← ArchiveSunday, June 21, 2015DateJune 21, 2015Speaker—TextPhilippians 2Passages in this sermonPhilippians 21:03Philippians 2:192:28Philippians 2:2710:02Luke 1012:05Proverbs 1015:34Proverbs 20:716:51James 225:47James 2:1725:57Romans 1232:27TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Music Oh, it's gone in my life that's when God steps in me When I freeze the air, He finds a new way for me to begin0:23That's when my God steps in That's when my God steps in My God steps in0:49Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. If you brought your Bible, and I hope you did, turn with me to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. You need to keep your Bibles open, if you don't mind, and take your sermon outline. We're going to be looking at several verses of Scripture, but our text today is Philippians chapter 2. Several months ago, I preached through a series out of the book of Philippians.1:16We covered a chapter a week, and we didn't do an exhaustive study of that. We may come back to that at some point. Should the committee tarry, or should I? The Lord tarry one. I may still be here for a little while long, but that's not what we want. We want God's man to be here, right? Don't say amen to that. That hurt my feelings today. But we do want God's man. Amen. But anyway, I did not cover a lot of Philippians that are just chocked full.1:43There's probably 15 or 20 sermons out of the book of Philippians. But today, I'm going to take our text from Philippians chapter 2, studying of two guys. And today, under what God says about a model for manhood. The message truth is, a man's greatness is not determined by the wealth, by the value of his wealth, but by the wealth of his value. A lot of times, we determine the greatness of men by how much money they have, how much stuff they've acquired, how much land they own.2:12But it's determined by the wealth of their value. Philippians chapter 2, verses 19 and following. The New American Standard Version, God's Word reads this way. "But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition.2:34For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For they all seek after their own interests, but not those of Christ Jesus. But you know of his approved worth that he served me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.2:59Therefore, I hope to send him immediately as soon as I see how things are going with me. And I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall be coming shortly. But I thought it necessary to send to you Ephratus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need."3:22Verse 26, "Because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you have heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick to the point of death. But God had mercy on him, not on him only, but also on me, lest I should sorrow upon sorrow.3:50Therefore, I have sent him all the more eagerly in order that I, in order that when you see him again, you may rejoice and I may be blessed concerning, may be less, excuse me, concerned about you." Verse 29, "Therefore, receive him in the Lord with all joy and hold men like him in high regard, because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficit in your service to me."4:14"Father, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight today." "Lord, as we unpack your word today, I pray, Father, that you will radically change our lives, that we will understand your calling on our lives more than ever."4:40"And as we do kind of talk about men today, Father, I pray that women folk in this room will be encouraged that your word is precise about how men ought to live." "And Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for the men that are godly in this room, that are striving for excellence in your work, that are obedient to the call."5:02"Lord, we ask you to continue to bless them." "And Father, I pray that you remove any obstacles standing in the way from us hearing from you today." "And I pray, Father, as you challenge us from your word, I pray we walk away from this place completely different than when we came." "We give you all the praise, all the glory, and all the honor. In Jesus' name we pray."5:29"And the church said, Amen." "In Weldon Harden Book's book entitled, Missing from Action, Vanishing Manhood in America." "He talks about four type or four types of false images of males, of false images of males." "First, there's four different kinds, and I want to read them out to you." "The first is the macho maniac."5:56"That's the dirty, hairy kind of guy, you know, the Rambo type guy." "These guys deny all their feelings and they ignore the law." "They never worry, they never complain, never apologize." "All they do is just sweat." "That's all they do. They just sweat." "That's all they do." "They accomplish the most impossible thing every eight seconds and they take whatever they want."6:20"That's the macho maniac." "That's the first type of individual." "The second is this." "It's the great pretender." "Now, I'm going to date myself, but his book gives it to those of us in this room." "Remember the show that Archie Bunker, All in the Family." "Archie Bunker was a great pretender who tried to build up his own self-esteem, so to speak,6:44by belittling everyone else around him, particularly his wife and his children." "He imagined in his own warped mind that he was in charge of the family, that he ran the family business." "When really behind him everyone was ridiculing him." "So we got the macho maniac and then we got the great pretender." "Hardenbrook's book tells us a third class is the world-class wimp."7:09"Now you know there's some wimpy men out there, aren't there?" "They are so inept in their own life, they're constantly