Preached by Scott Doran-Sargent, Tasmanian State Director, Church Missionary Society (CMS)
Prayer Heavenly Father, Your word is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. Open our hearts and minds to hear, receive, apply and follow your word, that we might live lives that please you and magnify your glory in our world. Amen.
Ever play that, word association, first thing that comes into your mind game? You know, I say cold and you say _____ • I say dog and you say _____ • I say happy and you say _____
When I was a School Chaplain, I would often ask the grade 11 and 12 students, What was the first thing that came into their mind when I said the word Christian and Christianity? What do you think was their response? Invariably, their response was – no and don’t. I said Christian and Christianity and they would say no and don’t. In other words, they thought of Christianity and Christians in terms of the things we are against, and not what we are for. We were the anti-fun people of no and don’t. Don’t have sex before you are married. No, you shouldn’t marry that person who is of the same gender as you. No, despite your terrible pain and ongoing suffering, it would be wrong for you to end your own life. No, it is not a simple as your body, your choice, when you carry an unborn child within you.
Please don’t miss hear me, I agree with the statements I’ve just said, but I do think something is terribly wrong when people think of Christianity and Christians for what we oppose rather than what we are for. In John 10.10, Jesus said that he had come to give us life to the full or in some translations an abundant and flourishing life. I’m becoming convinced that we need to show through our lives, our words and our actions that Christianity offers the absolute best life a person can live. The life we were designed to live.
Today, as we think about Paul’s letter to the ancient church in Philippi, we will see his encouragement for them to live the flourishing life (that Jesus wants for all of us) in a way that is attractive to their pagan neighbours. I want to suggest that if we embrace a Philippians, chapter 2 vision of Christian living, people today will also be attracted to Christianity and to Christians. We will, in the words of Paul, shine like stars in the night sky as a witness to Jesus and the Jesus way to people living in spiritual darkness, many of whom are confused and disillusioned as they come to realise that they can’t be all that they want to be and that self-obsession doesn’t lead to the good life.
Please open your Bible to Philippians chapter 2, where we find – Paul’s encouragement to a local church to shine like stars in the night sky before a watching world living in spiritual darkness. Unity, Humility & Love – Paul begins by encouraging the church at Philippi to live in unity and with humility and other-focused love.
“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:1-4 NIVUK)
What a beautiful description of the local church. A local church whose people values others before self. A local church, united in purpose & dedicated to serving their community with humility and selfless love. A church like that will quickly earn a positive reputation among non-believers. A church like that will draw people in to experience the church as a place of welcome, grace, love, healing, and hope. It is far easier to talk to others about Jesus if they have had positive experiences in their encounters with Christians.
Paul then gives us the example of Jesus as the one who can teach us what humility and other-focused love can achieve,
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 10 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Phil 2:5-8)
Jesus, in humility and perfect love, valued our welfare above His own. Jesus exchanged the glories of heaven for a manger and a cross, Jesus exchanged His immortal, glorious body for a human one that could suffer and die for our salvation.
The Latin word “humilitas,” from which we get the English word humiliation also gives us the word humility. In the Roman Empire, before Jesus’ sacrificial death, willingly giving up power and position, except perhaps to help immediate family, was unheard of and seen as a humiliation. But after God raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him the name above every name, Jesus’ death, initially seen as humiliation, became history’s greatest example of a new virtue – humility.
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11 NIVUK)
In history’s great reversal a broken, shamed and humiliated man is revealed as our triumphant, glorious, saving, king, and Lord of this universe. And the world is given a new word – humility – the highest of virtues. Since the death of Jesus, willingly and lovingly surrendering power, privilege, and status for the good of others has been considered a beautiful thing.
Friends, as a local expression of the body of Christ, with Jesus as you example, embrace living together in unity and humility, and self-less love, that values others above self. Then, you will shine brightly for Jesus here at St Luke’s in Taroona. But, hear Paul’s warning – Our efforts to shine for Jesus will be undermined if we allow grumbling or arguing to take hold in our church community. Grumbling and arguing – Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.
I recently bumped up into an old friend who I hadn’t seen for over 25 years. Which was wonderful but also sad. Wonderful to catch up with Tom. Wonderful to hear Tom speak of how he and his wife had become Christians a few years ago. But sad when he told me that he has been left alone surfing YouTube channels looking for spiritual growth and good biblical teaching, separated from the love and nurture of a local church. You see Tom and his wife live in a small Tasmanian town where there is only one church. The one Church in Tom’s town has a history of distrust, division, and dissension. Small cliques and constant arguments – Revelation. And so, Tom is left – seeking growth – relying on YouTube for community and maturity because the Church has a reputation that causes people to dismiss it as the last place to go for • community, • answers to life’s big questions, or • help. So sad to hear Tom’s story. But, of course, Tom’s experience in rural Tasmania is a story that has played out constantly down through the centuries since Paul encouraged the Philippian church to do life together without grumbling or arguing.
