Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Book: Philippians

  • Christ Who Never Grumbled

    Christ Who Never Grumbled

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, October 20, 1991.

    About this sermon

    Paul’s focus throughout this passage is the unity of the Philippian church, and he urges sacrificial service to fellow saints as true Christlikeness. The song of Moses in Deuteronomy 31-32 gives an ancient backdrop of complaint. Christ, unlike Israel in the wilderness and the Philippians now, never grumbled in his service to us.

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    Sermon transcript

    Once more, Genesis will wait, and we turn to Deuteronomy chapter 32. I probably should give you a little explanation of the Genesis problem, and that is that my schedule has been almost inhuman And while I’m working in Philippians, it is much easier for me presently to just continue to work with that single text at this particular point. And I’m hoping to get a little breather where I can then get into Genesis the way in which it deserves. And I hope that you can hang with me on that.

    But here we are in Deuteronomy chapter 32 this evening. And we will be reading the first 22 verses of this chapter. Well, we’ll begin with verse 30 of chapter 31. Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were complete.

    Give here, O heavens, and let me speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Let my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, as the droplets on the fresh grass, and as the showers on the earth. For I proclaim the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God, the Rock.

    His work is perfect, for all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He. They have acted corruptly toward him. They are not his children because of their defect, but are a perverse and crooked generation. Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is not he your father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.

    Remember the days of old. Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of man, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob is the allotment of his inheritance.

    He found him a desert land and in the howling waste of the wilderness. He encircled him, he cared for him, he guarded him as the pupil of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young. He spread his wings and caught them and carried them on his pinions. The Lord alone guided him, and there was no foreign god with him.

    He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the produce of the field, and he made him suck honey from the rock, and oil from the flinty rock, curds of cows and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs and rams, the breed of Dacian and goats, with the finest of the wheat and of the blood of grapes, you drank wine. But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. You are grown fat, thick, and sleek.

    Then you forsook God who made him, and scorned the rock of his salvation. They made him jealous with strange gods, with abominations. They provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons who were not God, to gods whom they had not known. New gods who came lately, whom your fathers did not dread. He neglected the rock who forgot you and forgot the God who gave you birth.

    And the Lord saw this and spurned them because of the provocation of his sons and daughters. Then he said, I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end shall be. For they are a perverse generation, sons in whom is no faithfulness. They have made me jealous with what is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their idols. Sir, I will make them jealous with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. For a river, I’m sorry, for a fire is kindled in my anger and burns in the lower part of Sheol and consumes the earth with its yield and sets on fire the foundations of the mountain.

    Then turning over again to Philippians chapter two. Hearing once more verses fourteen through eighteen. Do all things without grumbling or disputing. That you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life so that in the day of Christ I may have pause to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. 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. And you too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

    Now this morning, we endeavored to lay out for you the incredible depth of these five verses in Philippians 2. It’s clear to us all, I’m sure now, that these verses are rich. They are rich in Old Testament background. And we are endeavoring now to unearth those riches, to dig out that wealth. This morning we specifically looked at verse 14. And we noted its rooting in the wilderness experience of the children of Israel. And we attempted to get at the specific line upon which Paul was moving in utilizing the phrase murmurings and disputing the specific line upon which then he was applying the murmuring and disputing mentality. It is so obvious from Exodus through Deuteronomy amongst the Israelites.

    We said that the line was found in the covenant. Now I didn’t use that word this morning but I hope that some of you picked up on that. The line was found in the covenant and the notion of a covenantal head. The people then being in union with that one who was over them.

    Israel was reacting against her covenantal head, Moses. She was, in effect, rejecting her identity in him, refusing to be defined by him. The church then, as we saw, murmurs and disputes when in fact she refuses to be defined by to be defined by her covenantal head, the Lord Jesus Christ. At issue specifically in Philippi is the serious matter of the unity of the church. Harmony within the membership.

    Now, we have stressed this all along in our exposition of Philippians. You might recall how we made a point of Paul’s repeated use of the word all in the first chapter. So as to impress these Christians with the fact that in Paul’s address to them, none was to be excluded. This is underscored as well in the first verse of the epistle.

    Paul and Timothy bond slaves of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi. The unity of the church, the harmony of the membership, they’re in view. But then Paul goes on to say, including the bishops and the deacons. as if somehow they were being excluded by some, or as if they might be excluding some. So the unity of the Church at issue.

    And this is specifically the point as you come to verse 27 in that first chapter, where you hear Paul saying this, only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The words used there by Paul are suggestive of the citizenship of these folk, namely a citizenship which they have in common, citizenship in heaven. Only conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith, the gospel. Well, that sets off the section that we are presently dealing with. Note what he says is that section progresses, and we enter the second chapter, which speaks there this way, if therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, etc. Is it not clear, then, that that issue is the unity of the Church, harmony for the membership? It is in this context, then, that the murmurings and the disputings spoken of by Paul in that fourteenth verse take on a definite colouring.

    These murmurings and disputings are the eruptions which are occurring specifically over the demands that the membership of the body of Christ bring upon one another, and that inevitably, simply because of the nature of the body. In this situation, it is specifically that sacrificial service is called for in the relationship that the saints bear towards one another. Now, it can be said at this point that suffering caused by a hostile world, due to those who are hostile to the gospel and enmity with God, is the occasion for this command, demand, this imperative articulated by the apostle. But that suffering caused by the hostile world, though the occasion, is not the specific substance of the imperative which the Apostle gives in that 14th verse.

    Do all things without grumbling and disputing. We can go further. It may well be that certain Philippians have complaints against God. Why is my lot as it is? Why are things not turning out for me as I vote? It may even be that the leadership of the church is at issue in some regard. Either because they are not accepted, or they are administering their office improperly. and thus grumblings and disputes have arisen.

    These issues of complaint against God or complaint about leadership or by leadership are not irrelevant, but they are not the precise interest of the Apostle at this point. His concern is Christ-likeness. like Jesus. And that in a specific way, namely in sacrificial service for one another. It is this Christ-likeness that stands at direct variance to the self-centered school scorecard approach.

    That threatens the effect you know what I mean. The kind of attitude that is always how. Keeping an account. Keeping a score. They owe me. They better pay. I did this for them. Shouldn’t they be doing such and such for me? Why, it isn’t fair. I expend myself so much, but no one seems to care about me. No, no. That’s not the mind of Christ at all. The mind of Christ is the sacrifice of self. And as one enters upon a life so defined, it is a life then that excludes murmurings and that arise out of self-interest, or out of an interest to see that we get our due.

    How well then this exposition of verse 14 then fits with Philippians 2 verses 5 through 11. Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, and you know how that goes. how well this fits in with what we have already said about verses 12 and 13, where we have expounded the obedience of verse 12. You know how Paul speaks of obedience there. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, how we have expounded that obedience, and the phrase, working out your own salvation with fear and trembling, and the phrase, God’s good pleasure in verse 13, which God is at work in us to perform, how we have expounded all those terms in light of this point.

    Christ-likeness. That’s obedience. Christ-likeness. That is working out your salvation with fear and trembling. Christ likeness, that is God’s good pleasure, which he is at work in you to perform. And we can see as well that this fits in so well with what is coming in verses 17 through 18, where Paul speaks of himself As a drink offering that is being poured out upon the sacrifice and service of the Philippians. In our service one to another. Let there be no grumbling. and complain. You know the gospel. You’ve read them. Do you remember any grumbling and complaining on the part of Jesus. As he was pursuing the fulfillment of his father’s will. In service for us.

    Well, this then helps us understand a bit better, a little bit more deeply, the intent of the Apostle. In some ways, all we’ve done this evening is reinforce what we’ve said this morning. My hope was to be able to go on with you into verse 15 and expound for you the passage that has to do with the crooked and perverse generation, and I’m sure you picked up on that in our readings from Deuteronomy 32. But we’ve run out of time this evening, and so we’ll conclude at this time.

    Here is our Father. Encourage us with respect to this lesson that is so vitally important. Once more, we offer prayer for those who are officers in our midst, that each of us might be sure to pursue this line, outlined for us by the Apostle, whereby in our service there would be an absence of murmuring and complaint. But also, Father, we are asking that the entirety of the congregation might also learn the lessons of Christ, and that the beauty of our Savior may be found in us, as then we would stand forth in distinction from the world. We pray that you would help us, that you would deal with us And that there would be that resolve within us born by your spirit. Wherein we would prove to be truly. That final that consummate Israel the people of God. Truly blameless and innocent. In that we are the sons of God. Children of our father. And not children of the world. Here as we pray in Jesus name, Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • His Good Pleasure

    His Good Pleasure

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, October 13, 1991.

    About this sermon

    A summary of 2:12-13 sets up a closer look at just how broad ‘his good pleasure’ actually is, the same phrase appearing in both Ephesians 1 and Philippians 2:13. Sanctification and good works, once again, carry a genuinely corporate dimension that individual application easily loses. God’s pleasure, rather than human effort, remains the operative cause throughout.

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    Sermon transcript

    hear the Word of God. And he gave some as apostles and some as prophets. This is Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11.

    And he gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all respects into him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. This I say, therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer as the Gentiles also walked in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their hearts. and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus, that in reference to your former manner of life you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, which, in the likeness of God, has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

    Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor. For we are members of one another.

    Be angry, and yet do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. And do not give the devil an opportunity. Let him who steals, steal no longer. Rather, let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption. that all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you.”

    And then turning over to Philippians chapter 2, once more this evening, verses 12 and 13, “‘So then, my beloved, just as you have also Just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to do, for his good pleasure.

    I hope you’ll be patient with me this evening. I am departing from the script and the bulletin you have Genesis 1 listed and message on the creation. And I know that some of you came specifically to hear about Genesis 1 and the creation. But if you’ll bear with me, I’d like to finish up some thoughts on Philippians 2 verses 12 and 13 this evening, including my messages on this portion of Paul’s letter.

    Tonight, I would like to focus specifically on verse 13, and most specifically on the conclusion of that verse. Now, we have already looked at this verse over the course of these messages. We have made some comments about this thirteenth verse. We have spoken of it in relationship especially to the general theme of the supremacy of God and the supremacy of God in the matter of our sanctification.

    While it is true that we are called upon in the twelfth verse to work out our salvation, focus being upon our responsibility and our response, we are reminded then We are reminded that such effort as we put forward, as is in view in that twelfth verse, is conceivable only because God is at work in us. We have the effect then of the connective as you move from the twelfth verse to the thirteenth. very important connective. Yes, work out your salvation with fear and trembling for, or because, it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. The force of that connective then being so important.

    We conclude, therefore, in this connection that we are not faced with some dual-track view of sanctification or salvation. Our sanctification is from the Lord. Ultimately, it is from the Lord, and we must give all praise and all glory for that good that He works in us and that good, then, that is worked by us and is even attributed to us. This should then be abundantly clear to us. We are not, therefore, removed in our responsibility to good works. We are impelled to good works, knowing that God, who has committed himself to good works, is at work in us.

    So then, we see this relationship to our sanctification and God’s sovereignty in such a way as to put to rest those suggestions that our sanctification or even our salvation is some sort of dual-track consideration, as if we and God are involved equally and ultimately in these matters and in the same way. Well, that’s one of the things that we have tried to point out as we have looked at this 13th verse. Also, we have seen this text, particularly in light of the concluding words of verse 12, and that’s what we dwelt on this morning, those words being fear and trembling. And we have been impressed by the fact that our worship and our walk in faith are characterized by reverence and sobriety, because after all, wonder of wonders, God is in our midst.

    He is among us. He has condescended to dwell in us.” The appropriateness, then, of that fear and trembling, knowing that God is here. The consciousness of the God of glory then dwelling in us astounds us even more. It overwhelms us with a sense of His grace, with a conviction with regard to our own position due to that grace by which we have been brought into the kingdom of light.

    We are moving on to the conclusion of this verse, where we read that God is at work in these Philippian saints, and no less in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. And what interests us is the specific force of Paul’s words, is good pleasure. God’s good pleasure. What is specifically in view as Paul uses these words. Now we could read these words in their broadest sense. We could read them as if Paul has in mind the widest expanse that would be brought into our view because of the comprehensiveness of this term. in view would then be the fullness of God’s purpose and will in its comprehensiveness.

    God’s good pleasure in this regard then would pertain to what we find spelled out in Ephesians chapter one, that marvelous chapter that speaks so powerfully about God’s purpose. about God’s plan, about God’s will, about God’s good pleasure. You have mention made of it in verse 5 of that first chapter in Ephesians. He predestinated us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, widest consideration. Verse 9, He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him, the widest consideration with respect to God’s good pleasure. Verse 11, also applicable, also we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will. So then, this widest consideration for what is spoken of by Paul in Philippians chapter 2, verse 13, where Paul speaks about God’s good pleasure. You could say then that this text, in light of what we have seen in Ephesians chapter 1, deals with God’s predestinating purpose by which he controls all things, and most specifically, the destiny of his elect. Wide, broad, sweet for our consideration and our understanding of Paul’s words.

    But we have been maintained, have we not, Now, Philippians 2.13 deals specifically with the matter of sanctification. But there is a narrower focus for Paul’s intention at this point. It’s not as if the widest consideration of God’s purpose is dismissed. No, not at all. but we must narrow things down a bit, be a little bit more specific with regard to what Paul has in mind when he speaks as he does at the end of that 13th verse in Philippians 2. The specific focus is sanctification.

    Philippians 2.13 is concerned with that matter.

    But that being the case, then, could we say that the sanctification that is in view is specifically that which has to do with our personal holiness and our own individual struggle against indwelling sin? Is that the application for the significance of Paul’s words where he is placing before us the fact that God is at work in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Is God’s pleasure then to be interpreted in this context as his interest in our pursuit of personal holiness and our individual struggle against indwelling sin? Now once more, you see, as it was in the first instance, we cannot dismiss the comprehensiveness of God’s purpose and plan when we come to even take up the matter of the specific interest of Paul at this point. Neither can we dismiss entirely the matter of personal holiness and individual struggle against indwelling sin as we come to this text.

    In this regard, it has been the habit of some, for instance, to match up what they find here in Philippians 2, verse 13, with what you find in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 4 and 5. You want to check those verses. They’re very explicit, very direct. 1 Thessalonians 4, I’m sorry, verse 3 is the verse that we want to begin with.

    For this is the will of God.” Specific reference to the will of God, with respect to the people of God, these saints at Thessalonica. This is the will of God, even your sanctification. That is, it goes on further, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you, for God has not called you for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.”

    It has been the habit of some to read what we find in verse 13 of Philippians 2, in connection, then, with what we find in 1 Thessalonians 4, 3 through 7. That in view specifically, then, as we expound God’s good pleasure, is this matter of sanctification as it pertains to personal holiness and the individual pursuit of that holiness as we struggle against indwelling sin. And over against this, I would remind you of something that we saw early on in our study of this text. That is, as we have approached it, we have endeavored to maintain this truth, that there is a corporate focus for this passage in Philippians chapter 2.

    It is not so much concerned with our individual pursuit of personal holiness, It is rather concerned with the corporate life of the people of God. Not that personal holiness doesn’t impinge upon that. It most certainly does. And you’ve probably already picked that up from our reading in Ephesians chapter 4, where Paul seems to introduce matters of personal holiness into his discussion at that point. So yes, personal holiness and purity and refusal to buckle under to the pressures of sexual immorality, these are very much a part of the corporate life of the people of God.

    But is that the specific reference and interest of the Apostle Paul at this point? Is that what he is getting at? As important as this interest is, it remains too singular, too personal in nature to satisfy the significance of Paul’s words at this juncture. We need an explanation that brings into view the relationship that these Philippians then bear to one another, not just how they conduct themselves personally with respect to their own personal holiness in their struggle against indwelling sin, but how they treat one another.

    This then being the case, possibly what Paul has in mind as he talks, as he does, is something along the lines of what we find in Ephesians chapter 2, turning to that passage. So after we have that marvelous excursus on grace, you can rattle it off from memory, I’m sure, Ephesians 2, verse 8, and also verse 9, we come to verse 10, a text that is often neglected and forgotten. For we are his workmanship, we are told, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And we have something of the comprehensiveness of God’s purpose brought into relationship with this corporate dimension that we have been created for good works. And these good works are definitely to be expressed, cannot be expressed otherwise, but in the context of other people. As these Christians then are enjoined with respect to their behavior in relationship to one another.

    Is the good pleasure of God then, as it is spoken of in Philippians 2.13, is the good pleasure of God the active engagement in good works. God’s good pleasure is that we, his people, be zealous for good works. There’s another text that speaks of that matter. You might think of Titus chapter 2, verse 14.