being outwitted by their children, their wives, even their dogs outwit them." "Nobody takes them seriously at all." "Their motto is blessed are the passive, for they will avoid conflict at all costs." "That's the wimp." "They won't take on the hard situations."7:38"They won't." "Then we have the great pretender that people are outwitting them all the time. They feel like they're in charge of everything." "Then we got the sweating macho maniac." "The fourth type, and it's becoming more evident that this has become a wave right now for some reason here in America especially." "It's called the gender benders." "Now you know the gender benders." "Yes, I'm calling them out and some of you are rolling your eyes around, I cannot believe you would say that."8:05"And it's going to be on the website, so I really don't care." "But the great gender benders are the Michael Jacksons of the world, the Boy Georges of the world." "They pretend to be masculine when really they're not." "They pretend to be in this masculine body when they have bent their gender out of whack." "They are completely in a reversal of roles and their identity."8:30"That's what he calls out." "The gender benders, the world-class wimps, the great pretender, and the macho maniac." "That leaves us what?" "What does that leave us?" "What is the alternative?" "Well, God's alternative is this: a model for manhood." "God has called us to be men." "Being a male is a matter of your birth, but being a man is a matter of choice."8:58"You choose to either be a man or you choose to be something other than a man." "These guys are not born that way. They chose to be that way." "Homosexuality is a choice. It's not a matter of birthright." "A benders of their gender, they choose to be that way because God's word is without error."9:24"And it tells us clearly that there are some who are bending their gender." "You say, 'Well, that's awful harsh. Take it up with God. I'm just a messenger.'" "Folks, let me tell you something. There is a matter of manhood that needs to be addressed in this way." "Being a male is a matter of your birthright, but being a man is a matter of choice."9:48Paul gives us two wonderful examples: his young brother in Christ, Timothy and Ephroditus. Philippians 2:27, Paul says, "I have no one else like Timothy." Now, what a great line. What a great indictment. What a great line he says about his young brother in Christ, Timothy. "I have no one like him." Then he goes on to say, referring to Ephroditus, he says, "whole men like him in high honor."10:17Timothy, "I have no one like him." Ephroditus, "we need to hold him in high honor because he is a real man's man." So that brings me to this point. I want to give you several things that I believe that the Lord has put on my heart to challenge us men to evaluate today. The kind of men that God are looking for. Number one, God's looking for men of compassion.10:44Now, folks, let me tell you something. You can be compassionate without being a wimp. Men of compassion are compassion for the world. God is looking for men who will put people first instead of prophets. Put people first. Look what it says in verse 20. It goes on to say, "For I have no one else of kindred spirit who would genuinely be concerned for your well-being." Speaking of Timothy, speaking of he has no one else like this.11:10He says, goes on to say in verse 21, "For they all seek after their own interests, but not those of Christ." Folks, let me tell you something. He says, "God is looking for men who will put people first instead of prophets. They will forego the bottom line to look for meeting the needs of people." The Bible says, "I have not loved if I am nothing. Now, abide in these three: faith, hope, and love.11:37But the greatest of these is love." Compassion is protecting the needs and the rights of people. The man who is all wrapped up in his self. He's not a daddy. He's a mummy. Now, church, let me tell you something. God is looking for men who will stand up and say, "I have a compassionate heart. I want to meet the needs of people." Luke chapter 10 gives us a prime example of that.12:05You know the story in verse 29. A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell. He fell among the robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed him, leaving him half dead. Now, by chance, a priest was going down the road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. That word, priest, bothers me. Identifies that as a minister of clergy just walked right on by. Drives me crazy.12:34Sometimes we get so caught up in our own ministries that we forget the people's needs. So, likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was. When he saw him there, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds and poured oil and wine. Then he set him on his animal and brought him into the inn, took care of him.13:00And the next day, he took two denarii, gave it to the innkeeper, saying, "Take care of him. Whatever more you need, I will repay you when I come back." Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" Church, let me tell you something. That Samaritan was a man of compassion. One thing I noticed when I came here nearly a year ago now as your intentional interim pastor is I found out about your church.13:25You are a church, collectively, that are meeting the needs of your community. Go ahead and say amen to that. Because the Bethel Food Bank is one way that we're meeting the needs of others. The Backpack Buddies, the Love Serves Project, some of these things are phenomenal. And when the next guy comes on board, he may have a different terminology, a different language about it.13:52He may embrace life groups, which is more 21st century terminology than Sunday school. Nothing is changing in the curriculum. We're just coming into the 21st century. We're going to do life together. And to do life together, we've got to be compassionate. And one of the things that I love about this church is that you have a compassionate heart for those in need.14:15So, men, I'm challenging you. If you are compassionate, stay compassionate and take it up another notch. If you're not, confess and become more compassionate. So, God is looking for men who have compassion. God is looking for men who put people first before profits. Secondly, God is looking for men of consistency. Now, this is where I'm going to kind of, men, y'all just buckle up.14:44Don't get up and run. Because I'm going to kind of get up in your business a little bit. And I believe I need to because I believe it's time for the man of God that stands in the pulpit to be bone honest with our men. Again, our women are looking for consistency. They're looking for men who are looking to put character before conformity. Proved, as the word of God in verse 22 says, means a test of character, integrity.15:13Timothy's name means he honors God. If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything. It is time for men to be men of consistency. Inconsistency. I love what Proverbs chapter 10. Turn with me. If you've got your Bibles, turn with me. Proverbs chapter 10. Look at verse 9. One verse. "Whosoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out."15:41Church, let me tell you something. The world can spot inconsistency in our lives. We need to be men of consistency. If we don't stand for something, we'll fall for anything. If your private life is not consistent with your public life, then you will be considered a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.16:02We have a lot of men, and I'm in ministry for 32 years now, and sit and listen to them. Our counseling ministry sits and listens to them. Pastors on staff sit and listen to them. We have a lot of men whose private life is not consistent with their public life. And it's time, and we wonder why our families are falling apart.16:31Let me tell you something, folks. God is looking for men who will be men of consistency. Looking for men who put character before conformity. That's what God is looking for. That's what the world is looking for. Proverbs chapter 20, verse 7. Notice what the word says. The righteous who walks in his integrity. Blessed are his children after him.17:00Blessed are his children after him. Folks, let me tell you something. God is begging the church. He's begging men to stand up and be real men. No bender genders. No great pretenders. Not the macho maniac of all people. He's asking us to be men of consistency. Inconsistent men will produce insecure children. Also, an uncommitted, inconsistent husband produces an unstable marriage.17:27Folks, let me tell you something. God didn't put the woman in charge. And most of the women, when you really, really, really, really ask them. Come in here close because I want you to hear this. They don't want to be in charge. I ask my wife all the time. I said, why don't you just take control of this thing? She said, well, first of all, it's unbiblical. Second of all, no.17:55She said, I don't want to stand before God for the mess ups. You're the one that's going to stand before God, not me. Wow, thanks for that encouragement, Miss Deb. So, let me tell you something. God wants us to stand up and have men of character not conform to this world and be politically correct about everything that we do. I want to tell you, let me circle in here just a second. Preacher, hang on. I'll get to the next point in a minute.18:24I could tell you right now, I'd rather be more correct with this book than anything that Washington ever says. I want to be more in line to this book than any political scenario that comes down the pipe, regardless of what it might cost me physically, emotionally, sacrificially. I don't really care. I'm going to stand with this book. I'd rather stand before God and him say, well done, thou good and faithful servant,18:53than me stand before God and says, you bent under political correctness. Church, let me tell you something. God is looking for men who will be men of consistency. God is looking for men, men of cooperation. Now, this is where it kind of gets into your business again, so bear with me. If you don't like this, then whatever.19:20What am I going to do about it? I'm going to keep doing what I do. Amen? God is looking for men of cooperation. God is looking for men who will put cooperation before competition. We have a lot of men who feel like they need to compete with each other. They are so bent on winning. Look what verse 25 says, but I thought it necessary to send you Ephroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier,19:43who is also your messenger and minister to my need. Notice the three words. He says, fellow worker, fellow soldier, who is a messenger and minister to my need. He's saying he is cooperating with the call. I find a lot of church people who feel like they know best. And sometimes they might.20:12But they're so bent on being right that sometimes they find themselves being wrong. And they never confess being wrong. I'm tired of hearing of pastors being run out of the ministry because of knucklehead guys who sit on the pew and tip God with a little tithe check and feel like they're in control. Let me tell you something, church. The word of God says we are to lift high the banner of Christ and protect the shepherd of the Lord Jesus Christ.20:39He is standing before the Lord. Double portion. He will stand before him. He's asking us to get behind the book. Get inside the book and start living out the book and be cooperating with