Others-Centered Church

Transcript

If you would please open your Bibles with me to the words written by the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit in Philippians chapter two, starting in verse one. If you don’t have a Bible, there should be one in the seat back in front of you. If you don’t own a Bible, we want nothing more than for you to keep that. One of the great things about being a guest preacher is you get to give other people’s stuff away. Please take it and read it and believe it. If you would please stand with me for the reading of God’s word.

Philippians chapter two, starting in verse one.

So if there’s any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross

— Philippians 2

(ESV)

.

Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This is the word of Lord, thanks be to God. Please join me in prayer. King Jesus, we come to exalt you. But Holy Spirit, we ask you would exalt Jesus in our hearts. Jesus, we come to look at you and to consider you. And so I pray you would reveal yourself to us in power as we think about what it means to be an other-centered church and to be other-centered people and to be focused on things other than ourselves. May we look to you, Jesus, the God of the universe who entered into human history to save sinners

from death to new life for your glory and for our joy. I pray as we begin to engage this week of thankfulness and thanksgiving that the thing we would be most thankful for are the nails that went through your hands, the blood you shed to make us whole, and the fact that we have the spirit dwelling inside of us and that we are new people and we have new hearts and we have new minds and we get to live enjoying you forever. So Jesus, whatever is me, may it be forgotten, but may the things of you sing in our hearts from your word today. We love you, Jesus, and we pray these things for your glory and for our joy. In your name, Jesus Christ, amen. You may have a seat.

The Christmas Question

I’ve been put in a box. I don’t have a wireless microphone. They finally cured my problem of wandering around the stage. As we begin to engage this next season as winter is on the horizon, one of the great questions that plagues Western civilization is about to emerge, a great question that will resurface that plagues both Christians and non-Christians alike, and that is whether or not you can play Tennessee Christmas before, on, or after Thanksgiving. This creates much strife in families and much disagreement, so I thought it would be a good time to bring a sermon about other-centered service and how you can consider other people, not just your own preferences. But as we do that, as we turn to Thanksgiving, my hope is that we have a bit of a prologue for the Advent season that is forthcoming.

We have to kind of brace ourselves because really, in our time, in our place, and in our culture, Christmas is going to hit like one of those great big snow globes, and everything’s about to get chaotic. My concern for us is that if we’re not first poised and prepared to look to Jesus in this time, and in fact, in a time and a season in which companies and corporations want you to think that this is all about you, we as Christians have a counter-formational resistance we must embrace as we look to our Lord. One pastor noted that Advent is to Christmas, which we’re about to engage in. Advent is to Christmas what Lent is to Easter. We are about to prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus Emmanuel. We’re about to prepare our hearts this month to remember that though God made everything good, human beings broke it.

But the answer that God had for that was not simply to wipe humanity out, but to come and be wiped out by humanity. That Jesus himself entered into human history, fully God and fully human, dying the death we deserve, raising from the dead, and saving sinners from death to life, and there’s nothing we can do to earn that, but we are invited into that. We are made his own. We are saved by grace through faith, and it is not our own doing, and that in us should produce nothing but joy and thankfulness and an other-centeredness. And so today we’re going to look to Philippians, where I think at least one of the things, this is such a dense text with so much going on, this is such a dense and important text. There’s so much we could say about it, but one of the things I want us to see

is that how our response to Jesus, what Paul’s doing is he’s inviting us in to respond to the reality of Jesus and what Jesus has done by living other-centered lives, to live in others-centered service. And this is so critical as we go in even to Thanksgiving. Let’s be honest, some of us will have really awesome, rejuvenating, wonderful family gatherings, and some will be very challenging, where we are thinking about ourselves and how everything’s going poorly and we’re not getting our preferences, and to be frank, most of us will probably have a combination of the two. But as we look to that, I do wanna ask the question, how do we, and that’s the church, how does Trinity Church of Portland then glorify Jesus? How do we point to Jesus? How do we make much of Jesus through this other-centered living that Paul is calling us to?

