I Thank My God

The following is an excerpt from a book I am writing. Feedback is desired.

“I Thank my God”

Philippians 1:3-4

1:3, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,” (NAS)

Beginning here in verse three, Paul shares that he Gives Thanks every time he thinks about the body of Christ in Philippi. Every time he thinks about them, talks about them, or is reminded of them his emotions are stirred in such a way that causes him to give thanks to God. I like the way The Message interprets this verse:

“Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God.”

The language of this verse indicates a few things for us. First of all, these believers in Philippi were Always on Paul’s mind. Paul never stopped thinking about them. He carried them continually in his heart and mind. The memories of these believers had marked him. They were like a tattoo on his mind and heart. They had created a permanent recording in his mental and emotional DVR. Imagine, if you will, watching home movies of times gone by or looking through an old photo album. The emotion you feel about those times is the emotion Paul experienced as he remembered his friends in Philippi. He was constantly reminded of them, their faith and the time they had spent together. Paul had a special love for this church. They were out of his sight but not out of his mind and certainly not out of his heart.

1:4, “always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all” (NAS)

 “The best remembrance of our friends is to remember them at the throne of grace.” Matthew Henry

Secondly, they were Always in his prayers. Paul consistently prayed for them and it brought him joy to do so. This wasn’t just any ordinary prayer either. It caused a groaning within the depths of Paul’s soul as if he was begging God on their behalf. This was intercessory prayer. When you pray as an intercessor you pray on behalf of another person’s poverty, whether spiritual or physical. The Intercessor becomes a type of mediator between God and the other person. In intercession, you take upon yourself the other’s person pain and poverty as though they were your own and plead before God for that person. And when you truly enter into the depths of intercessory prayer you can then in truth say to a person, “I feel your pain.”

Intercessory prayer at its core is unselfish, because it is about someone else’s situation and not our own. This type of prayer removes our own interests from the dialogue, because it is impossible to intercede for someone else and speak of our own needs. Intercessory prayer does not allow us to place ourselves at the center. The measure of unselfishness to become an intercessor is too high of a cost for some to bear. That is why, unfortunately, there are very few intercessors in the Body of Christ. I thank God for those who truly intercede on the behalf of others.

Interceding for the Philippian church was not painful nor was it a chore for Paul. On the contrary, it brought him great joy to do it, despite his own circumstances. He was in need of prayer himself, yet pressed in and prayed for the church there in Philippi. Perhaps his joy of interceding for them was at least part of what prompted him to say in 1:24, “yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.” This joyful expression in his prayer was consistent with his life as a follower of Christ. It was in Philippi, where he and Silas, sang to God in joy while they were in prison. And now here he sits now in a Roman prison writing and praying with joy.

The third thing we can take note of is this: He was thankful for All of them. His thoughts were about each and every one of them. His prayers were for each and every one of them. His thankfulness was for each and every one of them. He didn’t leave anyone out when it came to giving thanks to his God for the “all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi.”

Acts 16 gives us some insight into who Paul might have been interceding for. The first person we come to is Lydia (Acts 16:13-15). We know from this passage that Lydia was “from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God…and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.” She was baptized and so was her whole household. Moved by this experience, she invites Paul and his companions to stay at her house. The Scripture says that she “prevailed” upon them to do so, which means that she kept insisting that they come until they finally gave in. They stayed with her on at least two different occasions (vss. 15 & 40). Paul must have had a lot of great memories of Lydia and her family as he prayed for her and the others he met while staying there.  

Acts 16:16-24 tells the story of a young girl that followed Paul and “us” around (An indication that Luke, the Author, was there along with Timothy and Silas). She was causing problem for them, everyday crying out in public, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation." This eventually annoyed Paul. So he turned around cast out the evil spirit. Was he thinking of this little girl as he prayed? He probably knew her name. I’m sure he thought about what happened, because this event landed he and his companions in prison.

In Acts 16:25-34, we have the story about the “keeper of the prison.” (a jailor) He was awakened in the night, no doubt because of the earthquake and the shaking of the prison brought on by the singing and praying of Paul and Silas. This guy must have been terrified. We know that he feared for his life because he thought the prisoners had escaped. He was about to take his own life when Paul intervened. The jailor, moved by God and Paul’s words, gave his life to Christ. He and his whole household were converted and baptized that night. He also invited them to his house. Apparently, his new found faith allowed him to no longer be afraid. Could it be that when Paul looked at the scars he received from the lashes given him by the magistrates remember that the jailor took time and care to wash them for him? Paul prayed for this man and his family by name. He remembered them.

