"Citizens" - Pastor Jason Ballard

Hi, this is John Ozanting, lead pastor of Evolved Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

Well, it is so good to be together.

Thanks for having me here.

It's a joy to be in Edmonton.

I'm here with my daughter, Mary, and Mary's seven years old, and she is in the kids' ministry program right now, and she's delighted.

And for everyone here that serves in kids' ministry or serves in any capacity, like thanks for investing in my kids.

Thanks for making that kind of deposit.

And because she's gonna double dip in the next service, too.

So it's like we'll see, we'll see, we'll really see the effect of getting it twice.

Um, as John and Nicole shared, um, we're in Vancouver.

I grew up in the suburbs of Vancouver on the West Coast in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, went to Terry Fox Secondary School, Hometown Hero.

And um after uh studying at San Fresh University, I got married, lived in Langley, which is another suburb of Vancouver.

And then a number of years ago, it started like 10 years ago, but then it began to grow.

Some friends and I began to ask this question what might it look like for as a group of friends to plant a life-giving, multiplying church in the city of Vancouver to join many other great churches in the work in that city and participate in what God is doing there.

And I don't know if you've ever had a dream in your heart before, a question of what if, and then it's like you kind of put it away and it grows and it grows and it grows and it grows.

And what was special about this journey was a few friends and I felt that growing conviction together.

So myself and Jeremy King and Chris Price, and then a few others, we began to ask this question are we meant to plant a church together?

And so somewhere in 2018, we decided you know what would be an awesome date to start a church?

September 2020.

And we were like going for September 2020.

I mean, like, we're letting everybody know.

We're doing pre-stuff.

We we you we have house groups starting around the city in advance, January 2020, another small group, February 2020.

You know what we do?

We shut all the small groups down and we start an alpha because we want the heartbeat of our church to be for people who are far from God, and alpha's for that.

So we do alpha and it works, like people are inviting their friends, and it's awesome, and then all of a sudden, all these restrictions hit and it's like it all stops.

And we're like, what are we supposed to do?

And so for about 24 hours, we were like, did we get this wrong?

Like, did we discern this wrong?

And those were really disorienting days for all of us, weren't they?

As we're trying to make sense of like, we just don't know how long is this gonna be.

But I remember as the days, then weeks, then months went on, it stopped feeling like, oh man, this is really too bad that we got this date wrong.

It actually became, oh man.

God knew exactly what he was doing.

Like God knew exactly what he was doing when he was inviting us to plant a church now more than ever.

People needing community, a place to belong, a message of hope.

And so we've only been gathering in person as a church for just like over a year.

September plus, so like you know, six, eighteen months, we've been meeting in person and then online a full year before that.

And that's our church, and it's alive and it's fun, and um one of the things we do as a church is we spend maybe two-thirds of the year um in books of the Bible, trying to move through it.

And uh, so we've been able to do a number of books of the Bible, Ephesians and Jonah, different books of the Bible.

And right now as a church, we are like three months into a study on the letter of the Philippians, letter to the church in Philippi.

And what I wanted to do for you this morning, I felt like John and Nicole feel like family, and being with you felt very special.

What I want to do is just bring you into what God's been doing in my heart as I've lived in this book of the Bible.

Is that okay?

I just want to bring you into what God is doing in my heart.

And here's what's interesting about this book.

What's interesting about this book, now there's 66 books in the Bible.

The Bible is one cohesive story about God, about where we came from and where all of human history is going.

And it's one cohesive story that points to Jesus.

But it's written through 66 different books.

And different books were written at different times, even in different languages, and have different genres and purposes.

And so what we're entering here, when we say the book of Philippians, we're talking about a letter.

We're talking about a first-century correspondence between a church planter who's in prison for his faith and a small upstart church in a Roman colony called Philippi, 1200 kilometers away.

And whether you're a follower of Jesus or not, and I realize one of the cool things about this community is many of you might not consider yourself a Christian or you're wrestling with where do I stand, no matter where you're at in a journey of faith, this is fascinating to look at.

Like, think about this.

We have access to a first, a historically reliable first century document.

Because the Christian movement in the first century was being snuffed out by the Roman Empire and the religious powers.

