Shining Like Stars
Philippians 2:14-18
Pastor Jon Hueni | April 25, 2021
Philippians 2:14-18
Pastor Jon Hueni | April 25, 2021
“Do everything without complaining or arguing.” Kari, Juli, Jonathan, Krent. “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” I think we must have said that hundreds of times to our children as they were growing up. And rightly so. But if we’re not careful we might actually think that this is a command especially for children. And if we did think that we would be mistaken. To be sure there are such commands for children--
“Children obey your parents” “Honor your father and your mother” “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.” Now while you’re young. These are commands aimed directly at children. But the context of this command tells us otherwise. It’s not addressed to children, though it has general application to them. It’s written for the whole church at Philippi, at Bremen. It’s for children all right—verse 15 says “children of God” whatever the age. Those who have been born by the Spirit in the new birth, those who have received Jesus Christ and have been adopted as His children into the family of God. So this is another church-wide command, for it was the church, not just the children, who were complaining and arguing. You see Paul’s still addressing the internal dissension that was disturbing the peace in the church at Philippi. He’s still making his appeal for unity and harmonious relationships in the body of Christ. That’s the theme, that’s the drum he’s been pounding on since chapter 1and verse 27. And he’s still piling up reasons as to why we should obey and he adds more even today as he speaks to us on behalf of the Lord Jesus, the head of the church. So, there’s just two parts, two main parts to our passage today. We have another clear command to obey, and then we have, secondly, important reasons to obey. The command —verse 14, “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” The reasons—“So that your mission will not suffer”. Our gospel mission of holding out the word of life to this lost and dying world. So Paul’s gonna show us that our unity here as a body is critical to our mission out there with the world. A grumbling and quarreling church, torn by strife, has never made a favorable impact upon the world. And it’s just that point that the apostle Paul is hammering home here—“for the sake of the mission live in harmonious unity together.” So first of all, the command. Now earlier in verse three, the apostle put his finger on two attitudes that destroy unity. Selfish ambition and vain conceit, or pride. Now he in verse 14 he’s exposing two activities that are equally destructive of unity—complaining and arguing. Now I was you to notice the universal reach of this command. Just how much it covers of church life. “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” In other words, complaining and arguing are always off-limits in whatever we are doing, whether we are worshiping, singing, witnessing, working, eating together, fellowshipping, social distancing, mask-wearing, business meetings, decision making, building projects, ministries, doctrinal discussions, casual conversations…there’s never a place for complaining or arguing. Everything in the body of Christ is to be done without these two activities. Now remember the Lord wants to hear from us that sweet and pleasant sound of harmony. Remember we had Tom play harmony…and how pleasant it is when notes go well together. That’s what our Father in Heaven, that’s what our Savior is wanting to hear as we worship, as we live together. He wants to hear harmony rather than the grating and jarring sounds of unloving complaining and arguing, which in another place is called an “irritating gong or clanging symbol”. Doesn’t want to hear that. He wants harmony. So no room for complaining or arguing, but I hasten to add that there is room in the church for expressing a concern and even a contrary opinion. It’s healthy for a church. It’s one of the ways that we enrich one another, brothers and sisters. As we’re strengthened and improved by a cross-breeding of our minds. A sharing of our insights. You see we’re not called to be clones, all walking in absolute lock-step together without using our own minds. ”Whatever the pastor says, or “this one says” or “that one says”. We put our minds at the door and we just do whatever we’re told. No, no. We’re meant to love God with all of our minds as we heard this morning in the worship. That idea of just putting our minds away and walking in absolute lock-step without ever expressing a concern a contrary opinion. That’s more cultic than it is Christ-like churchmanship. So yes, concerns and contrary opinions may be freely shared, but here’s the kicker…even this must be done without complaining or arguing, because everything’s to be done without that. But to be done in a harmonious spirit of love and mutual respect as dearly loved brothers and sisters in Christ. Now that’s the hard part. Complaining whining, grumbling, disputing, arguing…that’s the easy part. And that’s why so many of the churches in the New Testament that had letters written to them were reproved and instructed on this very thing. It’s just all too easy to complain and argue. That was the repeated sin of the