And we’ll see this text in a three-part movement. First, that we’re another-centered church, that’s where he starts. Second, that we’ll see that the answer to this other-centered church comes from a God, and I have to put in parentheses, God the Father-centered, because it gets kind of weird and I know, so we’re trying to do it right, right? So an others-centered church that flows from a God-centered Jesus, God the Father-centered Jesus, so you don’t write me off as a heretic, you’re like, well, that’s what he did in six weeks? He went off and became a heretic? No, but a God-centered Jesus, which leads to a Jesus-centered world, and I also know that I broke all the rules, that those didn’t match up, but the word centered is in the middle, and I didn’t have an alliteration, they’re not all the same letter in the beginning, and I know they’re a little wonky,

An Others-Centered Church

but I want the text to dictate where we’re going here. But we’re gonna look at another-centered church, a God-centered Jesus, and a Jesus-centered world. So we’re starting verse one in chapter two of Philippians, Paul’s call for us to have an others-centered church. So, so, listen to his words. So if there is any encouragement, if there’s just a little bit, just a touch, if there’s any encouragement in Christ, if there’s any comfort in love, and participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. It’s fascinating to me, I don’t think what he’s saying, as we read the book of Philippians, we realize there are some conflicts in this church, but he’s willing to say these things to them, he says crazy things, he’s writing from prison,

rejoice, and again, I say rejoice, he has to say it twice, because he’s in prison, yes, I said rejoice the first time, and yes, I mean it. I don’t think he means that they’re down to nothing, or down to the wire, but he’s saying if you are there, if you’re down to the wire, if there’s anything of you in Christ, if there’s anything of you of the Spirit, there’s anything of you in love. As many of you know, we’ve relocated onto some property, and one of the ways, one of the ways, we have many splits, we also heat our house with a wood fire. It turns out the Bible has all these great images about fire and heating your home or whatever, but anyways, I was getting up early just yesterday, kind of putting the final touches on this sermon, and the embers in the wood stove

had died down just to the slightest amount, and when that happens, one of two things can happen. You can screw it up, and you have to build a whole fire from the ground up and start all over, but if you’re really careful, and maybe put a little bit of cedar next to a little bit of maple, and give it a little bit of oxygen, soon those few little embers turn into this gigantic fire again, and all of a sudden, you’re warmed, you’re warmed by the stove, and there’s honestly some peace in the house, and as I was reflecting on this text, I think he was after, he’s like, the image is almost like that. If there’s just a little bit there, guys, and I’m not saying he actually thinks there’s just a little bit there, but if, if there’s just a little bit there, and as I was thinking about you,

and thinking about the task I had at hand, and thinking about this church, what’s really amazing is we think about this, it’s not that there’s just a little bit of this here. This is who you are. This is Trinity Church of Portland. You’re gospel people who are living in Christ, so what else can God do with it if we have more even than just a little bit, right? You can’t start a fire without a spark, but if you have something more, if you have more fuel there, what happens when you throw a log on this fire, and that’s what Paul’s about to do for them. So if there’s any encouragement in Christ, you have to read your Bibles slowly. This phrase, in Christ, is a powerful little phrase. In fact, this is what John Calvin is gonna argue is the primary picture of what it means to be a Christian.

Yes, we are sinners. Yes, we’ve been forgiven for our sins. Yes, we’ve been redeemed. Yes, we’ve received grace, but we’ve received all of those things so we can be sons of God most high, in Christ, so we can have union with God in Christ, that when God looks at you, he looks at someone who is in Christ, that we can say with Paul, it’s no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives through me. And what’s amazing about this is there’s any participation in Christ. Now, the amazing thing about being in Christ, it means that you’re in Christ. It’s not like you’re in Christ when you’re having good days and out of Christ when you’re having bad days. You’re in Christ all the time. At the same time, the Bible invites us into the scriptures, the biblical authors invite us into this reality that in Christ, we take off the old person who we once were

and we put on the new person that we now are and we live more and more into that reality and the freedom and the grace and the mercy of Jesus and his gospel. So there’s any encouragement in Christ, these people in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind. Now, I think what he has in mind is he’s talking about these embers of what’s happening and their ethos and their character and their life are the verses, believe it or not, just right above that he has written. So if you look up with me to verse 27 in chapter one, where he says this, “‘Only let the manner of your life be worthy “‘of the gospel of Christ.’” Now, sometimes I think in our kind of worth-centered world, when we hear worthy here,

we’re thinking about have I paid Jesus enough to be like part of the kingdom or whatever. This word worthy really has more of the connotation of being in harmony with the reality of Jesus. You’re living in a way that makes sense with who Jesus is and what he has done for you. Amazing thing about the gospel is that God’s inviting us into that reality and he’s covered our sins for when we’re not living in it and given us all the resources and the spirit to get back in line and back in harmony with that. So he’s admonishing, live in line with the reality of who Jesus is. Live in line with the reality of the kingdom of God. Live in line with the reality that you’ve been made a citizen of this kingdom. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

