young guy at the ageof 16 going off with mom and dad across

(03:32):
the Nullabor with my parents, my brotherand my sister, and the smallest little
camper van that you could think of.
It was snuck.
My dad's actually from regional Victoria.
He comes from a small town called fra,just outside sale in one of the most
beautiful places you can go in Australia.

(03:54):
I. Surrounded by dairy country.
It's a beautiful place.
I remember being on this trip and oneof my uncles and two sons would ride
into something called Hill Climb Racing.
Anyone heard of hill climbing?
Yes.
It's just mad people driving really faston grovel roads, up hills, and it's all

(04:14):
timed, so it's the fastest person to getup that hill and they'll ride into it.
Right?
They were drivers, they had cars.
And I remember being on this trip andI was, I was still on my old plates.
Go away, Steve.
No, it's not.
I remember being on my oldplates, my uncle giving me some

(04:36):
advice on how to drive on gravel.
I. And then I also remember, obviouslywe're towing a van and him giving
some advice on how to tow a van andif you get into trouble this is what
you should do and, and all that.
And, and that informationjust sort of got filed away.
Alright.
I'm 16 years old, I'm like, great.
I. Now, we were away on a threemonth holiday last year that we

(05:00):
crossed null ball, went all the wayaround, um, the, the, the base of
of Australia went up to Sydney andthen back down the Murray River.
How beautiful is the Murray River there?
Nice little spots along there aswell to taste and see that the Lord
is good in particularly wineries.

(05:21):
And when we were on this trip,we were just coming outta Sydney.
We were just out of Sydney, literallyjust outta Sydney, about half an hour
from Wollongong and one of our wheelscame off of our single axis van.
I was doing a hundred kilometersan hour, on a see there?

(05:41):
There you go.
A hundred.
That's all right.
I was doing the speed limit and itcompletely came off the whole hub.
Came off
in the moment
that I was going, oh, 20 years ago.
No, it's like 24 years ago.
24 years ago.
In that moment, all thatknowledge came back to me.

(06:04):
It came back to life to me, and Ilived the, the knowledge I lived it.
I was able to keep the carfrom swaying outta control.
The van, sorry.
And we pulled off andwe pulled off safely.
Weren't in the safest position tobe honest, but we were off the road.

(06:26):
That knowledge was of no importancefor 24 years until I lived the story.
Now, the knowledge has become somethingmore than just thoughts and ideas.
It means something more to me.
I've lived it.
And Paul is calling us in thisletter in a similar way to live,

(06:51):
to have our being is Christ.
He's inviting the hearer to not justknow about, but to come and walk the
trail, to come and live the story,to be in the story with Christ.
And this living the story I.Is one of finding a whole new

(07:14):
life that we can step into.
Now, I've used this particulartranslation on purpose because I think
it renders a word more appropriately.
It gives it more sort of a, afeel of what Paul's doing here.
The translation that wesee rendered, in verse 20.
Seven that normally is rendered livingaccording to or conducting ourselves.

(07:38):
In this translation, uses the word, theword, the phrase, the citizens of heaven.
He says, just one thing.
Remember, you are citizensof heaven and why?
Why does this translation use this?
Because the Greek wordis a political word.
It's poly twoo and this word is onlyused twice in the New Testament and it is

(08:03):
overtly politically LA political language.
Paul Paul Strays from using all this otherlanguage that was available to him that
could convey the point of just conductingin or living if it was just a moral call.
But he doesn't, he strays awayand he uses this word on purpose.

(08:24):
So what is his point?
His point is that our being inChrist is not simply something
to come and believe in.
It's, it's our living in Christis in embodying our whole selves,
our whole stories into his asMichael Gomer, a Pauline theologian

(08:44):
says, we are becoming the gospel.
We as God's people are becomingwhat the gospel is saying about us.
Look at what Paul's done thus far in thisletter of Olympians in the start that.
That Dale gave us in week one.

(09:06):
Speaking of this utter joy and lovingservice to this church, despite being
imp pri prison, he is living the gospeland then he moves on to welcoming.
These people to come and join him withgospel declaration, living the gospel.

(09:26):
Then he reveals his hand in the end hereof verse of chapter one in verse 24,
27, you see the clash of the church ofPhilippi's feeling the kingdoms of the
world are on the doorstep of this church.
This is a big trading city.
There's many gods, there'stemples all around.

