Thank you for having me. I know not all of you have had me in your homes, but a number of you have, and we're very grateful.
We've been staying with Joy and Ross last night, and so that was lovely.
I guess I wear two hats as well as being the pastor of Egberth Community Church.
I'm also chair of the board of Radstock Ministries.
I'm on the board with Ralph over there, who is the one who really holds it all together.
So I've been doing that for a number of years.
Radstock is a network of churches of which you guys are a part, trying to help one another to be involved in church planting projects around the world.
And so it's great to be partnering with you guys in the work in Jilan in Kosovo.
And I know you were a real encouragement to Naomi and Rich when they came to visit you, so thank you for that.
And thank you for having us this weekend.
My plan is to be talking a little bit about local church and global mission this morning.
And we're going to be darting around different parts of the Bible.
So if you've got your Bibles on your laps, that will help you.
And I'm going to pray for us as we start asking that the Lord would help us.
So let me pray for us.
Lord, we do thank you for our fellowship in the Lord Jesus.
And we thank you that we meet together in the Lord Jesus' name as brothers and sisters in Christ.
And we come together now to open your word that we might be addressed by you together.
And so we pray that you'd give us tender hearts, eager ears to listen to what you say in your word.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
I wonder if you were to make a list of all the things that a local church must do, what would be on it?
What things must a local church do?
Well, let me suggest a few things.
A local church must meet together.
The word church in your New Testament means together.
So a church must meet together.
Another thing a church must do, they must pray together.
A church is by definition, as we heard at the outset this morning,
a company of people who depend upon the Lord for everything.
And that must be expressed in their life together as they come and pray together.
We also must open the Bible as well, mustn't we?
So we mustn't only just gather and pray.
We must open the Bible because not only do we want to speak to God and express our dependence upon God,
we also want God to address us and speak to us in his word.
So we must open the Bible together.
We must study the Bible.
We must hear the Bible preached, taught, explained.
We want to see the message of the Bible acted out in the Lord's Supper and in baptism.
We want to sing the message of the Bible together in the songs that we sing.
If we don't open the Bible together, all we're really doing is sharing one another's great ideas.
And as much as I love Johnny, I don't want to sit and gather around his great ideas on a Sunday morning.
That's not what we're doing, is it?
We want to listen to what God says.
You know, also our church should love one another.
The Lord Jesus says, by this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
You know, our love for one another in the life of the church is where the transforming power of the gospel becomes visible to the community around us.
As they see people who have no connection with one another, other than their mutual trust in the Lord Jesus and membership of a local church.
They see people sacrificing time and money and energy for one another's goods.
So we must love one another.
We must also reach out to others.
Do the work of evangelism.
Preach the good news of the Lord Jesus to others.
Both publicly as we gather, but also in conversation in the places that the Lord scatters us to during the week.
As we reach out to neighbours, friends and colleagues.
That they too might hear about the forgiveness and reconciliation that they too can have and find in the Lord Jesus.
Now that's the core of what we do.
We might do it in slightly different ways.
We're in different countries, in different contexts.
We do it with different languages, different accents.
The music that we sing might be different.
The time that we meet, the venue that we meet in might be slightly different.
But the truth is that local churches everywhere should do those five things, shouldn't they?
They should gather.
They should pray.
They should hear from God's word.
They should love one another.
And they should reach out with the gospel.
Now let me ask you, if that's true, let me ask you this question.
This is the question I want us to deal with together this morning.
It's amongst those five things.
What place does global mission have?
What part does an active concern for the work of Christ amongst the nations have amongst those five things that a local church like this,
like our church in Egbert, should be doing?
I don't know if you've heard the story of William Carey.
William Carey was a brilliant young pastor in the 18th century in Northamptonshire in the Midlands in England.
And he, by the age of 21, he had mastered Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Italian, and presumably English as well,
whilst also working as a cobbler in a local shop.
He was a brilliant, brilliant young man.
