The Advance of the Gospel (Phil 1:12-18)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, July 9, 2023.

We have been preaching through Philippians. In Philippians we have the apostle Paul writing from prison. Listen to what Joni Eareckson Tada shares:

I’m not like Paul; I’m not in prison—far from it! But I can identify with the bolts and bars of a prison cell. This wheelchair is made of a lot of metal, and in a way it’s confining. I suppose that’s why so many prisoners write me. My testimony has encouraged them, and they look at my bolts and bars and understand.

Even though I know nothing of the kind of imprisonment the apostle Paul went through, I do know I like his attitude. In the Scripture for today he basically says, “Okay, so I’m in chains? My bolts and bars help me spread the Good News. Every time they chain me to another guard, he gets an earful of the gospel. And my imprisonment helps others to become bold.”

I’ve read letters from prisoners who say the same thing. “Okay, so I’m behind bars? It’s a chance for me to draw closer to Christ.” I can say the same thing. “Okay, so I’m in a wheelchair? These bolts and bars give me a chance to spread the Good News to anyone who experiences confinement and limitations.”

What are your chains? Maybe you feel manacled to the kitchen sink. Maybe you feel chained to your desk, with just enough slack to reach the rest room and coffeemaker. Maybe you feel imprisoned in a difficult marriage. Goodness, we all can name the bolts and bars that confine us. Look at today’s verse again. Has what happened to you served to advance Christ’s gospel? It should. It’s the locale from which God wants to work.

Help me today, Lord Jesus, to rejoice in the confinements of my life. Enable me to see my circumstances as boundaries you have erected to work within.[1]

My theme today is:

The Gospel advances and for that Paul rejoices.

1. The gospel cannot be stopped (Phil. 1:12-14).
   1. 1:12-14: ¹² I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, ¹³ so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. ¹⁴ And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
   2. Okay, so we are in the beginning of Philippians.
   3. Paul has been praying for them, and now he is moving on from the prayer.
   4. Paul begins saying that what has happened to him has advanced the gospel.
   5. One source shares: This verse [verse 12] is a topic sentence for all that follows through verse 26. Whenever Paul wrote, “I want you to know,” he introduced something important (cf. 2 Cor. 13:6; 2 Tim. 3:1).^[3]
   6. Notice that he calls them “brothers”.
   7. He is talking in family language.
   8. He is saying, I want you to know “brothers.” This could be translated “brothers and sisters.”
   9. He is saying, don’t worry about what I have gone through because it has advanced the gospel.
   10. HE had been shipwrecked (Acts 27 and Acts 28; he was bitten by a viper).
   11. He had gone through a lot. Yet, he is not saying “my bed is hard.” He is talking about the advance of the Gospel. See also 2 Cor. 11 and all that he has endured.
   12. How are we doing with this?
   13. Do we care most about the advance of the gospel?
   14. In verse 13 he talked about witnessing to the whole praetorian guard. Those guards switched shifts every 3-4 hours. Paul talked about Jesus so much that the whole praetorian guard knew that his imprisonment was for Christ.
   15. ESV SB: The Latin word praetorium could refer to a governor’s residence and by extension those living in the residence. Those who believe that Paul wrote from Caesarea would understand the word in that sense here (see Acts 23:35). However, the word could also refer to the special guard of the emperor in Rome, as the translation above suggests. ^[4]
   16. This group of guards were like the navy seals of their day.
   17. IVP: No army was allowed in Italy, but the Praetorian Guard consisted of about thirteen to fourteen thousand free Italian soldiers. They were the emperor’s elite bodyguard under the praetorian prefect. Viewed as clients of the emperor (thus part of his household), they were kept loyal with the highest pay in the Roman military; they were also kept loyal by the leadership of a prefect who could never legally become emperor (being a knight rather than a senator).^[5]
   18. In Phil 4:22 Paul says that all the brethren greet you, especially those in Caesar’s household. How would they know? He talked about them.
   19. Two groups of people heard of his imprisonment: The praetorian guard and everyone else.
   20. One source shares: “The soldier to whom he was chained day-to-day might have been in Nero’s body-guard yesterday; his comrade who next relieved guard upon the prisoner, might have been one of the executioners of Octavia [Nero’s wife], and might have carried her head to Poppaea [Nero’s mistress] a few weeks before.”^80[6]
   21. Look at verse 14: Most of the brothers are more confident about the Lord, but why? Because of his imprisonment.
   22. They are much bolder to speak the Word without fear.
   23. The “Word” would be the gospel.
   24. They think if Paul can do it, so can they.
   25. They are more confident and they are confident in the Lord.
   26. Are we confident in the Lord?

• Are we confident in the Lord even in difficult times?

1. Paul rejoices that Christ is proclaimed (Phil. 1:15-18a).
   1. 1:15-18a: ¹⁵ Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. ¹⁶ The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷ The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. ¹⁸ What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
   2. Grammatically, this is a chiasm.
   3. Paul starts with the people who preach out of envy (verse 15).
   4. Then others who preach out of love (verse 16).
   5. Then comes back to those who preach out of envy (verse 17).
   6. A Chiasm is a grammatical device used to emphasize what is in the middle. What is in the middle here? It is emphasizing those that preach Christ out of love.
   7. So, look at verse 15: Some are preaching Christ, proclaiming the gospel, out of envy.
   8. Notice in this passage Paul is happy as long as the gospel is preached, but they are not preaching bad doctrine. This may be different if the doctrine was wrong. In Galatians he confronts bad doctrine. Here it is their motives.
   9. Why are they preaching Christ out of envy or rivalry? I wonder if they are envious of him. I wonder if they are competing (see 1 Cor. 1:12ff). Verse 17 does seem to show that it has something to do with Paul.
   10. In verse 16 we see that others are preaching out of love. That is what we want. They love Paul. They know that he is there for defending the gospel.
   11. In verse 17, we see that those who are envious are selfish. They want to afflict Paul.
   12. The beginning of verse 18: even if the motives are wrong Christ is preached and that is what matters.
   13. Whether in pretense, which means false motives, hypocrites, or pure motives Christ is preached.
   14. Paul rejoices.
   15. This verse goes into the next section so we will talk more about verse 18 next Sunday.

• Applications:
  1. Do we use what happens to us to advance the Gospel? That car trouble, hospital visit, or whatever else may be God’s providence to advance the gospel.
  2. Paul is in jail…
  3. Things are not as coincidental as we think. Can we see everything for the advance of the gospel? In 2013 I had many things to do, and I had it scheduled in my head. The senior’s group of the church went to a Christmas tree show in Akron and I was going along. We then had lunch at the Hartville Kitchen. I then planned to visit someone in the hospital. As is usual my schedule did not allow enough time. I was leaving the hospital about an hour later than I had hoped. I was walking down the stairs and I saw the hospital chaplain. I knew him and knew some things that he was going through. I asked him about them. We talked awhile and prayed. I don’t believe it was a coincidence that I was leaving the hospital later than I wanted to. I think I had my schedule for me, and God had His schedule for me. God made my schedule fall in line with His schedule.
  4. Are we willing to speak the word of God without fear? Do we pray about this (verse 14)?
  5. Do we care more about what others think or what God thinks?
  6. Do we seek to build up or tear down?
  7. Do our actions during difficult times encourage others to be bolder in their faith?
  8. Can we stop being envious of others (verses 15 and 17)? Can we just be happy to serve and proclaim the gospel? Can we pray about that? Can we pray that God helps our motives to be pure and teaches us humility?
  9. Can we proclaim Christ out of love (verse 16)? We love others and we want them to know Jesus.

One source shares:

Verses 12–18 present Paul as a positive model for all believers. Rather than valuing his own comfort, reputation, and freedom above all else, he put the advancement of God’s plan first. He discerned what was best (v. 10). He could maintain a truly joyful attitude, even in unpleasant circumstances, because he derived his joy from seeing God glorified, rather than from seeing himself exalted. His behavior in prison had been pure and blameless (cf. v. 10).^[7]

Carrot, egg, coffee beans

• CARROT: First, what happens when we put a carrot in hot boiling water? That’s right it turns soft like this carrot I have here. It is no longer hard but soft.
• EGG: Now what happens when an egg is boiled in water? That’s right it has the opposite effect of the carrot. While this egg is fragile and will break if dropped, this egg now has a hard shell and is less fragile.
• COFFEE BEANS: Does anyone know what happens when we boil coffee beans? The beans not only change the color of the water but also spreads a delicious aroma.
• APPLICATION: So here is how each of us are either like the carrot, egg or coffee beans.
• The boiling water symbolizes problems and trials in our life.
• The carrots, eggs, and coffee beans symbolize our different reactions to these problems or pressures.
• The soft carrots represent people who grumble, complain, and pity themselves when faced with problems.
• The hardened eggs represent those who become stubborn, rebellious, and angry at God during tribulations.
• But the coffee beans represent people who obey and trust God, changing the atmosphere around them while spreading the fragrance of Christ.
• So see, God offers each of us faith that is greater than any problems we may face. It doesn’t matter how big or small the problem is but what is important is how we react to the problem.
• Our faith determines how we will respond as we meet the challenges of daily life — as a carrot, a hard-boiled egg, or a coffee bean.
• God wants to use us like coffee beans when we face difficulties. Paul is in prison and he rejoices for the spread of the gospel. Let’s do the same.

Prayer

[1] Taken from More Precious than Silver By Joni Eareckson Tada; Copyright © 1998

Published in Print by Zondervan, Grand Rapids

⁷⁵ Martin, p. 67.

^[2] Tom Constable, Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), Php 1:12.

^[3] Ibid.

^[4] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2281.

^[5] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Php 1:13.

⁸⁰ Conybeare, p. 734.

^[6] Tom Constable, Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), Php 1:13.

^[7] Tom Constable, Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), Php 1:18.

Come, Lord Jesus! (Matthew 6:10; John 18:36; Rev. 22:20)!

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, July 2, 2023

It is the time of year that we celebrate our nations independence. We celebrate the commitment of our founding fathers separating from England. Our founding fathers were committed to the cause. One of them who was committed was John Adams. John Adams was so committed that he did not want to focus on the arts as that was a distraction. In a biography about him David McCullough writes:

The conflict between the appeal of the arts and the sense that they were the product of a luxury-loving (and thus corrupt) foreign society played heavily on his mind. Delightful as it was to stroll the gardens of Paris, enticing as were science and the arts, he, John Adams, had work to do, a public trust to uphold. The science of government was his duty; the art of negotiation must take precedence.

Then, in a prophetic paragraph that would be quoted for generations within the Adams family and beyond, he wrote:

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study paintings, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.[1]

America has changed a lot since that time, though I still believe we are the greatest country in the world. Two years ago on July 4, I spoke about God’s providence in our history. Last year, I talked about praying for our leaders. Today, I want to talk about seeking the Lord’s Kingdom.

I believe it is right to be patriotic. I really do. I think it is right to serve the country, I really do. I think we need to vote. I think we should care about our country. However, we must pray “thy Kingdom come…” and seek the Lord’s Kingdom above all else.

Today, my theme is:

Come, Lord Jesus!

