These are notes from the sermon I preached at Jubilee last Sunday. They are shorter than usual, but I thought I’d share the outline with you anyway. You can listen to the sermon by downloading it or you can listen to it here:




I. HOW TO LIVE FOR THE FUTURE—Philippians 1:1-11

• Know Who You Are (verses 1-2)
  
  
  
  • A slave of the RISEN Jesus (NOT man) and saints—i.e. set apart and being cleansed.
    
    
  • Conduits of grace and peace.
  
  
  
• Know Where You Are Going (verse 6) BE SURE!
  
  
  
• Know Who You Are Going With — Long-term, heart-felt partnership (verses 5, 7, 8)
  
  
  
• Know What You Are Meant To Do On The Way
  
  
  
  1. Verse 5—“In the gospel,” i.e. live in the good of it and live for its progress, don’t just keep the chair warm! What do we do in its good ...
     
     
     
  2. Verse 3—Thankfulness that comes from remembrance.
     
     
     
  3. Verse 4—Prayer that is joyful and full of anticipation.
     
     
     
  4. Verse 9—Abounding, growing love.
     
     
     
  5. Verse 9—Desire to study. We will spend eternity with . . .
     
     
     
  6. Verse 9-10—Resultant wisdom/discernment, i.e. the ability to lovingly apply to life the things we learn.
     
     
     
  7. ALL of this results in verses 10-11—Purity that honors God.

II. RESULTS OF LIVING FOR THE FINAL DAY (Philippians 1:12-17)

• Verse 12-14—Confidence that comes from knowing even tough times are for our good, e.g. prison making confident!
  
  
  
• Verse 14—Boldness to declare this wonderful news!
  
  
  
• Verse 15-17—Preoccupation with the advance of the gospel above all partisanship, etc.
  
  
  
• Verse 17-20—Rejoicing, eager expectation, hope, “full of courage”, honor to Christ.
  
  
  
• Verse 21-30—Glorious indifference to our own life and its sufferings. “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22) Let’s study to be prepared to die well.

CONCLUSION
Live a worthy life and fight for the gospel—“It’s all about Jesus!”

BACKGROUND QUOTES

“Hence we have a service which is not a matter of choice for the one who renders it, which he has to perform whether he likes or not, because he is subject as a slave to an alien will, to the will of his owner . . .

[The slave is one] who not only has no possibility of evading the tasks laid upon him, but who also has no right of personal choice, who must rather do what another will have done, and refrain from doing what another will not have done.”

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vols. 5-9, edited by Gerhard Friedrich. Vol. 10 compiled by Ronald Pitkin, Ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Electronic Ed., 2:261 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964-c1976).

“He is not merely putting up with his circumstances, he is going beyond that, he is exulting in his suffering. He is triumphant, he is jubilant. There is a marvellous element in this, he tells them, if they can but see it. This is characteristic New Testament teaching . . . Do not waste your tears on me or on my condition, says the Apostle.”

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in Ephesians—The Unsearchable Riches of Christ, Chapter 3, p. 17 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1972).

“Death was nothing to these apostles. They had already passed from death to life. Having passed from judgment to life in Him, they were not afraid of death. They knew where they were going—they were going “to be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:23).”

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Courageous Christianity, 1st U.S. ed., 173 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001).

It is now almost a week since I made the decision to stop comments here on the blog. In the next few days I will also be deleting all the old ones. I have to say that, so far, I have not missed them. It's not so much that I don't want interaction with my readers—that, in any case, continues in other ways. Rather, I'm glad that the immediacy of that interaction is less, and its constant demands on my time have abated. Having one less demand on my time is so welcome!

Previously I felt constantly under pressure to monitor the stream of comments coming into my inbox to determine which ones should be approved. Part of the nature of these comments was that the majority of them seemed to disagree with the original post. I think this is partly because those who read a post and like it are unlikely to say so in a comment. I know that I myself am more inclined to respond to something that I dislike online. It is this argumentative aspect of comments that has bothered me somewhat. I genuinely believe that, for me at least, removing comments is a way of taking a step away from being quarrelsome.

I came across the following verse this week which made me think that I have done the right thing—at least for me in my situation.

"So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will." (1 Timothy 2:22-26)

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If you miss making comments, you can always pop over to one of my reader's blogs who has begun an interesting discussion on Martyn Lloyd-Jones' views of guidance. He said to tell you that he would welcome your opinions! Or, you could go and read Alistair's transcription of what Driscoll really said about God hating sinners and join in the conversation over there.

UPDATE
In response to this post Rick asks, "Are Blog Comments Unscriptural?" whilst Dave Warnock collects the posts from those who think I should not have stopped publishing comments.

I am thankful today. It may not be my holiday, we may not have anything even remotely like it here in the UK, but as I said last year, I am very glad of the reminder this American holiday represents.

