string(7) "m-66998" Burnt Hickory Baptist Church

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Feb 26, 2023

Shining Like The Stars To The Nations

Shining Like The Stars To The Nations

Passage: Philippians 2:14-15

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Stand Alone Message

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: church, worship, faith, jesus, god, sermon, christian, bible, christ, gospel, hope, joy, calling, believe, jesus christ, the bible, lord, christianity, attitude, happiness, gratitude, bible study, shine, inspirational, stars, mental health, who am i, transformed life, bible stories, positive thinking, how to be happy, change your life, burnt hickory worship, burnt hickory baptist church live stream, how to change your life, motivational video, change attitude, attitude is everything

This morning in our bible study, we look at Philippians chapter 2, where we dive into what it means to have true joy. To shine the salvation message of Jesus like the stars to the dark world, joy has to replace a critical, grumbling, and arguing heart. We know that this world is crooked and perverted, but we as Christ followers must recognize our position and we must grow from that. We also learn that we must live out our calling through our attitude and actions if we are to shine like the stars. Are you living out your calling with joy? Have you recognized your position in Christ? Are you growing in Him? As always, we’d love to connect with you, answer any questions you have, and take time to pray with you. You can always take the next step by visiting burnthickory.com/next.

Well, good morning church. And welcome back from a really big week of travel this past week. We as a church this past week had people on missions everywhere. We had a team in Kenya this week that was serving with Swahiba, our ministry partners there. They actually got to meet in the building this week that we are building there in Kenya, which was incredible. Not really sure how that fits the OSHA standards, but hey, it's another country right? They met there, did some pastor training there, did some serving the girls, serving in the slums there this week. So that was incredible. We had a team down in Sanibel Island this week doing some hurricane relief work with a church there and serving the church that was down there. And then last but not least, we had a team this week in Guatemala with our partners, Showers of Grace Church down there this week. That was the team that I was able to be on this week. But not only was it just me, I got to take Melissa with me and my youngest son Dalton with me. And so it was incredible to be able to serve with all of them this week and be able to shovel a lot of concrete. Amen. This week, it was so, so good to be able to be out. But let me say this to all of you that were in Disney World this week, you missed a big blessing. Oh, that's all I got to say for all of you that were traveling. But in all reality. Let me just say this. Please pray with us over this next year, how you and your family can jump in on one of these break weeks, on one of these weeks that we're offering a trip somewhere to become the hands and feet of Jesus. Because here's what I'll tell you this week. I know that we are there to bless those people. We are there to represent Christ. But I can guarantee you this when you come home from having a week that you have said, Hey, Lord, we're going to go serve you, you absolutely come home full. So pray this week on how you can jump on to one of these next trips that are coming up to one of these places.

I guarantee you you'll come home different. All right. If you've got a copy of scripture this morning, we are going to be in Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter two. We're going to be in this letter that Paul wrote, this church at Philippi, that Paul over and over and over again, tells them that they can have joy. That they can have joy not based on their circumstances, not based on their position in a culture, but they can have joy because it's Jesus that puts joy in us. It's that Jesus is the one that fills us and keeps us full. And it's because of His worthiness that Christ brought us, that we all can live a life, despite what is going on around us, that is full of joy. Now, I want to warn you a little bit, because we're going to jump into Philippians in the second chapter, kind of in the middle, in verse 14. And we're going to jump in and into a place that has this incredibly big contrast, but it has a lesson in it that I think we all need to hear. Now, when you read the Apostle Paul for the last couple of months, I am reading back through all of Paul's letters in just my personal time with the Lord. I'm getting ready for our Greece trip, where we're going to go trace the journeys of Paul here in a couple of weeks with about 60 people here from the church. So I'm going back through and spending some time reading all of Paul's letters, making sure that they're as fresh as possible so that when we get there, we can do some teaching in it. And what I've realized even once more when reading Paul is that when Paul speaks, he speaks out of an incredible love for Jesus. There's no disputing the fact that his life was radically changed and he loves Jesus. He also speaks in a world that he wants to see others know Jesus. He wants to see others have this joy that He has, this fulfillment that He has. He speaks in this context also that he loves the church. He wants to see the church live out its mission, to live the calling of Christ and to be a light into the darkness.

