As some of you know I was made redundant and have been unemployed since July, I am writing this post to encourage you and especially myself while we are in this journey of transition together.
I am thankful to God for His presence each day. His grace and fellowship every hour. There are times I would feel lost but the Holy Spirit through His word would remind me that He is my Provider and Sustainer and it’s not a man or a company- these are means and not an end.
Truly thankful for such a wonderful God who understands the depths of my thoughts, fears and worries and addresses them gently as a Father and secures my weak heart.
He truly withheld no good thing from me. The reality is there are expenses each month. I am thankful for friends who have been there for me in this phase of my life and extended help and support in every way God enabled them to.
Some ordered groceries, some helped financially without me reaching out to them, some sent job references, some checked on my emotional health, some prayed and some even cried with me. It’s overwhelming how God moves people with compassion to understand the needs.
So if you’re reading this I want to encourage you. As my friend Kimaya encouraged me. She was watching a movie- Noahand God told one of Noah’s son in the movie- You have EVERYTHING you need in this time.
Yes and this is true. I am thankful first and foremost because the presence and love of a Holy God is my portion. 36 years of my life He has sustained me and never failed once. Even in hardships and pain He never left.
Secondly in this time, I experience His love and goodness through the friends and family.
I want to remind you and encourage you with the truth that you have everything you need- God and His people around you.
He is using the stillness, the hardship, the brokenness, every single detail of your life to behold His goodness and to mould our hearts to the likeness of Christ to respond with compassion to suffering.
So I pray with Thanksgiving for all of us – Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your steady love and faithfulness through every trial and temptation.
Thank you that You never leave us nor forsake us. Thank you for sustaining us and carrying us through every hardship. Thank you for your presence Holy Spirit. You’re sufficient at all times.
Thank you for your people who comfort when in distress. I know God You’re a provider and withhold no good thing You gave Jesus Christ the best gift ever, so I know You will take care of every need beyond what we can ask or think for Your Glory!
Hello church Good
morning, I am delighted to connect you, and I am thankful for this opportunity
to share the word of God this morning.
As the world is go
through horrible pandemic, I pray that this pandemic will not hinder us to grow
spiritually in the Lord rather let us fully seek God and fully depend on His
divine protection upon ourselves and our family.
Today we shall
continue our book study series from 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15.
14 We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
15 See that no one repays another with
evil for evil, but always pursue after that which is good for one
another and for all people.
Pray: Lord we thank you for this beautiful
opportunity to mediate your word, we invite your Holy Spirit to come and teach
us.
Help us to understand the truth. In Jesus
precious name. Amen.
Let us remember the condition of Thessalonian
believers:
They were Idol worshipper – but as soon as they
heard the gospel,
They repent and they turn away from idol to
serve the true Living God.
# They have great faith in the Lord. # They are
greatly laboring in love.
# They have steadfastness of Hope.
On the Top of these, they became a great
example for all people.
Their practical faith has gone
viral to many parts of the world.
All people heard about this amazing
Thessalonian church.
But when we read chapter 5:14-15, we see the need of the Thessalonian church, the area where they need to grow.
Remember there is no perfect
church in this world, we always need to repent our sins and keep sanctifying
before God,
we need God’s grace daily to grow
in the Lord.
Someone says like this,
“A Church is a hospital for sinners not a club for saints.”
Its true the church is a hospital for sinners,
Church I will like to remind all of us, that God Love us so much that He sent His only son Jesus Christ, He came into this world, He took the punishment in place of us and He purchased us with His blood, As we believed Him as saviour and Lord, He cleansed us from all sins and unrighteousness.
Now as a new creation in Christ, He wants us to serve Him and keep growing in the Lord.
I would like to entitle my sermon as “Growing together in the Lord”
Let us come to the first point.
1. Admonish the unruly. (14a)
“We urge you,
brethren, admonish
the unruly.” (14a)
The word Urge (is a verb) which means begging, beseeching, pleading, requesting. (this is not forcing something rather a humble request) he urged the brethren to admonish the unruly.
Brethren – fellow Christian, member of the same church
community.
Admonish: (Nou-thet-ei-te) is a verb and when we see Greek grammar, It is
in present imperative. That means to admonish is a command.
Admonish means
to warn, counsel, exhort. to put in mind,
To warn or to give notice
beforehand especially of danger or evil.
Illustration
Recently, it was on May 8, 16 migrant worker were sleeping in a railway track, unfortunately, train ran over them and all of them died instantly. It is sad to hear that.
I know if you know well ahead that the train
is coming toward them, you will warn them to get out of the railway track, to
save those workers. Right.
Church We are to warn, counsel, exhort one another, to those friends who are going toward the wrong direction in life.
Unruly: At-ak-tos: when we see original meaning in
Greek it means,
Out of order, who are out of line, the undisciplined, the disorderly people,
Lazy, idle people.
Illustration:
I know one brother, he is a married man, incredibly
good in singing and he was highly active in a church. He has 6 children.
But
he backslides from his faith, he became lazy, he ran away from his role and
responsibility as a father, he was going from one place to another, did not
return home for many years. His life was totally mess up and painful.
I
remember everyone in a church started praying and admonishing him.
After
many years he repent, he came back home and started attending church and
started taking care of his children and wife.
There will be many people who are living a dangerous life, many will be living in a habitual sinful life, many will be living a lazy, squander life, many will be living undisciplined life, we need to gently and lovingly remind them the gospel.
