What is Righteousness?

Just as children today are having a hard time becoming adults, Christians are having a hard time becoming mature disciples. 

The sermon is based on Philippians 2.19-3.16. 

Righteousness is covenant loyalty - it is keeping your word, honoring our promises. 

Every culture has words that have big meanings. Freedom - freedom from and freedom to - is such a word for Americans. In ancient Israel, righteousness was just such a word. Because these words have large and nuanced meanings, societal tensions arise over what exactly these words mean. 

Righteousness was a wonderful thing - it meant peace and it meant God was with you. But, the tension arises because we live in an unrighteous world and God’s righteousness can be obscured by that. Paul taught that Jesus IS the righteousness of God made manifest and this was the beginning of a new covenant. 

Today we have a profound lack of motivation. We find it hard to live lives of faith. Faith is trusting in the promises of God. Faith does not mean pretending to believe things we really think aren’t true. Faith means accepting the righteousness of Christ has been given to us and living into the presence of God in our lives. Faith impacts every area of our lives. 

Paul rejects the righteousness of the Law for the righteousness of Christ. Our futures are changed by what Christ did. Let go of trying to attain righteousness by our own behavior. 

It’s harder for us to see clearly into our future with Christ than it was for early Christians. 

What is Salvation?

The pastor’s grandmother was frugal because of her experiences during the Great Depression. She was surrendered to an orphanage because her parents couldn’t afford her and then adopted to be a servant. The past can affect us profoundly and change our expectation of the future. 

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus changes our expectation of the future. 

Our inheritance is the righteous rule of God. We can rejoice in this no matter our current troubles (1 Peter 1.5-9).

The Celebration of the Eucharist spans past, present, and future. 

Paul would not recognize the evangelical Christian idea of accepting Jesus and being saved at a specific moment in time. Philippians 2.12-13 show salvation as a process - something we work out. Salvation is life and the way life is lived. It transforms us and our life in the present reflects that. 

What is an Adult?

We live in a world of empirical truth; but, a life of faith is important. 

In traditional cultures, we find ourselves moving toward others. Adulthood comes when we enter into adult community. In modern societies, we have an unsituated self, finding ourselves and adulthood by separating from others. Both ways have drawbacks. The first brings shame if we don’t measure up and arrogance if we do. The second generates loneliness and insecurity. If we can’t deliver the identity we craft for ourselves, what have we got left? 

There is a third way. To truly be an adult we need a horizontal relationship with God, living in God’s Love, and vertically, sharing that love with others. Our adult identity is being in Christ. 

The Love of God is a living, vibrant thing that flows through your life. 

Christ emptied Himself of significance, taking the role of a slave, even unto death. This is important, because so much of our identity lies in feeling our significance. We should set aside our worries about our significance and live a life of service to others. 

Salvation isn’t to be lived just as something for our own benefit. It is meant to be shared - to be lived out for others. This reminds me of Beth Moore’s podcast exhorting is to sow our seed (spiritual nourishment) rather than just eating our seed. 

Our faith increases as we share it. Our own experience of the Love of God grows when we share that Love. 

The more space you make for the Love of God to flow through your life, the greater your experience of that Love will be. 

Nurture Shock

Continuing the book of Philippians. Today we will talk about Philippians 2:1-4:

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 like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 

At the time, good advice was a typical part of friendly greetings. 

The Bible is time bound and timeless. Most of the Bible brings both together. We do not throw away the time bound part. You need time and the willingness to discern the time bound, the eternal, and how God is speaking to you today. 

In the early days of Christianity, we see the Holy Spirit come and push the Church forward. The Holy Spirit is doing something brand new here. The Holy Spirit stretches the boundaries, pushing us out of our comfort zone. 

As Paul goes out to plant churches, he brings two things: a message that was offensive to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, and the Holy Spirit. One way he knows the Holy Spirit is with him is that the message is accepted. 

The message must be embodied or lived out by the Church. The Church must be a place where the Holy Spirit dwells. 

The Body of Christ is led by God. Everyone has a gift or a role to play. Worship should be dynamic and members should love one another. 

These congregations are vulnerable because there is no strong leadership. God picks the vulnerable to lead. We in the Church need to value most the weak and the vulnerable. 

The Church must have unity. Unity is critically important. We are known by our love for one another. Is this how we love God?

Unity doesn’t mean we all agree on everything. Unity means we share or give all of ourselves to one another. 

Being in Christ should be our number one identity marker. This is hard. 

Life within the Church means living for one another in service and love. This is also hard. Our lives are busy and we no longer feel the need for one another. The need is still there, but we don’t take it seriously and this is killing us.