Maybe It’s Time We Methodists Grew Up, by Pastor Ed Evans

            Perhaps you read the news from several days ago, where the delegates of the United Methodist Church at their annual meeting voted down an attempt by a lesser number of members to ordain practicing homosexuals as clergy.  The vote was close: 449-374.

            This is a reflection of America’s, and most of the world’s, polyglot society that wants to make up its own rules and ethos as it suits various groups of people, at the time.

            We have all been in the kitchen, arguing over a pot of stew that didn’t really suit any of us, with very different approaches to whom and to what we wanted God and a religious life to be.  Maybe a dash of that, a snifter of this, a spoonful, a half a cup, and we keep trying to change what God has already ordained.

            The result is a spoonful of dissoluble soup.  It favors no one, suitable for a neutral society of no males, no females, no blacks, whites, red, brown, shades of grey with no opinions and ultimately, no ethos, no rules.  And, the race slumps toward its time of extinction.

            Almighty God knows us so well, and loves us so much He has given us a technicolor picture of what lies ahead.  Just read the prophets.  Read Revelations.  He already knew this was coming.

            We know what God has said.  We know what the Christ has done.

            Isn’t it time we grew up and took hold of, took responsibility for, the tools and the platforms He has provided for us to lead into the time of peace, the time of Christ’s return?  Isn’t it time we grew up and left behind the childish desires that please each one of us differently, demanding all others like what we like, hate what we hate, love what we love?  Isn’t it time?

            Our patient, loving God has a plan.  He’s shown it to us, so why do we keep trying to rewrite it into a childish version of “Me First!”  What is at the bottom of this disastrous church behavioral controversy?  I want my way in the church.  You want your way in the church, every mother’s son and daughter wants their own way in the church.  Whatever happened to seeking God’s way.  He has had His say on homosexuality.  It doesn’t half-step, it strides out pure and clear.  Why do some of us keep trying to find ways to bring it into line with our personal desires?

            First, we need to recognize that God is unchangeable.  He doesn’t change.  What He has said doesn’t change.  So if we are set in our ways, and those ways don’t meet God’s ways, then go off and start your own church.  Follow another god.  There are plenty out there who would gladly take you in.  I personally would not advise that, because there is really only one God, one Yahweh, one El Shaddai, one who is all things to us, one who has provided His son as the sacrifice for our sins, one who created us and has made a way for us to spend eternity with Him.  One.

            So what is the controversy really all about?

            We do want to make room in God’s house for all of God’s children, right?  No matter what their background, their upbringing, how they look or how they sound, or even how they think.  And the church in this world is God’s church, so He has certain requirements, certain do’s and don’ts.

            When I was growing up my mother had her own set of rules, and it meant she jumped from husband to husband, and I was left to grow up in different families.  When I landed at my Grandmother’s house, about age six, she let me know she loved me very much, I would be staying with her and Grandpa, but that she had her own set of rules, and they would be followed.  Disobeying her rules wasn’t the first time I got my britches warmed, but it meant the most because I didn’t like disappointing her.  I coveted her love and her favor.

            Our God has His own set of rules, and being our God and our Creator, He has known just how to make them clear to us.  In this current set-to, about homosexuality, He has been abundantly clear.  Don’t do it.  He has been crystal clear, beginning with Genesis 19, Leviticus 18 and 20, Romans 1:18-32, 1^st Cor. 6:9-10, and in 1^st Timothy 1:8-10.  Other verses in scripture hark back to these warning signs and back up God’s word about such practices.

            So what shall we do with those who insist that our God should let them have their own way?  Do we shut the church door in their face?  Refuse to recognize them?  Shower them with hatred and abuse?  No.  Never.  That was never God’s way, but we continue to love them and show them, through how we live our own lives, what God’s love leads to.  But at the same time we don’t put them in positions of leadership where they can teach contrary to God’s will.  They are not ready to be teachers of adults and mentors of children.  First, they must sort out their own salvation with the Living God.

            We are called to show them the road to salvation, not encourage them to wander about in the swamps and bogs and never find their way home.  Accompanying them on their journey that goes in the wrong direction will not get them to Christ.  We must tell them, “the bridge is out in that direction.”  The only fulfilling bridge to God Almighty is Jesus Christ, and they must be told that truth even if they don’t wish to hear it.  That’s the gospel, and the whole world needs to hear it.

            Once the whole world knows that Jesus is the Christ, that God is the One God of the universe, then we can all grow up together, in peace and understanding.  Don’t you think it’s time we all grew up?

Devote All to Christ

Devote All to Christ
Pastor Ed Evans
January 27, 2019

Philippians 2:1-11
2 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy, 2 complete my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other. 3 Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. 4 Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. 5 Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:
6 Though he was in the form of God,
he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.
7 But he emptied himself
by taking the form of a slave
and by becoming like human beings.
When he found himself in the form of a human,
8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God highly honored him
and gave him a name above all names,
10 so that at the name of Jesus everyone
in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow
11 and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Key Verse: “Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves.”