But also what you do is you understand when you read Paul, kind of the fourth thing I just beginning to notice is that Paul sometimes is a little spicy, right? He sometimes just kind of gets in our face a little bit, or sometimes he sucker punches us with something that we really don't like, but we know that we need it. And today is one of those days. Today is what I would just kind of describe from the Apostle Paul is it's kind of a little bit of a family talk. You know what a family talk is, right? Did you ever have those when you were growing up? Those family talk moments where either mom or dad comes in after a perfectly good meal. Right. And then they kind of push away from the table and they say something like this, all right, kids, we're going to have a family talk today. Now, kids, you know, any time you hear the word family talk, something bad is about to happen, right? That's just about how it works. Either A you're moving, B your mom is having the 12th child, or C your dad or your mom no longer have a job and you're going to be kicked out of your house. Something like that is about to happen in your life. Or, the fourth thing is you've just been a royal pain, right? And your family just had to say it. Well, Paul is about to have one of these family talks with the Philippians, but he doesn't do it out of anger, because if you notice in the Book of Philippians, if you go back and read it, it's a short book. We're only the second chapter. You'll see that in the first chapter. Paul already has these Philippians. He's already told them how thankful he is and how much he loves them, how much he prays for them, how good of partners in the Gospel they are. He's already told them that they have this incredibly special place in his heart, way more special than some of the others. He even says in this context and how they are to be encouraged. So when you read the first chapter and a half of Philippians, you can read it through the lens of that's kind of the pre-game talk. You know what I'm talking about from your coach, right? He's telling you you can do everything right. Nothing's ever going to go wrong. And then when you get to Philippians chapter two, verse 14, we can think of this as kind of the halftime talk where he starts to come in and he starts to notice some things that we need correcting in. So Philippians 2:14, it's about to hit the fan, right? So, the first chapter, he's really encouraging. Second chapter kind of encouraging. And then he gets to what I'm just going to call six of the most despised words in all of the New Testament. Right. And then he gives us a missional challenge. This kind of hit me all week this week as we were serving in Guatemala. So let's see what we can do with this text and allow Paul to challenge us and push us out into what God has called us to live.

All right, Philippians chapter two, verse 14. Let me read this verse over us. Here's what it says. Paul says this: Do everything without grumbling and arguing. Now, parents, don't you be saying Amen. All right. Because it's not just for the teenagers. All right? Do everything without grumbling and arguing. So the question is, what is everything? If you read the first chapter and a half of Philippians, and if you read all back through Paul's letters, you will see that everything encompasses loving one another, living out your salvation. It encompasses loving the church, serving the church, following Jesus' example, submitting in an obedient lifestyle, loving even that person. It encompasses that. It encompasses giving and serving and living and loving. If you go back and you look at the Greek here for this word, everything, all right? Here's what it means. Everything. That's it. It has no other meaning. In fact, I wish I had more, but it's the strongest word that could be used in this case. There are no secret clauses or no ifs, no ands, no buts, none of that stuff. So Paul says do everything, and then he finishes this tough phrase. Here it is without grumbling and arguing. Now, look, I'm no fool and it's at this point that most of us, when we're reading the book of Philippians, this is where we quit on the passage. Right? This is where we quit, right? I mean, come on. I'm not the only one, right? I mean, really, it's at this point that we pull that, well, you know, God, I mean, Christians aren't perfect. We're just forgiven or we kind of pull the card of well God, I'm not a murderer. Maybe I just have a little bit of a mouth problem or a little bit of an anger problem. Well, I get that. But I want you to see what is happening in the text here, because this statement by Paul is an incredibly big statement of how we're walking out our faith. You see, we cannot distinguish what comes out of our mouth to how we are living the faith that God has called us to live in.

