Last week we looked at how the attitude and focus of our heart is so important to God. This has lead us to look at our worship to God and how it filters through our live from our hearts. Lets look at Paul’s example in Phillipians 1: 20-21 as he shares his heart with the Phillipian church:

‘I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.’

The desire on Paul’s heart is two fold

1. To not be ashamed of his testimony of the gospel
2. To see Christ exalted in his life

Paul then states that he desires this ‘whether by life or death.’ This is the focus for the next two weeks. How can we see Christ exalted in our life through life and death? This week we will focus on ‘through death’ and next week we will look at ‘through life’.

Through Death
‘for to me…. to die is gain.’ Paul has an understanding that if he needed to die so that Christ would be exalted then he would see his death as gain. This is because his desire is solely focused on seeing Christ exalted.

Our application here is seen in what we need to let go of in our lives to see Christ exalted in us. What has God asked you to let go of? What has he asked you to deal with, to sort out and to hand over to Him? You need to be ready to let go of whatever you are holding onto.

Do you see this aspect of your life as something to give up in order to experience more joy as Christ is exalted in your life, or do you see this as a sacrifice.
When you give something up as a sacrifice you often give it up reluctantly, out of obligation. When you give something up because you honestly believe that God will bless you as He is exalted in your life, you give it up freely.

Which heart focus do you think God would be more pleased:

• The reluctant, obligated sacrifice or
• The joyful expectation of God’s glory

The joy that comes from a decision to see Christ exalted is so great because you will see Christ exalted.

What is God asking you to die in? Where do you need to hand over the reigns to Him? Who do you need to forgive? What do you need to stop doing? Where do you need to stop going?

Seek to see God glorified and exalted as you worship Him with your lifestyle and He will ask you to die to your self so that He may exalt Himself.

Related Posts

1. ‘for me, to live is Christ’
2. Imagine your heart is big storage room!

Politeuesthe!! Here is a greek word that we really need to understand. Paul is using it here to show the phillipian christians how to live their lives.
Our passage today is Phillipians 1: 27: 30

²⁷Whatever 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 one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel ²⁸without 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. ²⁹For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, ³⁰since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

This portion of scripture encourages us to walk in a way that is worthy of the gospel. You see Paul’s suffering for the gospel is for the sake of the gospel. To see the gospel working out in peoples lives. Even though Paul finds joy through his suffering, the purpose of suffering is to see Jesus Christ glorified. Therefore it is important to note that Paul’s encouragement in Phillipians chapter 1 is to live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ. In other words:

• To overflow with love (vs 9)
• To live pure and blameless lives (vs 10)

The encouragement is not to suffer but should this lifestyle bring suffering, then suffer in the knowledge that it is for the gospel of Christ – and this will bring you joy.

Politeuesthe means to behave as citizens worthy [of the gospel of Christ]. The keyword in this definition is ‘citizens’. A citizen is member of a town, a city, a nation and we are members of God’s kingdom.

A citizens lives by the law of the land, supports the land and it’s people and ultimately is united with the other citizens of the land to a common desire and purpose.

Our citizenship in Christ’s kingdom should lead us to live a life worthy of the gospel. A life that calls us to behave as citizens of a most holy, wonderful, glorious, mighty Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

Our citizenship approach that Paul asks of us here, would mean that we obey the law of Christ, live for the body of Christ and be focused on God’s plan rather than our own. That way we will experience joy as we see God’s plan work out and advance in the lives of people all over this world.

Related Posts

1. Living as Heavenly Citizens
2. Counter Culture Revolution! Be courageous…
3. Where’s your joy?

Paul is in prison, things weren’t going well, he was living in the will of God, he was ministering for God, his heart was set on God, and he was in prison. Today as we carry on into Paul’s letter to the God worshipers in Philippi, we’re going to be looking at Philippains 1v12->18 and seeing Paul’s example of living in joy. In this passage we will look at two aspects of Paul’s reaction to what was happening around him and to him.