Prayer:
Father, guide us as we seek to do Your will. Sometimes we have felt like we’ve been unfocused. The days go by and it seems like we haven’t done enough of what is important and have spent too much time on frivolous things. Father, remove us from the thorns and weeds that have been distracting us from what is truly important. Remove from us those things that have been robbing us of the time and energy that You give us to accomplish Your will, not our own will.
We really do want to do what You created each of us to do. Through this lesson, write Your will for each of us in our hearts. We ask this because we do delight to do Your will, Father. Take those bits of our will and change them into Your will, and place it in our heart, that it may be our will, Father, each one of us. For we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Sometimes when my computer doesn’t seem to be working correctly, I back out, restart it, and let it default to the manufacturer’s specifications. And things seem to go smoothly after that. So the stated purpose of our lesson really hit home with me: “To learn to reset our mind-defaults to the way Jesus views things.” I can understand what the author of our lesson meant by that.
Now, in the passages we are studying, what I’m referring to as mind-default comes across as the Greek word “phroneo”. And your student book suggests such synonyms as mindset, attitude, outlook, perspective, or a way of thinking. What about you? What sort of thoughts came to you as you read the phrase “mind-default”? The idea of resetting our minds to the way Jesus views things.
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It might be helpful to know that in its original language, “phroneo” is more nuanced than simply a mental process.
The Greek term phroneo is related to a word referring to the human diaphragm, a muscle that holds in or restrains. This area of the body was believed to be the seat of all intellectual and emotional activities. Consequently, Paul’s use of it in his letter is meant to connote not only brain-thinking and heart-thinking, but also reasoning and affections, implying more than simply having a thought about something.
I think it’s interesting that when you go looking for commentary on these 11 verses Paul writes, you find entire chapters and books written to unpack the insights contained herein. And especially pages and pages just on verses 5-11, sometimes referred to as the Christ Hymn, dealing with the nature, person, and deeds of Jesus Christ.
But Bible scholars tell us that oddly enough, Paul didn’t intend to focus just on that, but instead his purpose was to persuade you and I that we must give up our own preferences for the sake of others. To guide us into unity is Paul’s purpose, and as we consider resetting the mind-default to that of Jesus, Paul wants us to know that crucial to having the mind of Christ is being one in Christ.
As Paul is exhorting or advice-giving, Bible scholar Fred Craddock breaks down for us Paul’s three-prong approach. He says that part of this lesson must include verses 27-30 from Chapter one, which concerns the Christian's conduct within a hostile world, but which is not part of our lesson. Then within our lesson, Chapter 2, verses 1-11 concern conduct within the believing community. And thirdly, Chapter 2, verses 12-16 concern conduct in relation to Paul. So since our lesson in Chapter 2 is actually within the context of the preceding chapter, let’s start there, with being a Christian in a hostile world.
As it turns out, the four verses that appear in your Bible in Chapter 1, verses 27 through 30, are in the original Greek text just one long sentence, with multiple clauses connected by words that function like the English words “and, which, but, and because. Our English translation obscures this by inserting a few strategically placed periods.
But, in making the original text more readable for us, our English translations also obscure the fact that all the clauses in what are now verses 27-30 are dependent on one main verb, translated “Conduct yourselves” or, as the NRSV puts it, “live your life.”
It really means to live as citizens, to exercise your citizen’s rights, to conduct yourself in a manner worthy of citizenship.” In other words, Paul’s advice was for the Philippian Christians to live out their faith like they lived out their duty as Ro9man citizens. They should see their faith in Christ as a privilege, a civic duty in a way, a right to be maintained even in the face of social or political opposition.
Paul wanted us to know that the church is not to hide nor apologize for its existence. It is possible, in fact, it is incumbent upon them, to live among the people and institutions of Philippi in a way that is informed and disciplined by the gospel of Christ.
Let me repeat that, changing just one word: Paul wanted us to know that the church is not to hide nor apologize for its existence. It is possible, in fact, is incumbent upon them, to live among the people and the institutions of America in a way that is informed and disciplined by the gospel of Christ.
The question raises itself – do the Christians of this nation have as much impact on society, on everyday living, on how people act, as they did when we were growing up? Are the people around us really as full of themselves as they seem on the news reports and the TV shows? What do you think?
# # #
The Philippians were to live, like good citizens, with honor and, like accomplished athletes, to strive “side by side” on behalf of the gospel. Just as citizenship is a privilege, so athletic co0mpeition is also a privilege.
Paul’s second point – Being Christian in the Church – begins his second chapter. Now, this passage begins with a series of “ifs” which most English Bibles do not repeat, but Paul does that to set the tone, to give his hearers a brief reality check. In the original Greek, this verse is a clause that contains no verbs, being understand by their context. Perhaps Paul’s intent was to emphasize the concrete traits that already characterized the Philippian church: such as encouragement, consolation, Koinoinia of spirit, compassion, and sympathy. All things he saw in that church.
One way that first verse might read is this: “Since in you there is encouragement, since in you there is consolation, since in you there is a fellowship of the Spirit, since in you there is compassion and sympathy.” Paul didn’t doubt the genuineness of the Philippians’ faith and life. On the contrary, he is not only affirming them but is building his call for progress and maturity upon those very faith and life experiences.
Paul is wisely rejecting the guilt trip approach, and is able to nourish his exhortation with what is typically the most unused resource in the church: who the members are, and what they already know.
In verse 2 – 4, we find what may be clues that the church at Philippi was, like any church, dealing with some measure of internal conflict, perhaps even divisiveness. If so, Paul was clearly trying to appeal to the church’s better nature.
Why get bogged down in pettiness and disagreements with one another, Paul asks? Why not manage your difficulties out of the gifts you know you possess and express as a believing community. Give me something celebrate, he says, confirm the joy I already have as a fellow follower in Christ; come together, all of you, in attitude and action.
But Paul isn’t talking about some sort of group-think. It was General George Patton who said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”
No, Paul has something higher in mind, and this is where we hark back to that phrase we began talking about, a phrase your student book mentions: mind-default.
Bible scholar Stanley P. Saunders puts it this way: “It is pure, single-minded devotion to the gospel proclaimed and embodied by Christ … Paul’s call to have one mind does not mean, however, that there is no room for diversity of thought or opinion within the community, nor that Christians will agree on every topic.”
This is a crucial concept for the Philippians to grasp – especially now, as he is about to elaborate on its meaning in just a few verses.
