Practice and Presence of God

a little bit of strategy. During
this past season in nearing our final game, I had the occasion
to employ some strategy. We had two outs, and their number
one hitter was approaching the plate with two men on base. And I figured 12-year-olds If
there was ever a time to try stuff like this, now’s the time.
And so I went ahead and put the batter on, their number one hitter.
All their fans got irritated. And I knew right then that I
was either going to be the hero or the goat. And as it was, the
next guy that stepped up to the plate pounded the ball to center
field. Only to have our center fielder,
a kid who really hadn’t made many plays all year, run the
thing down and make a diving catch, and I was the hero. Well, Trane has allowed me to
fill the pulpit today. And in order that he not run
out of this sanctuary at the end of the service like a goat,
it is incumbent upon me to make a play. If you would, take your
Bibles and turn to the book of Philippians and chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4. We’re
there again. We’re really picking up on a
passage of Scripture that we’ve been considering for a number
of weeks. They are a couplet, these two
verses, verses 8 and 9. Paul has turned his attention
to the thinking, to the behavior of the Philippian believers.
And in weeks past, we were concerned with what we called cultivating
a Christian mindset that was in the forefront of Paul’s mind. In verse eight, cultivating a
Christian mindset, Paul knew that if he could change the Philippians
thinking, that their behavior would naturally follow along
by God’s grace. Go with me again to verse eight
of Philippians chapter four. Finally, brethren, whatever is
true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, If there is
any excellence, and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind
dwell on these things.” Paul was concerned with their thinking. And we refer to this as the glistening
gem of Christlikeness, that even these that are given are just
a few of the many facets on the gem of Christlikeness. Paul wasn’t
giving us an exhaustive list of all the virtues that a Christian
could ever attain to, but these, being generalized, serve up the
image of the gem of Christlikeness, a multifaceted view of godliness. We took several weeks to consider
these. What is true and what is honorable? What is right and pure? And you
would almost think The just to meditate on those things, just
to think about what is true, to think about what is pure and
right and good would be enough. But it isn’t. God would not be
content with that, we would not be content with that in our lives. And God had a purpose in laying
the foundation for the words that follow. God wanted us to
have the right mindset, but he also wants us to have the deeds,
the behavior that follows. And so, verse nine, the things
you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice
these things. And the God of peace shall be
with you. Paul makes the transition. very
abruptly, very quickly from thinking to practice, from thinking on
these virtues that we spent so much time on truth and thinking
on what is true as opposed to what is false and what is speculative,
what is honorable as opposed to what is dishonorable, what
is what brings God honor, what is right as opposed to what is
wrong and thinking on the truths of Scripture that declare those
things. Thinking on what is right, thinking
on what is pure, what is unsullied by the world’s morals or rather
their immorality. If there is any, whatever is
of good repute, whatever is of excellence, those are the things
that we’re supposed to set our mind on. But Paul makes the transition
here from cultivating a Christian mindset to cultivating the very
presence of God. How do we enjoy the presence
of God? The ideals that he lays out in
verse 8, it’s not enough that they just merely are contemplated,
but they have to be carried into effect in the believer’s lives.
Matthew 7, 24 says it this way. Everyone who hears these words
of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who
built his house on a rock. God isn’t just concerned with
how we think. God is ultimately concerned with
how we live, how obedient we are, how much of Christ we have
worked into our lives by His grace. And so Paul is concerned
to make this very important transition. Go back, if you would, to verse
nine, where in the simplest form in this sentence, you have really
just one simple sentence. The things you have learned and
received and heard and seen in me practice these things. The word practice is an interesting
one, isn’t it? We hear of law practices. I was
a bit concerned to hear that my surgeon had a practice. I
was wanting someone with a little experience. That’s how we take the word practice.
Practice these things means that we want to try them from time
to time, we want to work at them. But that’s not the scriptural
employment of this word. That’s not how the word plays
out in scripture. It means a habitual performance,
it means achieving a level of success and staying there for
a long, long time, maintaining a standard. I love the Puritan
book, A Life of Principled Obedience, that speaks of this kind of practice. A life of principled obedience,
a life built on principles and calling out for God’s grace and
a life that issues forth in obedience by His grace. We do this by practicing,
by doing these things taught to us by God’s word, by faithful
teachers. Even though through our own deductions
from Scripture, Those attitudes and behaviors, the character
qualities that were highly esteemed by other Christians and effectively
modeled by our brothers and sisters in Christ, we do so by emulating
them as well. And we do so by God’s grace.