That Jesus came, lived, died, and rose again. That he saved sinners from death to life. That you can’t earn God’s love, but he’s poured it out on you. If you’re in here today and you don’t know who Jesus is, this is what you must know. If you know nothing else, this is the reality of the gospel. The gospel is the message that God has come down to get to us, not that we can get up and get to God. He will love you, he will forgive you, he will make you his own. And it’s not something you can do to change your life so that he might care about you or that you might be someone he’s interested in. Rather, he has reached his hand down for us. He’s made us alive together with Christ and you have to receive it. This is the grace of God.

So only let the manner of your life be worthy of the gospel so that whether I come to see you or I’m absence, he loves these people and he’s talking to them, I may hear of your standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel and not be frightened in anything by your opponents. That is a clear sign of them of their destruction, but of your salvation that is from God. When the world pushes against the gospel, it’s actually not a sign that we’re in trouble, it’s a sign that we’re doing what we’re supposed to do. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church. The church is moving forward. We’re bringing the love of Christ to the world. We’re telling people about who he is. But what I think is also fascinating about this,

he wants them to be of one mind and so on and so forth. He has this image of this church that is together in striving side by side for the faith of the gospel and it’s just worth noting that Christianity is not like so many other religions where being of one mind means uniformity. As a church, as Trinity Church of Portland, you need unity. But that’s not necessarily uniformity or unanimity or another uni word that I can’t think of, right? That it’s actually okay, but that we can be even people who don’t always agree on everything, but that we remember, you know what? These people have my back. These people love me. And yeah, we don’t agree on this secondary thing or how to handle something or whatever it may be. But at the end of the day, it’s not that we all walk lock step,

but that we all hold arm in arm forward for the gospel, that the gospel might go forth in Portland and that we might get into each other’s lives and give of ourselves to help each other follow Jesus. It does not mean that we all wear, I managed to not wear a collared shirt that was the same color, but we are wearing the same colored shirt today. I’m just glad you didn’t wear a crew neck that color because then we’re in trouble, Thomas. Despite the fact that Thomas and I dress pretty much the same and it’s awkward when we go places together, when we travel together, we have to stick our head out and say, what are you wearing today? So we don’t wear the exact same twinsies outfit. It’s awkward. So that’s just an anomaly though, because we’re not about uniformity, but we are about unity.

That’s what it means to be the church. And it also means that we say, you know, I don’t understand why they’re saying that right now, but I believe that they love Jesus and I believe they love me. And so I’m going to get to the bottom of this and like give them the benefit of the doubt and just remind one another, hey, we’re on the same side here. We’re on the same team, right? Being of one mind, which as you read the end of Philippians seems to be one of the problems they’re having. So this is what it looks like then to be worthy of this gospel, to be in Christ, to find comfort from love, to participate with the Holy Spirit as he makes us holy and empowers us to go to the ends of the earth, to have affection and sympathy. But he reminds them again, complete my joy

by being of the same mind, having the same love, being full of cord and of one mind. Well, how do we do that? Verse three, do nothing. Yup, the Greek word for nothing is still nothing. Do nothing, no thing, don’t do anything. From rivalry or conceit or vanity. This word conceit has a vanity under it. That you have an over-realized estimation of yourself and of your opinion and what you do and how you think of the world that centers around you. Again, this is a very dangerous thing because we actually live in a world that says, you have to love you first. It’s all about you. Obey your thirst, have a Sprite or whatever. You know what I mean? It’s like a thing where we believe, actually everything does revolve around me and I need to make the world work for me. That’s actually different than what Paul’s gonna say.

It’s actually really uncomfortable, especially when you try it out in the laboratory of life on Thursday when we all get together for dinner. But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves who, others, all of them, more significant than yourself. The person going slow on I-84 when you’re trying to get here but you got up late and you’re trying to get here. Count them more worthy than yourself when you’re doing anything in life. Actually, look to other people and say, what does this person need? Very simple question to pray and to ask. God, what does this person need and how can I serve them? It’s a very simple question. It’s a very difficult question. It’s a fun question to ask about your friends. It’s a fun question to ask about the people you like. It’s a fun question to ask about the people you’re getting along with.