Before Paul launches into what has been called his hymn to Christ, Paul went into a bit more description of this mind-default, or attitude, as it involved a mutual humility. The phrase in verse 3, here translated as “think of others as better than yourselves,” or as The Message Bible puts it -- “Don’t push your way to th4e front”, might be better grasped by picturing ourselves in a long checkout line at Krogers or Publix, and deciding to invite those standing behind us to take a place in front of us.
Now, if we can understand this sense of Paul’s statement, we should realize he is not advocating the loss of self-esteem or self-respect, but on the contrary, he is offering this behavior as evidence of the dignity they have in Christ.”
You and I should already realize the dignity we have in Christ, but do they? Show them.
Noteworthy here in verse 4 is that looking out first for the interests of others, this was not a particularly unique idea in Paul’s day. It would ha been considered a component of good citizenship, challenging for certain but not new. Was WAS new was Paul’s use of Jesus Christ as the model for this kind of radical humility.
In verse 5, Paul begins his segue into his hymn to Christ. Our lesson book translation reads simply, “Adopt the attitude that was in Jesus Christ.” This is one reason I still love the King James Version, and we are blessed to have different versions to compare. The KJV reads “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”
Once again, Paul reiterate one of the great themes of this part of his letter: the importance of having the mind-default, or attitude, of Christ. But how do you interpret what Paul says here? And I ask that because how we interpret what Paul says in this verse affects how we understand what we make of it.
If this mindset we need is the mindset belonging to Christ, then our response is imitation, to live it out as close to Christ’s example as possible. If this mindset is already ours by the gift of being in Christ, then our response is participation – to live it out as a community formed in and by Christ.
Actually, whichever translation you prefer, that’s fine, because scholar David Bartlett suggests that in all likelihood, Paul is telling the Philippians to be the kind of community they already are in Christ Jesus.
As to what is often referred to in verses 6-11 as Paul’s hymn to Christ, there seems to be little agreement among scholars whether it constitutes and early Christian hymn, whether it came from Greek or Jewish sources, and how Paul came to use it, either specific to the Philippian church, or perhaps taken from another context.
Fred Craddock offers that “the majority opinion is that Paul is quoting a hymn which arose in another context to address another problem, perhaps a Christological one.
The hymn imagines two Christological moments: the first emphasizing Christ’s giving of self; the second emphasizing Christ’s receiving divine glory. In the first movement, Jesus acts. In the second movement, God acts.
First we learn that Christ “made Himself nothing”, often rendered “emptied Himself”, emphasizing Christ doing this to Himself. Then we learn how He made Himself nothing, by taking on the form of a slave, accepting the inferior status of being human. The description is of Christ coming under all the conditions of the human lot … to all the forces and powers that determine human life. The reader of the New Testament encounters these forces, variously termed principalities, powers, angels, thrones dominions, elemental spirits. In the cosmology of Paul’s time, these spirit forces were regarded as the rulers over human affairs, determining issues of life and death. For this reasons, a Christ who was fully human would come under the influence of these hostile powers, even to His death.
Jesus’ actions was to become humiliated. The book “Interpretation Bible Studies” tells us “The word Paul uses here really signifies the act of placing oneself in solidarity with the humiliated … that is, complete identification of oneself with those who huddle together on the broken, bottom rung of the human ladder … When Jesus comes into the world as a slave, He embodies God’s complete identification with the humiliated, precisely what Paul wants the Philippians to practice in their life together.”
In verses 7-11 now, we see Paul choosing to speak in the superlative. God’s act of honoring Christ is a highest exaltation; and God’s name of Christ is a bestowing of a hyper name, a name above all names.
The scene Paul sets is of every creature gathered around the heavenly throne, in which Jesus, given the name “Lord”, becomes the channel through which God is glorified. Paul knew full well that in Philippi to declare anything other than “Caesar is Lord” would be heard as a direct challenge to the social and political order of the day. But Paul the prisoner, in his government-issued chains, envisioned here in Christ the fulfilment of God’s promise to all Israel and all Rome alike.
No one is beyond the redemptive power of God’s act of love made known in the willing relinquishment of all power by Christ’s act of obedient service. Paul is begging them, “Get that in your head, people!” In today’s common act of success, this is where Paul “drops the mic” – that gesture of intentionally dropping the microphone at the end of a speech or performance as a signal act of triumph and success.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
I want to end by reading aloud this excerpt from a letter written by Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor under King Henry VIII. You may recall Sir Thomas More was against Protestantism, supporting the Catholic Church, and declared the King could not be the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Sir Thomas More was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, but at the last minute the King commuted his sentence to decapitation. Atop the scaffold his executioner begged his pardon; Sir Thomas More rose, kissed the man on the cheek, smiled and forgave him. His last words were “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.” He died July 6, 1535.
The scholar, statesman, and devout Catholic sent this letter from his cell in the Tower of London, in the year 1534.
Compare in your mind Paul’s exhortation not to “do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourself”, and More’s intent to “take it patiently, and peradventure somewhat gladly.”
“[Dear] Margret, … I know myself well worthy that God should let me slip, yet can I not but trust in His merciful goodness, that as His grace hath strengthened me hi8therto, and made me content in my heart, to lose goods, lands and life too, rather than to sear against my conscience, and hath also put in the King toward me that good and gracious mind, that as yet he hath taken from me nothing but my liberty … I cannot, I say, therefore mistrust the grace of God, but that either He shall conserve and keep the King in that gracious mind still to do me none hurt, or else … His grace shall give me the strength to take it patiently, and peradventure somewhat gladly too …
“And therefore mine own good daughter, never trouble they mind for anything that ever shall hap me in this world. Nothing can come but that that God will. And I make me very sure that whatsoever that be, seem it never so bad in sight, it shall indeed be the best. And with this, my good child, I pray you heartily, be you and all your sisters and my sons too, comfortable and serviceable to your good mother my wife. Commend me to them all.”
You may recall Sir Thomas More was against Protestantism, supporting the Catholic Church, and declared the King could not be the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Sir Thomas More was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, but at the last minute the King commuted his sentence to decapitation. Atop the scaffold his executioner begged his pardon; Sir Thomas More rose, kissed the man on the cheek, smiled and forgave him. His last words were “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”
Any questions or thoughts as we close?
If not, let us close by reciting together the prayer in your student book on page 67:
“O God, help us to perceive the mind of Christ in the situations of our lives and to use that perception to guide our conduct; in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”