In fact, if you'll notice in the text, one of the indications of how we are walking out our faith is, in fact, what comes out of our mouths. We cannot separate what is in our heart with what comes out of our mouths. It is from our heart that our mouth speaks. It's what Jesus tells us. And if you notice in the text, even a little bit closer there, we just read verse 14. If you go back to verses 12 and 13, those are right after the command where Paul has just told us to have the mindset of Jesus and to lay down our desires. And if you'll notice that immediately after verses 12 and 13 comes verse 14, there is no break, there is no paragraph marker, there is no chapter marker. None of that happens. In fact, let me read you versus 12 and 13, and I want you to see how this ties in to doing everything without arguing and complaining. Watch what it says in verse 12. He says, Therefore, my dear friends, as you've always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Verse 13. For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purposes. So I want you to notice something here. This is really important working out your salvation and the charge to not grumble or argue are literally right beside each other. Now, what does that mean? That means that in order for us to live the life that God has called us to live, that we have to live a life of joy and not a life of grumbling. That's what he's saying right here. But hit the pause button on that. We're going to come back to it, I promise you, a little bit later. And the message I want to read is the whole text overview of Philippians 12, or Philippians two verses 14 through 16. Here's what it says. We're going to read this a bunch because I just want it to saturate in our souls. Here's what it says: Do everything without grumbling and arguing. So that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like the stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life. Then Paul says, I can boast in the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.

Now I want you to see something that a central theme of Philippians and a central theme of this passage is Paul looking into the soul of the Philippians that he's so loved and he's looking into our souls and he's saying, Hey, listen, by all means, your role and your mission is to shine my love out of your relationship with Jesus. He's saying that we shine or that we represent Christ because of our relationship. And he says, if you want to know if you have a relationship, one of the indicators that your relationship is true is that you are a proclaimer of what Christ has done for you. That's what He's saying in the text. And then he's saying, We do this because the world needs it, the world is desperate for it, and we, listen to my church, we are the bringers of hope to a world that is lost. But what he says in this and I need you to pay attention is that we cannot shine if our default mode is to grumble and argue, we can't do it. In fact, write this principle down that will just kind of help us kind of set the tone. Here's the principle: to shine the Jesus Salvation message like the stars to a dark world, joy must replace a critical, grumbling, and arguing heart. That's what he's saying. To shine the Jesus Salvation message like the stars to the dark world. That's what we just read, right? Joy must replace a critical, grumbling, and arguing heart. So that's the basis.

Let me read the text over again so you can just see it in a different light. Here it is. Verse 14. Do everything without grumbling and arguing. So that circle that word so that, so that you may be blameless and pure children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation. Watch this. Among whom you shine like the stars in the world by holding firm to the word of life. So let's talk about these stars just for a minute. This week in Guatemala, every now and then at nighttime in Guatemala is when I say every now and then it is every now and then the clouds go away. When you're in the rainforest, right. The clouds go away and the stars come out. And it's not like here where you get to see like three stars. I mean, you get to see a ton of stars. Why? There's no light pollution. You are literally in the middle of nowhere. And when you begin to see these stars, you begin to realize why it is that Paul picks the metaphor right here that we are to shine like the stars. You begin to see the fact that there's an incredibly dark background and you cannot help but notice the fact that these things in the sky begin to stand out in a way that nothing else does. That's what Paul is saying, that our lives should look like. A couple of things about stars that blew me away this week. Did you know that stars don't twinkle? Did you know this? I read it this week. It kind of ruined the song, right? Twinkle, twinkle, little star. They don't twinkle at all. In fact, it's the whole light thing that gets in the way. All right, another story, another day. Did you know you cannot see a million stars no matter what country song or kids rhyme says. You cannot see a million stars. You can see about 2500 at a time. That's what they tell us. Sorry. Also, did you know that over 60 times in the Bible, stars are referenced, they're referenced. And in fact, when Paul was writing this, stars were incredibly useful. For us, we're like, why shine like a star? Why don't I shine like a headlight? Why don't I shine like something else? You know. Why a star? Because in this time period, they didn't have all that stuff right? It was kind of the brightest light in the darkness that Paul could use being inspired by the Holy Spirit to say that no matter what is around it, you can still see this thing.