And he read, I suppose, and these were maybe the Harry Potter of his generation,
he was reading the diaries of Captain James Cook,
who was the adventurer traveling the world and finding new places.
If you've ever read his diaries, they are gruesome.
They're basically lists of all the people who died and he threw overboard along his way around the world.
Anyway, as William Carey read those diaries, he was fascinated not so much by the new places that Cook was discovering,
but by the people, thinking to himself, these people need to hear about Jesus.
They're lost.
And so troubled by that kind of concern for the nations,
Carey turns up at his pastor's fraternal with other ministers from the rural Midlands of England.
And he says, what are we going to do?
How are we going to reach the nations with the good news of the Lord Jesus?
To which he was famously told, and you may have heard of this quote by a guy called Dr. Ryland,
young man, sit down when God wants to save the heathen, he'll do it without your aid or mine.
Incredible thing for him to say.
And hopefully you don't need me to tell you that Dr. Ryland was wrong.
History tells us that, at least, doesn't it?
William Carey went on to become the father of modern missions,
ultimately reaching millions of people with the gospel through the extensions of his ministry
in various parts of the world.
But even still, I think that despite the fact that because of Carey and people like him,
all of us think missions is important.
Global missions must feature somewhere in the life of our church.
I don't think often we think, how does it actually relate to who we are and what we're doing
as a local church?
How does it relate to the five things that we know we must do?
If the elders said to you, actually, guys, we're going to stop meeting,
you'd say, well, we've stopped being a local church.
We're going to stop praying.
Well, we're not going to be a local church anymore.
How does global mission fit in to those things that we should do?
Well, to help us answer that question, I've got three points
from three different passages in the Bible.
So we're going to keep ourselves warm by thumbing through the scriptures.
So turn with me first to the book of Romans, to Romans chapter 15,
which is on page 1141, if you have a church Bible.
And the first point is this.
The gospel is a message that wants to travel.
Let me say that again.
The gospel is a message that wants to travel.
Romans chapter 15, I'm going to pick it up in verse 7
and read to you down to verse 24.
Romans chapter 15, verse 7.
The gospel is a message that wants to travel.
Paul writes this.
Accept one another then, just as Christ accepted you,
in order to bring praise to God.
For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews
on behalf of God's truth,
so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed,
and moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.
As it is written,
Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles.
I will sing the praises of your name.
Again it says,
Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.
And again,
Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles.
Let all peoples extol him.
And again, Isaiah says,
The root of Jesse will spring up,
one who will arise to rule over the nations.
In him the Gentiles will hope.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit.
I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters,
that you yourselves are full of goodness,
filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another.
Yet I have written to you quite boldly on some points
to remind you of them again,
because of the grace God gave me
to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles.
He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God
so that the Gentiles might become an offering
acceptable to God,
sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus
in my service to God.
I will not venture to speak of anything
except what Christ has accomplished through me
in leading the Gentiles to obey God
by what I have said and done,
by the power of signs and wonders,
through the power of the Spirit of God.
So from Jerusalem all the way round to Illyricum,
I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel
where Christ was not known,
so I would not be building on someone else's foundation.
Rather, as it is written,
those who are not told about him will see,
and those who have not heard will understand.
This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.
But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions,
and since I have been longing for many years to visit you,
I plan to do so when I go to Spain.
I hope to see you while passing through,
that you will assist me on my journey there
after I have enjoyed your company for a while.
Now often in Paul's writings,
it's not really until you get to the end of them,
the end of the books or the end of the letters,
that you realise the purpose for which he's writing.
So the book of Romans is not written,
firstly at least,
as a kind of thorough explanation of the gospel,
but rather it's written to a local church
to persuade them to be involved in Paul's project to reach Spain.
The fact is that Paul sees a direct line
between his summary and explanation of the gospel
in his opening chapters
and the Roman church's involvement in his mission to Spain.
He sees that connection.
So let's see that together.
