This is nothing really exciting, but the Columbia Missourian recently quoted me for an article they did on Mizzou’s new “Politics and Religion” film series.  One reporter told me that it was actually inspired by Karis’s “Movies and Mindmaps.”  Check out the article here.

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Every once in awhile, I read something or hear something that is lifechanging.  It comes along and radically impacts the way I see reality.  It refines how I understand our Lord.  Reading Desiring God by John Piper back in the mid to late-90s had that sort of impact on me.  Sometime in the last two or three years, I came across Tim Keller’s ministry, and, particularly, his article entitled, “The Centrality of the Gospel.”  In last night’s Katalyst meeting, we discussed this article, among other things.  In preparation for this meeting, I was reminded just how powerful Keller’s words hit me the first time I read it, and, now, each time I read it again, it seems like God teaches me even more.

There are two key things he argues in the article.  First, the gospel applies to not just the unbeliever, but the believer.  All of the Christian life should be lived in light of the gospel.  This may seem obvious, but I don’t think it is for most of evangelicalism.  Second, the gospel stands opposed to two things, not one.  Both legalism or moralism and relativism or hedonism are contrary to the gospel of our Lord.  I encourage you to read Keller’s article.

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I won’t publish all of my sermons here, but I thought this one expressed well what we’re trying to become as a congregation here in the District. Below is the text. Copy/paste into WordPress doesn’t work that well. So forgive some of the formatting. The audio is available here.

Sermon: “Standing Firm, in God-Centeredness, under Suffering”
08.05.12, Kevin P. Larson, Karis Community Church

Know what it takes to create a visually appealing newsletter? It takes CRAP.
Now I know I’m not supposed to use that word in church, but it really helps us in
graphic design, one thing I really enjoy doing when I can. CRAP is an acronym
for contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. In other words, regarding
contrast, you don’t want someone to look at your flyer and see a mass of words
that are difficult to navigate. Regarding repetition, although you don’t want to
repeat yourself in your articles, if there isn’t some repeating in the features of the
design, you’re going to give people headaches. Regarding proximity, you should
have things that are together conceptually actually be near each other spatially.
The last letter, the A, though, is perhaps most important. It’s alignment. If your
headlines and margins and boxes and pictures aren’t lined up, it’s going to look
awful. So, if you don’t use CRAP, your publications will look like, well, crap. And
who wants that? Well, where am I going with this? We all want our lives to be
characterized by joy. We all want our lives to impact others positively. One of
the most important things for us, in order to have a joyful life that blesses others,
is alignment. We have to be lined up with a standard. If we’re not, our lives will
look like crap. We’ll be joyless, pathetic souls. And others will be for the worse
from being near us. To live the lives our hearts desire and our Lord commands,
we must be lined up with Him. We have to live in a God-centered, and thus,
God-glorifying, fashion.

As we saw last week, Philippians 4:1 starts off this way: “Therefore, my
brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in
the Lord, my beloved.” The word “therefore” points to what we saw last week.
In light of the glory of the gospel and the threat of false teachers, we must “stand
firm.” But that little word “thus” indicates to us that the coming verses will tell
us how to stand firm. Last week, we saw that we must stand firm in unity around
the gospel. This morning, we will look at six imperatives or commands that are
found in these verses, verses 4-9, that tell us additionally how to stand firm.
Paul teaches that we are to stand centered around the Lord in the midst of
suffering. Let us read those verses and begin with prayer.

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known
to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which
surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me- practice these things, and the God of
peace will be with you.

As you can see, Paul’s first command is in verse 4. He says, rejoice in the Lord.
Hear verse 4 again. It reads, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say,
Rejoice.” As we all know, in our fallen, broken world, we all suffer the affects of
what theologians call natural and moral evil. Natural evil refers to disasters due
to the breakdown of the created order. The tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis
this past week is an example of that. Moral evil refers to tragedies caused
directly by human sin. An example of this is the recent big news story about the
woman, Jessie Davis, killed by her boyfriend in Canton, Ohio. Of course, there
are simple, less dramatic examples. A hail storm pounding my house is natural
evil. When I speak disrespectfully to Amy, that is moral evil. We experience both
of these things. The vilest pagan will tell you that we suffer much in this world.
The Philippians were primarily suffering moral evil at the hands of persecutors of
the Roman Empire. Paul, thrown in prison in Rome, awaiting likely execution,
was experiencing the same thing. How, brothers and sisters, when we
experience suffering deriving from moral or natural evil, do we cope? This is
what Paul is telling the Philippians here, and they’re words for us, also.

