Welcome to Faith for Living. First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga brings you today's teaching designed to apply God's Word to the struggles and challenges of our day that we might have faith for living. Well joining us today is Jerry Harwood. Jerry grew up in a Christian home in Tennessee. At the age of 16, while working at First Presbyterians Camp Vesper Point, he felt God leading him into ministry. Jerry graduated from Beeson Divinity School and passed your churches in Chattanooga and Nashville before joining the pastoral staff of First Presbyterian. He is now the director of Camp Vesper Point. Jerry and his wife Heather have four children. And today Jerry brings to us a message entitled Proven Worth. Our Bible text for today is from Philippians chapter 2 verses 19 through 30. I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. They all seek their own interest not those of Jesus Christ, but you know Timothy's proven worth. How is his son with the Father? He has served with me in the gospel. I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me. And I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also. I have thought it necessary to send to you a path or died as my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier and your messenger and the minister to my need. For he has been longing for you all and has distressed. Has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed he was ill, near to death, but God had mercy on him and not only him but also on me, less I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I am the more eager to send him therefore that you may rejoice at seeing him again and that I may be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy and honor such men. For he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me. Let's pray. Fathers we come to this text, in one sense we approach it and say Lord this is not clear doctrine, this is not, this just seems a narrative in the middle of a letter, but yet Father we know that you don't put things in the Bible that are unimportant. Let it speak to our lives, let it have impact, let it be living in act of as your word is. Father we declare as we approach it. Your word doesn't just contain truth, it is truth. And we ask that it speaks to us now in Christ's name. Amen. Perhaps you've seen the game, it's called hero'scape. So one of my children's favorites, they have a marvel hero'scape with all the villains and the good guys of Marvel comics. The game is a board game you set up, it takes about two hours to play, it's very long, tedious. My children come to me and ask me to play it. One time recently they asked and I said sure, we'll play. We set the board up and then Heather called from the other room so I went into the other room to talk to her for a minute and I said I've got to go play the game and I went back prepared for this two hour venture in child rearing. Only to find out as I came back the board was in shambles and somehow or another spider man had made it from one tower to the other and I said what happened and my four year old son looks up at me and goes spider man one and I said game over. We all have heroes don't we? Because if you've watched the spider man movie you know it closes with Peter Parker. I'm sorry to ruin this for you but he is spider man. With great power comes great responsibility. This is my gift, my curse, who am I? I am spider man. To my four year old spider man is a hero. He dresses like spider man. He says he's going to grow up and learn to sling webs. We have heroes don't we? Perhaps you follow the news and you've seen the destruction at Union University this past week. Perhaps you've seen the roofs that were removed from the building when the tornado hit the damage to the buildings, people who were trapped inside their dormitories some including one of our own David Wilson who still in care at a hospital. The stories that are coming out of there, one of them is there was a group of boys who were trapped and they could almost see the rescues, almost grab the ankle of one of the rescue workers as they were digging them out of the rubble and then they could overhear the conversation and they heard the news. There's another set of storms coming through and someone said maybe we should just cover them back up and come back when the storms have subsided and the rescue worker said no. I will not do that and if me working here to free these boys means that I'm here when the storms hit so be it and they kept digging and dug them out. We all have heroes, we have people whom we honor, people whom we hold up, we honor rescue workers for saving men and women's lives. We stand in line to collect an autograph of a star or a famous person because we honor them and we respect and hold worthwhile what they do. We honor firemen who go into burning buildings. We honor men and women who at their funerals we pull over and wait for the procession to go by. We honor scientists who find cures for diseases. We honor veterans for their services to this country. We honor our elders by saying yes sir and no man. We honor people that we hold and value. Maybe you saw the news release. My daughter won the Student of the Day Award at her high school on January 15th. She was honored as the student of the day. The irony is she wasn't enrolled in the school at the time but we do have the certificate. What we honor is not only what we hold up but it says something about ourselves. I'm not exactly sure what that says about the other 600 students at the school that day. Maybe something. What we honor not only speaks to what we uphold but it says something about us as well does it not. When we honor the flag by saluting it we say something about our patriotism. When we honor a college football team I jokingly told someone this week that I think all college football teams there's just a disagreement about color schemes and animal preferences. They didn't take that very well but it's not entirely true. We honor the institution in which the team represents as well. When we honor an appointment we're saying something about the worth and the value of that person. When we honor the winner of American Idol by buying their CD we're saying not only something about them but about the process to which they went through and the culture in which we fostered their success. When you honor your parents you say something about yourself as a child. The church at Philippi is told honor these two men Timothy and he died us honor them. I want to look this morning at who is the church at Philippi. What are the three things they're told to honor and then what are three things about the church that have to be true in order for them to honor such men. Perhaps you remember in Acts chapter 15 the council at Jerusalem there's a big debate and a big issue and the church leaders gather to have a discussion. Does a person have to become a Jew first in order to be saved through the blood of Christ? And the verdict in Acts chapter 15 is clear no Gentiles can come to Lord Jesus Christ simply