Also, did you know in this time period that stars were used for navigation? They set a path for someone that is trying to get somewhere. Stars were used for planting of crops because it showed the time of year that it was. They didn't have the calendaring systems like we have. They didn't have the map systems. They didn't have all that they would use these celestial stars, these things in the sky that would show them what's going on. God used stars, remember in Bethlehem? What was it that got the Magi to Jesus? It was the star. It was the star, right? God uses these all over, and what Paul is telling us is, is that, hey, listen, you're planet without the star or without our star, the sun is meaningless, right? Why? Because it gives us light, it gives us life, it gives everything there is. And he's saying your planet without the son is meaningless as well. And our role as believers is this, to represent the one that has saved us and to show the world who he is. That's why Paul says Shine like the stars in the world. So here's what Paul does. Paul takes Matthew 28; the great commission. He takes chapter one, go reach Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the utter most parts of the earth. And he smashes those two together and he leaves no room for what your role is as a believer in Jesus, and that is to shine like the stars. That's your role. Your role is not to blend in. Your role is not to live a peaceful and calm life so nobody knows who you are. Your role is not to just mimic those people around you. Your role is to be placed into this world and to shine. But here's the question we have to answer: How do we do that? How do we shine? If the Apostle Paul was with us today, and if he pulled up a chair and sat here and taught this passage to us, he would look at us and say, Hey, I've given you three things in this passage that can help you shine. They can help you be the select. They help you be this light in the dark world. And here's the three. Let me give them to you really quick. Number one, he would say this: If you want to joyfully shine, you've got to know our world. You've got to know the world. Now, this makes sense because if we're going to shine, we've got to know what it is that we're shining at. And Paul in this passage takes an incredible stab at telling us exactly what this world is that we're living in.

In fact, look at verse 15 and watch what he says about our world. Paul says this Philippians 2:15. He says, So that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless. What does he say about the world? Watch. In a crooked and perverted generation. Now, if anyone knew the world at this point, the Apostle Paul knew it. Why? Because not only was he a devout Jew, not only was he a radical saved believer in Jesus. He was incredibly educated, he was incredibly well-traveled, and he had met the top minds and the top figures of the whole civilized world just about at this point in his travels. Right? He knew the world. Paul wasn't a being that just kind of sat back in his comfy chair with this doomsday attitude, living this separatist life, talking about how bad the world was. No, he knew the world. He wanted to reach the world. He saw the world how it is. And he used two words to describe the world that I think we need to have a little bit of a handle on. The first word that he used to describe the world in these worldly descriptions is he used the word crooked. He used the word crooked right here. Let's kind of nerd out for a minute. The Greek word crooked that he used here is the word skolios. It's the word skolios. That puts some bells in your mind right? It's where we get our English word. Scoliosis. You know what I'm talking about, right, is that some of you still have some tics and some PTSD from middle school. When they made you sit with no clothes on up against the locker, waiting for that awkward coach to look at your back. Right. That's scoliosis. So here he is looking to see if your back is in proper order and your back is straight. Skolios right here. It literally means crooked or winding or curved. And here's the note that is beside that. In every Greek description of this word, skolios. Skolios means that over time it gives in to outside pressures. Church, Isn't that exactly what our world is? You see in scoliosis, your back gives in to gravity, right? Literally and falls over. But the world gives in to the outside pressure. So, Paul, what is he doing from prison here? He's looking at these people.

He's saying, hey, listen, this world that we're in, it is crooked, it is morally bent. It is dark, it is spiritually deformed. It is unable to support the weight of the gospel. And then he says this, and it's getting worse. Every single day. This is such a strong statement. Paul is not saying this to be disgusted by the world. He's saying this because, listen, church, we've got to know this is the condition of the world. This world is not a great place that evidently sometimes has a problem. This world is a crooked place that is giving in to the pressures of the outside world. Since Genesis Chapter three, it is growing farther and farther and farther and farther away from who God is. In fact, Peter used the same word in Acts 2:40. When he says this, it says. Then Peter continued preaching for a long time. I love that circle, that word. Long time, amen. Strongly urging his listeners, Save yourself from this crooked generation. That's the word. And then what happened after he proclaimed the gospel there? 3000 people got saved. And listen, this world is still bent. That's what it means. It's bent. It is deformed. It is deprived. First word is crooked. And our role is to bring light to the crooked. The second word that he uses is the word perverted. It's the word perverted. Now, we've been trained to just kind of think sexually when we hear this word perverted, but that's not complete. The word perverted means to distort or to misinterpret or to corrupt what is right. That's what perverted means. It means to corrupt something that was made right. Now you say Matt, those two words are kind of the same, aren't they? No. The difference is this. Here's the difference. Crooked is what we are by nature. We are born into a crooked world since Genesis chapter three, and it is getting more and more and more crookeder. I don't even know that's a word. But it works, right? It's getting more and more crooked. When you use the word perverted. Perverted is by choice. Perverted is a choice. Perverted is there are things that God has given us as common graces that are still beautiful. But here's what we have done. We have still chosen as human beings, to walk away and to pervert, to misguide, to misinterpret, and to corrupt those things. Jesus used this word perverted in Matthew 17:17, when he says You unbelieving and perverse generation. You see what Paul is saying when he's putting all this together. In fact, write this principle down, he's saying this. He's saying the earth is morally bent and deformed into a place that distorts and misinterprets and corrupts. Listen, what God created the world to be.