As
a church we are one family in Christ, and we are accountable to each other.
Galatian 6:1.
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a
sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch
yourselves, or you also may be tempted.
Purpose
of admonishing:
To restore back fellow believers to fellowship with God.
2. To remind fellow believers of their role and responsibilities in church.
3. To help fellow believers to live fruitful and productive life.
4. To help fellow believers to grow spiritually in the Lord.
Remember Measuring standard for
admonishment fellow believers should be the scripture, not our skill or
experience but scripture should be the standard.
Remember the unruly (idle, lazy people) need to
be warned to get back in among the believers and use their God-given gifts in
service for the kingdom.
Application:
Dear church we should admonish one another,
counsel one another, warning one another with gentleness and grow together in
the Lord.
We should continually remind the gospel to one another and grow stronger and deeper in relationship with our Heavenly Father.
2. Encourage the fainthearted. (14b)
Encourage: (para-mu-theo-mai) it is verb and present imperative,
so to encourage is a command.
Meaning: it means to comfort, console, exhort.
Fainthearted: small courage, little-spirited, feeble-minded, those who lack spiritual courage.
We need to stand shoulder to shoulder with
fainthearted believers in solidarity and support them. The fainthearted, or
“timid”, are fearful people who lack confidence perhaps in themselves or even
in their faith
They may be discouraged or worried by the challenges of living a Christian life. These people need loving instruction from their fellow believers to calm their fears and to build their confidence in the Lord.
Illustration: It was 3 years ago, I got a call at 6:00 am morning, from a young woman, she said, I want to meet you right now, I said what happened, she said, I will explain when I met you. So we meet up in the park.
She said, I do not want
to live anymore, because my boyfriend leaves me, when I listen to her story, she
has attempted suicide once before but fortunately people around her save her
and take her to hospital. She was depressed, going through excruciate pain.
We spent around two
hours, I counsel her with the word of God, and we prayed together. I keep
encouraging her daily. She became strong, started coming to church.
After many months she got a good job and she starts taking great responsibility in her family.
One thing we do as a church was, we keep holding on to
that sister and we keep encouraging her and keep praying for her.
At last she overcome and received God’s Grace.
Application:
Church there are so many people within the church and
outside the church who are really in need of our encouragement and our love and
our care.
Let us make use of every opportunity and serve one
another.
Let the beauty of Christ be seen in our daily life.
We should not wait for someone to come and tell us the
problem but instead let have a shepherd heart, who knows the need of the sheep.
Hebrews3:13 But
encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of
you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
3. Help the weak. (14c).
Help: Antexomai,
Verb: present imperative, that means helping is a command.
It means Hold firmly to, cleave to, withstand.
Weak: literally it means – not strong, infirm, sick. Strengthless.
Illustration: Helping hand in the village
river.
It was 2014, after we complete our bachelor degree, we form a team and went for preaching tour in our home town, after the tour was over we went to Village river for fishing, we were catching lots of fish and we were having much fun in the river. Suddenly, two girls were about to drown in the deep water, I was not far away from them, I was trying to be the hero that day, I tried to save them but even I was about to drown because I was not able to swim, but I manage to come out of the water, I don’t know-how. So, this helpless hero (me) shout for help, help, help. They came running and we join our hand together and pull them out.
Life lesson
from this incident.
Firstly: Learn
how to swim if you want to be a real-life hero.
Secondly, we
are stronger and better together, together we can do greater things.
Thirdly and
most importantly, together the church should stretch out hands to the people
who are perishing, who are weak, who are falling from faith and save them. We
should Hold them tight, we can’t lose them. Let us be a soul winner, be a life
saver.
Proverb 11:31
says He who win soul is wise.
Acts 20:35 In everything I
did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak,
remembering the words the LORD Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than
to receive.”
Helping can be
financial help or material help too.
Galatians 6:2Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Application: Are we helping people who are
desperately in need of our help.
At this crucial time, you and
can be a blessing for many people out there.
I have a beautiful hymn here. I
will sing for all of you.
The title of a hymn is call “Be
a channel of blessing”
Out in the highways and byways of life,
many are weary and sad;
Carry the sunshine where darkness is
rife,
Making the sorrowing glad. # Make me a blessing, make me a blessing, Out of my life, May Jesus shine; Make me a blessing, O saviour, I pray, Make me a blessing to someone today.
To be a blessing for someone everyday should be our daily goal.
4. Be Patient with everyone. (14d)
Patient:
Mak-ro-thy-mei-te – Verb, present imperative. That means be patience is
a command.
Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.
2 Peter 3:9 says,
“The Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
You know, God patiently waits for all of us to come to repentance, so we need to have patience with one another.
Illustration: O.T there a story of King Saul, the Israelite were about to fight a battle but they have to do sacrifice first, that sacrifice has to be done by prophet Samuel, but King Saul was impatient to wait Samuel, so King Saul did the sacrifice. As a result, the Lord was not pleased with King Saul, God rejects king Saul and did not use him anymore.
If we are impatient it can destroy all our plan and destroy our relationships and it affects people around us.
Sometimes we are impatient in a crowded city like Mumbai, when we stuck in traffic when we stand in queue to buy a train ticket, to buy food, or even in a shopping mall to pay bills, sometimes we are impatient when the sermon is too long.