    That good which specifically, then, has wonderful benefit for those who are around it. For while we are closer to the truth now, we’re getting there. But we’ve moved in our thinking now, with regard to this whole matter, down the line. We are not yet home.

    Rest this text. has in view our sanctification, it has in view that corporate reference, so that it is more focused upon our relationships, one with another, and with our own personal progress in piety, that is, personal holiness. But there is that specific point of reference now, that unpacks Paul’s meaning when he speaks of God’s good pleasure or His purpose in this context. There is that specific point of reference in relationship to God’s good pleasure which is working itself out in His saints. And that is the bond that exists between the good pleasure that is spoken of here at the end of verse 13, and the presentation which Paul has made of Jesus Christ himself in verses 5 through 11. It is more specific, then, than just good works. As much as they may be in view with his more specific still than just good works as Paul speaks of God’s good pleasure, what God is accomplishing in us.

    You see, Paul here has in mind the coming to expression in us, of that atmosphere and environment that is found specifically and nowhere else but in Christ Jesus. And how does Paul expound that atmosphere and environment that is found specifically and uniquely in Christ?

    He expounds it in terms of the willingness of the Son to forgo privilege in order to be made as if he were nothing. He who was Lord becoming servant, taking upon himself a position of lowliness in order that others might be served. This, then, is the exposition specifically of the Father or God’s good pleasure at the end of verse 13 in that second chapter. It is that God is at work in us, in His Church, so as to bring about transformation in us, so that we, like His Son, are giving ourselves over to one another and for the sake of one another.

    It is more specific than just the admonition for good works. It has specific content with regard to the whole history of the life of Christ. Therefore, So, very specifically, what the apostle has in mind as he uses these words is that progress in the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ of which he speaks in Ephesians 4, verse 13, which we read previously. But growing up into Christ then means that you become a servant like unto Him. And the mind that is consistent with this Christ is that which is found nowhere else but in the environment and atmosphere of Christ Jesus Himself.

    Our God’s purpose then, and His presence among us, is to the end that we might then express that atmosphere and environment found in Christ, that this might be worked out thoroughly within us as we, in servant fashion, even as cross-bearing disciples, are conformed to the image of our Savior for the good and the service of others. God is at work in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. our conformity to Christ as servants for God’s sake. Let’s pray. Our Father, if we are to expound the obedience that the apostle has in mind. If we are to expound his words, work out your own salvation. If we are to expound his words, your good pleasure.

    We cannot do so apart from what he has set before us in the person and work of your Son. O Lord, exalt Jesus in our hearts and for us as a congregation, that this One who is our Savior would be exalted truly as we live in and from Him. His mind at work for us, and determinative for us, as in fact we live as He lived. Give us the strength then, Lord, to give ourselves up, to even take up our crosses daily and follow Him, and by way of that cross, which is set before us in Him. May we make ourselves available as He has made Himself available. May we prove to be servants indeed in His likeness. May we rejoice, our God, that in this our full humanity is discovered. For along these lines, surely, We are renewed in the image of God. Hear us, Lord. We pray for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Saved Before the Offering

    Saved Before the Offering

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 22, 1991.

    About this sermon

    Philippians uses ‘salvation’ again and again, and Abraham’s salvation in Genesis 15:6 came well before God asked him to offer Isaac. Christ’s wilderness experience follows the same pattern, with obedience following salvation. Saved people spend themselves, and their spending never saves them.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we begin our scripture reading in Genesis chapter 22. We begin our reading from verse 1. Hear the word of God. And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him therefore a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

    And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his ass and took two of his young men with him. And Isaac, his son, enclaved the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I, the Lamb, will go yonder and worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac, his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham, his father, and said, My father, and he said, Here am I, my son.

    And he said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of.

    And Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

    And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven a second time and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.”

    Then turning over to Paul’s letter to the Philippians, chapter 2, verses 12 and 13, Therefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for his God, which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

    Pray with me now. Our Father, there have been those days when we have run from Your Word. And Lord, there have been those days when we have run to Your Word. And we are praying that today as You are working in us by Your Spirit that we would run to Your Word and find in Your Word that which we need. Our Father, we ask that we might even distinguish between that which we want and that which we need. And in this matter, our God, deal with our sinful inclinations and purify us for Yourself. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    The word salvation appears three times in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. The word salvation appears three times in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. In fact, all three appearances of that word take place in the first two chapters of this epistle. Now, we have read this morning the last of those occurrences from verse 12, in that second chapter where Paul presents us those famous words, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. But you will note that you will find this word salvation also two times in the first chapter, the first being in the nineteenth verse of that first chapter, where Paul says, “‘For I know that this shall turn out for my salvation.’” That’s the literal rendering of that word, even though in the New American Standard it may be translated deliverance. “‘For I know that this shall turn out for my salvation through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.’” Paul here is speaking about his circumstances. You know something about those circumstances. he’s speaking about how those circumstances will, in fact, work out for his salvation, in keeping with the prayers that are offered, in keeping with the operations of the Spirit of the Lord. There’s one other occurrence of the word salvation, and it occurs in verse 28.

    There you see it, and this time, with respect to the Philippians, Paul points out to the Philippians that they need not be alarmed by their opponents. He tells them that the activity of their opponents is a sign of their opponents’ destruction. But while it’s a sign of their opponents’ destruction, it is a sign of salvation for them. That’s why the apostle writes, as he does, “…in no way alarmed by your opponents, which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too from God.”

    So here, then, are these three occurrences of the word salvation in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Now, as you put these three occurrences together, of course, you recognize in the first instance, Paul is speaking with respect to himself. In the latter two references, he is speaking specifically with regard to the Philippians and their own situation.

    At the same time, in all three of these occurrences, there is a thread, a common thread running through. and there is a unified picture that is being presented. In fact, so marvelous is this thread, so encompassing is this unified picture, that it’s almost as if the totality of what the apostle has to say is summed up in the consideration of these occurrences of the word salvation. I want you to note, first of all, the common line that we find running through these expressions with regard to salvation. Salvation, as it is spoken of by Paul in each one of these instances, is in the process of confirmation. We are here considering salvation in process, that salvation being confirmed in those of whom it is spoken. Now, as we go down this road, it’s important for us to keep certain things in mind. What I have said namely that salvation is here envisioned as that which is in process of confirmation, is not intended to suggest that Paul and the Philippians are not already saved, nor that the gospel, as Paul proclaims it, doesn’t minister a definite assurance of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

    That is all proof. At the same time, these verses contain a certain prospective element. You may look at that 19th verse of the first chapter, for example. “‘For I know that these things,’ or this, or these circumstances, “‘shall turn out for my salvation.’” Paul here is speaking in such a way so as to anticipate the great spiritual benefit from his current situation as his salvation is established in those circumstances and in that situation.

    Same notion then is seen in verse 28 of that first chapter as Paul speaks to the Philippians. He assures these Christians of the prospective blessing in their present predicament, as their salvation will most certainly come to light in their predicament. Therefore, not only As Paul and these Philippians have been saved, they are being saved as their salvation is confirmed through the circumstances and the predicaments of their lives. Now, what Paul has to say here is not all that extraordinary.

    In fact, this is in keeping with what we find throughout Scripture. There are many portraits of this very thing given us in the Bible, very many, many portraits of this very thing given us in the Bible, and possibly the most poignant is that which we find in the case of Abraham.

    That’s why we read from Genesis chapter 22 this morning. Is Abraham a saved man before the offer is up, Isaac? What would you say? Is Abraham a saved man before you arrive at Genesis chapter 22? Maybe you would like to go back to Genesis 15 Remember that text? Abram is invited by God to stand out under the moonlit and star-studded night, and there Abram is confronted with the promise from God, and we are told in the sixth verse of that fifteenth chapter that Abram believed God and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. Is Abraham a saved man?

    Before you get to Genesis chapter 22, you would have to say, yes, he is. That text in Genesis 15 is used repeatedly in Scripture. You think of the occurrences of it in Paul’s letters to the Romans and to the Galatians, where he makes his case for justification. We are justified by faith. Indeed, Abraham was a justified man. Abraham was saved. He had been saved.

    And yet later, when Abraham’s faith is tested, and after he offers up Isaac in that 22nd chapter of Genesis, God says to him, “‘Now I know.’” You didn’t know before? “‘Now I know.’” that you fear me.” You could even translate that passage, “‘Now I know that you love me.’” Verse 12 of that 22nd chapter. Abraham, then, this man who is saved, who is justified, is in the process of being saved through the confirmation of that very salvation that has been conferred upon him.

    He will, in fact, be tested and tried, and that salvation will come to light. Is that not the pattern that we find in the experience of the children of Israel, the nation as a whole? What do you say? Are they saved as they are delivered? from Pharaoh and brought out of Egypt, and yet they are then introduced to that wilderness experience in order that their faith may be tried and tested, and those who are truly saved, those who are truly justified, have their salvation confirmed through the process of that ordeal in the wilderness. And this is something from which Jesus himself does not turn.

    He too passes through waters, just as Israel passed through the waters of the Red Sea. He is declared to be the Son of God, Thou art my Son, in whom I am well pleased. But immediately, so the Scripture says, the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness for the purpose of being tested and tried. Yes, even this one, our Lord undergoing that experience, common, common to the people of God themselves.

    Is salvation then that momentary thing that leaves you with a sweet memory of what happened to you when you were 14? Or is your salvation always coming to light, always being confirmed, always being established and even re-established by the circumstances that overtake you, the ordeals that you face day by day, week by week? year by year.

    Yes, we are saved. Glory be to God. And we thank him for that confidence that he grants us. And the ability that He has conferred upon us to say that very thing, we are saved, but at the same time we are being saved as our salvation, is confirmed in us through our lives.

    It wasn’t over when you made that decision. It wasn’t over when you went forward and dedicated your life to Jesus. It certainly wasn’t over when you were baptized or when you received your first communion. So it shall be for us who belong to the Lord. The fact that we belong to Him will be confirmed throughout our lives. until God is pleased to take us to Himself.

    Well, having established that fact, we want to then plumb a little deeper into the texts that are before us. For in them we will find not just a common expression, but a common experience that is played out well now by the Apostle Paul for the benefit of these Philippians. And it is precisely at this point that the epistle to the Philippians comes together, congeals, holds together, It is precisely at this point that the epistle begins to open up to us its deepest intent. Let’s run through the outline one more time of Philippians to this point. Of course, there is the opening salutation by Paul, verses 1 and 2 of that first chapter. Then there is his prayer in thanksgiving, verses 3 through 11.

    We might say that all that Paul has to say is wrapped up in those texts, it’s cryptically laid in there, it would be brought to light as Paul expresses himself further. But then, beyond that 11th verse, you have Paul setting forth for these Philippians whom he loves his Circumstances as something of a missionary report verses 12 through 26 title that Paul’s experience But this is followed by verse 27 of chapter 1 moving through the second chapter verse 18 Where Paul speaks directly to the Philippians about their situation? The interesting fact is that as you read these two sections that stand back-to-back, the one about Paul’s situation and then that about the Philippians’ situation, you find out that they match. It’s almost as if you could have a large sheet of paper, And on the one side you could have a column titled Paul’s Circumstance, and on the other side you could have a column titled the Philippians’ Circumstance, and match them up one-to-one as you go through.

    It’s a nice exercise. You may want to try it yourself. But note these parallels now. Paul personally is experiencing persecution. Is he not? Verses 12 and following tell us that he is in chains. He is in prison. He is being persecuted for the sake of the gospel.

    But what about the Philippians? Let’s move to the other column, the other side of the page. And what do we find? The Philippians also are oppressed and persecuted by their opponents. You remember, verse 28, they are experiencing suffering and great conflict. Verses 29 and 30 of that first chapter. So as with Paul, so with the Philippians. But let’s go on. Note also in verses 15 through 17 of that first chapter that Paul speaks about the internal strife within the church.

    He says that there are actually preachers in the church in Rome, where he is in prison, who are taking advantage of his bonds, and that they are motivated by envy and jealousy and selfish ambition. Sound familiar? Let’s go across the side of the page to the other side of the ledger.

    What about the Philippians? They, in their current distress, are experiencing factions, divisions. And what does Paul suggest to us with regard to those divisions and factions? They arise because of pride, empty conceit, and contentiousness. Read verses 1 through 4 of that second chapter, especially verse 3. Once more, as with Paul, so with the Philippians. We’re beginning to pick up a pattern here, almost as if it’s deliberate. And Paul is organizing his epistle along these lines deliberately. Let’s note once more with regard to the apostle.

    On his side of the ledger, the internal struggle for the Church of Rome, as well as the external persecution that it is experiencing, as well as Paul, will turn out for Paul’s salvation. Verse 19 of that first chapter. It will turn out for his salvation. all these bad things that are happening will turn out for his good.

    Sounds a bit like Romans 8.28, doesn’t it? For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are becalled according to his purpose. For Paul, then, the internal struggle of the Church, as well as the external persecution, will turn out for his salvation. It will become the occasion for the confirmation of his salvation.

    What about the Philippians? Go to the other side of the ledger. The internal strain as these factions have developed within the church at Philippi, and the external persecution that they are undergoing, will only give evidence of the salvation that belongs to these Philippian saints, as, in fact, they provide an occasion for the working out of their salvation. Thus, verse 12 of chapter 2.

    It will be specifically in that context that their salvation will be worked out in terms of their salvation being confirmed. But keep on going. This is where things get difficult, very complex. As you move on from that 19th verse in the first chapter where Paul speaks about his own salvation, you’re confronted by a lot of language in which the apostle speaks of his intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. This becomes the explication of the working out of his salvation. This is what it means for him.

    For Paul, the working out of his salvation will be the consistent exaltation of Jesus Christ in his body, whether he himself is present in this world or departs in death. And it is because that is true that the apostle is confident that he is not one who preaches out of selfish ambition and envy. At every point, he is concerned to see the Lord Jesus Christ exalted, the very life of Christ come to expression in him.

    What about the other side of the ledger? What does working out one’s salvation mean for these Philippians? Likewise, it is an exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ whereby the unity of the church of Jesus Christ is upheld because of the unity that exists between Christ and His own. You might note verse 27 of that first chapter, where Paul is enjoining them to stand firm in one spirit, with one mind standing together, striving together for the faith of the gospel.

    But one other point now, with regard to this whole matter. For Paul, once more, on the left side of the ledger, the consistent exaltation of Christ is effected only, and I underscore only, only by vital union with Christ, in which the very life of Christ comes to expression in the apostle, in a service that is sacrificially tendered for the sake of the Philippians. Hang with me here. I know that this is difficult.

    For Christ to be exalted in this man, is merely the expression of the vital union that exists between Him and Christ. And that vital union means that the very life of Christ will come to expression in the man. And the life of Christ comes to expression in the man in a sacrificial service tendered for the sake of others. Is that not what Jesus did? In 2, verses 20 through 26, then, of that first chapter, as Paul speaks about what drives him, motivates him, what is, in fact, coming to expression in him.

    For to me, to live, is Christ. And in my living, as Christ has expressed in me, I give myself not only to Him, but to you. But what about the Philippians? What does the exaltation of Christ in the life of a Philippian church mean to those who are members of that church? It means that they are in vital union with Christ. And who is this Christ? What kind of mind does He have? Why? Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

    The one who had every advantage and every privilege and gave them up in order to be the sacrificial servant and offering for sin. How then can you insist upon your privilege and your rights when Christ didn’t insist upon His? How can you hold back when Christ Himself did not hold back? Will you not then give of yourselves sacrificially?

    How wonderfully Paul then reminds these Philippian Christians of the sacrifice that they have been willing to express. It is a sacrifice for him. They have given liberally for his support, even while he is in chains. But he doesn’t want that sacrificial service merely for himself. he sees that that sacrificial service and Christ himself is in jeopardy as these Philippian Christians consider one another.

    And therefore he says, do nothing from selfishness and empty conceit, but with humility of mind that each of you regard one another as more important than himself. Do not look out merely for your own personal interests, but look out for the interests of others. What then is the content of the phrase, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling?

    The content of that phrase is that the very life of Christ would come to expression in the congregation to which Paul speaks. As with the apostle, so with the people. And as with the first century, so with the twentieth. The Word is still the same. It comes to you who sit here this morning. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, by which it is meant. May the life of Jesus Christ come to expression in you, whereby you are willing, out of your great love for Christ and union with Him, to be expanded for the sake of your brothers and sisters. Amen.