And when someone’s not that person, your uncle’s that guy who always wants to do that thing on Thanksgiving and you’re tired of it, you don’t wanna deal with it. Instead of saying, man, uncle so-and-so is such a so-and-so, you say, what does uncle so-and-so need and how can I serve him?

But he’s so annoying. But each of you look not only after his own interests. So he’s not saying don’t look after your interests. He’s not saying that. Don’t get that spot wrong. But not only his own interests, but also to the interests of others. But I’m busy and my calendar’s full and I got stuff to do. And we’re experiencing inflation and all these other things. You have all these reasons not to look at everyone else and say, what does this person need and how can I serve them? Now what I think is amazing about this, this is a profile that we’ve just looked at. These few verses give us this profile of what an other-centered church looks like. And where we would take a gigantic misstep is to say, so, you all try hard. You know what to do. You know what’s right. Be good people.

Try harder. I mean, yes, it is what is right. And effort is not necessarily, effort and earning are not the same thing necessarily. I get it, I get it. This is the right thing to do, to consider others more highly than you want. But the amazing thing about Paul, the amazing thing about the New Testament, the amazing thing about the Bible, it’s never just try harder and pull yourself up by your bootstraps. He takes these little embers and he’s about to dump a piece of cedar and a nice big piece of maple on there. The house is about to smell nice and the fire is about to get lit up. Because here we go in verse five.

A God-Centered Jesus

So Paul has laid it out and now he’s about to say, but this is how we get here. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. There’s that word again, in Christ. But as we’ll see in a second, it’s important. He did something different. Did you see that? What did it say before? It said in Christ and this one says, in Christ Jesus. Christ, not his last name, not a way to make a more extensive cuss word out of the holy name of the Lord of the universe. But he switched it. Like Paul, didn’t you know it’s Jesus Christ, not Christ Jesus? When he puts Christ in the front, Christ isn’t a last name, it is a title. He is King Jesus. And when he goes out of his way to put that name in the front, that title in the front, he’s saying,

you’re in the King of the universe. And this is gonna be really, really important in a second. So you just gotta hold that in your mind. But he’s saying this thing, this reality isn’t about you trying harder, but it’s about you being who you actually are in the spirit. This is about you being who you actually are as a son or daughter of God most high. This is about you being who you are when you see the gospel for what it is, when you understand the nature of the rebellion that we’ve had against God and everything he has done for you in Christ. So my answer to considering others more highly than myself is not try harder, it’s the right thing to do. But get your eyes off yourself and look at Jesus for a minute. And so that’s what we’re gonna do. Because it’s yours in Christ Jesus.

Who? Verse six. Who though he was in the form of God. Jesus is God, the second member of the Trinity. Believe it or not, this is a church that affirms the doctrine of the Trinity. The father is God, the son is God, the spirit is God. The father is not the son nor the spirit. The son is neither the father nor the spirit. The spirit is neither the father nor the son. One God, three persons for all eternity. Jesus is God, who is fully God and fully man. Who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God. And really here we’re talking about God the father. Did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. This is a very fascinating, common little Greek word that often means something like plundered. Or taken by force. It’s a common word that’s been used in Greek

for a long time. It’s in Homer and it’s in Paul. But here he’s saying that equality with God is not a thing to be taken by force. So, Philippians chapter, pardon me, Ephesians chapter one is very clear. God made a plan before the foundation of the earth to redeem sinful humanity. God did not create humans. Humans, this is not what happened. That he created humans, they rebelled against him and he was like, I didn’t see that one coming. I didn’t know that one was a possibility. Shoot, what are we gonna do now? The reality is, is that God, who is outside of time, actually chose to create humanity. He chose to create our first parents’ atomy. He chose to create and allow you to be in existence. Now listen, knowing before he created you and allowed you to be, all of the ways you would rebel against him in your entire life.

And he looked at you in his son and said, they’re mine. Forgiven, loved, redeemed. He had a plan to save you before the foundations of the earth that means he looked at you in all of your liabilities and said, I’m gonna make that person my son or daughter. They’re mine. I’m gonna love them while they’re still my enemy. And listen, sorry, that got dramatic. But it’s probably okay. Listen.

