“Where would Jesus go to Church?”
(Phil. 2:17-18)
Dr. Richard S. Koole
Chapel Pointe
September 7, 2008
A. Welcome back from the summer
1. Our trip to California
2. Time with our kids
B. If you’re here for the 1st time
1. Pastor Paul’s letter to his church in a place called Philippi
a. Paul is a prisoner in Rome
b. Theme….Joy despite circumstances
2. Michigan’s economy and jobs
a. California real estate
b. Brian from $700,000 to $420,000
C. Will raise a critical question today…
1. “Where would Jesus go to church?”
2. Would He recommend Chapel Pointe?
III. Text
A. Philippians 2:17-18
(17) But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. (18) So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
1. “But even as I am being poured out like a drink offering”
a. What in the world does that mean?
b. “The Drink Offering” described
The verb that is translated “poured out” is a technical word for a certain part of a pagan sacrificial offering. If we were to have watched a Greek or a Roman perform such an offering, we would have seen him arrive at an altar with his sacrifice. It would have been a living animal, and it would have been valuable. The animal would have been killed, and after it had been killed it would have been burned on the altar, giving off a sweet fragrance in the process. At this point the ancient worshiper would have made an additional offering called a “libation.” He would have taken a cup of wine and poured it upon the altar, thus pouring it upon the sacrifice that was already burning. Because the altar was hot, the libation would immediately disappear in a puff of steam and be gone.
c. Jesus is the sacrificial lamb
d. Our lives are a “drink offering”
2. Paul’s life…not his death…was a sacrifice to God
a. He poured his life into people
b. Willing to give everything to the people of his church
c. He was “all in”
3. …and Paul continued to have joy despite his suffering
(17) But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. (18) So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
a. The greater the sacrifice—the greater the joy!….v.17b-18
1. Give me something worth sacrificing for
b. John McCain as a POW
1. His love grew deeper
4. How God got Paul to Philippi in the first place
a. Let me tell you the story of Philippi
B. Background in Acts 15:36-16:10
1. Paul had completed his first missionary journey
a. A time of constant activity
1. No time to rest
b. Just kept moving….must have been ADHD
2. Had suffered greatly
a. Had been stoned and left for dead
b. Had been slandered
c. Had faced demonic attack
d. Sacrificed his career
e. Was physically exhausted
3. Although he was exhausted, he couldn’t wait to get back at it
4. What kept Paul going????
C. Lessons from the life of Paul
1. He was driven by a passion
a. Paul was willing to be “poured out like a drink offering”
1. To sacrifice his life
b. The question of “why” he did it
1. He loved God
2. …and he loved people
c. You won’t reach the lost if you don’t love them
1. Must look at an unsaved friend and ache for his lost soul
2. Programs will never replace a passionate love for people
d. Paul loved the people of his church
1. “They will know we are Christians by our love….for one another”
2. Willing to be “poured out for each other”
2. His passion was more than just talk
a. Some people who are “all talk”
b. Acts 15:36
(36) Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.”
c. “Let us go back”
1. Paul never sat still
2. “Let’s roll”
d Passion is not genuine if not put into action
1. Fakes I’ve known….fund raisers
2. All talk
e. Getting started is often the most difficult part
1. Dieting and exercise
3. He always sought to reproduce himself
(36) Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.”
a. “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns”…..v.36
1. Our mission is to “reach seekers and develop believers”
b. Paul poured himself into the life of key people
c. One was a young guy named Timothy……Acts 16:1-3
(1) He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. (2) The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. (3) Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
1. “well spoken of”……v.2
2. Will hear more about Timothy next week
a. Phil. 2:19-20
(19) I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. (20) I have no one else like him…
b. Special interview
4. He understood the importance of relationships
(4) As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. (5) So the churches were strengthen in the faith and grew daily in numbers.
a. “and grew daily in numbers”…..v.5
1. People were reaching their friends and families
b. Types of evangelism
1. Proclamational
o Billy Graham
2. Confrontational
o “Beach evangelism” in college
3. Relational
o Joseph Aldrich = “Life-style” evangelism
o Reaching friends and neighbors
o Most effective for salvation
a. Friends or relatives 70-90%
o D.L. Moody
a. Preached to 100,000,000
b. If he had to get 1,000?
c. Take his chances one-on-one
d. Advantages to life-style evangelism
1. We’ve already infiltrated our community
2. It puts Christianity into “real life” in “real time”
o Not a 2,000 year old theory
3. It’s not what you know; but how you live
4. You don’t need the gift for preaching
o Can use all gifts (hospitality, etc.)
5. Visitors already know someone at the church
o You!
o You can help them grow
e. How to reach
1. Ask for God’s help
2. Look for those who seem responsive
3. Be there when they are hurting
4. Look for opportunities to invite
o Next week…..dads
5. He never quit in the face of disappointment (v. 6-10)
(6) Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. (7) When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.
