Over the past several months I have been preaching through the book of Philippians, actually we only got through the first 11 verses. This past week I started a new sermon series on the book of Nehemiah using a concept that I heard from another pastor, “Building a City within a City.” You will have to take a look at the videos that are being posted. This however has brought forth a problem in my ministry because I wanted to finish Philippians. Who knows maybe the Lord will have me preach from there in the future. Until that time though, I wanted to use this medium to share some thoughts about Philippians. I believe that this book is a great book on how the church and believers are to behave and what the church looks like according to the Lord.
In case you haven’t viewed the videos of the past several sermons, let me recap what has been shared so far. We are in Philippians 1:1-11. We have looked at how the church was started through three events that can be found in the book of Acts. We have Lydia, who was an intellectual business woman, a slave girl, and the jailer. All three were saved in different ways. From there we started looking at the marks of a Mature Church. There is the mark of discipling young people. It is essential that as believers we are investing in the young people of this world. As I look around at our community, our youth group, and the kids of the neighborhood, it is becoming more and more important that we invest in the children and young people. There are so many young people who are in the midst of parents fighting, divorcing, and broken families. So a Mature/Healthy church is one that disciples Young People.
The second mark of a Mature/Healthy church is one that serves Christ. Actually the word “servant” means Bond-slave. The servant is free to work for whomever they wish to, but a slave is bought and purchased completely, and is totally owned by the master. A slave is bound by law to his master. Jesus paid that price for all of us. As we open our hearts to Him and accept the gift of salvation, we become slaves to Righteousness, according to Romans 6. So we serve Christ and Christ alone.
The third mark is that the church is full of true saints. Now if you have a picture of what a saint looks like, let me share with you something that I have learned from the Word. The word “Saint” refers to ones who are sanctified or holy. These are people who are set apart for the use of the Master. There are three stages of sanctification, Initial, Progressive, and Eternal. When you first accepted Christ, that is initial. Once you have started that walk the Holy Spirit continues to work with you to grow you and shape you more into the image of Christ. You will then come to a point when you no longer want Christ as Savior, but you are wanting Him to become Lord over your life. You are selling completely out to Him and want Him to take control of every area of your life. Thus, progressive Sanctification. This is where the Holy Spirit starts to show you your life in the eyes of Christ. As you see the things that you need to deal with, you surrender them to Christ and start the renewing of your mind as stated in Romans 12:1-2. The last stage of Sanctification is when we are in Heaven with the Lord. We take off this physical body and receive our new bodies in Heaven. There will be no more sin, no more failure, no more sickness, no more pain, no more sorrow, no more night. What a glorious day that will be.
As a church who is showing maturity by investing in young people, being willing to follow our Master, and we become true saints, we will show one last mark and that is we will experience grace and peace. We will walk in God’s unmerited favor with the power to do what is right even when we think it might be wrong. As we walk with the Lord we have peace with Him and with the world around us. We have a peace in our spirits which passes all understanding. It is unexplainable to have peace in the midst of every storm, and yet that is what the Lord provides as we continue to be used of Him and as we walk with Him.
Next week I’ll share some of the marks of a mature believer. Let me leave you with this, are you walking with the Lord? Are you renewing your mind? Do you walk in His grace? Do you have His peace? If not, start today by opening your heart to Him and let Him change you from the inside out. Until next time,
Pastor Rob
