Grosey's Messages

Philippians 3 The Enemies Of The Gospel

Philippians 3:17-21 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame --- who set their mind on earthly things.20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

 

Paul has already warned against those who pervert the gospel of Christ.  He has called them:

Beware of: The Dogs, The Evil Workers, The Mutilation.  He now has either another category or a summation the enemies of the gospel.    

Paul has struggled with his detractors. 

Some years ago my daughters gave me a little sign for my office door that I could not put up.  

“Do not disturb: I am already disturbed enough!”

I was in a struggle with detractors that included:

Yes my daughters were concerned that the stress would kill me.  

Paul was disturbed by his detractors.   He saw them as enemies of the cross of Christ.  

Enemies of the gospel use lies and intimidation to pressure their opponents.  

I have experienced this many times in pastoral ministry.   Paul lifts our eyes from the present dangers to the eternal perspective. 

Folks, these struggles mess with your head.   Even today I found myself struggling with some who have proven themselves enemies of the cross of Christ, whose god is their belly, who glory in their shame. A photo appeared on Facebook of a deacon in a former church, holding a beer. He and his wife had cheated Lorelle and I out of $1500, threatening he would suicide unless someone made up for damages he had caused when his work truck hit another car.   They then used the money I gave on alcohol for their family that Christmas! No thought of repaying the emergency request..ever!   He initiated a program of lies to remove me from ministry at that church that was highlighted by an hour long abusive, profanity-laden phone attack.  Yes, bitterness and anger had significantly affected my own mental health after this and I concluded my ministry at that church, and as the same time, from that denomination over what I considered (as did a police commissioner, and others) a very inappropriate permission of recently released predator to a pulpit.

As one who has endured a lot of strife over many years, this has affected me most deeply.

How can a Christian keep his mind sane when dealing with the enemies of the cross of Christ?

Paul was sitting in a jail cell in Rome awaiting execution, because of the initiated complaints of just such professed Christians who were really enemies of the cross of Christ.

Yes our minds and psychi’s are fragile things. Stress is a killer. My blood pressure rose to 177!

Phil 3:15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. 

Paul contrasts the Earthly Minded  enemies of the cross of Christ:19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame --- who set their mind on earthly things. With others whose  “citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,”

Let me highlight again, this happens in churches, sometimes frequently!

Revelation 2:18 "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write,  'These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass:19 "I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first.20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

I know a guy who in order to be an elder and a counselor in the local church,  had to get rid of his pastor to whom he had confessed things that the bible says prohibits his election to those positions.  Without proof, he circulated slander so he could kick the pastor out and be unaccountable for his sin.  He is accountable to God. 

They are enemies of the cross of Christ:19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame --- who set their mind on earthly things.

I have seen a woman in a church exalt herself like “Jezebel’ in a church.  A man complained to me that he had succumbed to her.  He wouldn’t put it in writing or want it revealed so she could be approached about her sin.  She continued to devastate the church for years with her wickedness,   enemies of the cross of Christ:19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame --- who set their mind on earthly things.

How do we not be bitter and angry when these things bring shame to the Christian churches?  How do you and I stabilize our minds under such stress?
Paul’s answer is to look to the return of Christ. 

20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

Living in light of the return of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly transformation of our bodies to be free from sin and stress and distress, and the subjugation of all things under the Savior’s feet radically changes our everyday lives.

Embedded in the promise of future eternal grace is the guarantee of “right here, right now” grace for what you’re facing today. And when you begin to understand your story from the unique perspective and promises of Forever, you begin to live with unshakeable hope and confidence today as you wait for the promise of Forever.

The opposite, however, is also true. When you forget Forever and live as if today is all you have, then your life and faith will be anything but unshakeable!

Forgetting Forever Is Becoming Earthly minded!

Paul Tripp comments “In my many years as a biblical counselor, a recurring pattern appeared. As I listened to their stories of disappointment, anger, confusion, and grief, I realized, “I need to give eternity back to this person.” It became increasingly evident that most of the people I counseled were struggling with the situations, locations, and relationships of everyday life because there was a critical element in their story that they either never knew or had completely forgotten.

I was counseling eternity amnesiacs.(And I must admit, it didn’t take long for me to realize that I, too, was more like my counselees than unlike them!)

What is an eternity amnesiac? It’s someone who lives with unrealistic expectations, unfulfilled dreams, unmet goals, and a functional hopelessness that results when we tell ourselves that this life, right here, right now, is all there is to life. Even though we say we believe in the promise of eternity, in very significant ways in our street-level Christianity, we don’t always live in a way that is consistent with what we confess to believe.” We know this conceptually, but in practice, we so frequently fail to embrace this life-changing truth: our lives are more than earthly and being earthly minded is out rightly self destructive. We need to live for eternity!

Counselling as a profession was only really established in the UK in the 1960’s.  By 1970 there were a few hundred.  At the turn of the century, it was around 20,000.  But today it is estimated that there between 80-100,000.  In Australia the number is 40,000 – a doubling in the past 15 years.  It seems that counselling is in vogue.   We are a counsel culture.   One of the reasons for the increase is that the number of issues we can receive counselling for keeps increasing.    We have moved from counselling for the trauma of death, horrific accidents and terrible abuse, to counselling for hurt feelings, ‘harmful’ words and even political results.  When Trump was elected in 2016, some school districts in the US offered professional counselling to their students (it is unlikely they would have done so if Hillary Clinton had been elected). I suspect that if Pauline Hanson spoke at Sydney University, counselling could be offered.   Perhaps counselling should have been offered to the long-suffering Scottish football supporters? Where the culture goes you can be pretty sure that the Church will follow. 

Remembering Forever Makes Us Mindful of Our Heavenly Home.