Israelites, remember, as God in grace came down to Egypt where they were slaves of Pharaoh, being abused, and God redeemed them and He brought them out. And what does He do? The last time I read through the account I numbered them in the margin. Eight different times. Major fits of murmuring and complaining against Moses and Aaron. And God did not take it lightly. We might thinks it’s no big thing to complain or argue, but God does, and any reading of the Scriptures will show us of that fact by the punishment or discipline that He put on Israel for their grumbling and murmuring. He sent poisonous snakes to bite and kill them. Another time He sent a plague. Another time He punished it with leprosy. Even had the earth open up and swallow some grumblers alive. And so we, as a church, are warned along with the words of 1 Corinthians 10:10&11—“Do not grumble as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us.” And in that we see just how important it is that we do everything without complaining or arguing. Now parents, did you have to teach your children the skills of complaining and arguing? Did you send them away to school to learn that? Or did they come forth from the womb well-qualified in that department? You see its part of the sinful nature that we parents gave to them to complain and argue, and it can happen over anything. And that’s why the world is so full of it. There’s no Holy Spirit at work in them to counter the sinful nature. To empower them to be both willing and able to stop complaining and arguing and to start loving and esteeming each other better than themselves. And so any glance at the world we see this complaining and arguing and broken relationships…in marriage and the home, in the workplace, in schools, in sports, and politics, and society at large, between neighbors. Complaining and arguing is everywhere. It dominates the airwaves bringing us the news. It dominates the commentators on the news, and it’s the thing that gets the most hits on social media. And the more heated the argument, the better. Bitter complaining and rancorous arguing have become the national pastime. And it’s into such a heated environment that this command comes from our gentle and lowly Jesus—“Do everything without complaining or arguing.” So that’s the command. Not easy. But Christ has given us His Spirit to make us willing and able. That was verse 13 of last week. Now, the second thing we want to see this morning is the reason. What’s the reason given? What’s the incentive given to move us to obey this command? This is the “so that” in our passage. You see it there in verse 15— “Do everything without complaining or arguing—“ (Why?) “so that you—” (plural) “you—” (the body of Christ) “may become blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.” So the reason to do everything without complaining or arguing, church, is so that the mission might not suffer, but rather be advanced in great power. This is the unfinished business of the church until our Lord’s return. It’s the mission our Lord Himself died for and then left us to carry on and to complete by the power of His Spirit. To make disciples. To make converts to Jesus Christ. And we do this by holding out the word of life, and by doing everything without complaining or arguing, “So that”. You see, that’s the “so that”. And as we hold out the word of life and as we do everything without complaining and arguing, we become blameless and pure and faultless children of God who shine like stars in the universe in this crooked and depraved generation. Now there’s a lot here. Let’s unpack it together. Notice that our mission as the light of the world is to make disciples. And that’s to be done with our lips and our lives. Our lips and our lives. Let’s look first with our lips. It’s there at the end of verse 15 and on into verse 16. “You shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.” So our mission is to proclaim a word. It’s a message that can be communicated, and must be communicated in words. We are to hold out the word of life. It’s in the gospel, isn’t it, that we came to know that our greatest problem in life was our sins against a holy God? And because of it we were under His condemnation of hell forever. It’s in the gospel that we learn that Jesus Christ is God’s one and only remedy for our sin problem. That only Jesus can do helpless sinners good, because He kept the law perfectly. And then He died an atoning death for sin, and was raised again for newness of life for all who are united with Him. It was the gospel by which we were invited to come to Jesus. And to share in this so great salvation…and we’re promised in the gospel that if we came to Him in repentance and faith he would surely save us. That He would never turn us away. It’s in the gospel, the word of life, that we learned that. No one here who is saved was every save without hearing the word of life. Someone held it out to us, didn’t they? Probably more than once…so stubborn were we and deaf to hear. You remember in John 6—Jesus is preaching the gospel one day and He’s offering Himself as the Bread of Life, which if a man eat he will live forever. Many found this message offensive and so they turned away and followed Him no longer. And Jesus turned to the twelve and He says, “You don’t want