Transforming: Strive

 We're starting a new series of messages this morning for October.

I'll be preaching through the letter to the New Testament church in Philippi, known to us as Philippians.

So we're going to look at Philippians or part of Philippians 1 today.

And I'm excited.

This series is called Transforming Deep Spirituality in a Shallow World.

And I think the spirituality of Philippians

 Philippians is a distinct note in the New Testament that we need to like be ringing out today.

It's such a beautiful letter.

We'll be getting into it and seeing how the spirituality of Philippians can help us make what we might call spiritual progress as we walk with Jesus together.

So I'll be reading from Philippians 1.

 verses 18 through 30.

I'll start in the second half of verse 18, but before I read that text, would you join me in the prayer of illumination?

Let us pray.

God of truth, we thank you that the words that you give us are not merely words, but your living and breathing word, which nurtures us and edifies us and feeds us and makes us new and

 So by your Holy Spirit, oh God, at work in each of our hearts and work in our environment together, we pray that this preached word and this spoken word and the reading of your scriptures might be for us the very word of God.

We pray this in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and all God's people said.

Amen.

 Okay, Philippians chapter 1, second half of 18, all the way to 30.

I invite you to hear God's word for you.

It reads, yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance.

 It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death.

For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.

If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.

And I do not know which I prefer,

 I am hard pressed between the two.

My desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better.

But to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.

Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy and faith so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.

 Only live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and are in no way intimidated by your opponents.

For them, this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation."

 And this is God's doing.

For God has graciously granted you the privilege, not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well.

Since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

Well, friends, this is the word of the Lord.

And so we can say collectively in response, thanks be to God.

Friends, I...

 I hate going to the gym.

I do.

I don't like preparing and packing a gym bag.

Nor do I like taking an hour and a half out of my day just to sweat.

 Nor do I like finding parking at the gym.

I don't like the getting into the gym.

I don't like the smell of the gym necessarily.

I don't like the vibe necessarily at the gym.

I prefer the comfort of my office or my home or a nice walk outside any day to the gym.

I even, friends, dread the gym.

I do.

I like anticipate it and get worried and concerned that I'm going to break this time.

I do.

 Even while working out, at least in the beginning, I'll pray at the gym.

And my prayers sound like this.

Dear God, help.

Please.

This is hard.

And so despite all of these things, I hate missing the gym.

I go to the gym.

And I find things to love at the gym.

Why?

 because I know the benefits.

I've experienced the endorphin rush.

I know that mental clarity.

I know what it means to finish well.

The gym is good for me, so I go despite the struggle.

And too often, friends, spirituality is seen as easy.

 It's seen as easy.

Most people don't think it is that hard.

And if it gets hard, people typically give up.

Lots of people give up on prayer or scripture reading.

Lots of people give up on relationships in the church when they get hard or when they get difficult.

Lots of people give up on worship on Sunday mornings, opting instead to sleep in and go to Bedside Baptist.

 or the Church of the Holy Comforter.

Do you know those churches?

I know those churches, and I get it.

I get it.

Life is complicated and hard, and the pressures are many, and Jesus promises, again, come to me, all ye who are heavy, laden, and weary, and I will give you rest.

Sometimes the most holy thing we can do is take a nap.

Let's embrace that.

However,

 To assume that our spiritual lives together are going to be deep and transformative without conscious effort is misguided.

 We won't make much spiritual progress if our spiritual practices amount to nothing more than sunset walks, occasional thank you as you look at the sunset, a monthly potluck, and an uplifting Spotify playlist.

All those things are really good, by the way, really beautiful.

So please play that funky Jesus music.

But I would never treat my relationship to the gym that way.

 Like, I would never expect to make progress bodily and in terms of fitness if all I were doing is taking the stairs occasionally and eating a protein bar and stretching for a minute.

All those smaller, easier habits are supplemental to my fitness regimen, but they are not central to it because none of them require me to strive, to work out, to press on, and to give until it hurts.

 And friends, if my spiritual life doesn't cost me something, if it doesn't require much of me, if I don't have to work at it or for it, then really the question must be asked, do I really truly deep down believe that it's worth it in the end?

And if spiritual progress doesn't occur in Christians' lives, it will remain shallow.

 we will have a shallow spirituality.

And by shallow, I mean several things.

I mean individualistic, undisciplined, unhinged, and uninspirational.

Let me just speak to those four things.

An individualistic spirituality is one that's disconnected from a life of a church that's trying to make spiritual progress with Jesus.