When he saved you, he also knew all the ways you would fall short of his glory on the other side of your salvation. And he saved you. And he’s forgiven you. And in the gospel, it’s not that Jesus covered the bill up to the point until you knew better and then everything else is up to you. The gospel is that he looks at you and he sees your iniquity and he says, covered. And he looks at Jesus, he looks at you through him and says, redeemed. He says, son or daughter. He says, part of the family. And there’s nothing you can do to earn it. It’s just poured out on you in Christ. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Oh, I mean, if I take this for just a second, I think about, then what does it look like to live worthy of that?

Again, not that I can pay him back as if I can owe him for anything, but how do I live in harmony with that reality? So this God is standing there in that reality in this plan that was hatched before the foundations of the earth because God is outside of time as noted by Augustine. I can say Augustine now because Ryan’s not here to make fun of me for mispronouncing it. But I suppose I just picked on Ryan Lister while he’s not here. Augustine. Augustine noted that God exists outside of time and in so being, Augustine is the father of quantum physics. Time’s a created thing along with everything else. This is amazing, right? So outside of time before the foundations of the earth, Jesus did not account equality with God a thing to be taken by force. So in this plan, to have the wrath of God

poured out on Jesus in our place, Jesus doesn’t stand before God and say, why don’t you send the Holy Spirit? Why don’t we do something else? Don’t you know I’m God? He doesn’t do that. I mean, it’s going to be hard for some of you on Thursday when your mom says, hey, you’re 25. Can you mash the potatoes? And you’re going to say, why don’t you have my sister do it? She’s 23. Because we get into Thanksgiving and all of a sudden we act like the children that we were in the homes in which we live sometimes. Sometimes. Not you. Everybody else.

So Jesus didn’t count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. Now this is a very interesting and careful thing I think Paul’s doing here. Jesus doesn’t cease to be God, but takes upon himself humanity. Like a truck going through mud doesn’t cease to be a truck but becomes a muddy truck, Jesus takes on humanity while remaining fully God. Now we’ve got to be careful here. There’s a place where all these things break down. He’s fully God, fully human. He’s not just like God wearing a human suit. He’s actually incarnate, fully God, fully human, setting aside his divine rights to live the life you should have lived. Hebrews tells us that he lived this perfect, sinless life so he can relate to you in every way. The God of the universe doesn’t just relate to you because he’s sovereign,

and he knows your heart, and he knows your spirit, and he knows your life. But he does. The God of the universe relates to you because Jesus walked this earth like you. He’s experienced suffering, and hardship, and temptation. He was tempted in every way, but knew no sin, which is a two-fold reality. One, that means that God can take his sinless life in the place of your not sinless life. He did that for you. It’s part of the great exchange. It’s called the great exchange where Jesus gets what I deserve, and I get what Jesus deserved. I get treated like his perfect, sinless life, but also so that he can look into your life and say, I know. Your friends have stabbed you in the back? I know. People you came to save betrayed you? Yep, did that. He knows what it’s actually like to be a human.

He took on the form of a servant. The son of man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. Just trying to get us back into Mark’s gospel. We didn’t spend enough time there, and we needed more time. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself. He humbled himself. What did Paul tell us to do? Humble yourselves. So while you can’t humble yourself to help your mom with the mashed potatoes, the God of the universe humbled himself and became a human. See how this is to be a log on the fire of our worship. It’s to change us and to help us to see him for who he is. And being found in the form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient. He was obedient to the Father. He says things like, your will, not my will, right?

By becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross, where he drank the cup of wrath I deserve for my iniquities and for your iniquities. Paid the price sufficient for all people and applied to those who’d receive Christ. That the God of the universe, the only sinless man, the only right person who ever lived, God who is infinitely beautiful and infinitely true and infinitely good and infinitely holy, this God enters into human history to glorify God the Father and to redeem a people for himself, dying on the cross, again, taking the consequence I deserve for my actions. So I and you can be children of God.

And Paul wants us to look at this and stare at it and not just think about our sin. This isn’t just like a Good Friday sermon, by the way. This isn’t just like, hey, you’re a sinner and Jesus paid the price for you. It’s, hey, children of God, remember what Jesus did to make you right in the world? He humbled himself. And so I don’t humble myself from my strength and action and because it’s the right thing. I humble myself because I look to Jesus who humbled himself. And if Jesus is willing to go to the cross for me, I can cross the street to help you. Now, there’s an irony, there’s a twist that’s amazing. So this God, Jesus, who humbles himself, has this other centricness towards God the Father, submits to the will of God the Father, is obedient to the God the Father,