What happened to him…
Paul was in jail, and we would expect that he would be a little depressed because of the situation in which he finds himself. God has called him to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, and now he is stuck here in a jail, how frustrating! But this isn’t how Paul reacts, in verse 12 we see that instead of expressing his frustration, he sees God’s sovereign hand in what has happened to him. Paul knows that God is sovereign, and that God had allowed Paul to be in the situation that he found himself, so Paul doesn’t spend energy and emotion questioning and advising God, rather he throws all of himself into making the most of the situation that he finds himself in. Paul speaks about Jesus to the palace guard and his fellow prisoners, and Paul hears that other Christians are becoming more and more bold in proclaiming the Gospel because of what happened to Paul.

What motivated him…
Even though there is all this good news in Paul’s situation, there is still some bad news, some people are telling other people about Jesus out of impure motives. Some people were preaching the truth about Jesus, but they were doing so to try and gain things (status, recognition, profit, etc) for themselves, and to try and hurt Paul. But how does Paul react to this news? Again, he does not throw himself a pity party, nor does he feel hard done by because it is just so unfair. No, rather Paul is deeply joy-filled at the situation because Jesus is being spoken about to people who didn’t know Jesus.
This is the secret to Paul’s joy, and this can be the secret to your joy too; Paul was more concerned about Jesus than he was about himself. Right there, that is how Paul could live in unshakable joy, how even when everything around him was falling apart, as long as he had Jesus, and Jesus was being made famous then Paul had true (not fake) joy. This can be you in your life, God wants you to be joyful, in what do you honestly find your joy, if it isn’t in Jesus then you will never ever have true joy.

Related Posts

1. Where’s your trust?
2. Politeuesthe
3. Shine like stars…

“So, when you grow up, who do you wanna be like?” This phrase may bring to mind an image of two little boys standing in the playground, talking to each other about their heroes. The one may say that he wants to be a famous soccer player, the other may want to be a fireman. As little children we iconize those people who have done great things, and set them as our heroes, and as we grow up we still do this to a certain extent. But as Christians, as people who want to please God, what type of person should we aspire to become like? Well Jesus carries on here in Matthew 5v5+6 telling us about the kind of person God wants us to be, the type of person that He uses to revolutionise a culture.

Power under control…
After Jesus showed the importance of our sorry at our sin, He then moves onto describe the characteristic in a counter cultural revolutionary that will inherit the earth. It’s not money, it’s not fame, it’s not power, it’s not influence, it’s not leadership, but it is meekness. Jesus said that those who are meek will be blessed, they will inherit the earth! That is exactly opposite what the culture of our day says, “Get rich, own much, and influence people” that is what we are trained to do by the culture that we live in. “Not so…” says Jesus “…see your sin, be sorrowful because of it, live in meekness, and inherit the whole earth!”

So what exactly is meekness? It is not weakness, it is quite possibly the opposite! Meekness is the having power but yet controlling it, the meek person is humble, patient, and submissive to God. Moses was said to be meek, but our ultimate image of meekness is seen in Jesus, He is all powerful, and yet He allowed Himself to be put to death on the cross.

True Satisfaction…
Jesus goes on to describe the inner desires of the person that He will use to turn the world upside down. Jesus cannot be fooled, you cannot trick Him, He knows you better than you do! He is calling for a total change of your desires, the things that you deeply desire, for you the turn your culture upside down, you need to be turned inside out. Jesus says that the person who desires true righteousness above all else will be truly satisfied, and that by Him!

Do you see how Jesus is taking us on a journey here, we have seen how unspiritual we truly are, we mourn over our sin, we have lost any reason for arrogance and pride, and now we crave righteousness! We have come to the One who can give us true righteousness, Jesus Christ. He calls all of us to come to Him.

Related Posts

1. Counter Culture Revolution! The Call…
2. Counter Culture Revolution! Remeber Him…
3. Counter Culture Revolution! Be courageous…

Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright! – Psalm 33v1
To kick off my first post on this site, i thought it would be fitting to begin with the first line of this Psalm. Not only is this my favourite Psalm, but what this verse speaks about is the desire of my own heart. I hope that after reading this post that you will see and understand the passion i have for this verse.