Sometimes we
are impatient with our spouse, with children or friends.
Ephesian 4:1-2
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Being patience will help us to avoid many life problems, being patience is a sign of spiritual maturity. Being patience will help us to understand each other and will help us to serve each other better and being patient will help us grow daily in the Lord.
Application:
Beloved church
we should have patience, everyone is not the same in church, some are slow
learner, some fast learner, some take time to grow.
We have different gift and different
personality, we must be patient like our Lord,
Even though we fall in sin and ran away from
Him, and live all kind of sinful, wicked life.
He has so much patience on us.
Psalm 103:8 says,
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
Church we must have patience toward one another and grow together in the
Lord.
Always
pursue good for each other. (15) (Not Retaliate)
“See that
no one repays another with evil for evil, but always pursue after that which is
good for one another and for all people.”
Always: at all times, ever.
Pursue: verb, present imperative, so it is a command.
Literally means- by implication, to persecute,
follow after, press forward.
Good: intrinsically good, good in nature.
Romans 12: 9-21
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[e]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Conclusion:
Church we have seen 5 points under the topic “Growing
together in the Lord”
(1) Admonish the unruly (2) Encourage the fainthearted (3) Helping the weak (4) Patiently caring to everyone (5) Always pursue good for each other.
Why we must do all these? it is because Christ has loved us and sacrifice His life for us, and we have received the forgiveness of sins and now we have eternal life in Him.
Church He has done so much for us, Now it is our time to love Him, and serve Him and obey His command.
Therefore we must Lovingly admonish one another, Let us Carefully encourage the fainthearted, let us graciously help the weak, let us patiently care for all people and let us always pursue good for each other and grow together in the Lord. As a church and as an ambassador of Christ we should join our hand together and build up the body of Christ, we should strive to become a stronger and healthier follower of Christ.
Good morning church! How’s everyone doing a week after the retreat? I would say that the retreat was a blessing for all of us and what’s interesting is that today’s passage seems like a continuation on the topic of “Unity”.
It does seem like something that God is impressing on our hearts as a church. As we all turn to Philippians 2 in our series titled “A Joy filled life”, I want us to be reminded of what’s been happening at the church at Philippi.
A couple of weeks back we did learn about the persecutions that these believers were facing because of their faith in the Lord Jesus. But not only were things difficult for them with the world outside but internally things were not great between members of the church too.
Two women who apparently were co-laborers with Paul got into a disagreement and this was affecting the rest of the church. How should the church respond? Let’s read in v1-4
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
“You’ll never find a perfect church!” I remember this quoted being mentioned to me ever since I became a follower of Jesus. It didn’t take me too long to realize the reality of that quote but that presented a set of problematic questions: “How is the church ever going to be united with so many differences and disagreements?” “Should they overlook and ignore all the issues?” “Or should they pin-point and correct every single issue?” “Specifically, how am I as a follower of Jesus required to live in the midst of this?”
And knowing that we have married couples in our congregation and young people who are looking to get married sometime in the future, I want to extend these questions on unity to them as well – “How can I experience true unity in my married life?”
4 points of observation from today’s text:
1. Unity can only be brought about through the Gospel (v1,2)
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
What I find so interesting is how Paul starts this chapter – He starts by talking about amazing truths and gifts that are ours through Jesus Christ.
Encouragement in Christ: Because Jesus Christ saved us and rescued us from the wrath of God, we are encouraged to approach the throne of God with boldness. We need not be afraid of the presence of God anymore.
Comfort from love: For people who were once staring at hopelessness and eternal death, the amazing truth is that we have God who eternally comforts His people with love. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you”. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. (2 Thess 2:16,17)
Participation in the Spirit: God graciously pours out His Spirit on everyone who places their faith in Jesus Christ. All of us have the same Spirit who convicts us, changes us, works through us to make us more like Jesus!
Affection and Sympathy: These are words that basically mean compassion and mercy being shown to someone. When God saw us in our sin and misery, He had compassion on us and came after us to pull us out of pit of sin and darkness.
And his point is that – if we’ve truly experienced these amazing things, then it needs to be evident in our lives as well.
Right now because we are expecting a child, we do have a lot of experienced parents who meet us and give us advice. A few weeks back someone shared with us that after the 20th week or so, the baby in the womb actually has a capacity to hear.
This parent advised us to be mindful of what we communicate during this period and also encouraged us to sing Christian songs and read verses that the baby will actually identify once out of the womb! And that process continues even as the child grows, what the child sees the parents do, that they’ll imitate and do. Wow! And I kept thinking – isn’t it that same with all of us spiritually as well.
God being our Father wants us to experience His grace, love, mercy and kindness and be filled in it so that we can extend it outwards to the people around us!
Here’s what I think the application for this point is. If we think that more events or programs or combined activities is what is going to keep the church together or the marriage together, then that’s a very meaningless, faulty line of thinking.
There’s only one way for your marriage, your family, and the church to experience true unity and that’s going to happen when we understand and respond to God’s grace, love, mercy and kindness – the message of the gospel.
2. Unity doesn’t necessarily mean similarity (v2)
2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
My immediate thought when I read this verse was: Is he trying to say that all people should talk the same way, think the same way and walk the same way? I don’t think he’s saying we need to become similar people.
We are so wired in the world to group ourselves around similar people – people who think, talk and walk like us. People who are different from us are labeled as “awkward and weird”. When the world talks about unity – they are more or less talking about similarity.
