Him We Proclaim

Philippians 2:14-16: Outline

A command: do ALL things without grumbling or disputing (v. 14)

The purpose of the command: to be blameless and innocent among the world (v. 15)

The means of obedience: holding fast the word of life (v. 16a)

A motivation to hold fast to the word of life (v. 16b)

Ephesians 1:15-23:

Philippians 4:6-9: Summary: Do not be anxious about anything. The command is striking. Anything? The words that follow are filled with remedial truth, even if it must correct and convict. Paul offers the peace of God and, better, the God of peace to an anxious church; and with it, he offers two broad means of drawing such curing grace. For the peace of God, pray, and that peace will form as a guard around your mind and heart. Union with Jesus guarantees this operation. It makes departure from anxiety available at all times. And this is not a clearing of the mind. It's a filling of the mind by which the God of peace pacifies our need and anxiety. The thoughts of the mind touch our hearts, as well as our nerves. They're able to make us apostolic in our peace and contentment; that is, God is able by godly thoughts to make us like Paul at heart. He can be in prison and at peace. What we need most, we have in God. Where he's our habitat, we can be faithful wherever else we may be. The Christian church can be distinct from the world in this way: heavenly peace. May we know more of it in a new year.

Sermon Outline:

The conflict that requires a command: to be or not to be anxious. (4:6a)

The command in answer to the conflict: do not be anxious about anything. (4:6a)

The cure concealed in the command revealed: the God of peace and the peace He gives. (4:7, 9b)

The counsel that conducts the cure: pray and think as those in Christ. (4:6b-9a)

Numbers 24:15b-25: Summary: God is still for His journeying people, who abide a great threat to the more settled nations around them. The king of Moab responds to the news about them by calling on the diviner for hire, Balaam. He pays the man to revoke the blessing of God on Israel, but God is the Lord of all, including the lips of swindlers. The force of this extended episode is that God's power and purpose in Christ cannot be successfully opposed. Once God has convinced Balaam that He's not like whatever 'undercover gods' he's dealt with before, Balaam speaks only what God gives. Four oracles follow: what God has blessed is irrevocably blessed (23:7-10). God isn't mutable; He will do in history what He's determined to do from eternity, and that's birth a people who, imaging Him, inherit the earth (23:18-24). Like the garden of Eden with the shout of a Lion-King in their midst, their boundaries separate the blessed from the cursed (24:3-9). And speaking of this King, He's coming. He's a Star in the night, a Scepter of God in a world of rebellion, a Victor over the enemies of God's people. When God sends Him into the world, who shall live? Not Balaam, nor Balak, but only those united to Him by faith.

Sermon Outline:

See the focus of the oracle: the sights that sharpen this sight. (22:1-24:15a)

See the origin of the oracle: this sight is a divine light. (24:15b-16)

See the subject of the oracle: this sight is a preview of Christ. (24:17a-d)

See the question of the oracle: this sight is an invitation to Life. (24:17e-24)

See the tragedy in the text, and flee it: this sight goes unSeen. (24:25)

Numbers 21:4-9: Summary: Impatience is an ironic iniquity worthy of divine judgment, and Israel again grows impatient on the way. The Lord's patience, which is our salvation, is long-suffering, but long is long and not forever. Suddenly then, upon their sin, the Lord commissions a temporal judgment with eternal consequences for many of the impatient. Fiery serpents slither into the camp, biting the many, and bringing them to the grave and to God for punishment. The event sends the rest to Moses for prayers of mercy. God is indeed merciful. He doesn't exactly do as they desire, however. He appears to leave the fear of judgment among them, while providing for them an object of faith and instrument of salvation. They must look upon a bronze serpent, the very symbol of the judgment due their sins, and, as that look is the action of faith, they would be healed of their infirmity and live. In His discourse with Nicodemus, Jesus refers to this episode as typological of what He would do for sinners on the cross, as well as what any sinner may gain in Him by faith: eternal life.

The sin that leads to a judgment of serpents. (21:4-5)

The serpents that necessitate a Savior from sin. (21:6-7b)

The Savior that God gives sinners to see. (21:7c-8)

The sight that, resting on promise, saves. (21:9)

Numbers 20:1-13: Sermon Outline:

The circumstances that threaten our peace (20:1-5)

The leader who shepherds our peace (20:6-12)

The God who is our peace (20:13)

Numbers 6:22-27: Summary: Still at the base of Mt. Sinai where the Mosaic Covenant was cut, The Lord finishes giving the regulations for the People of Israel. He has instructed them on how to arrange themselves in the Camp with the Tabernacle at the center and 3 tribes on all 4 sides. He has given commands for those who are to be put out of the camp wherein the Lord dwells and instructed life before him within that camp. Now we come to the close of a major section in Numbers where the Lord himself puts his name on His people. Yet, they are imperfect covenant partners and will eventually break the Mosaic Covenant. And so a new covenant, ushered in by the perfect covenant partner and wherein the law of God is written directly on the hearts of his people, is foreshadowed. This new covenant is marked by a people in whom the Lord dwells so as to eventually bring his people into his very presence where he will dwell with them forever.