doesn’t compete with God the Father, though he’s co-eternal and co-equal with God the Father. Instead, he goes to the cross, but then look at what happens. Then all of a sudden, Jesus, having this other centric mentality towards him, creates a world that actually becomes a Jesus-centered world. Verse 10, because he did these things, because he goes to the cross so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. That’s every knee and every tongue. Now, of course, there’s a reality here. And we say this with love and kindness. And if you’re in here today and you’re not a Christian, we’re so thankful you’re here, because we will all bow our knees and we will all confess with our tongues. And as one pastor once noted, yes, pluralism is sort of right. Hear me say, sort of right, Portland, that there is many paths on one mountain,

but they all lead to the white throne of judgment of King Jesus. And only those who go through Christ and in Christ and submit to Christ and love Christ and receive Christ will joyfully and gladly, as the forgiven people of God, confess with our tongues and bow with our knees in the greatest moment in human history. And those who reject Jesus in this life will also confess. But your confession will be, I was wrong. He tried to give me his love. He tried to save me from myself. He came to earth to rescue and I rejected him. And I will bow my knee to the King of the universe, who is my enemy. And frankly, if Jesus hasn’t paid the price on that cross for you, you will have to pay the price. Jesus is infinitely beautiful, infinitely glorious and infinitely amazing. So he is sufficient to pay the price for our sin.

But that also means our sin against God is one that is infinite and the consequence is infinite. But there’s not, this is not a message without hope. Here’s the hope. Repent, believe, become children of God, love this God, enjoy this God, know this God. He’ll make you whole. He’ll make you right. He’ll make you humble. He’ll make you into the person he always intended you to be by the power of the spirit, by his grace and his mercy. Grace is when I get a bunch of stuff I don’t deserve. Mercy is when I don’t get the stuff I do deserve. I deserve the cross. I get mercy. I really deserve hell, which is deep. I don’t get that. I get mercy. What I don’t deserve is to be his child. What I don’t deserve is to live life with the church. What I don’t deserve is worshiping him forever.

And yet he pours out all those things on me. If you want something to be thankful for on Thursday, welcome to the family of God. So that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. What to the glory of God, the father, we exist to love and enjoy and glorify God forever. The point of our life in Christ is joy. It’s joy that starts now. It’s joy that starts now and it’s joy that goes forever as we enjoy God and love God and glorify God and make him the center of our everything.

Shining as Light

So again, let’s see it. So to be another centered church is not to try harder, but to look to Jesus who humbled himself and became the God-centered Messiah, Jesus. So we look to that. That becomes the log on the fire of our lives. And the end fruit of it all is that we get to worship God forever. Listen to what Paul says about this in Philippians chapter two, verse 14. Just skip down for me. He comes back to this theme. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish. Because what God has done, blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you what? When we’re doing these things, when we’re living these other centered life, when we’re living these Jesus-centered lives, he says this of you. When you shine as light in the world,

holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ that we just talked about, I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. When we love Jesus, enjoy Jesus, cherish this gospel and live in harmony with it, we become light in the darkness. We become light in a city that needs him so desperately, in a place that needs him so desperately, in a world that needs him so desperately, in a crooked generation that needs him so desperately. We become these beacons of joy and hope and of the gospel. So how do we do this? That’s nice, right? But what do we actually do? What do we do to put some logs on the fire? Three things. Worship Jesus. Consider Jesus. Copy Jesus. We worship Jesus and we look to him. We come to these realities.

We come to the realities of Colossians chapter. We come to the realities of Romans chapter 11, not that, or pardon me, eight, because we’re just in eight. Not height nor depth nor powers or principalities could ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We look to this Jesus and we worship him. We become like that which we worship. If the thing that is at the center of your life is arts, entertainment, or food, or celebrity, or people appreciating you, or people liking you, or people loving you, or whatever that thing is, success, money, power, whatever the thing is that you put at the center of your life, your life will mold around that reality and that is what you worship and you’ll become more and more like that thing. When Christ Jesus is at the center of our lives, we take our eyes off ourselves

and put our eyes on this Jesus. And it changes who we are and how we operate in the world. You become like that which you worship. Love money, you will be a money-grubbing person. Love Jesus, you will become like Jesus. And they’re very simple things. How’s your playlist? Like we’re being honest here. Is it all Warren G? Is it some Warren G? Does anyone even remember Warren G? Probably not. It’s been on my mind.