Submit to God in Christ

Submit to God in Christ

Pastor Ed Evans

January 20, 2019

Philippians 1:12-21

¹² Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the things that have happened to me have actually advanced the gospel. ¹³ The whole Praetorian Guard and everyone else knows that I’m in prison for Christ.¹⁴ Most of the brothers and sisters have had more confidence through the Lord to speak the word boldly and bravely because of my jail time.¹⁵ Some certainly preach Christ with jealous and competitive motives, but others preach with good motives. ¹⁶ They are motivated by love, because they know that I’m put here to give a defense of the gospel;¹⁷ the others preach Christ because of their selfish ambition. They are insincere, hoping to cause me more pain while I’m in prison.

¹⁸ What do I think about this? Just this: since Christ is proclaimed in every possible way, whether from dishonest or true motives, I’m glad and I’ll continue to be glad. ¹⁹ I’m glad because I know that this will result in my release through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. ²⁰ It is my expectation and hope that I won’t be put to shame in anything. Rather, I hope with daring courage that Christ’s greatness will be seen in my body, now as always, whether I live or die.²¹ Because for me, living serves Christ and dying is even better.

Key Verse: “Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the things that have happened to me have actually advanced the gospel.” – Philippians 1:12

Let us Pray – “Father, we thank You for this opportunity to look closely at the life and times of Paul, and his dedication to You.  May we look closely at our own lives and study our dedication to You even as You are dedicated to us.  We may not be in danger of imprisonment for our faith as Paul was, but there are things in this life that would lock us up and away from You, Lord.  Help us, even as we study this morning, to step closer to You, that You might strengthen our faith and our ability to have a positive impact on others for Your sake.  Lead us and guide us, Father, that we might more closely follow Jesus.  Amen.”

          Above all else, this lesson demonstrates the priority of the gospel, for Paul, above everything else in his life.  The gospel of Jesus Christ had priority ever since he met Jesus on the road to Damascus.

          What we are looking at today are letters Paul wrote from prison. He spent some four or five years in the custody of the Roman Empire, serving time Caesarea and in Rome.  Some think he was even in custody in Ephesus.

          Then there was the brief stay in the Philippian jail by he and Silas, before an angel shook things up.  That makes Paul the first follower of Christ to write letters from prison.

          In this letter Paul is writing from a gold mining town midway along an East-West trade route, the Via Egnatia, near the coastal town of Neapolis.

          The way in which Paul happened to plant a church there, according to Acts 16, has to do with a chance meeting with a woman named “Lydia, a gentle God worshipper.”  She was also a dealer in purple cloth, and she led Paul to remain in Philippi long enough to preach, exorcize and ungodly spirit, get flogged and thrown into prison, escape from prison, baptize and entire family of new Gentile believers, and then get kicked out of town, all in Christ’s name.

          According to Luke, it was Paul’s highly conspicuous stay in Philippi that contributed to the establishment of a community of Christians there.  Yet oddly enough, nowhere in his letter to the Philippians does he mentioned Lydia, a fact that continues to puzzle scholars.

          So where was Paul when he wrote this letter to the Philippians?  The conventional answer is Rome, in prison there.  Paul had appealed to Caesar and had b4een taken as a prisoner to Rome.  That entailed a wait, in prison, of two years, according to Acts. 28:30.

          Since Paul was apparently martyred in Rome, at some stage of that imprisonment he found himself under a capital charge, a situation reflected in Philippians 1, by his mention of the “Praetorian Guard.”  This is supported by Paul’s writing in his letter that he is waiting for a trial date to be set, and perhaps even a death sentence to be handed down.

          Now I want to pause right here, and share with you some verses not in your lesson, verses 1-11 from Philippians, Chapter 1: (This is from the Common English Bible.)  My question to you is this, what effect do you think hearing these words as a call to worship during a Sunday morning service, what effect would they have on our congregation?  These are Paul’s words:

From Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus.

To all those in Philippi who are God’s people in Christ Jesus, along with your supervisors and servants.

² May the grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

³ I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers. ⁴ I’m thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy. ⁵ I’m glad because of the way you have been my partners in the ministry of the gospel from the time you first believed it until now. ⁶ I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus. ⁷ I have good reason to think this way about all of you because I keep you in my heart. You are all my partners in God’s grace, both during my time in prison and in the defense and support of the gospel. ⁸ God is my witness that I feel affection for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.