What is it that's going on in the gospel?
Look at verse 7.
Well, Christ is accepting people, isn't he, in the gospel?
Just as Christ accepted you,
they are to accept one another.
He is welcoming people.
In the gospel, sinful, fallen people
are welcomed and accepted
by a God of righteousness and holiness and perfection.
He, in the gospel, brings them into his family,
into his people,
through Christ's death on the cross.
And all of that, verse 7,
is to bring praise to God.
It's for his glory.
Now, we mustn't miss this.
This is subtle,
but it's meant there as a surprise, I think.
It's supposed to be a surprise to us
that God in Christ is welcoming Roman people
into his family.
He is accepting uncircumcised outsiders
like the Romans into his people.
Christ was, after all, a Jewish Messiah.
He is the promised Old Testament saviour,
the rescuer of God's people, Israel.
But now, says Paul,
God, through Christ,
is welcoming people in Rome,
Roman Christians.
How so?
Well, verse 8,
For I tell you that Christ has become
a servant of the Jews
on behalf of God's truth,
so that the promises made to the patriarchs
may be confirmed.
Christ came as a servant to the Jews,
the circumcised,
in order to fulfil promises made
to the patriarchs,
the Old Testament heroes.
But, and there's the mind-blowing truth,
the earth-shaking point,
so that, what, verse 9,
that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.
In other words,
the very promises of the Old Testament,
the servanthood of Christ
for the sake of his people,
the Jews,
was for the very purpose
of reaching the Gentiles,
the nations.
Now, Paul won't leave it there.
Instead, he proves the point
with a string of Old Testament quotes,
linking God's promises
to Old Testament patriarchs
with this project
of reaching the Gentiles,
who are ethne,
the nations.
And here's the thing,
God's promises,
promises fulfilled in Christ's work
on the cross,
have within themselves
this driving concern
to get out to the nations,
to go beyond,
to reach out.
With this goal of welcoming
and accepting
people in Rome,
people in Carigalline,
people in Liverpool,
into God's family,
to the praise and glory
of his name.
Imagine it like this
for a moment.
Imagine you've got a young
border collie dog,
a young sheepdog,
and you're taking her out
for a walk on the hill.
And she's young,
so you've got her on a lead.
If anyone's had a puppy,
you know that's really important,
isn't it?
You've got to keep them on a lead
because you have no idea
what they're going to do
if you let go of that lead.
But as you walk up the hill,
you decide at a particular moment
in time,
right, okay,
now I'm going to do it.
I'm going to go for it.
I am going to release the lead
and see what happens.
And so you let go of her lead
and you unclip her.
What does she do?
Well, she runs.
She runs to go find sheep
or anything as near to sheep
as she can find
and bring them back to you,
whether or not
that's what you hoped
she would do
or whether or not
it's what you had in mind.
I've got a Labrador
and the first time
I let her off the lead,
she ran and ate someone's picnic.
That's because
that's what Labradors do
instead of border collies.
But so it is
with the Gospel promises, okay?
In the Old Testament,
in a sense,
the Gospel promises
are kept on the lead
for the Jewish nation.
But in the work of Christ,
the lead is released
and boom,
it goes to the nations
because that was always in it.
That was always the purpose.
Unleashed,
the Gospel gathers people
from the nations.
It's on the loose.
It's on the run.
It's reaching out to the world.
Now that very fact
gets worked out in two ways
in the life of the Roman church.
In verse 7,
it means something very profound
for how they meet together.
It says, verse 7,
that they should accept one another.
It means, doesn't it,
that their local church
should accept one another
in the same manner
in which Christ is accepting them.
So that our churches
should be welcoming
and friendly
to people regardless
of their nationality or race.
Disregarding cultural differences
or differences in background
or class,
our churches should be places
where people are welcomed
on the basis of
Christ's welcome of them.
So we must do that.
But more than just that,
look at how it works out
in Paul's life.
Jump towards the end
of the section that we read
in verses 19 and 20.