 Churches have lots of groups that we're parts of, and that's great.

And I want to encourage you to always find fellowships.

But lots of church groups offer nothing more often than support through the vicissitudes and challenges of life.

They're like support through parenting or support through school or support through aging or support through recovery.

And all those things are really good, and we need those things.

We need people to surround us.

 as we simply deal with the complexities and hardships of life.

But church primarily and church groups are for the question, how are we making spiritual progress together?

And how are we inviting one another into the struggle of our making spiritual progress?

 individualistic spirituality assumes that we can do that on our own.

We don't have to talk about that.

We don't have to get into that.

We can just kind of hang out and it'll happen.

But individualistic spirituality will be and remain shallow.

It'll remain shallow.

And also by shallow, I mean undisciplined.

 I mean, praying and listening to scripture and going to church when it's inspirational and when we feel like it.

That's when we go.

That's when we pray.

Instead of a regimen of spiritual practice, instead of a discipline of spiritual practice that forms us and shapes us day in and day out, regardless of how we feel.

If we don't have that in our lives, our spirituality will remain shallow.

 And by shallow, I also mean, I mean unhinged.

I mean easily swayed by the twin forces of the radical left and the radical right, the unmoored social progressivism and Christian nationalism.

Those are powerful forces in our culture, powerful.

But none of them or neither of them reflect the love, truth, beauty, and justice of Jesus.

So while they're potent, they're not what shape us to be more like him.

 And if that's what's anchoring you and motivating you, then your spirituality will remain shallow and unhinged.

And finally, uninspirational.

Why is it that so many Christians' lives look just about as good as everyone else's?

 The faith which forms us in Jesus should be inspirational.

It should motivate others to want to follow it.

Why is it that so often our lives don't look all that different than our unchristian, unchurched neighbor?

And don't get me wrong, right?

Shallow spirituality may be moral, like it may want to do the right thing,

 It may be therapeutic.

It might feel good and help us to feel good.

Shallow spirituality may believe in God.

God is out there.

God is for me.

God is with me.

But shallow spirituality will never lead you to deep spiritual transformation.

Deep spiritual transformation is what happens when

 when we make spiritual progress with God.

Listen to the Apostle Paul in Romans 12.

This is a different letter than we read, but Paul says, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, Romans 12, 2, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then...

 then you will know what the will of God is, God's good, perfect, and pleasing will.

You see how that works.

Transformation, spiritual progress, helps us to know what the will of God is so that we can do it, so that we can make progress.

Or listen to Jesus.

When Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew, he says, if anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me, for whoever wants to save their life will lose it.

 but whoever loses their life for my sake and my kingdom will find it.

Alex Osler wrote a book called A Short Guide to Spiritual Formation.

And I love this question he asks and how he says it.

He says, the goal of the Christian life is not merely about getting into heaven through believing true things.

Salvation is a broader concept.

The central question is this,

 What does it mean to live a life aimed toward God?

What does it mean to live a life aimed toward God?

If we were to try to answer that question this morning, who better to look at than a hero of the faith like the Apostle Paul?

 The Apostle Paul wrote the letter that we read, the letter of the Philippians.

And despite all his idiosyncrasies and intensity, and he is intense, the Apostle Paul is intense.

And sometimes you got to get over that.

But man, was the Apostle Paul's life aimed toward God?

 I mean, his letter to the Philippians is such a remedy to an individualistic, unmoored, unhinged, undisciplined, and uninspiring spirituality.

He's writing, friends, from jail.

He's imprisoned because of his beliefs.

And the church that he planted, the Philippian church, is going through change.

They're facing difficulties from the inside and the outside.

 And yet, you read it with me just now, right?

His spirituality is purposeful and gritty and hopeful and joyous.

And that's what I want in my own spiritual life with God.

I want it to be purposeful and gritty and hopeful and joyous.

Listen to Paul, he says, I love this line.

He says, I know, this is verse 19, we read it.

I know that through your prayers,

 and the help of the spirit of Jesus, this, this being his imprisonment in Rome, this will turn out for my salvation.

Like we know from reading the book of Acts that Paul had once been miraculously delivered from prison.

He had experienced that with God's power, but this is not how this thing is turning out right now, right?

Now he's imprisoned in Rome, writing this letter to the Philippian church.

And it's been a long time.

 And prophetically, he's been warned that he's not gonna get out.

He's been warned.

So for Paul, salvation is bigger than simply going to heaven, although that too.

It's bigger than getting released from prison, although that would be nice.