It's like, it's not like it is today, where you can drop in on so many cities in a country like Canada and there are churches everywhere.

There's no churches.

This fledgling movement is like barely alive, and there's people like the author of the letter of Philippians, Paul, who begin to travel from city to city.

They're not going to do what I did, like come into a church.

There's no church, there's no Christians.

He's showing up in cities and saying, who will listen?

And then a family begins to grow or a community begins to grow.

And then as that begins to happen, the authorities and religious powers in that city and region begin to actively persecute against it.

People losing their jobs, people losing their livelihood, sometimes even their lives, and somehow the Christian movement grew to what we have today.

I mean, that is a question every one of us has to ask.

How did the Christian movement make it in the first three centuries against the power of Rome?

How do we find ourselves here today, 2,000 years later, the other side of the world, part of this movement?

And so if you were in the book of Philippians, you can go there.

What you are in is a letter.

It's a first-century letter.

And it's written by a guy called Paul.

We'll look at him more, but he's like a pastor.

He actually visited Philippi in Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

We'll go look there and see how this whole thing started in just a moment.

He visits Philippi, this church begins to grow, and then he continues on, and then he's put in prison in Rome, which is like 1200 kilometers away.

And so this is like pre-any social media, obviously, but pre-flights, obviously.

So they're sending letters of correspondence.

So here's what's interesting.

So if you were in prison in the first century in Rome, you didn't get like provisions from Rome.

You were dependent on like friends or family or people who had compassion on you to bring you resources to survive in prison.

Does that make sense?

So you would have people like come out to bring money or food or whatever provisions you need, sustenance to survive in prison.

And so the church in Philippi knows and hears that Paul is in prison in Rome, multiple weeks' journey is away.

And there's a young guy in the church called Apaphroditus.

And so they take Epaphroditus and they send him on this long journey with resources for Paul.

So Apaphroditus goes on this long, long journey.

Later in Philippi, in the book of Philippians, you'll hear that he almost died because of this journey.

And so Paul sends Epaphroditus back.

So now this is multiple months later, but he's sending Ephroditis back to Philippi.

The sad news is Paul's not with him.

They were hoping he won't be in prison long.

And so there's this moment where Epaphroditus comes back to the church, and they're kind of looking like, where's Paul?

And he's like, Paul's not with me.

But Paul has sent a letter.

And that's the book of Philippians.

Paul penned a letter with the help of a guy called Timothy, put it in the hands of Epaphroditus.

Epaphroditus walks another 1200 kilometers, many weeks journey back to a small community, likely smaller than this, of brand new Christians.

And so I was thinking, what if John was in prison in Winnipeg?

Right?

And you know, I went to visit him on your behalf.

And there was no other way to communicate.

So he wrote you a letter as a pastor.

And uh he put it in my hands, and I got to come back after the long journey, the cold journey from Winnipeg to Edmonton.

And so I don't know how I did here, but I actually wrote a letter from John O to you.

It's weird.

Um this is just how my imagination works.

Because I want us to feel how human this whole thing is.

I think one of the problems for me, I'll just speak for myself, when it comes to scripture reading, is I disconnect it from my day-to-day life.

It becomes kind of this disembodied, it's wisdom, it's like ideas, it's spirituality, but it's here, and my real life is here.

But the Bible doesn't actually give us that.

Like the Bible was written in the mess.

Like Paul's in prison.

The people he's writing to in Philippi are being persecuted for their faith.

And Paul, like he doesn't just like these guys, he loves them.

He misses them.

He says things like, I long to be with you.

He says about Epaphroditus, I'm so glad he didn't die because it would have added sorrow to my sorrow.

And he goes, You know I long to be with you.

And so the reason why I wanted to write a letter from Johnno to you is because I wanted you to feel the humanness of this.

So Pastor John O's in prison in Winnipeg, and he doesn't have a lot of words.

And uh he really cares about Evolve Church in Edmonton, and this is what he says.

He says, To the Christians gathered in Edmonton, my dear church family at Evolve, as I write, I'm praying that God's love and peace and power would be experienced among you and in you.

I long to be with you.

I love you and I care about you.

I've gotten reports from Nicole about your passion for Jesus, your love for one another, and your generosity.

And it gives me so much joy to hear that.

