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Union Church episodes

  • Philippians 4:4-7 - A Politics of Peace

    Listen along as we continue our journey through the book of Philippians.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Phillipians 4:4-7 - Kim (Chris F Preaching)

    Perhaps ‘graciousness’ is the best English equivalent; and, in the context here, it is to be the spirit of willingness to yield under trial which will show itself in a refusal to retaliate when attacked. It may have seemed an impossible ideal to the Philippians, but the preceding verse is a reminder that such a quality ‘is the outshining of joy in the Lord’...

    -Ralph P. Martin, Tyndale New TestamentMM
    Phil. 1:27-28:
    Only let your manner of life (politeuomai) be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents...

    Phil. 3:20:

    But our citizenship (politeuma) is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ...

    1 Tim. 2:1-4:

    First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

    1 Tim. 3:3:

    ... not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive...

    "The Philippians, living in a garrison town, would be familiar with the sight of the Roman sentry, maintaining his watch. Likewise, comments the apostle, God’s peace will garrison and protect your hearts and your minds."

    Ralph Martin

    Psalm 8:1-2:

    "O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger."

    Just as babies cannot appeal or persuade by means of articulate speech or rhetorical eloquence, so God’s enemies are defended against by means of those who are totally dependent on God. Their only defense is to cry out to him in trusting prayers, petitions, and protests.

     "The Lord only needs an army of praise-wielding infant warriors to “silence” these enemies! Even the kings and rulers of “the earth” (2:2, 10) will be silenced by children praising him whose majestic name fills “the earth”

    -Bruce Waltke

    45 min
  • Philippians 4:1-3 - An Application and Intervention

    Listen along as Mike Gaston teaches through Philippians 4:1-3.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Phil 4:1-3 - Zyler
     
    Slides Philippians 4
     
    Slide 1
     
    Big Idea:
     
    Our understanding of beautiful theological truth must be accompanied by healthy personal relationships.
     
    An application of powerful theology (v 1)
     
    An intervention for healthy relationships (v 2-3)
     
     
    Slide 2
     
     JPEG of Selah Suite wall coming by email
     
     
    Slide 3
     
    For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?  For you are our glory and joy.
     
    1 Thessalonians 2:19-20
    Slide 4
     
    “The Greek word for crown … was commonly used to denote the festive garland, worn as a sign of gladness, or the wreath awarded to the victor of the athletic contest. If the metaphor is to be applied here, it means that the Philippian Christians would be regarded as his ‘reward,’ the seal of his apostleship … at the last day, the triumph of grace would be seen in the perseverance of the saints to the inexpressible joy of their spiritual mentors.”
    Ralph P. Martin
     
     
    Slide 5
     
    Two pics of Gettysburg, side by side, coming by email          
     
     
    Slide 6
     
    “Paul’s willingness to call out two women when he knew the letter would be read to the whole congregation demonstrates the fact that he cared more about the unity of the church than about the church having a superficial, “everything is going to be alright” sentimental warmth. Paul’s most joyful letter expresses his willingness to do the hard work of pursuing unity rather than just papering over problems…
    Paul tells them to agree in the Lord. And he urges the church to help them. He doesn’t say, “Hey everyone else, stay out of it. It’s none of your business!” He expects the church to be involved in bringing about reconciliation. Why? Because of the gospel. The church is made up of the servants of the Lord. We are servants of Jesus Christ. We should be of the same mind because we love the same God. We believe in the same Jesus. We’re indwelled by the same Spirit.
    Reconciliation isn’t easy, but pursuing it says something about the power of the gospel. So let’s be Christians who are so steeped in grace that we pursue unity in the church and with other people. Let’s be willing to roll up our sleeves and do the hard work of reconciliation or to get involved and help other people reconcile because we want people to see what it looks like when grace reigns supreme.”
    Trevin Wax, The Gospel Coalition
     
    Slide 7
    “People know Jesus, not just by what we say, but how we live. The way we serve one another, love one another, bear with one another, rejoice with one another, weep with one another, everything we do with one another is either evidence for or against the reality of the Gospel. In the 3rd Century, Christian Theologian Tertullian recorded how the pagans surrounding the church in North Africa exclaimed, “See how these Christians Love one another!”
    Love has been, and always will be, the sign of Christian maturity and evidence of the Gospel. 
     