1. Whose Kingdom do you seek?
   1. As I said, I believe in being patriotic.
   2. I believe it is good to be patriotic.
   3. I have preached that, but ultimately, whose Kingdom do we seek?
   4. Do we seek the Lord’s Kingdom?
2. Let’s look at John 18:36.
   1. John 18:36 (ESV) ³⁶ Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
   2. Notice that Jesus did not have them fighting Rome. That passage is Jesus before Pilate. Jesus could have taken down Rome, but He did not. His Kingdom is different. Jesus has a different way.
   3. Does that mean that we should not do anything and just wait for Jesus’s way?
   4. No, that is not what the early church did and that is not what we are to do.
   5. No, we are to continue to make this world a better place.
   6. We must remember that the ultimate Kingdom is Jesus’s Kingdom.
   7. But we still live in this kingdom (little k).
   8. One source writing about legislation and political involvement shares the following: “…for most of the Church’s history, Christians have agreed that civil laws should in some way reflect biblical morality. Neither Catholics, Orthodox, nor most Protestants believed that being apolitical was a good or godly thing. While there were occasions over the centuries when Christians shunned political involvement for a variety of reasons, often because they were prohibited from any involvement, it wasn’t until the Radical Reformation and movements like the Anabaptists in the 1500s that swearing off politics gained traction as a principle for following Christ. Even then, it was a minority opinion. On the contrary, for most Christians, being a civil magistrate has always been seen as a high and noble calling.   
   9. This, of course, makes a lot of sense since there is really no such thing as not legislating morality. No matter who writes the laws of a land, those laws always reflect someone’s moral beliefs. Protecting innocent lives from deadly violence, something that occurs in abortion and other forms of murder, is the central function of good government. God created government to serve that purpose. 
   10. …many theologians have noted over the years: that when Jesus said, “my kingdom is not of this world” in John 18:36, He did not mean “my kingdom has nothing to do with this world.” Rather, He meant that His kingdom is not from this world, does not use this world’s methods (such as violent revolution), and does not aim at the world’s ends.
   11. In A.D. 325, the Emperor Constantine ended the official persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Just decades later, in the year 380, Emperor Theodosius declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. As a matter of simple historical fact, Christians did take over Rome! 
   12. Early Christians showed intense interest in impacting governments in everything from the outlawing of infant exposure to ending persecution to the ending of the gladiatorial games. 
   13. The assault of the Church against the gates of Hell progresses, of course, through the preaching of the Gospel and the conversion of souls—what the Apostle Paul called “spiritual weapons.” But by advocating for good and just governments—especially when it comes to protecting innocent lives—Christians are loving their neighbors and fulfilling the other half of our calling in this world: to pray and obediently work so that God’s kingdom will come and His will be done “on earth as it is in Heaven.” 
   14. We are saved for a purpose. Along with evangelism and worship, we are to be good citizens and to love our neighbors. This will involve supporting righteous laws and opposing wicked ones.[2]
   15. Those are VERY important thoughts as we continue this message.
   16. But, again, whose kingdom do we seek?
   17. Jesus does say that His Kingdom is different. Jesus did not overthrow Rome through a battle, though He could have. He had a different way. He went to the cross to save us, and then His church organically, by the power of the Holy Spirit changed the world.
   18. So, when Peter was prepared to do battle, cutting off a servant’s ear (John 18:10-11), Jesus had a different way.
   19. We must seek His Kingdom.
   20. We must pray as He taught us to pray: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
   21. Again, I must emphasize, this does not mean we do not do anything. No, we should be the best citizens, the best servants, we should be Christians and that means that we love one another. That means that our love has arms and legs that serve. But in the end, we are seeking Jesus’s Kingdom. Jesus’s Kingdom calls us to love our neighbor (Matthew 22:37-39).
   22. Now, let’s turn to the last prayer in the Bible.
3. The last prayer in the Bible (Rev. 22:20).
   1. Revelation 22:20 (ESV)
   2. ²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Come, Lord Jesus!
   3. Here is John on the island of Patmos for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev. 1:2; 6:9; 12:17) . Here he is being persecuted.
   4. Jesus communicates with him this prophetic message.
   5. Jesus gives him these letters for the seven churches (Rev. 2-3).
   6. Jesus tells him things to take place and maybe some that are already taking place in the heavenly realm. They are being persecuted.
   7. They are in a nation that is allowing and even encouraging persecution of Christians.
   8. Yet, the Gospel is spreading.
   9. The Gospel will continue to spread. I already shared with you how Christianity later became the religion of Rome.
   10. How did that happen?
   11. It happened by the Holy Spirit leading Christians to be Christians.
   12. It happened because Christians did not try to tackle Rome, but kept living as Christians one day-at-a-time.
   13. It happened because they lived for Christ’s Kingdom in this kingdom.
   14. Then, after John sees this whole vision, how does he respond?
   15. Come, Lord Jesus! (Rev. 22:20).
   16. John is not the only one who prayed that. In 1 Cor. 16:21 Paul wrote, “Our Lord Come.”
   17. Do we seek the Lord’s coming?
   18. Do we recognize that His Kingdom is ultimate?
   19. Or, do we think His Kingdom is penultimate and the current kingdom is ultimate?
   20. No! His way is best. His Kingdom is ultimate.
4. This is many prayers in one.
   1. I like how one writer said that this is many prayers in one.[3]
   2. Realize that when Jesus comes, there will be judgment (Rev. 19-20).
   3. Realize that when Jesus comes, He will dry our tears (Rev. 21:4). In this world we will have tribulation (John 16:33), but one day He will make it right.
   4. Rev. 21:4: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
   5. Realize that when Jesus comes, He will end our pain (Rev. 21:4).
   6. Realize when Jesus comes, He will put “death to death.”[4]
   7. Realize when Jesus come, he will get rid of sin. We will be like Him (1 John 3:2).
   8. Matthew 13:41-42: The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
   9. When Jesus comes, He will make all things new (Rev. 21:1).
   10. Come, Lord Jesus is many prayers in one.
   11. Come, Lord Jesus is a prayer for Him.
   12. Do we desire Him?
   13. He will bring about His ultimate Kingdom with the New Heaven and the new earth and it will be the ultimate Kingdom.
   14. I like what one writer shares: The burning heart of John’s three-word plea is not for what Jesus does, but for who he is. This is clear throughout the book of Revelation. The world to come is a world to want because Jesus lives there. John’s prayer, after all — “Come, Lord Jesus!” — is a response to Jesus promising three times in the previous verses, “Behold, I am coming soon. . . . Behold, I am coming soon. . . . Surely I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:7, 12, 20).[5]
   15. Randy Alcorn shares: Nothing is more often misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven. We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse, a large-screen television, a new car, a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii. What we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven. Nothing less can satisfy us. . . . We may imagine we want a thousand different things, but God is the one we really long for. His presence brings satisfaction; his absence brings thirst and longing. Our longing for Heaven is a longing for God. (Heaven, 166, 171)
5. Come, to Jesus.
   1. Look back at that passage in Rev. 22:20, but look up a few verses:
   2. Revelation 22:17 (ESV)
   3. ¹⁷ The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
   4. This is an allusion to:
   5. Isaiah 55:1 (ESV)
   6. 55 “Come, everyone who thirsts,
   7. come to the waters;
   8. and he who has no money,
   9. come, buy and eat!
   10. Come, buy wine and milk
   11. without money and without price.
   12. When Jesus comes, He will make all things right. First, we will have the millennial reign, but when He comes and the New Heaven and the new earth come, all will be made right and He is calling for us to come.
   13. Jesus’s Kingdom will be awesome!
   14. Marshall Segal writing on Desiring God shares: When Jesus comes, we will eat and drink and enjoy without end. Hunger and thirst will become distant memories. If sorrows have robbed you of sleep, if pain has made even normal days hard, if death has taken ones you love, if life has sometimes seemed stacked against you, if you can’t shake a restless ache for more, then come and eat with him. This world may be the only world you’ve known, but a better world is coming — and there’s still room at the table.[6]

I began this sermon with the quote from John Adams. I find it an important quote. It does not only apply to the founding of our country. It applies to us as people. The diligence of our founding fathers must be appreciated. God used them to build up an amazing country. Of course, it would not have happened except by God.

So, we are to pray and seek His Kingdom. But this does NOT mean we bury our head in the sand and do not do anything now. I believe the United States is the greatest country in the world. I believe we should be patriotic. We are to pray for God’s Kingdom and while we pray and seek God’s Kingdom we should live as good citizens in our current kingdom.

However, in the end, we must seek God’s Kingdom. We must cry out, “Come, Lord, Jesus Come!” That will be when everything is made right.

Will you be there? Have you received Him as Lord and Savior? Are you treasuring Him as your Savior?

Prayer

[1] McCullough, David. John Adams (pp. 284-285). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

[2] https://www.breakpoint.org/what-not-of-this-world-doesnt-mean-why-christians-are-called-to-politics/

[3] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-prayer-to-end-all-prayers?utm_campaign=Daily%20Email&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=207260996&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9i77U4mWhPBsbEE1hQ5E4uF7OMo0x-OWhDCfQh1MR4Wm-XhiY1f4n-G8fZTlkvYOxUqhvJeRRU2x-huH_Oa6p9oES36w&utm_content=207260996&utm_source=hs_email

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

Paul’s Thanksgiving and prayer for the Philippians (Phil 1:3-11)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church on Sunday, June 25, 2023

We just began our preaching series on Philippians. As we continue notice joy and thanksgiving in this letter.

Why do we lack thankfulness?

Swindoll shares: A good reminder of this is the short story by G. W. Target entitled “The Window,” which tells of two men, both seriously ill, who occupied the same small hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.  

The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The other man had to lie flat on his back. The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the outside world.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake, the man said. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Lovers walked arm in arm amid flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn’t hear the band, he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Unexpectedly, an alien thought entered his head: Why should he have all the pleasure of seeing everything while I never get to see anything? It didn’t seem fair.

As the thought fermented the man felt ashamed at first. But as the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour. He began to brood and he found himself unable to sleep. He should be by that window—that thought now controlled his life.

Late one night as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by the window began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the struggling man by the window groped for the button to call for help. Listening from across the room, he never moved, never pushed his own button which would have brought the nurse running. In less than five minutes the coughing and choking stopped, along with the sound of breathing. Now there was only silence— deathly silence.

The following morning the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths. When she found the lifeless body of the man by the window, she was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take it away—no words, no fuss. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.[1]

As we look at this passage notice Paul’s joy.

My theme:

Paul’s Thanksgiving and prayer for the Philippians (Phil 1:3-11)

My applications:

Pray like Paul, have affections for God and others like Paul, and be joyful.

1. Paul gives thanks in prayer (Philippians 1:3-5).
   1. Philippians 1:3–5 (ESV)
   2. ³ I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
   3. Verse 3: Thanks, is in the present tense, meaning continual.
   4. He is thanking God.
   5. He is thanking God as he remembers them.
   6. It seems that Paul has a special relationship with them.
   7. Do we thank God as we think of other people?
   8. In verse 4 Paul goes on.
   9. He is thanking God in his remembrance of them when he prays.
   10. He is making his prayer with joy.
   11. Joy is a dominant theme in Philippians (vv. 18, 25; 2:2, 17, 18, 28, 29; 3:1; 4:1, 4, 10).^[2]
   12. I also notice the repetition of the adjective “all” or “every.” There is also the adverb “always.”
   13. “All” his remembrance of them.
   14. “Always” in “every” prayer.
   15. He is making his prayer with joy.
   16. This comes off choppy. But look at the NAB rendering: I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all…
   17. He is always thanking God for his remembrance of them…
   18. He is always offering prayers with joy.
   19. This happens in every prayer for them.
   20. In verse 5 Paul shares that he is thankful for their partnership in the gospel.
   21. This is what he is thankful for. He is thankful that they partnered in the gospel from the first day until now.
   22. The Philippians partnered with him financially (Phil. 4:10-20).
   23. Are we partnering in the gospel?
   24. Let’s move to the next verse:
2. God will complete what He began (Philippians 1:6).
   1. Philippians 1:6: And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
   2. Paul says that he is sure… Notice that.
   3. He who began a good work…
   4. Who began the work?
   5. Who do you think?
   6. It is God.
   7. God is the One Who initiates salvation.
   8. John 6:44 (ESV)
   9. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
   10. God does the saving.
   11. God will also bring our salvation to completion at the day of Christ.
   12. It is more literally that He will perfect it UNTIL the day of Christ.
   13. He will keep working in us to grow in grace and godliness until Jesus comes again.
   14. This means that when God makes all things right. This is either when Jesus raptures us or when He comes to usher in the New Heavens and the New Earth. It could be somewhere in between.
   15. God is at work and He will finish the work.
   16. Do we trust Him?
   17. We may not finish a job, but He does. God is faithful.
   18. Now, let’s see Paul’s affection for the Philippians.