That's what Paul was telling us. That's how Paul is describing our world. Two implications I kind of thought about this week in this number one is don't blame God for this. Don't blame God for the perverseness of this world and the crookedness of this world. Why? Because this is not how God intended it to be. God intended it to be perfect. God intended it to be in relationship with Him. God intended it to be in total 100%. Koinonia; in fellowship with him. But we human beings chose to walk away from God. God gave us the ability to choose and we chose wrongly. And since that time we become more and more and more crooked and more and more and more perverse.

Secondly, I want you to think about this. Secondly, it shouldn't amaze us when the world operates out of its nature. It shouldn't amaze us when we read things in the news. It shouldn't amaze us when we see people who are not believers in Jesus acting like they're not believers in Jesus. We shouldn't shake our heads at that. Why? Because that is their nature. That is their nature. That is who they are. That is the world we're living in. And what Paul is telling us now is, Hey, don't let that depress you. Let that motivate you, because for life to be useful, there has to be darkness. It is light that drives out the darkness. It is like this shows the way out of the darkness. And we, church, are the light. We're the light. But Paul is looking at us now saying, Hey, our role is not to judge the world, but our role is to step into the world. But listen, church, we've got to know what we're stepping into. We're stepping into a crooked and perverse world. It's what we're stepping into. Number one, if we're going to shine, we've got to know our world. But number two, this one is going to help. It's a little less depressing. Amen. Number two, we've got to recognize our position. We got to recognize our position. You say, well Matt, what does our position have to do with this? Has everything to do with this. Why? Because we just talked about how crooked and perverse the world is, but I want you to see how God describes his people. Philippians two, verse 14 says this: Do everything without grumbling and arguing so that you may be blameless and pure children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation among whom you shine like the stars. Now, look, this is the group participatory part of the message. I need you to do something for me right now. I need you to look at your neighbor. All right? Look at him right now. Look at your neighbor. Pick somebody right beside you. If you have been wanting to look at her all day, now is your time. Here it is ready to look at your neighbor and just say this. I am. Come on, we can do better than that. I am. Say it. I am. Say this. I am without fault. Say it. Say I am blameless. Say I am pure. Why is that so awkward? Why is it so awkward to say that? Here's why. I'm dead serious when I say this. It is so awkward to say that because many of us don't understand our position in Christ.

Many of us don't understand what Christ has done for us, and many of us don't understand how Christ has redeemed us and what Christ has done for us. See, I want you to see something. When we give our life to Jesus, when Jesus saves us. Do you know that God does not see you as crooked and perverse any more? He sees you as what? Without fault, blameless and pure. That's how he sees you. If one extreme. pole, what Paul is saying is this: We get to know what the world is and it's crooked and perverse. The other extreme pole is who we are positionally in Jesus. It's not because of what you have done. It's not because of how rich you are. It's not because of the skills you have. It is because of what Christ has done for you. It's who we are in Jesus. You see, we don't like to say things like, I am pure and I am set apart and I am his and I am holy because we don't understand who we are in Jesus.