But when the Bible talks about unity – it has to do more with the One gospel and Savior & how we now care for each other within the church.
If you ask around the room today, you’ll hear many unique testimonies of how God saved each believer here. Some of us were saved when we realized the purposelessness of sinful addictions, some of us got saved while we heard the gospel being preached at a Christian meeting, some of us got saved when someone personally shared the gospel with us and my own story is that I got saved while reading a Christian book.
So many unique stories but one Savior Lord Jesus and when we heard the amazing love – that He would lay down His life on the cross and rise again on the third Day – our eyes opened and we turned from our sins and ran to Jesus to save us and our lives completely changed! And that’s what unites young, old, dark skinned, light skinned, tall, short, male, female alike. It’s not so much how similar we are but how united we are despite our differences.
Sometimes in our churches or even in our marriages, we also bring in this baggage of trying to make the other person like us thinking that if we are more similar then we’ll be more united. Not true.
For example in churches there’s always an issue between the elderly and the youths. The elderly people accuse the youths of being free-spirited and naïve. Young people accuse the elderly of being rigid and over-disciplined. But the thing here is that both groups need each other.
The elderly need to be encouraged by the zeal of young people to still remain passionate and radical for the things of God. The young people need to have the guidance and wisdom of the elderly to be able to grow in maturity. We need to learn how to embrace each other’s differences – in terms of giftings, cultural backgrounds, lifestyles, language and see how we can actually learn from each other.
As long as the gospel is our foundation and love is the motivation, the gospel allows us freedom to actually embrace each other’s differences and yet still be strengthened in unity.
3. Disunity is a result of SIN (v3,4)
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Please carefully note what these verses are trying to say. The reason for disunity isn’t really style issues, or worship preference or in marriage “communication issues” but the real issue that causes disunity is the “SIN ISSUE”.
There are 2 main root sins mentioned here:
a) Self-centredness:
How can I get noticed for doing this or that in the church?
If I’m serving the church in this way or that, I’m hoping that at least someone appreciates and acknowledges me for what I’m doing.
If I do this for the church or my spouse, what will I get in return?
At the core of it, I’m most concerned of how my needs are met in my church or my marriage?
b) Pride:
I’m not as bad as the person sitting next to me
I’ve got more biblical knowledge and I’ve been so actively involved in the church for years
This church event or Sunday service is successful due to my hard work.
Why should I go and reconcile when I was the one wronged? I’m right! I’ve not done anything wrong. Especially in marriages there is that common joke which people crack – best way to have a successful marriage – just say that the wife is right. I don’t agree to that because in an argument or a fight – both are in sin and both aren’t right.
If I have to sum up all of these statements that I’m sure we’ve said or thought about in our lives, it’ll come to this “I deserve better”. In our sinful selves we all think we are entitled to something better because we think that we are great human beings.
But we aren’t. We are people whose hearts the Bible describes as “desperately sick”. Apart from the grace of what Christ did for us, we have absolutely no hope. And we are no better than the person sitting right next to us. The person sitting next to us needs infinite grace and so do we.
Even though we are believers saved by grace, we need to recognize the pride and self-centredness that is so evident and prominent in our hearts.
Which brings me to the last observation:
Only the Gospel can heal Disunity (v3,4)
How do you know if a person is truly in love with Jesus? By his biblical knowledge? No. By his charisma? No. By his great spiritual feats and accomplishments? No.
Look at his humility! And how does a man become humble knowing how prideful and self-centred we are?
By kneeling before our Savior and realizing what Jesus did for us in spite of our rejection – how He faithfully pursued us, how He laid down everything for us, how paid the costliest sacrifice and opened the glorious gates of eternal fellowship with Him. That absolutely humbles us.
Brothers and sisters, I want to encourage and remind you of the power of the gospel this morning. I remember many times either at home, or while listening to a sermon travelling or while at a church gathering like this – my heart was filled with pride and selfishness and being hardened.
But in those times when the gospel was preached, I can’t express but it felt like something was powerfully breaking through my hardened heart mainly humbling me and allowing me to receive the truth and instruction from God. If you are also experiencing self-centredness and pride this morning,
I would urge you to come before our Savior and ask Him to reveal His love and kindness to you. Ask to melt your hardened heart so that you can enjoy true fellowship with Him.
I want you to imagine a conversation between a news reporter and a Sunday churchgoer. Let’s call him Akash.
The interviewer asks Akash, “Why are you part of a local church?” Akash quickly answers “It’s because I love the fellowship. The people are very nice and friendly and I’m able to relate with them well”. The interviewer then asks him, ” Well, how is the church any different from any social group- like a football club, chess club, or really close family and friend circles? Isn’t that the same?”
Akash then says “no this is different because I get to sing these beautifully tuned worship songs and because there’s a pastor who teaches some really good and practical stuff for life”.
The interviewer responds by asking him, ” See…Right now we are in a digital age – you can access all of these best Christian songs and listen to the best preachers from your home itself, why do you have to be a part of a church?”
By now Akash is a little irritated by the questions, “He says – what are you saying…every Sunday I have to go to church. I cannot imagine not going. I’ve been doing that for many years. Apart from this, there’s nothing else that I can do on Sunday”.
