Striving Together for the Gospel (1/7/18 Standalone Sermon)

ATTN: Happy New Year. As I get older, my new year’s resolutions get shorter and shorter each year. When I was younger, I used to list 5 or 6 resolutions on a piece of paper or a calendar – lose weight, read through the bible in one year, get things done early, be nicer to my mom, get a girlfriend, etc –  but now, I will have maybe one or two. In our community group meeting last thursday, we were going around sharing our resolutions, and I really had to stop and think of even one! And I think the reason is not because I’m becoming perfect as each year goes by and so I need to change less and less, but it’s more that whatever resolutions I make in the beginning of the year, most of them don’t get done. So, “What is the point of making resolutions when they don’t get done?” But I think there is wisdom in trying! “Shoot for the moon and if you miss, you get the stars.” A quote I found on internet. I think there is some wisdom in it. And the Bible certainly advocates trying, and making resolutions, or “striving” is our word. So, today, the first Sunday of the year, I want to speak on “Striving together for the gospel.”

This was the theme of our Winter Retreat for those of you who weren’t there. By the way, it was awesome! More than 90 of you showed up and it was a great time of bonding, relaxing, worshiping, and reflecting on the year 2017 as we prepare for the new year 2018. And the theme of “striving together for the gospel” is what we centered around. Now that we are 7 years old as a church, rather than thinking only of ourselves, our needs, our survival, it’s time that our focus shifts and be thinking about bigger things, like the Kingdom of God, spreading of the gospel, making eternal impact in the world for the Lord. Now, if you are still hung up on yourself, and think, “But Pastor, I’m still struggling and I want it to be about me and how I can improve!”, just go with us with this one because when we are about God and others, that’s when we are enriched the most. So, if you have a personal issue or family issue you just can’t fix, the thing to do may be to focus on something other than that. How long have you been working on it? And it still didn’t get resolve or it got worse? Have you ever thought that if you put godly things first, the earthly things might just take care of themselves? Wasn’t it Jesus who said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and all His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” (Matt 6:33)

I think it’s great that you want to lose 20 lbs, improve your grades, save more money, and waste less time on social media, but the resolutions that will have eternal impact will be greater. “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” 1 Tim 4:8.

So, today, and possibly for the next few weeks, we will take a break from the Book of John series and start the year off with this new theme for the year. Striving together for the gospel.

And the text for today is Philippians 1: 27, which says almost the exact same thing: 27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel 28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

 

Three words I want to focus on today: 1. Strive. 2. Together. 3. The gospel.

1. Strive

“Strive” – It means in the original language, “to struggle along with” or to “contend together,” meaning that Christian life requires effort. We are a grace-loving, Gospel-driven, church. Not work-based as in, if you have done more good than bad, then you go to heaven! We do not believe that at our church. God is not a Santa Claus who has nice and naughty lists and only let those who are on the nice list come into heaven. The Bible says that we are all on the naughty list. Even the best of us. And the only way we can get on the nice list is if Jesus’ puts His own name on the naughty list, even though He was perfect, and dies for it. And when we repent and receive the credit for His work for us, our names get to put on the nice list.

And that is grace – unmerited, or unearned favor. We’ve done nothing to earn it. God gave it to us. So, we are a grace-loving church. However, when we say we are grace-loving, so many think then that it will require no work on our part. “Since we cannot put our name on the nice list by being good, there is no point in trying to be good,” is the logic. But that is not true. When true faith comes into us and our eyes are open to what God has done for us even though we didn’t deserve it, our hearts change such that we would want to be good. Before, if we did any good, it was because we had to, for fear of consequences really, but now that God has changed our hearts, we WANT TO be good and do good. ILL: I became saved at age 17, before then my attitude toward my mom was, “I am getting outta here as soon as I turn 18. I can’t wait to get out of this dump and be on my own! No one’s gonna tell me what to do then!” But when I got saved, my attitude was, “I can’t believe my mom put up with such a brat and sinner as myself all these years! I want to be good to her.” God changed me. He changed my desires. So, for christians, God not only changes what we do, but what we want to do! You see, faith and good works are not enemies. But they are parent and child. They go one after the other. And if you don’t have a child, you are not a parent. So, if you don’t have good works, then faith is not real. James makes this very clear. And so does Paul.

So, there is striving or struggling or contending involved in the Christian life. I bet it was a struggle for you this morning to come to church, wasn’t it? Especially, if you had a long break for winter like I did, it was tough adjusting back to the routine and since today is Sunday, you wanted to sleep in and lazy around the house, rather than dressing up, fighting the elements, driving and coming here. And what was the struggle really with? It was with our sinful nature, wasn’t it? Sinful nature says, “Just do what you feel like. You deserved it after a hard week. Besides, would God want you there if you really don’t want to be there? So, focus on yourself now….” But the new nature says, “No. I must be about God. I must be about the body of Christ. So, I will say “no” to what’s comfortable and cozy, and i will do what glorifies Him. I will join the saints of God and worship Him whether I feel like it or not!” So, you are here this morning after some struggle.  And when you saw others and worshiped, you felt good. You are glad you came. But next Sunday, you will have this same struggle.