to leave also, do you?” And you remember Peter’s reply: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. You’re the only One. There is no one else to go to, Lord. So You alone have the words of eternal life.” Jesus had just said, “The words I have spoken are spirit and they are life.” He was holding out the word of life—exactly what we’re to do. He was holding out the word of life. The gospel message. That which is offered and if received will bring new life in Christ. Will bring an abundant life. Will bring eternal life. The very life of God in the soul of man offered in the word of life. Now that’s the light that this world in darkness desperately needs as they’re ignorant of their greatest problem and ignorant of its only solution in our Savior, Jesus. So “we shine as lights in the universe”—how? By holding out the word of life. But it’s not only with our lips proclaiming the message of Christ and Him crucified. But secondly we do this by our lives. And the emphasis in the section is not on our individual life. Me here, you there. No, the emphasis here…Paul’s talking about our life together. Our corporate witness. Our corporate life. We shine as stars when we together demonstrate the power of the gospel to save from sin. And specifically here the sins of complaining and arguing to which he refers. For when we as the church of Christ do everything without complaining or arguing, we become children of God who are blameless, pure, and faultless. Now that’s a triad of words that are just piled up to describe the holy life expected of God’s children. Blameless—that means that we provide no handles on us. No handles for the world to grab hold of with accusation of wrong doing. No sinful habits of life that would draw blame from the world. Blameless. Second—pure. This means unmixed, uncontaminated with complaining and arguing. Third—without fault. No glaring faults that would invite criticism from the world. That would stick because they’re deserved criticism. No faults that would weaken the power of our corporate witness and testimony to the world. But rather we are to be children of God who are blameless, pure, and faultless. In whom the family likeness is seen. Children of God, who are like the Father and like our elder Brother. So this is “conducting your life in a manner worthy of the gospel.” This is “working out your salvation with fear and trembling because it’s God who’s working in you both to will and to do what pleases Him.” This is what pleases Him. And this is our mission…to shine like stars in the dark universe where we live. Alright. Now let’s talk a bit about the light of the world. We’re to shine like stars. The lights in this dark world. So just who is the “light of the world”? Who is it that’s shining light into this darkness? Well, you know that the Lord Jesus made this claim for Himself, didn’t He, in John 8:12? He said, “I am the light of the world and whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life—.” There it is again. We hold out a word of life. We give off a light of life and Jesus is that light and He says, “Those who follow Me will no longer walk in darkness but will have the light of of life.” And yet this same Jesus says in Matthew 5 that you, who are His disciples, His followers—Matthew 5:14 and following, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way let your light shine before men that they may see you good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” So, who is it who is the light of the world? Is it Jesus? Or is it Jesus’ followers? Well yes, and yes. It’s both, isn’t it? Consider—if Jesus is the light of the world, and He dwells in you now by His spirit, then you yourselves have become the light of the world. Jesus has now returned to heaven and has left behind a million points of light or however many believers there are on the earth at any one given time, right now that is you and me and all the others in the world who belong to Jesus Christ… and saved by faith. You are the light of the world. Once we were darkness but now we are light in the Lord. His saving grace has lit us up as lamps with the very life, the spiritual life of Christ within us. You know that the same spiritual life that flows in the vine is found in the weakest branch that is united to that vine. The light of life that is seen in fullness in Jesus, the vine, is flowing now in His branches and that’s why He’s the light and, yes, we who are attached to him, we are the light of the world. And we’re not to hide that light under a bowl. Now lighting a lamp in those days was a whole other matter than flipping the switch as we do today. No, you would need to be sure that the lamp was filled with oil. That the wick was properly trimmed. And then you had to fetch fire to light the thing. I don’t think they had the grill lighters. So you see it was a big thing to light a lamp. Much more big than what we do today. So if someone went to the trouble of lighting a lamp, you would not need to then immediately put it under a bowl where it couldn’t be seen. If that’s what he was going to do, why would he go to the trouble of lighting it in the first place? Even so Jesus didn’t go to all the trouble of saving you and lighting you up with His own gracious light and spirit in order for you to hide that light. No