What’s he saying?
Do you feel the urgency of the writer of this Psalm? Do you grasp the tone of this sentence? I can imagine him running crazily among a crowd screaming out “Shout for joy in the LORD!!!” and when he has their attention, he stands above them and shouts out this Psalm. There is a deep sense of urgency, but not because of fear, but because of excitement. This author has found something so amazingly wonderful that he is driven to share it with everyone. He is so excited about this that he wants to, no, has to share it. But that’s how we are, when we’ve found something we really enjoy we want to share it, we want those we like to have the same joy, and we get frustrated when they don’t get it. That is the picture this Psalm shows us, the author here has found joy in God, and he desperately wants to share it.

Have you got it?
Joy in God, this is the beginning and end of the Christian life. Joy is so essential to the Christian life, that if you remove it, you die spiritually. Joy is to the Christian, what sunlight is to a plant. If you took a plant and put it in a cupboard, it would slowly start to die, first it would droop, then it would begin to change colour, until finally it died. That is what happens to us when we don’t have joy, we begin to droop; worship becomes a challenge, ministry becomes difficult, and your passion for the lost wanes. Then after a while, your desire to read the Bible decreases, your prayer life stops, and your daily thoughts turn away from God. Without joy we cannot survive, and with joy we thrive. Our joy in God is the fuel that drives us in our walk with God, some Christians think that our joy is not something that we should think about, that it is in some way less important than the rest of our faith. But when this becomes the case, we become like that plant, dried out and dead, sure you could spray that dead plant green, even stick some nice plastic flowers onto it, but underneath all of that it is only good for compost!

How’d you get it?
The greatest question then becomes; ‘How do I get joy in God?’ However, before we look at that, we need to first look at this from God’s side. Why is God so interested in our joy? The answer is simple; our joy in God brings Him the upmost glory. God’s priority is His glory, since He is the single most amazing thing that exists, it is right that He is the most glorified being in existence. Therefore, God’s glory and our joy in Him is the same thing. There is a circle, when we have a greater joy in God, He is more glorified through us, and when He is more glorified, we have more joy, etc, etc. Now how do we get this circle going, or ‘How do I get joy in God?’ This is a huge question to answer, so we will only be able to skim some of the surface here. Firstly salvation; only once God has saved you will you see this joy.

How do I keep it?
However, what if you are a Christian and you have lost your joy? I’m sure that this is a situation we all find ourselves in at some stage in our Christian life. The question is then how do we get out of it. Look again at the verse; the author refers to those who have joy in God as the righteous, and as the upright. This is the first thing that will steal your joy as a Christian, sin. Sin in your life, especially a sin that you keep on falling into will rob you of your joy. You need to remove that sin from your life through God’s strength. Remember what you are doing each time you fall into that sin, you are looking to God and saying, “Thanks for your offer of fulfilling joy, but I’d rather have this temporary pleasure instead.” When we do that we are like a child who has their back to an amazing fireworks display memorized by a cheap sparkler. Then the way to seek your joy is to dig deep into God through the Bible, and through prayer. There is much to say on this, but just remember that without reading your Bible, talking to, and hearing from God, you will loose your joy fast!

What happens when I have it?
Joy to the Christian is like money to the greedy , neither ever has enough! There is no amount of joy in the Christian life that is sufficient; those who have found joy will seek harder after it. You can see a Christian who has found joy in their walk with God, there is something about them that shines, worship is natural to them, and their joy is contagious. These people are not exceptional; this is what your Heavenly Father desires for you! When you have found joy you will not be able to help but tell people about it, you will find yourself overflowing with praise to God, you will have a great desire to know God, and longing expectation to be with Him.

There was once a young boy, whose parents had passed away when he was very young. All his parents had left him was a small bag that had a few small oddly shaped stones in it. One day the young boy took that small bag of stones, and was playing with them in the park, a ruthless old man saw the boy playing. The ruthless old man offered to swap this naive young boy a large bag of colourful marbles for his small bag of oddly shaped stones. The young boy was blown away at the generosity of the old mans offer, and gladly swapped without a second thought. The old man walked away snickering, he could not believe his luck; the young boy had just swapped a bag of priceless diamonds for a worthless bag of glass. When Satan tempts, do not swap the priceless diamonds of your joy, for the hollow offer of sin. It breaks God’s heart.

See John Pipers book “The Dangerous Duty of Delight

” to read more on the essential nature of our joy.

Related Posts

1. Parable of the Sower – The Rocky Soil
2. Where’s your trust?
3. Parable of the Sower – The Thorny Soil