by faith in Christ himself. They do not have to be circumcised. They do not have to enter under the Jewish law. They become a Christian, they become a believer through faith in Jesus Christ. And a memo went out to all the churches. At the end of Acts 15 the messengers go out and Acts 16 we see a picture of a church and it is the church at Philippi and we're told that Paul arrives there with Silas is traveling companion and he's picked up this new guy, this young man named Timothy. The three of them land and there tells us in Acts 16 about the three first converts of the church at Philippi, the three first converts that would make up the church that there's letters too. And the first one is a woman named Lydia and she is Jewish. She is outside of the city gates, Philippi was a Roman colony, much like the Virgin Islands or Guam or Puerto Rico where to us where you had Roman citizenship even though you couldn't vote and have certain rights. And inside of the Roman colony the Jews would have had to go outside at that time to worship their Lord. She was outside the city gates worshipping, Paul had found her there because he had looked for those places and he had waited and he had seen that she was Jewish and she was looking for the Messiah to come. And he approached her and he said, here are the Scriptures that say there's going to be a Messiah and he has come and his name is Jesus Christ and he died and he's resurrected and she believed. First a church must, absolutely must care for its own covenant community and the early service we had a baptism, that baptism is a mark of saying we want that child to grow up never knowing the time when it did not know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. A church must care and love for its own, it must share with its own the love of Jesus. But that's not the end, Paul, Silas and Timothy don't pack up then and go on, they keep moving. So they have Lydia, a convert who's a seller of clothing with purple dye meaning she was probably upper middle class sold high in clothes and now believed and trusted in the Lord Jesus. As they enter the city there's this slave girl who's demon possessed and she goes behind them wherever they go saying, these men are servants of the most high God who proclaim to you the way of salvation. These men are servants of the most high God who proclaim to you the way of salvation and you say, what's wrong with that? It'd be kind of nice to go to your workplace tomorrow, have someone behind you who said, Christian coming through they're going to share the gospel with you. So why did Paul wait three days before he actually spoke to her? Before he addressed her, ultimately it's a question we'll have to answer in heaven. I give you two options, I think either is valid, one, he simply didn't want to be associated with her and the God and the demon she represented. She was probably demon possessed by God, a divinity, a spirit, however you want to translate that word from the temple of Apollo. Her owners used her, there was a nearby temple of Apollo, the owners used her to make money, people would come to the temple, they would worship Apollo and then you could go see the girl who spoke for him, maybe she'd read your prophecy. So maybe it's just a fear factor, I have to admit that one time I was sharing the gospel with a gentleman on a bus and as we got off the bus I got there, got off the bus and right there in front of me was 30 or 40 Christians with large picket signs, with inappropriate pictures on them, slogans and the gentleman looked at me and he walked away and he had no more interest in my Jesus if I was connected to that. Maybe that was Paul, maybe that was Paul or maybe it was a simple reality that Paul and her understood if I deal with this demon spirit and this girl her owners are going to be pretty upset because sometimes the gospel affects the bottom line prophet margin and for her specifically she would no longer be possessed by a God who spoke for Apollo, right wrong, getting different true or false but Paul does he finally says the cast out the demon and the girl is freed from the possession and she is able to worship the true Lord and the man who owned her got upset and they came and they arrested Paul and Silas and Timothy and had them thrown in jail for their efforts but we have to recognize here that not only as a church must we love the people within the church, the covenant community but we as a church must be a people who love the oppressed we must be a people who reach out to the oppressed we must be a people who love those who have no hope that's the church in Philippi but finally here they are in prison singing songs praying and there's an earthquake that night and the doors fall open and the shackles fall off and they're free to go and this Roman guard realizes in the dark of the night what's happened and he's ready to even take his own life because he has failed to hold his duty to the government and society and Paul says wait, wait, wait, we're not gone we're not gone we didn't run away and let me tell you about Jesus and the third convert and the church of Philippi was this Roman jailer because please hear me not only must we love our own covenant community not only must we love the oppressed members of society but we must also love the oppressors the gospel is for them as well the church at Philippi their world perspective would have honored different things Lydia would have honored her own traditions Jewish traditions she would have honored her prosperity as a blessing from the Lord the slave girl probably would honor freedom and isolation to get away to no longer be used by people for profit the soldier would have honored glory and a good name and noble character but in the Lord were told they must honor a unified theme that this church that we come to see and I'm looking at Philippians 2.25 I have thought it necessary to send you a path for guidance my brother and fellow worker there it is for Lydia and fellow soldier there it is for this soldier and your messenger and minister to my need there it is for that girl she could identify with that the church at Philippi was a church that loved one another they sought to love the oppressed and they sought to love the oppressors in the world and out of that they came to see and honor three things that Paul tells us in verse 20 for I have no one like him who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare not I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for some of y'all's welfare who will be genuinely concerned for those of you who are Jewish who will be genuinely concerned for those of you who work in government offices who will genuinely be concerned no for all of your welfare a unity in the spirit is to be honored amongst our own people we should see the world the way God sees it we don't honor people in the church because they're hunky Roman soldiers we don't honor people in the church out of favoritism we honor them because the Lord has brought them into our midst in their family I remember walking with