Now, this might seem like a silly imaginary conversation but I want all of us to think on why we invest so many hours each week in the weekend Gathering and community? Why don’t we do anything else during that time? And I want us to be challenged by this line of questioning. And how much should we invest in this? Is it just 2 hours a week or much more? Is it worth sacrificing your entire life for it?
The first thing I want us to grasp is that we are in a community not because of social reasons or because there’s nothing else to do but:
We are united by Truth (v4-6)
There are these amazing life-altering truths that joins us together.
A) One body – We are many members of Christ’s single body. We may look different, come from different backgrounds but through Christ, we are now members of one body. Glen and I once shared a shared rickshaw with an elderly couple. Saw a Bible in his hand and we started talking. He was a believer and even though he was 80 years old but also my brother and fellow member of Christ’s body.
B) One Spirit – It’s mindboggling to think that God’s own Spirit dwells in each of us believers. And also to realize that everyone shares the very same Spirit. No partiality. We know that as much as we yield to the Spirit, we are being controlled by Him but in giving us the Spirit God shows no partiality.
C) One Hope – We will be resurrected. Not ashamed. Pronounced not guilty. Living as heirs in God’s kingdom with God even though we didn’t deserve to be there in the first place.
D) One Lord – All of us who believe in Jesus have one Master and one Savior. There was only one person who lived the life we could never imagine living – holiness example – walking on puddles. Yet He was willing to take on the punishment that we deserved and give us His righteousness. Exchanging His robe for ours. And His sacrifice transforms our lives once for all. Can anyone else be our Master? He is a Faithful Lord.
E) One Faith – Trusting in Christ’s work to bring us to God. Example: A man drowning in the sea and holding onto a rope.
F) One Baptism – Declaration of our fellowship with Christ and the church. Doesn’t matter if you’ve been baptized in an interior village of India or at the Omkar pool. It’s a sign of your commitment and God looks at all of it as obedience.
G) One God the Father – In a country where we boast of 330 million gods, the Bible says there’s only one God – He rules over everything, He is powerful to work through everything so that ultimately everything displays His greatness.
Secondly, the reason why the church can’t be a disconnected affair where we can be virtually connected through Livestream is because:
We are united for Strength (v7-16)
We need each other to grow stronger in the Lord.
I) God giving gifts to each individual believer (v7)
* Spiritual Gifts – ” Grace” – undeserving gift of God according to Christ’s measure. There is a purpose to God giving you a gift.
II) Wonderful purpose of spiritual gifts
* Church leaders are God’s gift to the church to equip (perfect, complete furnishing) the saints for the work of ministry. Servants of the Lord & the church – Church leaders are like joints – binding the skeleton together, giving structure and allowing muscles to move bones to perform different activities. Our job as church leaders is to bring people together, give direction (casting vision) and allow people to use their gifts to do the work of ministry. Coach the church so that everyone is active in body building. (V11, 12)
* Unity and Maturity – When will we be fully united? when we become like Christ. When will we be fully mature? When we become like Christ. The goal is to attain the measure of the full stature of the fullness of Christ – Christ likeness is not going to happen alone. It’s going to happen with the church. (V13, 14)
* Growth is going to happen when each part of the body is working properly. (V15, 16)
United in love (v1-3)
Even though we have been given “grace” yet we experience issues within the church – making it more difficult to attain unity. “Sin” and “Strangeness”. What should we do?
Should we quit? What does Scripture call us to do? Loving each other through humility and gentleness. Patiently bearing with each other in love. Ensuring with one another.
If we all are honest, we’ll admit that this is very difficult and impossible to bring about this type of unity by our own efforts. So what’s the solution?
This is only possible through the Gospel. Only knowing Christ and experiencing His grace can allow us to extend that outwards to each other.
Questions for discussion:
1. In your experience in the past, what have you perceived the purpose of spiritual gifts to be?
2. What kind of barriers can stop a church from experiencing unity and maturity in the faith?
3. Based on today’s passage, what are some things that God is calling you to do in a church which can promote unity and maturity?
We are doing a new series called the Joy-Filled Life, expository preaching through the book of Philippians. We are looking through the opening statements of Paul’s letter to the Church in Philippi in chapter 1.
Last Sunday, we saw HOW Paul prays for the Church of Philippi.
Today we will discover WHY Paul prays for the Church in Philippi, and
the Sunday after this we will see WHAT Paul prays for the Church in Philippi.
Before we look at the ‘why’ let’s once again refresh our memory and remind ourselves ‘how’ Paul prayed for the Church.
He prayed with Thanksgiving
He prayed Frequently
He prayed with the Gospel at the centre
He prayed by drawing encouragement from past testimonies
He prayed with an Expectant Heart
Even though we all said amen to the excellent sermon that Jinson preached last Sunday, confessed our prayerless heart from one another, committed to being more prayerful. My guess is most of us have failed to do so in this past one week.
And that is why today, we will learn the possible reasons why we might have failed to uphold each other in prayer as preached last week.
To discover the answer, we will now read the next two verses of Paul’s introductory statements to the Church of Philippi. It’s Philippians 1:7-8
Philippians 1:7-8
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 defence and confirmation of the Gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
After explaining HOW Paul prayed for the Church, he is now saying ‘It is right for me to feel this way about you all. In other words ‘The reason WHY I prayed for you the way I prayed for you’ is because….
• I hold you in my heart
• Because you are partakers with me of grace
• I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus
Let me share with you three things I understand from Paul’s statements that motivated him to continue praying for them.