He wants you to put that light up on a stand where everyone in your circle of influence can see it. The light of Christ’s light shining out of you. According to Jesus, people are to see your good works as well as hear the word of life that you hold out to them. That’s our mission, then. Our mission to shine as the light of the world. So back to our text. Where does Christ want His lights to shine as stars? Where does He want these lights that He’s lit up to shine as stars? And the answer’s found at the end of verse 15, “—in a crooked and depraved generation.” In a crooked and depraved generation. Now that’s not a flattering view of our world. It’s crooked. It’s bent. It’s warped. It’s not straight. God’s ways are straight. God’s ways are right and true. But the world’s ways are crooked and bent away from God. It’s a depraved, not only crooked, but depraved generation. Perverted, distorted, twisted generation. As I thought about the world’s ways being twisted I realized that this world is under the power of the devil and that’s his hallmark. His hallmark is to take something good that God has made and to twist it. To twist it with an evil twist that perverts God’s good gift into something evil and anti-God. Wasn’t that what he did with the fruit, the fruit in the garden that God put there, but not for them to eat? And he just puts a different twist on it, didn’t he? And pretty soon Eve’s eaten and given it to Adam. That’s the devil’s hallmark. He doesn’t have anything to use of himself. God’s the one that’s good and has showered us with blessing. So what’s he do? He takes God’s good gift and he puts a twist on it. He perverts it. You look and think that one through with what you’ve seen today and think how Satan has twisted it. So what is good is called evil and what’s evil is called good. This world is a crooked and a depraved generation. And we might say, “Oh, I don’t want to have anything to do with that!” Oh yes you do. That is exactly where Christ wants you to shine as stars IN a crooked and depraved generation “in which you shine like stars in the universe.” That’s who needs the light. This dark and depraved, crooked generation is desperately in need of the light that you have, Christian. The groping in darkness of sin and ignorance about…they don’t even know what their problem is, much less that Jesus is the answer. They’re groping in darkness and God has lit you up with His light that you might shine there into that darkness. Remember you once yourself were darkness. You’ve got a story to tell to the nations of how He translated you out of darkness and into the kingdom of His dear Son. You see, we’re not to be withdrawing from the world. As bad and twisted and perverse as it is, it is a wrong thought, believer, to say, “I want to withdraw from it. I want to run from it. I want to retreat into some Christian ghetto where I only meet Christians.” Now it’s a blessing of the Lord’s Day. The Lord knows where we live. He knows we need a bit of a breather from this crooked and perverse generation, so we get to spend this day together. It’s a taste of heaven. It’s an outpost of the kingdom of heaven and so we treasure it, and we treasure each other, and encourage each other. But throughout the week we go right back out into it. That’s where we’re supposed to go. And we rub shoulders with lost people still in darkness. We live with them, we work with them, we play with them, we study with them, we shop with them. “For how will they believe on Him of who they have not heard?” Well, they simply won’t believe. They’ll perish in their darkness and go into the outer darkness of hell forever, and ever, and ever. That’s why the Lord lit you up with His divine light. Do you know that’s why you’re here and not there? That’s why you’re not in heaven yet. He’s still got work for you to do in this crooked and depraved place that Satan has high-jacked for his own purposes that one day Jesus is coming back to put all things right. He wants you to be here, right now, shining like stars in the universe. You do that by holding out the word of life and you do that by doing everything as a church without complaining or arguing. A transformed life. Good deeds that gives a luster and shine in our corporate witness to this dark world. So we’re not ignorant of Satan’s devices, and why he would do all he can to stir up complaining and arguing in the churches of Christ? Well, to distract us from the mission out there. To spend all of our energies against one another in here. To get us to “bite and devour one another “ as Paul says in Galatians 5:15, so that we might be destroyed by one another. Oh that’s Satan, the destroyer. To undermine our witness to the world, to blunt it by making us so very like the world that we have nothing convincingly different from the world to offer them. I don’t need to prove to you that complaining and arguing is part and parcel of this crooked and depraved world. You can’t miss it and it’s getting louder and louder. But when the complaining and arguing goes on the church of Christ we’re no longer blameless, pure, and without fault in the world, and our witness as a church loses its’ credibility, its’ integrity before the world. Why should they listen to us when we hold out the word of reconciliation with God if we