⁹ This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight. ¹⁰ I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. ¹¹ I pray that you will then be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God.

          What do you think?  Some of it is pretty personal.  Any effect at all?

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          Paul, as a prisoner but also a preacher, writes not private but public letters, writing “to all the saints.”  He was probably aware his words would be read in a worship setting, and so he filled his epistles with confessions, hymns, doxologies, eulogies, prayers, and benedictions.  Yet, Paul wrot4e to congregations, not to the church universal.  His ministry was to particular groups trying to live out the gospel in concrete ways.  His messages are as if from one of our own pastors whose Christ-focused friendship has helped form us into a Christ-filled fellowship; information, support and encouragement from one who knows us best.

          It’s worth pointing out that Paul’s letters still highlight the singular theme of joy, even as he is in prison awaiting an unknown outcome, that he would so thoroughly express joy in Christ and encourage joy in others is actually remarkable.  That attitude of joy underscores the theme of this lesson’s Purpose statement: “To practice our devotion to Christ daily in the ordinary things of life and to do our best at it.”  How do you do your best at anything without a certain amount of joy in your heart?

          So let’s take a closer look at what Paul has written here, probably cooped up in a small, stone room, with steel bars between him and the rays of sunshine from outside.

          His opening words in verses 1-11 of the first Chapter are acclamation, assurance, and thanksgiving.  He wants his readers to be assured that they were claimed by God, namely, “saints,” and called by God to be on display, to be conspicuous as they lived as Christ-followers even as they lived as Philippians even as they lived along this popular trade route with all its temptations and problems.

          In verse 3, Paul launches into an extended thanksgiving and right away we read the word “joy”!  14 times Paul works the word “joy” into this letter.  Paul rejoiced in all that the congregation at Philippi had shared with him: the gospel, certainly, but also the prayers and financial support they had shared with him.  In those days, if you had no contact outside the prison, you did not eat. If your clothes wore out or ripped, you made do with what you had.  But the Philippian Christians didn’t forget Paul, and foremost in Paul’s mind and in his writings was celebrating God’s grace in his relationship with fellow believers.

          Even when Paul refers in 1:7 to his own imprisonment, Paul describes the Philippians as those “share in God’s grace.”  Maybe we would expect him to say they shared in his suffering, but Paul regards every circumstance as an experience of grace.  And his attitude of celebrative confidence leads Paul directly into the subject of our focal test for this lesson.

          His opening phrase “I want you to know” translates a standard Greek phrase, a “disclosure formula” that signals the writer is about to provide the reader with information.  We might say, “Listen to this,” or “Let me tell you what happened,” because this is something he really needs you to know and understand.

          Paul was indicating he was about to share important information with the “brothers and sisters”, the “beloved”, indicating a relationship of equality rather than superiority.  The Philippians were more like siblings, family, to Paul and he wanted them to know that.

          So the crucial information Paul was about to impart to his Philippian family was essentially a message about God’s providence.  Mentioning his imprisonment by the Romans, twice in as many verses, yet Paul’s concern was how the gospel had been made known in his situation – how his captivity had afforded him the opportunity to be a witness for Christ. 

          First, his witness had “penetrated the whole Roman establishment.”  The Praetorian Guards around him and everyone else in his vicinity had been hearing him preach Christ.

          Secondly, Paul’s fellow prisoners were there for crimes against the community or the Emperor; robbery, murder, crimes of selfishness and desire.  But to everyone there is became clear that Paul’s bonds were for Christ; that is, for nothing illicit was he being held, but because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Paul’s imprisonment, the danger to his life, had become an encouragement to fellow believers.  They had gained more confidence through the Lord thanks to their being inspired by his predicament.

          Paul’s boldness inside the prison had resulted in a boldness outside the prison.  Perhaps that shot in the arm was just what the Philippian church may well have need; a shot of encouragement.

          As we move into verses 15 through 18, we find Paul still celebrating such a remarkable witness among his supporters, but Paul also recognizes that his imprisonment had inspired some of his rival preachers.  It should come as no surprise that Paul was not everyone’s favorite pastor.

          We know from reading Acts and his other letters that Paul was not the only strong pastor/preacher of his day.  Others stepped up to preach the gospel out of love and fill the void cause by Paul’s absence.  But it sounds as though for Paul’s rivals, their motivation was self-centered rather than Christ-centered.

          The language of verses 15-18 picks up the accusations of persuasive rhetoric: envy, self-ambition, sharply contrasting with those whose motivation was love.

          Now, the fact is we know nothing about these alternate Christian preachers except what we learn from Paul’s critique of them.  They may have been well-intentioned missionaries whose strategy or way of operating was in disagreement with that of Paul and his companions.

          Some scholars have suggested Paul’s rivals might have been suspicious of Paul and felt his approach was bringing the Christian community into conflict with the Roman authorities, and therefore into physical danger.  They might have been relieved that Paul was out of the way, in prison, unable to cause trouble by disputing with his fellow Jews.

          Obviously, we do not know all that Paul knew when writing this letter. What we do know is that Paul was keenly aware that the gospel proclaimed is always more important, more noble, than the gospel proclaimer.  That was the source of Paul’s joy.

          In verses 18 through 21, Paul goes on toe celebrate the proclamation of Christ by any mouth and by any motive, expressing continued joy in what he believes will be his deliverance, and his salvation.  Even so, scholars don’t believe Paul envisioned his imminent release from prison here, for in the next verses he seems to express his hope in speaking as a prisoner on behalf of Christ.

