Sermon Cloud

Phil 1:12-19- Communion

Video- Real Christians of Genius

Welcome- Sarah

Reading-Psalm 33:13-22

Song- 

Much of our discussion is going to come at the end of our time today when I open it up for comments and questions… but to start us off this morning, I wanted to ask… your response to that video we showed a few minutes ago- fair? Accurate? Too much? Some of you have seen that before, I know…

We started the book of Philippians last week… and we’ll be walking for the next few weeks through this letter written about 60-62 AD from a man named Paul to a church community much like our ours- new, just a couple of years old…

Paul is writing from Rome where he’s under house arrest. He had been someone, who with the authority of the religious leaders in Israel had thrown Christians into prison and even had them executed. He was a man who had seen men, women and children put in jail for their faith, and some even killed for it.

And then Jesus literally knocked Him on his can. He himself became a Christian after Jesus appeared to Him in a blinding vision and said- “Do you want to keep trying to play against Me? No? Okay then- now you’re on my team.”

And of course the irony is, it wasn’t too many years before the people Paul had worked for soon found a way to trump up some charges about him and see him imprisoned for more than two years in a place called Caesarea while the corrupt governor hoped Paul would bribe him. At last, Paul appealed to Caesar himself, and was sent off to Rome…

And that’s where he writes this letter from- he’s under house arrest while he waits for his case to come up. He has to rent his own lodging, pay for his own food, but he can’t leave, and there’s a Roman guard chained to him all day, every day. Kind of the ancient version of the lo-jack, Martha Stewart ankle bracelet- they just chain a cop to your wrist.

So when Paul writes to the Philippians, and like we saw last week, thanks them for helping him financially, he’s not like some creepy televangelist just fleecing the flock. He depended on these people he called brother and sister to provide everything for him- the food he ate, his rent, everything.  When he says to them- you have a special place in my heart, he’s not just blowing smoke. He says “Every time I think about you, I give thanks.” Yeah! I would too.

Paul has an interesting take on being under house arrest- one I’m not sure I could manage… He says in chpt 1, VS 12-13

Now, don’t get the idea that Paul was happy about being imprisoned. Following Jesus doesn’t equal a lobotomy- it doesn’t enter you into some kind of “bizarro” world where up is down and pain makes you happy and being in prison just rocks. There are people who have been sold that kind of Christianity by someone and it’s a scary thing… and that’s a whole other sermon. But in the midst of what is clearly a very crappy situation for Paul, there were a couple of bright spots…

First- every guard chained to him had maybe 8 hours a day with one of the most effective evangelists in history. They all heard the Story. At some point, they all became aware of the Good News- that God Himself has come to rescue and renew all of creation through the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. They knew that Paul wasn’t there because he was a criminal, but because he was a prisoner of conscience- imprisoned for religious reasons.

Vs 14

And even more so… those Christians who lived there in Rome, in the very center of what would later be an intense persecution of anyone who followed Jesus, those people were emboldened. Many saw what Paul was willing to face because of his faith in God,… and it inspired them. If this Jesus could take a murderer like Paul, who himself had imprisoned people who followed Jesus, and turn him around to the point that he was willing to take beatings and face mobs and now prison… there’s gotta be something in this. People need to hear this.

Okay… so I know whenever we get to a passage about “preaching Christ” some of you who’ve been following Jesus for awhile and perhaps have allowed a certain amount of jadedness in, you experience a distinct tightening of certain sphincter muscles… Oh man, is he going to guilt us into some kind of evangelism thing? Is he going to make me feel badly because I’m not telling everybody about Jesus…

Here’s what I want you to hear- any talk of preaching Christ in this passage comes in this context-

Vs 11

And Vs 20

Vs 11, our character and VS 20- our lives…

Good evangelism, real evangelism, is rarely disconnected from those two things.

See, Everything preaches. What we say, and what we do. Everything preaches: Our words and our works. Our character preaches. Our lives preach.

Showing kindness to a stranger preaches, and when you show that kindness, and do it because you are motivated by the kindness of God to you, you preach Christ. You point to the ultimate reality of the Kingdom of God- the world set straight, the hungry fed, the oppressed set free. When you choose kindness over anger, when you choose forgiveness over bitterness... when you choose the way of God, community over isolation and life in the way of Christ over all else, you preach Christ.

Too often we have such an impoverished view of “preaching”- it means convincing someone of something, arguing the points, verbal challenges and wrestling and arguing the minutia… and beyond many of us not wanting to go there with people and practice the kind of confrontation we’ve seen too much of in our past, feel simply unqualified to tell anyone about Christ. The good news is that you can tell people about Christ with your actions- you can point people towards the ultimate reality of God, and the kingdom of God by what you do. And even better… actually saying something isn’t as difficult as we might fear….

