Real Reliance

Philippians 3:1 aFinally, my brethren, brejoice in the Lord. bbTo write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.[1]

I.   Recap

     A. Finally

     B. Family

II. Review

     A. Repeat

     B. Relive

III. Renew

     A. Solid

     B. Secure

Introduction:  Some things are well worth saying over and over again.  Especially when times are as confusing as they are right now.  We listen to everyone who is supposed to know the answer and find that there is nobody who has a better idea of what to do or what to trust in.  Everybody seems at a loss for the truth yet there is no loss of words.

We continue our journey through Paul’s letter to the Philippian church.  There is so much being said today about what we are doing wrong to cause this world to be in the mess that it’s in.  Global warming is not an idle threat.  It’s really warmer than it used to be.  The seasons are indeed changing and the natural threats that once were in places far away are here with us even in North Carolina now.  Tornados are frequent now and we have even felt an earthquake.

So many are blaming man for the things that are changing and I truly believe that we are to blame.  Folks that don’t know any more than anyone else are blaming the way we are using the resources that God has given us as the reason for the upset in nature.  The real culprit in why things are changing is also found in the Bible.  We are against God and are even discounting Him so He is letting happen whatever happens.  Those who actually are attempting to tell the truth are being kicked aside and told to hold their tongues.  Peace is gone.  Where is safety?

Paul was facing some of the same things that we are facing today and maybe even more.  Stay in place.  Don’t talk to anyone unless ones who are holding you allow you to hear them.  Take whatever you are allowed and don’t expect to be free anymore.  That’s where Paul was.

We have watched the freedom for our children to learn about God be taken out of public schools.  Now they have even taken away the public schools for a time.  There are a few holdouts that still pray in schools but the ones who have open prayer are always facing threats from those who would take all reference of God away from society.  Those in power feel that to keep power is to hold it over those who put them in position to lead.

Paul dealt with much of the same that we are dealing with today but Paul was not negative with those in the church at Philippi.  He encouraged their faith.  Paul trusted their faith and he understood that they understood the words we heard last week from Solomon, “5 iTrust in the Lord with all thine heart; And jlean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways kacknowledge him, And lhe shall direct thy paths.” [2]

There will be tests and things may be changed for us individually as they were for Paul in his home prison in Rome.  This is not a time to lose hope and it was not for Paul in that day either.

Scripture:  Today’s scripture is Philippians 3:1.  When you have found it please rise to your feet for the reading of God’s written word.

Prayer: Please be seated

Message:  Do you know anyone who has a hard time saying goodbye?  Many years ago Apex was a long distance call for Moncure.  I was dating an Apex girl so I would drive up to Jones’ store and use the phone booth.  It was often rainy and cold.  After about three times saying, well I guess it’s time to hang up, finally Rachael would say OK, goodbye.  She never wanted to be the one to hang-up.  If y’all have talked to her on the phone, I bet you understand.

Paul said what I have heard so many preachers say and so many preachers that I’ve heard didn’t really mean it either when they said “finally.”  Was Paul through talking when he said finally?  He went on for another chapter.  So was this finally here just a byword?

It was as if to say let me recap everything I have ever preached.  This is the summation of the entire Bible actually.  Now that we are at this place where we have been adopted into His family, finally understand the real reason for everything.  And here it is, “Rejoice in the Lord!”

It doesn’t matter that Paul was in that place where he could not leave.  It didn’t matter that though there would be others who would be able to see those that Paul so wanted to see again but knew that he probably never would.  It does matter that we are few here this morning and there are others that we would be so happy to see here with us again but that’s not the most important thing to realize as the reason why we are here now.  It does matter that there are those who say this nation has lost its place of Spiritual Power in the world so that now other nations are not so quick to embrace missionaries from us.  It does matter that this virus is proving to have a bigger impact on our nation than most others so that the other nations are blocking us from entering their borders instead of the other way around.  All that is going on does matter but none of these is the most important thing that is the finality of why we are here.

Rejoice in the Lord!  No matter what has happened or will happen, if your faith is as small as a mustard seed, you can and must rejoice in the Lord.  This was the lesson that Paul had to learn from the time of his blindness on the road until his imprisonment there in Rome.  It is the lesson that Jesus is still teaching me through all my rebellion.

What is life’s purpose?  To rejoice in the One who created you.  To rejoice in the One who died for you.  To rejoice in the One who sustains you and will always be your Lord.  So how many times and in how many ways will it take for us to finally understand this?

To preach the same thing over and over every time and in every church where I might preach is not a problem.  Paul said to review the same most important truth to the Philippians didn’t grieve him.  Repeating life’s most important truth is not a tedious thing.  When life is pressing in on me, knowing that even in all that I am going through; knowing that He is with me because my praise for Him is important to Him; that is worth repeating and reliving over and over.