(09:48):
There's a lot going around them.
The rub is real.
Can I, Paul, can I justthink gospel thoughts?
Can, can I even just speak gospel truths?
Is, is that enough?
And Paul goes, no.
No, Paul declares that their citizenshipis to no other kingdom, but God's

(10:13):
citizen is a term that strongly hintsat this corporate life Together.
It's an individual who has civicresponsibilities at home in their kingdom.
They're contributingmembers of the community.
An active member in the affairs of thecommunity, someone who is seeking the

(10:34):
overall good of that community, thereader is being invited into the depths
of what life in Christ can mean for them.
Wholly devoted, loyalunto this kingdom of God.
Therefore living lives of interdependencewith one another under King Jesus,

(11:01):
we can begin to see that justsimply knowing, even sharing,
the knowing isn't enough.
According to Paul, it's the livingin, it's the full participation with
all of ourselves into gospel life.
F becoming the gospel, the renewedcommunity here on earth, A community that

(11:21):
lives as citizens of a foreign kingdom.
We live a foreign civicidentity in Christ here and now.
Here.
And now we are continuingwith heaven's ideals.
Its ethoses, its honoring ofits ways in life here and now.

(11:44):
We have found resisting in being conformedto the foreign cultures that we find
ourselves in to live as a good citizen ofheaven is to live out our allegiance and
our commitments to the social and moralidentity of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

(12:05):
Who of us right now can say,man, there are parts of my life
where this is not the case.
I have succumbeded to thekingdoms of the world.
I do not practice as a citizen in thatarea of my life as a kingdom of heaven,
that we're stuck, we'reuncertain of the way forward.

(12:29):
Many of us find ourselves stuckin the knowing about, and we
continue to read and learn andlearn more and more about Christ.
Yet we're found lacking.
We dare not to enterthe fray of his story.
And that's been my confession.

(12:50):
That's been my prayer that I start walkingthe trails, living the gospel story.
I wanna be someone that does that.
Do you,
many of us may be stuck in theknowing about through others.
That we've considered, we believethe lie that, oh, we, we are just

(13:13):
the ones on the sidelines of thekingdom reality here on earth.
Remembering the context of this.
Paul's in present, isn't he?
And it's not, it's not likehe's in a little bit of trouble.
He's, he's in a bit of trouble and there'sa possibility that they might execute him.
He could die.

(13:34):
It makes these words like somuch more real, don't they?
But they're not just theologicalpoints to know about.
These are words that have been lived out
yet.
When we, when we readthis, what do we find?

(13:55):
We find this man full ofjoy in service and love.
Could this be because Paul isactually living that story of
the Ucmi crucified Messiah?
That these aren't just ideas or things toknow about, but he's actually embodying
the story of Christ that Paul's actuallyliving as a citizen of heaven devoting

(14:21):
his whole life unto the ways of Christ.
'cause you don't pick up a concernabout the kingdom of the Roman
Empire in this letter, do we?
Is he, is he kind of going, oh, theseguys are just so mean and I just.
We, he doesn't go there and he couldhave, like Paul's a very honest writer,

(14:45):
like read it, read Philippians again,and just think, is this guy being honest?
He's being very honest.
He's being very, very open.
So he is, but he is, what we dohear from this letter is that he's
very concerned about the kingdom.
He's a part of.
Very concerned and he's very, he'svery concerned for the people that
are a part of that kingdom, and he'svery concerned about living a life and

(15:09):
obedience to the king of that kingdom.
He's very concerned about that.
Where are we knowing andnot living as citizens?
Where do you are?
So desire to sit with the joythat we witness in Paul's words.

(15:32):
Where is that?
In our lives, we don't taste andsee, we don't live the joy that
we witness in Paul, where is that?
Examine your life.
Examine what is goingon in you do, do you?
Do you have feelings where youlive in the culture of the world?

(15:53):
The kingdom of the world and andare there moments where you feel,
oh, I don't feel like I belong here?
Similar to the way that CS Lewis inthat famous quote where he says, if
I find myself desires in, in myself,desires, which nothing in this world
can satisfy, the conclusion is maybeI'm wasn't made for this world.

(16:17):
He's making the point that thiskingdom that I live in, I feel like
a fish outta water and maybe, maybeI was made for another kingdom.
Maybe I was made for another kingdom.
Do you feel at times thatyou're not at home with the ways
of the kingdom of the world?