I know that at times I still have a sinful tendency to focus on things that are not going the way I want them to rather than to be thankful for everything that has gone well. I know that even after all these years of growing as a Christian, there are times when self-pity, criticism of others, and ungratefulness rear their heads. I know that in the corner of my heart their lies an area as yet not cleaned by the grace that is washing me day-by-day and making me more like Jesus. That area stubbornly refuses to learn that I am not the center of the universe. Neither will it accept that minor inconveniences to me are not worth getting upset about. It must continually be reminded that if I just learned to actually be more sincerely thankful rather than merely mouthing the words "thank you" in a ritualistic manner, my world would actually be a better place. So apart from all the other reasons I have to give thanks, my own selfish interests would be better served!

The truth is, we all find it hard to say a simple "thank you."

My dear readers, I do want to thank you today so much for your patience and ongoing interest in these voluminous and persistent writings of mine which threaten to encroach upon your coffee breaks on a daily basis! I do value the time you invest. I appreciate your interest in the matters that interest me. I am grateful to God for his grace, which has meant that some of you find that investment of time to be at times helpful to you.

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One of the interesting things about blogging is the way it seems to go around in cycles. I suppose it's partly because of the way blogging obviously reflects the rest of our lives. I know that, for me, my blog is just an extension of me. Many times my friends have to stop me when I'm talking to them and say, "Adrian, I've already read that on your blog!"

So it felt rather strange when I realized the odd coincidence that this Thanksgiving I'm again returning to a theme that was bubbling up in my thinking at the same time last year. This culminated in a post just days after Thanksgiving titled "Making a Minor Tweak to My Comments Policy."

Interestingly, I had the same internal conflict then I find I have right now. On the one hand I was upset about some of the comments I received on the blog, and on the other hand I was thankful for many of the comments—"especially from those who disagree with me." The real problem I face is that sometimes it's really hard to decide which comments I am happy to publish and which ones I am not. It's difficult to set any clear set of rules that can be understood by both me and you, my readers. Tone is in the eye of the beholder, as my recent debate with the Pyromaniacs clearly demonstrated.

Last December I realized that my earlier tweak had not been enough, so I made a major change in how I would deal with comments here. I now feel that the change I made last year is no longer adequate. It served me well this past year, but now it's time for another radical change. My big problem moving forward is that, with all my other responsibilities, I am so busy that something has to give. I have decided that the time I spend making the often agonizing decision about whether or not to publish a comment (and which I probably sometimes get wrong) is going to have to be freed up.

So, at least for now, beginning today, I will no longer publish comments made on my blog posts.

What does this mean? Firstly, for the vast majority of you, it will make little or no difference. I know that only a tiny proportion of my readers even read the comments, let alone add to them. For some of you, though, this will be disappointing. Does this mean I am no longer interested in your feedback? Absolutely not! Does this mean I will stop reading e-mails sent to me? No! In fact, by freeing some time, it may even make it more likely that I can respond to an e-mail privately, or if appropriate and with the permission of my correspondent, on my blog itself.

I will still, as time permits, try to interact with those who disagree with me. I am not retreating into some kind of bunker! From time to time, I will also probably post a link here to such a post and answer it. I may even frequent the comment sections on other people's blogs.

Why am I doing this? It's mainly for my own sanity. It's because I need to reclaim the time I currently devote to scratching my head in deciding whether or not to publish comments. I feel responsible for the words which appear here in the comments section. I obviously do not have any similar responsibility for what people might post elsewhere. I may well find myself quite happy to read even quite critical comments made elsewhere, whereas reading the very same words as a potential comment for publication here would make me anxious about whether or not I should accept it.

I am grateful for my interactions with you, my readers, which have helped me to understand so many things more clearly. It is therefore with some sadness that I now pull the plug on comments. Because of my current time pressures, it is better to stem the flow of comments now than to wait until I am engulfed in a major comment storm at some point in the future.

If you have made any comments you want to save for the future, please go in and copy/paste them, since at some point fairly soon I will be removing all the old comments also.

The following verse has influenced this decision, and I hope will continue to influence my blogging in these post-comment box days:

"The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out." (Proverbs 17:14)

UPDATE
Not everyone is happy with my decision, as this post over at Peter's blog demonstrates.

UPDATE
This sermon clip is making a stir in the blogosphere for all the right reasons—a great example of the typical reaction comes from Josh Harris.

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The influence of C. J. Mahaney on Mark Driscoll is becoming ever more plain. In this clip Mark 'steals' an outline of practical advice on how to be humble from the man who he calls his dear friend. He also confesses to not having always demonstrated these traits himself. Interestingly he urges us to ask others about the appropriateness of our tone. (HT Justin)

In the beginning of the full sermon he extends this confession and repentance for his own pride.

So he begins the sermon by stating he is not qualified to preach on the subject, and that he felt his lack of humility had been a major failure of his time at Mars Hill. This is an amazing way to start a sermon!

He speaks of a time in his life last December when a season of great opposition led to a phone call from C. J. to encourage him to see it as an opportunity to exercise and grow in humility. I found the whole message very convicting.






The whole sermon is available in video and audio download or to listen here:


For more information, see Mahaney on Humility. You can also influence what Mark will preach on in January by voting on his "Ask Anything" page. You have ten votes per day. Use them wisely.