Date : Second Sunday in Lent, February 28, 2010

Text : Philippians 3:17-4:1

Title : Stand firm in the Lord

"Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved."

Please, take careful notice how personal Paul makes this letter to the Christians in the town of Philippi. He encourages them to imitate the way he lives the Christian faith. He points out things, regarding those who are enemies of Christ—that is, unbelievers—that they can easily understand. He calls them his brothers. He tells them that he loves them. He reveals the affection that he has in his heart, telling them that they are his joy and his crown.

Clearly, he loves these fellow Christians. That’s why his letter gets so personal. Indeed, if you love someone, how can you remain impersonal?

Ah, but so many people want things to remain impersonal. When relationships don’t get too close, they don’t have to invest their heart in people. Once you invest your heart, you might have to invest your time, your energy, your money. Keep it impersonal; that way, you can live your life however you want.

And, that’s exactly the essence of Paul’s warning. Those, who are the enemies of the cross of Christ, are those who live for today. Their end will be their destruction because their god is their belly. The shame of living for earthly things is that in which they glory.

Now, Paul continues, the Christian’s citizenship is not of this world, but of heaven. Live as if you are a stranger here, because heaven is your real home, your ultimate destination, as you await the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform these lowly bodies of yours to be like His glorious body.

As today marks exactly nine years since my first worship service with you—it was Ash Wednesday of 2001—this is a good text on which to preach. My affection for you mirrors Paul’s affection for the Philippians. And, since God’s Word is truth, everything that Paul wrote, way back then, perfectly applies, all these years later.

I sometimes lament that it’s time for you to have a new minister. We have gotten very comfortable with each other. I wonder if I am able to preach anything to you that doesn’t feel like a dozen other sermons you’ve heard. You know me so well, you know exactly what to expect—where I excel, where I continue to need to improve, where I’m hopelessly lost.

Don’t worry; I feel exactly the same about you. I know where you excel, and where you continue to need to improve, and where, I fear, you are hopelessly lost.

The value of having nine years together is that we do, indeed, know these things about each other. And, what I know now, that I didn’t know then, informs how I write these sermons, and what I decide to study in Bible classes, and how I go about ministering to you in private.

Most of this is going to sound like old news but, because it is that against which we strive in this community, it bears repeating from a pastor who loves his sheep after the model of Paul and his churches. In every way, St. John is just like every other Lutheran church. We have about the same percentage of members in church on Sunday, and who attend a Bible class, and who make sure their kids are in Sunday school.

We are actually a cut above many Lutheran churches in our financial support and, considering that we are far from rich around here, that’s saying a lot. Our school remains among the least expensive schools in the LCMS, as very few are tuition-free. Our teachers are at the head of the class. Our lunch program is absolutely top-notch. Our fundraising efforts are exceptional. When we have a special concern, you all rally around it.

While all of that keeps us afloat, you don’t hear Paul concerned about it. What perturbs Pastor Paul is how the Philippians are living the faith that God has freely given them for the sake of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial crucifixion.

I often wonder if you folks see yourselves as Christians, first, or as Americans. Having the benefit of nine years, I truly think that most of you see yourselves as Americans, first.

God calls Christians to live differently from the world—you know, to be in the world, but not to be of or like the world—but, I don’t see much of that. Yes, there are an assortment of you who truly strive to live the Golden Rule, to worship the Lord faithfully and with a sincere and contrite heart, and learn God’s Word so as to live it. But, far from the majority.

I fear that many of you are brain-dead Christians. You are zombies who appear to be alive, because you come to church, but you really are not.

I’m not only saying that to get your attention. I am saying it to be a burr under your pew, to bother you to the point that you do something about it.

In my conversations with you, you will say things that make me wonder if you even listen to sermons, or put together anything that goes on in this worship service and apply to your life. There is such an attitude among you—and, yes, it’s true of Christians, everywhere in the USA, but that doesn’t make God happy about it—there is such an attitude that you can live however you want to live.

That’s what America has done for us. We have become so independent in our freedoms. We think we are our own people, and we can live however we like. Even the Supreme Court has told us that we can—

If we get too fat, because our god is, indeed, our belly, we expect our health insurance to pay for the health problems that we have caused ourselves. If we slip and fall, or have a car accident, or anything at all happens where we might be able to blame someone else and get some money for it, we are all in for that. Whatever is popular in America is popular among Christians, and so we tattoo ourselves, and pierce ourselves, and dress ourselves in sexually-suggestive ways, and go to casinos, and have extra-marital sex, and whatever is the flavor of the month, and we rarely-if-ever stop and ask, "Is this what God would have me do?"

All of our money has printed on it, "In God we trust," but the fronts of our churches should have printed on them, "In money we trust," because it is the almighty dollar that dictates the life of the average American Christian.

In a movie that I just watched, a minister said, "When people are given the opportunity to do whatever it is they want to do—as God allowed Adam and Eve—people will do whatever it is they want to do." Bingo. Nailed us.

Only you can examine your heart, posing Paul’s probes to yourselves:

Or, do you take Paul’s admonition seriously? Wait, it’s not Paul’s admonition; it’s God’s admonition. It’s God the Holy Spirit who willed for Paul to write these things. This appeal does not come from Paul—and it is not your pastor, one more time, scolding you. It’s God the Holy Spirit, whose personal work it is to give you faith in Jesus Christ, and then to work alongside your spirit so that you are faithful to the Lord and unfaithful to earthly things.

Yes, my brothers and sisters in Christ, this is very personal to me, as it was to Paul. I love you, deeply and dearly.

Ultimately, I wind up preaching your funeral sermon. There is no greater joy than when I have confidence in preaching that you displayed sincere faith, humbly confessed your sinfulness, and clung to Christ for your forgiveness, life, and salvation.

But, when this is not the case, it’s hard to write the sermon. It’s painful when I have serious concern about the person who has died, who has not shown that he gave a hoot, and who lived as if he lived for this life, and this life, alone.

So, what do I talk about in those funeral sermons? I talk about that which I always conclude every sermon: Jesus Christ, taking the focus off the sinner and onto the Savior.

You, saved sinners, are citizens of heaven because God the Father, for the sake of His Son’s sacrificial crucifixion, has made you citizens of heaven. All too often, you act like you are only a citizen of the USA but, God is faithful, and He is longsuffering, and God the Holy Spirit continues to work in you, and with you, despite how you try to kick Him out.

With deep love and affection, Paul concluded, "Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved."

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, stand firm in the Lord—the Lord Jesus. He is your salvation. He is the payment for your sins. He is your resurrection and your life, as your citizenship in heaven will pay off in when He transforms your lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subdue all things to Himself.

He has the power. Jesus has the power. Everything in this life will pass away. Jesus has invested His eternal life in you, so that you possess His eternal life.

That was the sermon, nine years ago. That’s the sermon, today. That’ll be the sermon until the day that Christ comes back and completes the good work that He baptized into you, and on which He feeds you His living body and blood. Amen.