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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Follow Godly Examples |
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Philippians
3:17 Twenty-third
Sunday after Trinity November
16, 2009 We
are rapidly approaching the end of Trinity Season and the beginning of
Advent. The changing of the Seasons brings a change in the emphasis of our
Scripture readings. The
emphasis of Trinity is life lived in loving response to the revelation of
God in Jesus Christ. With
Advent we return to the foundational doctrines of the Faith.
Primarily we are concerned with the doctrines of God.
We will highlight passages of the Bible that teach about His
greatness and holiness, and also about His compassion and self-giving to
us. We will look at passages
that teach about the nature of the Lord Jesus.
We will follow major events in His ministry, seeing what they teach
about Him and about us. Finally
we will see passages that teach about the Holy Spirit and His ministry in
the life of the Church. Thus
we will look at the Holy Trinity; that great and majestic God who is One
God in three Persons. All
theology begins with God. Theology is by definition the worshipful study
of the being, nature, and will of God as He is revealed in Scripture.
Anthropology, by which I mean the study of the biblical teachings
about humanity, is incomplete unless it also first begins with God, for it
is in God that humanity has its being.
Anthropology, then, beginning properly with God, must then account
for the tragic barrier that separates man from God, and which leads us
into the morass of strife and suffering that so characterises the human
race. This is a barrier tragically built by our own choosing and by our
own hands; a barrier the Bible calls, "sin."
This brings us to the doctrine of salvation; that Divine Rescue
accomplished by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ in which we
are forgiven and restored to all the blessings and glories God wants His
people to enjoy. These are
the things we will encounter over the next several months as we worship
God together. What a great
privilege this is. We will
tell again the great story of Redemption that is always new and always
"Good News." We
will hear again the things the ancient prophets foretold but did not live
to see. We will look into
things so deep and great that angels long to look into them.
We will walk where angels fear to tread. We will come boldly to the
throne of grace. Before
we leave Trinity's reminder of the way Christians live, we come to our
Epistle Lesson for today, beginning in Philippians 3:17. Throughout
Trinity we have been encouraged and admonished by the Word of God to live
like Christians. But how do
we learn how to do this? How
do we learn to put our faith into practice every day?
How can we learn how to live Biblically in the concrete situations
of every day life? In
Philippians the Apostle Paul, at the inspiration and leading of the Holy
Spirit of God, encourages us to bind ourselves to those who will lead us
more deeply into the things of Christ.
We are urged to find and follow good examples of godliness.
"[B]e followers together
of me, and mark them which walk so."
We are all influenced by other people.
Some of this is involuntary, for we find ourselves almost
unconsciously adopting the mannerisms and expressions of those with whom
we associate at work and in other activities.
But some of this is voluntary.
Some of this is intentional, for we often purposely pattern
ourselves after people we admire. So it would seem self-evident that we need to know and
pattern ourselves after good examples of faith and godliness if we, too,
want to be people of faith and godliness. Paul
tells us to "mark" people who are good examples.
Writing in Greek, the official language of the Roman Empire, Paul
uses the word from which we get our English word, "scope." There
are three basic meanings to this word as used in Philippians 3; seek,
associate, and heed. First,
we are to seek people of faith to be our examples. "Scope"
carries a meaning of seeing. In
Greek it means to look at, but it does not mean to glance in a casual
manner. It is an intense, active, searching look given to things that are
important. The first part of
this kind of looking involves finding something worthy of this kind of
attention. It involves seeking. When
we use "scope" in English it is usually appended to the word
telos or micro, giving us telescope, which means to look at things far
away, and microscope, meaning to look at small things.
Both words carry the meaning of seeking as well as seeing.
We seek things far away with a telescope.
We seek things small by means of the microscope. We are searching when we use these instruments.
We are "scoping." So,
in Philippians Paul encourages us to seek and search out those godly
people who will be worthy examples to us.
In Greek, "scope" was used to denote the work of a sentry
or a scout watching and searching for signs of trouble, signs of enemy
activity signs of danger. They were searching for anything that might require action
and decision on their part. In
the same way we are to diligently be "on the lookout" for those
who are worthy examples of Christian life and faith.
We must all diligently seek out such people. Second,
we must associate with good examples.
No person can be much of an example without some kind of
association with us, and "scope" also carries the meaning of
association. Specifically it
means to be in close proximity, which enables us to intensely observe
something. The telescope
brings far things near and the microscope makes small things big, so we
can observe them. It brings them into association with us.
It brings them into our world so we can observe them, so we can
study them. In the same way
we need to bring Godly people into our worlds so we can learn about them
and learn from them. We need
to associate with them. But
even "associate" is a weak word compared to what the Bible is
trying to tell us. "Bind" is a better word. We need to bind ourselves to Godly people as Luke bound
himself to Paul. Luke went
where Paul went, shared Paul's sufferings and his life.