It isn’t just knowledge that God is after here, but. action. One pastor said knowledge of
what is noble without the endeavor to realize it is fatal. If we
were to rest only on verse eight, having perfected it, mulling
over and dwelling on those things in our mind, we would be utter
failures as Christians. But verse nine is there for a
reason. Verse nine is there for us. Verse
nine is there to carry us, as it were, across the goal line.
True believers listen. True believers hear God’s Word. They meditate on it until they
hear it and they understand it. They dwell upon it until they
begin to act upon it, until they put it into constant practice,
not just an occasional effort. As one Puritan said it, let the
fruit of thought and prayer be seen in the lives of holy stability
and energy and beauty Give all diligence then to adorn the doctrine
of God your Savior. Let it be your aim to follow
the Lord fully, to live so as to give evidence on all the sides
of your life that you have put on Christ. That’s what Paul was
concerned with. Paul wasn’t just concerned with
our thought life. Paul was concerned with our lives
as Christians. Paul was concerned with the fact
that we end up looking more and more and more each day like Christ. The things you have learned and
received and heard and seen in me practice these things. We’ll come back to a portion
of that, but I want to look at the promise that is given. I
want to look at the promise Many promises, and this takes the
formula of a promise. If then or if you do this, then
God will. And this clearly takes the form
of a promise as Scripture lays them out. The God of peace shall
be with you if. You practice these things, the
God of peace shall be with you. We need to unpack that for a
moment. To even understand what it means, what God means here
by peace or the God of peace, you have to step back and look
in bold relief at humanity. Because humanity in their natural state are enemies of
God, we are naturally God’s enemies, as Edwards first characterized
it. Paul said it this way. Galatians
5.19, the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality,
impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife. And I take that to mean with
God, although those always play out with others. Romans 1.29
says it even more clearly regarding the unbelievers, those ungodly. They are filled with all unrighteousness,
wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, Romans
1.30 even goes on to call them haters of God. That’s who we
are outside of Christ. That’s who we are before God
sets his love upon us and draws us to himself through Christ.
We’re enemies with God. Romans 2.8 goes on to say those
who are selfishly ambitious, who exercise a life of strife
and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness. James characterizes it in very
simple terms as well. You adulterous is do you not
know that friendship with the world is hostility, strife with
God? We are naturally God’s enemies
in our heart, outside of Christ, we are at enmity at war with
God. But thanks be to God, God is
a God of peace. The Scriptures lay out constantly
that God is a peaceable God, a peace loving, a peace seeking
God. Leviticus twenty six six. I shall
also grant peace in the land so that you may lie down with
no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful
beasts from the land and no sword shall pass through your land
was his promise to the Israelites. And judges, it is recorded of
God. Then Gideon built an altar there
to the Lord and named it. The Lord is peace. God is a God
of peace. Psalm 29, 11. The Lord will give
strength to his people. The Lord will bless his people
with peace. If there is no blessing from
God, there is no peace. There is no peace except from
God. Isaiah 26, 12. Lord, you will establish peace
for us. In fact, that is the very reason
that Jesus came, isn’t it? The very reason that Jesus came
is to establish peace. The opening verses of Luke’s
Gospel says that Jesus came to shine upon those who sit in darkness
and the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.
And then those marvelous words of the angels hovering over the
Christ child in his manger. Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace among men with whom he is with whom he is pleased. God is the source and giver of
peace. God is the one that always enacts
the peace treaty. God is the seeker of peace and
the effector of peace. But this peace isn’t just that
calm tranquility that the hippies sought in the sixties. But it
is peace that is based on reconciliation with God Himself. It is peace
with God first and foremost. It is a cessation, as one said,
of that enmity, that natural enmity between God and man. So it’s not only The peace of
God, as Paul talked about in verse seven. In verse seven of
this epistle, Paul mentioned the peace of God would be theirs.