We obviously can’t find joy in the circumstances themselves. It’s ridiculous when
your car breaks down or your mother comes down with cancer or your trailer gets
swept away by a tornado or your cousin gets stabbed to think, “I find joy in that.”
If that’s the case, you’re morally confused. God doesn’t find joy in those things in
and of themselves, and neither should you. We aren’t told to rejoice in those
circumstances. Paul says very clearly here to “Rejoice in the Lord.”

We’re also not encouraged to avoid the circumstances, to pretend they don’t
exist. This no escapism here. The Philippians and Paul were experiencing true
suffering. Paul doesn’t tell them to go to their happy place. He says they should
“rejoice in the Lord” in the midst of their difficult circumstances. So how do we
do this? Let’s turn back again to chapter 1 and verse 29 for an answer. It
reads, once again,

Philippians 1:29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in
him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still
have.

Now the word “granted” there has the root karis in there, or grace. Two things
are stated as grace-gifts to us: first, we have been granted to believe in Him.
This is His predestination. Second, we have been granted to suffer for Him. This
is His providence. Just above these verses in the text, we see that “standing
firm” is mentioned again. Verses 29 and 30 are given as reasons why we
should do that. But they’re also reasons for us to rejoice in the midst of trials.
We can take joy that God is sovereign over salvation. We are His. He is also
sovereign over His creation. Our suffering is in His hands.

My point: do we believe Romans 8:28 that says God works all things for good,
giving us salvation, and growing us in our salvation through trials? If we do, we
will rejoice. Now notice when we should do this. It says to rejoice “always.”
This is because, as our circumstances change, they are all held in His hand. He
is in control. And He never changes. He is what the theologians call immutable.
He stays the same. We can rejoice in the fact that, while everything changes
around us at internet speed, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Why should we do this? Paul, inspired by the Spirit, commands it. Let that
encourage you, friends. It must be hard to do. Or He wouldn’t be telling the
Philippians to do it. But ultimately we don’t do it simply because He commands
it. We do it because we want to honor Him. And rejoicing, amidst difficult
circumstances, in the Lord, glorifies Him greatly. It shows Him as our greatest
treasure, over against changing idols around us. It proclaims that we see Him as
good, which glorifies Him. And, keeping joy in Him during hard times, keeps us
from being shaken. It keeps us together. So one way we are called to stand firm
is with a God-centered view of our circumstances, our trials.

Second, we’re called to be gentle. Verse 5 says, “Let your reasonableness be
known to everyone. The Lord is at hand.” The term “reasonableness” has
the idea of gentle forbearance. As John MacArthur puts it, it refers to
“graciousness with humility.” So it doesn’t seem just being reasonable with
others really captures its meaning. Of course, in the context of trials, it’s easy to
do the exact opposite: ditch grace and go for self. It reminds me of when George
Castanza shoves old ladies out of his way on his way to the exits when he hears
someone shout, “Fire!” Under suffering, whom do we push?

We can clearly do this toward those on the inside, around believers. When we
are squeezed, we very often take it out on those around us, those we love best.
But we can also do it toward people on the outside, those that aren’t followers of
Jesus. The word “everyone” likely refers to Gentiles here. We can so easily
melt down, under suffering, and go off on those outside the fold who are causing
or adding to our suffering. And that pushes people away from the people of God.
Why be gentle? First, so we can have the exact opposite effect. So that
unbelievers can see the way we handle suffering, our graciousness with humility,
and they will be drawn to Christ. That is partly Paul’s point here. So in trials at
work, suffering in our family, heartaches in relationships, whatever we might
experience, we can respond with grace or harshness. We can respond with
humility or pride. How will we respond? But see another reason why we should
respond with “reasonableness.” Second, God is near. Verse 5 again says,
“The Lord is at hand.” As D.A. Carson points out, this idea of “at hand” can
be taken temporally or spatially.

