Eternal City Church Sunday Sermons

In this message, Justin Coaxum shows how Paul did not rely on his own accomplishments and efforts in order to gain favor with God. Rather, Paul looks away from himself to the perfection and accomplishments of Jesus in his place as a substitute. The first five minutes of this message was recorded at low volume then the volume is normal for the rest of the message.

God has made human beings as emulating beings, we can't help but imitate. Jesus is not only our savior but he is our example to follow. This is the flow of thought in chapter 2:19-30. The apostle Paul is following Jesus, Timothy and Epaphroditus are follwing after Paul as he follows Jesus. May we follow after these men with gospel humility and selfless service. May we consider the needs of others as more important than our own.

Christians are to shine like bright lights in the darkest of places as we "work out" the destroying of the sins that so easily entangle us. One such category of sins to be killed are the sins of complaining, grumbling, and disputing within ourselves and towards those without. In light of God's sovereign ordering of our circumstances and life, we are to live free from a complaint and rather be glad and rejoice. May God empower us to do so!

The good news or gospel has at its center that we are accepted by God fully on the bases of what God does for us in Jesus and by his Spirit's inner working on our souls. The paradox of Christian growth or discipleship is that God is mightily working through our effort, energy, striving and struggle. We must act, we must put forth strenuous, intentional, strategic-doing, in order to grow; knowing and trusting that in our working God is at work, supplying the will and energy we need to grow and do the work of God; seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness.

With the power of the Spirit of God, we Christians can and should live together in harmony with one purpose and mission: to glorify God by making disciple-making disciples. We are to live selfless lives putting others before ourselves. Jesus is not only our savior but our selfless, humble example. We follow Jesus' lead as we purposefully humble ourselves, die to self, and trust that at the proper time God will exalt us.

We, as Christians are citizens of heaven, our ultimate allegiance is to that future country and the King of that country, Jesus Christ. We are to walk out our citizenship here on earth with the consciousness that we are "sojourners and exiles" (1 Peter 2:11). While we live out our days here, we will live for the good of our own countries and our cities, for the good of our fellow earthly citizens. We will seek to share the love and sacrifice of Jesus with anyone that will give us a hearing and pray that God does the convincing of his reality and love.

In this section of Philippians, we see how Paul was able to endure continuous opposition and imprisonment with joy for the sake of the gospel and God's glory. The secret to Pauls joy was that he saw his life as being lived "in Christ" for Paul to live was Christ and to die was gain as he would go to be with Jesus. Oh that we might, by the power of the Holy Spirit, have the mindset of Paul.

God's mysterious purposes in our suffering and trials cannot always be identified at the moment. For Paul, he knew that his suffering and hardships were causing in him a greater strength by the strengthing of the Spirit of God. He identifies one of God's purposes in his imprisonment in this text: that the very Roman soldiers he is chained to, might encounter the good news of Jesus and be saved.

Paul encourages the Philippians to continue forward in faith with trust in God, knowing that God himself is the author and finisher of their faith. He gives insight into what he prays for this church as he prays for them with thankfulness and joy. We can learn how and what to pray for our fellow church members as we seek to pray along with Paul.

In this message, we look at the planting of the church in Philippi, it's growth, as well as some issues that prompted the Apostle Paul to write a letter to this church. There is much benefit for us as twenty-first-century Christians to gain from this letter, and by grace, we shall.