    Our God, we thank you from the depths of our hearts for the message of the gospel, that we have been saved, that we are justified by grace through faith. And Lord, we also rejoice that the circumstances that you have sent our way will not mean our overthrow, but rather the confirmation of that salvation which we have embraced. Indeed, we are saved, but we are being saved. We are working out our salvation as the very life of Christ comes to expression in us. We are making our calling and our election sure, and that through our obedient response in Christ to the gospel which you have sent for our salvation. Hear us, Lord, and help us as we would persevere to your glory. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Working Out What God Works In

    Working Out What God Works In

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 15, 1991.

    About this sermon

    Philippians 2:12-13 raises the question of human responsibility and God’s sovereignty, and the text answers it directly. Justification and sanctification belong together as obedient faith. God’s prior action grounds every human action, and no human action stands beside it as an independent contribution.

    More sermons from Philippians · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    This is Paul’s letter to Titus, the second chapter, and we begin at verse 11. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

    These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority Let no man despise thee. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers’ lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace We should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying. And these things I will that thou affirm constantly. That they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

    But avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions. and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable in vain. A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself.” Then turning over to Philippians chapter 2, Verses 12 and 13. Therefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

    For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. How we need your help our father We need it Lord every day we rise to greet our responsibilities and those duties which you have set upon us and Each day when we rise to the joys of this life, O our God, we need your instruction and your patience and forbearance with us that we might, in fact, live as obedient servants. Be merciful to us, Lord, and may you be merciful to your people throughout the world as they even now, many of them are gathering together to exalt You to glory in Your Son Christ. Hear us now as we pray that we might be well instructed from Your Word and that we might please You in all things. Amen.

    We have spent a great deal of time looking at Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 through 11, a very famous text and one that is quite moving indeed. And now we are going on to the subsequent verses, especially verses 12 and 13 in that second chapter in Philippians.

    Now if things were somewhat difficult for us in those prior verses, they may become even more difficult for us here. It may be like moving from the proverbial frying pan into the fire. There’s an uneasiness that is associated with these verses because they set before us topics that demand attention and Oftentimes we’re not always prepared to handle the matters that these verses raise for us. Controversies in the previous verses raged over the exact nature of Christ, but here now in these verses, the battles have traditionally raged over the relationship of human responsibility, verse 12, and divine sovereignty, verse 13, and even have gone so far as to be waged over the matter of the relationship between faith and works. Using the text simply, straightforwardly, It has seemed to some that we are here faced with an insoluble problem and even an unbearable tension in the thinking of the Apostle Paul. As we move from one verse to the other, some have suggested to us that we are dealing here with a flat inconsistency.

    We’ll note in verse 12 that there is command given to the people of God, this church in Philippi, that it seems that what they are commanded to do in verse 12, God performs in verse 13. And with regard to that thirteenth verse, insofar as God is always bound to accomplish His good pleasure, then what possible force can working out our own salvation have? Say some, we encounter here a bold-faced contradiction to the degree that the sovereignty of God triumphs then our efforts become superfluous, and the notion of judgment inherent in the words seared and trembling in that twelfth verse proves to be nearly hypothetical, if not a downright fiction. And to the degree that we are then called upon to exalt human responsibility in verse twelve, we must hedge in the sovereignty of God and make less of it than what seems to be made of it by Paul here in the plain reading of the text. So thinking about that one matter, that whole question about the superfluity of our own efforts, the notion that judgment inherent in that twelfth verse speaks only of a hypothetical, if not a fictional, judgment. We are brought face to face with problems that seem to afflict people everywhere where the gospel is encountered.

    And in this regard, I have in mind that great theologian Bill Mad Dog Matlock, former third baseman of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now, I don’t know if any of you were reading the series of articles in the Pittsburgh Press this last week, but they were quite interesting. On the sports page we had a series of articles that dealt with the Christian faith of professional athletes. It just so happened that when the evangelical wave came through the National League a few years ago, Bill Matlock was playing for the San Francisco Giants. And there were a number of San Francisco giants who were converted.

    Bill was having a little difficulty. He says, their belief in God’s power and sovereignty is so great that they don’t have to go out and do anything. They said, well, if we’re going to win, we’re going to win. If not, then we won’t. He said, I was put out a bit by that.

    Well, the problem of which we speak even touches the clubhouses of the National League. The problems here are even more complex, more difficult. Let’s look at verse 12 a little more closely. So say, This verse speaks as if our salvation is still an uncertainty. It’s something future yet to be realized.

    Work out your own salvation as if it was still in the balance, something that was as yet undecided. And in light of that, what are we to do then with our traditional confidence that our salvation is an already accomplished fact, an already done deed. Have we not confessed that we have been saved, that we are saved already? Further, what are we to do in light of this text with the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints? We have confessed that, but yet it seems as if something is in the balance, something we must do, as if in fact our salvation was uncertain and our salvation was yet to be realized.

    And I might add at this point that a text like this has become a conundrum for many a son of Calvin, or at least one raised within Calvinism, to the point that it forced him out of his Calvinism. And it has caused many more, outside of Calvinism, to throw stones from a distance. God may be sovereign, but, after all, in the end, it depends on us. We’re not done yet. Because there’s more at stake in this text than our Calvinism.

    That should be evident from the comments that I made previously about the certainty of our salvation. So if that is up for grabs, in the balance is the very substance of the gospel as we have come to embrace it. After all, do we not confess with the Apostle Paul, who speaks elsewhere, by grace.

    He had been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. You know the text. Ephesians 2. Paul speaks additionally in Galatians 2, verse 16, by the works of the law shall no man be justified. And again, most clearly, “…but to him who does not work, his faith is reckoned to him as righteousness.”

    Seems to be a lot of working going on in Philippians 2.12, but Paul says, “…but to him who does not work, his faith is reckoned to him as righteousness.” Not only do these verses that we’ve just recited speak about a present possession of uncertainty about salvation, they clearly exclude works.

    2 Thessalonians 2.12 introduced uncertainty where Paul elsewhere seems to be so certain, and doesn’t this verse introduce works or working where Paul elsewhere will have none of it?

    What then are we to do with the problems of the text? Are we to assume that this text was written late in Paul’s life or that the pressures of prison life got to him and he was collapsing under the mental strain? He wasn’t able to hold up, maintain that wonderful gospel dialectic that he was so adroit at previously in his ministry? Maybe he was becoming a bit weary, mind weary, in his latter years. He wasn’t as nimble of mind as he once was. So now he’s collapsing.

    Suggesting to us then in concurrent text, concurrent verses, things that are absolutely contradictory and mutually exclusive. Maybe he was like Clarence Thomas. I understand that Clarence believes in natural law when it comes to political theory. But when it comes to courtroom practice, somehow natural law doesn’t seem to apply. Just as Thomas seems to live in two places at once. Maybe that’s consistent with his Catholicism, I don’t know. You see, they were the ones who proposed a natural grace dualism long ago, that in fact you could live in mutually exclusive terms. Well, you can see I’ve been reading the newspaper this week.

    I’m not certain that we can satisfy everyone with regard to these nurses in front of us this morning, but as we work out our own solution, it would be well for us to keep a couple of things in mind, clearly before us. First of all, with regard to the matter of the relationship between faith and works, here is a complex subject. But let us be clear about one thing.

    The text in front of us is not talking about justification, it is talking about sanctification. Now we, in this day and age, are not as conversant as our forefathers in theological terminology. But I think For this congregation, there is a grasp of the difference between justification and sanctification. Justification being the act of God wherein He declares us to be righteous for the sake of Christ, whose righteousness is imputed to us, that righteousness we receive by faith alone. Sanctification is a work of God’s free grace. whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled, of course, by His grace, to die more and more to sin and to live unto righteousness. So as we look at the text, let us remember, let us keep in mind that the apostle here is speaking about sanctification, he’s not speaking about justification.

    And let’s give him the benefit of the doubt that what he says here is consistent with what he says everywhere else in his epistles. Setting the matter straight, then, properly speaking, this text is not about someone coming to Christ, That is, becoming or getting saved.

    This text is about demonstrating a salvation which is already in possession, which is already in hand. There’s an interesting feature of this twelfth verse that you may well want to keep in view. The apostle says, work out your Salvation. It’s a salvation that is already within your hand. It is within your grasp. It is a present position, something that belongs to you. So he’s not here speaking about the acquisition of something you don’t have. He’s speaking here of using something you’ve got. You can’t work out salvation unless you’ve got salvation.

    It is also well for us to keep in mind that the works that are here in you in verse 12 are essential to the apostle’s gospel, and no wise jeopardize his position with regard to works in their relationship to justification. As much as works are absolutely excluded from justification, the ground for justification, they are necessarily so in view when it comes to sanctification, and that consistently throughout all of the apostles’ writings.

    Did you catch it as we were reading through Titus? That forgotten letter of Paul, that magnificent epistle 10 by him, Would you catch it as we move through our reading of our text from Titus this morning? Verse 7 of that third chapter, that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And he goes on in verse 8, this is a trustworthy statement And concerning these things, I want you to speak confidently so that those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good works.

    The coalescence, then, of justification, which excludes works, and sanctification, which necessarily includes them. But at the same time, we are distancing the Apostle’s doctrine of justification from good works, we are maintaining that good works are not detached even from that doctrine of justification which he espouses. For justification and sanctification are intricately bound to one another. According to the Apostle Paul, then, For one to have that faith which justifies, that faith which is judged to be true faith, one must have an obedient faith. In the very epistles that are usually cited, in order to defend the classic Protestant doctrine of justification, by faith.

    There are those statements by the Apostle in which he brings into view his relationship with faith, yes, obedience, and even works themselves. Here the Apostle in Romans 1 verse 5, at the beginning of that epistle, again in verse 26 of the 16th chapter as he concludes it, when he commends to these readers of his in Rome that obedience of faith, that faith which obeys. And hear him once more in the epistle to the Galatians, the fifth chapter, the sixth verse, where he speaks about that faith which works by love. The apostle is saying, if it doesn’t work by love, then it’s not the faith I have in mind. If it’s not a faith that is obedient, that goes on to obedience, then it is not the faith I’m writing to you about.

    It is specifically, then, that obedient faith that is in view as the Apostle writes the twelfth verse of the second chapter of Philippians. And that’s how he would have us to understand it. So then, my beloved, he writes, just as you have always obeyed, get that phrase, just as you have always obeyed. And he explains that phrase at the conclusion of that verse with the words, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, as if the latter part of the verse explicates the former part of the verse.

    The working out of our own salvation, then, is but the explication of the obedience which has already been mentioned. Will you exclude obedience from your estimation of Christian life and service? Just as obedience offers no contradiction, then, to our faith, neither does our sanctification contradict our justification. And is this not the case with Christ Himself, who is the central figure in all that’s being said by the apostles at this point?

    His faith in His Father, does not remove from him his obligation to obey his father. Rather, it enhances that obligation. Do you note? How Paul now is moving from those prior verses, 5 through 11, into 12 and 13. The word he picks up on as he bridges the section is the word obedience. Verse 8, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. So then, my brethren, just as you have always obeyed, you have always been obedient, as it was with Christ. So it is with you. His faith does not then obliterate his concern for faithfulness. And it must not be the case with you either.

    Secondly, we need to look at this matter of God’s sovereignty and its effect on human responsibility. Sovereignty being emphasized in the 13th verse and human responsibility being spoken of in the 12th. Is it as some have suggested, the sovereignty of God destroys all human responsibility? Or is it as others have suggested, human responsibility hedges in God’s sovereignty? Does Paul’s doctrine then land him in an insoluble contradiction? Some, in thinking about this text, have now suggested to us that we must adopt a two-track position, in which we must teach that both God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility are equally ultimate. But as it was in the former case in regard to faith and works, so it is here with regard to God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility.

    The Apostle is absolutely consistent in all of his epistles from beginning to end. He grounds all of the actions of the people of God in the prior action of God Himself. That, for the apostle, is gospel. If God doesn’t act, then there is absolutely no possibility of response on our part. Our response is predicated upon God’s sovereign activity. If God is not at work in us, then we cannot respond. The text assumes that God is at work in us, that he has come to us, that he is presently operative, but that his actions are the prior condition for all of our actions.

    His activity, the indicative of his action, is the ground of every imperative of Scripture. And so, therefore, When the apostle or a prophet placed upon the people of God an obligation and they set before them a command, that obligation and command is grounded in God Himself, who has already performed the activity, and that’s what magnifies grace. You’re working out of your own salvation, is merely entering into the arena of God’s own activity on your behalf, so that in the end you won’t congratulate yourself, but you will praise Him. For how thoroughly responsible He is, for we’re told that with Him alone lies the willing and the doing of His good pleasure in us. What there is of us, then, what there is in us of a willing of that which is good and the doing of that which is good is found in Him. God’s sovereign work then does not jeopardize our responsibility, it establishes our ability. So then, you who are beloved of God and called by Him, You in whom God is sovereignly at work, do you not know that He is at work in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure, and the outworking of that will be in you a working out of your salvation? With fear and trembling, since you are conscious of the One who is in you, Well, we’re going to start at working out our own solutions with Fear and Trembling to the conundrums of the text that is before us.

    There is more here, much more, for edification. And we will look more deeply into the matter later on. Let’s pray. May we give all praise to you, our God. May we rejoice, Father, in the sufficiency of your blessing in salvation. For indeed, by grace we are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, Yet as the Apostle so wonderfully proclaims, we are your workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, that you beforehand foreordained that we should walk in them. Our Father, we are responsive and And in our responsiveness we find indication of the presence of your Spirit with us, yes, convincing us of the sufficiency of the salvation that is found nowhere else but in Christ, but also the sufficiency necessary to do those things that please you, that honor you, that glorify your Son. We thank you from the depths of our hearts for such magnificent grace. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • By Faith, Not by Sight

    By Faith, Not by Sight

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 8, 1991.

    About this sermon

    Christ’s own revelation and existence saturate Philippians 2:5-11. Believers receive it by faith, and logic and reason serve that faith without replacing it. The real glory of the Christian life lies in the next world.

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    Sermon transcript

    Once more, we are reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. We are reading from the first chapter, verses 27 and following, into the second chapter, the 11th verse. This is Philippians chapter 1, verse 27. Hear the word of God. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now here to be in me. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind.

    Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

    Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

    Pray with me now. Our Father, we know that by your Word we are given life, and Lord, we ask that you would strengthen us in this conviction. We are praying, Lord, that we might have occasion to turn to your Word regularly, in fact, daily, and to feast upon what you have provided us there. We ask also, Father, that we would not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, that you would give us a heart that is intent upon coming together for the sake of being blessed by you as a people. And, Lord, here we ask that there might be apparent to us the glories of the kingdom above. For surely we shall not be in glory alone, but we shall be there with all the rest of your people, and even with this congregation. We ask, Lord, that even now the very patterns and attitudes and dispositions of heaven may be expressed by us as we give our attention to your holy word. For Jesus’ sake, amen.

    I’m so glad that the folks from Washington are here today. I know that some of the people from Grace are waiting for the time when I will move on from this text, but now our guests have come and I have to start all over again. My family down here to my left groaned if you didn’t hear that. And of course, the question may well be, how much time is too much time to spend on a text like this?

    This wonderful passage from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, the second chapter, a text that we know well and we are quite familiar with. We have been spending our time with this text trying to press out of it all we can get. We have looked at the context of the passage, endeavoring to profit from what we see there, as Paul brings his case to these Philippians who are struggling a bit, having trouble because persecution has arisen.

    We have looked at the form of the text, We have noticed its poetic structure, how it moves so nicely, so evenly. It has such a remarkable balance to it. We’re drawn to it for no other reason than the wonderful poetic cadence that it evidences. But then there are those marvelous declarations, those wonderful statements, those beautiful and powerful statements of who Christ is, His relationship to us, and His coming glory.

    We have spent some time on the subtleties in the text, trying to draw out some of the hidden matter that is here for our benefit. And we are rejoicing in the power of this passage, as we are benefited immeasurably by contemplation upon meditation upon our Savior. Well, I am now moving on to wrap things up, believe it or not, and my message this morning is intended to be one more sweep through the text so that we might appreciate its scope, its depth, and its unique character. That these might be impressed upon us Indulgently. First of all, with regard to this passage, and I have in mind specifically verses 5 through 11 of that second chapter.

    First of all, then, this passage confronts us with the reality of the revelation that is found in Christ Jesus. And by that root, then, the revelatory character of our faith in its essence. This passage confronts us with the reality of the revelation, underscore the word revelation, found in Jesus Christ.

    This passage is full of information about the Son of God made available to us only through revelation. Now, that may be a statement that is so plain in itself that you’re asking yourself, why in the world would you bore me with that insight? Well, I want you to think about it and not pass by the power of what is here presented. This passage is full of information about the Son of God, available only through revelation. What do I mean by revelation?

