04-28-13 The REAL New Testament Church

During the first few years of my Christian life,

which puts us back into the late 1960’s,

there was a growing fascination

with what it really meant to be a New Testament Church.

That period in our nation’s history

was characterized, of course,

by tremendous attacks on anything

that looked or smelled like establishment,

or authority,

and that spirit of frustration

and confusion

and anger

and rebellion

impacted the church world

as much as it did the rest of society.

In the church world it took the form of

attacking the establishment

for creating rich, comfortable, religious machines

that never touched the lives

of those who were involved

or addressed the crucial moral or social or relationship issues of our society

at that point in our nation’s history.

It was during that period

that hundreds of groups began to make the claim of being a “true New Testament Church”.

None of us new exactly what that meant,

but we all knew it sounded really good,

like those involved

had finally turned to the New Testament for guidance,

and had suddenly discovered there

a radical new blueprint

for “being the church”.

No one really expected Peter to walk in

after having just been released from prison by an angel,

and we all knew

Paul wouldn’t really be there

to share an account of his most recent vision or near-death experience,

but still, being called a “New Testament Church”

did create a certain aura

and expectation on the part of those who came.

It was just assumed that

during those early years of the church

every Christian was a dynamic power-house for God,

and every believer was going through their community

healing people with a touch

and preaching might sermons

that brought thousands to their knees.

And the best thing about that “New Testament Church” label

was that no one ever seemed obligated to define it

or to want it defined -

it wasn’t designed to communicate content,

it was simply designed to create a feeling.

In the 45+ years since those days

I have invested a good chunk of my life

and my thinking

into studying the New Testament,

and I have come to the conclusion

it’s probably a really good thing

that no one back then

tried too hard to come up with an honest picture of a New Testament church

because it would have ruined our illusion.

We are studying the New Testament book of Philippians,

which is really not a “BOOK”,

but rather a personal letter

from Paul

to a group of Christian friends

in the city of Philippi.

Did you know that

of the 27 books that make up the New Testament

25 of those books were actually letters

written to either a Christian friend

or a group of Christian friends?

Even Luke and Acts

were actually letters written by Luke

to a friend by the name of Theophilus,

and the book of Revelation

was a letter written by John

to seven local church fellowships.

Only Matthew and the Gospel of John

were not specifically addressed as letters.

When God selected the one literary form

He overwhelmingly preferred

for communicating the good news about Christ to the world

He did not select a collection of Peter’s 10 best sermons,

or Matthew’s Text Book On Christian Truth,

or Paul’s Expository Analysis of the Books of Moses In The Light of the Resurrection.

He selected the personal letter.

There are certainly a number of reasons

why He did that,

but at the top of the list, I believe,

is the fact that only the personal letter

allowed God to present truth

in the context of real life.

In other words,

it enables us to see

not only the truth that is being presented

but also how that truth affected the lives of those who were alive

at the time of the writing

and how it was lived out in their world.

The personal letter

allowed the writer to take truth

and make it practical.

Do you know what the New Testament Letters are?

They are like having an honest car repair manual.

There is no such thing as an honest car repair manual, of course.

You know what it’s like, don’t you?

You go down the auto parts store

and buy this “illustrated” car repair manual for your 1993 Ford Ranger.

You open it up to the section for the repair you need

and sure enough, there are beautiful, clear pictures showing how to repair the part that needs fixing.

It shows this mechanic

in this spotless white technician’s coat

standing behind an immaculate work bench

holding the part in question

in his hands.

The part gleams in the light

and the camera angle allows you to see

right inside the disassembled unit.

Then the instructions say something like:

“Gently insert the new gear assembly into the housing,

turning it 1/4 turn as you insert it.

Hold the assembly in place and snap the retaining spring onto the shaft to hold it in place.”

Then you go out to your truck,

jack the front end up, and crawl under.

You discover that the part you’re trying to fix

is crammed between the alternator

and the oil filter

and the only way you can even touch it

is by twisting you body into a pretzel

and rotating your elbow and your wrist in opposite directions at the same time.

Little chunks of grease and dirt

continually plop into your eyes,

but it doesn’t matter anyway,

because even if you could open your eyes

the angle you’re forced to lie in

would never allow you to actually SEE the part you’re trying to remove.

