Category: Morning Musings

Morning Musing: Philippians 1:22-26

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“Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don’t know which one I should choose. I am torn between the two. I long to depart and be with Christ—which is far better—but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Since I am persuaded of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that, because of my coming to you again, your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What is the thing that most motivates the decisions you make? While there are perhaps many answers to that question, it really boils down to one of two things: what you want, or what someone else wants. We live in the midst of a culture that insists we should be motivated most by the former. The guys who contributed to the New Testament, helping us understand with the Spirit’s help how to live out the teachings of Jesus, pointed in a different direction. We see that here in Paul’s reasoning out his future. Let’s explore all of this in more detail as we work through his thinking with him.

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Morning Musing: Ephesians 4:15-16

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“But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

My church publishes a newsletter each month. Our faithful office manager puts it together, prints it out, puts mailing labels on them, carts them to the post office, and out they go. It’s old school, I’ll admit, but it’s mostly working. I think we send out somewhere north of 200 of them. It’s a lot of work and some expense, but if we reduced the number of hard copies that we put in the mail by the number of folks who would almost assuredly be just fine with an electronic-only version it would actually cost us more to keep sending the smaller number to the folks who really do want the paper version because of the way bulk postage rates work. So, we keep sending them out. This month I was able to just brag on the church to the church because there have been so many things to celebrate lately. I’m awfully proud of this group of believers. They are a special bunch indeed. Here’s what I had to say to them.

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Morning Musing: Philippians 1:14-19

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“To be sure, some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of good will. These preach out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice because I know this will lead to my salvation through your prayers and help from the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

A few years ago, I listened to a podcast series called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. It’s about the former megachurch in Seattle by that name that was led by celebrity pastor Mark Driscoll. It was an enormous church that baptized hundreds of people and produced lots of great bands. Under the surface, though, years of stunningly toxic leadership became an iceberg that sunk the titanic community as fast as the famous ship. The church went from thousands of people worshipping together across fourteen campuses to closing its doors forever in a matter of months. In the aftermath of the collapse, there has been much criticism of the whole affair (including an entire podcast series!), questioning everything the church ever did. Was it all worth it? How should we think about the Gospel being proclaimed by people or in an environment that doesn’t ultimately reflect its ethos? Paul offers some challenging counsel here for us to explore.

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Morning Musing: Philippians 1:12-14

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“Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually advanced the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to everyone else, that my imprisonment is because I am in Christ. Most of the brothers have gained confidence in the Lord from my imprisonment and dare even more to speak the word fearlessly.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

In his letter to the Thessalonian believers, Paul said that we should give thanks in everything. That sounds nice in theory, but tends to fall apart in practice. This is because there are things that happen to us on occasion that we are not thankful for. Sometimes we are rather unthankful for them. How do you respond when something that seems irredeemably bad happens? Frustration? Anger? Righteous indignation? As if offering a case study for the Thessalonians, Paul here follows his own command, giving us a pretty interesting perspective. Let’s check it out.

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Morning Musing: Philippians 1:7-8

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“Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Being a part of the church can be tough. Now, some of that depends on the individual church. Some churches are hard to connect with because their culture is broken. But being a part of a church that is healthy and welcoming doesn’t happen automatically. Even the best church takes some work and intentionality to be a part of. It takes building relationships and investing in those relationships over time. When you do that, something like what Paul describes here becomes possible. Let’s talk about it.

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