More than anything, this is what I want for you to know.

I want you to truly know how good the good news is.

To not just know it intellectually, but to experience the love and freedom that's been made available in Jesus.

Pastor John O from Prison Winnipeg might write, I want to urge you, brothers and sisters, be unified in Christ.

Don't let the patterns of this world, the path of division and pride, make its way into our community of faith.

Just as the Father and the Son are unified, may we be unified.

I wonder if you might say, stay true to God's word and stand firm in the gospel of Jesus.

There are many so-called teachers and influencers who fill your feeds with ideas that tickle your ears but are actually like poison in your lives.

Don't give in to the winds of culture, the cheap and changing ideas and arguments of the day.

They come and they go.

Instead, ground yourself in the time-tested and unchanging truth of Jesus Christ.

It's endured from every generation to generation, and it's the key to life in every culture, every generation, every part of the world.

I think you'd want to also say, make room for outsiders.

What I've always loved about you, Evolved Church, is your heart to make space for others.

Let's never become a closed-door club.

Let's never be only looking out for our own good.

May we have eyes to see the needs around us, and there are so many needs, and may we have the courage to respond with generosity.

Let the love of Jesus make its way into your words, your actions, and your relationship.

Let the culture of heaven be at work amongst you more than the culture of this world.

Let us remain dependent on God, for it's only his power that can break chains and bring freedom.

So carry on in your deep commitment to be a people of prayer.

I think he would want to say, Each of you have a part to play.

You're surrounded by preachers and song leaders and organizers and intercessors, but they're not meant to be the professional team doing all the work.

God's given them to you to equip you to do the real stuff of living assault and light in Edmonton.

God has set the whole thing up to put his people in each part of this city to prevent decay and bring light and life.

I know Jonah would end by saying, if I was with you in person, I'd give you each a massive giant hug.

Look out for Nicole and my kiddos.

I trust that God will allow me to be with you in person soon.

So Paul, the pastor, the church planner, full of love and care for his friends, this young church in Philippi sends a letter.

And many letters.

And we have them here today.

I just think that's pretty special.

That we get to enter into this story, the story that we're part of.

This 2,000-year-old story that wasn't invented a hundred years ago by someone in America.

This 2,000-year-old story that's been changing hearts and lives at great cost.

We have brothers and sisters who have gone before us that know what it is to suffer, to be challenged, to persevere, to experience God's goodness, and would say, I would do it no other way.

We have access to that story.

So here's what I want to do in our short time together.

I want to say a few more words about the writer of the letter of Philippians.

I want us to look at the recipients of the letter of Philippians, and I want to answer the question: what was the reason for the letter?

The first verse of Philippians chapter 1 says, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons.

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I want to look at the writer, I want to look at the recipients, and I want to look at the reasons, which, if you noticed, is three R sounds.

Not quite three R's, but three R sounds, which is technically alliteration still.

I looked it up on Google.

It still counts.

It's about the sound.

The writer, the recipient's the reason.

Okay, first, the writer.

The writer.

It's Paul.

It's Paul writing from prison in Rome.

Why is he in prison?

For following Jesus, but not just that.

For inviting other people to follow Jesus, but not just that.

For proclaiming Jesus as Lord in the Roman Empire, where you were meant to declare Caesar is Lord.

Paul is popping into Roman colonies and parts of the empire, and he is saying the Messiah is here, and Jesus is Lord.

And he was put in prison for that.

He's planting churches, he's preaching the gospel, and this is fascinating.

Do you want to know why?

Because just years before, this is the dude that's persecuting the people doing the same thing.

If you go with me quickly and we just gotta move through it, in Acts chapter 7 and 8, there's a young man named Stephen, who is part of the early Christian church, and he was responsible for gathering provisions for widows and those in need in the church.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

And there's this uproar against Stephen for his faith.

And Stephen has an opportunity to maybe shy away, but he boldly proclaims the gospel and they stone him and kill him.

And there's this chilling moment in Acts chapter 8 where you discover that Paul, who we're talking about, is complicit in the stoning of Stephen.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

So Paul is killing Christians, and then something happens.

And in Acts chapter 9, God meets profoundly with Paul.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Jesus reveals himself to Paul in a profound way, and he's completely changed.