But here he says the God of peace is going to attend to them. The
God of peace will be their share, will be their portion. The God
of peace himself, who is the source of all spiritual blessings,
is going to favor them with peace. God, however, is the God of peace
only to those who are at one with him through Christ. That
is the truth. Only those who know Christ and
Christ’s finished work on the cross, his redemption, Those
are the only ones that will really and truly know God’s peace. Others
may feel some of the tertiary effects of it, of a peaceable
family, a peaceable community because of their Christian influence.
But none will truly know the peace of God unless they truly
know the Savior that God sent. The bottom line here is it is
through God. Who is the author? And the giver
of peace that we are able to find peace and harmony. To cover all the conflicts that
we face, not just the conflicts between men and women, not just
the conflicts between nations. But the main conflict, the conflict
between God himself God is called the God of peace a number of
times in the New Testament. It’s a fascinating occurrence,
and Paul uses it most of all. God or Paul, rather, saw God
as the God of peace. That was one of his chief designations
for the apostle Paul. Paul refers to him as such as
as such in Romans 1533, when he used it almost as a prayer.
Now, the God of peace be with you all. And he prayed that that
peaceable God would manifest himself to the Roman Christians,
the same God that had secured the peace. He wanted them. He
wanted that same God to abide with the Roman Christians. Romans
1620, he goes on finally to close this epistle when he says the
God of peace. will soon crush Satan under your
feet. This peaceable God, this peace
loving peace enacting God is not powerless. He has not laid
down his sword. He is still almighty God and
he will still win the battle. As we have just sung. Second
Corinthians 1311 refers to him likewise. Finally, brethren,
rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like minded, live
in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you. Another
one of those promises of Scripture. First Thessalonians 523, Hebrews
1320, first Corinthians 1433, all of them mention the God of
peace. And there’s a promise here, as
I indicated, there’s a promise. The things you have learned and
received and heard and seen in me practice these things and
the God of peace shall be with you. What does that mean? And of all my studying this week,
this phrase troubled me the most. What does it mean? What does
this promise mean? The God of peace shall be with
you. Because in a real sense, if we
have already called on the name of Christ for salvation, we are
said to be in Christ. Christ is indeed with us. Indeed,
the Holy Spirit indwells us. He’s with us. Christ, therefore,
is with us. God, it could be easily said,
is with us. If two or more are gathered,
it is said that God is with us. Scripture tells us that he will
never leave us or forsake us. So in what sense is Paul adding
by saying, if you do these things, if you practice these things,
the God of peace shall be with you. I believe it was not. You know, I’ll back up and I’ll
tell you, it was interesting, not one commentary dealt with
the question, there was no help there, not one commentary dealt
with this question, what exactly is being promised here? And so whether it was medication
or or feebleness on my own part, this is where I ended up. I don’t
believe that God was imparting any new information to us here.
that if we’ll only do this one thing, then we’ll enjoy some
new measure of God, some new kind of peace, that He will be with us in a
new way. Rather, I think that what Paul is merely reminding
us of is the nature of the God that
is already with us. He is a God who conceived a plan
of redemption from eternity past. He is a God that put that plan,
including the law and the man powered effort to attain salvation
thereby, which ended in ultimate frustration. Which leads ultimately
to the provision of Christ on the cross, reconciling men to
himself. Enacting a peace treaty thereby.
He brought peace where there was only strife and enmity. No
wonder Paul calls him the God of peace, and that’s what Paul
wants to remind us. It is the God of peace with whom
you walk as Christians. It is the God of peace that you
will enjoy. It is the God that has already
enacted everything necessary for salvation. God is a God of peace, and Paul
wanted us to be reminded of that. Ephesians 2.13 says it this way,
but now in Christ Jesus, You who were formerly far off have
been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is
our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier
of the dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which
is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in himself
he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace. and might reconcile them both
in one body to God through the Christ through the cross by having
put to death the enmity. God is a God of peace. And I do believe that God desires
that we enjoy him as the God of peace. And I believe that what the rest
of this passage contains is four spiritual elements that really
aid in our enjoyment of God as a God of peace. First of all,
if we would enjoy God’s abiding presence as the God of peace,
we must have sound teaching. We must have sound teaching.
