Shining Lights | Pastor Cody Harlow August 17th, 2025- Philippians 2:12-18

For Clem Felley. We just we just love these people so much

And we lift them up to you and we pray for healing over their bodies, God. And we pray that you would just help them to have good days, days full of energy and that you would help them to improve and Lord for just our church. Lord, we pray for volunteers for the children's ministry and for the youth ministry. God, your word. You said that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray the Lord the harvest, Lord, to send laborers into that field. And so that's what we're doing right now. We just pray that you would bring along many workers, God, that would be willing to invest in these children, Lord, many of whom don't have a relationship with you. We pray for unity in our church, God. We pray that you would unite our hearts and that you would give us just like what Paul said, same mind and same love and same passions. God, just help us, Father, to unite under your authority. And ultimately, we want to give you this time, Lord. Our hearts and our minds are so often divided between things that are happening after service and things that are happening this week and different conversations that we've had, Lord. But right now, I just pray that you would help us to focus and to deal with the word and that you would help our hearts to be open and receptive to what you have to say today. We love you, Lord, and we just thank you for your kindness and your mercy. We submit ourselves to you, Lord, in Jesus name. Amen. All right. Well, for those of you who don't know, I spend most of my week, reading and praying and seeking the Lord and taking a lot of time. And I write out all my notes in a document. And typically, they're about at the end by the time I get finished with my notes, it's roughly about maybe 2,000 words that I write. For this sermon,

I wrote down 7600 words. Yeah. And so, you know, and they're not my thoughts or anything like that. They're just little little details and things that you pick up along the way. And so, yeah. So, y'all pray for me. I'll preach fast. I'm not It's not 7600 words. That's like that's like an hour of preaching. So, anyways, let's move. Paul, he has called the Philippians to unity because they were dealing with selfishness in the church. There was disunityity. There was vast amounts of pride. Paul, he has pointed us to Jesus ex Jesus's example of humility and service and obedience to death. And then God, he exalted Jesus so that at the name of Jesus, every knee would bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's one of the most magnificent and most glorious passages in all of Scripture. But Paul, he doesn't leave us in the heavens with Christ. He immediately brings us right back down to the life of the church. And he starts in verse 12 and he uses that word therefore and he says because Christ obeyed because Christ humbled himself because Christ was exalted here is now how you and I are to live. And that's what makes this passage so powerful is that Paul is saying if you really believe in the humility and the lordship of Jesus, it's going to show up in the way that you treat other believers. Now remember the church in Philippi Philippi had some serious unity issues. Back in chapter 1, Paul he talked about people preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry. In chapter two, he warned against selfish ambition and vain conceit. Later on in chapter 4, he's going to call out two women by name, Yodia and Cinti. And he tells them to get along in the Lord. And so this church that was alive in the Gospel is

Being threatened by disunityity. And there's a principle for them and there is a principle for us to learn is that a united church is an obedient is an obedient spirit empowered and joyfilled witness. And when we are pulling together in obedience to Christ, depending on the spirit, guarding our attitudes, and shining as lights, and rejoicing in the sacrifice of Christ, the church becomes a living testimony to the Gospel. And guess what? The world is watching. And notice how tenderly Paul, he speaks to this church that's struggling with unity. He doesn't say you people. He calls them my beloved. You see, these people, they're not just church members on a roster. These are folks that Paul dearly loves deeply. And he's not barking commands like a drill sergeant. He's urging them on like a spiritual father does. So, let's look at this first by po point by point. First thing I want to point you to is the shared obedience. The shared obedience. You see, we pursue the same goal. He says, "As you have always obeyed," and Paul, he's highlighting their pattern of obedience. And obedience is the motor of Christian growth. To obey means to yield to a superior, someone that is greater than yours. Think about how the disciples, they marveled at Jesus and they said, "What sort of man is this that even the winds and sea obey him?" They obeyed because Jesus is superior. Or think on into Mark 1:27. And they, talking about the crowds, were all amazed so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority? He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him. And Jesus, he obeyed the father perfectly. And now we are called to walk in his steps. And he instructs the Philippians to work out your own salvation. And that's kind of that's strange for us to hear, isn't it? To work out our own