He goes from persecuting Christians to proclaiming the gospel.

He goes from trying to destroy churches to being the biggest church planter in the first century world.

And this makes me wonder if the greatest champion of the gospel in our generation, Edmonton, is even a Christian yet.

Doesn't that fire you up a little bit?

Sometimes we can be so defeated, like, oh man.

Like evolves, it's a growing church, but man, how's the church doing?

You know, it's maybe I'm hearing the numbers are down, all these things.

I get that, I get that.

But look at what God did in the first century.

He didn't go, let me just pick among the best Christians.

Like this is how God works.

What if like I spend a lot of time praying for the next generation for today's high school students, for my kids and their friends, for Gen Z, for Gen Alpha.

And I find myself praying, God, would you raise up in their generation young men and women who will be champions of the faith in their generation?

And if Paul can do that, if God can do this in someone like Paul, he can grab hold of any heart.

Maybe the person that God will use or the people that God will use, they don't even know him yet.

And we should pray like that when we gather in the quiet moments.

I know this is a praying church, account for permittings.

It's like God raise up people in this generation.

And I guess there's one more note on the Paul is maybe you're here and you've got this cheeky little narrative in your head that somehow the real action of serving Jesus belongs to those who have maybe lived a more moral life than you, or a more organized life than you, or whatever you've told yourself.

And the reality of God choosing Paul means that there's no one in this room that's disqualified from being profoundly used by the living God.

No one's too far gone.

No one's too far gone from his love and his willingness to work in and through your life.

So Paul's the writer.

And he's writing to Christians in Philippi.

And let's not take for granted that there wasn't Christians in Philippi for long.

This letter is written in about 60 to 62 AD, okay?

And Paul had visited Philippi before, and we read about this in Acts chapter 16 at about 50 AD.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

And this is when the church started.

Can I tell you how the church started in Philippi?

So Paul, at this stage in his missionary life, is intentionally going to specific places.

Like he's following the Roman infrastructure to go to key cities to be able to proclaim the gospel, that the message of the gospel would make its way out.

So Paul has a plan.

He's got a calling from God, but he has a plan.

But one night while he's on a direction towards a certain place, he has a dream.

And in this dream, he sees a man.

And the man calls out to Paul in the dream, Would you come here to Macedonia, which is where Philippi is?

Would you come to Macedonia and help us?

And so Paul wakes up from this dream and takes it to be God leading him to Macedonia, where Philippi is.

And so this is just a worthy of a beautiful side note.

I'm all for making good plans.

But there's something that Paul has that's a posture that says, God, you can interrupt my plans.

That's what we it's not about waiting every morning.

It's not about waiting every morning, God, what would you have me do today?

We make a plan.

Say, God, this is the gifts you've given me.

I wanna steward those gifts in my life, neighboring well, serving the church, doing my work, loving my neighbors.

But there's something about a posture that says, But God, I'm making time and space for you to speak to me.

And as you speak, I'm willing for my plans to be interrupted.

We see that in the heart of Paul.

So Paul, in this vision, it's such a visceral vision, too.

A man says, Would you come and help us?

Would you come and help us?

I kind of want that to fill my imagination as I think about evangelism and mission.

So he goes.

So him and some friends they go, and you can read about this in Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

So they make their way to Philippi.

First, they meet a woman named Lydia.

And Lydia, it seems, like we're piecing it together from what the text says in Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Lydia, it seems, was meeting with other women and maybe even exploring the scripture.

She didn't know about Jesus yet, but they were gathering and they heard that Paul and his team were coming.

They said, Come and speak to us.

And she receives the gospel and believes and then persuades them to come into her home.

The sense is that maybe the church in Philippi kind of started in Lydia's home amongst her friends.

But then as this trip in Philippi carries on, there's this woman who is demonized.

So the evil powers of the devil are at work in her life in such a way that she's not just tormented, but she also has like psychic abilities.

And so this is what's interesting.

People of power begin to exploit her, trafficking her.

She's a woman who's being trafficked.

And they're exploiting her and selling her to perform psychic stuff for people.

And so Paul and his friends, they meet her and she starts calling out about them.

It's super interesting.

She goes, These men are working for the Most High God.

They're laying out the road of salvation.