    Andrew McClure
     
    Slide 8
     
    Big Idea:
     
    Our understanding of beautiful theological truth must be accompanied by healthy personal relationships.
    40 min
  • Philippians 3:12-21 - Gospel Shaped Goals

    Listen along as we continue our series through Philippians.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Phil 3:12-21 
    Gospel Shaped Goals
     
    “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” 
    (Matthew 16:24-26) 
     
    “Most of our society is constantly urging us to be aware of what we are, and what we have achieved, and what we have done, and so on. But maturity in Christian living has actually as its beginning an awareness of what I’m not. Christian maturity is not exemplified by high-sounding talk, but in a life of humble, steady consistency. It is a sign of immaturity to “think of [ourselves] more highly than [we] ought.” Maturity rejects exaggerated claims. Maturity is marked instead by a sane estimate of our spiritual progress.” 
    —Alistair Begg
     
    For Paul, and for us, the prize that beckons us forward “is not something—it is Someone” (Welch 1988, 109). The full knowledge of Christ—this is the prize that awaits us at the end of the race.
    Unlike many popular notions of the future today, Paul did not conceive of the goal of his journey as something literal and tangible, such as simply “getting to heaven” or “walking on streets of gold” or “wearing a crown.” Nor was his hope focused on the chance to be reunited with departed loved ones, as sincere as such longings may be. For Paul, living meant Christ (1:21). Knowing Christ and becoming like him was both his present passion and his supreme goal for the future.
    The goal motivates the journey. If our purpose is merely “making it to heaven,” we might be tempted to rest on our past laurels and passively coast along until we finally receive our reward. Even worse, eternity might become “nothing more than a selfish pursuit born of a fear of death or hell” (Walton 2001, 469). But when the fullness of Christ is the prize ahead, then the journey is earmarked by a deepening desire for communion with God.” — Dean Fleming
     
    “Let us choose … men who teach us by their lives, men who teach us what we ought to do and then prove it by their practice, who show us what we should avoid, and then are never caught doing that which they have ordered us to avoid. Choose as a guide one whom you will admire more when you see him act than when you hear him speak.” —Seneca
    31 min
  • Philippians 3:1-11 - Joy, Threats, Freedom

    Listen along as we continue our series through the book of Philippians.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Phil 3:1-11

    Acts 15:1


    The key passage is Genesis 17, and the important point can be simply expressed. The covenant is God’s promise. He goes on oath in certain specific matters. Abram is the recipient of the promise which is first personal: Abram becomes Abraham (verse 5), a vivid promise of regeneration or a new nature, for with the new name there is created a new man. Secondly, the promise is national, a multitude of nations (verses 5b–6). Thirdly, it is spiritual, ‘to be God to you and to your descendants after you’ (verse 7). Fourthly, it is territorial, the ‘land of your sojournings’ (verse 8); and finally, by way of emphasizing the most important point, spiritual again, ‘and I will be their God’ (verse 8). Circumcision symbolizes the application of the covenant promises to those individuals whom God has chosen to receive them. This came to be seen as the essential heart of the covenant promise and the most quoted verse in the Bible: ‘You shall be my people, and I will be your God.’ Paul, the Philippians, the whole company of Christian believers down the years—we are the chosen people of God, individually born again, individually and collectively heirs of the Lord’s purposes of grace. It is as though Paul said: We may be sure that God has set his personal seal of choice and ownership upon us, for we are the circumcision-  Alec Motyer

    Eph 2:11-16, 

    Gal 3:26-29

    “I consider them rubbish is too weak a translation for the shocking word Paul uses (skybala). Found only here in the New Testament, skybala could refer to refuse, stinking and decaying food, or even human excrement. It carries the idea of something that is only fit to be thrown out because it is so disgusting. As a result, filth or the coarse colloquial term “crap” better captures the detestable quality expressed in this term. Paul could hardly have stated his revulsion toward his former sources of pride and self-righteousness more emphatically - Dean Flemming

    "Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously, radically insecure persons. We must first make real to them the grace of God accepting them daily, not because of their spirituality or their achievements in Christian service, but because God has accounted to them the perfect righteousness of Christ.” Richard Lovelace

    Matthew 7:24-27

    38 min
  • Philippians 2:19-30 - Working Out Witness

    Listen along as we continue our series through the book of Philippians.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Philippians 2:19-30

    1 Cor 12:21-26

    “The Christian community demonstrates the effectiveness of the gospel. We are the living proof that the gospel is not an empty word but a powerful word that takes men and women who are lovers of self and transforms them by grace through the Spirit into people who love God and others. We are the living proof that the death of Jesus was not just a vain expression of God’s love but an effective death that achieved the salvation of a people who now love one another sincerely from a pure heart” - Tim Chester

    1 Peter 2:9-10


    John20:21)

    “The Swiss psychologist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross once wrote,

    "Beautiful people do not just happen." Do you know any of these beautiful people? People who shine with an inner luminescence, who radiate a kind of moral beauty? These kinds of people don't
    "just happen" by accident; they are formed, or forged, often in the fire of suffering and pain, over a long period of time, into people of love.” - John Mark Comer

    Almost anything in life that truly matters will require you to do small, mostly overlooked things, over a long period of time with him - Eswine

    37 min
  • Philippians 2:12-18 - Working it Out

    Listen along as we continue our journey through Philippians.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Philippians 2:12-18 - Kim

    Working It Out

    “The doctrine of justification concerns God’s gracious judicial verdict in advance of the day of judgment, pronouncing guilty sinners, who turn in self-despairing trust to Jesus Christ, forgiven, acquitted of all charges and declared morally upright in God’s sight.”