I laugh when my sat nav takes me to a cemetery and says rather spookily “You have arrived at Your Final Destination!” It isn’t our final destination!

What would seem like the last chapter—human mortality and drawing our last breath on this earth—isn’t the last chapter in the story. The Bible invites you to celebrate, and requires you to face, the exciting and inescapable reality of life after death.

This present life today is not all there is. In fact, it is just a speck, a tiny dot on your Forever timeline. There is a Forever on the other side of this life. Eternity is not a mystical creation of overly spiritual people. Forever is a reality. It is the product of God’s plan and design. And once you believe in Forever and live with Forever in view, not only will you understand things you have never understood before, but you will live in a radically different way than you did before.

But in the 10,000 mundane moments of everyday life, in the chaos, confusion, and busyness of today, we have lost sight of and forgotten about Forever. The results can be discouraging, if not devastating.

What happens when we forget about Forever? Well, here’s just a short list:

Our marriages struggle because we load the burden of our happiness onto the shoulders of a far-from-perfect spouse

We put way too much pressure on our children to be successful and live as trophies to our identity

We have a hard time getting along with family and friends, constantly surprised and disappointed when friends and brothers and sisters hurt us

We spend more than we earn and find ourselves in crippling financial debt

We stand in front of full closets and say we have nothing to wear

We look into fully stocked refrigerators and say we have nothing to eat

We struggle with envy

Trials and suffering paralyze us more than they should

We overmedicate, overeat, and numb ourselves with entertainment and sexual pleasure

As a culture, we “believe” in eternity the way we “believe” in God. Most people say they do, but you wouldn’t know it from observing the way they live. We have abandoned a self-conscious allegiance to the reality of eternity, which structures how we think about and approach the here and now.

Eagerly Expecting Forever Lifts Us Above

In a few days, America will be celebrating its 250th birthday. Consider the words that one of its founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, penned for his own epitaph:

The Body Of Benjamin Franklin, Printer,
(Like the cover of an old book, Its contents torn out, And stript of its lettering and gilding,) Lies here, food for worms. But the work shall not be lost, For it will, as he believed, appear once more, In a new and more elegant edition, Revised and corrected By The Author.

Eagerly Expect Forever to Break Into Your Ever

So where do we go from here? Well, in a word: remember. It sounds so simple, but for many of us, we have just forgotten or neglected to remember Forever. So, pray every day for the grace to remember that this life is not all that there is.

This present world, with all its joys and sorrows, is not our final address. When we treat it as if it is, we try to get from this world what we can only experience in the next. We try to pack as much pleasure, happiness, and excitement into our present life as we can. We do this because the thought that this life is all there is carries an inescapable fear that life will somehow pass us by. Here is what a destination mentality fails to understand: our complete, present, personal happiness is not what God is working on in the here and now. Why? Because the plan of his grace is to deliver us out of this world to one that is much, much better.

God has designed that this would not be the final destination for his children. He knows that this is a terribly broken world that, in its present state, does not function the way that he intended. This world is not a safe place to look to for a sense of well-being. For that, we need to live with a preparation mentality, approaching each day knowing that this world is not intended to be our final destination, and that God is preparing another world for us.

God is using the disappointments and difficulties of this world to prepare us for the next. God uses the pressures of the present to craft us into the kind of individuals with whom he would choose to spend eternity.

You were made for Forever. You are citizens of heaven! That is your inescapable identity, and it is your guaranteed destination. Life only works as it was meant to work when you live with Forever in view.

20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

Heaven is our Home and Hope.  The Saviour is our Hope and Lord

But. It’s not your best life now!  Scripture points us to our best life hereafter.  

When all labours and trials are oer 

And I am safe on that beautiful shore

With my dear Saviour whom I adore

THAT will be glory, glory for me!

A minister parked his car in a no-parking zone in a large city because he was short of time and couldn't find a space with a meter. So, he put a note under the windshield wiper that read: “I have circled the block ten times. If I don't park here, I’ll miss my appointment. Forgive us our trespasses.” When he returned, he found a citation from a police officer along with this note: “I've circled this block for ten years. If I don't give you a ticket, I’ll lose my job. Lead us not into temptation.”

If you’re looking for a sign, this is it! DON’T PARK HERE!

There are some places you should not park. Don’t park your mind on this earth. Here are three of them.
Don’t park your mind in a tempting place. Someone said, “The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places.” Dr. C. William Fisher explains, “In Bunyan’s familiar classic, Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian, on his way from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, was frequently tempted to turn aside and park awhile—especially in the Town of Vanity Fair.” I read about a man who was struggling with a diet. He had to go downtown and as he started out, he remembered that his route would take him by the doughnut shop. As he got closer, he thought that a cup of coffee would hit the spot. Then he remembered his diet. That’s when he prayed, “Lord, if You want me to stop for a doughnut and coffee, let there be a parking place in front of the shop.” He said, “Sure enough, I found a parking place right in front—on my seventh time around the block!”
Don’t park your mind in a trying place. In his biography titled, God in My Corner, two-time world heavyweight champion, George Foreman, recounts, “Someone once asked an elderly woman her favorite Scripture verse. She replied, ‘And it came to pass.’ ‘And it came to pass?’ But that doesn’t mean anything.’ ‘Yes it does,’ she answered. ‘I know that whenever a trial comes, it doesn’t come to stay; it comes—to pass. It’s not going to be around forever.” The Israelites spent forty long years in a trying place because of their unbelief.
Don’t park your mind in a troubling place. Jesus doesn’t want you to park there. He said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me” (John 14:1).  Dr. Vance Havner recalls finding a handwritten note in his late father’s desk which read, “Nothing is ever settled until it is settled right, and nothing is ever settled right until it is settled with God.”