can’t even be reconciled with one another within the church, but are given to argument and complaint? Do you see it? That’s the point Paul is making. That’s the very point Paul’s making. And for too long the church has thought that its’ influence in the world would be increased if we could just become more like the world. And so the world becomes the model and we try to shape our churches after the world. And we think that by doing so our influence will be the stronger, when in fact it’s just the opposite. It’s when we are most NOT conformed to the world, but attractively different from the world that we have the most powerful influence upon the world. And that’s what Paul’s driving out in his appeal for harmonious church unity for the sake of the mission. To give the gospel a pedestal to stand upon. Turtullian was an early Christian apologist writing in the defense of Christianity in a pagan world that was hostile to it. We see this crooked and perverse generation…it was crooked and perverse in Paul’s day too. That’s the beauty of the Scriptures. It’s always been this way since the fall. And so here’s Turtullian, an apologist. He’s writing a defense for Christianity in the midst of a pagan Roman world that was hostile to it. And in his defense he speaks of pagans looking at Christians and saying, “Behold, how they love one another.” For the pagans themselves hated one another. But these Christians, they’re “ready to die for one another, whereas we pagans are readier to kill each other.” Hmmm…what’s this? Behold. Step aside. Wonder. Look. Consider. “How they love one another!” Where does that come from? We don’t have that. Where does that come from? And our difference from the world at this very point of living in harmony together as the family of God arrests the attention, you see, of this biting and devouring, crooked generation. It’s the power. The power of a shared, holy life of love. The beauty of holiness that adorns the gospel that we’re holding out to sinners so that so that they may say, “Well, I hate them. I hate their God. I hate their laws, their moral laws. I hate their gospel. But you have to say this much, ‘they love one another.’ What’s that all about?” And we can tell them about a loving heavenly Father that so loved us that He sent His One and only Son into the world and damned Him that sinners deserving damnation might trust in this Savior and be saved. “Behold how they love one another!” I believe our text has much to say to us as we see our nation today sinker into deeper and deeper crookedness and depravity. Into deeper and deeper complaining and mean-spirited arguing. But let’s get a perspective this morning, folks. I’m preaching to me as much as to you. This is just the world being the world. Let’s not whine and complain at how bad the world is and let that be the whole of our life. Complaining and arguing at just how the bad the world’s getting. The world’s just being the world. It’s being the crooked and depraved world that it has always been since the fall. Look at it this way…so don’t let the world suck you into its complaining and arguing and whining and argumentative spirit. Look at it this way—when do the stars shine the brightest in the sky? Well, is it not when things are the darkest? You know they’re shining right now. If you went out to the parking lot, you know those stars are up there. Kids, they don’t go away at night and then come back…or go away in the day and come back at night. No, there up there right now and they’re just shining their brightest. You just can’t see them because it’s so bright out. But let darkness steal in tonight—if there’s no clouds. Oh then it’ll be the star-spangled heavens shining in the darkness of night. And that’s what Jesus is saying through Paul here to us. Are things getting darker? Yes. May they get even worse? Yes. Is the nation hopelessly divided in bitter animosity and ugly disputing? Yes. But let’s not whine in self-pity about how bad things are. And let’s not imbibe the spirit of the age. Let’s seize the day for the Lord Jesus. For His mission, for His glory in the church. Let’s rise and shine with the love and light of the gospel. Let’s make the most of every opportunity to hold out the Word of life, and in our church life to display the supernatural power of the gospel that makes us love one another as Christ has loved us. Remember God is at work within us giving us both the desire and the power to act. To do the things that please Him. The darker it gets, the greater our opportunity as a church to arise and shine for our Savior, for His glory. So there’s the command, “Do everything without complaining or arguing. There’s the reason for doing so…for the sake of the mission. Is there not a cause? And there’s another reason that Paul adds at the end. It’s one that the apostle Paul is not afraid to use with this church due to their deep affection for him and his for them. And it’s Paul‘s own interest in this matter of their doing everything without arguing and complaining. It’s Paul’s own interest. Here’s how he puts it, verse 16, “In order that—”. We’ve heard the SO THAT. Here’s another one—“In order that I may boast, I may rejoice on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.” Now few things are more galling than to run for nothing. Unless