This is from my college friend Eric Butler. Admittedly, he and I may disagree on some points of theology and life as we all do, but I wanted to reblog this post because Eric takes a position that not many have considered, and it is worth pondering

Phil 1:12-18a-God’s Jewelry: Christ’s Chains-9/21/14

SECTION I

An idea worth going to prison is a dangerous idea but a commendable one.

Our brothers and sisters in Jesus who are being persecuted all over the world are seeing this. 

 Yes, they may suffer terribly, but God does a wonderfully beautiful and confusing thing: The gospel doesn’t retreat, it doesn’t even stay stagnant, rather it grows, advances, presses on, marches.

The church is exploding in places like South America, Africa, Asia, and others in the third world.

Both Jesus and Paul suffered so that the good news (gospel) would be carried globally, saving the world.

God’s kingdom does not retreat, for why would you retreat if your enemy is weaker than you?God’s kingdom presses on despite the hardships.

God uses the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. Remember that, do not be closed-minded to ways that God is still working in the world.

Human circumstances are in God’s hands and He uses them to advance the gospel.

When difficult, even life-threatening, circumstances face us, we should take Paul as our example and look for how God might be working still.

How do we do this? We remember God is in control, and we remind ourselves of evidence from the past that God has been at work in the church.

From the beginning of the church in the New Testament to the present day, God has been acting mightily.

SECTION II

This new section talks about Paul’s rivals. There are basically two groups preaching. One is doing it by envy, the other by goodwill.

One group is motivated by love, the other is motivated by selfish ambition. One group is false, and the other is true.

Both preach Christ, and the wrong one probably wants to do it to get more power and to undercut Paul.

Yet even so, Paul can still rejoice. He does not have to fear, because the truth of the gospel is getting out there, and that gives Paul joy.

How? Well the answer is God has the power to make people with impure or even downright sinister motives still serve his ends.

Paul’s suffering was real, the same as your suffering may be today, but that did not destroy his hope that even if he hurt, lives were being changed for Christ. God can still take hurt and shattered pieces and create something beautiful.

Three Implications–

First-the passage demonstrates indirectly the value of finding believers who can serve as examples of how to grapple with suffering the way a Christian should.

Second–the passage demonstrates and important principle of truth, one often missed by modern Christians, particularly here in the U.S. God works not merely in spite of but through adverse circumstances. He chose the foolishness of the cross to accomplish his redemptive purposes (1 Cor. 1:18),

We think struggle is a bad thing: it isn’t always. God chose to work through the means of struggle, so in order to demonstrate that the advancement of the gospel was God’s doing rather than a matter of human ingenuity (1 Cor. 1:29; 2 Cor. 4:7)

Third-this passage shows that when our joy is connected to the advancement of the gospel rather than to our physical condition or to the responses of other people to us, it remains firm, even when these circumstances stand against us.

MAIN IDEA: Remember Paul’s example. Nothing can stop the gospel from going forward. Paul stakes his life on that. He is in prison, false preachers abound yet gospel prevails.

You may have chains. it may come in the form of persecution from people for your faith, from personal struggles, but if you are living for the gospel, then God considers those to be the chains of Christ, the shackles of the Savior, God’s jewelry.

For full sermon from Pastor Craig click faithinactionrichlandcob.wordpress.com/phil-112-18a-gods-jewelry-christs-chains/

Philipians 1:1-11-Attention All Saints

Like Joseph, Paul had known his fair share of struggles too, and it is with that in mind that we turn to our text here.

When Paul wrote Philippians, he was in prison awaiting trial whose outcome could mean his death.

Yet even among all that, Paul was thankful, and he was joyful, not because he was glad to be in prison, but because even as he lingered in his jail cell, even as the church in Philippi was persecuted, even from a worldly perspective that all seemed lost,

 …even then…the gospel of Jesus Christ was advancing! This good news could not be stopped for it was like a hurricane, blasting its way in changing everything it touched.

We may face struggles to live lives for Jesus, but you don’t need to sound the trumpet of surrender or retreat for we know and can testify that God is here, and HE has shown us ever since the cross and the empty tomb that He is on a rescue mission.

He is working to reclaim and renew everything. Do you remember when we looked in the beginning when God created everything and called it “good”?

Then humanity was created and said to God, our creator, “We’ll take it from here” and then fell into brokenness and sin.

That brokenness affected everything around us. Our bodies age and decay, our sense of reason, of justice, of love, mercy, even the creation itself is going through the effects of sin.