    I mean something that’s coming to us from without. I don’t mean some religious imagining. some religious speculation. I’m not here speaking about philosophy, a philosophy that is generated from within man, that comes from within the world. When I speak of revelation, then I am speaking of something that comes from without, intrudes into our lives, into the plane of our existence, into this creation from God, who is Himself, outside of this world.

    The information that we are given then about the Son of God is that He existed even before He was known in the flesh. How is that by nature to be known? How does that arise from the considerations that occur to us from within ourselves? How does a description of Christ’s pre-incarnate state occur to us?

    We can’t even imagine it. It must come by way of revelation. It comes from without. It comes from God. There is the revelation of the Son’s essence. We are told in verse 6 that he existed in the form of God. Is that apparent? As we look at this man who is described in the pages of the Gospel, is that apparent to us? He’s a man, a very important man, a very powerful man, a very magnetic personality to be sure, but is it apparent to us that this one has pre-existence and that this one, in his essence, is God? We are told that he is equal to God in that verse as well.

    Do these things arise from the nature of the case, from out of creation, from the potentialities that we see within him, or the considerations that we would make of him as those arise from within ourselves? No, it is by way of revelation. And note what else is told about him in these verses. Verse 7, “…by a free decision on his own part, He comes into this world, he empties himself, he takes upon himself the form of a bond slave, and he is made in the likeness of man.

    That one who is preexistent now comes in the form of human flesh. Is this obvious to us? Except by revelation. We do not know these things. Then there’s the matter of Christ’s exaltation, verses 9 through 11. God has highly exalted him, we are told. How do we know this but by revelation? Except it be revealed to us. Except God tell us that he himself is exalting this one Christ Jesus. A name is bestowed upon him above every name. How is that apparent?

    And what about the intention of God, as it is described for us in verses 10 and 11? The intention of God is that this One, known to us as Christ Jesus, should have a name that is equal to His own. He has given this One the title and the name Lord. The sweep of these verses 10 and 11 is rather remarkable. It’s familiar to you enough It is familiar enough to you, the name of Jesus is that name at which every knee should bow, verse 11, and every tongue confess that he is in fact Lord.

    Now these words that Paul uses at this point are not his own. He steals them. He steals them from the Old Testament. He steals them from Isaiah chapter 45. Verse 23. You want to check that passage out? Find out who Isaiah is speaking of in that text? Paul now takes those statements from Isaiah, applied to Jehovah, and he applies them now to Jesus Christ. This one, then, in the estimation of Paul, is more. Paul here is giving us more than just his assessment of Jesus Christ. He is telling us what the intention of God is.

    The intention is that this one, and this one only, is exalted to have this position, this exclusive position. It was in light then of the revelation concerning the pre-existence of the Son of God and His glory, the glory into which He is entered, that you make assessments about the uniqueness of His life and ministrate.”

    Why is His death different from anybody else’s death? Doesn’t everybody die? Well, maybe in that He is Raised from the dead, he is like some of those Old Testament saints that were spared. Maybe he’s like Enoch, who was translated. Maybe he’s like Elijah, who was carried away in a chariot of fire. But no, this one is utterly unique in his life, in his ministry, in his death.

    And it is only by revelation by that which comes from without, that such value is placed upon this one. So, first of all, the passage confronts us with the reality of the revelation from God found in Jesus Christ and in Him alone. And without that revelation, accompanying this One, this Jesus, He ends up being nothing more than just another man. The next thing that I want you to note from this passage is this fact.

    It confronts us with the necessity and the priority of our faith. Will we, in ourselves, find out Christ? Will we, with our own native abilities, discover the Lord of Glory? Will we, by the power of our reason and our logic, come to the conclusions that are here presented in the gospel. This passage then confronts us with the necessity and the priority of our faith. In this passage we are called to believe in an absolute sense the things we cannot see.

    Did you exist prior to creation? Were you there in the councils of eternity when the Father and the Son were speaking to one another about the plan of redemption? Were you present when the Son was making decisions that He would humble Himself and become a servant and enter this world in flesh?

    How else are these things going to be grasped by you than by the way that the Scriptures prescribe? You must grasp them by faith. You cannot see them, you were not there. You are faced with the revelation, and now the question is, do you believe it? Are you in heaven presently to observe the glory that has been bestowed upon the Son? Do you presently see it with your own physical eyes?

    Is it not by faith, then, that you grasp these things and receive them and rest upon them? It is by faith that you assign, then, significance to and grasp in the cross the significance that is there to be grasped. It is by faith that you grab hold of the meaning of Christ’s sacrifice. Is He truly the Son of God? Is He without sin? Is He a sacrifice for sinners? Do you believe this? Is His death able to atone? Can it actually save? Do you believe this?

    So you see, the passage confronts us with the necessity of our faith. It is only by faith that we then grab hold of the revelation. You cannot see it, you are not there. You are not in the mind of God, even to assign value. Yet you are receiving these things through the revelation that God has given of Himself in Christ. And in receiving them, you are resting upon them, you are trusting in them, because you have concluded that they are true. This is a work of God in you, by His Spirit.

    We’re also said that this passage confronts us with the priority of our faith. Because in this passage we are challenged with respect with respect to the way in which we might approach God at the very outside. Is it a primacy of faith that leads us then into that right relationship with God, or is it by means of our logical ability, our reasonable facility?

    Now, by suggesting to you the priority of faith, I do not want to suggest to you that the gospel is absurd. Some have said that. And because it is absurd, we should believe it. Nor am I suggesting that there isn’t an inner logic to the gospel that makes sense to us who believe it and embrace it. That is true.

    Even as we go through this passage, verses 5 through 11, we see that there is an inner logic that appeals to us, we who believe and have embraced it. But I think that you would admit But honestly speaking, a quick run through this passage confronts you with a number of puzzles before which logic and reason must recede, because logic and reason do not reign. They are not a law that stands above God and determines for God and man what must be true. Logic and reason are tools that are now employed in the service of faith for we who believe.

    So here you are. You want to run through the passage in terms of its logical categories? You’re introduced to this person who is Christ Jesus. You’re told he’s in the form of God. What? Equal with God. This is a man, equal with God. What sense does that mean? What sense does that make? Equal with God, he becomes man, though still God. You make sense of it.

    Though God, he becomes obedient. How can God become obedient? Is he not obedient in himself? And though he is God, he dies. How can God die? And then, not only that, he is exalted. As if he needed exaltation, he is exalted by God and given the name of God. He already was God. How is he now receiving the name of God and he’s promised a universal dominion? Didn’t he always have a universal dominion? And all of this, to the glory of God the Father, as if there’s another part of God here that we need to consider as well. Another person, God the Father, God the Son. Well, I think you get the point. You apply your logical categories to it, you’re befuddled. You’re bewildered. You’re faced with mystery.

    And in light of it, the faith which is called for in this text receives and rests in the sufficient revelation that is given us by our God in Christ. The just do not live by the absolute dictates of logic and reason. The just live by faith. Faith is what pleases God. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. We are justified by faith, not by our reason, our intellect, or our logical facility. Thirdly, this passage confronts us with the substance of our Christian life.

    There is some patience that is necessary at this point. Because you see, often this passage, verses 5 through 11 of Philippians 2, is taught as if Paul’s point, as if Paul’s point were that the Christian life follows a pattern which we observe here in Christ as Christ passes from humiliation to exaltation. And thus, the intent of the apostle is to call us to patient endurance. Now, that’s a legitimate concern and interest that you find expressed elsewhere by the apostle. Too often, this specific text is taught as if Paul’s point were that the Christian life follows the pattern seen in Christ as Christ passes from humiliation to exaltation, and we are guaranteed the same. We shall pass from humiliation to exaltation. But in actual fact, Paul’s point is this.

    Christ, as he is observed in this text, moves from privilege to humiliation to exaltation. To get the first of it, he moves from privilege. He existed in the form of God, he was equal with God, and then he takes upon himself the form of a servant, and then comes exaltation. So the issue at stake is not simply from humiliation to exaltation, but rather from privilege to humiliation to exaltation.

    And the humiliation involved here is the act of self-surrender and sacrifice for the sake of others. Now, why should that be important to the Apostle Paul? Because he wants those in Philippi who own the name of Christ to exhibit precisely that kind of spirit in their relationships one with another.

    Are they not privileged? Are they not the sons of God? Do they not belong to the house of God and have all the advantages and blessings of that relationship that is sealed unto them in Christ Jesus? Yes, they are the privileged. Will they insist upon their privileges? Will they insist upon their place and position? No, Paul says they must not. Why? Because Christ did not.

    And as Christ emptied himself of his position and his privileges, not insisting upon them, so must you. Now, what does that become in the Christian’s life? It becomes the reality of the cross lived daily for Christ’s sake. Will you not deny yourself, take up Christ’s cross daily and follow Him? And what will that mean? It will mean self-surrender, self-sacrifice for the sake of your brothers and sisters in Christ. That is the cross coming to expression in you.

    And there’s one other thing, very importantly, that this passage confronts us with, and that is the true nature of our hope. Is the glory to which Christ ascends spoken of in this text a glory that he gains and enjoys in this world. I really can’t say anything more important to you than that at this time. And the reason for that is because there are so many who are saying to the saints of God, the glory to which we aspire is something that we can have now, and we can enjoy to the full in this world.

    So grab it all. God not only wants you to be happy, He wants you to be rich. God doesn’t only want you to be well off spiritually so that your soul is healthy. He wants you free from all concerns, health-wise. And you have a right to that now. The point is that as long as Christ is in the flesh, He is present in the form of a servant, and it is not until He is raised and He ascends into glory that the glory comes. And as it has been with Christ, so it is with you. Your life presently in the flesh is patterned after His. As long as you’re here in the flesh, you will be servants, learning obedience, giving yourself over to God, even unto the extent of death itself, until He is pleased to take you to Himself. So don’t be confused about your present situation, present suffering that you may be enduring, the grief and the heartache that is presently yours. That is your lot. But the glory is coming, and it is guaranteed, as surely as Christ has been raised from the dead and presently reigns.

    Let us pray. Our Father, we ask you that familiar texts like we have before us today would not slip past us without us giving them the kind of attention that they deserve. We pray, Our Father, that we might profit much from what we find here in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. May we rejoice in the revelation that you have given wonderfully. May we thank you even for the faith that you have worked in our hearts. May you be praised for how the very pattern of Christ’s life is coming to expression in us. We too call to be servants. And may we rejoice before you because As we are conformed to Christ’s image in service, so we shall also be conformed to His image in His glorious reign. For Christ’s sake, we pray, looking for His coming. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • The New Testament Confirms: Christ Is God

    The New Testament Confirms: Christ Is God

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 1, 1991.

    About this sermon

    The Gospels, Paul’s letters, and Revelation together confirm that Jesus Christ is God, and the case rests on far more than a single proof text. Mark 2’s healing of the paralytic gives one clear instance. Scripture holds Christ’s divinity and humanity together, and neither crowds out the other.

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    Sermon transcript

    Tonight we are looking first of all at the Gospel of Mark, and we will be reading the first twelve verses of this chapter. This is Mark chapter two, verses one through twelve. Hear the word of God. And when he had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that he was at home.

    And many were gathered together so that there was no longer room even near the door, and he was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And being unable to get to him on account of the crowd, they removed the roof above him And when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, My son, your sins are forgiven. But there were some of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts.

    Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? And immediately, Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?

    Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Arise and take up your pallet and walk? But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, I say to you, Rise, take up your pallet and go home.

    And he rose and immediately took up the pallet and went out in the sight of all, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, We have never seen anything like this.” Then turning over to Philippians chapter 2, reading verses 5 through 11 this evening from the New American Standard Version. have this attitude among themselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

    Now, this evening, we want to finish up what we started this morning. We have been looking at Philippians 2, verses 5 through 11, and considering in these verses the sublime Christology that is set forth here for us, the sublime doctrine of Christ. We have concluded Although there are those who would disagree with us, we have concluded that this text expresses the very highest Christology. And that this Christology or doctrine of Christ so expressed is actually the foundation for the church’s later confession concerning the full deity and the full humanity of Jesus Christ. Now we have concentrated, as we have looked at this passage, we have concentrated upon the clear assertions in it that Jesus Christ is divine. That he is, after all, fully divine. That he is God. That he is God come in the flesh.

    Question that we ask. This evening, although there are some who wouldn’t even grant us this interpretation of this particular text, the question that we ask is whether or not this text is an exception in the New Testament, or is it of a piece with what we find woven throughout. We are moving on then tonight to consider the New Testament revelation with regard to the full deity of Jesus Christ. Having this morning looked at the Old Testament and found in it an affirmation that the Messiah who was promised would in fact be fully divine, God himself coming to save his people. Does the New Testament call Jesus God?

    Well, we have already left the cat out of the bag. From our perspective, absolutely. We have seen that from the text in hand, this passage in Philippians chapter two, As the Apostle Paul makes mention of the fact that this one who is the Son, this one who is identified as Christ Jesus, existed, he says, verse 6, in the form of God, and that he had equality with God. We are convinced that no matter how you approach these words, regardless of how you slice it up, The conviction being expressed here is certain that this one in view is divine. He is God.

    Now you may recall the link up that we made this morning with respect to some other passages. We will not comment on Hebrews 1 verses 8 and 9 tonight because we already spoke of them This morning, as we look at Psalm 45, especially verse six, the writer to the Hebrews sees that text as an affirmation of the character and essence of the Son of God. He then being called in that passage, Psalm 45, verse six, God and nothing less. But we want to look beyond now Philippians two past Hebrews one for further evidence in the New Testament concerning this all important doctrine which the church has embraced.

    Would you call yourself orthodox. Would you. Consider yourself to be in line with the historic confession of the Christian Church throughout the ages. If you would, then you must, I underscore must, acknowledge Jesus Christ, not just as one who comes in the flesh to save through his humanity, but one who is God in the flesh.

    Any savior less than that cannot, will not save. So, what does the rest of the New Testament say with regard to this entire matter, this very important matter? Let’s look, first of all, at the Synoptic Gospels, at some representative texts. Now, when you wander into the Synoptics, you have wandered into an area that contains something of a cryptic character to it. You might recall how Jesus himself in the synoptics is concealing himself and his identity time and time again. He’s giving instruction to this person, to that. Don’t tell anybody who I am.

    And so there is that cryptic character to the revelation that is given to us in the synoptic Gospels, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The message itself comes to us in that form in which the Savior himself is presented in those Gospels. So you might expect that the affirmation of Christ’s deity, his divine nature, might be a bit indirect.

    And it is. But let’s look at Matthew chapter one as a starter. You have at the end of that chapter Matthew’s description of the birth of Christ or the preparation for it. The marvelous statement that is made, of course, in verse 21, one that I hope that you have memorized. But what I have in mind is his interest in placing before us Isaiah’s prophecy out of Isaiah’s seventh chapter, the fourteenth verse. A verse that we quoted this morning, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which is translated, God with us.”

    There’s a general way in which you can take that title. Oh yes, the birth of this child is symbolic of God’s presence. God is on our side. There are some interpreters that have approached this matter from that point of view. Matthew is saying something much more in quoting this text from Isaiah. He means it quite literally. Yes, this one is God with us. His presence with us means the presence of God. In himself, he is God with us.

    And now, throughout Matthew’s gospel, that will be the foundation stone upon which the entirety of the Christology of this gospel is built. If you turn to the eleventh chapter of Matthew, you can follow through on this theme. Come unto me, he says. Verse 28 of that eleventh chapter. Come unto me, O you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

    Well, is that an invitation that has ceased simply because Christ has died? simply because Christ has been raised and gone to heaven? No, you see, the impact of this gospel in its Christology is to convince the readers that this one who is God with us is still God with us.

    He continues with us. That’s why in Matthew’s gospel there’s no account of the ascension. There’s no ascension. He’s still with us. And he is with us as God. Turn to the 16th chapter of Matthew. This theme will deepen. That was a punctuation point. In chapter 16, you know that we have there Christ blessing Peter for his confession, but verse 18 says this.

    And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.” Is Christ continuing to build his church? Is he continuingly present to build his church? As such, he is God with us to do that. Turn over to chapter 18, verse 20. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst. Is he still in their midst? Is he there now? Is he here now, God with us? You see the theme of Immanuel.

    Then you turn over, of course, to the 28th chapter, to the conclusion to which Matthew has been pressing all along, where he reiterates his theme of the presence of God with us in Christ Christ is speaking to his disciples, he says, teaching them, that is, the nations, to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always. I am with you, Emmanuel, as God with us even to the end of the age.

    It is a very high Christology indeed that is presented for us in Matthew’s Gospel. And one, if we are alert to it, one which preaches to us the full divinity of Jesus Christ. He is building to this point throughout his gospel so that in verse 17 of that 28th chapter, you read these words, and when they saw him, that is, the disciples, they worshiped him.