• Paul’s affection for the Philippians (Philippians 1:7-8).
  1. Philippians 1:7–8 (ESV)
  2. ⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. ⁸ For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
  3. Swindoll, ”Laugh Again”
  4. His memory of them made him smile. Meaning what? What were Paul’s happy memories? He had no regrets, he nursed no ill feelings, he struggled through no unresolved conflicts. When he looked back over a full decade and thought of the Philippians, he laughed!
  5. I wonder how many pastors can say that about former churches they have served? Could you say that about former friends you have had? Or places where you have worked? Are yours happy memories? Unfortunately, the memory of certain people makes us churn. When we call them to mind, they bring sad or disappointing mental images. Paul knew no such memories from his days in Philippi. Amazingly, he could not remember one whom he would accuse or feel ill toward, not even those who threw him in prison or those who stood in a courtroom and made accusations against him. He entertained only good memories of Philippi. Positive memories make life so much lighter.[3]
  6. Look at that.
  7. He holds them in his heart.
  8. He has a personal relationship with them and he will say why.
  9. They are fellow partakers of God’s grace.
  10. This is true where he is at currently, remember he is in prison.
  11. This is also true in his gospel work.
  12. One source shares: Paul’s imprisonment would have been a source of great shame in the ancient world, but the Philippians have nonetheless stood in solidarity with him. This was no doubt an encouragement as he shared the good news with his captors and judges.^[4]
  13. Verse 8, he yearns for them.
  14. He even says with the affection of Christ Jesus.
  15. Wow!
  16. Are we thankful?

1. Paul’s prayer for the Philippians (Philippians 1:9-11).
   1. Philippians 1:9–11 (ESV)
   2. ⁹ And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
   3. Now, Paul is really praying.
   4. This is important.
   5. It is important to see his heart’s desire for them.
   6. He wants their love to abound more and more.
   7. He prays that they have knowledge and discernment.
   8. Verse 10 is purpose.
   9. When they have that love with knowledge and discernment they may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the Day of Christ.
   10. Paul wants to see them pure and blameless.
   11. That is awesome!
   12. Do we want to be pure and blameless when Jesus comes again?
   13. He prays that they would be filled with the fruit of righteousness. I think that is the fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5:22-23.
   14. That fruit of righteousness only comes through Jesus.
   15. See John 15:8 and Eph 2:10 for that.
   16. This is about the Holy Spirit gradually working in our lives until we go to heaven or Jesus comes again.
   17. This is to the glory and praise of God.
2. Application
   1. Do we thank God as we think of other people?
   2. Swindoll shares: If you have not yet read John Powell’s Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am? you are missing a great experience. There is a section in the book that is worth a great deal of your time and attention. It is where the author presents the five levels of communication, which, he says, are like concentric circles—from the most shallow and superficial level (outer circle) to the deepest, most intimate level (smallest circle at the core).
   3. Level five, the outer circle of superficiality, is the level he calls “cliché conversation.”
   4. On this level, we talk in clichés, such as: “How are you? . . . How is your family? . . . 
   5. That’s cliché communication. Tragically, that is the deepest many people choose to go.
   6. Level four is where we “report facts” about each other. We remain contented to tell others what so-and-so has said or done. We offer no personal, self-revelatory commentary on these facts, but simply report them.
   7. This is the realm of gossip and petty, meaningless little tales about others.
   8. Level three leads us into the area of ideas and judgments. Rarely do people communicate at this deeper level. They are able, but they’re not willing.
   9. As I communicate my ideas, etc., I will be watching you carefully. I want to test the temperature of the water before I leap in. I want to be sure that you accept me with my ideas, judgments, and decisions. If you raise your eyebrows or narrow your eyes, if you yawn or look at your watch, I will probably retreat to safer ground. I will run for the cover of silence, or change the subject of conversation.
   10. Level two moves into “feelings.” If I really want you to know who I am, I must tell you about my stomach (gut-level) as well as my head. My ideas, judgments, and decisions are quite conventional.
   11. Level one is the most personal, intimate form of communication.
   12. All deep and authentic friendships, and especially the union of those who are married, must be based on absolute openness and honesty. . . . Among close friends or between partners in marriage there will come from time to time a complete emotional and personal communion.
   13. Such depth of communication, which Paul seems to have practiced on a regular basis, brings a satisfaction—and joy—like few things on earth.[6]
   14. Do we thank God for reminding us of each other as we pray?
   15. Do we pray with joy?
   16. Are we remembering each other in prayer?
   17. Are we partnering in the gospel? We see in verse 5 that Paul was thankful for their partnership in the gospel?
   18. How do we feel about the gospel?
   19. Do we believe the Gospel?
   20. If you believe these truths say Amen.
   21. Is Jesus the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father, but by Him?
   22. Amen
   23. Do you believe John 3:16, if so say amen after I read it:
   24. John 3:16 (ESV)

• ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1. 1:6 shows that God does the saving, and He will also complete the saving. We must give Him the glory and we must trust Him.

• We must have affections for others who are in gospel work with us.

1. Do we yearn for other Christians like Paul does in verse 8?
2. Do we model our prayer off of how Paul prayed in verses 9-11?

• Do we want to love Jesus?
• Do we want to be pure and blameless?

1. Do we want to be able to approve what is excellent?
2. Verse 11: Do we want to be filled with the fruit of righteousness (see Gal 5:22-23)?

• Do we glorify God and praise Him?

Paul talked about their partnership in the gospel.

Let’s read this early church creed together.

Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (Nicene Creed AD 325 edited at the Council of Constantinople in 381)

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made;

Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried, and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; from thence he shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son], who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.

In one holy catholic and apostolic Church; we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.[7]

[1] Swindoll, Charles R.. Laugh Again (pp. 50-51). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

^[2] R. C. Sproul, ed., The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015), 2108.

[3] Swindoll, Charles R.. Laugh Again (p. 38). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

^[4] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2280.

^[5] R. C. Sproul, ed., The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015), 2108.

[6] Swindoll, Charles R.. Laugh Again (pp.42- 43). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

[7]  Elliot Ritzema, “Nicene Creed,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

I enjoy being a father. It is the most important job that I have. I notice certain things about this job more and more. I notice responsibilities, pressures, and joys.

On December 6, 1907, a massive explosion decimated a coal mine in Monongah, West Virginia. Three hundred and sixty-two miners were killed, making this the worst mining disaster in U.S. history. The tragedy devastated the small town and led eventually to the establishment of the U.S. Bureau of Mines.  

The Monongah mine disaster also marked another beginning. Several months after the explosion, a local church held a special service in honor of the 362 miners, most of whom had left behind wives and children. This is the first event on record in the United States set aside specifically to honor dads. 

Two years later, a woman from Spokane who, along with her five siblings, was raised by her widowed father, began a public campaign to establish a national Father’s Day. A day for mothers was already in the works and, according to historical accounts, was a much easier sell to the public. By 1916, President Woodrow Wilson had officially recognized Father’s Day, though it would not be recognized as a national holiday until 1972. 

A little over a hundred years after the mining disaster that birthed Father’s Day, the United States is now suffering a crisis of fatherlessness. One in four American kids are, like so many in that West Virginia town, growing up without their father at home. That amounts to 18.5 million kids. 

If statistics hold, this means that 18.5 million children are three times more likely to engage in criminal activity than those who have dads at home. Those 18.5 million kids are more likely to engage in sexual activity earlier, are less likely to go to college, more likely to have emotional and behavioral problems, more likely to struggle academically, are twice as likely to commit suicide, and much more likely to commit violence. The vast majority of mass shooters in the past 20 years were young men who were, in some way, estranged from their fathers. 

Almost any social good that can be named is dependent on dads who commit to their families and is at risk when they don’t. This does not mean that every child who grows up without dad in the home will not succeed.

Showing up, sticking around, and discipling kids as only a father can is a powerful witness to the beautiful design and the steadfast love of our own heavenly Father. Every kid needs and deserves one.[1] 

Fathers and mothers, and the family are part of God’s natural law. Natural law is the ethical or moral structure that God has revealed to humans in creation (both within their consciences and in the providential unfolding of history) and which is discerned through reason and experience.  The concept of natural law has existed since the earliest days of the church. When Paul wrote of those who “by nature do what the law requires” (Romans 2:14), he may have been thinking in terms of natural law.^[2]

As we celebrate Father’s Day I want to focus on God’s order. God established the family.

My theme today is that God established the family as the first institution. We must honor the family.

1. God established the family (Genesis 2:18-24).
   1. In Gen. 2:18 the Lord says that it is not good for man to be alone and so the Lord created Eve.
   2. Look at: Genesis 2:21–24 (ESV): ²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” ²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
   3. In that passage God is setting the first institution, which is the family.
   4. God officiated the wedding for Adam and Eve.
   5. As one writes: This is a wedding. You know how the father brings the bride down the aisle to the groom? In this case, the father is God. God is doing the honors, and he’s bringing the wife to the husband. When Adam sees Eve, he literally explodes into art. This is the first piece of art in the history of the world, according to the Bible. This is Hebrew poetry using parallelism, assonance, word play, and a chiastic structure. It’s a song. He’s exploding into poetry and song…[3]
   6. In Genesis 3, the devil temps Eve and Adam does not step up and defend his wife. Sin then enters the world.
   7. In Genesis 4, the two, Adam and Eve, become 4, and then many more Cain and Abel followed by others.
   8. This is the family, the first institution given to society.
   9. There is a principle, it is This means the closest people to a situation are most equipped to handle the situation. Your family is most equipped to take care of the needs of your family. Poland is most equipped to handle the needs of Poland. Ohio is most equipped to handle the needs of Ohio. It is not good to micromanage.
   10. Family is critical for the health of society. God established the family. God established and placed it on our hearts as part of natural law the idea of mom, dad, and family order.
   11. Exodus 20:12 (ESV) ¹² “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
   12. Paul later says in Eph. 6:2 that this is the only commandment with a promise. The point is that no civilization can live well in the land without respect for parents.
   13. Family was God’s idea, not man’s.
2. Father’s have a significant rule as provider and spiritual leader in the family.
   1. Sticking with the Old Testament we can see the consequences when dad’s don’t lead in the family. In 2 Samuel 13 David’s son Amnon raped his sister Tamar. David did not do anything about it. This led to David’s son Absalom taking matters into his own hands and then eventually David almost lost the kingdom. David should have been the dad.
   2. But what about the New Testament?
   3. In the New Testament we have household codes. We find these in Eph. 5:22-6:9; Col. 3:18, 22, and 1 Peter 3. In the Pauline household codes Paul reflects the household codes of the Greco-Roman world, but he is a little subversive. In the Greco-Roman world the father was the head of the house and his rule was absolute. The male head of household is referred to as the paterfamilias. The paterfamilias maintained power over property and family members—even power of life and death. ^[4]
   4. But in Ephesians 5:21, before Paul writes about family order he writes:
   5. Ephesians 5:21 (ESV) …²¹ submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
   6. Then Paul writes: “Wives to your husbands, as to the Lord…” (Eph. 5:22).
   7. There is still an order in the family, but we have mutual submission. I think Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is still considering the husband, the leader of the family, the spiritual leader, and the head, but we must be servant leaders. As we continue in Ephesians 5 Paul gives the example of what Jesus did. Husbands are to be like Jesus. What did Jesus do? He came and served us. He came and died to take care of our sin problem.
   8. Ephesians 5:23–25 (ESV) ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…
   9. Now, look at this Jesus is the head of the church and He died for the church. The church is the bride of Christ, there is family language again. Jesus took care of the bride’s spiritual need.
   10. Husbands, fathers, must be spiritual leaders of our family.
   11. We are the pastor of our family.
   12. What does it mean to watch over our children spiritually?
   13. The Bible makes it clear that we are to pass on the faith to the next generation:
   14. Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (ESV) ⁴“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
   15. All through the Old Testament it talked about teaching our children and grandchildren about the Lord. Not just about God in a generic sense, but the Lord.
   16. It means to introduce them to Jesus. Show them that you love Jesus. Show them that you treasure Jesus. Bring them with you to church. Read the Bible with them. Pray with them. Pray for them. Discipleship begins at home, and, again, you are the pastor of your family.
   17. Sitting at his father’s bedside after watching him take his last breath, John Piper spoke these words:I look you in the face and promise you with all my heart: Never will I forsake your gospel. O how you believed in hell and heaven and Christ and cross and blood and righteousness and faith and salvation and the Holy Spirit and the life of holiness and love. I rededicate myself, Daddy, to serve your great and glorious Lord Jesus with all my heart and with all my strength. You have not lived in vain. Your life goes on in thousands. I am glad to be one.