Salvation. But what Paul means when he says this is not work for your own salvation. Okay? Salvation is not earned by our obedience. It was earned by Christ's obedience, his perfect obedience. And now salvation is received by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. What Paul is saying is that what God has planted in you, we are now called to cultivate. What's been worked in our hearts shows itself by being worked out in our lives every day. Jesus himself, he worked out his divinity in Philippians chapter 2 verses 6 through8. He didn't enforce his rights. He poured himself out in humility and obedience. And now Paul says, "You and I are called to do the same thing." But then that phrase comes up that makes us pause again with fear and trembling. And so what does that mean? It doesn't mean I don't want you to picture like a slave cowering before an abusive master, but a reverent child standing before a holy father. The Old Testament uses this phrase in different areas. In Job chapter 4, he says, "Dread came upon me and trembling which made all my bones shake." So you have that fear and you have that trembling in Mark chapter 16, the very last verse of that book. And they talking about the women went out and fled from the tomb for trembling and astonishment had seized them and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid. Those same Greek words of fear and trembling are right there translated as trembling and astonishment. And this means that Christians should have a holy seriousness, a reverence for the God that we serve. We are not called to be flippant about it. We are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, which means that we must recognize that the holy God who saved us is worthy of

Our deepest respect and our full obedience. Now, let's be honest. Being obedient to God can be a scary thing sometimes, can't it? Sometimes God, he might call us to get out of our comfort zone and to do things that we aren't necessarily the best at. It might be that you're called to share the Gospel with a neighbor. Or perhaps forgive someone who has hurt you. Or maybe giving generously when finances are a little tight, but you know that's what God has called you to do in that moment. Or maybe standing firm in a culture that mocks our faith. Those things, they can make the heart tremble. But here's the good news is that, and we'll see this in verse 13, we tremble not because of the things that are going on around us, but because of what God is doing within us. And so, don't think of obedience as drudgery. It's about joining Christ in his work. Because obedience is not the enemy of freedom. So many people think that's exactly what it is, that it's enslavement and I've got to do this and I've got to do that. And that's just the wrong view of that. I want you to think of a rowing team. You guys have ever seen like those college teams rowing down the down the canal or whatever. You know, they keep that cadence up, right? But what would happen to that boat if everyone just kind of did their own thing and rode whenever they wanted to row? Well, they wouldn't go nearly as fast. I mean, they're flying across that water, just skimming over the top of it because when they get into that rhythm and they're all pulling together and they're all following that leader, you know what's happening is that they're able to move forward in power and in sync and with speed. And that's what Paul is saying to the Philippians is get together. Row in sync, get on the same

Page and row together. Obey Christ. Pull in the same direction and watch the Gospel advance. In John MacArthur, he said that a church's greatest testimony to the world is not its size or its programs, but it's loving, faithful obedience to Christ together. And that's what Paul is after here. Shared obedience pulling together in the same direction working out what God has worked within us and with a holy reverence to the one who has saved us. The second point that we need to look at here is the shared source. We all depend on the same power of the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 13. He says, "For," and this is the why, right? It is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Now, we learn in verse 12 that we are to obey and that's on us. Okay. Verse 13 teaches that we do not carry that weight alone. Yes, we are called to obey as new creations to work out our salvation. But here's the balance that it is God himself who is the one that is working in us. And that word work there is that Greek word inurgio which is where we get our word energy from. It means active, effective, unstoppable power. You see God, he doesn't just zap us to life and leave us and abandon us. He continues to work on us and sanctify us and he does that in two ways. First is to will. He works on our will. That's our desires. That's our intentions. That's our purpose and our ambitions. God, he changes what we want. You see, left to ourselves in our natural state, we would not desire holiness at all. But by the Holy Spirit, God, he works in our heart. He changes our heart so that obedience becomes a joy and a delight to walk in. The second thing that he does here is that he works in us. He to will and to work. And that's action. You see, God, he not only stirs up the desires of our heart, but he supplies