Look at what Paul says.
Here Paul says
that he's finished the work
in Jerusalem
and all the way around
to Illyricum,
modern day Albania.
He's fully proclaimed Christ
in all those places, he says.
Which is an astounding thing
for him to say.
This is one man saying
all the way from Jerusalem
all the way around
to modern day Albania.
I've preached the gospel
and proclaimed Christ fully
in all those places.
Now I don't think he means
that everybody in those regions
have become Christians.
Nor does he mean,
I don't think,
that there's no more
fruitful work
even that he could do
in those places.
But it's finished
because of Paul's ambition,
verse 20,
to keep pressing on
with the gospel
to tell it to people
who've never heard.
A project where ultimately
he wants the church
to help him in.
See, this is the second
implication, isn't it,
for the church.
Not only are they
to be accepting of people
irrespective of where
they're from,
the second implication
is that they should be
involved with Paul
in the project
of taking the gospel
to other people
regardless of where
they are.
Deliberately going beyond
the boundaries
of their own church
for no other reason
other than the fact
that they believe
the gospel.
They believe the gospel
which is like this
border collie
who's on the loose
running free
and rounding up people
from the nations,
bringing them into
God's global family.
Bringing glory to God.
And this is interesting,
isn't it?
Bringing glory to God,
says Paul,
not simply by the
sheer number of people
who are saved,
but by the spread
around the world
of those who are saved.
So Paul leaves behind
fruitful ministry
where more people
would become Christians
and will become Christians
as the church reached them,
but Paul leaves that ministry
because he's concerned
about God's glory
and the spread
to every corner
of the globe.
You see,
here's the thing for us
as a church family.
If you will preach
the gospel,
believe the gospel,
gather around the gospel
as a church,
it will do this work
amongst us
because the gospel
has this power
within it.
It will send us
out to the nations.
It will give us
in itself
an otherwise
inexplicable concern
for people
who are unlike us
in places
that we have never been.
Not because we're
adventurous types,
but because the message
of the gospel
which has welcomed us
into God's family
gives us in itself
this concern
to reach the nations
with the good news
of the Lord Jesus.
So that's the first point.
The gospel has that
spreading power within it.
Second point
and second passage,
the local church
is a mission agency
for the world.
The good thing
with this passage
is you only have to
turn one page
in your Bible
to find it.
It's 1 Corinthians,
which is,
if you've closed
your Bible,
page 1144.
The local church
is a mission agency
for the world.
Now,
as we come
to 1 Corinthians,
it's going to help us
just to know
a little bit of background.
the church
in Corinth
was a mess.
I think that's
the most simple summary.
It was a mess.
You're told in the book
of Acts
that Paul
planted the church,
but it seems to have
quickly run into
difficulties.
And the letter
of 1 Corinthians
is written
to the Corinthian church
on the back
of two things.
One is a report
from Chloe's people
or Chloe's household,
as it gets called
in chapter 1,
who have sent back
news to Paul
of what's really
going on in Corinth.
The second thing
that seems to have
happened is that
a letter has been
written by the
Corinthian church
to Paul,
and Paul is answering
some of the things
that come out
in that letter.
Now,
as you read
through 1 Corinthians,
you're obviously
only getting one half
of that conversation,
aren't you?
It's like listening
to someone,
you're not supposed
to do this,
listening to someone's
telephone call,
but if you listen
to someone's
telephone call
on the train,
you're only hearing
their half
and you're piecing
together.
But as you read
1 Corinthians,
you can piece together
what seems to be
happening in Corinth
from Paul's
responses to them.
So they are split
along the lines
of personality.
Some people
are following Paul,
others are Polis,
others Cephas,
you know,
he's my hero.
Added to that,
they're boasting
about sexual immorality.
It seems that a man
is sleeping with his
step-mom,
and though the world
around them
is ashamed of that,
the Christian church
seems to think
this is a great
example of Christian
freedom.