    But some doubt it. Then verse 19, where the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are placed on a line as equals. full divinity of the sun, so that’s Matthew. It won’t linger long over Mark, and that’s why I did read the passage from Mark. It is a common passage. It’s a passage that you find in Matthew 2, Matthew chapter 9, and also in Luke chapter 5. It’s the story of the paralytic let down, but I think you get the point, don’t you? The scribes make their accusation, who is this fellow? who imagines that he can forgive sins, only God can forgive sins. That’s the point. That’s the point. And don’t be misled when Jesus calls himself the Son of Man there. There are those who have suggested to us that the title Son of God pertains to Christ’s deity and the title Son of Man pertains to his humanity. That’s not true.

    The figure of the Son of Man presented to us in Daniel chapter 7 is fully divine. To call him son of man merely says that he is the one who is the heir of the dominion of man. He shall inherit all that belongs to man and rule over it. It does not prejudice the case with regard to his humanity. It is preaching his divinity and glory as well. You must see the divinity of Christ even in the title son of man. So this one who is son of man, forgiving sins in the earth is actually God in the flesh.

    All right, well, we won’t linger long on Mark. Let’s go on to Luke. Luke is the most clever. I want you to turn to the fourth chapter of Luke. The opening of that chapter records for you the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. You know the story. And I want you to notice a particular feature of this story. Verse 4, there. Jesus answered the devil who had tempted him. You know what the devil is all about. If you are the Son of God, said the devil, tell these stones to become bread. Verse 3. But then you have Jesus’ response. It is written, he said, man shall not live by bread alone.

    And Luke stops there. And you say, wait a minute. You say, wait a minute. The rest of that text is that by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, right? Well, Luke doesn’t put that in there. He leaves it out. in order to use it later. Look at verse 22. And all were speaking well of him and wondering at the gracious words, the literal translation now follows, the gracious words that were proceeding out of his mouth. The rest of verse 4 is found in verse 22, and here it’s not ascribed to God generally conceived, but of Christ himself as he speaks. As I said, Luke is the most clever.

    Now I want you to turn over to chapter 8. I want you to look at verse 39. You have here the story of the demoniac cured. Wonderful story, you know it well. But get the conclusion of it in Luke’s gospel, verse 39. Notice verse 38 first, “…but the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging him that he might accompany him, But he sent him away, saying, Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you. Keep reading now.

    And he departed, that is, the demoniac, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him. In the Greek, the words are the same. Jesus tells him, To tell everyone what great things God has done, the demoniac tells everybody what great things Jesus has done. What’s Luke’s point? Jesus is God. Here’s another passage which we won’t well on, but it appears in the trial of Christ. It has a parallel in Matthew’s gospel, but Luke 22, verse 65. Here Jesus is faced with his tormentors. This is Luke 22, verse 65.

    You have them blindfolding him. They were beating him and mocking him. They were asking him, saying, who is the one who hit you.” They were saying many things, many other things against him, and Luke adds the word blasphemy. Now, why should he add that word, blasphemy? Why, in their attack upon Jesus, they are attacking, in Jesus’ person, God himself. Their attacks are blasphemy. Our conclusion? Jesus is God. Let’s move on. Let’s move on past the synoptics. Let’s look at John’s Gospel. We won’t linger here because, you know, what is a bit cryptic in the synoptics is shouted from the rooftop plain as day in John’s gospel.

    There it is. You can’t even get past the opening words, and you’re bombarded with it. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. You move down to the fourteenth verse, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. There it is, the great wonderful matchless statement of the evangelist, John, as he proclaimed the deity of this one who is God in the flesh. There are a number of other affirmations, and many of them you’re familiar with.

    You recall his argument with the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem in the eighth chapter. Read the eighth chapter. Read it again and again. It’s high drama, it’s wonderfully riffing. It moves you right along to the conclusion of the matter as Jesus presses home the case of his identity.

    Verse 58, Jesus says this to these people, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was or was born, I am or I existed. Now, we all get the point, don’t we? The Jews got the point. Jesus actually, in that instance, used the divine name, I Am, for himself.

    So your teaching of John’s Gospel is that Jesus is God. Jesus says as much in the 30th verse of the 10th chapter, I and the Father are one. You might also know chapter 14, verse 9. He who has seen me has seen the Father. You might also want to take note, especially of that glorious, glorious twelfth chapter of John’s Gospel, that tremendous antidote to the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

    You have John there quoting the prophet Isaiah. You have him quoting from Isaiah’s sixth chapter. For this cause,” verse 39 of that twelfth chapter, “…for this cause they could not believe, speaking of these Jews. For Isaiah said again,” now quoting from that sixth chapter of Isaiah, “…he has blinded their eyes, he has hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and be converted, and I heal them.”

    That is the scene in which the glory of Jehovah appeared to Isaiah in the temple. Now hear what John says. These things Isaiah said, verse 41, because he saw his glory and spoke of him. What Isaiah saw of Jehovah’s glory in the temple was the glory of the Son of God, who is divine in himself. The glory of Jehovah is ascribed to Jesus. Underline that text, and the next time the JWs come and knock on your door, will you please show them that verse? Okay, well that’s John.

    What about Paul? We already know what Paul thinks from Philippians, but there are a couple of other texts that are worth noting, and one is Romans chapter 9. verse. Romans chapter nine. Verse. You might want to pick up from verse three for I could wish that I myself were a curse separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, you are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the temple service, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever, amen.” Another clear, unambiguous statement from the Apostle. with regard to the deity of Jesus Christ. For one being referred to here is none other than the Christ who has been mentioned. He is over all, God-blessed forever.

    Amen. Truly, amen. Turn over to Galatians. You don’t have to turn very far. It’s the first chapter of the first verse. Now, here’s a salutation to end all salutations. Paul, an apostle. Paul, an apostle, not sent from men. Get the drift of it now. Not sent from men. You understand that language now? Men. Over here. Okay? Not sent from men, nor through the agency of man. Over here.

    But through Jesus Christ, over against man, it is Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. Now, of course, Paul isn’t denying the humanity of Jesus Christ here, but he is certainly making it clear that as far as his call is concerned, he received it from God, and operative in that call was Jesus Christ as God, as divine.

    You have a number of other statements from Paul and Colossians, of course. You know those texts, possibly. There are some in Hebrews. We’ve already spoken of the doctrine as it is expounded in Hebrews, especially the eighth and ninth verses of that first chapter, but it is throughout. But finally, turning to the book of Revelation, and there are a number of affirmations of this doctrine in the book of Revelation, as you might well imagine, since it is written by John. He is the one who is so clear in his declaration of Christ’s divinity. But you might look at 5th chapter, and the conclusion of it, and the worship that is now given to the Lamb. Verse 12.

    Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing and every creative thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the land be blessing and honor and glory and power forever and ever And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen.

    And the elders fell down and worshipped. Now, were they just worshipping God as if He were separated from the Lamb? Or did they worship Him who was on the throne, seated, as well as the Lamb who was present with Him? These things that are now ascribed to the Lamb Are they not ascribed to him because of his divinity, his divine nature?

    The church is right. The church in her confession, in her orthodox profession, is correct. Is it not plain to you from Old Testament to New? The testimony is one. This one who has come, the one who takes the name of the Christ to himself, the one who is called Jesus, this one is God in the flesh.

    God himself judges it absolutely necessary that he become man. If he does not do this, then there is no one adequate to bear the burden of his wrath, which falls upon sin and sinners. Only God Himself can survive that judgment. Only God Himself can be victorious over the grave, death, was not able to hold him down. It was impossible for death to hold him down.

    That is the testimony of Peter. Only by the coming of himself to us could he repair the damage of that ruptured union. that spelled our root ruin. Only by this root could he repair that union and give blessing to us. There was no other way. He had to come himself.

    And only by his coming to us Could He open up for us in a final way His own heart, and make plain to us the extent and depth of His love for us? And likewise, only by coming to us in the form of human flesh could He open up for us our true nature, For we have lost sight of it. And have become utterly confused. If not completely disillusioned.

    So in this act by God. He exegetes himself. He explains himself. And he also explains you. To yourself. Who you are. For as he has proved to be servant for you. So you now by virtue of your union with him. Are to be servant one to another. well. Glorious stuff indeed. God. Become flesh.

    How can anyone question the testimony? Yes, they do. So tragically. If we confess it, do we not And will we not underscore our confession of it by the way we live? Yes. Affirming that God has come to save us, making himself servant on our behalf, will we not then give ourselves with abandonment for the sake of others? That all around might be helped. For Christ’s sake. Amen.

    How rich and diverse the testimony of your word, O God, but how wonderfully it evidences that unity, that common voice, that singular message from Old Testament to new. And in light of the glorious revelation that has come in Jesus Christ, we now bless the view Look upon our Old Testament and also our New Testament and understand the depths that are there. May we marvel, Lord, and may we glory in our God and not boast in ourselves. But help us, Lord, that we might live for you and please you as we live as those who are in union with the Christ who served. We pray, our Father, that we might delight in our service to you, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • The Poetry of Christ’s Humility

    The Poetry of Christ’s Humility

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, August 18, 1991.

    About this sermon

    Philippians 2:5-11 has a poetic structure, and like other poetry in Scripture it carries theological weight through its form. Christ’s glory before the incarnation, when he was already worshipped, shows how far his humility descended. The whole poem declares salvation by Christ alone.

    More sermons from Philippians · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    Our scripture reading this morning is from Philippians 1, at least we begin there. Philippians 1, verse 27, and we will be reading through verse 11 of the second chapter. Listen to the word of God. Only let your conversation be as become as the gospel of Christ.

    But whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and with nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God. For unto you is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which he saw in me, and now here to be in me. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bounds and mercies, Fulfill you my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

    Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in loneliness of mind let each esteem the other better than himself. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind deem you which was also in Christ Jesus. who, being in the form of God, thought it not worthy to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

    Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

    Pray with me now. Our Father, if we expect others in other parts of the world to heed your word, to be attentive, to listen, we ask, Lord, that we might be. Our Father, we would then humble ourselves before you. We would learn from you. we would be instructed in your word, and that for our own health and well-being. But how mindful we are at the same time of those throughout the world who are being addressed by your word at this time, and how mindful we are of your servants whom you have raised up to declare your greatness and your excellency throughout the earth. We pray, Lord, that you would empower your word and your servants who bear it, and that we might hear of the marvelous things that are done even now by our God in calling many to salvation. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    I think that we would all admit to the uniqueness of the passage that we have before us this morning, and I have in mind specifically verses 5 through 11 of that second chapter in Philippians. This is indeed one of those unique passages that we find in Scripture. A passage that seemingly leaps off the page at us. A passage that confronts us, and that unmistakably, with certain truths. We are driven by a text like this, in ways we might not be otherwise, to consider the implications of exactly what is declared in those verses. Now the uniqueness for yourself may have been that ordeal that was visited upon you in your youth, when your parents made you memorize scripture. And probably this was one of the tests that they put in front of you and asked you to commit to memory, and I’m sure that there are many here today who could rattle these verses off from memory.

    But they are unique. They are wonderfully extraordinary, and that for a number of reasons, some of those reasons we will consider this morning. I think up front, right away, what we can see from these verses is the fact that there is a uniqueness to them just because of their form. Simply because of their form. There is something poetic about these verses. They run very nicely, don’t they? They almost scan, using those terms that poets and literature majors know. There’s a structure, a form to these verses that helps it stand out from the page. helps it to compel our attention. Now the outline of these verses is very simple, almost in poetic form.

    Verse 5, have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, there it is, verse 5, is an introductory imperative. The imperative is command. So you have Paul giving us this imperative, this command, to have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

    And then, as if perfectly framed, as if perfectly framed, you have the subsequent verses, 6 through 11, that break in two very neatly. The first stanza, if you will, is verses 6 through 8. You may want to look over those verses quickly if you have your Bibles open in front of you. You will see that these verses have to do with Christ’s pre-incarnate glory and his subsequent humiliation. Now, am I speaking English to everyone? And these verses, six through eight, deal with Christ’s pre-incarnate glory and his subsequent humiliation.

    Now, by pre-incarnate, what do I mean? Are you familiar with the term incarnation? As we refer to Christ and his incarnation, what do we have in mind? Well, we have his birth, when Christ was enfleshed. That’s what we mean by incarnation, when he was born of Mary. But this text speaks of his pre-incarnate, his pre-enfleshment state, and the glory attended to it.

    And as you move through these verses 6-8, you end then with the subsequent humiliation of Christ. How Christ moved from this pre-enfleshment state to enfleshment. He came into the world, and he was subjected then to the abuse of men and ultimately to death.

    Then verses 9 through 11. Again, neatly paralleling, matching, somewhat in form and structure, if not in weight, because it’s as if we have two stanzas here running consecutively, the worth of each being equal. And in this latter section, verses 9 through 11, we have God the Father’s exaltation of his Son. So the first stanza deals with Christ’s pre-incarnate state of his humiliation. And then, verses 9 through 11, the second stanza, if you will, deals with God the Father’s exaltation of his Son because of his Son’s obedience. He exalts him to glory and gives him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, every tongue confess.

    Now we could go through the passage, and I’m not going to do that this morning, but we could go through the passage and draw this out a bit to show you just how balanced these stanzas are. We could review them somewhat in terms of their cadence, how they move along poetically, if you will, but instead of that I’m going to move on to the conclusions that some people have drawn from the observation that we have here is something that is extraordinary, something that is truly unique. There are those who have suggested that these verses are actually an independent hymn. The style, the form of it is so poetic that they have suggested that what Paul did was he took a hymn that the church sang and incorporated it into his letter at this point. There are others who have not been willing to go in that direction, in the direction of a unique hymn being incorporated by Paul into his letter, but they have said that Zuhab hears something that seems to have been meant for congregational recitation.

    Being written in this form, it’s particularly well adapted to oral recitation, even congregational recitation, as if people could stand and recite this together as the people of God. Now there are other examples of this in scripture. Have you noticed how wonderfully conducive the Lord’s prayer is to public recitation? I think that that may well be evidence that when Jesus places that prayer in front of his disciples, he does not mean that to be merely a private prayer that we offer by ourselves, but it seems especially well suited for congregational recitation.

    Congregation corporately praying. There are other texts in the New Testament that have been cited for their poetic form, as if they had something of a life of their own. You might turn to 1 Timothy 3. The 16th verse has a very powerful statement there laid out by the Apostle once more.

    This is 1 Timothy 3.16. some marvelous text that just rattles right off, or runs right off your tongue as you’re reading it.

    By common confession, that is the word, common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. And then the apostle says, he was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, beheld by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in the glory. That’s marvelous stuff. Just because of its sheer poetry, but of course the content makes it all the more extraordinary.

    Well, could it be that here in Philippians 2 that we do have an example of some form that was used, be it a hymn or be it a confession by the Church in its worship? I know that a lot of people looking into this passage along these lines have run rather rapidly quite far in certain directions.

    They have said, for instance, that here we have New Testament justification for the writing of hymns and the singing of hymns, as opposed to singing only psalms. I think that most of you realize that we Presbyterians have our roots. in the Reclamation, and that our forefathers didn’t sing hymns, they only sang psalms. We’re trying to steer the middle course, you know, we have the Book of Psalms, we also have the hymnal, so we’re moving along with both psalms and hymns. Some have suggested that the biblical justification for the singing of hymns is found in a text like this, where possibly, conceivably, This was a hymn that was sung by the Church, and that Paul is incorporating it into his letter, it being very appropriate to the matter at hand. There are others who have suggested that if this is a confessional form, it would have a difficult justification for liturgies, and for prayer books, and for elaborate prayer books, and so on and so forth.

    Well, I’m not going to deal with these matters this morning, but I’m just pointing out the various issues that have been raised in light of the structural consideration of the text itself. I want to get on then to a second reason as to why this text stands out and this more important.

    This text stands out because of what it tells us about Jesus Christ. Be it a hymn, be it a confession, be it the words of Paul himself, it stands out because of what it tells us about Jesus Christ. For example, here is a direct, clear statement. about Christ’s pre-incarnate existence. Not only is this text unique, taking the form that it does, but it speaks of one who is unique in himself. If the text doesn’t leap off the page, failure, the one of whom the text speaks, should leap for you, presenting themselves to you in all His magnificence, and specifically in His pre-incarnate glory.

    We’ve noticed already that verses 6-8 move from Christ’s pre-incarnate state to His incarnate state, from His pre-enfleshment to His enfleshment. You might note in verse 7 that Paul tells us that he was made in the likeness of men, and he repeats that thought in verse 8. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbles himself. But it’s not as if the Christ comes into existence when he is enfleshed, when he becomes a man. For Paul is clearly teaching us that this one had existence before he became a man. Now, you must be gripped by the uniqueness of this claim, this assertion by the apostle.