The strength to follow through as well. And why does he do this? It's because he does it for his own good pleasure. It brings him joy. It He takes joy in transforming his people. He delights in making us more like his own son. And what this verse does is it guards us from two big extremes. The first one is legalism where it's all about our behavior and the things that we do, right? It's it's the idea that our obedience is totally predicated on our effort and everything like that. So you got legalism on one side and then you got passivity on the other. And that's that kind of you know like let go and let God, right? And you just kind of expect for holiness to magically appear. What Paul says is no, God works and because God works, we respond. John Murray, he put it like this. He said that God's working in us is not suspended because we work. Nor are working suspended because God works. God works and we also work. But the relation is that because God works, we work. All working out of salvation on our part is the effect of God's working in us. And that's the tension of the Christian life. We are responsible, but we never walk alone. We obey, but it is God who gives us the energy and the desire and the doing. And so Thomas Chomers, he's the Scottish preacher. He once said that the only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one. Have you ever thought, well, I don't want to I don't want to do that. I don't want to obey. You see, you don't you don't kill sin simply by trying harder and getting grittier and all that kind of stuff. That's your own effort. You kill sin by Christ by loving Christ even more. That's the path to killing your own sin. And that love itself is God's gift to you. You ever faced the moment when you knew the right thing to do, but you didn't

Want to do it? I think that we've all been there. Okay? Might be resisting a temptation or serving when you felt tired. And in those moments, you need more than willpower, don't you? If you rely on your own willpower in those moments, you know what's going to happen is you're going to burn out. You're not abiding abiding in the Lord. You're you're you're relying on your own strength and your own power and things like that. You know what you need is that you need to give you need God to give you the desire to obey him. And Paul says that's exactly what God will do. He not only gives you the command, he gives you the will and the strength to follow that command. And so that's our that's a principle is that our unity is spirit-driven. We don't just share in a mission. We have the Holy Spirit who empowers us. Unity comes when we stop trying to row in our own strength and instead we recognize that God himself is the one giving us the energy to be together. And that's good news for a church because left to ourselves, you know what we're always going to do is we're going to drift towards selfish ambition and grumbling and complaining and things like that. But with God working in us, we can actually desire holiness. We can act in obedience and we can bring joy to our father in heaven. And the next point that I think we should look at is a shared attitude. Notice again Paul's all sweeping language that he has throughout this whole book. He says, "Do all things, not some things, not the things that you happen to enjoy, not the things that you agree with. All things, every act of service, every ministry, every conversation, every team meeting, every decision, do it without grumbling or disputing." man like how often do I fall short of the glory of God in that? How often do you?

And so what does Paul mean by these words? Well, when we look at grumbling, it means murmuring. It's whispering complaints. And I want you to think of the Israelites in the wilderness, right? Exodus 16 says that they grumbled against Moses and the Lord. And what did that do? It led to their ultimate destruction in the desert. Isaiah 58:9 it says this, "And then you shall call the Lord." And then you shall call and the Lord will answer and you shall cry and he will say, "Here I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst and the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness." Now in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, this is the same word that Paul uses talking about grumbling and disputing. He's equating grumbling and wickedness. It's that subtle under your breath criticism that poisons the atmosphere of a church. Disputing means quarreling. It means debating and arguing with a contentious spirit. And we see this attitude among the disciples in Luke chapter nine. An argument, that's the same word, arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. Of course, we look at that and we go, that's that's a dumb argument. That's a foolish argument. In 1 Timothy chapter 2:8, Paul when talking about his desire for men to lift up holy hands without anger or quarreling. There's that same word. In other words, these attitudes of grumbling and disputing are not Christian characteristics. They don't have a place in the church. They're marks of a disunified and worldly people. And Paul says that the goal is that we would be blameless. That means without fault. Literally, that's how it's translated. It means to be above reproach. The opposite of it is that you're liable to be accused. That's what the opposite of being blameless is. He the goal for us is to be innocent. That means unmixed and