And Paul is
outraged.
In another section,
church members
are taking one
another to court
in legal battles,
not because they've
done great
offences against
one another,
these are small
matters that they
should be able to
resolve in the
local church,
but instead they're
taking them to
court.
And if all of that
wasn't enough,
they're also getting
drunk as they share
the Lord's Supper.
I think this is
probably the
highlight or the
low light,
the low light of
1 Corinthians,
as Paul says,
do you know what,
when you guys share
the Lord's Supper,
it would be better
if you didn't bother.
Better if you didn't
bother.
So bad are your
meetings together.
Now into all of
that mess comes the
letter of 1 Corinthians
and Paul says some
really surprising
things.
So let me just read
the first three
verses.
We're only going to
look at the first
three verses.
1 Corinthians
chapter 1.
Paul called to be an
apostle of Christ
Jesus by the will
of God and our
brother Sosthenes.
To the church of
God in Corinth,
to those sanctified
in Christ Jesus
and called to be
his holy people,
together with all
those everywhere
who call on the
name of our Lord
Jesus Christ,
their Lord and
ours.
Grace and peace
to you from God
our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ.
Now I think the
first surprise there
is that Paul thinks
that this church is
sanctified,
made holy.
In other words,
and it gets expanded
in these opening
verses of
Thanksgiving from
verses 4 to 9,
Paul looks on at
the chaos of the
Corinthian church,
all those things
going on,
and he sees them
as holy people,
saints,
he says.
That's brilliant,
isn't it?
Paul there is
showing his
confidence in the
gospel to take
sinful,
broken,
fallen people
and wash them
clean of their sin,
that they might
stand before God
as absolutely
sanctified,
holy.
You know,
this morning,
if you're struggling
as a Christian,
if you're losing
in your fight
with sin,
if you feel this
morning like a
hopeless failure,
or maybe this
morning you're not
a Christian and
you think,
I could never be
good enough to be
a Christian.
Well,
then you must hear
this from 1
Corinthians chapter
1.
Paul believes
that the power
of the gospel
takes sinful,
fallen,
broken people
like you and me
and makes us
stand before God
as sanctified
people,
holy people,
who in Christ
have everything
that we need.
It's astounding,
absolutely stunning.
Christ so
comprehensively
deals with sin,
even the sin
that we still
struggle with,
that we can be
called saints.
But the second
surprise really
is there in the
word together
in verse 2.
Look at what's
happening here.
The Corinthian church
in all their mess
are sanctified,
they're called
saints,
but they are
together.
You notice that
they are,
his holy people
faint together
with all those
everywhere who
call on the name
of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Let me try and
explain the shock
of that.
This doesn't
happen so often
in our house
anymore because
our children
have grown up
to the stage
where they now
wash their
hands.
But when they
were little,
we have four
daughters and
when they were
really little,
it would not
be uncommon for
one of them
to have a
vomiting bug.
And what you
know if you've
got a number
of small children
in your house
is that once
one of them
starts vomiting,
it's not going
to be very long
before another
one starts
vomiting.
And when another
one starts,
it's not going
to be long
before.
And anyway,
it's terrible,
isn't it?
It's the worst
thing ever.
Passing children
between my wife
and I to hold
them over the
toilet because we
wanted also to
throw up.
It's like the
worst week of
our lives.
So we instituted
this rule in our
house which is if
you have a
vomiting bug,
you are limited
to your room
or the toilet.
Nowhere else.
If you're going
to be sick,
run to the toilet
but you're otherwise
confined to your
bedroom and no
one else in the
family is going
to have anything
to do with you
until you're
better.
That's the
compassion of
our family for
you.
And we do that
because we want
to stop the
spread, don't
we?
We want to stop
this getting
through everybody
because it
would be terrible.
Now I think
that if I've been
in the Apostle
Paul's shoes,
the first thing
that I wanted
to say to the
Corinthian church
is just don't
have anything to
do with anybody
else please.