 It means that he will be transformed and the Philippian church will be transformed and the world will be transformed because of his imprisonment.

That's how Paul sees his story fitting into God's salvation project, much bigger than him.

It's the salvation of everybody.

And we're reading the book of Philippians because that's pretty much what happened, right?

Paul died in that Roman cell.

Oh, he had house release for a while, but he died in Rome.

 And yet we have his letter because those words and his example transformed him, transformed the church and transformed the world.

It's inspiring that apostle Paul.

Isn't he inspiring?

I wanna live that way.

Listen to Paul again.

"'For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.'"

 Like he is so purposeful.

Living is Christ.

He knows exactly what his life is about.

And he can say, and he doubles down on this.

He says to the Philippian church, we read it.

If I'm to die, I'll go be with Jesus.

In fact, he starts to ruminate.

He's like, that would be better.

I would love to be with Jesus.

Oh, if I die tomorrow, that's okay with me.

 Sometimes I'm even pressed hard.

I mean, I'm in a jail cell.

I'm hard pressed between the two.

I'd rather go and be with Jesus.

But I know that if I stay, I know that if I'm alive, it means fruitful work for me.

It means my progress and joy in the faith and your progress Philippian church and your joy in the faith.

So I'm pretty happy about that.

Paul's an inspirational life.

He is what it looks like to be aimed toward God.

 It is a tested and true spirituality, one that can endure trials and setbacks with fire and focus.

And I love it, it's inspirational.

And here's the reason I raise that because you might say to yourself, well, that's the apostle Paul.

I mean, he'd had that visionary experience on the Damascus road.

He was kind of wild and maybe a few screws loose.

He's the exception, not the rule, pastor.

 But I'm telling you that what the apostle Paul tells the church in Philippi is like, you can have that kind of spiritual life too.

Like that's for you.

In fact, I'm inviting you into it.

He says to the church, here's the big thing.

Here's the main idea, Paul says to them, just live your lives worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That live your life, that is actually a really unique Greek word.

Can we geek out on Greek just for a second?

 Right?

It's one word, live your life.

And it doesn't mean just like, live your life, live your best life now.

It's not what it means.

It means, quote, to order one's life and conduct.

You feel the discipline in that statement, to order one's life and conduct.

It means to live in relation to others.

So like Paul is like, I'm in this cell, but if I stay alive, it means fruitful life.

 labor for you, for your benefit.

So he is polyatomai.

He is living his life for, in a disciplined way, for the good of other people.

And Paul says, live that way, right?

Live exceptional and inspirational public lives, church.

He wants them to live in such a way so as to give the gospel of Jesus credibility, credibility.

He wants people to notice the church and people's lives in the church and go, ah, that's real.

 That's genuine, that's inspirational.

 I'm reminded of this story.

Rich Valotis is a pastor in New York.

He's the pastor of New Life Fellowship.

He wrote a book, great book, A Deeply Formed Life.

And he tells about an experience he read about in Thomas Merton's autobiography, Thomas Merton, the Great Catholic Mystic and Monk.

All right, so Merton remembers a conversation that he had in India with a Hindu monastic, right?

Someone who'd committed their life to celibacy and poverty and, you know, the monastic vows.

A Hindu monastic, right?

 So Merton, the Catholic monastic, gets in conversation with this guy, and they were discussing the effect of Christian missionaries in parts of South Asia.

Now, this guy's name was Bhakmakari.

And Bhakmakari, the Hindu, said that Christian missionaries did not have a strong impact in certain parts of South Asia.

And Merton asks him, well, why is that?

What's your opinion?

And Bhakmakari says, they weren't holy enough.

 They weren't holy enough.

So Merton concluded, the Hindus, he says, are not looking for men to build them schools and hospitals, although that's really good and India really needs them.

They want to know if we have any saints to send them.

Do we have any saints to send them?

 That's the life to which Christians in the Church of Philippi are called, to live their lives worthy of the gospel, to live a public life that is inspirational.

It's the kind of life that would shape all Roman society and eventually did.

And it's the kind of life that can shape South Orange County, Laguna Niguel, Elisa Viejo.

It's the kind of life that people want to take notice of and go, wow, that's genuine, that's real.

 And Paul knew, Paul knew that you cannot do that by yourself.

You cannot go home and pray hard enough.

You cannot go home and in the morning, open up your scriptures long enough.

You can't go to worship enough times to live that kind of life.

You need a community to strive side by side together, right?