Pure, right? The opposite of that is being deceitful and dishonorable without blemish. That's that's a description used of Christ himself to be the spotless lamb of God. And that's our identity. This is what we are called to be is to be children of God. That's really rare language for Paul. He's saying, "Act like your father in heaven. Don't be like the Israelites in the wilderness who grumbled after being delivered from oppression and slavery and darkness. Don't be like the world that's around you." that's crooked and twisted and distorted and bent out of shape. Instead, live like children of a holy God because that's what you are in Christ. And this attitude of grumbling is indicative of something much deeper. Adrien Rogers, he told a funny story about a complaining husband who he his wife could never seem to get it right. And wife, she said, "I'm going to make get up early. I'm gonna make my husband breakfast. I'm gonna find out what he wants to eat and I'm gonna make it." And he's not going to complain anymore. So he wake she wakes up. She says, "Honey, I'm going to make you some breakfast. I'm going to make some eggs. What would you like?" He says, "I want two eggs. I want one fried and one scrambled." Okay. And so he she goes and she gets it all made and everything. She puts it in front of him and he's she goes, "Honey, what's wrong?" He goes, "Scrambled the wrong egg." You know, that's that's what grumbling does. Complaining people will find anything to complain about. And you know what the real issue is? It's it's not about the egg. It's because that husband wasn't hungry enough. And I believe that's a real matter in churches today.

People aren't hungry for the Lord. Jesus, he taught, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." And when is the last time that you were hungry for God? When were you last desperate for his presence? I mean, are you starving for the bread of life or are you filled up on the things of this world? And he promises to satisfy us. And he invites you to himself and he invites us to come and eat and be filled to buy without price and to be satisfied in him. But with a complaining heart, a heart that is prone to grumbling, that is prone to arguing, it will never be content. No matter what God gives, no matter how good the church is, the heart finds a way to complain. And Paul, he says, that's not who you are. You are children of God. And the children of God are meant to stand out as blameless and pure in the middle of a crooked and twisted world. But here's the good news is that Jesus who never grumbled or complained, he bore the punishment for our complaints and he nailed them to the cross. That means that we're not only forgiven of our grumbling, but now we are free to live in gratitude instead of complaint. And so when we do grumble, we're not we're not complaining about people. We're ultimately complaining against the God who called us. But because of Christ, we can now walk in joy. We can walk in contentment and gratitude. And we can reflect his character and show the world a different way to live. And now we see our shared witness. You see, we display the same light. And pick up at the end of verse 15, it says, "Among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life." Paul, he pictures Christians here as stars in the night sky. The darker the night, the brighter

The star. And the world is so crooked and twisted and bent by sin and warped in its thinking and it's totally got different values. But in the middle of all of that darkness, Christians are called and can shine brightly. And the language that's here alludes us back to Daniel 12:3. It says, "And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above. And those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." And Jesus, he took it to a whole another level. He said this that you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. And so how do we shine? Paul, he tells us to hold fast to the word of life. Now that phrase, it can mean two things. And I think that Paul means both. Okay? We either hold fast, which is clinging to the word and persevering. We grip the word so we're not swept away by the world's crookedness. But it can also be translated as holding forth. Okay? Which is presenting the word to others. So you see, we don't just cling to the Gospel privately. We also hold it out for people to enjoy publicly. And that's the mission of the church, not only to avoid crumbling and grumbling and disputing within its own walls, but to shine with holy lives on full display proclaiming the word of life, the Gospel. You see, at night when you see a bright star, you look at that star, you go, "Man, that's just such a beautiful star. Look at it." And you know, that's that's what we do. Or you might see a beautiful moon just reflecting the sun. And you look, oh my gosh, look how beautiful that moon is. But, you know, no one does that with the sun, right? I mean, you might when it's setting and it's all kind of covered up, but when it's illuminating the Earth, we don't look straight at it. You'll go blind if you do that. You see, in the same way, a Christian can stand out like a star or a stronger Christian like the