This stuff that
you're doing,
please don't have
anything to do
with anybody
else.
You've got the
church equivalent
of a vomiting
bug.
Get yourself
sorted, limit
yourselves to
your own room
and when you're
sorted then by
all means engage
with what's going
on in the rest
of the world.
But he doesn't
say that at all
does he?
He says
rather right at
the beginning
that they are
together with
saints, with
other holy
people around
the nations.
They trust in
the same gospel,
they hope in
the same saviour.
Now those are
not empty words
for Paul.
He's not kind
of trying to
inspire them to
say something
that's not quite
true of them,
to make them
feel better.
Instead as you
read through the
letter it has a
real practical
outworking in the
life of the
Corinthian church.
As you go
through the letter
you realise that
not only is
Paul responding
to Chloe's
report, not
only is he
responding to
this letter
that he's
received, also
those might be
the occasion of
his letter but
the purpose of
his letter is
to inspire the
Corinthian church
to give money
to the Jerusalem
church, to host
Timothy as he
comes to visit
them, to send
people along with
Paul to take
money and
greetings to the
church in
Jerusalem, providing
people to travel.
people.
Now I
turned you to
1 Corinthians
because I
think that's
the most
surprising example
of this, but
actually as you
work through the
New Testament
you see this is
time and again
the New Testament's
assumption about
the work of the
local church in
global missions.
It is the
responsibility of
local church, even
really messy local
church like
Corinthian church, it's
their responsibility to
do mission, global
mission.
The local church is
God's mission
agency to take the
gospel to the
nations.
Ordinary local
churches pay for
missions, host and
receive missionaries,
send missionaries, take
collective responsibility
for the work of the
gospel, not only in
their own place but
beyond them in the
nations.
Now there isn't a
separate agency set up
in the New Testament
to do this job, instead
it belongs to ordinary
local churches.
We turn to William
Carey in the 18th
century for a
moment.
It's interesting
isn't it that Carey
set up the Baptist
Missionary Society
because of the
failure of the local
church.
He went to that
minister's fraternal to
inspire local churches to
engage in global
mission.
He came away and set up
the Baptist Missionary
Association because none
of them could be
persuaded to be
involved.
Now arguably the
fruit of 200 years of
mission agencies has
been accidentally I
think that local
churches can feel like
that responsibility has
somehow been lifted
from their shoulders.
So we wouldn't say
with Dr.
Ryland, you know,
young man sit down
when God so pleases to
save the heathen he'll
do it without your
help or mine.
What we tend to say is
local churches you sit
down because the
mission agencies are
going to do it for you.
That's not what the
New Testament says.
The New Testament tells
us that local churches
like your church here,
like our church in
Egbert, should not assume
that anyone else is doing
this job for them.
but rather it belongs
to us.
It's our responsibility
to build relationships,
to engage, to receive,
to learn, to send, to go.
Which means, doesn't it,
that our local church
gatherings have this
really odd dynamic to
them.
Not only are we really
concerned to gather
together because that's
what it means to be
church and we want to
gather together, but
actually also there's
this strange dynamic of
also wanting to push
some people out.
Not because we don't
like them, not because
they don't fit in,
rather because before
God we've come to the
conclusion that these
individuals might be
better serving somewhere
else for the sake of
the gospel.
There is a grindy shaped
hole in our church in
Egbert.
And yet we are persuaded
as a local church that
they are better serving
the gospel over in
Kosovay.
Better for them, it's
better for our local
church and it's better
for the church there in
Kosovay.
And that's our calling,
isn't it?
God doesn't simply call
individuals into mission,
he calls local churches
to be responsible for
missions so that together
they feel this burden.
We have a responsibility
beyond our own borders to
take the gospel into
places where it's not yet
been heard, to preach
Christ.
And maybe you should go.
That's the second thing.
Okay?
Local churches are global
mission agencies.
Third thing, mission
mindedness is for every
church member.