The whole operation takes 3 hours and 45 minutes,

most of which is spent flat on your back attempting to perform intricate maneuvers by braille

while holding both arms above your head.

You come out of the ordeal

covered in grease and dirt,

with blood trickling down your wrist

where the big chunk of flesh

was ripped out of your left thumb

when the wrench slipped.

You’re still not at all certain the part you tried to replace

got placed correctly into the engine,

but there’s no way you’re going to attempt to do it again.

But of course they never tell you any of that stuff in the repair manual.

But that’s not the way it is with God’s truth.

He has no intention of setting us up with false expectations.

Certainly He tells us truth,

but He presents it to us

in the context of real life,

and illustrates it with real people.

The letter we are studying was written by Paul from a Roman prison

to his friends in Philippi.

Our study of this letter has brought us to Phil. 2:19.

So far we have seen Paul mostly presenting

crucial truth to his readers.

He has told us about our God and His commitment to us.

We have heard him assure us that,

“... He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

And he has reminded us that,

“...it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

And through many other words of instruction we have seen Paul share with us

the principles that equip us to thrive

during the prison times of our life.

And then we come to verse 19 of chapter 2,

and with the verses that follow

Paul crawls under his 1993 Ford Ranger and shows us how

all of this truth he’s been giving us

is playing out in his own life.

And just so we remember how we got here,

let me read this passage for us

beginning with the passage we looked at last week, and read Philippians 2:17-30.

Phil. 2:17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.

Phil. 2:18 You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

Phil. 2:19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition.

Phil. 2:20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.

Phil. 2:21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

Phil. 2:22 But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.

Phil. 2:23 Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I see how things go with me;

Phil. 2:24 and I trust in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly.

Phil. 2:25 But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need;

Phil. 2:26 because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.

Phil. 2:27 For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.

Phil. 2:28 Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you.

Phil. 2:29 Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard;

Phil. 2:30 because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.

Now what is all of this stuff doing

in the middle of Paul’s letter?

Why did God feel it was crucial

for all Christians for all time

to hear about Timothy and Epaphroditus?

Because through them we are able to see

not just what Paul is teaching,

but also what he’s FEELING,

and how truth plays out in real life

in the REAL New Testament church.

This is a long passage,

and there is a lot in here,

but I just want to pull out a few things

to help you see what I’m talking about.

And I want us to listen

not just to the facts

but to the feelings Paul is sharing.

In verse 19 he begins by saying I hope...to send Timothy to you shortly,

and then in verse 23 again he says, I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I see how things go with me;

Timothy was there in Rome with Paul.

The Roman government

had given Paul the freedom to receive visitors,

and his good friend

and colleague

and disciple Timothy was right there with him.

Why? Why wasn’t Timothy off starting more churches

or checking on the ones

they had already started together?

Why didn’t Paul send Timothy off to Philippi along with this letter?

Why did Paul continue to keep him there in Rome?

Because Paul needed a friend -

a good friend,

a friend who’s comradeship

could help Paul make it through yet another day in jail.

Paul says I’m going to send him to you

“as soon as I see how things go with me.”

Do you see what he’s saying?

Paul is saying, “I know that for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain,

but I also know I don’t want to go through this trial thing alone

unless I have to.

I just want to keep my friend with me

until I see how this thing turns out.”

In other words,

I hear Paul saying,

“Sometimes I feel lonely,

sometimes I feel afraid,

sometimes I feel anxious,

and it sure helps to have my friend with me right now.”

And in verse 19 he also tells us

that he needs encouragement.

He says, “I’m going to send Timothy so that I may be encouraged when I learn of your condition.”

Perhaps the greatest Christian who has ever lived

is telling us that he needed encouragement.

I like that!

I understand that.

In verses 20 and 21 he describes some of the other believers visiting him in Rome,

and what he says is remarkable -

Phil. 2:20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.

Phil. 2:21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

Now there’s an honest picture

of the New Testament Church.

Everybody’s got an angle -

everybody’s got an ulterior motive,

everybody wants something.

Now tell me there isn’t pain in those verses.

Then, in verse 22 he goes back to Timothy

and says in effect, “This friendship I can trust - I know I can

because I’ve put weight on it before

and found it strong.”

Do you know what I hear Paul saying?

In the New Testament church

quality friendships are a rare

and precious gift from God.