1. He held the Church close to his heart.
‘I hold you in my heart.’
If we are continually failing to pray for our brothers and sisters in the Church, then a relevant question to ask ourselves would be is it because we fail to hold each other close to our heart as Paul did.
And if that’s true then why and what stops us from doing so?
The first reason I could think of is that we fail to see the Church as God sees it.
The Church in the past and even today is portrayed in the wrong light in most of the world, and I don’t know what version of the Church you are exposed to and what version of the Church was picturized for you.
For some church is portrayed as a building where we go and say our prayers, make confessions to the statue of Mother Mary and baby Jesus.
For some church is described as a place where you go to get your needs met. Either healing or some support and help
For some church is portrayed as a place to find new friends, hang out with cool people and have fun
For some church is described as a place where only the so-called holy people go – A place where you will be judged for your wrongdoings, for your looks, for your behaviour etc.
For some church is where gossip happens
For some church is portrayed as an organization or a setup to control and manipulate people to give their money & make the leaders rich.
For some church is described as a place to quiet your soul, meditate and discover yourself.
The truth is, none of these is a correct representation of what the Church is described in the bible. And the reason we may be failing to hold the Church close to our heart maybe because in some manner we have a wrong understanding of the Church, we are failing to see the Church as God sees it.
You and I are the Church – The redeemed and saved children of God. It’s not a building, not a place, not an organization, not a Trust, not an NGO, not a Christian program on GOD tv & not a Youtube channel on the internet where you listen to Christian music and bible talks.
The Church is not a lifeless thing to which we can’t relate to.
The brother and sister in the Lord who is right now accessible to you in person, who you can meet, talk and have fellowship is the Church, sitting right next to you is the Church. Even the ones who may not be part of The Gathering church but some other church, a dear friend who is on the Lord.
In Ephesians 3:9-11 Paul writes it is through you and me (the Church) that God will make known the manifold wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places which is according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul was able to hold the Church close to his heart because he understood the high value of this relationship with each person because of Christ, and the eternal purpose for which God was gathering people in this manner. He saw the Church as God saw it and not how the world (the Pharisees & Sadducees) portrayed it.
How we chose to see the Church depends on us. The world and people around us may have given us a faulty representation of the Church, but we must turn to the scriptures and see the Church as God sees us, only then we will be able to see how precious and marvellous is this body of Christ. Motivating us to hold it close to our heart and pray unceasingly to see it grow and flourish.
2. He Identified himself as part of the family.
The second reason why Paul would pray for the Church the way he prayed is that he identified himself with the Church when he said: “you are partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel.”
He identifies that it is the same grace of God that saved him, also saved his brothers and sisters in the Church of Philippi. He recognizes that once we were all sinners and enemies of God, instruments of wrath. But God, in His mercy, sent his only begotten son Jesus to die for us so that we can be set free from sin and death as we confess our sins and believe in Jesus. He identifies, it was the same body of Christ that was broken for him was broken for them; the same blood that was shed for him was shed for them.
He relates to his salvation as the union with his real family.
Even Jesus, when he was asked to meet his natural mother and brother who was waiting on him, said: “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
I am not saying that we have to ignore and discontinue our relationship with our natural family, but I’m saying we have to identify ourselves with our real family, which is the Church.
Brothers & sisters, it is essential that we see each other that way, to depend on in times of trouble, to lean on in times of turmoil, to confess our innermost feelings of shame when convicted of sins, to find encouragement when we are discouraged or disappointed.
And just as any other family, we may not be perfect. Each one will have their unique personalities, have their background they are dealing with, struggles that are unique, etc. But we are still a family.
When we see each other as our real family, know each other well and the struggles we go through we will feel the burden to uphold each other in prayer all the time, just as Paul.
3. He Longed to be with his family in Christ.
The third reason why Paul felt the way he felt for the Church is because he had a longing to be with them and to spend time with his real family in Christ. He says “how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus”
He didn’t just hold the Church close to heart and identified himself as part of the family, but he longed to be them.
Brothers & sisters, have you ever thought, what is it that stops us from longing to be with each other. Is it anger, unforgiveness, envy, resentment, bitterness, jealousy, doubt, distrust, or something else
These feelings are not from God. As a good Father, God desires his family to be united and close-knitted. The world outside is dark; there is danger lurking at every corner, the devil and his agents are all around the place waiting to pounce on God’s children.
To make sure we are safe and healthy, God wants us to stay united, desiring and longing to be with each other all the time. In the book of Acts, it is said that believers would meet each other every day, devoted to prayer, devoted to the apostles teaching and devoted to breaking of bread. And the Lord added to their number.
Sunday mornings, Gospel communities during the week, get-togethers, casual hangouts, movie nights with each other, going on a trek, are all opportunities for us to hang out with one another as often as we can. Let’s develop a natural longing to be with each other all the time as Paul did, and as we know each other better, know each other’s struggles in life, know each other’s desires and dreams, our hearts will be naturally drawn to uphold each other in prayer. Because that’s what we do, depend on God for all the needs and answers in life.
Conclusion
If you are struggling to pray for your brothers & sisters in church as Paul did, ask yourself these vital questions, and you will find your answers.
Q: What stops you from holding the Church close to your heart?
Q: Do you fail to identify yourself with your real family? Why?