In other words, Christ is coming soon, or Christ is in the room. It likely refers to
both. So Paul’s point is this: if Jesus were coming back in two minutes, would
you act in a harsh, prideful manner? And, if Jesus were standing in this room,
would you act like a judgmental jerk? The truth, of course, is that Jesus could
come back at any time. And He is with us, right here. He is coming back, He is
“at hand,” for judgment. One day, He will judge that person afflicting us. And if
we are not people characterized by grace, He will judge us. And He is near, He
is “at hand,” for our encouragement. It should give us great hope that, during
our deepest pain, He is very near.

I love pro football and one player I can’t understand is Randy Moss. Somehow
he got signed by the Patriots this year. I don’t know for the life of me how he will
fit with that upstanding, do-things-right franchise. I just remember him last year,
pouting on the sidelines as he played for the Oakland Raiders. He ripped on his
teammates. He talked about how great he was. He said he wanted to win, but
as perhaps one of the most gifted receivers of all time, he didn’t play hard and
fight. He was not gentle, harshly, proudly, going for self, not team. Randy,
during adversity, didn’t choose gentleness.

How does God command us to stand firm? With a God-centered view of
ourselves and others, that’s how. That will honor His nearness and help us to
stand. We’re to imitate our Savior, who as 1 Peter 2:23 puts it, “When he was
reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten,
but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

Third, Paul says, “Don’t worry.” Verse 6 starts by saying, “Do not be anxious
about anything.” It’s interesting to me that it feels as if I struggle with all of
these commands pretty significantly. I can get pretty down and not rejoice during
hard times. I can be anything but gentle; ask my wife. And, I’m a child of a long
line of chronic worriers. For example, just a few weeks ago, my dad had surgery
for an abdominal aortic aneurysm. This is a serious thing. It’s exactly what
comedian John Ritter died of a year or two ago. If my dad wouldn’t have gone in
to have his back looked at, and if he wouldn’t have had a really good nurse
practitioner, he might be dead right now. Well, my mom told me, the one who
taught me to worry, that these can be hereditary. So I’m going around thinking I
feel something in my abdomen. My wife is getting increasingly angry at me, that
is, when she’s not making fun of me. She then describes the symptoms to the
nurse at our doctor’s office, and, no, they actually think I may have an ulcer,
which along with diet, has always been said to be tied to worrying. I know worry.
Why not worry? Well, the reasons are the same that we have seen in our last
two points. Some say that the “Lord is near” phrase should actually be tied to
this command not to worry.

There has to be some connection due to their proximity to each other. When
Hadley has been scared in his room, my wife and I reassure him that we’re just
across the hall in our beds, and that typically works. We can be in his bedroom
fast to help him. In the same way, it should “work” for us. It should reassure us
and work against our worry to know that the “Lord is near.”

Also, the same reason we should rejoice is why we shouldn’t worry. He is in
control. Remember back in Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus
deals with the idea of worry. He says, look at the lilies of the field. See the great
clothes they wear. Look at the sparrows. Check out the food they eat. They
don’t worry, and God provides for them. He is completely in control. Paul says
elsewhere, in Ephesians 1:11, that God “works all things according to the
counsel of His will.” That is why Paul says here that we should not worry about
“anything.” The Lord is in control of everything. That should give us hope.
Be encouraged again that the command not to be anxious validates our struggles
with worry. The Philippians found this difficult, also. It is so hard, in the face of
trials not to worry. So, how, then, do we do it? What good does it do to
command someone not to worry? Isn’t worry an emotion? How can you
command someone to feel a certain way? Is there any hope? I can tell you, the
solution isn’t for you to just “grin and bear it” and try to convince yourself you’re
not worried. There is a better way. This leads to our fourth imperative found in
this passage. God gives us a means to fighting worry. He doesn’t just give us a
command, but also help in keeping it.