Go back, if you will, now and look at the verse, because when
Paul says the things you have learned. I believe what he’s
pointing to there is the element of sound teaching that is so
necessary if we are going to grow as Christians, if we are
going to cultivate Christ likeness in our lives, we must have sound
teaching. When he mentions uses this little
word learned, it is learned in the sense of having a set of
facts, information imparted. It’s that’s what the word means. It was used often of a type of
discipleship relationship where one comes alongside and is taught
by another. In the truth, in the facts, in
a very real sense, you could say he is indoctrinated. The word was used in John 715. The Jews were astonished, saying,
how has this man become learned? Speaking of Christ, wondering
of his level of understanding of the deep things of God. Paul
used it at the end of Romans. I urge you, brethren, keep your
eye on those who cause dissensions contrary to the teaching. To that sound doctrine. Which
you learned. First Corinthians, four, six,
uses that these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to
myself and Apollos for your sakes so that in us you may learn not
to exceed what is written so that no one will become arrogant
on behalf of one against the other. They’re talking about
them learning the process of discernment. First Corinthians
1431, Galatians 3, 2 as well, where it is just talking about
this process of one imparting information to another. And Paul points the Philippian
believers back. To the things that they have
learned. He points them back to their Sunday school lesson,
as it were, back to his times of instruction in the temple,
back to his fireside Bible studies, whatever the case may be. He
points them back to the fact that there was a time when they
were learners and that they had lessons imparted to them. This
word can be translated to to be taught, to come to realize,
to come to understand, translated in a number of different ways
in Scripture. But the bottom line is it refers to instruction,
teaching. It is used also in Colossians
1, 7, where Paul says, just as you learned it from a paphrodite,
there was a set of facts, a set of information imparted to you
and you took it in. And I believe that what Paul
is referring to here is clearly preaching and teaching, instructing
the saints, even teaching the lost, as Paul had a tendency
to do, going about. It has always been a key feature
of Christianity, preaching and teaching. Teaching was at the
heart of Jesus’ ministry. Matthew 4, 23 records that Jesus
was going all throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every kind
of disease and every kind of sickness among people. Teaching. Teaching is. Very important to
Christ. There was good teaching, there
was bad teaching, both of a grave concern to Christ. Matthew 5,
19, whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do the same. Shall be called least in
the kingdom of heaven, but whoever keeps and teaches them, he should
be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Teaching and what
is taught was very important to Christ. Teaching was so crucial
to Christ that He gladly bore the name Teacher. Jesus passed on the stewardship
of teaching, the teaching ministry to the disciples. Matthew 28,
19, Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo,
I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And so we
naturally see prominently throughout the book of Acts, a teaching
ministry. Acts 2, 42, they were continually devoting themselves
to the apostles, teaching and to fellowship and the breaking
of bread and prayer. Acts 5, 42, and every day in
the temple from house to house, they kept right on teaching and
preaching Jesus as the Christ. Acts 13, 1. There were at Antioch
in the church that was there, prophets and teachers, Barnabas
and Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene and Menaen,
who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul.
There were teachers. There was a perpetuating ministry
in the church of imparting information basically from one to another.
And on and on it goes in the book of Acts, Acts 18.11, Acts
20.20, Paul speaking of his own ministry. I did not shrink from
declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you
publicly from house to house. How crucial was it to the ministry
of the early church? It was absolutely vital. It was
absolutely vital. And as the book of Acts closes.
It is like a grand testimony of of what had been taking place
in those early days in the church. Acts 28 31 says that they were
preaching the kingdom and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
with all openness unhindered. That was the characteristic of
their ministry, teaching. And preaching. In the epistles,
the focus shifts decidedly. It doesn’t just talk about preaching
and teaching. It talks about the kind of teaching
that took place. It talked about the quality.
It talked about sound doctrine, sound teaching. Romans 617, Paul
warns, thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin,
you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching. to which you were committed.
In other words, there was a standard that was established as things
that were taught and there were those that frequently deviated
from that standard. But the Romans, Paul says, thanks
be to God. You told the line. You stayed
true to the sound doctrine that you were taught, the passage
we just mentioned a moment ago, Romans 16, 17. Now, I urge you,
brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances
contrary to the teaching. Which you learned and turn away
from them, they were to maintain a standard, there was to be a
standard of sound words and there was to be an estimation of what
was true and false doctrine, but teaching was crucial. They didn’t set it aside. They
didn’t set it aside in the Corinthian church, either. First Corinthians
417 has it this way. For this reason, I have sent
you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord.