Sermon Outline:

The Lord’s Charge (v. 22-23)

The Lord’s Blessing (v. 24-26)

The Lord’s Claim (v. 27)

Genesis 26:1-35: Summary: Isaac's life is to be onward and upward. He's not to be a settler. God calls him to be a sojourner. The basis of sojourning is faith in the truth and trustworthiness of God. It requires a behavior becoming of those freed from sin. Our days are to be lived in a way that brings honor to the Lord. In the presence of those having power and peace with God, the kingdoms of Man will often desire to preserve their worse country. They will press the godly pilgrim to a distance amenable to their comfort, but being an outcast from the City of Man is a badge of honor for the sojourner of God. We have our home in such places, even the sanctuary of God and, there, He will bless His people. As our peace is unintelligible to those who have their heavens in this world, opportunity will come to offer them what we ourselves have received from above: a little slice of heavenly peace. Sojourners desire a better country, one free from groaning, bitterness, and a passing nature. What God has made in our hearts already, we see now by faith on the near horizon: Home, the City of Christ.

Sermon Outline:

Faithful sojourners stand on God's sure foundations. (26:1-5)

Faithful sojourners walk by God's guiding compass. (26:6-11)

Faithful sojourners utilize God's real estate. (26:12-25)

Faithful sojourners forward God's heart of peace. (26:26-33)

Faithful sojourners sojourn best by God's bittersweet reminders. (26:34-35)

Genesis 25:1-34: Summary: Abraham's story closes with details concerning his descendants through Keturah. God's faithfulness to his promise in Genesis 15:5 is fleshed out in the nations and peoples represented by this family tree. But the focus is on God's promise of not just a multitude of children, but a singular offspring. Abraham's protection and preparation for Isaac to inherit is in the forefront. And so one chapter (not a literal one in Genesis!) closes and another begins. But Isaac's story is fractured at best. Immediately, we are directed to brewing conflict. From the womb, twin sons of Isaac, Esau and Jacob, are at anything but peace. They are different in appearance, different in demeanor. There is to be division between them, and lines drawn within the family. But God has made his choice and an inheritance of this magnitude is not something that can be appropriated by strength of arm or human cunning.

Sermon Outline:

The faithful God who speaks (25:1-18)

The faithful God who reveals his glory (25:19-28)

The faithful God who saves his people (25:29-34)

Genesis 24:1-67: Summary: Sarah has gone to table with the Lord. Abraham is on that doorstep. But the story of redemption must go on. Abraham's chief servant swears to take a bride from his homeland for Isaac, the son of resurrection promise. She's to be taken from where she is and brought to where Isaac is. The servant is most loyal and devoted to his charge. He arrives outside Nahor's city and, there, he asks the Lord to provide the bride. Rebekah appears, bold, pure, charitable, generous, earnest, self-sacrificial, beautiful. The worshipping servant tells his story, and Rebekah runs to repeat the providence to her family. They invite the servant to their table, but he cannot eat; such is his eagerness to tell the tale. The onus of her departure is placed on them. They will not go against God's Word but, just when all seems settled, a night to sleep on it gives them pause. The servant, however, will not be delayed in achieving his mission of love. Rebekah becomes paradigmatic of discipleship. She leaves her family to follow the servant and, as she goes, they offer a blessing that proves prophetic. Little does she know what's in front of her. Up from the place where 'God sees,' a meditating Isaac sees the servant's caravan, including Rebekah. As he goes to meet them, she dismounts to discover he is the servant's lord. He is her groom to be. The servant repeats the story to Isaac. Isaac takes Rebekah to be his beloved wife. Rebekah becomes the next matriarch in the grand story of redemption. From them, as prophesied, will come Christ and His Bride victorious.

Sermon Outline:

Abraham's Gospel pursuit at this point in God's epic. (24:1-9)

A servant's Gospel passion at this point in God's epic. (24:10ff)

A family's Gospel pause at this point in God's epic. (24:49-56)

Rebekah's Gospel path at this point in God's epic. (24:57-61)

Isaac's Gospel peace at this point in God's epic. (24:62-67, 60)