Fourth, then, pray to the Lord. We’ve seen the problem; we struggle with
anxiety. See then in verses 6 and 7, a prescription and a promise for this
struggle of ours. Hear those verses again:

Philippians 4:6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The prescription for this ailment is prayer. He uses redundancy, speaking of
prayer in three different ways, to make his point. We need to tell the Lord about
our worries. But why? Well, clearly, this isn’t to inform God or to change Him.
He is omniscient, knows all. As I said before, He’s immutable, doesn’t change.
Rather, it’s to inform us and change us. Speaking these to our Lord and hearing
in His word truths about His ways can relieve us of stress and ulcers. This
process of talking to God through prayer and hearing Him speak through His
word reminds us again of Romans 8:28. It reads, “And we know that for those
who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called
according to his purpose.” And front cover to back cover, all over the Bible,
this is a message we see if we’re looking.

Notice also the when of this passage. We are to do this “in everything.” This
is, of course, meant to be a contrast with the “about anything” just before it.
We are not to worry “about anything.” We are to pray in “everything.” Paul’s
point is that we are to talk to the Lord in prayer through all circumstances of life.
Particularly he is talking about the hard times that, at least in my experience, are
the hardest time to pray. It’s so much easier to just get in bed, throw the covers
over your head, and just give up. But those are the times God wants to comfort
us.

Notice also the how in this passage. We are to pray like this “with
thanksgiving.” We are to thank God for His sovereign, good control over our
lives. We are to survey our past, seeing His hand, and think of the future,
trusting His grace, and thank Him. And this is so hard to do in trials. This is why,
as D.A. Carson points out, this likely refers to what the author of Hebrews
speaks of, in Hebrews 13:5, of the “sacrifice of praise.” It’s hard to praise
God, to thank Him, through tough stuff. It takes great sacrifice. But it’s a
sacrifice that brings great reward.

We see that reward in what is promised in this text. Again, verse 7 tells us that
peace will guard us when we pray. Picture that the President comes to visit your
house, and, as we’re in a time of terrorism, there are swat teams and soldiers
posted all around your house. While you’re chatting there with George W.,
you’re completely safe. Nobody is going to get into that house. Think of that
promise similarly here in this text. God’s peace, His shalom, will surround our
“hearts and minds,” keeping us fixed on “Christ Jesus.” He will protect us
from the fiery darts of our enemy who wants us to worry, worry, worry.
In the times when we are experiencing the toughest of suffering, when we can
barely even open our mouths to pray, He will protect us with this “peace” which
“surpasses all understanding” in the center of our beings. We’ll be amazed at
what is happening. And He will do this through our prayers. In the place where
anxiety, from everything we can see, should reign, there will instead be peace.
We won’t escape these circumstances. But, along with joy, there will be peace
precisely within them. As 1 Peter 5:7, we should cast “all [our] anxieties on
him, because he cares for [us].” We will experience that caring through our
prayers. Carson puts it well in his book Basics for Believers, when he says, “I
have never met a chronic worrier who enjoys an excellent prayer life.”
How, then, does God tell us to “stand firm?” It’s with a God-centered focus
during trials. We fight worry with prayer. This glorifies Him greatly as the
Sovereign. And we experience peace. And this helps us to stand.

Fifth, we are commanded to think holy thoughts. Aaron Dallas, of Carbondale,
Colorado, recently had this strange sensation and excruciating pain in the back
of his head. He went into the doctor, feeling like his head was moving, thinking
he was going crazy, and the man found out that he had five bot fly larvae living
beneath his skin on top of his head. He got them removed, and now he’s better.
Apparently he got this infection during a summer trip to Belize. His wife cracked,
“I will love you through your maggots.” Folks, we wonder why we have so much
trouble standing firm in today’s world. Well, it might have to do with the fact that
we have too much sick-out stuff swimming around in our heads.

