Shine Like Stars

At any given moment in our lives, we experience things that stand out among others. When we remember back in our memories there is usually one thing that shines like a star more than the rest. When I was a kid, we went to Florida every Spring Break. One thing that stands out about one trip was when we got to play golf in Florida for the first time. It was so much different that a golf course up here. There are different types of grasses down there. It is a little spongier than the grass up here, so the ball doesn’t go quite as far. Naturally, my brother and I one time were out there and it was in the morning time. We took some snacks with us and were on the 5th hole or so. Our golf balls were in about the same place so I parked between the two. As we were standing over our golf balls, a huge raven flew over to our cart, landed on the front, stole our Nutri-Grain bars and flew off to a neighboring tree. We sat and watched him devour our breakfast and had the hardest laugh we’d had in a long time. We still roll about that story.

Is there something about you that someone would say it stands out about you? For Abraham Lincoln, it was his astounding faith in God and his trademark top hat. For my grandma, it was the fact that she was a caretaker. She was always trying to make sure everyone was taken care of, had enough to eat or drink, clothes, etc. It was never a surprise if she was taking care of someone else.

Today, the sermon title is “Shine Like Stars”. We’ll get into this a little more in depth in a minute. First, let’s read Philippians 2:12-18.

12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you 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 16 as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

Paul starts our text for today complimenting the Philippians on their obedience to the Gospel of Christ. Paul says that they have not only been obedient in his presence, but when he has been gone as well. They are doing a good job working out their salvation, as Paul says, with fear and trembling. This is because we can never save ourselves, salvation is accomplished through Christ, and we do that by way a natural fear of the Lord.

The other half of this is because as Christians, we have to work out our own salvation. We cannot conform to the salvation of someone else. God’s will for one person isn’t necessarily his will for someone else. Each individual has to take ownership of our own personal salvation. Figuring out God’s will for our lives, just like those who have before us. The best example of this is a story told by Warren Wiersbe in The Bible Exposition Commentary.

“Cindy did not seem very happy when she arrived home from college to spend the holiday with her family. Her parents noticed her unusual behavior but were wise enough to wait until she was ready to share her problem with them. It happened after dinner.
“Mother, Dad, I have something to tell you, and I’m afraid it’s going to hurt you.”
“Just tell us what’s on your heart,” her father said, “and we’ll understand. We want to pray with you about it—whatever it is.”
“Well, you know that all during high school I talked about becoming a nurse, mainly because Mom is a nurse and I guess you expected me to follow in her footsteps. But I can’t go on. The Lord just doesn’t want me to be a nurse!”
Her mother smiled and took Cindy’s hand. “Dear, your father and I want God’s will for your life. If you do anything else, we’ll all be unhappy!”
Cindy had done the courageous thing; she had faced God’s will and decided that she wanted to work out her own salvation—her own Christian life—and not what somebody else wanted her to do. One of the wonderful things about being a Christian is the knowledge that God has a plan for our lives (Eph. 2:10) and will help us to work it out for His glory. Our God is a God of infinite variety! No two flowers are the same, no two snowflakes are the same; why should two Christians be the same? All of us must be like Christ, but we must also be ourselves.”

Paul goes on to state that we should do all of this without complaining or arguing because doing God’s will should be a joyful experience in our lives. I have a hard time with this sometimes…especially when Sherri gets a youth call. I understand what she has to do and why, but I have to check my attitude at the door when it comes to this. Sometimes it is hard to do as humans when we already have a hectic schedule and we have to fit it God’s work within our jobs, family and everything else that we have planned. Paul reminds us to be joyful in doing God’s work. It’s the whole attitude adjustment we talked about last week.

When Paul was writing this letter, there were problems because the generation had become corrupt and crooked. Luke write in Acts 2:40, where Peter is preaching a sermon to the crowd, 40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” By following Christ, they could avoid becoming corrupt and broken themselves. My friends, this is exactly the same today. The further along in time we go, the closer we get to the End of Days, we are ever more subject to becoming a part of this corrupt generation as well. We must do what we can to work out our salvation to avoid this major pitfall within our world today.

The second half of this verse is where our main idea lies. Paul tells us to shine like stars as we hold out the Word of Life. In other words, as we hold out the message of Jesus Christ in our lives, it should shine out of us like nothing else. If there is something that should stand out about you, it should be that Jesus reigns supreme in your life. As we work out our salvation according to the individual plan God has for us, no matter what our task is, people should be able to tell that through our lives, God has been a dominant factor in our lives. Our work will not be in vain if we cling to Christ and his message.

Paul concludes this little section here with words of encouragement. Even if Paul is being sacrificed for the cause of Christ, he rejoices for this fact, and the Philippians should too. No matter what our circumstances, this reminds us to be joyful and rejoice no matter what.

So how do we apply all of this to our lives? As I posed earlier, is there something about you that stands out? Do you have a quality that people would say makes you, you? As humans, we are all given individual abilities and gifts that make us unique. Moreover, God gives us each individual tasks to accomplish while we’re here. Through these gifts and tasks Christ’s light should shine like stars out of us. People should be able to tell that these things come from God and that we live for him. This is part of our evangelism for the Kingdom of God.

Case and point, most of my ministerial colleagues are ministers now, but had earlier careers. Like me, they spent the first half of their adult lives pursuing what they wanted. After submitting to God’s will, they are now working out their own salvation…they are allowing the Word of Life to shine like stars out of them.

This does not necessarily apply to career changing ministers. It can apply to anyone who is a Christian. If you are not doing what God wants you to be doing, God can be beckoning you to do the work he wants of you. It doesn’t matter whether it is serving on a committee, in the community or missions or anywhere doing anything for him. Keep in mind there are points to where we can be doing too much as well. If we are doing too much, we could be preventing someone else from their designated ministry by God as well. Where are we in our lives? Are we in the place where God wants us? Do we shine like stars in among the darkness in our world? Take the time this week to contemplate the tasks we are on. Pray over your duties and see where God is calling you to be shining like stars.

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