The unselfishness of Paul’s words is startling. Paul sits in a prison in Rome and all he can do is think about and pray for other people. How often have we sat in the prisons of our own circumstances and thought only about ourselves and our own interests? “Woe is me” has become the tagline of our faith. For many of us, life for the most part is centered on us. We live our lives at the center of a merry-go-round expecting both live events and other people to revolve around us. We are at the center of our lives. This was not true for Paul. Paul had Christ at the center of his life. He rode the merry-go-round with Christ at the center and was grateful for the people rode with Him.

Also, think about the circumstance Paul was in. He could have sat there in prison doing nothing. But that’s not what he did. He rose above his circumstances and began to pray for and write to the people he loved. He did not allow the chains attached to him to hinder him from being of use to His God. Neither should we. No matter what hand life has dealt us, we are always of use to the Kingdom. We can pray for people from our private prisons of despair. We can encourage people even while we are in the chains of discouragement and defeat. And like Paul, it will bring us great joy to do so.

Questions to ponder:

1.      Has God called you to be an intercessor?

2.      Are you the kind of Christian that brings such joy and gratitude to another that causes them to give thanks to the Lord? 

3.      Are your prayers mostly about you or are you?

4.      Do you have a heart of gratitude?

5.      Can you, like Paul, pray with joy in your circumstances?

Under PRESSURE?

Under Pressure?

What does it mean to be under PRESSURE?

There are several words to describe PRESSURE:

1.      Weight – This is when something feels HEAVY upon us

2.      Force – This is when something has POWER over us

3.      Push – This is when something has POWER against us

4.      Burden – This is when something causes us to WORRY

5.      Constraint – This is when something Holds us back (Restricts)

PRESSURE feels like a Python squeezing tighter and tighter until you are no longer able to breathe.

I don’t know about you, but I feel PRESSURE in multiple areas of my life. Here are just a few:

1.      My Parenting – How will my kids turn out? I see other parents and wonder, “How do they do it?”

2.      My Finances – Can I pay the bills?  What am I going to do about College for my children? What about Retirement? There is a constant battle with my wants vs. my needs.

3.      My Job – The Success Syndrome – Will my Sermon be good enough? What will the attendance be like today? Will we get enough in the Offering? Will any lives be changed? Then I feel the PRESSURE of this sounding unspiritual.

4.      My Flesh – (Paul) – The things I want to do I do not do but the things I do not want to do, that’s what I do.

5.      From the World – We live in a world that carries a Measuring Stick called TOLERANCE that is absence of the GRACE that everyone needs – Believe THIS way and we will not TOLERATE you any longer – It’s a society that shuns you if you disagree – which is, coincidentally, the very same charge it has against the CHURCH

PRESSURE

It’s all around us, over us and on us. How do we deal with it?

Over the next few weeks we are going to talk about different areas of PRESSURE in our lives and what we need to do.

For our purposes today, we are going to look at the PRESSURE that this world puts on us as followers of Christ.

Our focus verse for today is:

Romans 12:2

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

The Message – “Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.”

Literally this verse says: “Do not allow yourself any longer to be PRESSURED to follow the patterns set by this world.”

“Don’t let this world (This Society and its Belief System) PRESS you into its mold.

Paul was basically telling the Christians in Rome to stop allowing the belief system, lifestyle of Rome and the spirit of that age to PRESSURE them. In a sense, what Paul is saying to us today is that things like social groups, Peers, Pop Culture, governments, universities and the traditions of certain cultures have power and influence to determine behavior and lifestyles.

When we take a closer look at what Paul is saying here we can get an idea of what PRESSURE from the world looks like and how we are to deal with it.

For example, Paul writes, “Do be not CONFORMED to this world.”

What Paul is communicating here is, “Don’t look at them and do what they do.” “Don’t let this world (society and all that encompasses it) cause you to think the way it thinks. We cannot allow the lifestyle and conduct of those around us to become the standard for our way of living.

Don’t be PRESSURED by your own desire to be accepted

We like to talk to our young people and call it PEER PRESSURE and try to pretend as though we don’t bow to the same. But we all need to examine our tendencies to succumb to the PRESSURE of fitting in. Think about it. Do I laugh at that dirty joke that my co-worker just told? Do I go to that party knowing that there will be a lot activities taking place that I need not be a part of. Do I go in debt to purchase next new thing just because my neighbor has it? Do I deny what I know to be true just because I am afraid I might get rejected?