Yet, the Bible gives the good news: God demonstrates His own love in this, “that while we were still broken, still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God is on the move, putting into motion the plan to redeem all of creation; everything you see, and that is why Paul, and we, can be joyful, because God’s plan cannot be thwarted.

Three parts, and he stresses three items that we will examine: unity, faithfulness, and love.

In the Philippian church, they were all different, yes, but God had brought them together and they had no choice but to work in unity, because that is how they survived.

What makes us alike is deeper than what makes us different. We have been brought together by Christ in this place to worship him and do his work in the world.

In the essentials, unity, in the non-essentials, liberty, in all things, community.

Unity=putting others’ interests ahead of your own and the gospel mission as top priority.

Part 1 is unity, Part 2 is faithfulness-What Paul means as “saints” is that we as Christians are a unified people that God has called out from among others and set apart, for a purpose.

Paul calls the Philippians this and calls all Christians this term saints, and it is to remind us of who we are and how we are to act in response.

We are God’s treasured possession. God is working in our lives, each one of us, AND He will bring it to completion.

What is my role? Your role, your loyalty, your faithfulness comes by picking up your cross daily and following

Paul tells the church of his prayer, and it is basically that their knowledge of God and their love for each other will steadily increase.

His desire is that they might express their love in ways that show both a knowledge of God’s will and how to make moral decisions in everyday life.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Unity in the church, loyalty to God, charity to one another

Use what you are good at & show one another & world your faith, for it is attracts outsiders and strengthens church

Paul took a simple letter, and he made it to preach the gospel to this church. Paul took every opportunity, used every means available to show Jesus.

We can do that too…Church let us get creative. We do not need to carry a pulpit everywhere we go, our culture today likes the visual arts, both for entertainment and a search for meaning. So let us perhaps explore the new possibilities of sharing the news, using methods in this time to promote the One who is timeless.

For Full Sermon, click this link Phil. 1:1-11-Calling All Saints!

I have finished reading Philip Yancey’s book “The Jesus I Never Knew”, which is a culmination of Philip’s research into trying to look at Jesus and his own personal faith in a brand new light. This has inspired me to use the chapters he put forth in his book as a “jumping off points” for my own personal reflections that I hope as you read, you too may be inspired to go deeper with your walk with God.

“The Jesus I Thought I Knew”

The childhood image of Jesus, the gentle Shepherd, the one with no sharp edges at all, the Mr. Rogers figure, it is only part of who this Messiah, this Rabbi from Nazareth really was. These ideas are only part of a complete and robust picture of the Son of God. As much as we may be afraid to admit it, Jesus was controversial.

He had to be or else why was he put to death by powers and rejected by-and-large (though not completely) by people.

It is easy for our Western society to simply dismiss Jesus as being “a nice guy”, “Having many good ideas”, or as C.S. Lewis noted of the generous skeptics of his time, “a great moral teacher.” It is simple for us to say such notions for two reasons. First, most of us have grown up with a very safe Jesus. Second, Western society (by which I mean Europe and North America) was highly influenced by the teachings of Christianity, and some would argue it was outright built on them.

As the Roman Empire fell and Medieval Europe emerged, the presence of the church was one of the only constants. It provided a unifying thread throughout European and later North American society. So, it is easy to take values of a culture and project them back on to the Keystone of those values and say “ahh look how he upheld the values that we promote!”

Yet, we often fail to recognize the dilemma of circular reasoning here.

We are essentially saying that Jesus lived by our standards of uprightness without realizing they were not our standards to begin with but His!

Rather, we must transport our imaginations back to the days of first century Palestine and into the shoes of Jesus’ original hearers. Only then can we understand the emotions His words evoked from the audience who heard His teachings and saw His miracles. Once we do that, quite a different, or should I say, a more complete picture of Jesus emerges.

This Jesus still has many of the characteristics we have grown to adore. He is still compassionate, even if He shows compassion to “the outcast and the stranger”. He is still forgiving, even if it is to the worst of sinners in the land. He is still loving, even if it is a radical love that condemns both overt wickedness and religious hypocrisy and preaches a kingdom of God where both redeemed and sanctified priests as well as redeemed and sanctified prostitutes will sit at the same banquet table.

In my last blog post, I mentioned some thoughts and reflections I had gleaned upon reading Philip Yancey’s book, “The Jesus I Never Knew” which prompted a thoughtful response. One danger that I have found as a writer (and it is one I should have known) is that those who are close to you can read your work and think it is directed at a specific individual or group. So with that being said, let me offer a few disclaimers.

1) Throughout these postings, it is never my intention to press hot buttons (Jesus does enough of that already to all of us and frankly does not need my help). I always advise believers, don’t be controversial just for its own sake. If you are living the life of a disciple in the world, controversy will provably find you, but relax and take courage; it found Jesus too.

