Dying for Christ...
The second half of this sermon is a little unfinished. There are basic ideas that I preached because I had a funeral and could not finish my manuscript. Please take this into consideration when reading.
An atheist was walking through the woods. 'What majestic trees'! 'What powerful rivers'!'What beautiful animals'! He said to himself. As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him…He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw that the bear was closing in on him. He looked over his shoulder again, & the bear was even closer. He tripped & fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike him.
At that instant the Atheist cried out, 'Oh my God!' Time Stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky. 'You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don't exist and even credit creation to cosmic accident.' 'Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer'? The atheist looked directly into the light, 'It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian'? The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head & spoke: "Lord bless this food which you have brought before me, Amen"
I love that joke, I got it from my dad this week through email. This week we are continuing on our in-depth look at Philippians. I’ve titled this sermon, “Dying for Christ” because the world is literally dying. Unfortunately, like the atheist, more and more people are embracing science rather than God’s Word. Before we go further, let’s read our Scripture for today. It is Philippians 2:19-30.
19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. 20 I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. 21 For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. 23 I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. 24 And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.
25 But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. 26 For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. 27 Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. 28 Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. 29 Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, 30 because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me.
One of the main themes throughout Philippians has been this longing Paul has to receive word about the believers in Philippi. Paul starts here by tooting Timothy’s horn here a little. Obviously, this is the same Timothy we hear about in other letters written by Paul. Paul is telling the Philippians how much Timothy clings to the interests of Christ Jesus, rather than his own. Timothy has proved it over and over again that he is a faithful servant to Jesus. Paul has worked side by side, shed blood, sweat and tears in their ministry together developing this close relationship of father to son. When people engage in ministry like this together, very tight knit bonds develop and take form. Ministry just brings people closer to one another. We share the common good of Jesus in which are the ties that bind.
As Paul continues, he reassures them that as soon as he knows what will be the result of his ministry while in prison, he will send Timothy…as well as reassuring them that he himself will return to them as well.
Next, however, we see a man by the name of Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus was actually sent by the Philippians to minister to Paul. Paul sees it fit to send Epaphroditus back to the Philippians (carrying this letter of course) because he is actually homesick for them because they heard he had been sick. Indeed enough, we find out that he was in fact close to death, but God restored him to health and is being sent home in full health. Paul states that it would have been grief upon grief because he was in prison among other things, and he would have lost Epaphroditus, a wonderful servant as well. God saw fit to have mercy on both men and the Philippians should welcome him home with open arms and great joy.
Paul adds here that we should honor men like Epaphroditus, because he almost died for the work of Christ.
There’s special significance in the idea of dying for Christ. Missionaries all over the world risk their lives to present the message of Christ. Although Epaphroditus was sick and almost died, he still risked his life. In 52 countries around the world, the Bible is illegal.
Even in our own country today, immense persecution comes to those in certain areas who believe in God. We may not die for Christ, but we should take that same attitude that we would if we had to.
The other part of this idea of “dying for Christ” is the idea that our world, moreover, our country is dying for Christ. Meaning the need to hear the message of Christ.
I listened to a the author Ken Ham (of the Answers In Genesis organization) speak at a conference that had been recorded on a CD. On this CD Ken was talking about the idea of God creating the world in 6 days.
It is the idea of country falling apart because we’ve abandoned this literal 6 day creation. We’ve taken the authoritativeness right out of the Bible by fitting in this idea of Millions of years.
For years, scientists were wrong about things. At one time, the world was thought to be flat. The Earth was the center of the universe, and so on. We’ve put all of our stock into science and men’s ideas of the order of time. However, for thousands of years, the Bible was taken to be literal and the idea that God created the world in 6literal days and everything was only thousands of years old rather than millions.
This does not mean that science is completely wacko. Science in fact can be trusted and is a useful tool. Unfortunately, they are just wrong when it comes to creation.
Where does this leave us? With Generations of children falling away from the Bible because we’ve taken the authority out of it. They are now, literally, dying for Christ. They just don’t know how much the need him indeed.
As we go today, keep in mind the attitude of dying for Christ. Send the message out as if you were prepared to die for Christ. And realize that others are indeed, dying to hear the message of Christ, they just need a reason.