Q: Is there a longing in your heart to stick close to your church family? If ‘no’ why?
Good morning church! As a church we’ve been going through a series called “Gospel Renewal” and covered various topics like prayer, humility, repentance, dependence, satisfaction, obedience and stewardship and the overall theme was that the good news of God’s love for us in Christ is not just the secret but the power enabling us to do all of these things.
Today’s theme is the last one in this series titled “Gospel Shepherding”. Let’s turn to our main text for today from Hebrews 10:23-25.
23 Let
us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised
is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good
works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but
encouraging one another, and ball the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Cricket fever is high in the country right now due to the World Cup. I’m sure many of us have been following the India matches. During one of the matches this week – there was a time where MS Dhoni was batting alongside Rishabh Pant.
Right there you saw two generations of wicket-keepers batting together. One of the commentators at the points said something like “The experienced veteran MS Dhoni shepherding the young, dynamic, enthusiastic Rishabh Pant”.
And I thought that was a good way to describe shepherding – encouraging, guiding and helping someone else in their growth. I thought if the secular world understands the need of shepherding someone, how much more is the need for us as believers! After all we know how it’s not just the church leaders that are called to shepherd people but it’s each and everyone no matter what stage you are in your Christian life.
Husbands are called to shepherd their wives. Parents are called to shepherd their children. Church members are called to shepherd each other – shape and influence each other in a way that they are pointed toward Christ. But the question is how? How can I shepherd the people in my life?
Two points:
1.Shepherding requires the gospel
Shepherding
needs us to know, believe and live out the gospel. I’m sure most of you were
like “Duh. This is like an anti-climax.
Off course I knew that. What’s new about it?” Before I answer that let’s
see where it’s mentioned in this passage.
V23 Let
us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised
is faithful.
When I think about “Holding fast”, I imagine the picture of a child holding the hands of the parent tightly. And what do we need to hold fast to? The confession of our hope. What is that? The gospel! By gospel I mean what God has done for us through Jesus.
Now some of us might think “Okay, I believed in the gospel many years back, but why do you say that I cannot shepherd the people in my life without that? Why do I have a need of the gospel today?” That’s a great question. And that’s why I want us to look at this chart on the 3 dimensions of the gospel. When we look at the Bible we see that the gospel is described in 3 dimensions.
Past: When I believed I was made right with God through Jesus.
When
I put my trust in Jesus, God fully forgave me of all my sins and received me as
His own child.
Present: Every day I am being made more like Jesus
As
the Spirit works in my heart through the Bible, and as I yield myself to what
He shows me, I am being changed and renewed into Jesus more and more each day.
Future: When Jesus returns, I will perfectly reflect Him
On
the Day of Judgement, I will not be ashamed. I’ll be given a new body like
Jesus’ body – free from corruption and separated from the presence of sin. And
I’ll be invited to share in His inheritance.
You can see
here how there are 3 dimensions to it. The problem is sometimes in our hearts
and beliefs, we end up only focusing on one of these dimensions. And that has a
few dangers that I want us to be aware of.
Past: If we only focus on the Past
dimension of the gospel – where I was made right with God in the past, it can
lead us to become prideful and licentious. We’ll think that “Jesus died for my
sins so there’s no need for me to work out my salvation. Jesus already died for
my sins so now I can live any way I want with no responsibility” forgetting the
present and the future dimensions.
Present: If we only focus on the Present dimension of the gospel – where we are made more and more like Jesus each day, it can sometimes lead us into despair. As the Spirit makes us more aware of our sin, we’ll think that “Oh I am so not like Jesus. I’m the opposite because my thoughts and my actions don’t match up to Jesus’ life.
God can’t accept someone like me who keeps failing in my performance” forgetting the past dimension of what Christ did on the cross.
Future: If we only focus on the Future dimension of the gospel – where Christ comes back again those who trust Him as Lord will be like Him, it can lead us to becoming lazy and not steward our time, talents and resources well.
There have been people in history who have left their jobs and left their responsibility of family thinking “Jesus is going to come back soon so why waste time in working a job and taking care of a family. Let me just wait on the coming of the Lord” forgetting the present dimensions of the gospel by daily stewarding what God has given us to glory of God.
When we believed in the gospel and surrendered our lives to Jesus, we did that to all the 3 dimensions. We don’t get to pick and chose one of them. We need all the 3 dimensions of the gospel to live out our Christ walk! That’s why the writer of Hebrews say “Let’s hold fast to it – without wavering”. “Firmly hold on to it. Don’t let go”.
But if we all are honest; we’ll admit that our faith does waver. We don’t always hold fast to the gospel. Like a little child, it feels like we are losing grip from the hands of our Father. But here’s the awesome truth at the end of v23 “for He who promised is faithful”. The wonderful hope for us is that God is holding on to us! He is keeping us. And He reveals His faithfulness through His blood bought promises!
If you’re here today, struggling to believe in the past dimension of the gospel – “When you think…can God actually forgive all my sins? Can He actually wipe my slate clean after all the horrible things I’ve done?” Here’s what Romans 8:1 says There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
I remember my 9th standard Sunday school teacher telling me – God in His holiness can’t even look at us because of our filth and sin. But for those who surrender themselves to Jesus, when looks at us He sees His Son. Wow. Even though I was an unbeliever at that time it blew my mind.