2) I am a pastor, Bible scholar, and theologian, and although the three of those intermingle when I am acting as the pastor in service to the church, they do not when I write this blog or anything else dealing with technology. In other words, I strive to never log on to here, Facebook, or any other social media outlets and “vent” about church, life, my fellow Christians in my church or anything else; it is cowardly and does nothing to help at conflict mediation or resolution. Take it from this former youth pastor, if you want to stoke fires, call someone out over the internet.

I only write these posts to get people thinking about how we as Christians live as faithful disciples (in other words “do church”) in a way both faithful to Scripture and engaging in culture. So with that as an intro, let me share with you some insights that were given to me in relation to my former post that can keep this conversation going.

Pastors keep telling us to go log hours on the streets of inner cities, but I don’t believe God is calling me there, and besides I don’t even live near a city!The concern is certainly valid. Inner city poverty is given more coverage than most instances of rural poverty (or many other rural needs for that matter). So the trap several pastors including myself fall into is thinking those who are hurting physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually are only in the inner cities. What we forget is that local church impact starts on the local level. It often starts with building relationships with our neighbors and being intentional disciples with our friends. I have seen many churches put into practice Jesus’ words which say that, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem (local), Judea and Samaria (a bit less local) and all the ends of the earth” (global). These churches first start off with missions in their local communities and families and then begin to move outward from there. We may not all be called to inner-city work, but my thrust-point is that we are all ministers, and we may be called by God to look at our own local communities as our mission field.

I invited a family to church and yet the pastor preaches about going outside a social circle when doing evangelism and finding people you aren’t comfortable with. I mean I am bringing people in my social circle. I know they may not look like your typical “undesirable”, but I know they need Jesus! I agree with this sentiment also, there is much more I could say here, giving both the pastor’s and congregation members’ respective viewpoints, but let me be succinct. The statement has merit. We all need the savior daily in our lives whether you have been saved for nine seconds or ninety years. It is easy to pigeonhole people we view as “undesirables” (a.k.a. “the down and outers”) and specifically go after them while ignoring the secret hurts, brokenness, and wrongdoings of our neighbors, friends, or colleagues. Whether we speak of ourselves, our neighbors in need, or our jet-setting affluent best married friend with a hidden gambling addiction or a secret mistress, we all need to humbly come to the cross of Christ to find life.

From the pastor’s side, I don’t think it is a requirement to always go outside your comfort bubble while ignoring those closer to you who still need Jesus. Rather, my encouragement is that of caution to all of us including myself) never to “rest on our hands” or think “well witnessing, sharing Jesus, and inviting others to church is someone else’s responsibility”. No, rather it is a joy all of us have the privilege to do because we are all Christians.

My pastor comes off as saying I should be always welcoming strangers and visitors in my church into my home, to eat with me, but there are scary people in this world, and I have a family with small children to protect. Now, in all fairness, this individual also added, “the world has hardened me and I need prayer for that”. I appreciate the honesty, and I think we all do. So because they were humble yet bold, allow me to return the favor by meeting them halfway.

I am a single man with no family living with me and very little in my home even worth stealing, so it is very easy for me to make the mistake of “pointing out the speck before pulling out the plank” (Matt. 7:1-5). My purpose in encouraging others in this regard is not to put loved ones or families in a position to be victimized. Far from it! Rather it is meant to call for creative ways to look at “the stranger in our midst” and to say “you matter to us”.

I did not go to church for a month to see if anyone noticed, they didn’t. All I can say in response to this is on behalf of all pastors everywhere, “I’m sorry and you do matter.”

My focus in ministry as a pastor, writer, theologian, etc. has always been within two categories: evangelism and discipleship. Evangelism that is led by the Holy Spirit tells us to “go forth and make” by looking outside the local church body to seek and find and bring them into salvation through Christ. Once they are in, discipleship builds them up and equipage them to then turn around to do evangelism, bring in, disciple, send out, and the cycle repeats.

As a pastor with a heart of evangelism, I confess that it is easy for me to get “tunnel vision” when I focus more on the former (evangelism) at the expense of the later (discipleship). I as a pastor along with fellow Christians have a responsibility to do both. The best model I have seen to do church growth has been that of an upside-down pyramid. It starts at the bottom with the point of the pyramid (one person) discipling two who then turn around and disciple two more each who in turn do two more and it grows exponentially.

There are many advantages to this method:
1) It is built on heat and not just light meaning there are deep roots cultivated by relationships that last.