Fro some of you, this struggle is daily. To read the Bible or to put it off… And at As One, we like saying that if you are struggling, if you are fighting with your sin, that means you are alive. If you don’t have any fights within yourself, that means you are either dead or you are God. Well, you are certainly not God, so that means you are dead. So, do a lot more killing this year! “Put to death the deeds of the body.” (Romans 8:13)  Do a lot more fighting this year. Wage war against the sinful nature of comfort, self-centeredness, lust, and greed, etc. And keep killing. Keep striving. Keep fighting. Our sinful nature is like a zombie that keeps on coming back to life and you will have to kill it over and over.

 

2. Together

The word, strive, in the original lanuage has the component of community in it: “struggle along with,” or “contending together,” or strive side by side. So, we are not to do this alone. Paul makes this very clear by saying, “v. 27 I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side…”

The picture Paul gives is that of athletes working together to win the game. In team sports, often what matters more is not the individual talents on the team, but how the team works together. If you follow sports, we all know that just because you put all the best players together in one team doesn’t mean that team is going to automatically win championships. They have to learn to play with each other. Each player has to know where he fits and how he contributes to the team. There are marquee players and then there are role players. But altogether, their goal is the same. To win the championship.

So, it is with us Christians. We are to strive together. We are to struggle along with. We are to contend side by side.

C.S. Lewis – Lovers are normally face to face, absorbed in each other; Friends, side by side, absorbed in some common interest.

What is the common interest? The greatest and the grandest thing there ever is! God! Christians are the ones with the greatest vision. Alexander the Great conquered the world at age 33 and wept because there was no more world to be conquered. His vision was to conquer the world! What a vision! But Christians look at that and think, “That’s too small for me. I want more than the world. I want God!” God is the greatest thing there ever was and there ever will be because He is the source of all good things. And therefore, if He is the greatest thing there is and can be, the greatest gift we can give to someone is the gift of salvation – knowing God, loving God, and belonging to God.

ILL: Martin Chang. He was a pastor friend of mine, whom I served together at the same church for 5 years until you take a job as a lead pastor in New York. He has two girls like I do, about 5 years older than my girls. But three weeks ago, I got a message from him asking for prayers. This alarmed me since we haven’t really kept in touch. But he was reaching out every Christian he knew who believed in prayer. The request was the his younger daughter was recently involved in an accident, and she was in a coma and she wasn’t responding to any external stimulus. This happened on Monday and I received the news Wednesday. Then, on Saturday, just 3 days later, the doctors have declared her brain dead and she deceased…. She was 14 years old. Three Sundays ago, she was fully alive looking forward to Christmas with her family, a week later, her parents were putting her in a coffin…. This one really hurt because when something like this happens, you immediately think about your own family. He’s a pastor, I’m a pastor. He’s got two girls. I got two girls. They were two years apart and so are mine. They are just 5 years older than mine. Now, he just lost his younger one… I couldn’t even imagine losing mine… But one comfort that he drew from this is and I quote, “I received visions of Emma being with Jesus, just ecstatically joyful and free.” Your worst nightmare as a parent just came true. What possible hope could you have? I wondered if offering him a billion dollars would help at this point. A house? A brand new car? Larger congregation? No. the only thing that can give hope at this point is the hope of resurrection and eternal life. That, soon, we will see them again. And we will live happily ever after.

But who’s there to tell us this? Who’s there to remind you of these things in your life? Who’s there to celebrate with you when good things happen and weep with you when bad things happen? Those we are struggling with side by side. Those who won’t judge us but quietly love us and pray for us. Striving TOGETHER…

 

3. The gospel.

What are we striving together for? For the gospel. Or to be more accurate, according to the text, “for the faith of the gospel.” The gospel – the good news that saturates our minds and hearts first, and then oozes out of us to wet the feet of those around us who do not have the greatest source of joy and the only source of hope. The good news of Jesus Christ – our physical death is simply a gateway into the blissful life where there will be no sin to struggle with, no death to be afraid of, no goodbyes to be said, no homework to be assigned over the long break, all because Jesus died the death we should’ve died and took the penalty of our sins and lived the life we always wanted to live and given us the credit for it, that gospel is what we are contending for, striving together to grab a hold onto for ourselves and to share with those around us near and far

I dare you to come up with something better than the gospel to give to the people. I know we get shy about sharing this gospel, but what could you give to someone else better than the gospel? A million dollars? They will be very thankful, but you and I know what happens to most lotto winners. They go broke after a few short years and many wish they never won it! I know it’s hard to believe, I’ve read the documentary on the lotto winners and they were more miserable after they won it then before… if they seem to be happy, just give them a few years. A perfect health? Again, just a few years later, they will eventually get sick and die. A billion views of your youtube video so you get invited by Ellen Degeneres on her show? Something silly from India will replace it soon as the most viewed… I mean what could you give to another person that is greater than the gospel? The gospel promises resurrection. The gospel promises eternal life. But more than that, the gospel promises the greatest of all treasures, the source of all treasure, what makes every treasure like family precious. And that is God. God is the gospel. God is the good News. God gives Himself to us through the gospel. What is better than that?

I don’t want to have a stock of Amazon if I can have Jeff Bezos! But forget Jeff Bezos. Who is he? He’s going to get old and die with his money. I want God. I want you to have God. i want my children to have God. i want my neighbors to have God. and I want God to have us. And that is the goal that I’d like As One to have this year. “Striving Together for the Gospel.”

 

CONC: Would you pray with me that this will be your vision and my vision. That God will begin to work in our individual lives and corporate lives so that we will be gripped by the reality of the frailty of life and we will find ourselves investing in things that will matter not 30 years from now but 30 million years from now?

Only one life, twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. – C.T. Studd