Listen to what our friend King David says and Psalm 40 verse two, he says, He, that's God, brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and he set my feet upon a rock, making my footsteps firm. That's our true identity. That's our fulfillment that you may be, verse 15, you may be blameless and pure. This message is all over the New Testament as well. Why? Because we need a constant reminder of it. Colossians two, verse nine says For in him Jesus all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete. He is the head over all rule and authority. Hebrews Chapter ten verse 14, says, for by one offering, Jesus has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Believers, listen to me really closely. Jesus, if you are a believer in Jesus, if Jesus has given you life, no matter what the world looks like and tells you, Listen to me closely, Jesus chose you. Jesus adopted you, Jesus redeemed you. Jesus blessed you with every spiritual blessing Jesus has given you an inheritance. Jesus has made you coheirs with Christ and Jesus has made a place for you to be. We have to know this because if we don't know this, we're not going to proclaim this to someone else. Why? Because we're still living out of defeat. We're still living out of woe is me. We're still living like look what culture is saying. Look at how culture is being us now. Who cares what culture says? We know who Christ is and what He's done. That's why we have to know who we are in Christ, who we are. In fact, write this down, write this principle down. We grow and shine from our position in Christ, not into a position in Christ. We shine from it, we shine from it, we don't shine to get it. This is not a works based deal of something that I've done. Paul is looking at us and saying, Look, you've got it now, own it. And live it out in front of the world. Listen, serving Jesus does not get you Jesus. He served us. That's why we got Him. Serving Jesus does not get you, Jesus. We serve Jesus because we know Jesus. We serve Jesus because He is working in us. In fact, let me read it to you again. Philippians two verse 12 says, Therefore, my dear friends, as you've always obeyed, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, watch what he says. Continue to work out your salvation, not work for your salvation. It means the pieces are there. It is finished. It is done. Now. Your job is just to put it all together. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you to will and act in order to fulfill his purposes. Paul is challenging us and he's saying, Listen, some of you have lived your whole life trying to work for your salvation. That doesn't work. You are working out of your salvation.

You see, our thinking has to be changed and our position. Listen to me really closely. Our position in Christ must be celebrated. I don't. I don't know why. It seems to me that every group on this planet celebrates their position except for believers in Jesus. And we're the ones that have something to celebrate. Why are we slipping into apologizing for our position in Jesus? Paul says, No, no, no, no. If there's one thing on this planet that we can boast in, it's that we can boast in who Christ is and what Christ has done for us. In fact, Ephesians two verse four, watch what Paul says about his salvation. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ. But even when we were dead in our transgressions, it is by grace that you have been saved. It gets better. Watch. Verse six, and God raised us up with Christ. That's what He did for you. That's what He's done for me. And He's seated us in with him, in the heavenly realms, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by Grace that you've been saved through faith that is not of yourself. It is a gift of God, not by works, so that nobody can boast. Please catch this the moment you give your life to Jesus, you're his. You're his. You are sealed. You are given life. You are fully justified and you are his. And now catch this church.

You now carry the full rights and the full privileges of being a child of the king. Please don't let the world take this story from you. Do you know the reason we don't shine like the stars is because we don't realize who we are in Christ. We don't realize what Christ has done for us. We are His children. He is our father and we are coheirs with Christ receiving His full glory. That's who you are. And it's in that position that God says, I'm yours, I'm yours. So listen, I don't know what identity crisis you are suffering right now, but as a believer in Jesus, listen to me. I'm not demeaning any of that. But I'm saying this. You got to know who you are in him. In him. Number one, we've got to know our world, and it's crooked and perverse. Number two, we got to understand or recognize our position, and that is that we are heirs to the throne. We're heirs, coheirs with Jesus. And then number three, if we're going to shine like the stars, number three, we got to live our calling. We got to live our calling. But I would propose that you cannot do number three if you don't know the world you're living in and recognize your position. I think that some of our problems. Let's talk about living our calling, because Paul doesn't just tell us that. Paul gives us two really big challenges in our text to how we can live our calling.

I told you we're going to read the text a bunch of times. I want it to saturate our soul. Look at verse 14 again, he says, Do everything without grumbling or arguing. I just heard somebody say, Oh, come on Matt, don't read that again. Makes my point. Do everything without grumbling and arguing so that you may be blameless and pure are children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like the stars in the world by holding firm to the word of life. Paul says, If we're going to live our calling, there are two primary ways that we should live it. And the first one he describes as this, that we should live our callings in our attitudes. In our attitudes. You say Matt, I didn't read the word attitudes in there. Well, then you missed it. Look at verse 14. Do everything without grumbling and arguing. Right? That is an attitude statement. And we've mentioned these briefly, but at a glance, these two words grumbling and arguing can seem like they're the same word, but they're not. Paul was a master at this language. In fact, the word grumbling means to mutter something to yourself, to to kind of growl to yourself. It's an onomatopoeia. We talked about that before. It sounds like the action of it, what it is, it's a self-talk. It's a breath to yourself. When you see the word grumble, think of the fact that you are internalizing a displeasure at something. The word arguing is the external. The word arguing is where Paul says, Hey, you are complaining, you are speaking out or you are disputing at something.