Mission mindedness is for
every church member.
And for that we're going
to turn to the book of
Philippians.
So turn forward a few
pages.
I'm going to get you a page
number in a second.
These pages in your church
Bibles really stick together.
Maybe you don't use them
very much, Johnny.
Is that right?
Okay, Philippians we were
looking at, which is page
1178.
Now Paul's letter to the
Philippians.
We're having an overview of
Romans, Corinthians and
Philippians this morning.
Paul's letter to the
church in Philippi is
centred around this word
mind.
Okay?
Not so much just your
brain, but minds as in
attitudes, your heart,
the controlling idea about
what your life is for.
That's what Philippians is
all about.
So that's why you get the
verses like, for me to live
is Christ, to die is gain.
This is what is the
controlling centre of your
life?
What is your life all about?
And he uses a special word
for it, which does come at
other times in the New
Testament, but it's here
no less than ten times.
The word phronium is this
word for mind or attitude.
And it comes scattered
through the letter, but it's
clustered three times in
chapter two.
So let me read a bit of
chapter two to you.
Let me start at verse one.
Look at what he says.
Therefore, if you have any
encouragement from being
united with Christ, if any
comfort from his love, if
any common sharing in the
spirit, if any tenderness
and compassion, then make
my joy complete by being,
here's the word, like
minded, having the same
love, being one in spirit
and of one, here's the word
again, mind.
Do nothing out of selfish
ambition or vain conceit,
but rather in humility value
others above yourselves, not
looking to your own
interests, but each of you to
the interests of the
others.
In your relationships with
one another, have the same,
here's the word, mindset as
Christ Jesus, who being in
very nature God did not
consider equality with God
something to be used to his
own advantage.
Rather, he made himself
nothing.
By taking the very nature of
a servant, being made in
human likeness and being found
in appearance as a man, he
humbled himself by becoming
obedient to death, even death
on a cross.
Therefore God exalted him to
the highest place and gave him
the name that is above every
name, that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow in
heaven and on earth and under
the earth, and every tongue
acknowledge that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the
Father.
Now that word appears, doesn't it,
like I mentioned, twice in verse
two and then again in verse five.
But it's all the same thing,
isn't it?
Paul's point is that the driving
passion and purpose, the
mindedness that we have towards
our lives as Christians should
be what?
Should be the same as the Lord
Jesus is.
And how do we know what the Lord
Jesus' mindset was towards his
life?
What was Christ's controlling
thought about his life?
Well it's seen, isn't it, there in
verses six to eleven.
His mind and his attitude is the
attitude which took him to the
cross, which emptied himself.
He did not consider equality with
God something to use to his own
advantage, but rather he made
himself nothing.
In other words, the controlling
attitude of Christ's mind is this.
It's one of self-sacrifice for the
purpose of the eternal salvation of
others.
Do you see that?
I am going to sacrifice myself,
says the Lord Jesus, so that others
might be saved eternally.
And that attitude, verse nine, means
that when God sees Christ, he says,
this is the one.
This is the one whose name is above
every name.
Bow to this name because in seeing
this self-sacrifice for the eternal
well-being of others, you see God in
the flesh.
Now the point of the letter of the
Philippians is that that is supposed
to be the heart attitude of the
church.
That is our mindedness towards one
another.
So the word mind is there in chapter
four, verse 10, where it's
translated, I think, concern,
probably.
Chapter four and verse 10.
I rejoice greatly in the Lord that
at last you will need your concern,
your mindedness towards me of
self-sacrifice.
Indeed, you were concerned but had no
opportunity to show it.
Now they've given him a gift.
So Paul writes to the Philippian
church to say, thank you for being
so minded towards me that you are
sacrificing of yourself for the
eternal well-being, not simply of me
and my perseverance, but of that of
others as I tell them the gospel.
So he writes to say thank you.
He says in chapter one, verse seven, I
think where it's translated feel, he
says it's right for me to feel this way
about you.