3) The pyramid-relationship model takes the burden off the shoulders of a few and rather than force it as an obligation, it becomes a joy in which we ALL participate

4) It keeps relationships strong so we are seeking the lost without forgetting each other in the local church. Evangelism meets discipleship.

Finally, the insights that we shared came from a perspective of frustration that the pastors of those churches came across as too harsh, judgmental, or with a haughty attitude from the pulpit of “you’re not doing enough for this church”. All I can do here is offer a few tips I have tried to remember and incorporate into my own life.

1) Pastors do discern truth through God’s Word, but rather than present only a checklist of wrongs and shortcomings, instead they are teachers and witnesses of God’s power to give new life in dead places, even within the human heart and mind. The joyful responsibility of a pastor is to cast God’s vision for their local church and then encourage, challenge, and invite others to join in making the vision a reality.

2) A way to ease frustrations from congregations geared toward pastors is for the pastor to be humble, recognizing I too am a beloved mess, a broken son redeemed by the one true King. It reminds the church that the pastor is human as much as they are, and it reminds the pastor to have the heart of a servant instead of a tyrant. (Even Peter, as prominent as he was, still addressed the church he wrote to as “your fellow elder”).

3) Finally, I as the pastor must be willing to match words with action, setting the example to the best of my ability, for the church to follow. In other words (no pun intended) to “practice what I preach”. The Holy Spirit has convicted me in the last year to do a few tactics when I preach a sermon. First, rather than saying “you, you, you”, address the congregation as “we” because it stresses that we are a body, a family, and that we are all in this together. Second, do not ever preach for them to do something without being willing to do it yourself, and if you are going to preach to them about that something, confess your struggles to them to live it out. Third, be Jesus to them.

A story I continually come back to again and again is when Jesus is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus willingly submits to His Father’s plan, yet Peter (thinking he was doing God’s will) pulls out his sword and strikes the ear of the high priest’s servant. Jesus heals the man, and turns around and rebukes Peter (His “church”) and says strongly “put it away, we are not doing things that way!”. Often I have had to examine myself and ask, “When have I been Peter?”

Rest assured something if you read this (and if you have made it this far after such a long post, my hat’s off to you)…Jesus can heal people that even his church (and yes even His pastors) have wounded. Remember, we all bow the knee.

I have recently read a chapter out of Philip Yancey’s book, The Jesus I Never Knew that challenged me (actually stirred in me a deep realization): The people Jesus sought to save are the undesirables that we still so often avoid in our lives and remain at the fringes of our churches. To the average person, unfamiliar with church, the confusion is understandable. 1) Jesus spent time with publicans, “sinners”, the downtrodden, etc. 2) Jesus tell us to “go and do likewise” and “as the Father has sent Me so now I send you”. 3) We claim to follow Jesus. 4) We don’t, for whatever reason, spend time out in the world trying to impact the undesirables, and we struggle welcoming them into our churches.

I think the onlooker sees a short in the circuit between parts 3 and 4…rightfully so.

I have heard many reasons for this, some good and well-meaning. “Well, we do not want their evil influence to rub off on us!” (Never mind the good influence that God can rub off on them). “Well, Jesus teaches we should be in the world but not of it.” (For this, the answer lies in re-arranging the word order, for it is just as easily argued He taught us to not be of the world but in it). Other reasons are much simpler in nature but reveal much about our character if we are truly honest with ourselves, “Oh I just plainly don’t like those people”, or “That type of person makes me uncomfortable.” 

Christ had very simple instructions in that regard…Put Love Into Action.

My denomination has often boldly proclaimed that the only creed we have and follow is the New Testament itself, yet we often are no better than anyone else at living out the example Jesus left us. My question here is “Why?” and the question is rhetorical. 

We already have all we need to make a secure and steadfast witness for the gospel. Jesus has given us Himself in the Holy Spirit and His truth in the Scriptures. He has also blessed us with encouragement and love from the local church. What more do we need? We cannot be afraid to go to the places Jesus went, especially if they make us uncomfortable. Every once in a while you might have someone stumble into church some random Sunday, but if that is our only method of evangelism, than we are not utilizing all of our God-given resources. 

We keep trying to say “come in”, but the Holy Spirit says to us “go out”. After all, Christ promised us, “The Harvest is plentiful” (Matt. 9:37). Let us act boldly and take the initiative to be Jesus by boldly going where He went. A life authentically lived for the kingdom of God is one of the most effective ways of witnessing. People will see Jesus when they look at you.

Do not take this lightly, for you may be the only example of Jesus someone ever sees. 

Stay tuned.

Gen. 37; Ps. 9:9-10.