(16:37):
Do hunger for peace?
Do you hunger for joy and love thisincredible sacrificial love that
we see Paul write in Philippians.
Here.
Paul so longs for us to enjoythis and this letter to the
church in uncertain times.

(16:58):
This is his life giving answerthat we are invited to come and
live as citizens in this kingdom.
Okay.
We've harbored on that point.
Let's move on.
Let's actually start thinking aboutwhat does this kingdom look like?

(17:18):
What does it look like?
If you were to describe it, andI've written a list here of things I
think the Kingdom of God looks like.
I think the Kingdom of God is asociety where we are interconnected
and mutually reliant upon each other.
Amen.
You are very, they're very excited today.

(17:40):
Steve stole my thunder, didn't he?
That'd be right.
The kingdom of God is the societythat is marked by the cares of others.
Yeah.
It is shaped by justicebecause God is a just God.
God is desiring for thosethat are things that have gone
wrong in the world to be put.

(18:01):
Right.
He's a God of makingthe wrong right again.
We're empowered by love thatagape love, that self selflessness
of serving one another.
We dwell in peace.
Why?
Because our king sits on the throne.
It's not a throne of this world,but it is a throne above all things.

(18:24):
So we live in peace.
Wisdom flows in and through it.
Oh, we so desire the presence of the HolySpirit to speak us the wisdom of God.
Amen.
It is a community that knows itshistory, it knows the word, it
knows who has come before us, andwe are so eager to learn from them.

(18:48):
It's a society that is living out thatmemory, that they're not just words on a
paper, but we are invited to come live.
The story of what has gone before us.
And we value the fruit of the society.
We rejoice in what God hasgiven us, and then finally, it

(19:09):
cares deeply about its future.
We are not people that careabout just the here and now.
But we are preparing away for those to come.
Amen.
That is the society that I thinkthe kingdom of God looks like.
The kingdom in fact isin fact a kingdom, right?

(19:30):
Many people, many of us called to loveGod, love others, and love the world.
To use Scott McKnight's words, thekingdom according to Jesus was.
Listen, God's dream forthis world come true.
Oh, that's good.

(19:50):
God's dream for this world to come true.
That is.
That is what the kingdom of God is up to.
It's truly making all things new.
It's right again.
It's making all things good again.
And Paul's invitation is to livein the security of this reality.
That despite what might be happening, Godis on the move and he's desiring for us to

(20:14):
move with him in the ways that he alwayswanted us to move and have our being
guess what we get if we join in with God.
If we come and live in a societylike this, we get the peace, we
get the joy and the love thatwe see in Paul in this letter.

(20:37):
So what is God in Christ Jesuswelcoming us to come and live in?
So that's what it looks like,but how do we come and live
in this as citizens of heaven?
Number one, a life ofparticipation in the gospel.

(20:57):
We are all, each one of us activeparticipants of the gospel,
meaning everyone is in the watersof this gospel participation.
Everyone, everyone needs to get wet.
No one's left on thesidelines, no one's left out.
And we do the work of gospelparticipation, both in personal

(21:19):
ways, in corporate ways.
So first, personally, we see inPhilippians chapter two, five through
to 11, and this is, this is, thisis the, it's a just a beautiful
passage of scripture, isn't it?
Where Paul's articulatingthis, this way of being.

(21:39):
This way of participating in theKingdom is, is the way that Christ
has demonstrated that we're we're toadopt the same attitude as Christ had.
We are conformed into his image.
What is the image like?
Well, according to those verses,it's a self-sacrificial type of love.

(22:05):
That's the image thatwe are welcomed into.
It's the sacrificing type of lifethat is demonstrated in Christ.
Do you, do you see this type oflove as something as you read in
chapter two verses five seven?
Do you see it as something that you sodesire to come and walk in with Jesus?

(22:29):
Have you reflected on your lifeand witnessed a greater willingness
over time to to live that type ofway, to adopt this same attitude
that Christ has demonstrated to us?
And then secondly, corporatelyI. In two Corinthians five 18.

(22:49):
Through to 20.
It says this, everything is fromGod who has reckon, reconciled
us to himself through Christand has given us the ministry of
reconciliation that is in Christ.
God was reconciling the world tohimself, not counting their trespasses

(23:11):
against them, and he has committedthis message of reconciliation to us.
So.
So his ministry has now beenpassed on to us, his church.
Therefore, we are ambassadors.
Another political language of Christ.
Since God is making his appeal throughus, we plead on Gr Christ's half.