    Can what is said here of Christ be said of anyone else? Can it be said of angels? Can it be said of demons? Can it be said of any other human being? I believe that your answer to that question is no, it cannot be said of any other creature. It cannot be said of any other being. The one who is presented here, then, is only unique. He is set apart.

    There are those in the history of the world who have taught some form of pre-life. That is, before we come into this world, we have had an existence somewhere else. Plato, the philosopher, taught the eternality of the soul, that the soul was eternal, and that the souls were placed into bodies so that we had existence, as it were, even before we had form and substance in this creation. That was Plato’s teaching. There were the mystery religions of the ancient world that taught that there was a prototype human being who hovered somewhere in the heavens. And that prototype human being is the key to understanding all of reality. That prototype human being was the one who mediated the eternal to the tantra. But that figure in those mystery religions was nonetheless a creature.

    So there have been those who have taught It is a pre-life form, and what do we say today in light of the New Age movement? What do we say in light of those who teach the doctrine of reincarnation? Certainly we come from somewhere, they say. And we’ve gone to somewhere, have we not? And you’re on the wheel, you’re continually returning, and hopefully somewhere along the line you will come to Nirvana. Well, there are many then who have taught some form of pre-life.

    But even against the background of those who teach such things, Jesus Christ is utterly unique in the presentation of the apostle. What is said of him can be said of no one else. It cannot be said of angels or demons or any other human being. Just how unique is this one who is presented here for us? How unique is Jesus Christ? Not only do we have here then a direct and clear statement of Christ’s pre-incarnate existence, we have here a direct and clear statement of Christ’s essential deity.

    And at the same time, an unembarrassed affirmation of his humanity. We are told right away in verse 6, he existed in the form of God. How do you look at him? A great man? A worthy teacher? Maybe the greatest the world has ever seen? Extraordinary, unique personality? Magnetic in every way? Or do you see him as God? worthy of worship, worthy of your adoration, worthy of your acknowledgement.

    Yes, the Apostle is saying here that the Christ is God. He existed in the form of God. He also says he was equal with God, but he did not consider that equality with God a thing to be grasped, a thing to hold on to, a thing to take advantage of. Therefore, the text goes on to tell us that he emptied himself of his divine prerogatives, and he became man. Not that he was no longer God, he was, although his prerogatives were, as it were, in shadow.

    But here, in this text, underscoring its uniqueness, is the foundation statement that helped the Church so much in the first three centuries of her existence to formulate clearly the doctrine of our Savior’s person and nature. Mostly we confess, we confess that this One is God and man, two natures in one person forever. We, with the Nicene Creed, confess him to be very God of very God, and we approach him as such.

    If he were here today, what would your response be? If he were here in your midst, in his flesh, what would your response be? Would it not be pulling yourself down at his feet and worshiping him and adoring him? Would that not be your response? Well, let me tell you. He is here. He is here in his spirit. And in your spirit, you are to be doing precisely that.

    Yes, I’m sure that many of us may say, without any hesitation, I love Jesus Christ. Let me prod you a bit, so that you might say, I worship Jesus Christ. So here is a direct and clear statement from the apostle concerning Christ’s pre-incarnate existence, and here is a direct and clear statement of Christ’s essential deity, as well as his complete humanity. But moving on, with respect to Christ, in these verses we also have a direct and clear statement about Christ’s inner disposition. Do you think you can know the mind of Christ? Do you think it’s possible for you to know how Christ thinks? Is it possible for you to know the thought processes of Jesus Christ? Can you get inside the man?

    The text says yes. The text tells you that you have in front of you an opening up of the inner disposition of Jesus Christ, both in his deity and in his humanity. And that the inner disposition of Jesus Christ is the same in his deity and in his humanity. Verses 6 and 7 tell us, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but voluntarily emptied himself. Here is the affirmation of Christ’s love, even from before his incarnation, even before his infestation. What is set at the center of your Savior is his love.

    He empties himself, and that freely and voluntarily. So in his pre-incarnate state, in his essential deity, as he is contemplating the world, as he is contemplating his mission in it, he does not grab hold of that deity as an excuse to free him from that demand that is now laid upon his heart to come into the world to save sinners. Rather, he gives himself over to it. He empties himself, as it were, of his divine ferocity.

    He enters into the world, taking upon himself our flesh. that he might endure our punishment upon the cross, taking our sins to himself, in order that we might go free. Well, that’s the heart of Christ and his essential deity, but what do we find to be true of him in his humanity? We’re told that he humbled himself by becoming obedient. In his deity he becomes servant, and in his humanity he proves to be servant. He becomes obedient even unto death, and that’s the death of the cross.

    So there is that thread of servanthood that runs through Christ, be he in pre-incarnate state or in incarnate state, be it before his enfleshment or after his enfleshment. There is that line that runs through him, Christ the servant giving himself in love.

    Now, interestingly, this specific text does not tell us explicitly why Christ did this. And you might surmise from reading on to the conclusion of this section through verse 11 that he did it because he wanted to gain greater glory for himself. He got the name that was above every name, didn’t he? Everybody is going to bow down to Him and acknowledge Him in the end, are they not? Why, obviously, Jesus did it because it had the promise in it of greater glory for Himself. But there is an element, there is an element, of Jesus doing these things for the greater glory of his Father, the greater glory of the kingdom of God, the greater glory that would be conferred upon him. Yes, I cannot deny that. The essential ingredient that is assumed in this text is that he did it for you. That’s the way it is.

    Not for himself, not what he could get out of it, but for you. Isn’t that the appeal that’s being made in the context of the passage itself? Paul is saying in verse 3, do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, that each of you regard one another as more important than himself. Do not merely look on from your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

    And from there he leads into this section that says, have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus. As we are to do good for others, becoming one another’s servants, so Christ has become servant for us. His servant for being indeed, to be true, to be sure. In that by root of His service, we are saved. He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. There’s one other point, and I want to quickly deal with it here in conclusion.

    The third reason why this text stands out is because of what it tells us about God the Father. Are you confused as to what God is all about? God is about the business of exalting his Son. Are you in agreement with God? God the Father says there is an exclusivity to my Son, no one else sharing it. Are you in agreement with God? Is Jesus exclusive for you? Or are there other ways of salvation? Are there many? Are there other names out there? Are there a multiplicity of avenues and roads that we might take?

    This tells us, unambiguously, that the Father has conferred upon the Christ an exclusivity of devotion, worship, and adoration, and we are called to be in agreement with him about that. There is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved.” sets that name before the world and calls for a decision on behalf of the world with respect to that name.

    That is why we are about the business of missions and evangelism. That’s why we are engaged in the work of preaching the gospel to an unbelieving world. But am I speaking to anyone here today who is confused about this matter? who is not convinced, if you are going to be in agreement with the Father, then own the exclusivity of the Son. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man, no man, comes unto the Father but by me. So then the Father would have the peoples of the world honor him by honoring the Son, and he would have his Church honor him by expressing in themselves the very life and attitude and inner disposition of Christ. So not just a message here to an unbelieving world. that a message to a believing church, that there might be found amongst us that servant-mindedness that characterizes Christ. Is it not evident?

    The phone rings, the plea for help comes, the response from so many of you, not just for those who are sick, but for those who are in any trouble. Why is it that I love Grace Church so much? I’ve been away. I couldn’t wait to get back. The reason is, you see, because there is a fellowship here. There’s wonder. There’s a responsiveness. to other people that is so extraordinary. And in that, you see, the mind of Christ is being exhibited. You then, being challenged by these words.

    You, a servant also, in the similitude of Christ, is one you own as your Savior. Let us pray. us deeply, Lord, into your word and into a text like we have before us, which has meant so much to the Church through the ages. May this text be a blessing to us, as it has been a blessing to your people, so that we might affirm Christ’s greatness in all of its particulars. And, Lord, while we love him, we would worship and serve him as he served, and proved himself obedient, even though it carried him through suffering. We know, our Father, that our obedience may likewise carry us through suffering, but as there has been glory for our Savior, so there is glory promised to us. We ask our Lord that we might serve as he served, giving ourselves for the sake of others, leaving our future in your hands, with whom it is well secure. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • The Corporate Mind of Christ

    The Corporate Mind of Christ

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, August 18, 1991.

    About this sermon

    Philippians 2:5’s ‘let this mind be in you’ addresses the whole church together. Heavenly citizenship and the three means of grace share that corporate dimension, though readers easily individualize them. Once again the imperative lives inside the indicative.

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    Sermon transcript

    Tonight we begin our scripture reading with Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 6. Let us hear the word of God. Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?

    Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death in order that as Christ was raised from the dead, through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again. Death no longer is master over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

    Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts. Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. for sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be.

    Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death The thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and had been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in total lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves to sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore, what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are not ashamed?

    For the outcome of those things is death. Now, having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Have this attitude among yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus.”

    Our Father, we ask that as you address us, we would be conscious all the more of the scope and the dimensions of your Church. We are asking, Lord, that we would not merely focus upon ourselves. Rather, Lord, may we be concerned about others. Lord, this does not come easily for us. We must be trained in it and that by your word. We ask, Lord, that for our good, then, we would be drawn to your word and disciplined by it.

    We are asking, Father, that we might be also disciplined well within the confines of our church and congregation, that we would respect those who are over us in the Lord. that we would render service to you by giving honor to them. We pray for the elders of this church. We pray for Steve Yonch, for Jonathan Stark. We are asking you that you might mercifully deal with them so that they would be encouraged in their service and that in part that encouragement may come from us. We pray too, Lord, for those who have been called to service. We think of Mr. Keystone. We think also of Mr. Billingsley. We are asking, Lord, that in their service they may be an example to us that we might serve all the better.

    And how we ask you for the well-being of your church universal, that there might be respect for you in the respect that is offered up to those who you’ve put over us. So we ask that your church may see the offices of the church aright, and we pray, Father, that truly your people might be blessed as they are granted good and strong and forthright and perceptive and wise Our Father, we know that the ministry of the Word is a matter of concern all of its own. We would plead with You on behalf of Your Church through the world that there would be servants for Your sake who would love You above all else and be concerned to set forth Your Word before the people. Hear us, our God. We pray these things through Christ, who is himself the living word. Amen.

    This morning, you may recall, we laid out for you the pattern for that passage that has a unique quality all of its own, this passage in Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 through 11. The outline was simple enough, and I expect that a number of you could recall it just off the top of your head.

    We have first of all the imperative thumb call, verse 5. We then have verses 6 through 8, which compose a stanza in themselves. Those verses are dealing with the pre-incarnate glory of Christ and his subsequent humiliation. This is then followed by verses 9-11 that speak of the Father’s glorification of the Son and the exaltation that belongs to the Son, to which then we are invited as we bow our knees and confess with our lips that Jesus Christ is in fact Lord. Well, it’s a marvelous text, and tonight we want to work a little bit more deeply into verse 5, the Apostle’s imperative. That verse reads this way, in the New American Standard, had this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. Paul’s imperative done tonight.

    Now, in getting a line on this imperative, the question that I want to put to you first of all is this. Which takes priority? Which has the primacy? As far as this text is concerned, the individual or the corporate? Do you understand the question? which has the priority, as far as this text is concerned, the individual or the corporate? Now, by the corporate I mean the body, the community, the church, looked upon as a third Now, I think that it is our habit of mind to almost invariably respond to that without thinking much about it. The individual, of course.

    We are conservatives after all. We are orthodox in our conservatism. And a hallmark of conservatism is that ascendancy of and primacy of the individual. Do we not believe that we must come to Christ one by one, that we must close with him, that we must make personal decisions for Christ, that Christ must come into our heart individually? Yes, we do believe those things. Having said that, we have not concluded the matter as far as this particular text is concerned, for there is fear. the primacy of the corporate.

    Now that might not be apparent to you if you have the King James in front of you. King James reads this way, have this mind in you. It’s not clear whether that you is singular or plural. Have this mind in you. Focus could be quite individually focused. is to move in the direction of the individual even as we have that authorized version in front of us, or have that shore up our individual conviction. So it is the habit of mind, when we come to this text, to approach it in that individual fashion, as we’ve called referring primarily to the Christian individual’s psychological state, or the Christian individual’s inner state. I think that you recognize, however, that the you, even of the authorized version, is plural, not singular. That is, have this mind in you, and not collectively, and not primarily, first of all, individually.

    The New American Standard, however, attempts to retain the individualistic sense of the passage. This is how it reads in the New American Standard one more time. Have this attitude in yourselves, because also in Christ Jesus, even though the word there is plural, the focus, the force, the direction of that translation tends to be individualistic. But the advantage of the New American Standard is this, it has those great marginal notes. You might note the marginal note, well this particular verse suggests that the phrase could be translated, have this mind among yourselves. A translation then that brings out clearly the corporate sense of the verse.

    Maybe more effectively we could translate the first part of Philippians 2.5 this way. Have this mind in your church, which was also in Christ Jesus. Have this mind in the community of faith, which was also in Christ Jesus. This position which I’m taking, the primacy of the corporate, is reinforced by what we in the context of the passage.

    Paul, in this section, is concerned about the way in which the Philippians are treating one another. It seems as if, from the last part of the first chapter, that situation has developed in Philippi where persecution has overtaken the Church there as it has been visited upon Paul in prison in Rome, parallel between their situations. But in the midst of this suffering now that has come upon the Philippian saints, there has been a turning upon one another. There has been an attack upon the unity of the congregation. So you have, Paul, the beginning of the second chapter speaking this way.

    If, therefore, there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, by being corporately focused again, love for one another, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, with any affection or compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, corporate focus there, maintaining the same love, united in Spirit, intent on one purpose, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, we each of you regard one another as more important than themselves. You’re not merely to look out for your own personal interests, there’s the individualistic concern against which now the Apostle is in vain. He places over against that these words, but also look to the interests of others. So the corporate focus, the community, the Church, the end of selfishness, the end of self-centeredness, That’s what the Church is all about, as this life is worth us within a community where we are bound together in a common faith. But look at verse 14 of this chapter also, that which follows on the heels of this marvelous text we have before us. In Philippians 2, 5-11, verse 14 says, do all things without grumbling or disputing.

    Now, why is it that Paul has to say that? Obviously, because there was a lot of grumbling and a lot of disputing. So you have, then, the corporate focus to hold the Church in view as Paul speaks. It’s not just my own personal attitude. It’s not just what I feel inside, it’s not just my inner disposition, it’s not just me personally with God and with Christ cultivating a relationship with Him, but it is that corporate dimension as the very life of Christ is coming to expression in the whole body. I might suggest as well that this is confirmed by the larger context for this section of Paul’s epistle. You may recall that when we were dealing with verse 27 of chapter 1, we went to great lengths to draw out in that text the proper dimensions that Paul has laid before us. Those proper dimensions to be characterized under the heading of citizenship. Paul’s concern is for Christian citizenship.

    By that, their citizenship in the commonwealth of Christ, or their citizenship in the commonwealth of the kingdom of heaven. These Philippians, though they may pride themselves in their Roman citizenship, are above all citizens of the kingdom of heaven, to the commonwealth of Christ.

    So that we might well translate that twenty-seventh verse of the first chapter this way. which is centered in heaven by behavior worthy of the gospel of Christ. Demonstrate your citizenship, which has its orientation in heaven, by behavior worthy of the gospel of Christ. Now, this scheme of citizenship will peak In an explicit passage later on in the epistle, you can turn to the 3rd chapter, the 20th verse, where Paul says, “…for our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” This fifth verse of the second chapter there, then where we have Paul writing, have this mind among yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, also claims upon that theme of citizenship.

    These Christian folk belong to the commonwealth of Christ, a heavenly commonwealth. Their citizenship is, first of all, above. Now, just speaking about that citizenship, we have more in mind than just individual considerations. These people are looked upon as a body, as a nation, as a people. They are looked upon as a whole, bound together. Now, I cannot stress this too much. You may feel I’ve stressed it too much already, but I can’t stress it too much.

    There are lots of complaints about the Church. I have heard complaints within our own Church. There’s not enough fellowship. I don’t feel as if People are warming up to me enough. There’s a lot of concern about fellowship and the interaction of peoples. And I would suggest to you that it is particularly this individualistic domination in our thinking that destroys our ability to rightly and properly have fellowship among ourselves, to even cultivate, to even promote it. We may talk a lot about fellowship when it gets right down to it, we want to keep people at arm’s length. Or it may even be worse. We may talk a great deal about fellowship and complain about the fact that people don’t pay enough attention to us. But yet, if the truth were told, we would find out that we are more spongers than we are givers. We absorb more than we give out. We’re not really interested in giving, we’re interested in taking.