Another way to see this is like a FASHION trend. Looks come and go in our society, yet people will buy anything if the right celebrity promotes it well enough. Just because we are told that a certain look is GOOD doesn’t mean that it is. As one person said recently, “They are call skinny jeans, not make you skinny jeans.”

But still, society loves to tell you what to both DO and BELIEVE.

Look at Commercials. They are designed to manipulate your senses and tell you that you can’t live without the item they are promoting. This world (Society) wants to tell you what to VALUE. Even Movies right? – Or do you think Hollywood doesn’t have its own agenda? Celebrities and the liberal media are all too eager to tell you what “politically correct.” They love tell you what’s IN and what’s OUT.

We need to be careful that we do not simply lick our fingers, test the wind of the trend and go down the path that it determines for us, because the TRENDS of this world are both FALSE and FLEETING. Just when you think you’ve caught up to them, they run away. They are constantly changing and you are left without a breath - PRESSURE.

It’s like the Stock Market: You could be PRESSURED into buying stock in a company that people say, “It’s a SURE thing.” But it leaves you bankrupt. It leaves you empty. Don’t be PRESSURED in to placing VALUE in a culture that will leave you bankrupt and hopeless.

Another way of understanding what Paul is saying here is this: Don’t simply become an ACTOR in the play. As a Believer, a follower of Christ, we need to become Change Agents in a culture that needs a new SCREEN PLAY called The Bible.  When you allow yourself to be PRESSURED by the patterns set by this world then you begin to live your life at a Masquerade Ball. And people never get a chance to see the Jesus that now lives inside of you. So don’t be PRESSURED into playing a role you were never intended to play. Be a follower of Christ in a blind world that so desperately needs to see. Christian, you are the light in the darkness. Do not hide. SHINE!

Matthew 5:14-16, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (NAS)

But still I feel it. Don’t you? Don’t you feel that Tug of war within you? 

There is a tug of war between the values of this age and the values Heaven? People like to say we are too Heavenly Minded that we are no earthly good. But in reality we are more likely too earthly minded that we are no Heavenly good. We tend to live our lives as though this is all there is. We live for today with no consideration for eternity. We are torn between two lovers, this attractive world that we live in and an eternity that was purchased for us with a very great price. The world thinks we are fools for not choosing it as our temporary partner. But the world, society and its broken promises never stretched its hands in crucifixion. The choice is Jesus. We know that, but tug of war is real.

The same goes for the conflict we have between a life of religious rules and regulations vs. a genuine love relationship with God. We tend to measure this relationship with a list of do’s and don’ts. But since when does real love have a requirement for the one it has captured? Love is not about a contract, but a covenant. His covenant was written in blood. Our devotion is given in surrender. Again, the choice is Jesus. We know that, but tug of war is real.

There are other wars indeed: Darkness vs. Light, Blindness vs. Sight. They are both the hindrance to our discernment and the cause of our lack of it. The war between our lust for pleasure and our love for God has proven itself most formidable. At times I feel like Paul:

Romans 7:14-16, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.” (NAS)

The Scripture warns us:

·         1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (NAS)

·         John 15:19, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. (NAS)

·         James 4:4, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (NAS)

There is also pressure on the Christian and pressure on the Church about what we are supposed to Believe

This world has a strong opinions about a lot of issues – It wants to tell you what to believe about things like: Sin, Homosexuality, Abortion, Sex, Money, The Church and the Bible.

How do we alleviate the PRESSURE?

The answer is to finish the verse…“but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (NAS)

 Paul says, “Be Transformed” – We get our word “Metamorphosis” from the little Greek word. It is a reference to a change from within. How does this take place? It takes place through repentance (A change of the mind). When we renew our minds we are then able put the things to the test what this world is trying to offer us. Basically, you can prove whether or not it is God’s will (His Good, Pleasing, and Perfect Will) or fool’s gold.

 

Both of the key words in this verse are hinged upon what you choose to give power to.

You cannot put pressure on yourself. But you can allow pressure to be put on you.

 

Being Conformed is about giving Power to the World. It is Change that comes from the outside

 

Being Transformed is yielding to the Power of God change you - 2 Cor. 5:17, ‘Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature ; the old things passed away ; behold, new things have come.” (NAS)

 

So, here’s the Question:

Who are you going to give power to?