the body of Christ. Church, it's time. The world is going to hell in a handbag. Yet we are so afraid to not make a stand and cooperate with those who are leading.21:04Things about the Christian life that I have found, that it is a family. A hundred and thirty-three times Paul uses the word brother. It is not only just a family, it's a fellowship. We all have the same task, the same marching orders. Gather in here close. There's not one marching orders for the deacons and one for the staff.21:31There's not one marching order for life group leaders and not one for the laity. It's all one marching order. Go, make disciples of all the nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all I command you. And lo, I'll be with you always even to the end of the age. Folks, he has not changed the book. But we want to change it to fit our own needs. It's time for the body of Christ to be led by men that stand up and say,21:58Thus saith the Lord, we're going to do what the Lord thus saith. Wow, it gets quiet in here when I do that stuff. Things about the Christian life, it's family, it's fellowship, and it's also a fight. But guess what? Pastor Chris, it's not a fight amongst the brothers. It's a fight against Satan. We have one enemy, not ourselves, but we want to squabble and fight amongst ourselves.22:26Now, I know Bethel Church doesn't do this. I'm talking about these other churches I've served as intentional interim pastors. I'm not talking about Bethel. No, we won't fight against XYZ Church down the road. No, we don't. Folks, let me just gather in here close. Turn the tape off. Let me tell you what. No, don't turn it off. I want them to see this. Don't turn it off. Folks, let me just tell you something.22:55The gathering place is our friends. The Church of the Highlands, our friends. First Baptist, no, not really. First Baptist Moody, they're our friends. You know what? Our enemy is Satan. And we need to cooperate as the body of Christ. It is time for us to become more unified than our own war. We have a battle to fight. We need to shoulder up.23:24Christian men come up competing against each other rather than cooperate with each other. You know what I found? About 10% of men have real friends. 10% have real friends. Most of us don't have real friends. Come on, men. I'll think with you real quick. I know. Wake up. Think with me just for a second. How many of you got some real friends? You know, a lot of guys.23:52You got a lot of guys. I got about four real friends. I got a lot of acquaintances. But I got about four buds that I'm telling you, pastor, if we were in the trench, I wouldn't have to look left or right. They'd be right there with me. I got about three or four of them knuckleheads and I'd do the same thing. They'd take a bullet for me. I'd take a bullet for them. They were right there in the trenches. Folks, let me tell you something. We need to lock arm in arm. God is looking for men of cooperation.24:20Number four, God is looking for men of commitment. God is looking for men of commitment. God is looking for men who will put the cause of Christ before comfort. comfort. The cause of Christ before comfort. Look at verse 26. Because he was longing for you all. I love that phrase, you all. Paul had to be a southerner, didn't he?24:48He's longing for you all. And was distressed because you have heard that he was sick. But indeed, he was sick to the point of death. But God had mercy upon him, not on him only, but also on me, lest I should sorrow upon sorrow. Church, let me tell you something. Church, let me tell you something. God is looking for men of commitment. God is looking for men to put the cause of Christ before comfort.25:13I meet men who are great, great starters. I know a lot of great starters. But there's not many good finishers. See, there's a lot of people out there that start well, hit a bump in the road, hit an obstacle somewhere along the way, tire runs into a pothole, and they don't finish strong.25:30God is looking for men who will finish strong. James chapter 2, should I, this is the Lord Terry or the committee to hang around here for a while longer, I may preach through the book of James. A phenomenal, phenomenal book. James chapter 2, verse 17.25:57So faith by itself, if it does not have worked, is dead. So faith by itself, if it does not, it's dead. Folks, let me tell you something. The number one complaint from our wives is passive husbands. Oh, they're aggressive at work. They get after it at work. I mean, they do it at sale at work, but when they get home, they're the frozen chosen.26:23God uses men of action to take the initiative of the cause of Christ. We have a lot of spectators in the church today. They sit, they do their hour a week, and they do nothing else for the kingdom throughout the west of the week.26:47Well, that's what we pay the staff to do. I didn't find that in the scripture when it says, go there, make disciples of all these. It didn't say only staff. Church, let me tell you something. We need men of action, men of commitment. Number five, God, the kind of man God's looking for is men of courage. God is looking for men who will put service before security.27:14Service before security. Service before security. Verse 29 and verse 30. Therefore, receive him in the Lord with all joy and whole man like him in high regard, because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficit in your service to me.27:33God is looking for men who will put service before security. God is looking for men of courage who are willing to risk their lives for the cause of Christ, who are willing to serve God recklessly. This week, we lost a giant missionary in the kingdom work.28:02You may or may not know her. I had the privilege of hearing her