    - Philip Eveson

    Ephesians 2:8&9:

    8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” 

    “While the language of sanctification in theological terminology has focused on the progressive aspect of growing holiness in the Christian life, the Bible uses the term sanctification to point towards the status as consecrated and holy that we have in Christ through our union with him.” 

    - Fred Zaspel

    “Just as God assessed and then reacted to the worth of his Son’s life of obedience (verses 9–11), so the Christian must ponder the example of Christ and determine upon a worthy response (verses 12–18).”

    - Alec Motyer

    Romans 11:33:

     “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”

     “If we are to follow Christ, we must continue to call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must continue to receive God’s grace. We must continue to manifest the fruit of the Spirit. We must continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We must continue to come before God in prayer. We must continue not to reject the assembling of ourselves for worship, but we must continue to gather for worship, so that, in all of these things, we are doing just exactly what we are called to do…It means that when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, and it says, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,”that we actually do forgive our debtors. It means that when we are called to be witnesses, that we actually witness. It means that all of the benefits which have been made available to us are being utilized, and all of the responsibilities and challenges to which we are being called are being assumed.” —Alistair Begg

    Numbers 11:11-15:

    11 Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.” 

    “How can you come to grips with someone giving himself utterly for you, without you giving yourself utterly to him?” 

    — Timothy Keller

    31 min
  • Philippians 2:1-11 - This is Yours

    Listen along as we continue our time in the letter of Philippians.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Philippians 2:1-11

    When salvation has taken place in the life of someone under the sovereign hand of God, they are set free from the penalty of sin and its power. In a body without the Spirit, sin is an unshakable king under whose dominion no man can flee. The entire body, with its members, affections, and mind all willfully submit themselves to sin’s rule. But when the Spirit of God takes back the body that He created for Himself, He sets it free from the pathetic master that once held it captive and releases it into the marvelous light of its Savior. It is then able to not only want God, but it is actually able to obey God. And isn’t that what freedom is supposed to be? The ability to not do as I please, but the power to do what is pleasing. Jackie Hill Perry

    Romans 12:9-10 -

    Gospel doctrine - gospel culture = Hypocrisy 

    Gospel culture - gospel doctrine = fragility
    Gospel doctrine + gospel culture = power 
    Ray Ortlund

    Romans 8:31-32, 

    2 Peter 1:3-4

    “It follows, then, that we cannot start with a definition of God and try to fit Jesus into it. We must look first to Jesus himself, who reveals to us the identity of God. If we want to know what God is like … God is like Jesus" Dean Flemming

    What greater mercy is there than this, which caused to descend from heaven the maker of heaven; which reclothed with an earthly body the one who formed the earth; which made equal to us the one who, from eternity, is the equal of the Father; which imposed “the form of a servant” on the Master of the world—such that the Bread itself was hungry, Fullness itself was thirsty, Power itself was made weak, Health itself was wounded, and Life itself was mortal? And that so that our hunger would be satisfied, so that our dryness would be watered, our weakness supported, our love ignited. What greater mercy than that which presents to us the Creator created; the Master made a slave; the Redeemer sold; the One who exalts, humbled; the One who raises the dead, killed? - Augustine

    The present passage uniquely unfolds the cross as seen through the eyes of the Crucified, and allows us to enter into the mind of Christ. We tread, therefore, on very holy ground indeed. We do well to remember that this privilege is given to us not to satisfy our curiosity but to reform our lives - Alec Motyer

    39 min
  • Philippians 1:19-30 - Everything Jesus

    Listen along as we continue through Philippians.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Philippians 1:19-30

    An important clue is that Paul’s words, "this will turn out for my salvation," are an exact quotation of Job 13:16 in the Greek Bible. Here Paul’s unmarked quotation evokes clear analogies between the apostle’s present situation and the former plight of Job. In Job 13, Job defends himself against the accusatory arrows of his pious “comforters.” The charge is that his suffering is the direct result of harboring some secret sin. In response, Job pleads his innocence, declaring that ultimately he will be vindicated by God (Job 13:16, 18). Similarly, Paul, in the face of afflictions and the attacks of rival preachers, looks forward to vindication before God in the end. - Dean Flemming


    James 4:13-15


    “If the biblical story is true, the kind of certainty proper to a human being will be one which rests on the fidelity of God, not upon the competence of the human knower. It will be a kind of certainty which is inseparable from gratitude and trust.” - Lesslie Newbigin