• The family is a gift from God.
  1. This is God’s order.
  2. God established the family.
  3. God established the family with husbands, and wives, children, and grandchildren. The world may be confused, but we should not be confused.
  4. The world is confused.
  5. Gavin Ortlund writes;
  6. The sense of chaos and disintegration introduced by atheism is powerfully conveyed in Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous parableof the “madman.” This character (generally regarded as representing Nietzsche) runs to the marketplace and cries out,
  7. “Whither is God?” . . . “I will tell you. We have killed him—you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us?”[5]
  8. Once they take away God there is no hope, no backward, sideward, forward. It is empty and cold. The world may be confused about the family, but we do not need to be confused about the family.
  9. In his famous essay on existentialism, for example, Jean-Paul Sartre rejected the efforts of earlier French atheists to retain objective morality apart from God, statingthat “the existentialist . . . finds it extremely embarrassing that God does not exist, for there disappears with Him all possibility of finding values in an intelligible heaven.”[6]
  10. When God is rejected, when His values are rejected, what follows is the rejection of morality, ethics, values, and of course family.
  11. God gave us family.
  12. We don’t need to be confused. We must be model examples.
  13. God created family. God gave family as a gift.
  14. Do you realize that family is a gift given by God?
  15. God created Eve for Adam because there was a need. It was not right that man should be alone (Gen. 2:18). In other words, though we say God should be enough, the norm is that we need other people. This is natural law. This is God’s natural order which He established with creation. God gave family as a gift.
  16. The family is God’s first institution.
  17. Dads are the pastor of the family.

By the way, AND this is very important, sometimes families are divided. Sometimes dads are absent. This happens too often, and it is tragic. We must all remember that God is our heavenly Father. We must all remember that the church is our family. Family is a central metaphor for understanding our relationship to God. Israel is portrayed as the Lord’s daughter or wife (Jer 3:20; 31:22). Jesus’ followers are children of God; His brothers and sisters (Mark 3:31–35). In many of the letters of the apostles, followers of Jesus are referred to as brothers and sisters (Rom 16:17). The covenant with God is understood as a great extended family.^[7]

Sometimes, families are even divided by the Gospel. Jesus said that would happen (Matthew 10:21, 36; Mark 13:12). Still, that is part of the sinful world. God’s order for the family was established in the Garden of Eden. Praise God for family. Praise God for fathers, mothers, children, and grandchildren.

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

[1] https://breakpoint.org/healthy-cultures-rest-on-dads-shoulders/

^[2] Brian Collins, “Natural Law,” in Lexham Survey of Theology, ed. Mark Ward et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).

[3] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[4] Ibid.

[5] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/apologetics-age-despair/

[6] Ibid.

^[7] Michelle J. Morris, “Family,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

Most folks have a key chain and on that key chain there are a plethora of keys, each designed to open a certain lock. It is quite normal to have a number of keys. There is probably one for the house, one for the car, one for the office, and so on. Each key has been uniquely cut to fit a specific lock in order to enter or gain access to a specific location.

I have a number of keys that look alike, are the same length, and appear similar in shape, but they won’t open the same door because they have each been uniquely crafted from a different master key. Each key has been uniquely crafted for a special place.

In our context, God is the master key. He opens everything, but He has uniquely crafted every believer for a specific place in which He wants you to make a difference in the lives of others as a recipient of the manifold grace of God.^825[1]

Today, we begin a sermon series on the New Testament letter of Philippians. As we begin this letter, we see the apostle Paul describe himself as a servant. Paul also extends grace and peace. Let’s begin this letter.

Today, my theme is:

Grace and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:1-2)

My application: As a church let’s serve the Lord in unity.

1. Allow me to intro Philippians:
   1. One source says that Philippians is Theology in street clothes.
   2. Author: The Apostle Paul is identified as the author
   3. When was this letter written? Paul clearly writes Philippians from prison, but he doesn’t say where.
   4. The date is dependent on where he wrote this from. Acts speaks only of his two-year detention in Caesarea Maritime in Palestine 58-60 AD. Followed by another two-year stent in house arrest in Rome awaiting trial (60-62). He was imprisoned on another occasion prior to 58 AD. But we are unsure of where and when (2 Cor 6:5; 11:23). Evidence leads towards Paul’s Roman imprisonment making this one of his latest letters.
   5. Paul’s triumphant declaration that his imprisonment for the sake of Christ, “has become known to the whole praetorian” (Phil 1:13) and his word of greetings for converts within “Caesar’s household” (Phil 4:22) are most natural and most impressive in Roman settings (DeSilva 646).
   6. Paul planted the church at Philippi during his second missionary journey (AD 50) in response to his “Macedonian vision” (Ac 16:9–10). This was the first church in Europe (Ac 16).
   7. One source adds: The text of this letter from Paul suggests several characteristics of the church at Philippi. First, Gentiles predominated. Few Jews lived in Philippi, and, apparently, the church had few. Second, women had a significant role (Ac 16:11–15; Php 4:1–2). Third, the church was generous. Fourth, they remained deeply loyal to Paul.^[2]
   8. ESV SB: The church at Philippi had a special significance for Paul, since it was the first church he founded in Europe (see Acts 16:6–40). The first convert was Lydia, a seller of purple goods, and women continued to have a prominent role in the Philippian church (e.g., Phil. 4:2). Paul and Silas were imprisoned there for exorcising a demon from a fortune-telling slave girl, but God miraculously delivered them, and they proclaimed the gospel to the Philippian jailer. Paul likely visited the Philippians a few times after his initial departure, and they maintained active support for his ministry ( 4:15–16).^[3]
   9. Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great took over the Agricultural settlement called Krenides in 356 BCE renaming it Philippi. Macedonia came under Roman control in 168 BC, but Philippi as Paul knew it really took shape during the Civil wars that rocked the Roman Republic during the second half of the first century BC. The final battle between Caesar’s armies, led by Marc Antony and Octavian (Later the emperor Augustus), and the armies of the assassins of Julius Caesar, Brutus, and Cassius, took place near Philippi in 42 BC. Antony and Octavian rewarded veterans with settlements in Philippi and generous grants of farmland in the hinterland of that city. After the alliance between Antony and Octavian broke down, the second civil war was effectively ended with Antony’s defeat near Actium in 31 BC. Octavian settled many of Antony’s soldiers in Philippi since they had forfeited their claims to land in Italy. Philippi was refounded as a colony of Rome (Acts 16:12) and named after Augustus’s daughter (Colonia Iulia Augusta Philippensis), whose citizens enjoyed Roman citizenship) (DeSilva 640-641). This made Philippi under Roman law. The citizens in Acts 16:21 saw themselves as Romans first. Philippi was not a major city. Philippi had several temples and the typical cultic practices of Romans and Greek gods. The imperial cult was strong. The GK gods such as Zeus, Apollo, Dionysus, and Artemis were strong in this city. There was probably high tension between the Christian community and the world they left behind.
   10. ESV SB: On balance, it seems most likely that the letter was written from Rome, c. d. 62. This also fits most naturally with the mention of the praetorium and “Caesar’s household” (Phil. 1:13 and 4:22).^[4]
   11. Theme (from the ESV SB): The chief theme of Philippians is encouragement: Paul wants to encourage the Philippians to live out their lives as citizens of a heavenly colony, as evidenced by a growing commitment to service to God and to one another. The way of life that Paul encourages was manifested uniquely in Jesus Christ; it was also evident in the lives of Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus.^[5]
   12. Interesting: Many of Paul’s letters can be divided into theological and practical sections, but Philippians does not follow that pattern. Paul’s theological instruction is woven throughout the fabric of a highly personal letter.^[6]
2. Grace and peace
   1. Now, let’s focus on Paul’s opening words.
   2. Philippians 1:1 (ESV)
   3. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
   4. Paul begins saying who the letter is from.
   5. Paul and Timothy wrote this.
   6. Why was Timothy mentioned?
   7. It does seem that Timothy was with him but did not write the letter. It is most likely giving Timothy’s name makes a nice personal connection.
   8. It is possible that he was Paul’s scribe.
   9. New American Commentary: Paul mentioned him in the salutations of six epistles (2 Cor; Col; Phil; 1, 2 Thess; Phlm) and wrote two epistles to him (1, 2 Tim).^4[7]
   10. Notice how he says that they are servants of Christ.
   11. He does not identify himself as an apostle.
   12. Maybe this is because this is a friendly letter. He is not writing with a rebuke like in Galatians. He does address concerns later, but the overall letter is mainly one of joy, thanks, and encouragement.
   13. Paul and Timothy are servants of who?
   14. Servants of Christ Jesus.
   15. Christ means the “Messiah,” which means, “anointed one.”
   16. Jesus means “the Lord saves.”
   17. They are servants of the Savior.
   18. The Greek is more literally slaves, or bond-servant. This is like an indentured servant.
   19. The letter is to all the saints.
   20. Every believer is a saint, so the letter is to every believer in Christ at Philippi.
   21. Saint means “holy-ones.”
   22. Paul also addresses the church leadership. He addresses the overseers and deacons.
   23. Overseers would be elders.
   24. New American Commentary: The other group consisted of bishops and deacons. This is the only time Paul used the word “bishop” [translated “overseers” in the ESV] outside of the Pastoral Epistles.^12[8]
   25. “Deacon” means “servants.”
   26. These are elders and deacons, and they have an inseparable logical order in church leadership.
   27. Grace and peace

• Who are the grace and peace from?
• God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Notice he references God as our Father.
• God is our loving Father.
• He also references the Lord, Jesus Christ.

• Piper: Grace is with them as they go on their way and “to you” in the front.
• That is the case in all 13  of Paul’s letters without exception. It is grace to you in the beginning and grace with you in the end.
• As you begin to read the letter God will mediate grace and as you end the letter grace will be with you, strengthening you as you leave.
• “From God our Father.”