You don’t have to know much about Jesus to say- Look, I’m still in process on this- I don’t know much about Jesus… but one thing I can tell you- I’m getting to know Him and it’s changing me.

You don’t have to know much about the Bible to hear the call of the God to step outside yourself and be present for someone, listen to what’s going on in their lives, and tell them you will pray for them.  Words and works. All pointing towards Jesus…  Your love for your children, the way you do your job, the kindness you show your neighbors… all of that preaches. Of course, not all our preaching is positive… Sometimes we communicate some pretty crappy messages with our behavior…

We find ourselves stressed out, tired out, burned out… and we just forget- when we lash out, we’re preaching. Or when we choose patience in spite of incredible stress or anger, we’re still preaching.

Everything preaches… and because of that, it’s not nearly as difficult as one might think to help someone take a step towards God. Everything preaches… but not everyone preaches for the right reasons. Turn on Christian TV if you don’t believe me… Paul faced a little bit of the same thing there in Rome-

Vs 15

If you read the letter in the Bible called Romans, which was a letter Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, probably before this imprisonment, one of the things he was urging was unity- unity between those Christians who came from a Jewish background and those who were Gentiles- non Jews. They didn’t always get along- and Paul was pretty adamant in his advocacy for the Gentile Christians. He wanted them treated equally. And certain people didn’t see it the same way. We look at the New Testament and see how much of it was written by Paul and we forget- this man was not universally beloved in the early church. God was using Him, but not everyone could see that. Some didn’t trust him because of his past, some didn’t like him because of his preaching equality in Christ. Some were just jealous that this guy, this former persecuter of the church was now looked on as an apostle- as an authority. And Paul says- People here in Rome are preaching the Gospel- some out of jealousy and rivalry, and some out of better motives.

VS 16-18

It’s as though Paul is saying- Look- I’m happy that there are becoming followers of Jesus. I don’t necessarily like that it’s coming at the preaching of some of the more divisive people here in Rome who don’t like me or my ministry, and I worry that they’ll build that divisiveness into the DNA of these people who are just learning how to follow Christ… but as long as they are following Christ…

For Paul, the fact that people were learning about Christ trumped any of the reasons why.

And honestly, evergreen, that has got to be a main emphasis for us. We call ourselves a “missional” community- a community who worships a God who sends- The Father sent the Son a world that needed Him, the Father and the Son sent the Spirit into the world to convict a world that needed Him, and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit- God, sends you and me- if you are a Christ follower, into a world that needs us. That’s the missio Dei, the “mission of God”- to bring forgiveness and reconciliation with God to any who want it. That’s the mission of God and it needs to be the mission of anyone who follows God.

Here’s the thing- God has engineered your life and my life in such a way that we are close to some people who need to see Jesus- who need hope that life can be better, that something eternal, transcendent exists… God has put us right up close to them, not so that we need to somehow wrestle them to the ground and pin them down until they say “Jesus!,” but so that we can love them. So we can be Jesus to them, through words and works speak Jesus to them and then let the spirit of Jesus take responsibility for what happens next.

We preach Christ all the time. If you are a follower of Jesus, you preach Christ all the time.  I don’t want to guilt you into doing anything… I just hope you’ll be as cognizant as you can of what you are preaching, of whom you are preaching to and what they are hearing through your words and your works.

As a community, we preach Christ. We do it when we love those who walk through that door, when we feed the hungry and provide clothes for the homeless and when we live our community life in a way that represents Jesus well… and we do it every week when we gather like this to pray, to worship Jesus, to talk about Him.  We preach Christ in a lot of ways…

Paul said in another letter in the New Testament that every time eat this bread and drink this cup as a community, we proclaim Christ’s death and what it means…

As we take communion, we preach Christ. We preach Him to anyone who may be watching- we say- This is the essence of what Christ did- the work of Christ distilled down to an irreducible minimum: His body given for you, His blood shed for the forgiveness of sin.

As we take communion we preach Christ to each other: we say- I know you. I know your struggles. And I know the forgiveness that is available. I know the work of Christ on your behalf- the Body of Christ, given for you, the blood of Christ shed for you.

And as we take communion, we preach Christ not only to anyone who may be watching, not only to each other… but also to ourselves. We ask ourselves vital questions about our lives- about unconfessed sin, and the undealt-with selfishness that has crept into our daily lives. And we come face to face with not only the greatest example of selflessness ever, but the only antidote to our selfishness, the only cure for the sickness infecting the world and infecting us, the provision for the forgiveness of every sin, small or great that we have ever committed- the body of Christ given for me. The blood of Christ, shed for me.

Explain communion…

Worship and Communion

Songs- 

Wrap up: What do you want to ask, to say?

Blessing- Chris