And then Paul turns to her in Acts chapter 16 and says, Come out of her in Jesus' name.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

And the demonic powers leave her.

And she's set free, and her life is totally turned around.

And then all of a sudden, the power brokers in the city who were exploiting her are threatened.

And this is what's interesting.

When the gospel moves out in power, it rattles the power structures of a city such that there's all kinds of pushback.

And that's a whole other conversation that's fascinating.

But they throw Paul and Silas in prison.

They beat them up and they throw them in prison and they're in prison.

And let's just pause for a moment.

There's two very important things about this.

First, it's no surprise that the first followers of Jesus were going around bringing freedom and liberty to captives.

Why?

Because that's what Jesus was doing.

And he's still doing it today.

Setting prisoners free, helping to set slaves free.

And even in the power of the Holy Spirit, setting people free from demonic possession and the grip of sin.

There's more freedom than you can imagine available in Jesus.

He's still doing it.

He's still doing it.

There's people here, and you've been gripped by all kinds of darkness.

And you're wondering, do I have to live with this my whole life?

And Jesus would say, No, you do not.

And you can find freedom in Jesus' name.

Second, worthy of note.

Paul is what?

He's obeying Jesus, right?

He followed the dream.

And then what happened?

Put in prison.

So one cannot conclude that obedience to Jesus negates cost.

And one not conclude cannot conclude that cost means you're not on the right path.

Back to jail.

So they're in jail, and I love this is one of the best stories in the New Testament.

They start singing.

And again, don't romanticize this.

They're in pain.

It's dark, it's dingy.

But they start singing and praying.

And the Spirit of God rattles the prison cell.

This is a crazy story.

This is how the church starts in Philippi.

Lydia gets saved.

This young girl is set free from demonic oppression.

And then they're in prison.

They're singing in the middle of the night.

The prison cell shakes, the door's open.

So it seems as if they've been miraculously let out.

But then the prison guard goes, you can read this in Acts chapter 16 and grabs a sword and goes to take his own life.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Because he knows that, like if he was the one on watch when everybody got out, it's better just to take his life now than bear the consequences of what's coming.

And so this is what's crazy.

And we don't know exactly what motivates Paul.

Whatever, we don't know all the motivations, but he goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, don't take your life.

We're not going anywhere.

So even though they have this moment to run free, they stay.

And then the prison guard gives his life to Jesus.

And then his whole family gives his life to Jesus.

And now there's a church in Philippi.

Like.

Like, let our imaginations be filled by the God who builds his church.

You go, what was the strategy for the church in Philippi?

Show up.

Lydia, let's do it.

Let's go to your house.

They get invited over for dinner.

And they're walking, somebody's in need.

Well, we should help.

I'm in prison.

We should pray.

This guy's about to take his life.

Well, he needs to know that his white life is worth living.

And now we have a church.

And I'm all about church planning strategies.

But what I'm more excited about is how God would use normal people like all of us, moving through our lives.

God is building his church.

This is evidence of it.

God's building his church.

God's building his church.

This is how it all started.

And so then 10 years later, Paul's writing this letter.

Just 10 years has gone by.

We don't know how many people are there.

Maybe there's 40, there's 50, maybe a few more.

And what's interesting is that Philippi is it's it's in the province of Macedonia, which is in northern Greece today.

And it's what's called in the first century world a Roman colony.

And so that's really important to actually know because the Roman Empire is growing and they're conquering territory, and there are some areas, towns, cities, they're not colonies of Rome.

They're almost like reluctantly captured by Rome.

But not like Philippi.

So Philippi is a Roman colony, so that means that they're kind of proud Roman citizens.

Philippi is filled with ex-military people who served in the Roman military, and then they landed 1200 kilometers away from Rome in Philippi.

Now, what's interesting, so these are military that they're very patriotic.

Like these are almost like we're proud to be part of the Roman Empire here in Philippi.

And the culture of Rome in the first century, to say it's like a strong culture is an understatement.

I mean, it is this cultural force, the ideas, the customs, the practices of Rome.

And this is what's interesting about Philippi.

As it went with the culture of Rome, so it went with the culture of Philippi.

Does that make sense?

In fact, some historians called Philippi Little Rome.