One of my favorite authors, A.W. Tozer, in The Knowledge of the Holy, a book
available on the book table, once said, “What comes to our minds when we think
about God is the most important thing about us.” Why would he say such a
thing? It’s because our thoughts affect our emotions. Our emotions drive our
behaviors. It all starts with the idols of our minds. So if we want to see change in
our lives, we have to start with our minds. Hear again the commands in verse 8.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think
about these things.

In other words, we are to think of things true, not false. Honorable things, not
those base. Just or right things, not those wrong. Pure things, not things that
are sleazy. Lovely things, not those ugly. Commendable things, not those things
embarrassing. Excellent things, not things bad, or even just good. Praiseworthy
things, not things to be cursed. Essentially, the apostle tells us to fix our minds
on the opposite things from what our culture celebrates. We should do that, that
is, if we want to have changed hearts and actions that enable us to “stand firm.”
There are clearly lots of things today that I could mention that aren’t worthy of our
minds and that end up negatively impacting our hearts. We must avoid them.
The statement is quite well put that says, “Garbage in, garbage out.”

But let me give you another angle on this. I’ve read two excellent books the past
month or two about Christianity and culture. One is All God’s Children and Blue
Suede Shoes by Ken Myers. The other is The Culturally Savvy Christian by Dick
Staub. I hope they can both be at the book table sometime in the near future.
Myers argues in his book that we can isolate three types of culture in our country,
in particular, those of high culture, folk culture, and pop culture. High culture
refers to things like gourmet meals, nights at the opera, sophisticated artwork,
and classical music. Folk culture refers to things like home-cooked meals,
bluegrass music, microbreweries, and the like. Says Myers, “Folk culture, while
simpler in manner and less communicable from one folk to another, has the
virtues of honesty, integrity, commitment to tradition, and perseverance in the
face of opposition.”

High culture, on the other hand, he says, “has its roots in antiquity, in an age of
conviction about absolutes, about truth, about virtue.” Myers’ point is that
somewhere down the road, with the coming of modernism, the rise of the
industrial revolution, and the “melting pot” of America, a new culture was formed,
called “pop culture.” This culture is characterized by mindlessness,
timelessness, sentimentalism, instant gratification, superficiality, and an overall
lack of excellence, just to use a few big words to describe it. This is McDonalds,
Britney Spears, People magazine, Full House, and the like. This is music,
literature, food, art, and TV and film that appeal to broad, large audiences. This
is what “sells” and generates profits with the most consumers. So producers sell
them. They are popular. And we buy them. And before you know it, we start
thinking “McChicken Sandwiches” taste good, and the Backstreet Boys make
sweet music.

The church, sadly, has reacted to pop culture by unwittingly succumbing to it.
Two things have happened. First, the American church got tired of fighting
against the content of media that comes against her. So we wanted something
with a more wholesome message. Second, businessmen with dollar signs in
their eyes began to see the evangelical Christian population as an untapped
market. The result? Our own version of pop culture with watered down,
aesthetically unpleasing, lyrically shallow, Christian “art.”

An illustration of this jumps out in my mind from my past. At the church I served
in Springfield, they held, for who knows what reason, this kids’ talent night. I’ll
never forget this 5th or 6th grade girl standing up on the stage at the church,
lipsyncing and provocatively dancing to “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet
Boys. The children’s director got up after the performance and somehow dealt
with the embarrassing situation. But people were wondering, “How can we let
that song be sung at church?” Somewhere right about the same time, a young
man whose family was involved in our church got asked to audition for this new
Christian band. Seriously, the kid was living this prodigal lifestyle, and shacking
up with his girlfriend at the time, I think, but boy, could he sing. So he tried out.
Before he knew it, he was singing as part of the Christian boy band, Plus One.
Suddenly he was standing on stages doing choreographed dances with middle
school girls screaming. Only he was singing about Jesus. Apparently he dated
Jaci Velasquez for awhile, and lived the Christian pop culture life. But he
eventually left the group, moved home to marry his high school sweetheart, and I
think still lives there. I think he got sick of the pop Christianity.
Folks, we so often ask if what we’re putting in our head is evil. We think of what
we put in our heads primarily in terms of content. We focus on the lyrics, the
message. But, on the other hand, we should also think about the medium itself.