An atheist was walking through the woods. 'What majestic trees'! 'What powerful rivers'!'What beautiful animals'! He said to himself. As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him…He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw that the bear was closing in on him. He looked over his shoulder again, & the bear was even closer. He tripped & fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike him.
At that instant the Atheist cried out, 'Oh my God!' Time Stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky. 'You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don't exist and even credit creation to cosmic accident.' 'Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer'? The atheist looked directly into the light, 'It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian'? The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head & spoke: "Lord bless this food which you have brought before me, Amen"
I love that joke, I got it from my dad this week through email. This week we are continuing on our in-depth look at Philippians. I’ve titled this sermon, “Dying for Christ” because the world is literally dying. Unfortunately, like the atheist, more and more people are embracing science rather than God’s Word. Before we go further, let’s read our Scripture for today. It is Philippians 2:19-30.
19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. 20 I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. 21 For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. 23 I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. 24 And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.
25 But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. 26 For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. 27 Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. 28 Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. 29 Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, 30 because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me.
One of the main themes throughout Philippians has been this longing Paul has to receive word about the believers in Philippi. Paul starts here by tooting Timothy’s horn here a little. Obviously, this is the same Timothy we hear about in other letters written by Paul. Paul is telling the Philippians how much Timothy clings to the interests of Christ Jesus, rather than his own. Timothy has proved it over and over again that he is a faithful servant to Jesus. Paul has worked side by side, shed blood, sweat and tears in their ministry together developing this close relationship of father to son. When people engage in ministry like this together, very tight knit bonds develop and take form. Ministry just brings people closer to one another. We share the common good of Jesus in which are the ties that bind.
As Paul continues, he reassures them that as soon as he knows what will be the result of his ministry while in prison, he will send Timothy…as well as reassuring them that he himself will return to them as well.
Next, however, we see a man by the name of Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus was actually sent by the Philippians to minister to Paul. Paul sees it fit to send Epaphroditus back to the Philippians (carrying this letter of course) because he is actually homesick for them because they heard he had been sick. Indeed enough, we find out that he was in fact close to death, but God restored him to health and is being sent home in full health. Paul states that it would have been grief upon grief because he was in prison among other things, and he would have lost Epaphroditus, a wonderful servant as well. God saw fit to have mercy on both men and the Philippians should welcome him home with open arms and great joy.
Paul adds here that we should honor men like Epaphroditus, because he almost died for the work of Christ.
There’s special significance in the idea of dying for Christ. Missionaries all over the world risk their lives to present the message of Christ. Although Epaphroditus was sick and almost died, he still risked his life. In 52 countries around the world, the Bible is illegal.
Even in our own country today, immense persecution comes to those in certain areas who believe in God. We may not die for Christ, but we should take that same attitude that we would if we had to.
The other part of this idea of “dying for Christ” is the idea that our world, moreover, our country is dying for Christ. Meaning the need to hear the message of Christ.
I listened to a the author Ken Ham (of the Answers In Genesis organization) speak at a conference that had been recorded on a CD. On this CD Ken was talking about the idea of God creating the world in 6 days.
It is the idea of country falling apart because we’ve abandoned this literal 6 day creation. We’ve taken the authoritativeness right out of the Bible by fitting in this idea of Millions of years.
For years, scientists were wrong about things. At one time, the world was thought to be flat. The Earth was the center of the universe, and so on. We’ve put all of our stock into science and men’s ideas of the order of time. However, for thousands of years, the Bible was taken to be literal and the idea that God created the world in 6literal days and everything was only thousands of years old rather than millions.
This does not mean that science is completely wacko. Science in fact can be trusted and is a useful tool. Unfortunately, they are just wrong when it comes to creation.
Where does this leave us? With Generations of children falling away from the Bible because we’ve taken the authority out of it. They are now, literally, dying for Christ. They just don’t know how much the need him indeed.
As we go today, keep in mind the attitude of dying for Christ. Send the message out as if you were prepared to die for Christ. And realize that others are indeed, dying to hear the message of Christ, they just need a reason.
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