the pastor one day through the city and he stopped at the store front that was empty and he said wait a minute I said why are we stopping here he goes we need to pray that a Christian comes and opens up a shop right here that's what we need to do this community needs a Christian businessman right there that's seen the world the way God sees it one in spirit we are one in purpose our purpose of course is number two that our interest of Christ go before the interest of everything else look at verse 21 they seek their own interest not those of Jesus they seek their own interest meaning not the believer sorry not those of Jesus Christ but you know Timothy's proven worth how as a son with a father he has served me in the gospel the world has its own interest at heart but Timothy's interests were those of Jesus Christ put first and foremost absolutely a member of this church the other day was sharing with me how they had done a hospital visit and told me that they read the scriptures and they prayed and then they say you know what I I wish though I'd held their hand a little longer I said why they said because I think that's what Jesus would have done that's seen the world through Christ's interest you see realizing that I'm not just a visitor here I represent Jesus Christ to this person the love of Jesus comes from the church and we are to take it out we're not a replacement for Christ but as Paul Coester says the church is God's plan A and God doesn't need a plan B number three they have been tested and proven proven worth verse 30 so receiving him him and the Lord with all joy and honor such man for we nearly died for the work of Christ risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me we are held fast in the father's hands the last Presbyterian meeting of all the pastors in Tennessee Valley we had the honor and joy of receiving an elderly man who had been a lifetime missionary to India and overlaunch he told the stories he had killed tigers that's cool and he told us all about his time in India but you know what gave him a standing ovation from his brothers in that room we rose and clapped and loved him and cared for him and honored him it was that in India he was responsible for an orphanage and over time that orphanage became many orphanages and the backbone of his entire scheme for developing those orphanage was that his children in the orphanage wouldn't just learn Bible verses they would learn books of the Bible because he understood the word of God the priorities of Christ the unity of the spirit he understood that to give these children who had no homes and families hope in the world they needed the word of God and planted in their life and we honored such a man who are your heroes you stand in the halls here of a great building but you've heard a lot of pastors stand in this pulpit and say we don't honor buildings the churches about the people not about the structure group of men who sought to bring the gospel to Cherokee Indians years and years and years ago had their hopes dashed when those Cherokees were rounded up and taken away by the federal government 28 of them said we'll stay here and build a church and that church began and took on the life of the church that you're part of today during the civil war the church was seized and used as a union hospital and the church members met in the home of its pastor when the assistant pastor I mean when the head pastors would leave the church would wait in those times of transition and new pastors would come and the church would continue because the men and women of the church were worthy of honor for the gospel and lived out a life that sought the interest of Christ when the denomination started becoming more liberal and sought to set aside the standards of scripture this church and the people in it said we can't do that we have to stand strong with the authority of scripture we now again or in a time of transition God will bring another pastor but there are men and women of honor in this church there are Timothy's and the Paphroditus
I'm reminded of the quote in Spider-Man Aunt May tells Peter Parker and Lord knows that kids need a hero courageous self-sacrificing people sending examples for us all everybody loves a hero and years later they'll tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of the one who taught them how to hold on a second longer
who are your heroes the church of Philippi said our standards of who we are is our love for one another our love for the oppressed our love for the oppressors and the desire to share the gospel in unity of spirit we look for men and women who have unity of spirit who put the interest of Christ before themselves and who have proven worth that is they have been in the Father's hands and have proven strong and able I've said it before our theology must become biography the men and women like Timothy and a Paphroditus they don't replace Christ we don't pray to them instead of Christ we don't seek salvation through them instead of Christ but in them we know the Lord because we see it lived out manifest in their lives I was told in seminary that you can't have a sermon without an application they made it very clear to us that if you give a sermon and don't tell people what to do with it they'll just walk around the streets looking around they won't have any idea how to deal with it I don't believe that but I'm going to give you one anyway here's the application from Philippians too men and women of proven worth honor such men as these here's the application I grew up in this church for a portion of my youth thank you that's my application thank you thank you to Mr. Sims who taught me to read the Bible Mr. Flat who taught me to write in it thank you to Mr. Venable who taught me how to fix cars and live it and so many others who taught me who taught me who Christ was thank you you want an application of Philippians too look to those men and women of honor in your life tell them thank you honor such men as those such women as they they have proven worth and they will lead us as a church faith for living is brought to you by your friends at the historic first Presbyterian Church in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee through expository Bible preaching living worship loving fellowship and compassionate outreach we want to be a ministry of God's grace with lives transformed through the gospel of Jesus Christ we have programs and opportunities for every age level from the youngest to teens to 30 something to retirees join us for Sunday morning worship at 8 30 and 11 were located at 554 McCullough Avenue across from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus visit us in person or on the web at faithforliving.net or call 423-648-7914 a copy of today's program on audio CD cassette tape or DVD is also available when requesting today's faith for living television broadcast simply reference today's sermon title on your screen or mention today's date and we invite you back again next week at the same time for another edition of Faith for Living