Moon, but a mature Christian is like the sun where people are not looking at the sun. They're looking at what the sun illuminates and brings glory to and they can see the beauty of Christ that illuminates the things that are around us. And don't miss this. Paul, he's not talking about individual sparks scattered here and there. He uses you in a plural way. You together, you shine. And the church's witness is corporate. It's something that we all do together. We shine our brightest not when we're off doing our own thing and rowing our own boats at our own pace, but when we stand united in holy contrast to the world. DA Carson, he said the church is to be light in the darkness, not by blending into it, but by standing united. The Philippians, they needed to hear this because their disunityity threatened their witness. And churches need this teaching as well. Internal grumbling always obscures the external shining of the Gospel. And when a church is united, when it's obedient, when it's joyfilled, the light is unmistakable. You see, the world doesn't need another club. It doesn't need another special interest group or, you know, divided people arguing or anything like that. We got Facebook for that, right? The world needs to see the radiant unity of God's children with the light of Christ. Last point here is our shared joy. Paul, he shifts the focus forward to the day of Christ. You see, he lives his whole life with the final day in view. He says, "I want to look back on my ministry and know that it was not wasted." That he's saying, "I don't want to run or labor in vain." What mattered to Paul wasn't comfort in the moment. He's he's in chains right now. Remember that. But what he cared about was fruit for eternity. And he uses an incredible

Picture in verse 17. He says, "Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering, that word being poured out is one word in the Greek. It's spendo," which means spend. Greek is hard sometimes, right? It means to pour out completely with no hope of retrieving it. The idea is that someone would bring wine and pour it into the altar, evaporating instantly in the fire as an offering, as a symbol of total giving over to God. And Paul says, "That's my life for you. I am gladly poured out for Christ. I am gladly poured out for you, the church." And here's the amazing part. Paul doesn't complain about it. He doesn't resent the cost. He says, "Look at me. I'm in chains. What are you guys doing? He says, I am glad and rejoice with you all. And then what does he tell them to do? You also be glad and rejoice with me. Do you see the logic? Do you see the logic of everything we've talked about? Shared obedience and shared power leads to a shared attitude and a shared witness. And all of it culminates in shared joy. And even sacrifice becomes a reason for joy because it magnifies the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, we are called that in whatever situation we are in to live fully for the glory of God. And that's what Paul is doing here. He is fully present. He is fully poured out and yet fully joyful. You see what the world says that you can have joy. You just you just live life full tilt and you hold on to as much as you can. You get as much as you can and you enjoy as much as you can and that's what's going to give you joy. But the Gospel says that joy comes when you pour yourself out for Christ and for others. And Paul's joy, it's not rooted in circumstances. It's not dependent on whether he lived or died. It wasn't tied to the approval of other people. His joy came from knowing that his life, no matter how long he was going to live or how much it was going to cost him, it

Was all part of God's greater plan. And here's what we learned. That Gospel growth, that people growing in obedience to Christ results in Gospel joy. And when we see others standing firm in Christ, we see the church united in Christ. And that's when we see the Gospel advancing because of Christ. Even if it costs us everything, we can rejoice. And that joy rests on the resurrection of Jesus. Because Christ rose from the dead. Paul, he knew that no labor was too great for him. That his work for the Lord was not in vain. That sacrifice was never wasted and it became a reason for him to rejoice because it bears eternal fruit. And that's the kind of joy that keeps a church from fracturing. That's the kind of joy that helps us to shine as lights in a dark world. That's the kind of joy that makes a watching world to go, surely the Lord Jesus is at that church. >> And so let's tie it all together. Okay. What is Paul teaching us is that a united church is an obedient, spirit empowered and joyfilled witness. That shared obedience, right? We pursue the same goal that the shared source. We depend on the same power, the shared attitude. We guard and abide in the same Holy Spirit with a shared witness. We display the same light. We have a shared joy. We rejoice in the same sacrifice. It all points back to Jesus who humbled himself in obedience and was exalted by the father and who now works in his people by the Holy Spirit. And so here's my question to you. What kind of church are we going to be? Are we going to be a church that grumbles and disputes and pulls in different directions that stalls out like a rowboat out of sink? Or are we going to be a church that pulls together in obedience unto the Lord, empowered by God's Holy Spirit, that shines brightly as witnesses to a dark world and