Is this form of literature or music or food or film or television, even without dirty
words or sexual innuendos, just plain bad? Is it unworthy of a Christian made in
the image of God to perceive and create beauty? Because, if it is, putting it in
our heads isn’t good for us. It contributes to our mindlessness, superficiality,
sentimentalism, and the like. One could also easily say, “Plastic in, plastic out.”
Now some of you might say, “Kevin, you’re just talking about styles here. Who
says one style is better than another?” True, we could haggle about the merits of
various musicians or filmmakers and perhaps disagree. But God as Creator is
the standard of beauty and source of all beauty. We have to say, as Christians,
that there is some objective standard of beauty. And we can come to some
mutual decisions. For example, Johan Sebastian Bach made better music than
Sebastian Bach of the 80s metal band Skid Row. So here’s my point: our only
question, when we come to this text is not, “Does the media we take in have evil
content?” As Dick Staub says in his book, “Bad art is evil.” Another question is,
“Is the media we take in evil in and of itself?” Is it just crummy and time-wasting?
Here in America, our heads are full of both—morally bad, wicked stuff, and
aesthetically bad, shallow stuff. What do we do about it? Well, here’s not a very
helpful solution. It doesn’t work to try to dig it out. We can sit around for hours
and years trying to erase somehow, in our brains, all the wicked, and just plain
stupid, things in our brains. It just won’t happen. The solution is to push it out.
Let me illustrate it for you. In our kitchen is a utensil that I think is invaluable. It’s
called the Wondercup. What is it? It’s a different kind of measuring cup. You
have this flexible plastic cup on the inside with a hard plastic sleeve on the
outside. How it works is that you pull down the inside cup, fill it up with your
ingredients, and then push it on the bottom, plunging it all out into the bowl. It
works great, for example, for peanut butter. Instead of spooning it slowly into a
regular measuring cup and then scooping it out spoon by spoon, you fill up the
Wondercup and then push it right out. Friends, our minds are the same way. If
we try to scoop out the bad stuff, it doesn’t work well. It’s far easier to push it out.
How do we push it out? With the opposites of what much of our culture offers.
With the morally good and aesthetically good. We think holy thoughts. We
observe that which is morally good. We read God’s word, we meditate on it, we
memorize it, we sit under teaching about it, we talk with our friends about it. We
read good Christian literature that stretches our faith. We sing and listen to great
hymns. We fellowship with God’s people. Those are just a few things that fill our
minds. But we also enjoy that which is aesthetically good. We push away
mindless, worthless pop culture and look for things, even done by unbelievers
made in God’s image, that reflect that image of God as Creator of all things good,
and true, and beautiful. We listen to good music, read great books, listen to
beautiful music. We make such things our steady diet.

The solution can’t be to just isolate ourselves from the sinful messages of our
culture in some parallel universe, just consuming Christians things, because I’d
argue much of that is aesthetically bad, evil in that sense. And we can’t separate
ourselves from our culture at large that has media that is both morally and
aesthetically bad. We shouldn’t even isolate ourselves completely from popular
culture. We can’t be so heavenly minded that we’re no earthly good, because we
are called to be on mission. We are called to reach people in culture. So we
need to know our society’s poets and musicians, and the like. After all, Paul did.
The truth is that only by being heavenly minded can we be any earthly good at
all. Because when our minds are filled with what Paul calls “true” and
“honorable” and “just” and “pure” and “lovely” and “commendable” and
excellent and “worthy of praise,” we can have a standard by which we can view
the world. We can see society around us through divine lenses as it really is and
truly have perspective from which we can reach people. We can then make
connecting points with people through culture, knowing their artists and heroes,
to the gospel, showing them the way out of moral and aesthetic evil to He who is
good and true and beautiful, Jesus. We can cultivate in ourselves a biblical
Christian worldview, showing others trapped in competing, fallen worldviews the
truth of the gospel and how it gives the best explanation of the world. So, as
Staub says, we can’t be either cultural gluttons—there is too much sin there, or
cultural anorexics—there is too much mission to be done.