          Paul then draws on his knowledge of the Psalms to express that he would gladly accept shame in bondage or in death, in exchange for the exaltation of Christ.  His purpose is that the person of Paul in whatever state, living or dying, bound or free, would reveal the glorified person of Christ.  However they looked at Paul, they would see Christ.

          Then comes Paul’s summary in verse 21: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  Paul wrote something similar to the Galatians: “I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20).  Here, though, Paul’s Greek phrasing is succinct and deep.  He may well have been speaking in the language of the ancient philosophers, whose maxims celebrated the noble death as nobler gain, as a release from the burdens of mortality.  But Paul’s aim was higher. 

          He explains that living IS Christ.  Living is the same as Christ.  Christ IS life.  The only greater gain than Christ-living is Christ-dying; that is, dying so that the living Christ is glorified.

          Paul was anxious that that his readers saw what he saw, felt what he felt, knew what he knew.  When Paul writes “for me to live is Christ,” he doesn’t want us just to read, see, understand that, but to believe and live what that means: “for me to live is Christ.”

          Maybe if we rephrased it, such as “For me, living serves Christ and dying is even better.”  Or maybe that just doesn’t touch us in the right places.  Does it mean anything more just because it uses more words?

          Each of our lives, even at this age, remains a work in progress.  We still would like to imbed more completely our living in the living Christ.  But it will take more practice.  Maybe if I just say it simply, “For me to live is Christ.”  No comma, no hurry.  One breath.  Every day.

          But I would be even more truthful with you.  I mentioned earlier Galatians 2:20.  And that has been my favorite verse, my life verse, from the moment I found Christ on Dec. 28^th, 1958.

          Those words come alive within me when I repeat them: “I am crucified with Christ.  Nevertheless I live.  Yet not I, but Christ lives in me.  And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

          That’s what I strive for.  And I fail a lot.  But I never stop trying.  For He loved me first, before I ever knew Him.  He loved me first, He knows everything about me, past, present, and even future, He knows how many times I’m going to fail, and He still came to me.

          Now, the writer of the student book notes many Christians may have difficult seeing Paul’s zeal as a model of faith: “Most of us want our Christian faith to be part of our lives but not the entire story.  We seek balanced lives.”

          So I ask you to consider and discuss these two questions from the student book: First, when is a balance a good thing, and when does it interfere with your commitment to follow Jesus?

          And second: What do you need to change or reshape in your daily life so as to better reflect your commitment to follow Jesus?

#     #     #

          Remember, as it says in your student book: “God hasn’t called us to be effective but to be faithful.”

          Last question:  What personal call do you hear from Paul’s words to the Philippians?  Anyone?

#     #     #

          Any final thoughts or questions about today’s lesson?

          If not, let close with the prayer in your student book on page 60:

          O God, help us to be faithful, doing our best for Christ.  Where possible, let us also be effective, but let not an absence of visible results dampen our commitment to be Jesus’ disciple; in Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.

Submit to God in Love by Pastor Ed Evans

January 13, 2019

James 4:1-10

4 What is the source of conflict among you? What is the source of your disputes? Don’t they come from your cravings that are at war in your own lives? ² You long for something you don’t have, so you commit murder. You are jealous for something you can’t get, so you struggle and fight. You don’t have because you don’t ask. ³ You ask and don’t have because you ask with evil intentions, to waste it on your own cravings.

⁴ You unfaithful people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world's friend becomes God's enemy. ⁵ Or do you suppose that scripture is meaningless? Doesn’t God long for our faithfulness in the life he has given to us? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. This is why it says, God stands against the proud, but favors the humble. ⁷ Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you. ⁸ Come near to God, and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Cry out in sorrow, mourn, and weep! Let your laughter become mourning and your joy become sadness.¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.

PRAYER:

Father, no matter how long we have been Christians, there are times when we recognize we have a need to go back to basics, to reaffirm in our own minds and hearts what we have committed to You, and what You have committed to us.  So we thank You this morning for this lesson.  May we search our own situations, being honest with You, and re-commit where we stand, and whom we worship.  Thank You, Father, for each one here, we ask Your blessings on our studies, and we pray for those unable to be with us this morning, asking that You lift them up in strength and in their faith.  For we ask these things in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

So let’s jump right into the book of James this morning.  First, we want to know who wrote this, and second, to whom was he writing?

The author identifies himself as “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He doesn’t claim anywhere to be the brother of Jesus Christ, but he shows a knowledge of Judaism and Christianity.  His writing reflects Jesus’ teaching, especially the Sermon on the Mount.  The content of  his letter reflects no church structure of offices or titles, which suggests that it was written before such things developed, while the Christian community was still a messianic movement within Judaism in the early days.

          The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that James, “brother of the Lord,” died in AD 62, so his lifetime fits the timeframe suggested by the letter.  There was another James in proximity to Jesus – an apostle, brother of John – but he was martyred early on (we find that in Acts 12:2), and so he probably didn’t survive long enough into the church era to author this letter.

          So to whom was James writing?  James 1:1 indicates the audience consisted of “the twelve tribes who are scattered outside the land of Israel.”  That scattering had begun some seven centuries earlier w hen the northern Hebrew kingdom, Israel, had been overrun by  the Assyri8ans and its citizens were forcibly moved into other lands under Assyrian control. 

          That scattering continue into the sixth century BC when the southern Hebrew kingdom, Judah, was conquered by the Babylonians, who marched many of the Judahites into exile in Babylon.  Although some of that latter group was eventually allowed to return to their homeland, many did not.