    It is the corporate concern of the body of Christ that disciplines us as we think of matters as mundane, at least it has become mundane, matters as mundane as fellowship in our own personal interaction with other people. How do we train ourselves to think about others first, their concerns, their needs? How do we give ourselves to them, rather than thinking about ourselves first of all, rather than glorying in individualism, glorying in the corporate nature of the body of Christ.

    While there is that within our fellowship, I also know and rejoice in the magnanimous spirit of this congregation, the generosity, the kindness, the open-heartedness, the open-handedness. I rejoice in that, wherein the wonders of that heavenly citizenship, that Christ-mindedness, is evident. I could go on with respect at this point a bit further. That is to ask you about the means of grace. Can you name the means of grace? They’ve been traditionally formulated. How many are there? Three. And what might they be?

    What are those ways by which God communicates to us regularly His grace, His blessing? Well, the Word, sacraments, and prayer. Now our tendency is when we come to the Word and we look at prayer, we treat them individualistically. It’s my prayers, it’s my Bible reading and my personal Bible study. That’s not the primary focus of the means of grace. The primary focus of the means of grace is the corporate dimension. We hear the word of God together. That’s why church is so important. The assembly of the saints is so essential.

    Do you think that everybody had their own Bible? Even at the time of the Reformation, they didn’t. Where were they going to hear it? They had to go to church to hear it. Was it one’s mere personal interaction with the Word of God, having their own individual copy of that Bible, that was in view when the means of grace were being discussed? Was the corporate dimension, the people hearing the Word of God in the assembly and taking what they heard, told of them? Committing them even to memory and living by it.

    The same with regard to prayer. As important as our personal prayer life is, the focus of the means of prayer is not, first of all, individual prayer, but it’s corporate prayers, coming together, learning of what needs to be prayed for in the assembly, and taking those needs to ourselves, taking those needs home, and giving ourselves to them for the sake of others. You can’t pray for yourself all the time, you have to pray for other people. So the corporate focus comes out once more. Can it be clear to us, it must be clear to us, if we would consider the means of grace of the Fatherless?

    How many times have I stressed this with you? Our experience with the sacrament is that, first of all, we’re individual. Do we baptize our kids in a bathtub at home? Do we spit a little water in from the spigot out of the bachelors? No! We bring them to church. It’s a corporate experience. We don’t believe in personal, individual, private baptisms. No, we don’t! We stand against them. And what about communion? Well, it’s me with a jug of wine and a loaf of bread in my kitchen. No, it’s not! But Jesus speaks for them! If we’re wrong, that’s exactly what they taught.

    It’s the corporate focus of the means of grace, and we are disciplined by that. Well, each of us in our own way. And that includes me, needs to get out, needs to get out of ourselves and up and out of our small little world into the glorious expanse of the commonwealth of Christ in view of our citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. And we’re not there alone. Now, have this attitude among yourselves within the congregation that was also in Christ Jesus. the corporate focus of the text.

    Now secondly, I put this question to you. Is this verse concerned purely with the ethical, or is it concerned with the redemptive historical? Is the concern of this discourse purely ethical, or is it redemptive historical in nature? Purely ethical would approach the passage this way. This text deals exclusively with the inner disposition of Christ. the inner attitude of Christ, the psychology of Christ, and says, Christ was like this, now you be like him. You might say, that sounds strangely like the sermon I heard this morning. And if that is what you got out of that sermon, I repent.

    The purely ethical approaches the text this way. When it speaks about the mind of Christ, it has in view Christ’s inner disposition and says, Christ was like this and you ought to be like him. What does the redemptive historical approach say? The redemptive historical approach brings in view God’s work of redemption and places that at the center of the text. so that the phrase, in Christ Jesus, becomes a very exacting and technical phrase. The words, in Christ Jesus, then, do not really introduce us to the inner disposition of Christ along an ethical line, but the whole environment procured by Christ in his Satan work, into which we have been introduced. and that by grace.

    Therefore, we would better translate this text as this, have this mind among yourselves, within your congregation, which is consistent with the fact that you are in Christ Jesus. Have this mind among you, within your church, which is consistent with the fact that you are in Christ Jesus.

    Now, I hope that you’re with me here. I want to draw this out a little bit more for you and delineate the difference between the two approaches. The first one, the purely ethical, says this, Here’s Christ, you measure up to Him. In other words, become what you are not as yet.

    It is this position that has led, tragically and repeatedly, even amongst Reformed people, to a legalism and a moralism that has been utterly destructive of the gospel. And why? Because it countermands grace. and transforms our faith into a religion of works. What does the other position say?

    It says this, here is Christ Jesus and what he has done for us, live in him and from him. In other words, be what you are. Be what you have been made to be by the grace of God. You are citizens of the commonwealth of heaven by grace, now act like it.

    There is a completely different psychology at work in this latter position as opposed to the former. And I might say that it is actually the latter position that saves the ethical, for the ethical is not forgotten. Did you hear it? You are a citizen of the commonwealth of heaven.

    By grace, now act like it. There is an imperative there, there is a command, but the imperative is based squarely upon the indicative of God’s gracious action on our behalf. What we couldn’t do, God has done in Christ, and that is what makes the gospel the gospel, and we must not sacrifice that anywhere along the line of our confession, anywhere along the line of our commitment. This latter position then, the redemptive historical that grounds then the experience of the people of God in the reality of Christ’s work on their behalf, is productive of unparalleled praise to God and gratitude to Him for so great a salvation. The weight of it is this.

    Here we are told that we are sons already. We do not need to become sons. We, who have entered into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, are sons. And now, being sons, we are asked to live as sons. It’s not as if we don’t have access to the house. We have access to the house. now live in it and from it. The other position would have it that we need to become sons, that we are not yet in the house.

    We might get it someday if we measure up. The seriousness of all of this is that the one position is the gospel, the other position is not. Have this attitude among yourselves in your church, which you have found to be in Christ Jesus. Live consistently, live consistently that citizenship which has been conferred upon you by grace. Be what you are. Well, Paul’s imperative, an imperative that is well within your grasp and well within your ability because of all the treasures and all the graces that are accessible to you by grace in Christ. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Fishers of Men

    Fishers of Men

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, July 28, 1991.

    About this sermon

    The sea carries symbolic weight in Scripture, and Christ masters it again and again, which frames the breakfast on the shore in John 21. Christ and the church together fish for men, and Christ renews that calling for Peter after his denial. Partaking rightly of the Lord’s Supper belongs to the same restored calling.

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    Sermon transcript

    Then our picture reading begins in John’s Gospel, the twenty-first chapter. John’s Gospel, the twenty-first chapter, beginning with verse one. Here is the word of God. After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. And on this lie showed he himself.

    There were together Simon Peter and Thomas, called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. When the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat?

    They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find They passed their floor, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishers. Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved, that saith unto Peter, is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girthed his fisher’s coat unto him, for he was naked, and he did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little ship. were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits, dragging the net with fishes. At soon then, as they were come to land, they saw a fire of foals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, a hundred and fifty and three. And for all that, and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.

    Jesus saith unto them, Come, and dine. And none of the disciples thereof asked him, Who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord? Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than thee?

    He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

    Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou art young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest with her, thou wouldst But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shalt gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldst not. This spake he, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.” Then from Philippians chapter 2, verses 5-8, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in passion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Thank you.

    The text says, at the Sea of Tiberias. At the opening of John 21, the text says, at the Sea of Tiberias. That sea, that body of water, commonly known by another title, the Sea of Galilee. but here so called because it itself has been overshadowed by Jewish and Roman, Semitic and Gentile politics. Herod Antipas, the ignominious son of a more ignominious man, Herod the Great, has built a new capital city for Galilee along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and he has called this city, after the name of the present Caesar, Tiberius. And now he is bringing pressure to bear upon the entirety of the territory under his survey, that all in that territory might call the sea, formerly called the Sea of Galilee, by Caesar’s name, the Sea of Tiberias.

    So it is at the Sea of Tiberias in the night, as the darkness deepens, that a group of seven men led by one named Simon Peter, launches out to fish into the night. As if they had nothing else to do, Peter speaking for them all, I go a fishing. They set out then across the waters of the sea of Tiberias in seek, in search of satisfaction. In search of fish that will satisfy, meat that will satisfy, fish to be eaten, fish to be sold. in an affirmation of their lives, taking up a task that has an importance of itself, a confirmation of the creation order, if you will.

    In this creation, men go fishing. They do things that are important, and in pursuing these things, they lend to themselves a sense of well-being. They lend to themselves a sense of value and worth. Men doing fishing are deeply into reality, the stuff of life. So out upon the sea they go. Going out upon the sea there is this marriage of the task of fishing with the enterprise of life itself. So when they embark upon their trip it’s like you see in their little journey something of their journey in and through the world. Men will work. Men will make money. Men will catch a catch of fish for profit and for self affirmation.

    But there is also that which speaks to them of the brooding troubles in and of the waters. Just as in life there are threats, so upon the sea all the threats of life are compounded. The waves themselves dissolve, they rise, they dissolve. There is the uncertainty of the sea. Who knows what the face of the sea will be in the next moment? The sea itself speaks of chaos. The waters may even represent an abyss, a gaping and insatiable mouth that would devour.

    Written in and upon these waters then is the sign of those waters that we read about in creation. The Spirit himself then hovering upon the face of the waters to calm them in order to bring order. With regard to these waters we hear about the Word of God that separates the waters from the waters and causes the dry land to appear. We may even hear within these waters, in the roar of a wave, the voices of those who have gone down into the depths, even those who went down into the depths in the days of Noah. We may see a banner read out across these waters, the Red Sea. there to see the salvation of the people of God and also hear the cries of the Egyptians as they are overcome.

    We may hear the cry of the psalmist as he speaks about a descent into the waters as if he was descending into the grave. We may even hear the voice of Jonah the prophet as he is thrown overboard and swallowed up by a great fish. and is overcome and overwhelmed with the threat of death. Or there may be the intimation of demons themselves. Demons once inhabiting men who are cast into a lot of swine on a hillside. who then rush down a bank and over a precipice and into the gaping jaw of the waters and there drown. Yes, the sea and life itself and as with life all of the threats that are signaled in the waters themselves But Herod says, this is Caesar’s sea. This is Tiberius’s sea. It belongs to him. He rules. He owns. It is his possession.

    And we, who are lesser luminaries, lesser lights in the world, our purpose is to serve these greater lights and bring honor to these greater lights by our accomplishments, the things that we can do in their service, and thus help ourselves, of course. But now we have these seven fishermen who had launched out into the night of such a world. And even though they labor, toil, extend their energies, do what they ought to do, do as fishermen do, though they give themselves over to the realities of life, Those realities demanding hard work, they labor into and through the night, they catch absolutely nothing.

    In the light of the early morning, I see a figure on the shore. He appears distantly. He speaks. He speaks through the distances, through the mists of the morning light. As the light of dawn rises upon the seven and the empty world and their discontent. You went out upon the waters to find that which would satisfy you, that which would affirm your existence and the reality of all things about you, and you end up with nothing. A stranger says, throw your nets on the right side of the boat.

    It’s not just a suggestion, it is a command. As if now there comes forth from this one a command over the sea of Tiberius, imagine it, a command over the sea of Tiberius, the emperor of Rome, and all that that entails. And this one exhibiting a mastery, a supremacy unmatched, almost as if He speaks from a place that is His and His alone, as if the shore belongs to Him. And not only that, the waters obey His commands. They are His as well as that boat and the men who are in that boat. The seven obey. They throw the net on the other side. The sea itself capitulates. It yields up treasure, a net full of fish. And at that moment, the one who loved Jesus says, it is the Lord. It is the Lord.

    That one from whom alone their satisfaction will come, This one who alone rises, no, all rises, as if by resurrection, a resurrection appearance manifestation to reveal himself in the early light of the dawning day for the purpose of disclosing his sovereignty over Caesar’s world and all worlds. It is this one, then, who will send forth the little boat of his church into the world, threatened though it is, for a great catch. It might then be said, if there is an answer to the futility of men, even as they partake deeply of life’s reality, even as they go fishing and engage themselves in common tasks, if there is to be anything that redeems them in the midst of this, it will be in light of the great catch that is being harvested for God, for Christ, for the kingdom of the Lord. Every task will have its affirmation in light of this task and in relationship to it. The emptiness you feel, the frustration you experience, the distress that you know in your jobs, will they not, all of these problems, be dispelled in light of the great task? the commissioning of the Church, as we all are related to the Gospel and its progress.

    But the story is hardly over. Lessons about Jesus’ sovereignty come fast and hard upon the heels of this great display of might Caesar’s sea of power Herod’s complicity and schemes his plot will offer their own Temptations to a little ship adrift as it were upon the waters of this world There are after all advantages to be found in the world and There are advantages, after all, to acknowledging Caesar’s sovereignty. There are advantages to be found even in Herod’s court. We all know that. There are ways in which we might proceed, ways in which we might learn how to exercise power, how to use our influence, how to assert our privilege of position, how to use it, how to manipulate, how to organize, how to structure, how to bring people under our rule, under our thumb.

    There are churches like that, you know. But Jesus on the shore has prepared lessons in grace for his little band. He has already prepared breakfast when they arrive. They’ve labored. They caught fish. Jesus has even invited them to bring some of the catch to lay on the fire. But yet, they are fed by Him, because the sufficiency is found to be in Him alone, and that all of grace. In all that we gain, in all that is given to us, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is exalted.

    It is extolled so that we must never think more highly of ourselves and our efforts than we ought. And note him who speaks here. He is among the seven as one who serves Indeed, he comes to them by the root of his service. So while it is true that he commands the church, that he commands Caesar’s sea, while it’s true that he commands the realm of Herod’s various intrigues, while it’s true that he even commands the chaotic world and the abyss of death and hell, he is among us as the one who serves. The Lord is the servant. And now he pursues a course with the seven that is designed to press them into his service so that theirs matches his.

    He loves his flock so much that he became a lamb, that through the sacrifice of himself upon the cross, he would become the source of their forgiveness, as they would stand before their Father in glory, in righteousness. And by such a route, he has become the source of eternal life, which he has prepared for them in his Father’s house above. for them who are savingly trusting in Him. Peter is engaged directly now by this One, the servant who is also the Lord.

    Peter, that One, who before the Jewish scorn and Roman power had melted in cowardice, who before the presence and in the knowledge of all the evidences of the resurrection can find no comfort or direction But for him, it’s as if the world goes on as usual. After seeing the empty tomb, he goes home. And after being visited by the Christ, the risen Christ, twice, he says, I’m going fishing. But now Christ commands this one. to tend lambs, to feed sheep, and is even promised an inglorious death as the price of his service.

    Peter ate with Christ that day. On that day Jesus took bread and blessed and broke it, and gave the bread to those who were there. And Peter ate with Christ. But to eat with Christ means, you see, to partake of Christ and to participate in Him so that the life of that one who would partake would be remade after the image of Christ Himself.

    In Luke’s setting of the Lord’s Supper, you may recall the disciples get into an argument about who’s greatest. Jesus says to them, the kings of the Gentiles, think of Caesar and the sea of Tiberius, the kings of the Gentiles lord it over their subjects. But it is not to be so among you. Rather, let him who is to be leader among you become your servant. Why? Because that’s what I have done.

    And in another setting, for the night before Christ’s death, the setting related to us by John himself in his thirteenth chapter, there we have no record of the distribution of the bread or the sharing of the cup. John doesn’t tell us about those things. It’s not as if those things aren’t important to John, but his focus is elsewhere.

    He tells us about Jesus, who actually gets down on his knees, wrapped with a towel, in order that he might wash the disciples’ feet. And then he says to his disciples, Do as I have done. such service as you have seen in me, you are to imitate.” Will you celebrate the Lord’s Supper? Do you not tend to concentrate on the question, how is Christ present with me here in the sacrament? That is a fundamental and most important question, but it is matched by a corollary question. And that question is, what is the significance of my partaking of the supper?

    For the supper to be a blessing to you, you reaching out to take the elements, You must realize that you are taking Christ to yourself, not simply so that you might be benefited personally, but so that you might become a benefit to others. For the supper to be a blessing to you, you in receiving Christ in the sacrament, Then take Christ to yourself in the posture in which He offers Himself, and that is the posture of a servant, a servant for others. Will you not then concern yourself with others? Will you not think of them? Will you not give yourself over to others and even sacrifice yourself for their sake? Isn’t that what you see in Christ? Will that not be the completion of your salvation?