(23:34):
What do we plead to the world?
Be reconciled to God,be reconciled to God.
Do we plead threats?
No.
Be reconciled to God.
Paul's commissioning the church tocontinue the work that Christ has started

(23:55):
corporately together, this ministry ofreconciliation, starting with God to
his people, that we have received thatministry of reconciliation first from God.
And then God welcomes us in to comeand journey and to distribute, to
speak of, to live out that reconciledlife as an example to others.

(24:21):
He is not usingindividualistic language here.
It's we have, as his peoplehave received reconciliation.
It's then followed bypartnering with each other.
Yes.
In the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
We've gotta have the HolySpirit to do this work.
And then we see that another politically
charged, term ambassador.

(24:44):
Pleading.
So we're not from here.
We're from some other kingdom.
We're coming into the kingdoms ofthe world and we're pleading with
the kings of the world and thosethat are in those kingdoms come
and be reconciled with Christ.
That is the good news that we have.
So it's number one, come a life that is.

(25:06):
Of participation in the gospel.
And secondly, what do we come,what are we invited in to do?
Well, it's a life shaped by the cross.
We are people shaped andformed by the cross of Christ.
The cross continues the work in usthat was started by Christ, one of
self-giving love, which I just mentioned,

(25:26):
Galatians, two 19, um,
through to 20.
Gimme two says this, for throughthe law, I die to the law so
that I might live for Christ.
I've been Cru crucified withChrist and no one, no and no.
I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

(25:49):
The life is now lived in the body.
I lived by faith in the son of Godwho loved me and gave himself for me.
Who loved me and gave himself for who?
The son of God.
What's that term?
The Son of God.

(26:09):
What was that used?
It was used by theIsraelites to describe who?
The future King,
the Messiah, the anointed one.
The Christ.
The Anointed king.
The anointed king.
Has chosen me and loved me.

(26:33):
That's good news.
That's what the, that'swhat the cross tells us.
This is, this shouldshape us, shouldn't it?
Our king has demonstrated the wayin which he rules in the cross.
It's a ruling of selfservice in and through love.
When the flesh takes control andpushes us to Lord over others,
control the other, slander the other.

(26:55):
We aren't living our civic, our foreigncivic identity in the kingdom of God.
The ambassador, the citizenrepresents the lives lived out
in the ways of their kingdom andtherefore representing their king.
Our lives look like the cross of Christ.

(27:15):
As Paul so confidently states, I'vebeen crucified with Christ, he, he
says, that's my identity as well.
And this forming by this cross of Christleads us to the community of Christ
into dangerous and destructive waysaccording to the kingdoms of the world.

(27:35):
And Paul makes that quite clear in
Philippians, verse 28,
there, where he says, this isa sign of destruction for them
as citizen shaped by the cross.
We should expect resistance.
May we pray today.
That we welcome afresh, the formationof the cross of Christ in our lives.

(27:57):
Amen.
And number three, whatdoes this life look like?
We're justified for the work of justice.
Now the word justification is
consistently, by theologians.
And also Bible teachers used totalk merely just about personal

(28:17):
salvation, which is not wrong,but it's not the whole story.
By the way, Paul uses thisword justification across his
writing, express his letters.
It seems to in indicate that weare justified and transformed, made
righteous as a people to live whatactively God's justice in the world.

(28:42):
We practice this living inour church communities here.
Then.
Then we go out and we shine the lightof God's justice in our living, in
our believing, in our confessing.
Therefore, as citizens, we aren'tjust saved sinners, but we are
agents of justice in the world.

(29:04):
Well, in what way?
You say, in what way do I join inwith the justice of God in the world?
Well, it's the promotingof peace and unity.
That's a kingdom feature, isn't it?
It's, it's the living, the life ofgenerosity that we just spent four
weeks in a, a couple of weeks ago.

(29:26):
It's, it's being those people that arehospitable and have a care and disposition
to see those that are marginalized,pushed aside by society to reclaim
their identity and purpose in Christ.
I. Just two biblical examples ofmany that I can make for this point.

(29:49):
That we are justified for the work ofjustice in Romans 1213 where Paul is
giving guidance to the church in Rome.
He says to share that our dispositionas Saints should be to share in our
needs and to pursue hospitality always.
And I would also encourage you to go readour second Corinthians eight and nine,

(30:12):
which I totally forgot to put there.
I'm so sorry.
The church practicing generosity,a new and good way to be
human in the kingdom of God.
And then fourthly, we are apeople that is Holy Spirit formed.
We are people who livereliant upon the Holy Spirit.