So Paul looks at you and he looks at me and he says, Listen, if you want to joyfully shine, if you want to be the light to the darkness, he's saying, Hey, listen, you've got to get rid of the inside and internal talk against God and others, and you've got to quit being that person who always just has something negative to say. That's what he tells us. To which, i8t stings a little bit. Why? Because for some of us, that's our natural default mode. Our natural default mode is to grumble and to argue, to complain and to argue rather than finding joy in what Christ has done for you and in the situation that you're in. He says, you're never going to shine like the stars to heaven if you don't get an attitude adjustment and you quit grumbling and arguing. But he says, number one is that we live it out in our attitude. But number two, he says, if we're going to joyfully shine, we live out our calling in our actions. We live it out in our actions. You say Matt, where does that come from? Well, look at verse 16. Paul closes this to say that we shine like the stars. Watch this in verse 16, by holding firm to the word of life. If you've got a New Living version, you're going to read hold firmly. If you're reading The New American Standard, you're going to read hold fast. If you're reading the King James version, you're reading hold forth. Every version has a different word that literally says holding, hold, hold forth, hold fast, hold something. Because this is a little bit of a tough word to translate. Tough phrase to translate. But let me just kind of give you the gist of what he's saying there. Paul is saying, hey, listen, hold tight, hold fast, have a good grip and hold in front of you the gospel so strongly that when people see you living it and see the deeds of your life, that they know that it is Christ that has redeemed you because of the words and the actions of your hearts.

Now, it's a whole lot easier just to say, hold firm. Right. That's what Paul's saying. So, believers, let me just say this. What's holding you back from this? Because God is calling us. God is commanding us. God is looking at you and looking at me and saying, listen, if you have an accurate depiction of your salvation that this is going to be who you are, and then your words and your deeds and your attitudes, he's saying, listen, we don't just keep this thing for ourselves. Man. Let me just tell you this, Sunday is my favorite day of the week. I have a hard time sleeping on Saturday nights. And I'm a good sleeper. Right. I'm not one of these people who's like I'm terrible at sleeping, no. You put me right here. I'm going to sleep right here in front of all y'all right now. Sunday is my favorite day of the week. Do you know why? It's because it's when the church gathers together. It's when we gather together to worship. We gather together and we study the word. We gather together to hear his message over us. But you know what, we can't just keep this thing to a Sunday deal. Christ is commanding us to go. To shine. And you know what happens when we don't grumble and complain, and we begin to shine? The calling of God on our lives gives more weight than my comfort. The mission gives more motivation than my mood. The name of God is above all the other names, and God's love begins to reach the nations. Church, let me propose to you this. If every single one of us would take this text just a little bit seriously, we would see the movement and spirit of God in this place and in this community and in this nation, like we have never seen it before.

Why? Because God says, Hey, quit your grumbling and arguing, and start shining like the stars in the heavens. Now, I was thinking this week, how do I close up this message? I was shoveling some gravel actually for the eighth hour in a row on Wednesday. We were in Guatemala. We were taking the sand and gravel over to the worksite that you couldn't get a vehicle to. So you put it in a bag, and you put it on your shoulders, and you carried it all day. So I was shoveling and shoveling and shoveling and shoveling in the sun. And then obviously we looked hot. I'm not sure, but we were. We were trying to fake it. And all of a sudden this guy shows up right beside us. And I don't know what he was saying because we didn't talk all day, because I didn't speak his language. He didn't speak my language. And we're dudes. You don't have to talk. You just work, right? So what we did. And so this guy shows up right beside me and he's got a big ol smile on his face and he's got a two liter of Coca-Cola. Two liters. I'm like, Oh, did you get that? I mean, in the middle of nowhere. And it got me thinking how we can close this message today. In the middle of nowhere. This guy pulls out a Coke. And I was like, That's how we can close this message. It reminded me of a story about 12 years ago. The Coca-Cola Company pulled together all of its executives into one room, into one room and said, Hey, listen, we're not getting it done. How do we get it done around the globe? How do we have a mission that we sell these things all across the world? And they said, We know how we can do it. They came up with a slogan that said they wanted every person on this planet to taste this, to taste it. How many coke people have we got in the room? Raise your hand. How many coke people, all right? How many Pepsi people raise your hand? Like three of you. Great. Go back north. Do you know why there's more Coke people than Pepsi people? A, we're in Atlanta. And B, because of this mission about 12 years ago, they said, we want every person on this planet to taste one of these drinks. You say well Matt, how are they doing on their goal? Well, I'm glad you asked. Here's how they're doing. Did you know that 97% of the world, 97% of the world has heard of Coke. Heard of Coke. 7.5 billion people, 97%. Did you know that 94% of the world can recognize this little logo right here, this little logo, no matter what the language is, they can recognize it. There's only one country in the world that doesn't sell this by the way. Did you know that 72% of the world has seen one of these? Has seen one? That's pretty impressive. And did you know that 51% of the world, 51% has tasted a Coca-Cola? 51%. So Matt, they failed at their goal. Really? Quit grumbling, right. Here's the point in this.