• If you do a study, you will see that the word “grace” and “Father” are connected at every single letter of the Apostle Paul.
• In his mind to be a child of God is to be in a state of grace that is inexpressibly great.
• We are a family with God as our Father.

• With God as our Father, grace is coming to us all the time.
• In the Old Testament God is considered the Father of Israel, but almost never do you see individuals talking of God as “My Father.” Sometimes, not regularly, but that is the reality of being a saint, a child of God.[9]
• MacArthur: It is said that when Bible translators were seeking a word or phrase for “peace” in the language of the Chol Indians of South Mexico, they discovered that the words for “a quiet heart” gave just the meaning they were looking for. That’s an appropriate parallel because peace guards the soul against anxiety and strife, granting solace and harmony.[10]

• Applications and review:
  1. Paul and Timothy are servants of Christ (Phil. 1:1). We must strive to consider ourselves as servants. We must strive to serve however we can.
  2. Paul lists himself not using the “apostle” title, but equally with Timothy as a servant. We must consider ourselves equal servants of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:1).
  3. We must not try to bring up rank but be a servant (Phil. 1:1; 2:3-4).
  4. We must think of how we can serve one another.
  5. Maybe God is calling us to be more of a servant.
  6. Maybe God is calling us to think about how to sacrifice more.
  7. Paul lists the saints, alongside the leadership (Phil. 1:1). We must consider the church holistically. We are all saints. We are all holy ones.
  8. We must extend grace and peace from the Lord (Phil. 2:2).

Tony Evans shares:

We have a computer network in operation on our church campus. This network only functions because of its servers. Servers enable the computers to communicate with each other so that all of the campus computers can “be on the same page.” Our capacity to maximize our campus productivity is enhanced because our servers are in place doing their jobs.

God wants a networked campus of hearts who love Him and who love one another because they are networked by servers—men and women who give of themselves because they have received the manifold grace of God.^824[11]

Prayer

^[1] Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 276.

AD In the year of our Lord

^[2] Richard R. Melick Jr., “Philippians,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1882.

^[3] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2275.

1. about, approximately

^[4] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2275.

^[5] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2275.

^[6] Richard R. Melick Jr., “Philippians,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1883.

^[7] Richard R. Melick, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, vol. 32, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991), 47.

¹² It only occurs twice there, 1 Tim 3:2 and Titus 1:7. A related word, ἐπισκοπῆς (rather than ἐπίσκοπος), occurs in 1 Tim 3:1. Peter used each word (1 Pet 2:12; 2:25). Ἐπίσκοπος also occurs in Acts 20:28.

^[8] Richard R. Melick, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, vol. 32, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991), 49.

[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbz5d8Np9eQ&feature=youtu.be

[10] Devotion originally at: https://www.gty.org/library/devotionals/drawing-near?utm_source=mailerlite&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=read_todays_drawing_near_devotional&utm_term=2019-02-09

^[11] Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 276.

God’s Love Enables You to Love Others (1 John 4:11)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, June 4, 2023

David Jeremiah shares the following story:

Rick Garmon opened his gun cabinet and took a long look at the weapons within it. He lifted his best rifle and began polishing it. He had been doing all he could to hide the rage inside him, but people knew.

What they could not know was that the fantasy of vengeance that had crept into his mind months ago had put down roots and grown into a genuine intention. He was going to take this gun, place it on the floor of his car, and drive slowly through the college campus. Sooner or later he would see him—the student who had raped his daughter Katie. Then he would calmly pick up the gun, aim it, and deliver justice.

His sweet Katie had been only eighteen, a college freshman. She couldn’t tell anyone for a long time. Instead, she switched schools, developed eating disorders, and fought severe depression. It was Katie’s mother—Rick’s wife—who finally got the truth out of her. She told her mother about the date rape and gave her the name of the boy. But it didn’t help. Katie became more and more withdrawn. It took a year of prayer and therapy before she finally began to turn the corner and get on with her life.

But her protective father did not turn that corner. He seethed with ever-deepening fury over the punk who had devastated his daughter. First Rick merely daydreamed about revenge, but at some point he found himself making solid plans.

Now he stood at the gun cabinet, ready to turn those plans into action. That’s when his young son Thomas came up behind him. “You going hunting, Dad? Cleaning your guns? Can I help you?”

For a moment Rick just stood without responding. When he turned around, he saw tears in his son’s eyes. He knows, Rick thought. Dear God, I think my son knows my plan.

Some kind of spell broke at that moment. “Come here, son. Give me a hug.”

Thomas ran over to his dad and then wrapped his arms around his father, hugging him with all the love and affection he could muster. And that was when the father realized the truth. He had thought his bitterness defined him—that nothing could stop the overwhelming hatred from growing stronger in his heart. Now he knew he was wrong. Love was stronger. A son’s love. A Savior’s love. It took a great deal more strength to restrain one’s rage than it did to act it out. That strength could be found only in love.

As Rick replaced the gun and locked the cabinet decisively, he also locked away something within himself. He would not exercise his anger. He would not be judge and jury; he would be a servant of God instead, and that meant forgiving. It would be the hardest thing he had ever done, and it might take several months, and innumerable prayers. But through the power of God’s love, Rick Garmon was going to forgive the man who had violently abused his daughter.^1[1]

That day Rick Garmon encountered God’s transforming love in his son’s embrace. God’s love is more than just talk. It is real. It completely changes the way we think, the way we see others, the way we live each day. Love delivers us from the vicious cycle of vengeful retaliation. It makes life worth living. It changes everything.^[2]

We have been talking about God’s love. Today, I focus on God’s love enables you to love others.

Today, my theme is:

God’s love enables you to love others.

(I am grateful to David Jeremiah’s book “God Loves You” for some of my main points and illustrations. Anything that is a direct quote, or illustration is footnoted)

1. Because God loves us, we can love others (1 John 4:10)
   1. Let’s look at 1 John 4:10 (ESV)
   2. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
   3. God initiated love. He loved us when we were still in our sins.
   4. He sent Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins. This means Jesus appeased the wrath of God.
   5. God loves us and this leads to us loving others.
   6. David Jeremiah: Just as the sun is our only source of daylight, God is our only source of love. Sunrays reflect from all objects they strike, permeating the air with light and making it possible for us to see. In a similar way, God’s love enters the world and reflects off our hearts, making it possible for us to love Him and others. We have no innate capacity, no self-originating store of love to give. We can give only what we receive from Him.^[3]
2. Because God loves us, we can love one another (1 John 4:11)
   1. Look with me at 1 John 4:11 (ESV)
   2. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
   3. We extend God’s love for us to others.
   4. See the progression in John’s writings:
   5. John 13:34-35: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
   6. John 15:12: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
   7. 1 John 3:10: By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
   8. 1 John 4:8: Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
   9. David Jeremiah sharing from Francis Shaeffer: In his book The Mark of a Christian, the late Francis Schaeffer pointed out that Jesus gives the world the right to judge believers by their love for one another:
   10. Jesus says, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.” In the midst of the world, in the midst of our present dying culture, Jesus is giving a right to the world. Upon his authority he gives the world the right to judge whether you and I are born-again Christians on the basis of our observable love toward all Christians.
   11. That’s pretty frightening. Jesus turns to the world and says, “I’ve something to say to you. On the basis of my authority, I give you a right: you may judge whether or not an individual is a Christian on the basis of the love he shows to all Christians.”
   12. In other words, if people come up to us and cast in our teeth the judgment that we are not Christians because we have not shown love toward other Christians, we must understand that they are only exercising a prerogative which Jesus gave them.
   13. And we must not get angry. If people say, “You don’t love other Christians,” we must go home, get down on our knees, and ask God whether or not they are right. And if they are, then they have a right to have said what they said.^2[4]
   14. Wow! That is powerful, isn’t it? But it comes right from the Bible. I read the passages to you.
   15. Another example from David Jeremiah: This can turn out to be a pretty tough task. We can heartily agree with one Christian writer who describes how nothing in the world is more important or more difficult than truly loving other people:
   16. That odorous person with the nasty cough who sat next to you on the plane, shoving his newspaper into your face; those crude louts in the neighborhood with the barking dog, that smooth liar who took you in so completely last week—by what magic are you supposed to feel toward these people anything but revulsion, distrust and resentment, and justified desire to have nothing to do with them?^3[5]
   17. We can look at many other scriptures:
   18. The greatest commandment in Matthew 22:37-39.
   19. Love your enemy (Matthew 5:43-45, 48).
   20. Clearly, loving others is what we are to do.

• Applications:
  1. How do we love?
  2. God loved us (1 John 4:10), we must worship Him.
  3. We must thank God and worship Him for His love.
  4. God loves us so much that He took care of our sin. Jesus became the sin offering. Jesus took the wrath of God and turned it into favor (1 John 4:10). We must thank Him and worship Him.
  5. Jesus satisfied the wrath of God in our place. Praise God!
  6. What can we do, but love Him and love others.
  7. We must love others (1 John 4:11).
  8. We must encourage others (1 Thess 5:11; Heb. 10:24-25).
  9. In his book A Simple Blessing, singer Michael W. Smith tells of Justin, a high school freshman who was walking home from school one day when he saw a group of students bullying a smaller boy. They knocked him to the ground, scattering his books and sending his glasses flying. Justin started to walk on, but when he saw the hurt in the boy’s eyes, he stopped, found his glasses, and helped him pick up his books. The boy was so overloaded with books that Justin offered to help him carry them home. On the way, he learned that the boy, Kyle, was a recent transfer to the school, had no friends, and was often harassed by those bullies.
  10. Out of sheer pity, Justin invited Kyle to come over and toss a football with him. The two became fast friends, and at the end of their senior year Kyle emerged as valedictorian of the graduating class. As he began his valedictory speech, Justin was stunned. Kyle told of his early misery. Uprooted, friendless, bullied, and hopeless, he had decided to end his life and was taking his books home so his mother would not have to clean out his locker. But this time when the bullies attacked, Justin came along with kindness and encouragement, which turned Kyle away from despair and gave him a new grip on life and hope.^5[6]
  11. We must say things to encourage others with our words (Eph 4:29).
  12. We must share with one another (Eph 4:28).
  13. We must serve one another (Matthew 5:16; Heb 6:10).
  14. We must be kind to one another, forgive one another (Eph 4:32).
  15. These applications could go on and on.

Christians have always been different. From the beginning Jesus freed us to love self-sacrificially:

Tim Keller shares:

Rodney Stark wrote a book called The Rise of Christianity. If you want a book that gives you a synopsis of early Christianity and why it triumphed in the Roman Empire, you couldn’t do better than that book. It’s readable, great scholarship. It uses sociology as well as historical scholarship. In the book he says there were at least three major ways in which the early Christians were remarkably different than their pagan neighbors.

One is when the great epidemics hit the urban centers of the Greco-Roman world, while other people just fled the cities, Christians stayed in the cities, took care of the sick, even though in many cases they died doing so. Secondly, when Christians were persecuted, that is when they were put to death unjustly, they did not respond with terrorism. They did not respond in violent retaliation. They did not respond with guerrilla warfare, but they died praying for their enemies’ forgiveness.

Rodney Stark points out the third thing. At the height of the Roman Empire, Rome had conquered all the nations in that part of the world. It had never happened before. For the first time really in history in that part of the world, all national borders were open. The nations weren’t against each other. They were all subjugated to Rome, and that meant for the first time in history the cities of the Roman Empire became fiercely multiethnic. That had never happened before.

In those cities there was a great deal of ethnic tension. Those kinds of folks had never lived together before. Rodney Stark said the Christian church was the first institution in the history of the world that brought people together across those ethnic barriers and said, “Race means nothing. Race isn’t important. There’s no pecking order of races and cultures here.” Rodney Stark said no institution had ever done anything like that.^[7]

You see Christians have always been different.