(30:36):
Our trust is that he will do the workof formation in you and I, that we
shall grow more so into the likenessof Christ because he's forming us.
Amen.
We also live dependent on the Holy Spiritto empower us all to live out, to witness

(30:59):
to the world, this gospel of Jesus Christ.
It's gotta be, it's gottabe Holy Spirit dependent.
Don't, don't, don't get fired up and runout and just do it all in your strength.
Start here.
Start here in the Holy Spirit.
Yeah, finally, the HolySpirit brings us all together.

(31:22):
In the community of diversity,this diversity is a profound gift.
In the midst of that diversity,there is a profound gift of the
unity of Christ to discover together.
That's the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We're Holy Spirit formed people.
And then finally, we are, we are communalin our devotion, not just to one another,

(31:43):
but communal in our devotion to God.
In our serving in God's kingdom,we move together and it's a radical
marker of God's reign in our world tosee a community of people living in
love, generosity, and justice together
to make it clearer for us.

(32:04):
The church is to be a livingembodiment, an incarnation of
what the gospel is telling us.
Look out for this in Philippians.
Go read Romans 1215 and readthe letter of Ephesians.
The call isn't to simply distributeinformation about Jesus, but to dis

(32:26):
demonstrate his love and his powerthrough our corporate living together,
our communal devotion to one another.
Now this morning, I don't wantto end with more information.
But I do want to end with a moment ofinspiration, a testimony of a life lived

(32:49):
as a good citizen under the rule of Jesus.
And as I read about this life,I want us all to close our eyes.
So I want you to close your eyes now,
and I want you to receivethis story, not as, oh.
This person has lived anamazing, no, it's not that.

(33:11):
The story is inspiration to be invitedinto what God is calling you into.
Yeah.
What have you got in your hands?
So let's just start with prayer.

(33:35):
Oh Lord of the Church.
Holy Spirit, we ask that you would comein this place right now and transform our
thinking, our believing, and our doing.
By your power and by thegrace of Jesus Christ we pray.

(33:57):
There is a powerful story of self,self-sacrificial love in following
Jesus, and that is of a womanby the name of Gladys Allwood.
She was a British missionary inChina who risked her life to care
for orphans and share the gospel.

(34:18):
She was born in England in 1902.
She worked as a maid.
But felt this strong,overwhelming calling.
To become a missionary in China.
However, she was rejected by missionaryorganizations due to her lack of
formal training and education.

(34:41):
But Gladys refusing to give up.
She used her own savings totravel to China alone in 1932.
Enduring a Ja enduring a dangerousjourney through war torn Russia.
Once in China, she settled in aremote province called Yang Chen and

(35:03):
worked with an elderly missionaryby the name of Jeanie Lawson.
Together they opened an inn for Travelerswhere they shared Bible stories with
those who stopped for the night.
When Jeanie passed away, Gladys tookover the Miss Mission on her own.
She quickly became beloved by thelocal people, especially after she

(35:24):
was appointed a government officialto help end, end the brutal practice
of foot binding for young girls.
Chua took, an abandoned
children and cared for them in or inorphanages, raising these children
as her own, and then during theSino-Japanese War of 1937 to 1945.

(35:49):
China was invaded by Japan andher hometown became a war zone.
Refusing to abandon the children.
She led over a hundred orphans on adangerous a hundred mile journey over
the mountains to safety, avoidingsoldiers, bandits, starvation.
She suffered from.

(36:10):
Really severe illnesses.
Despite the hardships, herfaith remained unshakeable.
After the war, she continued towork, founding more orphans, more
schools dedicating her life to surf.
Others.

(36:32):
Her life was told in a film,the in of the Sixth Happiness.
And a life remains to this day, anincredible testimony of faith, courage,
selfless love, a life truly laid out for amaster and the love of others around her.

(36:53):
And I'll just end with this quotethat is from her and she said this,
I have not done what I wantedto do or what I could have done,
but what God has asked me to do.

(37:14):
So, Lord Jesus, we ask that yourpeople here at the Red Door Church
may grow in desire to do what youhave asked us, that our lives may
be worthy of the Gospel of Christ.

(37:36):
We pray this in your name.
Amen.