Here's the point. This is a sugary drink that doesn't do anything for you when you're sweating in Guatemala. Right. But these people were serious about their mission. 51% of the people in the world over the course of 120 years have heard of a drink. You say Matt, what does that have to do with shining like the stars? It has everything to do with shining stars. Do you know what 51% of the world has heard of this? Because they believed in the mission. They believed in the mission. Let's talk about the gospel for a minute. 7.5 billion people on this planet. Did you know that 2 billion of them have not even heard the name of Jesus in the last 2000 years? 2 billion people on this planet have never had the opportunity to hear the name Jesus. Did you know that 27% of this world have never had a personal opportunity to submit their lives to Jesus? Twenty seven percent of this world? Now you see how it matters?

Believers, listen I love church. I love Bible study. I love the fact that we gather in this place. But when are we going to decide that we got to reach the nations? We've got to be the hands and feet of Jesus. That we've got to be the people that takes the gospel to the world. 7.5 billion people. Christ says, go reach them. Lord today, God, I just pray, pray, pray. God, you can show us just a glimpse of what it looks like to shine like the stars.

God, this morning I just pray that we can see from your text in Philippians that our role is not to grumble and complain. Our role is to shine your love and your mercy and your grace to a crooked and perverse generation. Because we have been seated with you, Lord Jesus. I fully realized that in a room like this that some of us have never talked about Jesus because we've never met Jesus. Never submitted our hearts to Jesus. Listen, I don't want to end this today without giving you a chance to invite Christ into your life, to taste and see that He is good. That he forgives you. That he set your feet on the rock. That he makes you whole. Do you need to give your life to Jesus today? In just a second, we're going to have an invitation. I'm going to be standing over here by the side by this next steps banner. I've got some other people with me. If you need to give your life to Christ today, would you just walk over here immediately after I finish this? Just say, hey, I need Jesus today. Maybe some of you here today, and maybe today is the day that you just realized that maybe your default mode is arguing and complaining, grumbling and complaining. Maybe today you need to submit that to the father and say from this day forth, I'm about you Lord Jesus and not about me. God today, move in us these next couple of minutes and it's in your name, Jesus.

Amen. Amen.

Let's stand together and sing.

Follow Along with the Message

Shining Like the Stars to the Nations

February 26, 2023

Philippians 2:14
Do everything without grumbling and arguing…
Philippians 2:12–13
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed — not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence — continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Philippians 2:14–16
14 Do everything without grumbling and arguing 15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, 16 by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.

PRINCIPLE: To shine the Jesus salvation message like the stars to the dark world; must replace a critical, grumbling, and arguing heart.

3 Steps to Joyfully Shine

1. Know our .

Philippians 2:15
…so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation…
Worldly Descriptions

1.

Acts 2:40
Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

2.

Matthew 17:17
“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.

PRINCIPLE: The Earth is morally bent and deformed into a place that distorts, misinterprets, and corrupts what created this world to be.

2. our position.

Philippians 2:14–15
14 Do everything without grumbling and arguing 15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.
Psalm 40:2
He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
Colossians 2:9–10
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.
Hebrews 10:14
For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

PRINCIPLE: We grow and shine our position in Christ and not into a position in Christ.

Philippians 2:9–13
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed — not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence — continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Ephesians 2:4–10
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Romans 8:14–17
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

3. our calling.

Philippians 2:14–16
14 Do everything without grumbling and arguing 15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, 16 by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.
Live Out Our Calling in Our…

1.

Philippians 2:14
Do everything without grumbling and arguing…

2.

Philippians 2:16
…by holding firm to the word of life.

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