I am minded like this towards you,
the Philippian church, that I am going
to sacrifice of myself for your
eternal well-being.
So here it is.
We see it supremely in Christ and his
work on the cross.
You see it in the Philippians' love for
Paul.
You see it in Paul's love for the
Philippians.
Self-sacrificial service for the
eternal well-being of others.
A willingness to give that others
might hear and know Christ.
But the question for us this morning
is who is meant to have that mind?
Does that mind belong just to the
really keen Christians in church?
Well no.
Chapter two, as we read together, it
comes from being united with Christ.
It comes from our fellowship with the
Spirit.
It comes from our inclusion in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
And in chapter three, verse 15, it's
there's such a view of things, which is
the same word, that every mature
Christian should take.
In other words, this is the DNA of
every Christian.
When Johnny was over in October, I
think it was, or November, preaching
in Liverpool, he had the privilege of
meeting my dad.
My dad doesn't live in Liverpool, but
he was around helping me fit a new
shower.
And despite our best intentions, we
intended to finish before Johnny
arrived.
But we hadn't.
So Johnny got the privilege of seeing
my dad and I messing around in DIY.
But one of the things that Palfremen
really love is practical stuff.
So we love doing jobs together, and we
love practical presence for one another.
Now my dad never phones me up and says,
how are you doing?
Phones me up and says, what are you
doing?
Is there a job that we can do together?
This year for Christmas, my dad's
dad bought me a wax oil spray gun so I can
spray rust proofing on my car.
Brilliant.
It's the way we're made.
Palfremen think practical is best.
That's just our family likeness, right?
So if you meet any of us, that's what we're
like.
Now in a sense, that's what Paul is saying
about the Christian in Philippi.
It's not practical wax oiling.
It's self-sacrificial service for the eternal
well-being of others.
That's the DNA of Christ, and it's the DNA of
every single Christian in church.
That is to be our mind.
A mind which lies behind every pure missionary
endeavor.
The mind in every individual Christian is to be
in me.
It's to be in you.
It's to be in every single person who trusts in
Christ, which looks at the eternal well-being of
others, even outside their own church, and says,
that eternal well-being is worth my personal
sacrifice.
Which means, doesn't it, that the part of
discipleship for every Christian is seeing that
they have a responsibility for the gospel beyond
themselves.
At the cost of their own comfort.
That normal Christian living, normal Christian
discipleship, is not simply that the extreme
Christians go, in a sense, but the ordinary
Christian discipleship is that we're all involved
in that process.
You know, you might not leave Caroline, but still
your self-sacrificial love for others that they
might hear about Jesus will work its way out in
practical ways in your life.
As you give.
As you pray.
As you share news and information.
So let's just wrap this up and end where we
started before the rain gets so heavy you can't
hear me.
As a local church, we are gathering, we're
praying, we're listening to God's word, we're
loving and we're reaching out.
What place does global mission have in those
five things?
Well, actually, it invades every single one of
them, does it not?
You know, as we gather, we gather with a view to
scattering ourselves broader than just our own nation.
That more people would hear the gospel.
As we pray, we pray not simply just for ourselves and
our own needs.
Of course we pray for those.
But we realise we have a responsibility for the needs
beyond our own church, for others' needs.
So we pray for them too.
As we listen to God's word, we listen to the message of
the gospel, which is not just about a small saviour for my
own personal salvation.
It's about a global saviour who's reaching out to the
nations, a message which has within itself this expulsive
power to get to the very corners of the world.
As we love, we love not just one another in this room, but we
love others that they too might hear the gospel.
And as we reach out, certainly we reach out in the streets
around us, but also we realise that we have a responsibility to
reach the nations beyond us as well.
Let me pray as we close.
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much that in the Lord Jesus we see
this message which belongs not simply to us, but it belongs to the
nations, that they might hear of the welcome that they can receive in
the Lord Jesus Christ.