Paul says, then I know if you live that way, if you live those kinds of exceptional lives, then I will know that you are striving

 with one mind and one spirit for the faith of the gospel.

Then I'll know.

So he'll know that they're living exceptional lives if they're striving in one mind and one spirit for the faith of the gospel.

But the inverse is also true.

We cannot live exceptional lives if we are not striving side by side with one mind and one spirit for the faith of the gospel.

It can't be done.

It's not an individualistic project.

In the Disney film, Remember the Titans,

 classic.

A high school football team spends a week-long summer camp as the first wave of students to live out the implications of racial integration in Virginia in the early 70s.

The new head coach, his name is Herman Boones, played by Denzel Washington.

Great performance.

 And the former head coach, Bill Yost, based on a true story, played by Will Patton, must lead these really two distinct groups of players divided by race to strive as one heart and one mind for the sake of the game and to be a team.

It's a gargantuan task.

The players do not like each other.

They don't like the way they talked.

They don't like their language and the language differences.

They don't like each other's music.

They argue incessantly.

 And this is the status of the camp about three or four days in.

I mean, it's not going well until Coach Boone wakes them up very early one morning and has them go for this early morning foggy jog to an ancient Civil War historical site, the Battle of Gettysburg.

 And he says, gentlemen, when they get to this site, when they're all tired and they're muddy from running through like over streams, he gives them this speech.

It's an epic speech.

If we could, we would cue the Hollywood drama music right now.

But this is the speech.

It says, this is where they fought the battle of Gettysburg.

50,000 men died right here, fighting the same fight that we're still fighting amongst ourselves.

Listen to their souls.

Listen and take a lesson from the dead.

 if we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed just like they were.

And that morning speech, that sparked a new momentum on the team.

They did come together.

They did when the season started to start winning games.

But more than that, they won the bigger battle of becoming one mind and one heart despite their differences.

 despite their major big differences.

And friends, every church I've been a part of has required those Gettysburg moments where we've had to like name hard stuff and say, I'm sorry, and work through reconciliation.

 and press on and listen with empathy and speak the truth and love, every church that I've been a part of or every spiritual friendship that's been worth it for me has had a Gettysburg moment.

And it's always been worth it.

You know, Sylvester Stallone once said that the church is like a gym for the soul.

And I wish more Christians would treat the life of the church that way.

 that we might become more like saints, more like what Paul is advocating the Philippian church become, like live your lives worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Then I'll know that you're striving with one heart and one mind for the faith of the gospel.

And I get it, like all this talk about striving, it might make you tired.

It's a lot of like sweat equity in striving.

 A lot of like, really, I got to work harder?

I'm working so hard right now.

You might, like my prayer at the gym, feel like, dear God, please help.

This is hard.

And it is.

It is hard.

But I know the benefits.

Friends, I've witnessed the legacy of exceptional lives.

 I felt the spiritual presence of someone whose faith is deeply formed and it is inspiring.

It is beautiful.

It's something I long for in myself.

So striving side by side for the faith of the gospel is good for us.

So we just do it.

We just show up.

We say, how are you doing?

And walking with Jesus.

 Not just how you're doing with parenting, that too.

Not just how you're doing with like aging, that too.

Not just how you're doing in school, that too.

But how you're doing walking with Jesus.

What's that like for you?

What are the failures?

What are the victories?

And how are we gonna make progress together?

And remember friends, as we strive, we remember that Jesus has already done the heavy lifting, right?

He shed his blood, not on Gettysburg, but on Calvary.

 so that we can, we can stand on a level place, not in our sin, but free from our sin with God and say, yeah, today you accept me as I am.

You love me as I am.

And you call me to make progress all because of what Jesus has done.

All because his death and resurrection have empowered me and cleansed me so that I can

 live a new kind of way, live a new kind of life.

We strive because the battle's already been won.

The blood has been shed.

We strive because, friends, side by side, we have each other.

Amen?

Will you pray with me?

Lord, thank you.

As we start this series on transformation, we're reminded, Lord, that it is a battle.

It is a struggle to live

 In such a way as to have our lives be worthy of the gospel.

And so often there's failure, God.

So hold us in that failure right now.

Hold us in the times where it's too hard.

And help us, God.

Help us to remember these great promises spoken over us.

That in Christ Jesus, we are a new creation.

In Christ Jesus, we are freed from the bonds of sin and called to live this new life.

 We pray the power of your Holy Spirit in this church, God, that through your spirit, not by our own strength, but through your spirit, we might strive side by side for the faith of the gospel.

We pray this in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and all God's people said.