1. God keep closing doors…..v.6-7
a. Asia Minor (Turkey)
b. Bithynia (Holy Spirit stopped them)
c. Would have discouraged most
2. But God opened another door…and what a door…..v.8-10
(8) So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. (9) During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (10) After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
a. Europe!
3. Ended up in a city called Philippi!
a. Lit a revival!
b. Started a great church
c. Philippians is a letter written to the people of the church
4. Philippians was written years later
a. Paul was now a prisoner in Rome
b. Yet the church of Philippi was thriving
5. Persistence is essential in building a church
a. Facing discouragement without losing zeal
b. Trying and failing and trying again
c. Being able to see a great window of opportunity
6. That’s the story of the church in Philippi
7. Now The Chapel Pointe Story
V. Summary
A. Chapel Pointe’s great window of opportunity
1. Randy and my Macedonian Call
(Acts 16:9) During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
2. Rose out of the ashes of disappointment
3. Will be an example to other churches
4. The Chapel Pointe Story is just beginning
a. If this was a book….first chapter
5. Why Chapel Pointe is so special
6. The sheer number of churches around us
a. Giving directions to Chico
7. Are we any different?
a. Why Chapel Pointe?
B. Are we the kind of church that Jesus would recommend?
1. Jesus has told us what he’s looking for
2. John 4:23 (to the woman at the well)
(23) Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. (24) God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth.”
3. So simple….yet so rarely done
4. The recent Catholic wedding
a. Totally disconnected
5. The failure of our churches
6. Most choose to worship in spirit or in truth
a. Many share a lot of Scriptural truth…Information
1. But no spirit of worship
a. No emotion
b. Going through the routine
2. Fail to apply the truth to daily challenges
3. Never felt like God was in the room
a. Just hear stories about Him
b. Meanwhile their kids went searching for some spirit
1. Started in the sixties!
4. Led to all kinds of alternatives….some quite good
a. The Jesus movement
*Jesus Freaks
*My paper in Seminary
b. House churches
c. Neo-Pentecostal movement
d. Charismatic movement
*South America
e. Calvary Chapels
*California
f. Seeker sensitive
5. Searching for some feeling and relevancy
a. For something that is alive
6. But, sometimes the pendulum swung too far
a. Many found some spirit….but chose to ignore the truth
1. Conform to the post-modern culture
1. Eastern Orthodoxy
a. Kevin and Rick
2. Emergent Church today
a. Inclusive salvation
b. No absolute truth
c. No Hell
d. All feeling and little substance
b. Reacting to the legalism of their previous churches
1. Threw out all certainty
c. Culturally relevant…but no Scriptural integrity
7. My dream from day one for Chapel Pointe
a. Not just inform
1. And not conform
2. But to transform
b. Worship in Spirit and in Truth
1. Should never have to choose one or the other
c. Jesus said the true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth
8. Promises from presidential candidates
C. My Promise to you
1. We will seek to be a church that worships in both spirit and in truth
a. Neither will be short-changed
b. If we just accomplish that…..We will be a most unusual church
2. We will focus our worship on God and not on entertainment
a. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be entertaining
b. Where you are a participant and God is the observer
c. Where He will hold you accountable for how you worship
d. Where you can feel His presence
3. We will teach the whole truth of God, even when it becomes uncomfortable
a. You’ll hear God’s opinion….not mine
b. Primarily verse-by-verse exposition
1. Allowing you to grow in depth
4. We will apply the Bible to the world we live in
a. We will never become a fortress or irrelevant
b. Sunday morning will be the most relevant time of your week
1. A personal counseling session with God
c. We will engage our culture
5. We will choose biblical correctness over political correctness
a. Not yielding to pressure to conform…rather transform
b. We will be willing “to contend for the faith”
c. My primary goal is not be to be liked by our culture
1. Jesus said we’d be hated for his sake
d. My goal is to hear God say “well done you good and faithful servant.”
6. We will seek holiness above hugeness
a. Yes we’re growing and will continue to grow
1. Will create the need for changes
2. But the quest for personal holiness is non-negotiable
3. We are told “to be holy as God is holy”
b. Growth that occurs without personal holiness is more marketing than ministry
7. We will provide support as you attempt to raise kids in our culture
a. Next week “How to pass the torch”
b. Especially for dads
8. We will accept all who come in…just as they are
a. Just as God accepted us as dirty sinners
1. Out of love
b. A spiritual hospital for all who hurt
c. We’ll take them and help them grow in their walk with Christ
1. Disciple them
9. We will ask God to do the unexplainable with us
a. As a church
1. Giant steps of faith
b. In your personal life
1. To take steps of faith that will allow the unexplainable to happen in your life
10. We will encourage people to accept Christ as their Savior
a. Woven into each sermon
b. Preach as if it may be the only time they hear
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. (John 4:23)
D. I want Chapel Pointe to be that church
1. To be “true” worshipers.
2. Like Paul, I’m willing to be “poured out like a drink offering for you.”
3. But I can’t do it alone…