This week, remember God loves you and go and serve in Jesus’ Name.

Prayer

¹ Rick Garmon, “My Secret Hate,” Today’s Christian (May–June 2006). Cited in Craig Brian Larson and Phyllis Ten Elshof, 1001 Illustrations That Connect (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 226–27.

^[1] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

^[2] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

^[3] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

² Francis Schaeffer, The Mark of a Christian (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1970), 13.

^[4] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

³ Quoted in Ray Stedman, “The One Commandment,” May 10, 1985, accessed May 21, 2012, http://www.pbc.org/system/message_files/4298/3867.html.

^[5] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

⁵ Michael W. Smith, A Simple Blessing (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 145–46.

^[6] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

^[7] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

God’s Love Lasts Forever (Luke 23:43; Rev. 21:1-4)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, May 21, 2023

David Jeremiah shares:

For years I have been collecting the sayings that people put on their tombstones. Here is one that expresses what some people think about heaven:

Here lies a poor woman who always was tired,

For she lived in a place where help wasn’t hired.

Her last words on earth were, “Dear Friends, I am going

Where washing ain’t done, nor sweeping, nor sewing;

And everything there is exact to my wishes,

For where they don’t eat, there’s no washing of dishes.

Don’t weep for me now, don’t weep for me ever;

For I’m going to do nothing forever and ever.”²²

It sounds a little more like a nursing home than the biblical conception of heaven. I suppose it’s natural for an overworked person to think of heaven as a place of rest. But it reveals another misconception about heaven. When we enter into heaven, we are not put on some kind of heavenly Social Security list. On the contrary, the Bible says a great deal about service in heaven—our tasks and responsibilities—particularly in Revelation.

As Canadian pastor Bruce Milne tells us, the book of Revelation speaks of heaven as a place where you will find “God’s throne, God’s river, God’s tree, God’s service, God’s face, God’s seal, God’s reign: such are the features of the life of the people of God in the coming Holy City… It is life totally centered on God. That is the deepest and most glorious prospect imaginable, for there is no reality comparable to the triune God, the ever-blessed Father.”^13[1]

I preached on heaven in the winter, but I never preached on Rev. 21:1-4 in an expository way. That is what I will do today. I want to show you that God’s love lasts forever.

My theme today is:

God’s love lasts forever.

1. God’s love lasts forever.
   1. We have covered many subjects of God’s love. Today, we talk about the eternal, the forever.
   2. Where is history going? That is an important worldview question.
   3. The Bible teaches that history is heading towards a time when God will make things right. We see that in the letter of Revelation.
   4. In the letter of Revelation we see God communicate to the Apostle John the things that are to come. There are differing views of the letter of Revelation so I am not going to get into them today. Regardless of one’s view most would agree that Revelation chapters 21-22 are describing the literal New Heaven and New Earth.
   5. Revelation chapters 1-3 include the introduction, and the letters to the 7 churches.
   6. Revelation chapters 4-22:5 are dealing with things to take place after this. These concern God pouring out His wrath on sin, destroying Babylon, the antichrist, and eventually satan.
   7. Eventually, in Revelation chapter 21:10 satan is thrown into the lake of fire. Then Revelation 22:14 death and hades (the abode of the dead) are thrown into hell as well.
   8. This brings us to Revelation chapter 21. Here we see the New Heaven and the New Earth and that God’s love lasts forever.
2. The New Jerusalem.
   1. Revelation 21:1–4 (ESV) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
   2. Notice what John sees (verses 1-2).
   3. One source shares: This section provides information not revealed in the other visions of heaven. The eternal state is pictured as a physical place. It includes land, buildings, trees, and water. Believers will interact with one another and engage in meaningful service for God. This corrects some long-held misconceptions. Heaven is not a place of passive rest, or endless, blissful contemplation of God.[2]
   4. A holy city descending from heaven (verse 2).
   5. The “holy city” is the new Jerusalem.
   6. We will hear more about that in the rest of this chapter.
   7. It seems clear that these verses are summarizing what the rest of the next two chapter will talk about.
   8. This “holy city” is coming “down.”
   9. Literally down? It could be that John is again describing the indescribable.
   10. Notice the modifiers: the city is described as “holy” and that means “set apart” or sanctified. We will see how it is holy later.
   11. This city is coming from God.
   12. It is like it is coming from God’s realm. It is coming out of Heaven.
   13. This city is made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
   14. Later (in verse 9) we will see that she is called the bride.
   15. But this seems to mean that the city is all beautiful like we would expect a bride on her wedding day.
   16. Isa 52:1 calls Jerusalem the “holy” city.
   17. “Revelation as a whole may be characterized as A Tale of Two Cities, with the sub-title, The Harlot and the Bride.”^724[3]
   18. Dr. Constable: There have been several explanations of the relationship of the New Jerusalem to the new earth. It may be that John saw as a city what he had formerly seen as a new heaven and earth. In other words, the New Jerusalem and the new heaven and earth may be two different figures for the eternal state. I favor this view. Thus the eternal dwelling place of believers will be a completely new creation by God that John saw in his visions first as a new world and then as a new city.
   19. Alternatively the New Jerusalem could be a satellite rotating around the new earth. Some hold that the New Jerusalem will be a satellite of the present earth during the Millennium, and when God creates the new earth it will descend out of heaven and be on the surface of the new earth.⁷²⁵ Some believe that the New Jerusalem will be within the new earth.⁷²⁶ The text does not say the New Jerusalem will come down to the new earth, only that John saw it coming down out of heaven from God (cf. v. 10).^[4]
3. What John hears (verses 3-8, but we will only focus on verses 3-4).
   1. The words of the angel (21:3–4).
   2. He says God himself will mingle among his people (21:3).
   3. Dr. Constable: Verse 3 describes the benefits of the New Jerusalem positively, and verse 4 does so negatively.[5]
   4. ESV Study Note: He will dwell with them. The greatest blessing of heaven will be unhindered fellowship with God himself. The goal of God’s covenant, “God with us” ( 7:14), foreshadowed in the OT tabernacle and temple, will be achieved. 
   5. John hears a “loud” voice, again, this is a modifier, and it is coming from the throne.
   6. The people are God’s people and God will be with them.
   7. These Old Testament passages also say that they will be His people: Lev 26:11f; Ezek 37:27
   8. He says God himself will minister to his people (21:4).
   9. God wipes tears away. ESV Study Note: By wiping away every tear and eliminating death, mourning, and pain ( 25:8; 65:19–20), God will reverse the curse that entered the world through human sin.
   10. No more death.
   11. No more mourning.
   12. No more crying.
   13. No more pain.
   14. The first order is over.
4. Applications and review:
   1. God’s love lasts forever.
   2. We will be in the Holy City.
   3. We will be in the New Jerusalem on the New Earth.
   4. The sea was no more, this may just be symbolic of death and destruction and danger.
   5. We will dwell with God (Rev. 21:3). More importantly, God will dwell with us.
   6. We will have a real, physical relationship with almighty God.
   7. There will be no more sin in the way.
   8. We will be His people and He will be our God.
   9. There will be no more death (Rev. 21:4).
   10. We can rejoice that the pain and suffering of this world will be gone (Rev. 21:4).
   11. No more pain.
   12. No more sickness.
   13. No more Alzheimer’s.
   14. No more cancer.
   15. No more Multiple Sclerosis.
   16. No more disabilities.
   17. No more special needs.
   18. No more car accidents.
   19. No more falling.
   20. No more aging.
   21. No more anxiety.
   22. No more depression.
   23. No more worry: there will be nothing to worry about.
   24. Do we worry about our kids? No more, no need.
   25. Do we worry about our parents? No need.
   26. Do we worry about international relations? No need. Jesus will literally be on the throne.
   27. Do we worry about money? No more, no need.
   28. Do we worry about disasters? No more, no need.
   29. God’s love lasts forever. We will be with Him in a literal way.
   30. No more death, God’s love lasts forever.
   31. No more crying. God will wipe away our tears. Do you remember how nice to be a child and have a mom or dad embrace us and wipe away our tears, or maybe a husband or wife wipe away our tears. How much more powerful that God will wipe away our tears. But then it says, “no more tears, crying, or mourning” (Rev 21:4). Could it be that God will wipe them away and then they will be gone? Could it be that we will understand the sadness of this world? We will have a complete picture of the hardships we have faced.
   32. Part of the difficulties in the world is our picture is not developed. Our picture of suffering needs developed and then reframed. God will do that.
   33. God’s love lasts forever.
   34. We must live for eternity.
   35. Store up treasure in heaven:
   36. Proverbs 19:17 (ESV) ¹⁷Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.
   37. Invest in the church.
   38. Make sure you are saved (2 Cor. 13:5).
   39. Repent of sin.
   40. Seek the Lord.
   41. Be encouraged: God’s love lasts forever.

C. S. Lewis: “Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it—made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand.”³

Prayer

²² Author unknown.

¹³ Bruce Milne, The Message of Heaven and Hell (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 327.

^[1] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

[2] The Moody Bible Commentary (Kindle Locations 83407-83409). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

⁷²⁴ 724. Beasley-Murray, p. 315.

^[3] Tom Constable, Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), Re 21:2.

⁷²⁵ 725. Pentecost, Things to . . ., p. 580.

⁷²⁶ 726. McGee, 5:1068–72, believed it will be within the transparent sphere of the new earth rather than on its surface.

^[4] Tom Constable, Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), Re 21:2.

[5] Tom Constable, Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), Re 21:4.

³ C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: MacMillan, 1962), 147.

First let me wish every mother a happy Mother’s Day. We can never fully understand the impact of a mother. I read:

An article in Forbes asks, “Think you can put a price on motherhood?” A yearly survey by Salary.com called the annual Mom Salary Survey attempts to put a salary on the work of American mothers. First, they broke down motherly duties into the following ten categories: Day Care Center Teacher, CEO, Psychologist, Cook, Housekeeper, Laundry Machine Operator, Computer Operator, Facilities Manager, Janitor, and Van Driver. Then they studied how many hours moms work in those categories and what the family would have to pay for outsourcing that duty. According to the 2012 survey, they determined the following:

• The average stay-at-home mom should make an annual salary of $112,962 (based on a 40-hour per week base pay plus 54.7 hours a week of overtime);
• The average working mom should make an annual salary (just for her “mom” role) of $66,969 (based on 40-hours of mothering duties and 17.9 overtime hours per week).

The article concludes, “The breadth of Mom’s responsibilities is beyond what most workers could ever experience day-to-day. Imagine if you had to attract and retain a candidate to fill this role?”[1]

Of course, we really did not need an article to state that did we? We know that a mother’s work is never done. I remember thinking back to my mother and how she was always, always doing something. Then she also has such a caring heart. If I was sick or in need her heart would break for me. To this day, she calls up checking on the girls and she works at a childcare center. My grandmother stayed with us, and my mother was eager to care for her.

My dad was abused as a child. His brothers and sisters ran away from home. My dad moved out at sixteen years of age. Years later, my dad was thirty-nine and his mother moved in with us when she had a hip replacement. His father had died when my dad was about thirty-one. My grandmother recovered from the hip replacement but during that time we had grown close with her. So, she would stay with us often. One time, my parents were out for an evening and during that time my younger brother did something to which he needed punishment. My dad came home and found out and gave my younger brother a spanking. I looked out on the back porch and saw my grandmother with tears in her eyes. Amazing! Mothers, grandmothers they care. God has given them this love.

I want to talk about Sarah today. Sarah was Abraham’s wife and the mother of Ishmael and Isaac. But later she became the mother of nations. She became the mother of Christianity. Hebrews 11:10-12 tells us that because of her great faith she became the mother of nations. She is listed in the hall of faith.