          These dispersed Jews were collectively referred to as the “diaspora.”  That term usually refers to the scattered members of a religious community separated from their homeland, often but not always due to circumstances not of their own choosing.

          Since James was clearly writing from a Christian perspective, however, he was addressing not all Jews in general, but those throughout the Jewish world who had accepted Christ.  And there were likely quite a few of such persons during the Disaspora.

          You may recall that on the day of Pentecost, those who heard the gospel message included Jews of whom Acts 2:9-11 identifies as Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; as well as residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the regions of Libya bordering Cyrene; and visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans and Arabs”.  Remember, that day, 3,000 Jews accepted Christ, according to Acts 2:41, and many, no doubt, took the gospel message home with them and spread it to others.

          So brother James had the possibility of having a vast audience across the then-known world.

          From the beginning, the church taught that the doorway to salvation is labeled “Faith,” and, of course, that is correct; but here James is concerned with how Christians live after they walk through that door.  Faith alone, James insists, is dead if it does not spur us to positive actio9ns for the good of others and for our own spiritual well-being.

          The pairing together of faith and works, James insists, is the dynamic that drives a living and involved faith, one that seeks to change the world.  In shorthand, we might describe the Book of James as teaching the practical wisdom of right behavior.

          So as we take a look at James’ writing, verses one through five, and eight, imagine for a moment you come to church, you walk in, smile at friends,  you set down, and the pastor begins calling out members of the congregation, pronouncing them murderers, adulterers, coveters, you contentious people “you’re worldly enemies of God, and two-faced!”

          And notice how James uses these terms:  In verse 2 he says “You long for something you don’t have, so you commit murder…”  Also in verse 2, “You are jealous for something you can’t get, so you struggle and fight.” 

          In verse 3 he writes, “You ask and don’t have because you ask with evil intentions, to waste it on your own cravings.”  The Greek word rendered here as “cravings” can also be translated as “lusts.”

          In verse 4, our Common English Bible translation in this lesson uses the phrase “You unfaithful people!”, but the underlying Greek actually says “adulterers.”

          In fact, Bible scholars tell us James was actually using these uncomplimentary labels metaphorically.  He was talking about areas of life where Christians need to grow up into Christ; and he used strong words to make his point, which, as the student lesson says, is that “receiving Christ doesn’t automatically instill in Christians attitudes from above.”

          Take “murderers” for example, James employed that word with much the same intention Jesus did in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, “You have heard that it was said to those who lived long ago, “Don’t commit murder,” and all who commit murder will be in danger of judgment.  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with their brother or sister will be in danger of judgment.  We find that in Matthew 5:21-22.

          The upshot of all this is not that James’ readers were terrible people, but that their religious conversions were not complete. 

          Your student book section “Many Conversions” quotes theologian Luke Timothy Johnson who said that James was “addressing members of the Christian community who gather in the name of Jesus and profess the faith of the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, but whose attitudes and actions are not yet fully in friendship with God.

          Which is to say, receiving Christ is not the end of the spiritual journey, but the beginning.  As Johnson wrote, “James sees that conversion is never complete.  There is always doublemindedness, even among those w ho truly want to be friends of God.”

          Even with you, even with me.

          In James last four verses, six through 10, we see that James did not toss these disparaging labels at his readers to put them down, but to call them to “submit to God”, and “resist the devil”, as he says in verse seven.  James wanted them to press on in the way of Christ, to grow in faith and righteousness.

          “Come near to God,” James said in verse 8, “and He will come near to you.”  And then in verse 10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

          A friend recounted an incident when he was first assigned to pastor a church.  It seems an evangelist came to their county to hold a crusade.  There was an effective organization that plastered the county with advertisements, and met with pastors of the county churches to enlist their involvement.  He says when the week of the crusade came, many hundreds of people from the area flocked to hear the evangelist.  Since many from his church were attending, he went also so as to be familiar with what was said.

          He enjoyed the enthusiastic music and the rousing preaching, all aimed at a point of decision.   After spelling out the need for salvation, the evangelist gave an invitation to “receive Christ.”  He says a lot of people, many from his own church, accepted by going forward, moving to the front where prayer teams waited to counsel and pray with them.

          Well, the crusade ended and the evangelist and his team moved on to another area.  And a couple of weeks later, the participating pastors each received in the mail the names and addresses of people from their churches and the surrounding area who had responded to the invitation.  Those lists were sent so the pastors could follow up with these people who had, in the language of the crusade, “made a decision for Christ,” and, it was to be hoped, get them involved in the local churches.

          The author’s list primarily contained people he already knew, most of whom already attended his church.  There were a couple who did not attend but lived nearby.  In any case, he took the list seriously and made an effort to contact each person on the list to follow up.

          What he discovered, however, was that in most cases, these people were now embarrassed by the whole business.  In the cold light of day, their trip down front at the crusade now seem to them as an emotional over-reaction to the mood of the crowd.  His showing up to talk with them about it brought back their embarrassment.  Some were now backpedaling as to any commitments made at the crusade.

          He recalls that he wasn’t surprised, for decisions made under heavy emotional pressure sometimes don’t fare well in the face of everyday life. 

          Even so, what the crusade was trying to do by sending pastors those lists was right.  For the evangelistic team knew that what they were doing was focusing on one entry point into the Christian life – dramatic conversion.  That’s not the only entry point by any means; and in any case, it is only a beginning in the Christian life, not the whole story.