    If you are a Christian, you are not a citizen of this world trying to get to heaven; you are a citizen of heaven making your way through this world. - Vance Havner

    39 min
  • Philippians 1:12-18 - The Sweet Sovereignty of God

    Listen along as we continue our journey through the book of Philippians.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Philippians 1:12-18 - Kim
     
    The Sweet Sovereignty of God
     
    “Rather than detail the hardships he faced, Paul took a divine perspective.” — Richard Malick
     
    “Paul has a definition of life that enables him to face anything. In this passage he is teaching that its not the circumstances of your life, its not whether things go well for you or go ill for you. It’s not the circumstances of your life but the way you define life that will determine whether you stand or fall in this world.” 
    — Timothy Keller
     
    “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
     
    Because Romans 8:28 exists, those who love God and are loved by him can have confidence that he is working through all of life’s circumstances to bring good out of bad, light out of darkness, joy out of sorrow. It’s not that God is especially agile, a kind of cosmic PR man adept at manipulating circumstances, but rather that he is the Planner, the Engineer, the Designer who has ordained the means just as much as the end. He ordains the calm and the storm, the darkness and the dawn, the famine and the feast. This being the case, no event is meaningless, no situation purposeless, no condition ultimately hopeless. God is working out his good will not despite dark days, difficult trials, and broken hearts, but through them. Such circumstances are the raw material he uses to form and shape his good plans, his perfect purposes.
     
    God’s specialty is not bringing good from good, but good from bad and Romans 8:28 gently tells me that if I trust him through my tears, he will give me reason to laugh; if I trust him through my pain, he will teach me to praise; if I trust him through my grief, he will afterwards show me all the good that came with it and through it. He will show me the precious flowers in the dry desert, the beautiful blooms against the sharp thorns, the gentle petals beneath the vicious skies. For behind every black cloud is a yellow sun, behind every dark night a bright day, behind every frowning providence a smiling face—the smiling face of the God who works all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. 
    —Tim Challies
     
    “God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.” 
    — Charles Haddon Spurgeon
    31 min
  • Philippians 1:3-11 - Becoming Who We Are

    Listen along as we continue our series through Philippians.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Philippians 1:3-11 - Karen

    Every other ethical system calls us to the costly effort of becoming what we are not. But in the full salvation already bequeathed to us in Christ, the new nature is already ours, waiting for expression, poised for growth, until its potential is triggered by our obedience to the word of God - Alec Motyer

    “A striking feature of this verse is the way that Paul stacks up the words for all and always. The rhetorical impact is strengthened by Paul’s use of alliteration (each word begins with the letter p) and by a play on words with similar sounds (pasē … pantote … pasē … pantōn). This serves to spotlight “the all-inclusiveness of his prayer … None of the Philippians Christians for any reasons whatever was excluded from the apostles’ love and concern” - Dean Flemming

    “I coined the word 'eucatastrophe': the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears which I argued it is the highest function of fairy-stories to produce.The Resurrection is the greatest 'eucatastrophe' possible in the greatest Fairy Story – and produces that essential emotion: Christian joy which produces tears because it is qualitatively so like sorrow, because it comes from those places where Joy and Sorrow are at one, reconciled.” JRR Tolkien

    “Paul’s confidence is not in the Christianity of the Christians, but in the God-ness of God, who is supremely trustworthy, able, and committed to finish the work he has begun” Markus Bockmuel

    “God is always good and I am always loved. Everything is eucharisteo.” Ann Voskamp 

    Acts 16:11-15

    “We are not to reflect on the wickedness of men but to look to the image of God in them, an image which, covering and obliterating their faults, an image which, by its beauty and dignity, should allure us to love and embrace them.” - John Calvin

     


    “We must understand that God does not "love" us without liking us - through gritted teeth - as "Christian" love is sometimes thought to do. Rather, out of the eternal freshness of his perpetually self-renewed being, the heavenly Father cherishes the earth and each human being upon it. The fondness, the endearment, the unstintingly affectionate regard of God toward all his creatures is the natural outflow of what he is to the core - which we vainly try to capture with our tired but indispensable old word “love” - Dallas Willard

     

    “The word affection (splanchna) originally referred to the inner organs (heart, liver, lungs), which were seen as the seat of human emotions. In the Gospels, it expresses Jesus’ heartfelt compassion toward others. Here Paul says that he loves his dear friends in Philippi with the same affection that Christ has for them. At the same time, Christ loves the Philippians through Paul. This testifies to a “three-way bond” of love between Paul, the Philippians, and Christ” - Dean Flemming


    What God desires from us, he graciously forms in us as we grow in our love for him. Ruth Chou Simmons

     

    39 min

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