My emphasis today is:

The influence of a mother’s faith: Sarah bore a son through a barren womb and influenced a nation and all nations.

The application is trusting God with our children. God has great faithfulness.

A mother’s love is amazing.

Have faith in God to watch over you and your children as Sarah did.

You never know what God will do through your children and grandchildren.

 Let’s read:

Hebrews 11:11–12 (ESV)

¹¹ By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. ¹² Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

Now, let’s read:

Genesis 18:9–15 (ESV)

⁹ They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” ¹⁰ The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. ¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” ¹³ The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁵ But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

1. We all must trust God with our children and grandchildren as Sarah did.
   9. You and I may read this, and it appears that Sarah did not trust God with her womb. Sarah had already been told that she will be a mother. In this passage there are two angels and God talking with Abraham. We find this out in verses 1-9. If you go back to Genesis 12, we read that Abraham was to be the father of nations. Sarah trusted God but did not know how this was to happen. It was in Genesis 17:17 that we find out this was to happen through her womb. Sarah, being 90 years old was to have a child.
   10. Reading this passage, we see that Sarah laughed. Abraham laughed as well in Genesis 17:17. They laughed in doubt. It was not doubt that they would be the parents of nations, it was doubt that the child would come through her.
   11. But we can look ahead and see that Sarah’s child was born in Genesis 21:2 and he was named Isaac which means “Laughter.”
   12. This was somewhere around 2000 B.C., then when Hebrews was penned some 2000 years later, Sarah is remembered for her faith.
   13. She trusted God.
   14. I do not want to talk about trusting God that you are going to have a child at 90 years old. If any of you are close to that age and God has revealed that to you, by all means, trust Him. I’ll pray for you.
   15. I imagine Sarah at 90 years old and Abraham at 100 years old chasing a toddler around. Then, Abraham would have been 116 years old teaching him to drive a camel so that he could get his temporary driving permit. Sarah would have been staying up late at the age of 106 years old while Isaac is out with friends. I wonder if he had a curfew.
   16. Of course, they say that your children grow up quick. I do see that happening. I heard of one mother who had 4 children. She was talking and said that people would say they grow up quick and she would think, “I smell like spit-up.” Then she said, “But when I saw my daughter walk out of her room at 17 years old with her keys…” She knew that to be true.
   17. I wonder if Sarah thought that way? He was 37 years old when she died. I wonder if she had days where she told him, “Just wait till your father gets home.” I heard of George H. W. Bush getting a phone call from Barbara when the kids were young. Barbara told him that one of the boys hit the baseball through a certain neighbor’s second story window. His reaction, “What a hit!” I wonder if Abraham had conversations like that from Sarah.
   18. Sarah had watched everyone else raise children and now it was her turn. The Bible says in verse 14: “Is anything too difficult for the Lord?”
   19. How are we doing with trusting the Lord? How are we doing with trusting the Lord with our children on a day-to-day bases. How about even after they are grown.
   20. I was 19 years old, and my parents were taking me to college. I was going some 8 hours away to Georgia. We were at a restaurant when my mother retreated to the restroom, I think to cry because for the first time she was dropping off her son hours away from home for a long time.
   21. I wonder if Sarah had moments like that. I wonder if she had moments in which she had to let go.
   22. You see, on a Mother’s Day I can talk about a mother’s love. I mention that with the example of my mother and grandmother. However, I think it is a mother’s love that compels them to care so well for their children.
   23. In that manner, we are best to remember that God’s faithfulness is unending, and we must trust Him, Who can do all things, with our children.
   24. Meagan and I tear up with the thought of walking our daughter down the aisle on a wedding day. But that is the common station in life which we will face.
   25. I honestly don’t know how parents deal with real struggles of sickness, hardship, and even the loss of a child. The only thing that I can say is Sarah had great faith and so must we for God has great faithfulness.
       1. Some Scripture:
       2. Psalm 89:1-2 (and the rest of the Psalm) are about God’s faithfulness.

• Psalm 91:1-4 compares God’s faithfulness to an eagle sheltering us under His Wings.

1. Psalm 100:5 is about God’s faithfulness.
2. Psalm 108:4: God’s faithfulness reaches to the skies.
3. Psalm 143:1: O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.

• For those of you have been through those trials my prayers are with you and I know that I can be educated by you.
• The other thought about trusting God’s faithfulness with our children is that we never know what God is going to do. We don’t know who our children will end up to be, do we? We can try to rear them and pray for them, and we must, but we do not know. But Sarah was told that she would be the mother of nations. We must trust God with our children’s future and our grandchildren’s future.

1. How do we have faith? How do we trust God?
   1. Pray and talk to God.
   2. Go to the Bible and read the Scripture passages on faithfulness.
   3. Talk with a small group or prayer partner, or myself. Talk with a Christian counselor.
   4. Those of you that have been through tough circumstances with children, you can teach me, and I would love to hear your testimony.
   5. Those going through tough times, I would welcome to listen and pray with you.
   6. I can recommend some books.

Close:

A mother’s love is amazing.

Have faith in God to watch over you and your children as Sarah did.

You never know what God will do through your children and grandchildren.

I talked about my grandmother, my father’s mother, with tears in her eyes when my brother was punished. A few years later she went into the hospital. She had a quadruple heart bypass. They said the risk of a clot was high, especially early on. She made it through those days, but then they had to put in a pacemaker. Then, after about two weeks she was ready to come home. She was coming home to stay with us. It was a Friday night, and we were getting her room ready. We were setting up the hospital bed, etc. We were looking forward to grandma staying with us. Then, my parents received a call from the hospital, and they rushed to the hospital. My grandmother was walking with a nurse talking about how she was eager to see her cat again when she had a blood clot. It had been some two weeks, but it happened. The doctor’s worked on her for some time, but then she died.

The next day, my dad was driving me to work, and he said, “I don’t know if you noticed but my mother’s death has been hard on me.” He continued, “My dad beat me as a child, but over the last few years with my mother living with us I can tell that she regretted that.” This was the only time I saw my dad choke up with tears in his eyes. The only time. The influence of a mother.

In Genesis 23:1 we read that Sarah died at the age of 127 years. I would imagine that Isaac and Ishmael both wept at the death of Sarah.

However, because of Sarah we have Hebrews 11:12:

¹² Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

She became the mother of nations. She had faith that God would fulfill the promise and He did. She had faith in God’s promise and became the mother of Christianity as Jesus came through her descendants.

 God created us to be with him (Genesis 1-2).

Our sin separated us from God (Genesis 3).

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4).

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again (Matthew – Luke).

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life (John – Jude).

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever (Revelation 22:5).

Pray

[1] Sources: Jenna Goudreau, “Why Stay-At-Home Moms Should Earn a $115,000 Salary,” Forbes (5-2-11); Salary.com, “Salary.com’s 12th Annual Mom Salary Survey,” (last accessed on April 24, 2013)

God’s Love Enables You to Stay in Your Relationship With Him (John 10:28; Romans 8:35-39)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, May 7, 2023

David Jeremiah writes:

At every moment in all the history of our fallen race, people have faced threats from both the present and the future, on both a personal and a cosmic level. And each time Christians have asked, “Is God still with me through all this?”

If ever a young man had the right to ask this question, it would seem that George Matheson did. Born in nineteenth-century Scotland, George became a brilliant student in theology at the University of Glasgow, where he earned a graduate degree. While at school, he fell in love and was soon engaged to be married. Meanwhile, his eyesight began to fade rapidly. When he became totally blind at age twenty, his fiancée broke off the engagement, explaining that she was not cut out to be the wife of a blind man.

Matheson was devastated. The pain of her abandonment stayed with him in his blindness. He never married, yet he went on to become a highly successful pastor at a large church in Edinburgh where he preached to fifteen hundred members every Sunday.

Many men enduring such blows might have struck out at God, thinking He had abandoned him. Many would have thought: I’ve dedicated my life to You, God. Yet You allowed me to fall in love, and then You snatched away my fiancée and my eyesight. You must not really love me after all.

But Matheson knew better. Though his beloved fiancée had left him, he knew that God would not. Out of his pain emerged the classic hymn “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go.” His first verse is a ringing affirmation of the love of God, reaching across the chasm of his sadness:

O Love that will not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in Thee;

I give Thee back the life I owe,

That in Thine ocean depths its flow

May richer, fuller be.

Though George Matheson was physically blind, his spiritual vision was 20/20. Those who trust in the ways and purposes of God will be strengthened in the present and prepared to face whatever the future holds. Suffering is inevitable; it comes to everyone. But only those who live in the certainty that God’s love will never let them go are able to accept with confidence and assurance both the troubles of the present and the troubles that may come tomorrow.^[1]

We have been talking about God’s love for us.

My theme today is:

God’s Love Enables You to Stay in Your Relationship With Him (John 10:28; Romans 8:35-39)

1. Who shall separate us from God’s love?
   1. Paul asks a question and then goes to great lengths to show that no one and nothing can separate us from God’s love.
   2. Paul asks a question with a negative answer.
   3. Before we read the verses let’s put this in context. Romans 8:35-39 is in the context of Romans and Romans is Paul’s great treatise on salvation. Romans is Paul making the case for salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. Paul went to great lengths to show that Jews and Greeks all need Jesus’ free offer of forgiveness.
   4. Some have called Romans 8 the most powerful chapter in the Bible. Romans 8 is sandwiched between Romans 7 showing that we cannot keep the law and then Romans 9 which is about God’s sovereign choice.
   5. Look with me at Romans 8:35 (ESV) ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
   6. About this passage David Jeremiah shares:
   7. It’s a bit like an old commercial for superglue in which a car was suspended in midair, held to the cable by nothing but a dab or two of that incredible adhesive. The test was intended to convince people that this glue would do any job needed. If it could hold that car, surely it would patch up your broken vase.
   8. Twice Paul emphatically asserts that nothing can separate us from the love of God found in Christ Jesus (vv. 35, 39). Surely few would disagree that this is the greatest message of the Bible—that nothing in the entire universe can stop God from loving us. It simply cannot and will not happen.
   9. Please notice that Paul doesn’t say we must hang on to God’s love; he says that God’s love hangs on to us. ^[2]
   10. Paul asks the question, who shall separate us and then lists several nouns to show that no, they cannot separate us.
   11. God holds us. God holds us close to Him. It is all His staying power on us.
   12. We will go through tribulation, but guess what? God is with us. It cannot separate us from Him.
   13. We will have distress, but it cannot separate us from Him. God is with us.
   14. We will face persecution (see 2 Tim. 3:12), but God is with us, and Jesus says we are blessed (Matthew 5:11-12).
   15. We will face famine, nakedness, and danger, but God is with us and that famine will not separate us from Him.
   16. You know the interesting thing? These verses say that these hardship will NOT separate us. If we know Jesus we will not leave Him, because He is holding us. That does not mean we will not question things, or ever have doubts, but no, we won’t leave Him.
   17. Romans 8:36 is a quote from Psalm 44:2 which Paul references to bring up hardship.
2. We are hyper-conquerors.
   1. Look at Romans 8:37: No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
   2. In all of what he wrote about in verse 35 we are more than conquerors.
   3. David Jeremiah shares: The Greek word for “conquer” is hypernikao, a compound word made up of hyper (“more, above, beyond”) and nikao (“to conquer or prevail”). The term is a unique one, occurring nowhere in the Bible but this particular verse. It has no single-word counterpart in English, so we must cobble together two or three words to get the sense of what it means. Scholars have tried such phrases as “overwhelmingly conquerors” and “beyond conquering,” but the favorite by far is “more than conquerors.” Many of our contemporary translations contain that familiar phrase.
   4. But let’s try another one: “hyper-conquerors.” It has a modern ring to it and suggests the idea of a new league of superheroes—“The Hyper-Conquerors”! I think I like it. Let’s try it out on what Paul is telling us:
   5. In the midst of all these things that try to bring us down (tribulation, distress, persecution, you name it), we are hyper-conquerors.
   6. When facing any problem that life can dish out—you are a hyper-conqueror.
   7. In struggling with that problem you’re worrying about this very day, which is ______________ (fill in the blank), you are a hyper-conqueror.^[3]
   8. Jeremiah gives an example: How does this work in real life? Here’s a story that gives us the answer. During his reign of terror, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini turned his war machine on Ethiopia and expelled all the Christian missionaries there. Christians everywhere began praying immediately. The answer came in two waves: first, in the protection of the expelled missionaries; and second, in reopening the doors of Ethiopia to the Gospel after the military pride of Italy lay broken in the dust and Mussolini was executed by his own countrymen.
   9. But during the missionaries’ absence, the Word of God multiplied in Ethiopia, and the returning missionaries found a larger, stronger church than the one they left. One group, the United Presbyterian Mission, had only sixty believers when the missionaries were expelled. On their return, the sixty had grown to thirty churches with a membership of sixteen hundred! These believers were more than conquerors.^8[4]

• Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
  1. Look with me at Romans 8:38–39 (ESV)
  2. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  3. David Jeremiah shares: Paul gives us five pairs of contrasting forces that may challenge us. The big idea is that you can go from one end of any spectrum to the other—from life to death, from things present to things to come—without going beyond the scope of God’s love.
  4. Here Paul uses a rhetorical device known as a merism, which involves stating a pair of contrasting words to represent the full range of everything in between. We use a merism when we say, “He knows his subject from A to Z.” When the psalmist declares that God has removed our sins from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12), he is using a merism to explain that God has removed our sins in totality.^[5]
  5. Death nor life cannot separate us from God’s love.
  6. Death, then, is not a wall that separates us from God. Dr. James Montgomery Boice points out that it’s much the opposite. Far from tearing us away from God, death ushers us into the full glory of His presence. “The separator becomes the uniter.”^4[6]
  7. Paul says, “angels nor rulers…” Why would he say angels? Most think he is referring to demons. Demons will not separate us from Christ’s love.
  8. Rulers will not separate us from Christ’s love.
  9. Sometimes, many times, Christians have felt the weight of oppressive rulers, but we are still held by God’s love.
  10. Things in the present, things in the future, they will not separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus.
  11. Powers, they won’t separate us from Christ.
  12. Romans 8:39 continues… Height nor depth… they won’t separate us from God’s love.
  13. Nothing, nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A fourth-century Archbishop of Constantinople was such an eloquent preacher that, after his death, the Greek word chrysostomos (“golden mouthed”) was added to his given name, John. History has since known him as John Chrysostom. He did not hesitate to point out abuses of power wherever he found them, and his outspoken oratory got him in trouble with both the church and the Roman Empire. On one such occasion, he was brought before the Roman emperor. Tradition tells us that the emperor fixed Chrysostom with a glare and said: “I will banish you if you do not give up your faith.”

“You can’t banish me,” Chrysostom replied, “for the whole world is my Father’s house.”

“But I will put you to death.”

“No, you can’t. My life is hid with Christ in God.”

“Then I will take away all your material possessions.”

“No, you can’t. My treasure is in heaven along with my heart.”

“But I can drive you away from man. You will have no friends left.”

“No, you can’t make me friendless. I have a Friend in heaven from whom you can’t separate me. I defy all your attempts to silence me. There is nothing you can do to hurt me.”^5[7]

Pray

^[1] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

^[2] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

⁷ William Hendricksen, New Testament Commentary: Exposition of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980), 301.

^[3] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

⁸ Adapted from J.C. Macaulay, Expository Commentary on Acts (Chicago: Moody Press, 1978), 130-31.

^[4] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

^[5] Ibid.

⁴ James Montgomery Boice, Romans, Vol. 2: The Reign of Grace (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992), 1001.

^[6] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

⁵ Paraphrased from R. Kent Hughes, Romans: Righteousness from Heaven (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1991), 171.

^[7] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

God Lovingly Corrects You (Proverbs 3:12; 2 Corinthians 12:7; Hebrews 12:5-11)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, April 30, 2023

The train chugged its way through Indiana at twenty-four miles per hour. That doesn’t seem like a frightful speed. That is, until you take into account how long it takes to stop a 6,200-ton train… and what lay upon the tracks ahead.

“That’s a baby!” yelled Robert Mohr, the attentive conductor.

The engineer, Rodney Lindley, had thought it was a small dog, but the thatch of blonde hair and the colorful clothes made it all clear.

Emily Marshall, a child of nineteen months, was playing on the rails. She had strayed from safety as her mother picked flowers in the garden.

It was all chaos and shouting at the controls of the train. The engineer hit the brakes, but there was no way the train could stop short of disaster. Mohr, forty-nine and a Vietnam vet, had to think quickly.

He threw open the door, moved along a catwalk to the very front of the engine, and leaned precariously forward, steadying himself with one arm as Lindley continued to pull frantically at the brake. The train slowed to about ten miles per hour—still much too fast. Lindley said, “It felt like we were just eating up the rail, going faster and faster.”

As the great locomotive approached, Emily heard the noise and sensed danger. “She sat up and watched us for what seemed like an eternity,” said Lindley. Then she began to crawl off the rails, but not fast enough. Just as the train was about to go over her, Mohr, at the leading edge of the locomotive, stretched out one leg as far as he could and, like a field-goal kicker, booted the baby over the edge and down the soft embankment. Then he leaped down, picked up the crying child, and comforted her.

Emily came out of the near fatal experience with cuts on her head, a chipped tooth, and a swollen lip.^1[1]

We know how deeply grateful the mother was—remorseful, too, I’m sure. But I wonder if that little child truly comprehended how blessed she was that a stranger with a big foot kicked her down a hill. She was trying to play, there was a lot of noise, and suddenly something jarred her and sent her tumbling like Jack and Jill. It hurt!

Perspective makes a difference. What seems hurtful from one vantage point can, when seen in full perspective, turn out to be an act of compassion. That’s how it is with discipline and correction. Sometimes we have to hurt a little now, so we won’t hurt a lot later. Some lessons come only through tears. We know this as parents; we also need to know it as children of God.

What brand of love would keep that conductor from rescuing a happily playing child on the grounds that a good boot is rude and painful? What brand of love would have kept your parents from scolding you for not doing your homework, since scolding would have put a damper on a pleasant dinner? As Lewis points out, the willingness to administer pain to prevent a greater harm is a mark of true love.^[2]

We are talking about God’s love for us.

Today my theme is:

God Lovingly Corrects You

Please turn to Hebrews 12:5-11.

1. The Lord disciplines those He loves (Hebrews 12:5-7).
   1. Let’s talk about the context of this passage.
   2. Hebrews is written to tell us who is to brew the coffee, he is, he-brews.
   3. No, seriously, Hebrews is a New Testament letter written to encourage Jewish believers to persevere in the faith.
   4. The writer is encouraging them to fix their eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2).
   5. These Jewish people had become Christians and then faced suffering. Some were in prison.
   6. The audience’s social situation can be inferred from commands to “remember those who are in prison” and who are “mistreated” (13:3). Timothy himself had just been set free (13:23). Indeed, the author of Hebrews commended his audience for their former endurance of persecution, for their compassion on those in prison, and for having “joyfully accepted the plundering of your property” (10:32–34).^[3]
   7. They are being exhorted to stay the course.
   8. That fits with these instructions.
   9. Look at Hebrews 12:5–7 (ESV)

⁵ And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

     “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

nor be weary when reproved by him.

⁶    For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

⁷ It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

1. This chapter begins exhorting them to fix their eyes on Jesus.
2. The previous chapter is about those of faith in the Old Testament.
3. Now, he quotes Proverbs 3:11-12 about God’s discipline. God is seen as speaking through the Proverb.
4. What are we to think of the hardships we face in life?
5. Why does God allow certain things? Why doesn’t He intervene?
6. I think that is what the writer of Hebrews is addressing.
7. The writer of Hebrews brings in this Old Testament passage.
8. Sometimes discipline is punitive, other times it is training.
9. Do not regard the discipline of the Lord lightly… TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.
10. Don’t be weary when reproved by the Lord.
11. The Lord lovingly disciplines us.
12. Hebrews 12:6: The Lord disciplines those He loves. The Lord chastises every son who He receives.
13. If the Lord loves us, we will be disciplined and chastised, but for a purpose.
14. Verse 7 sounds strong. This whole section sounds strong. However, the preacher is comparing us with sons of God and that is a very good thing. God loves us enough to discipline us. God loves us enough to build us up.

1. Those not disciplined are illegitimate children (Hebrews 12:8).
   1. Verse 8 is straightforward.
   2. Hebrews 12:8 (ESV) ⁸ If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
   3. David Jeremiah shares: In New Testament times, there could be no more serious charge than to question one’s legitimacy. Imagine three boys playing in the courtyard of a wealthy man’s estate. They get into some kind of mischief, and their father comes out, his face beet-red, fire in his eyes, and he drags away two of his sons by the ear. The other boy, who is also his son by a female servant, stands and watches, totally ignored. He has misbehaved, too. He even lives on the same estate. But his father doesn’t care what he does because he doesn’t consider him a true son.
   4. How that would have stung! The rejected boy would have learned that a father’s indifference is far worse than the momentary pain of chastening.

• Our earthly fathers discipline us (Hebrews 12:9-10)
  1. Hebrews 12:9–10 (ESV) ⁹ Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
  2. This lesser-to-greater analogy from the readers’ own childhood training shows that it is appropriate for the heavenly Father to discipline, and it calls for a response of respect and submission; as a loving Father, the Lord always disciplines his children for their good.^[4]

1. The fruit of discipline (Hebrews 12:11).
   1. Hebrews 12:11 (ESV) ¹¹ For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
   2. It does not feel good when we are disciplined, but when we learn something there was a benefit.
   3. Or, what about the discipline of training.
   4. I am sure that learning piano takes discipline and is difficult, but later you have a benefit.
   5. I am told that when you are learning guitar your fingers hurt, but you have a benefit and bless others.
   6. David Jeremiah: We should cherish our chastening because it is God’s way of saying, “You belong to Me, and I love you.” His discipline may anger us at times, but it will protect us, teach us, and prepare us. This is why the early church theologian Jerome is reported to have said, “The greatest danger of all is when God is no longer angry with us.”^[5]

1. C.S. Lewis had a lot to say about the pain of discipline. He noted that some of us have a shallow view of God’s correcting love:

We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven… whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, “a good time was had by all.”… I should very much like to live in a universe which was governed on such lines. But since its abundantly clear that I don’t, and since I have reason to believe, nevertheless, that God is Love, I conclude that my conception of love needs correction.

As Scripture points out… it is for people whom we care nothing about that we demand happiness on any terms: with our friends, our lovers, our children, we are exacting and would rather see them suffer much than be happy in contemptible and estranging modes.^2[6

Prayer

¹ “Kick Save: With Their Freight Train Hurtling Toward Certain Disaster, Two Brave Railroad Men Sweep a Toddler Off the Tracks,” People, June 1, 1998, accessed April 24, 2012, http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20125421,00.html.

^[1] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

^[2] Ibid.

^[3] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2357.

^[4] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2383.

^[5] Ibid.

² C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: Macmillan, 1973), 31–32, 40.

^[6] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).