speak one time. An amazing, amazing woman. Her name is Elizabeth Elliott. Mrs. Elliott, she was married to one of the great missionaries out of Wheaton College named Jim Elliott. Jim Elliott, Nate Saint, and Pete Fleming, the three amigos, were murdered in Ecuador by the Akua Indians.28:28They were proclaiming the name of Jesus in English because they did not know that Indian language. They did not know that dialect. And so all they did day in and day out in Ecuador was stand in the riverbank and they would proclaim Jesus as Lord.28:49They would stand courageously proclaiming Jesus loves you and has a plan for you. Jesus is Lord. One of the greatest books other than the Bible that changed my life, that set my missional heart on fire, was a book called Through Gates of Splendor.29:08It was handed to me by another missionary friend of mine 30 years ago named Leo Humphreys, a street evangelist from New Orleans, handed it to me. He says, "Dan, you need to read this book." I read it and it changed my thinking about making disciples of all the nations. When I read the account of Jim Elliott, Pete Fleming, and Nate Saint, one of the things that Miss Elliott, she went home to be with Jesus this week, and she was straightforward.29:34I heard her speak at the Briarwood Church one time at a conference and she, I mean, she skint everybody in the room with her words, but it was out of love from God's word. And lives were radically changed and missionaries were sent forth from that church. She made these comments and said, "Oh, I've been to the place where Jim died."30:03And she said, "I used to sit there and listen to people say that. I used to hear them talk about Pete and Nate and Jim and the place at the very spot where they were killed for the cause of Christ in the jungles of Ecuador." And she said, "I used to hear them talk about that." And she said that day, she said, "I've stopped listening to people because I stopped them."30:28Said, "Oh, no, you did not. You're not there. You weren't there. I don't believe you're old enough to be." At that time, Jim died not in Ecuador. He died on the campus of Wheaton College when he said, "Lord Jesus, I'll go wherever you call me to go in the service of my king." Church, the Lord is looking for men of courage that will stand up and say, "I put service before security."30:51Now, the question begs today, will you be that guy? Will you, with reckless abandonment, say, "God, I will do whatever you call me to do. I will go wherever you call me to go, and I will give whatever you call me to give."31:14God's calling for men of courage. I've seen hundreds of churches in my ministry time. Pastor over there and I have been in ministry over 60 years. You got 60 years worth of experience sitting in this room right now, which is crazy. I mean, well, it's probably more than that because he's 100. We got about 60 years, don't we, Pastor?31:42About 60 years worth of ministry experience. We've seen hundreds of churches filled with wimpy religion. Before 2005, I would preach 40 revivals a year in different churches all across the Southern Baptist Convention, all across the nation. Most of which should have shut their doors or merged with someone else. Wimpy religion, going through the motions.32:11No goals, no purpose, no challenges. Christianity had lost its teeth. The church was almost nothing but a series of meetings showing up and leaving. No change whatsoever. The church is calling us to be Romans 12. The church is desperately calling, the Lord is desperately calling the church and calling men to be Romans 12.32:32Verse 12. I appeal to you, therefore, my brothers, by the mercies of God. Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. You may not be conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that the testing you may discern what the will of God is, which is good and acceptable and perfect.32:53You see, the world is begging for men to stand up and be that person right there. About 80 to 90 years ago, a guy named Nikolai Lennon, he took a group of 12 to 14 people in a meeting he was sitting in, and he made this statement.33:09Give me 100 committed men, and I'll change the world. 100 committed men. 100 committed men. Evidently, he got them because two-thirds of the world's population today is under some form of communistic rule.33:36The power of communism started because of the power of commitment. The world is looking for men of courage. If you will get usable, God will wear you out.34:00But we have so many men that sit with their arms folded and do nothing for the cause of Christ, and they will stand before God. And he won't say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." Men, it's time. It's time to present our lives a model of Christian manhood.34:28Timothy and Ephroditus, they're just ordinary guys. Nothing fantastically special about them. They weren't superstars by no means. They didn't have a big television deal. They didn't have right books or anything like that. They were just two ordinary guys. 2,000 years later, we're still talking about them, though. When I looked at my life this week and did a self-evaluation in my own personal life before I said, "Yes, God, I will deliver your straightforward words this week."34:56I did a complete evaluation of Dan Moran. I looked at my life. I looked at my work. The call of my life as a man, as a father. And I scratched through this question.35:21How much is it going to count 50 to 100 years from now? What is the legacy I'm going to leave? Men, I'm going to ask you this. What is the difference and the legacy? If we stand over your coffin, will you leave?35:46A man's greatness is not determined by the value of his wealth but the wealth of his value.More sermons on Philippians →