    But certainly this is not meant merely for a little band of apostles in a ship on the Sea of Tiberias in the first century, nor is it meant for preachers standing in pulpits in the third or eighth or 18th or 21st century. century alone. It is also for all who would be called by Christ’s name. Is that not the significance of the fact that you are then welcome to the table? It’s not just for priests. It’s not just for preachers. It’s not just for apostles. It’s for the people. So then apostles and preachers, so then elders and deacons, they are not servants alone in the house of God.

    You are kings who demonstrate your service and priesthood through ministry one to another. a kingdom of priests you are to serve in God’s presence and to serve one another have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus who although he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself taking the form of a bond slave and being made in the likeness of man and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on the cross.

    Therefore also God highly exalted him and bestowed upon him a name that is above every name. Let’s pray. Set us free our father into service for you in such service Wherein we are not intimidated and by the powers of this world May well be father that we are called by you to honor those who are over us and have authority with respect to us But yet Lord we pray that we may not fear them in the sense that We are threatened with the undoing of our lives because of their power. Rather, we are servants of the Lord. And I ask, Lord, that each of us here may prove to be servants indeed as we partake of the supper now and demonstrate for all to see that we love Jesus and we wish to be like Him. Dina.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Corporate Personalities in Scripture

    Corporate Personalities in Scripture

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, July 28, 1991.

    About this sermon

    Soteriology needs a working definition, and Scripture offers many examples of corporate personalities, figures who represent a whole people at once. Christ’s finished work does concrete things for the believer. His humility works both for us, outside us, and in us, reshaping how we live.

    More sermons from Philippians · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    Our scripture tonight begins in Philippians chapter 1, verse 27, and we will be reading through chapter 2, verse 13. Hear the word of God. Only express your citizenship in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.

    In no way alarmed by your opponents, which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you and that too from God. For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now here to be in me. If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete, by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, let each of you regard one another as more important than himself. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this mind in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men.

    And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

    For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to do, for his good pleasure. Our Father, we ask of You that we might be given strength by Your Spirit to fight against every bit of laziness within us, that we might strain our nerves and exercise that strength, in fact, that energy which You have granted us in Christ, in order to be attentive to be about Your work. We ask, Lord, for Your forgiveness wherein we have fallen asleep in our pursuit of those things that are right and true. We ask, Lord, that we might be zealous for the things of the kingdom as You stir us up, making us willing by Your Spirit and deed. We do pray with confidence, knowing that You are able to grant to us those things which we ask And we pray our Father in faith, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

    A few messages back, we talked about the Apostle’s anthropology. That is, the Apostle’s doctrine of man. You may recall something of what we said on that occasion. On the one hand, it seems as if the Apostle had a very low view of himself. Yet, on the other hand, it seems that he had a very high view as he looked upon himself in light of Christ, in light of his union with Christ.

    Tonight we want to consider another word. It’s one of those big theological terms once more, and this term is soteriology. Soteriology. If you’re taking notes and you’re Wondering how to spell that, you can ask Jonathan after the service. Now that’s s-o-t-e-r, s-o-t-e-r-i-o-l-o-g-y, soteriology. That comes from a Greek term that means savior or savior. refers to salvation itself.

    So here we are dealing with the apostles doctrine of salvation. The doctrine of salvation and we will want to look especially as we bring things to a focus by and by. You will want to look at it as we bring things to a focus. We will look at Philippians chapter 2, those verses that had become so important for us. But let me put in front of you something of a basic structure of Paul’s approach, and I think that you will find that this is not extraordinary to Paul, that if you were to look in the Gospels with a discerning eye, if you were to look at the epistle to the Hebrews, at Peter’s letters, In fact, anywhere you may turn in the New Testament, you would find evidences of this approach to the whole question of salvation, the approach which, in fact, the apostle puts before us so powerfully. Now, I might say that there is a dimension to the apostle’s presentation of the doctrine of salvation that grips us grips us indeed.

    I mean, he’s the one who’s able to say things like Philippians 1.21, for to me, to live is Christ, to die is gain. the personal element that is intertwined in his doctrine there that is very powerful, very helpful.

    You may recall Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Well, if you’re not gripped by those verses, I have to judge you’re made of stone, and you’re not really with me here as we’re wading into the matter of Paul’s soteriology, or his doctrine of salvation.

    Well, first of all, as you think of the apostles’ doctrine of salvation, I want you to think of the phrase, Christ for us. You can personalize that a bit, be even more specific, Christ for me. Use that as something of a motto. Christ for us. Now, this teaching comes out in a number of places in Paul’s writings. Now, you may recall some of those places on your own. I’ll give you a little help here.

    If you were to look, for instance, at 1 Corinthians 15, that’s a marvelous text. I know you realize that. It’s marvelous for many reasons. not least of which is fifteenth chapter first Corinthians is the great resurrection chapter and if you want a little bit of encouragement for your life just pick up your Bible and read that thing from beginning to end and if you’re not floating by the end of it well again you may well be made of stone. Right first Corinthians fifteen but at the outset of that chapter, the Apostle is concerned to set before his readers, or his hearers, the gospel which he considers to be of all importance.

    He says, for instance, in verse 3, For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins. There it is. Christ for us, or Christ for me. All right, Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. All right, there’s an encapsulation of the apostles’ doctrine of salvation as it pertains to this fundamental matter of Christ for us. Christ in our place.

    Now, there are other places in Paul’s writings where this comes out. In part, it comes out in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. You may just want to turn over to that and note the marvelous statement that the apostle makes in the fifth chapter there as he’s speaking about God’s work in Christ by which we have been reconciled to God. Now, you find that in verse 20 of that fifth chapter in 2 Corinthians, but if you look at verse 21, You have this marvelous declaration, he made him, that is God made Christ who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf.

    There is Christ for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Now the latter part of that statement is going to carry us a little further and a little deeper, but at least there at the outset of that verse you have this rather direct statement concerning the fact that Christ is for us, that he has been set for us as a sacrifice, that by root of him we have had our sins removed, and through him we are reconciled to God.

    Marvelous stuff. This is the gospel. This is the stuff for which Paul will himself give his life. You can turn over to Galatians chapter 4. Right at the outset of that letter, you have another statement there in Paul’s salutation. where he’s speaking about the grace and the peace that comes from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 4, “…who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of God our Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” Well, some marvelous statements with regard to this focus in Paul’s doctrine of salvation.

    Christ for us, Christ for me. Are you convinced of it? Are you convinced of it yourself? Can you speak as the Apostle does with respect to these matters? Christ on the cross for me, dying there for me, in my place. Christ rising again, that I might live through Him. All right. Simple gospel fare. At least so far, we’re straight on the Apostle’s doctrine of salvation. But I want you to go on now and consider the depths of Paul’s doctrine at this juncture.

    For not only is the Apostle concerned about Christ for us, he is also concerned about our relationship to Christ under this heading. Yes, Christ for us, but also Christ in us. Christ for us, but also Christ in us. Now, there is a reciprocal relationship that we must keep in view as we consider this matter of Christ in us, because it’s not going to be just a matter of Christ in us, it’s going to be a matter of us in Christ. So, there’s this union that exists between Christ and his own, and thus, as it pertains to the matter of soteriology, we are moving into the doctrine of union with Christ. Union with Christ. Christ for us, but us in Christ. Now, this is where we have to put a little effort into matters. We have to think a little bit. We have to work at it.

    Do you understand the notion of corporate personality? Hey, there we go. Corporate personality. Do you know what I’m speaking about when I say corporate personality? Can you name some obvious corporate personalities in Scripture? I mean, those who appear to be living there and standing in the stream of the history that was recorded for us in Scripture, indicating realities and truth that pertain to more than just them, in obvious ways.

    They have a larger larger realm scope of operation than just for themselves. Now, who might you suggest? Would you, for instance, think immediately of Adam? Well, I hope so. Being Presbyterian and being convinced of the doctrine of the covenant, You have come to understand the figure of Adam in a rather unique way. You see him in Pauline terms. He’s a corporate personality. All of his posterity are in him. Isn’t that what we learn in the catechism, the little kid’s catechism? He represented all his posterity. All of his posterity were in him. Yes, okay.

    So, we have the corporate dimension of personality, As it comes across to us in the pages of the Scripture, and let me say this to you, the Reformed people are the ones who have worked hardest on this issue and done the greatest amount of justice to it in their own theological and doctrinal formulations. Adam, a corporate personality, more than just an individual, an individual to be sure, historical in every sense of the term, but more than just an individual. His people, his posterity, are in him. As you go through the Old Testament, there are other figures that just step out of the page at you, and you’re able to see the corporate dimension of their life. You think of Abraham. Have you ever reviewed the life of Abraham from this standpoint? Here he is called out of Ur of the Chaldees.

    He goes to the Promised Land. He isn’t there very long. He goes down to Egypt. He doesn’t stay there. He comes back to Egypt. He’s not in the Promised Land too long before there’s a division between him and his nephew Lot, and then the king from the east comes, the king of Shinar, king of Babylon, if you will, takes his nephew and company away into captivity, and Abram goes after, rescues, brings him back.

    Hey, this sounds familiar. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It’s almost as if the history of Israel is in the man. Well, and you think about the kings of Israel, and you might get a little upset about the way the Bible tells the stories. The king was good and the people prospered. The king was bad and people were judged. That’s not fair. It’s not fair, is it? The king ends up being a corporate personality, for good and ill amongst the people.

    Well, lots of other examples of this throughout the Old Testament. We come to the New Testament, and what do we find? We find Jesus Christ. Is he just, individual, portrayed as such? Oh, no. Oh, no. His people are in Him. He carries them in Him. Now, how do you read the Gospels? Biographies of Jesus? Well, yes. along a certain line, the biographies of Jesus. But are they more? Yes, they are.

    You see, you are drawn into the story because you are in Christ. So, as Christ’s story is told, as it unfolds, your own life is being unfolded. For you are in Him. The gospel is about you, just as it is about Christ. For Christ has included you in Himself. over against, then, Adam.

    In that classic formulation of this doctrine, over against Adam there is, then, a second Adam, Jesus Christ. We could point to statements in Paul’s letter that make that claim. Romans chapter 5, the end verses. Again, in 1 Corinthians 15, just take a look at verse 22. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

    The corporate dimension of these respective personalities, covenantal heads, who include within them their posterity. All right. So then, We are in Christ. We are in Christ. Now, it’s important that you keep in mind here that we are specifically speaking about Christ’s humanity.

    Do we really believe that we are in Christ, in that Christ is essentially deity? That he is equal with the Father and the Spirit from all eternity? That we are actually participating in his divinity? But that’s the dimension of our relationship to him? No, not at all. We are not becoming divine. We are not becoming gods, as it were.

    If you wish to embrace that kind of doctrine, then join some New Age movement, or go and join up with the local Mormon church. May teach that. You see, it is specifically in His humanity that we are united with Christ, that we are in Christ. Christ then becomes the focus for us in our understanding of the full range of redemptive experience, the full range of salvation. That may sound a bit mysterious. Let me unpack that a little bit for you. In our relationship with Christ, is there to be something called adoption? Well, yes, there is. Let’s run through the order of salvation. Is there not to be something called adoption? We are adopted into the family of God, are we not?

    There is also justification. We are justified, that is, we’re declared to be righteous. In God’s sight, for the sake of Christ, whose righteousness is imputed to us and received by faith alone. We are to be sanctified, are we not? We are to be set apart for Him. We are looked upon then. as holy and progressing in holiness. We are glorified, are we not?

    That is, we are raised up with Christ, we ascend, do we not ascend with him? We share in his session, his heavenly session, and we even share in his second coming. So, the full range of the redemptive experience is grounded in Christ himself and becomes ours because of our relationship to him.

    You might be a little confused at this point. You’re thinking, well, when was Christ adopted? I thought he always was the Son of God. The point that I am making to you is this, that everything that you hope to experience in your redemptive experience is already experienced in Christ and is found by virtue of your union with Him. If your hope is adoption, you must find adoption in Him, for your adoption is by virtue of your relationship to Him.

    Now I want you to look at a verse. Acts chapter 13. Paul is preaching. in Antioch of Pisitia. I want you to look at Paul’s message as it begins there. I want you to look at it at verse 32 and following. This is what Paul says. And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that he raised up Jesus as it is also written in the second psalm, thou art my son, today I have begotten thee. Now you tell me, when did God beget the Son? According to this statement, that is made by the Apostle as he makes appeal to the 2nd Psalm. When was it that the Son was in fact begotten? Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee. What day was that? Was that the day of the Incarnation? Was it some day in eternity hid from us? Not according to the Apostle. He tells us that it was the day in which Jesus was raised from the dead.

    You see, there is a sense in which Christ becomes the Son. Even though He has been the Son from all eternity, He becomes the Son for us, for we are in need of becoming sons. And this One who undergoes this experience through death and resurrection is making Himself available to us. We, by union with Him, are then being adopted. The adoption is found in Him, and that’s why that adoption is unmovable. It cannot be shaken.

    Christ’s own adoption is certain and secure, and you by faith are united to that adoption, and therefore your adoption is certain and secure. We can do the same thing with justification. Was Jesus justified? I want you to look at 1 Timothy 3.16. There’s a phrase in that statement that says that Jesus Christ was justified in the Spirit. That is, he’s justified when he comes in contact uniquely with the realm of the spirit, and that’s nothing less than when he was raised from the dead.

    Sanctification. All we need do is turn to the passage that we have been looking at, Verse 8 of Philippians 2, “…and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death.” There’s the sanctification of the Son. He became obedient. He learned obedience through the things which he suffers. That’s how it’s put in Hebrews 5, verse 7. So there is a sanctification that is experienced by Christ before there’s any sanctification experienced by you.

    And glorification, we know all about that. We know about ascension, we know about session, we know about heavenly life, we know about second coming. We are told by Paul that we are actually seated with Christ in the heavenly places, that that is the realm of operation with regard to us by virtue of our union with Christ. So wonderful is this union with Christ as we turn over to Colossians 3, and we are told that we died and our life is hid with Christ in God. Verse 3 of Colossians 3, and we’re told that history itself will bring to a conclusion the full manifestation of this union that exists between us and Christ. In verse 4 of that third chapter of Colossians, when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him and glory. You are going to participate in the Second Coming.

    Well, the full range of redemptive experience of your salvation is found in Christ. And that is why it is important for Paul to emphasize the fact that we are in him. This exalts grace. It excludes work. If you are looking for adoption, it’s found in Christ. If you’re looking for justification, it’s found in Him.

    Sanctification, the same. Glorification. In fact, that’s why Paul is able to speak about our sanctification and our glorification in the past tense, as already accomplished facts. We are in the One who has been. finally and fully adopted, justified, sanctified, glorified, ascended, who sits in glory, whose second coming shall mean the reign over all that is.”

    Well, that’s the we-in-Christ dimension of our union with Christ. There is one other dimension, And that is Christ in us. Not only us in Christ, but Christ in us, or Christ in you. You see then why we said at the beginning of the message we were going to focus finally, by and by, on Philippians 2? Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Here is the completion of the Pauline circle, of Paul’s circle of salvation. We preach here that already our lives, being so united to Christ, are positioned actually in the heavenly places.

    But do you see what’s happening? For us, who have been so exalted, so positioned, we are in the heavenly places, but who is the one we observe there? Who do we see, having been so privileged by faith? Do we not behold Him who gave up His place in glory and humbled Himself and came down and made Himself servant of all? The one we behold in glory is the one who has the nail prints in His hands and feet, the wounded aside, the marks of His humiliation. and observing Him by faith, being united to Him by faith, even though we are exalted into the presence of God and have a seat in glory. We now humble ourselves after the fashion of His humiliation and make ourselves servants in this world as long as God the Father is content to have us live here.

    That’s the power of it. Now, I said the Pauline Circle because I want you to think of a circle in your mind. The circle begins down here. Your union with Christ through justification, your union with Him in His resurrection places you above, in glory. But you beholding the one to whom you have been united constrains you than to humble yourself after the fashion of his humiliation, so that you are in the world for the sake of service in his name, his life coming to expression in you.

    For to me, to live, is Christ. So when we talk about Paul’s soteriology, his doctrine of salvation, it will be fundamentally the message concerning Christ for us. But it will also be the message of Christ in us, or our union with Christ, so that we are seen to be in Him, as He also is coming to expression in us. So grateful is Paul that he is consumed by the person of Christ.

    For him to draw a breath, for him to utter a word, for him to lift his hand, he is at work disciplining himself so as to see Christ at every turn and to bring Christ to expression. why this is the testimony of a man not only beloved of God, but of a man who loves God with all of his heart. You are the people called by Christ’s name. You say, Christ died for me, but you also say, Christ lives in me. Do you not? Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.