Rejoices in the costly privilege of following Jesus. See, I want to be that kind of church because when a church is united like that, when we're obedient, spirit empowered, and joyfilled, that the world cannot help but see the light of Christ and be drawn to him. And that is our calling. Head, heart, hand, head. God wants you to know that a united church shines when its members obey Christ together in the power of the Holy Spirit. See, God, he calls his people to live out salvation together, not as isolated individuals, but unified in the body. When the church obeys Christ and gets in step with the spirit, right, it becomes a bright witness that makes the Gospel visible to the world. Heart. God wants you to believe that he is actively in work at work in you both to give you the desire and the strength to obey him. It is God who is at work in you. He's the one that's shaping your desires and he's the one that's empowering your obedience because he supplies both the will and the strength. You can follow Christ with confidence knowing that your efforts are not in vain. In hand. God wants you to live out joyful obedience by putting away grumbling, choosing humility, and shining together as lights in the world. See, God is working in you if you are his child. So, choose to put away that grumbling, pride, and selfishness, and instead walk in joyful obedience. As each of us does this together, what will happen is that our unity becomes a living witness that points the world to our common hope that's in Christ. Let's pray. Father, we do love you and we thank you for this time that we get to have together. We thank you for your word. Lord, I pray that you would move us, God, to submit to you, to humble ourselves before you. We know that you are God. We know that you are good. And I just pray that you would conform me in into what this

Passage says, Lord. I don't get it perfect all the time, and I don't think any of us do. But Lord, where we do fail, Lord, bring that to our attention. Help us to turn away from that path to be unified in our thoughts and in our passions and our desires and our mission and our purpose. God, help us to humble ourselves under your word, God. And ultimately, if we're pursuing you and you alone, we'll get it right. Help us, Lord, to walk faithfully before you today and every day. We just thank you for your mercy and your grace. We thank you so much for the hope that's in Christ. Thank you that you don't leave us by ourselves and that you have given us so much to be unified around. Thank you for the glory of the cross and power of the resurrection, God, and that you have called us to follow you. We love you in Jesus name. Amen. Let's all stand and let's worship together. [Music] When I fear my faith may fail, Christ will hold me fast. When the temptor would prevail, he will hold me fast. I could never keep my through life's fearful path for my love is ofen cold. He must hold me fast. [Music] >> He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so he will hold me fast. >> Those he saves are his delight. Christ will hold me fast. Precious in his holy sight. He will hold me fast. He'll not let my soul be lost. His promises shall last. For by him at such a cost, he will hold me fast. He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me slow. He will hold me fast. [Music] >> For my life he bled and died.

Christ will hold me fast. Justice has been satisfied. He will hold me fast. Raise with him to endless life. He will hold me fast till our faith is turned to sight. When he comes at last, he will hold me fast. [Music] He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so. He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me slow. He will hold me fast. [Music] >> And Lord, thank you for that beautiful truth that you have us, God. And in the meantime, help us to walk in faithfulness before you always displaying the beauty of the Gospel. Forgive us where we fail you. Forgive us where we sin against others. And God, we just pray that you would knit our hearts together as one body under one Lord. We pursue you, Lord. You are our king. We thank you for your kindness and your mercy. Thank you for the forgiveness that's in Christ. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Y'all go in peace. Thank you. [Music] question. You want to have lunch? [Music] Okay. Yeah. [Music] Yeah that's Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. [Music] Exactly.