One commentary on Philippians: You can count on one hand the number of churches in the history of the church that have not had some “grumbling or arguing” (2:14) and the devastating impact of gossip and slander. Which begs the question: Is St Luke’s one of the four or five churches in the history of Christianity where grumbling or arguing is completely absent? To shine our brightly Jesus’ grace, love, and welcome here in at St Luke’s) we must repent, both individually and corporately whenever, we find ourselves grumbling about others or arguing for arguments sake. Shine among them – Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky… Ok, so we are not to grumble or argue – instead, we are to live blameless and pure lives as God’s children without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Easy right? Put your hand up if your Christian life and witness so far this year could be described as blameless, pure and faultless. We need to understand what Paul means by blameless, pure and faultless living. One day, when Jesus returns, you and I will be perfected by Christ. On that day, we will be given a new nature that is pure, faultless and blameless. But in the meantime, we continue to be broken people in desperate need of God’s grace. Paul’s emphasis here is on the reputation of the church.
In comparison to the world, the church is to be blameless and pure in a warped and crooked generation. The welcome, love, grace and care experienced in a local church should be far superior to any experience of community the world offers. We are called to be a beacon of hope and rescue for people living in peril and darkness.
For a few minutes, I want us to think about the impact that a community of Christians can have as they shine brightly Jesus’ light and love to a watching world like stars in the night sky. It’s about Mercy Medical Centre. Mercy Medical Centre – In January, I got to visit remarkable Christian ministry, Mercy Medical Centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Christian hospital run by local Cambodians and Western missionaries. Mercy provides both physical and spiritual care, in hospital waiting room. Education (overcoming – anger, addiction & fear) – 1-to-1 gospel conversations – Prayer – 9 weekly Bible studies Mercy – Partners with local churches – 2023 AGM Report: – Thousands of documented Jesus’ conversations, – 43 new believers baptised, and – 4 house churches planted. All from a hospital’s waiting room! At Mercy, a Christian community shines brightly the light, love and healing of Jesus in a country where most people live in spiritual darkness, and many can’t afford medical treatment. Shine among them – Maurice and Amanda Jacobson and Elim students & staff in Cambodia – tons of rice was delivered to the poor during COVID. In a similar way, every local Tasmanian church is called to shining like stars for Jesus where God has placed them. Some examples I’ve seen as I visit the churches of Tasmania… Circular Head Anglican – Bible Reading: Past 5 years, a parishioner began reading the Bible to nursing home residents – failing eyesight, 6-10 residents, – noticed by non-Christian staff & families. Brunch with Us: Weekly Brunch with Us program where people who are struggling in some way can find a safe place to experience community and friendship. Plus, Refugee Resettlement and Food Drives for the hungry; distributing toothbrushes and toothpaste for the homeless of Launceston.
When any of us, in response to the love of God that we have experienced, share His love with others by, perhaps: – offering hospitality to a stranger, – weekly visiting a nursing home, – creating a safe place for people to be feed, listened to and loved, or – in a hundred other ways… we are helping our local church shine more brightly for Jesus.
Hold firmly to the word of life. Paul reveals the habit that will energise our efforts as a church to live in unity, humility and other-focussed love that we might shine brightly where God has placed us. …You will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. We shine by holding firmly to, by clinging to, the word of life. The word of life – is both the story of Jesus and the person of Jesus (John 1).
Commentator Scot McKnight warns us that we should not reduce the “word of life” to the Bible no matter how important the Bible is to us. McKnight and other commentators teach that what Paul means here is both the story of Jesus, particularly the accounts of His life and ministry, contained in the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and Jesus Himself. If we want to live lives that please Jesus, if we want to make a difference for Jesus, and if we want to shine for Jesus as a beacon that draws others to Him. We need to hold firmly to Jesus – the word of life – as daily, we open our Bibles in the eager expectation that we will encounter our living saviour in his living word. If we want to shine brightly for Jesus here in St Luke’s, we will hold firmly to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Shining like stars.
Let’s pray: Jesus, by holding onto you, would you help us to be a unified, humble, other-focussed community of love that shines brightly for you in this place, that others might be drawn to you through our witness. Amen.