He will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as
I teach everywhere in every church. For some reason, the Corinthians
had gotten some Interesting ideas in their head. And Timothy was
to come and bring them back, bring them back to the center
and bring them back to sound doctrine. They were not to waver
from that. They were not to deviate from
what Paul had laid out to them. Colossians 128, the clarion call
here. We proclaim him. We proclaim
Christ admonishing every man and teaching every man with all
wisdom. So that we may present every
man complete in Christ. What a great motto for a church. Well, I guess we’ve already got
that one great model that is a great goal for any church.
Admonish every man, teach every man so that we may present every
man complete in Christ. Colossians 316. Let the Word
of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching
and admonishing one another with songs and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Teaching
is to be at the core of what we do in the New Testament church. It is perpetual. First Timothy
1.3, First Timothy 1.7, First Timothy 4.16, all of them echo
this very same thought. First Timothy 4.16 says it this
way. Pay close attention. To yourself. To your life, your
lifestyle, to your walk, to your testimony, to how you’re perceived
by others, pay close attention to that. It is not something
to be trivialized. Pay close attention to yourself
and to your teaching. Was he talking about standing
up there and being very carefully articulate and having everything
alliterated and doing really good PowerPoint presentations.
Is that what he means by have paid close attention to your
teaching? No, he’s talking about the soundness of the doctrine
that was being imparted. Pay very close attention to your
teaching. And as such, the teaching ministry
was recognized as a grace gift of God, it wasn’t for everybody
to enter into. It wasn’t you know, the door
wasn’t open for the clamoring hordes to come rushing through.
And as it was, as such, it was to be exercised very carefully.
Romans 12, 17, Paul says, look, if you have the gift of service,
Serve. In teaching, in your teaching.
If you have the gift of teaching, teach. If you don’t, have a seat. 1 Corinthians 12, as God is appointed
in the church as first apostles, then prophets, teachers, then
miracles, then gifts of health. This was one of the gifts early
on recognized by the church. Ephesians 4.11, He gave some
as apostles, prophets, some as evangelists, pastors and teachers. It is a good gift of God. Paul had founded the church here
in Philippi. Paul had even come back through
strengthening the churches, including the church in Philippi. Paul
had taught the church from the earliest days. Even the epistle
that he writes to them now was further evidence of the ongoing
teaching ministry that Paul had with the Philippians. And Paul
says, look, You’ve got to remember what you’ve learned. You’ve got
to remember your teaching. If you’re if you really are going
to enjoy the presence, the abiding presence of the God of peace,
then you’re going to have to remember what you’ve learned.
You’re going to have to remember. What has been imparted to you
by way of sound teaching? Charles Bridges had a good beat
on this when he said. Because therefore, the wants
of the knowledge of God is the cause of all iniquity among men. Do you hear what he said? Sin
is a result of the fact that we don’t have a good understanding.
We haven’t had a good God lesson. That’s essentially what he says,
because therefore, the want of the knowledge of God is the cause
of all iniquity amongst men. As contrary wise, the ground
of all our unhappiness and the seed of whatsoever perfect virtue
grows from us is a right opinion of things divine. In other words,
if there is any good or if we see any good or if there’s anything
right and proper, it is only because we see God as He truly
is. Bridges goes on and says this
kind of knowledge we may justly set down for the first and cheapest
thing. He said this kind of teaching,
this kind of sound doctrine. That’s the most important thing
of all. To echo scripture, it’s more
important even than food. He goes on to say, it is the
first and chiefest thing which God imparts to his people and
our duty of receiving this at his merciful hands for those
first religious offices wherewith we honor him on earth. It is
absolutely vital that we hear him. For the instruction, therefore,
of all sorts of men unto eternity, it is necessary that the sacred
and saving truth of God be openly published unto them, which publication
of heavenly mysteries is by an excellency termed preaching.”
Bridges had it right. He said, we need to hear from
God, we need to be taught of God. And if we are going to enjoy
the abiding presence of the God of peace, Then, as Paul says,
we need to remember what we’ve learned. We need to dwell on
sound doctrine. Secondly. Paul says not only the things
you have learned, but the things you have received. Now. Now, things are going to get
interesting because now the ball’s in your court. Here, the fact and information
are taken beyond Just the mental level, aren’t they? Now they’re
taken into the soul and they are welcomed as good guides for
Christian living. They are received and they are
personally owned. They are appropriated by the
Christian for the living of the Christian life. They are received.