          Like life itself, Christianity is a journey, not merely a destination.  And people who gather in church on a Sunday morning are likely to be at different points along the way.  Some may not even have begun.  Others may be flush with the excitement of a newly found faith.  Others may be some distance along the road but stuck in one place.  Still others may be moving well on the spiritual journey.

          It’s the work of the evangelist to introduce people to that journey.  Pastors must look at how to help people travel the Christian road, no matter how they got started.

          Our acceptance of the faith doesn’t mean we have “arrived,” it means we are on the right road.  For a pattern of what the Christian journey can look like, consider the spiritual odyssey of Jesus’ 12 disciples.

          Before they met Jesus, the Twelve were part of the mass of Jewish humanity for whom faith meant going to the synagogue and keep the commandments.  But when they encountered Jesus, they were called to follow Him, and they did.  In doing so, they came apart from the crowd and, in a beginning act of newfound faith, went with Him.  We could say with some justification that their positive response to Jesus’ call was the equivalent of people at an evangelistic rally “going down front” to receive Jesus.

          But notice at the beginning of their journey together, Jesus did not cross-examine the Twelve about their beliefs.  He simply said, “Follow me.”

          Their misunderstandings of Jesus’ mission soon became plain enough.  In Luke 9 we read that on one occasion, when a Samaritan village refused hospitality to Jesus and the Twelve, some of them asked Jesus if He wanted them to call fire down from heaven to consume the villagers.  They had no doubt He could do it, just whether or not He wanted to do it.  They were committed to following Jesus, but at that point they still didn’t “get it.”

          Perhaps you recall in Mark 10 when James and John asked Jesus to seat them at His right and left when He came into His glory.

          And when Jesus spoke in parables, the disciples sometimes had to come to Him afterward and say, “Uh, Rabbi, what did that parable mean?; such as happened in Matthew 13.  And when Jesus told them of His impending death, they tried to shush him up, for in Mark 8 we read, they still did not understand.

          But even in this beginning stage of their Christian journey, Jesus was able to use t hem.  He sent them out on healing and preaching missions, and they were able to spread the gospel and help people, as we read in Mark 6.

          And yet there were some remarkable failures.  For example, Peter’s heart-rending denial of Jesus, Judas’s betrayal, and the desertion of most of the disciples following Jesus’ arrest.  They hid out.

          The Twelve, in responding to Jesus’ call, had begun traveling the spiritual road, but they had not gotten far along it.

          Fortunately, God was not through with them.  After Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the disciples, following Jesus’ instructions, gathered in a room in Jerusalem.  There, on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God came upon them in a mighty way.  And after that, there was – as far as we know – no repeat of their old failures.  At Pentecost, they took a spiritual giant step forward in the life of faith.  They were men transformed.

          For you and I, spiritual growth is likely to happen gradually, but we can look at the disciples’ pattern and ask ourselves how we are progressing on the journey of faith.

          Hopefully you don’t see yourself at this point in your life as being like the disciples before meeting Jesus.  Or do we think that being a Christian means only trying to keep some moral rules and going to church?

          Perhaps we are like the disciples after responding to Jesus’ call, but before Pentecost?  We may be able to recall a specific time when we actually committed ourselves to Christ, or we may have pretty well accepted Christianity as it was presented to us as we grew up.  That’s great, but has our faith stalled at that stage?  Have we continue to grow up in Christ, or do our prayers still sound like a wish list?  Is our faith real but immature?  God is still able to use us, but are we missing out on the power and peace of a more mature faith?

          Or are we, like the disciples after Pentecost, where we have confidence in God despite the difficulties of our lives, where we have room in our faith to let our questions survive without destroying our spiritual peace. 

          The Greek mathematician Archimedes, in speaking of the important of the lever, said, “Give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth.”

          I tell you God often gives men and women a place to stand that will allow them to move pillars and mountains of society, but they mistake what happens to them for a bad thing and allow it to knock them out of the saddle.  But God is forever good, and in such instances He will take our hand and lead us back into His love.

          The witness of Scripture from James 4 and elsewhere should teach us that we can grow in faith.  We can grow beyond the beginning stage of commitment to Christ to a vital faith that is more adequate for the bumps and potholes on the road of life.

          And you don’t need this old Pastor to convince you that in growing older there are more bumps and potholes on that road of life than ever before.  Hold tight to His hand.  It’s there for you.

          So as we wind down here, let me ask you, did any of you find you needed additional “conversions” after your initial commitment to Christ?  And if you did, did it come from within, or from someone else?

          I want to end by sharing a quote from C. S. Lewis’ book, “Mere Christianity” that begins, “Imagine yourself as a living house.  God comes in to rebuild that house.  At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing.  He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on…..  But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense.  What on earth is He up to?  The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards.  You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage; but He is building a palace.  He intends to come and live in it Himself.”  …..I hope you will think about that.

          James 10 tells us, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”  Perhaps after reading the entire passage, we understand the need to continue to say yes as God reveals new things to us that need to be converted to maintain that friendship.

          Let us close with prayer … O God, help us to repent of and change the attitudes and behaviors that keep us mired in conflicts and disputes, so that we may be in friendship with You; in Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.

           

          In closing I would want you to know that in my house, there is a large red fence board, tacked up to the door leading to the garage.  In big yellow, fading letters, it reads: “You’re pretty much my most favorite of all time in the history of forever.”

          My re-conversions have been many, and my wife Merilyn’s love was at the center of those.  Over 54 years this coming February, she never left me, God never left me, and they both taught me a love beyond what I can understand or explain.  I just needed to share with you how undeservedly blessed I am.  Thank you.