As we used to testify in our little West Virginia dirt-road church, “I’ve come too far to turn back now.” I’m not going back; I’m pressing forward and upward. It’s the dog that returns to the vomit and a hog that returns to the wallow (2Pe 2:22), and I’m not a dog or a hog. I’m not going back. I’ve put my hand to the plow and now it’s full steam ahead till Jesus comes.
The Apostle Paul was dealing with people who were saying they believed in Jesus as Messiah, and saying they believed He died for their sins, yet they insisted that certain elements of the Law of Moses should be retained as necessary for salvation. These people were called Judaizers, and they included both Jewish people and Gentiles that had converted to Judaism. For the Judaizers, Christ alone was just not enough.
We are covenant people, not because of the externals, but because God, through the Holy Spirit, transforms our hearts and draws us into a powerful relationship with Himself that lights a fire in us that makes us a light to the world; a city on a hill that cannot be hidden; and salt with savor as living witnesses of Jesus our Savior.
EPAPHRODITUS: THE SELFLESS SERVANT Mark E. Hardgrove, PhD Philippians 2:25-30 25 Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need; 26 since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was...
In verse 28, “God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” Sin changed the dynamic between males and females, but the subjugation of women to men was not God’s original design. He made us as two halves of one whole, which was designed to glorify Him.
I’m challenging our church to be more friendly. This doesn’t mean that we compromise Christian values, but it does mean that in all things we speak the truth in love, and open our hearts to bring light into the lonely darkness of others. It's not enough to be a friendly church, we need to be a church where people can make friends.
In our text, Paul reminds us that we cannot be part-time believers. We can’t just do right when we think the pastor is watching, or another church member is watching us. We need to know that through the grace of God working in us, we can and should be full-time believers.
Sometimes people want to assert their rights and will hold on to their privileges with a death grip, rather than surrender anything for the cause of a right relationship with others. Jesus was God—you don’t get any higher than that—yet Jesus Christ, the eternally begotten Son of God, did not cling to the power and privileges of being God. Instead, He released His grasp on the independent use of His divine attributes so that He could become a servant, and to do this, He who was God became flesh and dwelt among us.
If we ever arrive at that place of powerful unity where the Holy Spirit is able to move and manifest in power, we will see powerful results as souls by the hundreds and thousands are added to the church. If we will achieve that unity, speaking with one voice, then nothing we desire to do in Christ will be withheld from us.
This is where frightful Friday and silent Saturday ended, but this is also where Sunday began. What looked like the end, was just the beginning. What looked like defeat, was a victory in the making. What looked like shattered dreams and broken promises, was just an illusion because the reality was that with both hands and feet nailed to a cross, Jesus defeated the devil, He conquered sin, liberated the lost, and set the captives free.