And it isn’t just learning that is crucial, but the learning
and the receiving that Paul says is beneficial. The word here
denotes the result, in essence, the effect of instruction, the
appropriation of the knowledge that is imparted, that they had
assented to it and embraced it. They had taken it in for their
own and made it their own. First Corinthians, Paul uses
it in this exact way, this very word. I make known to you, brethren,
the gospel which I preached to you, which you received. Most of you sitting here this
morning, have received a portion of the gospel and you understood
that and you understood that Christ died for sinners and you
assented to that and you said, yes, this is for me. I believe
that Christ is my savior and your very salvation hangs on
that profession of faith. And it is likewise with doctrine,
it is not enough just to have good doctrinal books. It’s not
even enough to read the good doctrinal books. It’s enough
to take it down into your soul and to teach you and to correct
you and to train you for righteousness. Paul said the same to the Thessalonians. To the Thessalonians in chapter
two, verse 13, it said, for this reason, we also constantly thank
God. that when you received the Word
of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the
Word of men, but for what it really is, the Word of God, which
performs its work in you who believe. I don’t care who brought
you to the Lord. I don’t care what book. I don’t
care what pamphlet, what tract, what tape. I don’t care who the
preacher was, but it was ultimately the Word of God that led you
to Christ. And Paul says, you’ve got to
focus on that. You’ve got to focus on what you
have received. You’ve got to remember that you
have appropriated these things. You’ve begun to walk in the path
of righteousness, that you are in Christ. It is what you’ve received by
way of instruction, appropriating for yourselves, growing in the
grace and knowledge of God, having received in the sense of that
truth passed on from a teacher like food. It is absolutely crucial not
just to listen, but to take it and to mull it over and to make
it your own and to imbibe that deep down into your heart and
soul and to be able to live out those doctrines and those sound
truths that have been imparted to you. Thirdly, and I’m picking
up pace if we could. Thirdly, if we’re going to maintain
God’s abiding presence, We are greatly helped not only by sound
teaching and not only obedient application to those sound truths,
but thirdly, to encouraging testimonies. This is an interesting one. Paul
says the things you have learned and received and heard, and you
could say that Paul was just talking about all the sermons
that he’d ever taught to them, or maybe that all the sermons
that anybody had ever taught to them, but that’s not. At least
in the context, what is being spoken of what’s being spoken
of is what they had heard about Paul. Because in the very next
clause, he mentions what they had seen in Paul. It isn’t that
which they heard from Paul directly, Paul’s teaching ministry is dealt
with, as I said, by the two previous words, what they had learned
and what they had received. But here the focus is Paul’s
example itself, the practical application of his teaching.
So Paul wasn’t content just to lecture. Paul wasn’t intent just
to preach, just to teach them, just to give them a list of do’s
and don’ts, to passionately expound all these great life principles.
Instead, he offered up an exemplary life. A light that the Philippians
had not only heard about, as Paul indicates here, that as
he goes on to say, the Philippians had actually seen it, had witnessed
it. My question to you. Is how often do we give good
reports about others? How often do you report about
someone who is really living out Much like what Trey talked
about several Sundays about living out a particular grace of God.
How often do we focus on those of good repute and echo that
back to others? You know, I know a man who is
living in such and such a way. I know a person who has met every
trial and been purified like gold and has come out with a
joyful heart. I know a person. How often do
we do that? Aren’t those testimonies of others? Helpful to you when you hear
of someone who has appropriated the grace of God and has a great
testimony because of it, isn’t that encouraging to you and helpful
to you? Then why don’t we do more of
that? We certainly don’t stop ourselves, at least not too frequently,
we don’t stop ourselves from echoing the dirt, the. The frustrations
that we have about the saints, We don’t hesitate to talk about
the struggles that other people are in, even if we don’t name
them. But how sad it is that we don’t tell the grace of God
actively coursing through other saints lives, having God having
his way with them. Leading them, developing Christ
likeness in them. It was encouraging to Paul. And
Paul knew it was encouraging to the saints. And that’s why
frequently in his epistles are these testimonies, testimonies
of others and testimonies about himself. Listen to Colossians
chapter one. We give thanks to God, the father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard
of your faith in Christ and the love which you have for all the
saints. Somebody came to Paul and they said, man, I got to
tell you about the Colossians. They’re amazing. I’ve got to
tell you about them. The love that they have for all
the saints is absolutely fantastic. They’re exemplary. What about
Philemon? Paul heard about little Philemon
in prison. He said, I hear of your faith.