So, how does Paul say we should stand firm during suffering? We should stand
with a God-centered worldview in a difficult, hostile culture. Or we’re toast.
Let briefly look at the sixth imperative, imitate godly people. This follows right
along from what we saw last week in chapter 3 and verse 17. Speaking of
plastic, I remember watching this show some time back about regular people
who were going under the knife so that they could look like their favorite
celebrities they obsessed over. They were getting plastic surgery to look like
already plastic stars. Paul says, “What you have learned and received and
heard in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Imitate the right people, he says, in order to stand firm, namely me. Not wicked
ones or fake people.

The call to imitate godly people reminds us that we can’t do Christianity on our
own. We need someone to follow and imitate. And it also reminds us that we’re
being watched, for good or bad. I remember NBA star Charles Barkley saying
many years back that he wasn’t a role model. He was, and you are, to some
degree. Be a person that can be imitated.

But mainly Paul is saying here to follow the example that he has given through
his words and through his actions. Do that Philippians, do that Karis, and we will
have God’s peace, His shalom, and we’ll have His presence. He will be with us.
The promise to Israel that they would be His people, and He would be their God,
will apply to us. If we stand firm, and God uses human examples in our lives to
accomplish this, we will experience forever peace with Him. So, how do we
stand firm? We do so by keeping our eyes on God-centered role models.
So, we’ve seen this morning that we are to rejoice, be gentle, not worry, pray,
think holy thoughts, and imitate godly people. And to refuse to do any of these is
both sinful and dangerous. Even though we don’t often think about this whole list
in that way, to not obey any of those commands is sin. We can easily see that
thinking about dirty pictures or being an arrogant jerk is sinful, but we often act
like worrying and not rejoicing are no big deal. But the problem is that not doing
each dishonors our God. It shows our lives are not centered on Him. It shows
we’re fixed upon and relying upon ourselves. We’re not living, as the
Westminster Catechism says, “to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.” And this is
also dangerous. Why? Each is a command to tell us how to “stand firm,”
amidst suffering, in a fallen world. He uses our struggles to make us Godcentered
people. And in that suffering, we will either stand firm, as Paul
commands, or we will fall flat. It will be either an instrument of growth or a cause
of our downfall. If we heed what Paul says here, it can be the former.

But to some of us, these commands seem overwhelming. How can we begin to
obey? Unbeliever, first you need a relationship with Jesus. You need to be
brought into the fellowship of His church. You need to trust in Christ’s life and
death for you. His Spirit will come into your life and enable you to overcome
what enslaves you. Believer, you need the same thing. You need to rediscover
yourself in the gospel. You need to come to Jesus daily to experience His
forgiveness, the power of His Spirit. He will change you. He will change me.
Doing what this passage commands is hard. It takes supernatural strength.
What we need is to continually center our lives around Him. We need His grace,
not our efforts. Or we have no hope to “stand firm.” Our enemy is fierce. Who
wants a life out of alignment? Who wants a life that’s crap? No one does. Let’s
become God-centered people.

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We’re winding down this first session of Katalyst, a new leadership training, group discipleship program at Karis, at the end of August. Twice a month this summer, we have gathered to study a selection from a theology text, a helpful article, and a challenging lecture or sermon. Our next session will begin on September 11th. We’ll again be reading from Grudem’s Systematic Theology. Our biblical theology text this round will be Vaughn Roberts’ God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible.

Katalyst fits with Karis’s vision for the Karis Institute which will likely begin in seed form this semester, while kicking off officially in January. Katalyst will be the mentoring wing of that larger entity. The vision is to see young men trained in the context of the local church and sent out to be church planters and pastors. Katalyst gives young men up-close and personal interaction with Karis elders who are passionate about equipping them for service in Christ’s church. If you are a dude, and you desire to explore church leadership and be challenged and sharpened in your faith, then Katalyst might be for you.

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Not much blogging lately, I know. Call it a new baby and lots of things to do with Karis. But Hadley and I took in the fan day yesterday with the team favored to win the Big 12 North and the top offensive unit in the nation. It was a great time.

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