Are you listening to music? Are you reading books? I mean, let’s be honest. You have a phone and unless you have a light phone, a punk phone or one of those Mennonite flip phones that I like so much, you’ve got like news feeds on your phone. How much of that time is spent in the word which is also on your phone or could be and how much of it is it spent you freaking out about an election across the country that actually doesn’t totally change your life all the time? At least not the minute by minute check, right? I’m not even saying it’s not important. I’m not saying you should be checked out but what’s the priority? How do we change and mold our lives to be fixed around the worship of Jesus? That’s where joy is friends but also when we do that, then we consider Jesus.

If we’re being honest, if we’re not careful, we can go a whole day without thinking about Jesus. We can. It’s possible or very little about Jesus. How do we rearrange our lives to have prayer triggers in our lives? When you see that stop sign by your house, you remember to pray for your neighbor because that’s your prayer trigger or maybe the things you do, the routine you have, maybe you don’t listen to music in the car. Maybe you sing to Jesus in the car and your time in the car is the time you pray and sing. You just get in the habit. I’m not saying you have to. I’m just saying there’s a lot of things you can do. Don’t resign yourself to be like, no, I’ll think about Jesus for like 15 minutes on Sunday. This is a beautiful punctuated time of worship when we come together and there’s few special things.

And I’ve missed worshiping with you all so much. There are few special things like coming together with the people of God to worship God’s King Jesus under the word of God and so on. But you can have it more. Are you surrounding yourself with friends who are speaking the gospel into your life that you’re considering Jesus and he’s on your mind? And finally, copy Jesus. So when I was in high school, everybody loved the WWJD bracelets. It then became silly and people made t-shirts and whatever. And it became a joke, right?

Doesn’t mean it’s a bad question. See how I did that? I didn’t really mean to. I just happened to lean in. It actually doesn’t mean it’s a bad question. If Jesus is right here with me, is this what I’m gonna do? Is this the choice I’m gonna make? Because that’s Paul’s admonishment for us in 1 Corinthians. The Holy Spirit dwells in you like a temple.

Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit is with you now if you’re in Christ and he goes with you wherever you go. But also when you see these things, what’s your attitude towards people in the world? Is it the same as Jesus? Are you asking those questions? Like what does this person need and how can I serve them? Are you seeing it through Jesus’ lens? Can you say with Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 and one, imitate me as I imitate Christ? It’s actually what we’re called to do. We actually live the life so we could, not only that it would be in our place, but we see how to live.

Worship, Consider, Copy

He’s given us great gifts, friends. Keep this as the log on the fire. That every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. If you’re in here today and you’re not a Christian, we would just take a Bible, read it. There’s tons of folks here. We want honestly nothing more than to tell you about the love we’ve received in Christ. We want nothing more than to tell you how you can become a follower of Jesus and what it looks like to receive that love yourself. I’ll be here, but the pastors here, you are in good hands with these men. Great members, great church. Talk to them about Jesus. There is nothing more important than coming to know this God. And if you hear this and we’re being honest, right? Your fire’s a little more like the embers. What’s it gonna take to put some logs on there

rather than just let it go out? What’s it gonna take to surround yourself with people who are gonna encourage you to get back in God’s word, get back in prayer. I know Kassandra’s got the prayer ministry. There’s people who’ll pray with you. There are people who help you pray.

You have to do something about it. Get into it. He actually has a great design for your life. There’s a life that you enjoy, love, and follow Jesus. And the fire’s hotter, right? It’s not on the verge of going out. How are you gonna give of your life to help the rest of this church follow Jesus? How are you gonna persevere? But also, how are you gonna get somebody in your life? How are you gonna clear your schedule? How are you gonna rearrange what you do so you can start reading the Bible with someone, praying with someone, encouraging someone, getting in somebody’s life, helping them? Just finding a way to like show up at their house and help them with something. I don’t know. There’s a lot you can do. And God’s got different roles for all of us to play in that as one body.

Let’s pray. King Jesus, we do thank you for today. We thank you that you are the God of the universe that entered into human history. That you’ve come to save sinners from death to life. You’ve given us love. You’ve given us joy. You’ve given us grace. You’ve washed us of our sins. And it took this phenomenal work of you entering into human history. So as we think about what it looks like to be other-centered, first, what you’ve done for us, but then how you did it. And not just try harder, but to respond to you in thanksgiving. Jesus, we love you and pray these things for your glory and for our joy in your name, Jesus Christ, amen.