Finally!  This is not saying goodbye at all.  This is saying I am finally getting to the most important truth in this world.  Now sanctification means something because finally I am getting to the place where no matter what happens, nothing else matters as much to me as rejoicing in the fact that I am His child and your brother.

Have you parents ever gotten aggravated with your children?  Have your children taken you to the breaking point where you said enough is enough?  Have you ever felt like you’re ready to move on in a relationship that comes and goes and mostly goes?  Enough!  I have talked until I am blue in the face and you just will not get it so I’m done!  I am so sick of this job that I am ready to quit.  The best thing that could happen to me is if they would just put me out of my misery and fire me.

Have you been there?  Without Paul we would have a very small New Testament.  Much of the New Testament is letters from Paul to the different churches.  Acts was written about the journeys of Paul before and after his conversion.  Do you think that he ever got aggravated?

We read of his short tone with the church at Corinth and in the latter letter that we have, he even apologized for being somewhat harsh with them.  He had a lot on his plate yet here in this letter Paul said that writing this same thing again to them in Philippi did not grieve him. 

Pray for me as I so often worry that some of those whom I love so much might not be in heaven with me.  I do get aggravated telling those I love what is the most important truth when they act as if they could care less.  Pray for me…

Do you get tired of saying the same thing over and over when you don’t think anyone cares?  Paul felt that this truth was worth renewing to the church at Philippi but it is worth renewing to us today even more than anything else today.  You will not here this in the news.  No politician will ask you to rejoice in the Lord.  Isn’t it ironic that the most important thing that you can do is so overlooked?

Paul said it was a pleasure to renew this truth again.  He was solid and persistent that nothing mattered as much in his life as finding cause to rejoice in Jesus.  It was not a problem for Paul to write it over and over again.

There after the conjunction and the comma is the reason that Paul so wanted to share this most important truth again.  It was not so much that he wanted us to understand how much he praised the Lord; it is where we find safety!

We know all that the devil is doing in this world today.  We read the prophets of old about kingdoms and nations that have fallen that went through much of what is happening now.  There is no place to turn for safety.  The list of the things that we count on in this life which are being taken away from us is too long to discuss today.  We see things come and go and often so often we are tempted into believing that everything is going to be back to normal one day if we just have faith.  Faith in what!

Paul, in these few words, told us why praising God is so important.  Giving praise to someone or something other than God is inventing your own God.  That is the dangerous slippery slope that leads to hell.  To be safe is to believe God and make Him Lord.  There is no other way to feel safe!

If you can’t find safety in the fact that God is worthy of praise then you will never be safe!  Rejoice in the Lord because He is taking us through to His place of safety that nobody else can offer and nobody can take away from us.  That’s the solid truth.  That’s security that nothing in this world can offer.

Prayer:

Invitation:  There is so much talk of what to believe in nowadays.  People in the media are saying that science is going to find an answer to the problem of this pandemic.  If we just social distance and wear masks we will get through this together.  If we send all the police home and allow people to be free, we will learn how to get along and the goods will win while the bads will lose.  That is what the crazies are telling us.

If we continue to trust the same people who have made such a mess of this government to change everything, they will continue to expect us to believe that they will finally give us the answers to life’s problems so that we never have to pay a doctor again.  If we trust the people who have become rich by using the loopholes in the law, they will expect us to believe that they will close the loopholes so we will all have an equal chance. 

Now I’m really getting close to meddling and not preaching.  If we find the biggest church with the most flamboyant preacher that makes us all feel better about ourselves while they get richer from us buying their books and songs, then they will expect us to believe that we will finally find someone who we can count on and not let us down.

The hard truth is, many people do believe what they hear now because nobody has told them the real truth that must be relied on.  Here is the truth, there is no politician, no person in the press, no computer programmer, no person who has made all the money that the law allows, and finally, no preacher who is worthy of praise that you can rely on.  Real reliance is in God alone.  If you know that, then you have found the one and only thing that is worthy of your rejoicing.  Have you found it?  He’s been there all the time and before time was and He will be there when this time is over.  Praise God from whom all blessing flow!  Let us rejoice as we sing…

a 2 Cor. 13:11. Eph. 6:10. ch. 4:8. 1 Thess. 4:1 (Gk.). 2 Thess. 3:1.
b ch. 4:4. So 1 Thess. 5:16. Comp. Rom. 12:12. 2 Cor. 6:10. James 1:2. 1 Pet. 4:13.
bb Comp. 2 Pet. 1:12.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Php 3). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
i Ps. 37:3, 5. See Ps. 25:2.
j So Jer. 9:23. Ecclus. 5:2.
k 1 Chr. 28:9 (Heb.).
l Comp. Jer. 10:23.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Pr 3:5–6). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.