Sounds a whole lot like our world today, huh?

Then Paul goes on to Epaphroditus,

the brother who had brought the gifts

and supplies from Philippi

to Paul in prison.

It was Epaphroditus who would be carrying this letter back with him to Philippi.

Epaphroditus had become extremely sick

either on the journey to Rome

or after he got there,

and his friends back home had heard of it

and were afraid that he might have died.

In verse 26 Paul tells his readers Epaphroditus

“was longing for you all”

and he was “distressed” because they had heard he was sick.

And in verse 27 Paul says that God healed Epaphroditus

so that Paul would not have to endure, “sorrow upon sorrow”,

and then in verse 29 he sends Epaphroditus to them

so that Paul can then be less concerned about them.

Now what in the world is going on here?

These are two extremely mature literal New Testament Christians

feeling lonely,

and feeling distressed,

and feeling concerned,

and feeling sorrow.

Why don’t we see Paul just “trusting the Lord”?

Why doesn’t he just float through

on a cloud of confidence

in the perfect care of his God?

Why? Because Paul isn’t writing an illustrated repair manual for us,

he’s crawling under the 1993 Ford Ranger with us,

and when the wrench slips

and chunk of flesh rips off his thumb

he feels the pain just like we do.

Because, you see, true faith,

true trust in God is not something the Christian has,

it is something the Christian must choose to fight for

one day at a time.

Do you know one of the many questions

passages like this raise in my mind?

Why was Epaphroditus sick in the first place?

This man is living a life

that is dead center in the leadership of God’s Spirit.

Not only is there not even a hint of “sin in his life”,

but Paul holds him up

as someone who should be held in high regard because he came close to death

for the work of Christ, risking his life...

Paul doesn’t even touch on the “WHY” question.

He just thanks God for healing his friend,

knowing that we live in an evil world

and there are times when that evil

splatters all over us.

And then he goes about the business

of fighting for faith that day,

reaffirming with his choices

the truth about his God.

And this becomes powerfully clear

when we see the two sentences in which Paul wraps this whole passage.

The first is Phil. 2:18 You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

And then the last is Phil. 3:1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.

You see, his rejoicing is not a feeling,

it’s a choice -

a choice to once again that day

reaffirm the true character of his God,

no matter what his circumstances

or his feelings may be telling Him.

This is Paul saying,

“In this, too, my Lord, I can and I will trust you, and I will find You faithful.”

I suppose in some ways

this passage right here

is the very heart of everything Paul is trying to share with us

in this remarkable letter

because this is where we are allowed to see the truth

illustrated with real life.

Some of you who are here this morning

came in here

carrying a whole bunch of pain.

Something is going on in your life

that has created within your emotions

a sorrow,

or an anxiety,

or a tension that provides a backdrop to everything you’ve heard me say today.

And along with that pain

there has been another voice within you as well,

a voice condemning you for what you’re feeling,

a voice telling you

that if you were a better Christian

you wouldn’t feel the way you feel.

Well, one thing at least we can deal with this morning.

We can deal with that lie

with which Satan is attacking you,

the lie that seeks to bring condemnation

for the way you feel.

My friends,

we are, by God’s design,

intensely emotional people.

Our feelings are a huge part of this life we are called to live.

Sometimes our feelings line up exactly with the truth about our God

and about who we are as His children.

Those are great times for us,

but in my experience the are the exception rather than the norm.

For me personally,

every day of my life

there are things that happen

that cause my emotions to react in ways

that are completely inconsistent with the truth of a Father God who loves me

and who holds me always in the palm of His hand.

And when that happens

there are two things that help get me through.

First of all,

I do not condemn myself for what I feel.

At this point in my life

I have made peace with the fact

that I do not choose what I feel,

I just feel it.

It is a given of life in these bodies,

on this earth at this time.

And then, second,

when I feel something that I know is not consistent with who my God is

or what He has said to me,

I go to war.

And by that I mean simply

that to the best of my ability

I seek to make my choices

not on the basis of what I feel,

but rather on the basis of what my God has said to me.

And some days I do a whole lot better than others.

But when I am able to do so

eventually I find that my feelings

give way to the truth...a little...eventually.

And always, the truth given to me by my God

gives me solid footing on which to stand,

and a mental shelter in which I can face the raging storms of life.