If you’re here today, struggling to believe in the present dimension of the gospel – “I know I’ve trusted in Christ, but I feel like I’m losing the battle to sin each day”. Here’s what 1 John 4:4 says “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
God has placed His own Spirit within us. He has written His law on our hearts and our minds so that we can be empowered to live in obedience to God as we yield to the Spirit.
God has placed His own Spirit within us. He has written His law on our hearts and our minds so that we can be empowered to live in obedience to God as we yield to the Spirit.
If you’re here today, struggling to believe in the future dimension of the gospel – “Will God really remove every iota of sin and make me like His Son when Jesus comes back?” Then here’s what Jesus says. “I told you that I would sacrifice my life and die for your sins – and I did that.
I told you that I would rise from the dead and give you a new life – I did that. I told you that I would change you from the inside out and you can see how I’ve brought you so far from the day you believed. In the same way I’m telling you “I who began a good work in you will bring it to completion”. That’s my promise. I’m putting my word on the line. In doing so I’m putting my character on the line to show you that I am faithful to every thing that I promised I will do.”
That is the wonderful hope that we need! We need all the 3 dimensions! And it’s the joy that this gospel produces which wells up in our hearts making us want to shepherd other people. Not only does Shepherding require the gospel but:
2. Shepherding
involves intentionality and consistency
Intentionality:
24 And let us
consider how to stir up one another to love and good works
There is a “considering and some thought process” that goes behind shepherding. It’s not random. You’re taking some time to think about the people in your lives.
You’re taking time out to think about their needs. You’re thinking about areas in their lives where they are failing to believe in the gospel. And then you’re praying and asking God to enable you to love and serve them.
I’m into client-servicing and my part of my job involves scheduling calls or face to face meetings with my clients. I’ve had a few occasions where I’ve gotten on calls with little or no agenda or plan on what to speak and those calls end up being fruitless.
On the other hand there have been times when I’ve had a clear agenda and I’ve even thought through what I want to speak to them and those calls/meetings end up being meaningful. The client appreciates the help that he received at the end of the day. So if in the business world – intentionality is useful and important, how much more importance needs to be given to thoughtful consideration to encourage a brother or sister in Christ?
I understand that some of us are wired differently in terms of our personality (organized vs unorganized) but I think this passage is still urging us to put thought into our meetings with each other. Taking time out & putting some thought communicates that you care about people.
Let’s pause for a moment and ask ourselves a question – when was the last time we took out time before a Sunday service or a gospel community thinking about a church member and considering how could we encourage that brother or sister in the Lord?
When was the last time you took time out to think how you could encourage your spouse or family member in the Lord? Thinking through what would it look like for us to help meet a need? How can we stir each other up to love and obey God?
Shepherding
involves intentionality but it also involves:
Consistency:
25 not
neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another, and ball the more as you see the Day drawing near.
There is a consistency to this intentionality as well. As elders one of the questions we get asked is “Why should I be committed to a local church?” And usually we try to answer it is by pointing people back to Scriptures like this telling them it’s actually a command from God. And let’s understand God’s heart behind this command.
God’s desire is not to take attendance of His sheep. He’s not a rule-book keeper. His heart is v25 “encouragement”. He wants us to be encouraged in our faith and walk with Christ. He knows that His sheep forget the gospel, they forget the 3 dimensions, he knows that they struggle with sin and suffering, He knows that they are torn by the brokenness of the world and so He wants them to be encouraged more and more.
He wants us to encouraged on a personal level where we are encouraged by other believers and He wants us to intentionally encourage others with our words, gifting and service. There was a season in my own life between the time at my first church and the Gathering – for about a year when I was inconsistent and not committed to a local church.
I kept thinking “If we plant a church, then from that day onwards I will be very committed”. Not only was I disobedient to God’s call of being committed but I also missed out on the encouragement that my heart needed and that I needed to offer other believers.
So I’m sharing this from a place where God had to teach me this truth – that Christian growth happens in consistency. Consistency of meeting up and learning from and encouraging other believers. Sometimes we think meeting once a month with other believers or once a quarter is enough for us – that’s not how God designed us to grow.
We can only grow with other believers as we interact with them consistently. It’s true that no church is perfect because we’re all sinners needing God’s grace. But it’s a total joy to see how God in the midst of this brokenness actually is restoring and repairing people like us through the church.
And we miss out on experiencing the beauty of this when we aren’t being intentional and consistent.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. – Ephesians 2:13-22
The above verses talk about the formation of the community that God built for himself through his son Jesus Christ and also gives us an idea of what that community looks like.
Without Christ and his sacrifice this community is meaningless.
4 things that stand out from the text are as follows.
1. Oneness
We are made one in Christ and there are no diving walls that separate us from each other. In Galatians 3:28 Paul writes “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
2. Reconciled as one body
God reconciles us as a body, purifies us as a bride and therefore we take responsibility for each other and help each other get right with God and walk in holiness.
3. Access to the same Spirit
Since we all have access to the same spirit, the same spirit that gifted one with certain skills and talents is available for another. We all have access to one Spirit therefore we don’t walk with pride thinking we are better than others or in shame because we don’t match up to others. It is just a matter of asking God.
4. Built on the foundations of the apostles & prophets
Our understanding of the community of God is not laid on a weak and man made foundation but instead it is rooted in the foundations of the apostles & prophets. Our foundations are God inspired and they are meant to give us life and life in abundance.