And in the process he learned how to live the life of Christian
faith. Ruth is a good example
of this, as is shown by that beloved passage, Ruth 1:16: "Entreat
me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither
thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people
shall be my people, and thy God my God." I
said earlier that telescopes and microscopes bring things into our world
so we can observe them. We
could look at this another way and say they take us into other worlds, the
world of the far away and the world of the very small.
In the same way, to "scope" as Paul uses it here is to
enter into the world of the spiritually mature Christian.
It is to enter into the world of those who live by faith, as Paul
and Peter and Naomi lived. We
enter their world so we may learn of them and follow their good examples. Of
course the best and most Godly person we can associate with is Christ.
And we associate with Him in several ways.
We associate with Him when we read His word. We
associate with Him when we worship Him Biblically.
We associate with Him when we come to the Lord's Table. We associate with Him in prayer.
This is vitally important. As
I have spoken to you over the past few months I have emphasised our
personal responsibility in matters of faith.
Each of us is personally responsible before God, and we must each
do our own praying and worshiping and Christian living for ourselves.
But we also associate with Christ when we associate with His
people. There is a corporate
aspect to the Christian life. I
use "corporate" as it was used in Latin to refer to the Body,
meaning the Body of Christ, the Church. And there is most definitely a
strong corporate aspect to Christianity according to the Bible.
The Church is God's idea, not man's.
It is God's idea to call Apostles and pastors and teachers and to
give them to His Church. It is Christ who calls the Church His Body and commands us to
belong to a Biblical local congregation of believers.
And it is God who says that, in this local congregation, as well as
in the larger sense of the Universal Church, we are members of Christ's
Body and members of one another in the same sense that the members of our
bodies are inseparably entwined members of one another.
And, along with the corporate aspect of Christianity, and
inseparably entwined with it, is the individual and personal aspect of the
Christian life. You have to make yourself go to church, read the Bible,
pray, resist temptation, and make proper use of the means of grace that
you may grow in Christ. Like
so many things in Scripture, this individual aspect of Christianity leads
us right back into the corporate aspect, for it is in the corporate aspect
of worshiping, studying, encouraging, and teaching and hearing the word
and receiving the sacraments that we are strengthened individually.
Our association with one another in the things of Christ is a
powerful means by which God strengthens us individually and corporately in
Christ. So, the individual
aspect of the Christian life leads us naturally into the corporate aspect,
and the corporate aspect leads into and strengthens us for the individual
aspect, which leads us back into the corporate aspect.
To put this in more proper theological terms; the Church preaches
and teaches the Gospel, which leads to individual faith and Christian
living, which leads to a stronger involvement in the life and ministry of
the Church, which strengthens the individual believer, which leads back to
the Church, which..., I think you get the picture. But,
lest I loose sight of the point I am trying to make, association with
Godly people encourages Godliness in us.
Thus it is exceedingly important that we associate with and attach
ourselves to Godly people. And
it is exceedingly important that we follow good examples of Christian
faith and life that we learn of them.
This is why it is so terribly important to belong to a Biblical
church. Most people choose a
church because they like the style of worship, the music, the people or
the minister. Those are the
absolute worst reasons to choose a church.
We need to choose our church, and our denomination, on the basis of
Biblical fidelity. Does it believe and teach the Bible? Do the sermons faithfully attempt to expound the Bible?
Do they lead me into the things of God? Are
the people godly people who will inspire me to godliness and be examples
of Biblical faith? These are the reasons to choose a church. Finally,
to "mark" or "scope" means to heed.
Have you ever heard someone say, "Mark my words"?
What do they mean by that? Don't
they want us to pay attention; to single out their words as worthy of
notice? Aren't they telling
us to heed what they say? That is exactly what Paul is telling us to do
with godly people. Mark them.
Make them objects of special notice.
See what they do. Listen
to their words. Follow their
example. The disciples did
not merely hear Jesus, they followed Him.
Luke followed Paul. Mark
followed Peter. Ruth followed
Naomi. They heard what these
people said, but more importantly, they followed their words and their
examples. Luke followed Paul
as Paul followed Christ. Mark
followed Peter as Peter followed Christ.
Ruth followed Naomi as Naomi followed God.
Luke and Mark imitated Paul and Peter, and in so doing, they were
really learning to follow Christ. That
is the real goal. People can
be good examples and teachers. But
marking them is not a goal in itself.
It is merely a step in the journey of following Christ.
Human teachers and examples, if they are doing their jobs
correctly, merely point us to Christ, our true Example and Teacher.
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