I hear I hear of your love and the faith which you have toward
the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints. Here’s Paul. And,
you know, here’s this this one guy. And a little bit of news about this
one guy. Was enough for Paul to pen an
epistle that is canonized in Scripture for all time. Second
Corinthians. I told you I should have finished
Second Corinthians, Second Corinthians chapter seven. But God, who comforts
the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus and not only
by his coming, but also by his comfort with which he was comforted
in you as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your
zeal for me so that I rejoiced even more. We need to talk about
what God is doing in people’s lives. We need to talk about
what Grace of God is manifest in others. First Thessalonians
chapter one, the word of the Lord is sounded forth from you.
I mean, what a grand testimony for all time. About the Thessalonian
church, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every
place your faith of faith toward God has gone forth so that we
have no need to say anything. Their testimony was so grand
that Paul no longer needed to even echo. This great testimony
about this church. He goes on in chapter three of
that same epistle. But now that Timothy has come
to us from you and has brought us good news of your faith and
love and that you always think kindly of us, longing to see
us just as we long to see you. What if you tried it this week?
What if you just tried only to speak positively about the saints? Some positive thing that you
see that God is doing in their lives. What if you limited your
speech to that? What a great thing. What a great
thing, we need it, we need examples, don’t we? And Paul had been that
for them, and we’ve been down this road so many times, I’m
not going to belabor the point this morning. The fourth thing
that he says. Here is that in maintaining God’s
abiding presence, we are greatly helped not only by encouraging
testimonies, but by faithful examples. And Paul had been that
to them and he acknowledges it. He wasn’t afraid because he knew
there was a grace of God working through him that had done that.
What the Philippians had seen in Paul, Paul wasn’t ashamed
of. In fact, Paul had already exhorted
them to follow in his example, right? Philippians 3.17. Paul
was never afraid to urge others to imitate him. First Corinthians
4, 16, be imitators of me. First Corinthians 11, 1. Second
Corinthians 6, 4. In everything we commend ourselves
as servants of God. The man was either an egotist
or he was a man of God that was not afraid to be seen for who
God had designed him to be. That kind of an attitude was
not out of ignorance or arrogance, but rather Paul knew Paul knew
the saints needed examples. What if you approached an example
this week? What if you approach someone who had control of their
tongue or their temper? What if you approach someone
that was appropriating God’s grace in an abundant way and
just affirmed them in that? Even that is a mark of God’s
grace using you as an encourager. What if we did that this week
instead of the other? Paul’s life, as one said, must
have been a noble and a blameless life that he could justly point
to himself as a standard for others. Deficiencies, inconsistencies,
which might remain half forgotten or brought vividly to remembrance
by anything like boasting. In other words, what he says
is the moment that Paul said, look at me, if he were at all
inconsistent, he would have been shot down in an instant. But
the great apostle had no cause. to fear any such result, but
dared on all occasions to appeal from the unswerving fidelity
of his life and teachings to the precepts of Christ. It is
us, as we model Christ, that we’re not afraid to point to
others as an example. We’re not afraid to live out
Christ before others. We’re not afraid to be watched
by others. We’re not afraid to be followed
by others. The things you have learned and
received and heard and seen in Me, practice these things and
the God of peace shall be with you.” What glorious words to
the saints. Let’s pray. Our great God, Our
loving Heavenly Father, we are nothing without your almighty
work in our lives. And Father, just as you created
this earth and all its beauty from nothing, Father, you took
that same nothing, broken, godless lives, and turned it into saints
that are pursuing Christ with vigor It was zeal. Lord God, I thank you for those
in our body. I thank you for those that are
pursuing Christ. I thank you for those that can
very truly be said to be examples to the faithful. God, grant us
the grace. to dwell on lessons learned,
on lessons received, on testimonies provided, and on the examples
before us. Grant us Your peace. O God, we
pray in Jesus’ name, Amen. Thank you.