you love running. To run for nothing or to labor for nothing. Suppose you’ve disciplined and trained yourself for months to run a marathon? And then you run it only to find out at the end that you were DQ’d because you stepped out of bounds on the third mile. And so you ran the whole race, 26 miles, all for nothing. Or to labor hard for many days on some work project, for months on end. Maybe you were building a building and so you poured your labor into that only to find out much later that the materials were inferior. The concrete that was used in the foundation didn’t pass the specs. It’s weak. It’s not safe. And the whole edifice has to be brought down. It was labor for nothing. You need to start over. That’s the picture Paul’s using here and the situation that he’s dreading. Paul had invested a lot in this church at Philippi. He’d shed blood in Philippi just to bring them the gospel, the word of life. He’d been flogged, mocked, shamed, put in stocks, imprisoned. He’d labored in prayer for them. We’ve seen it already in this letter. He wrote to them, he visited them, he sent associates to go to them with words. And he did not want to find out in the Day of Christ that all of his labor was for nothing there in Philippi. In the back of his mind is the scene of the last judgment that he writes about in 1 Corinthians 3 when every gospel worker’s labors will be put into the fire of God’s judgment. And at issue will be the question—in building up the church did you build faithfully upon the One and only cornerstone Jesus Christ? And at issue will be—did you build with the materials of gold and silver and precious stones, genuine converts that were added into this building, this household of God? Or were they wood, hay, and straw? Mere professors, claiming to be Christians but lacking the power thereof. Well, it will be seen in that day. “For every gospel worker’s work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. And if what he has built survives, he—”, the Christian worker, “will receive his reward.” And that’s what Paul wants—a reward in that day. “But if it’s burned up—“, if they were false professors and didn’t make it through the judgment, “he will suffer loss.” He will lose the reward he would have had if he have built with true believers, but “he himself will be saved will be saved yet so as through fire.” You see Paul doesn’t want to get to the end, to the final day, the day when all of his labors will be put into the fire, the test of God’s judgment, and to find that his labors for this Philippian church were all in vain. No, he wants to come to that day and rejoice to see them there. To see that their faith was genuine. That they really were born again and had the power of the spirit in them, enabling them to stop complaining. To stop arguing. To stop fighting and to start holding out the word of life and to do so with a blameless, pure, and faultless church life. That would commend the gospel, rather than to find there in that day that they weren’t the Lord’s after all. Why does Paul want that? does he want to go around just saying “look at me”? No, he wants to go there and to see them rejoicing in their salvation. He says “that will be my crown and rejoicing to see you there rejoicing in the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. So don’t let my labors for you be in vain. Let’s meet there round the throne and rejoice in each other.” You see the thrust. And Paul is positive and he’s hopeful that will indeed be the case, and that they will be able to rejoice in each other there even as they do now here. So there it is. The command and a main reason—the mission, and the secondary reason—for Philippi, so that Paul’s labors in them would not be in vain. Paul was living for the last day. His life here would not make sense apart from the last day. Oh but that day will make sense of every sacrifice he made. It was worth it. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. My friend, are you living for the last day? Or are you living for some puny motive to get your way here and now? Is that what you’re living for? To get something that you want here and now? Learn. Learn. There’s coming a day when the fire will test us all. Do you know there’s a way to appear in that day “faultless and with great joy”? That’s the tail end of Jude’s little book—“To Him who’s able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence in that day without fault and with great joy. To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord.” That’s how. You can appear in that day without fault if you will appear in Jesus Christ, whose blood washes us from our sins and cleanses us and robes us and clothes us with the very righteousness of God in Christ. Don’t come to the final day without Him. He’s ready and willing to have you today. Trust in Him. He is a gracious Savior. He delights to see sinners converted and become light-bearing lamp stands that will burn for His glory till He returns. The closing hymn is our prayer. May the mind of Christ our Savior live in me from day to day. As His mind, His attitude is in us— this is the kind of life that we’ll have. Not selfish ambition and vain pride. Not complaining and arguing, but the things that we’ll sing about that were found in our Savior. Let’s sing it together. |