Because if you went, if you went to Philippi, you'd get a taste of Rome.

And so all of a sudden, in this loyal to Rome region, and now listen, to be loyal to Rome meant also be loyal to Caesar.

And the the command, the edict was you worship Caesar as Lord.

And so when Paul shows up in little Rome, filled with proud ex-military people, and he starts saying, Jesus is Lord, there's a bump.

But it's not just a bump socially, which is real.

That's why the persecution happened, but in the hearts of every human being that said yes.

See, what happens when you become a follower of Jesus is not that you stop being Canadian or like whatever you find your identity in.

You don't stop being a husband, a spouse, you know, you don't stop being a boilermaker or an artist.

Those things can still be part of your identity.

But when you become a Christian, like to follow Jesus is for our primary identity above everything else to be found in him.

And the language Paul will use to the church in Philippians in Philippians chapter 3 in verse 20, he says, Our citizenship is in heaven.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

So he says to the church of Philippi, yeah, you are a colony of Rome, and you guys are proud citizens of Rome.

But that's not your true citizenship.

Why does Paul write the letter to the Church of Philippi to teach them how to be citizens of heaven while living in Rome?

And do you know what you and I need to discover today?

How to be citizens of heaven while living in Edmonton.

While living in Vancouver.

One of the key verses in Philippians that explains the reason for the letter is Philippians chapter 1, verse 27, where he says this.

Philippians 1:27

He says, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

And this word conduct yourself, like it's trend, it's actually like one idea that's translated, conduct yourself.

It's got civic connotations.

So so when when Paul uses those words, he's literally trying to bring to mind this idea of like, they would know what it means to conduct yourself as citizens of Rome in a manner consistent with Rome.

Like that's what they're thinking.

They get that.

They know what it means to follow the beliefs, the ethics, the behavior, and customs of Rome.

So Paul's intentionally borrowing that kind of civic language and saying to them, okay, something fundamental has happened when Jesus has entered your life.

And so you need to, it's not just something we sing or believe, it actually affects everything about us.

And so he says, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel.

And this worthy of the gospel is in keeping with, in step with, in harmony with the gospel.

Not worthy like to earn it, but worthy is like and worthy of the gospel keeps this idea of like consistent with the gospel.

If to have a gospalized life, if to be a citizen of Rome means to inhabit the ideas, the behaviors, the customs of Rome, the discipleship journey of a follower of Jesus is to embody and inhabit the beliefs, the behaviors, the customs, not of Christianity as we know it in this century, but of Jesus Christ himself.

That's the invitation.

Why is he writing this letter?

He's saying to citizens of Rome, you're citizens of heaven.

Caesar is not Lord.

Jesus is Lord.

And the behaviors and customs of Rome that you've celebrated that are incompatible with the way of Jesus, reject those and take on your new self.

When I think about the Christian discipleship journey, I think about it like this: like, do you remember that in like bio class in grade 11, there was like the picture of the um just the veins and arteries, the body, but it's just the veins and arteries, and you got the heart here.

It's like pumping like red and blue lines, right?

So this is how I picture the lifelong journey of discipleship.

Is when we become Christians, we become a new person.

Our heart is transformed.

But the discipleship journey is pumping that gospalized blood into every crevice of your life, like every part, your relationships, your thought life, how you do work, sexuality, money, like everything, pumping that gospalized, full of love, full of God-trusting blood into every single nook and cranny of your life till the whole thing is gospalized.

And so one of the questions I ask myself as a follower of Jesus is have I let that part of my life become gospalized yet?

And that's, and I know that your church is on a journey of like daily practices and weekly practices and formative journey of like what why do we gather on Sunday to let that gospalized blood make its way into our bodies?

Why do we gather on Sunday to remember, oh, I'm a citizen of heaven?

And so more than I let the behaviors and customs of Edmonton or my family or my workplace or my background inform me.

I want to let the customs and behavior of Jesus inform my life.

That's why we gather on Sunday, among other things.

It's why we take communion, it's why we do these things, that's why daily entering in the story of God's Word to jump into the story.

Remember, I live in God's world.

He's at work around me.

And it thousands of different stimulus every day trying to impose on us other ideas, customs, and behaviors.

But if we're citizens of heaven, how do we let this like be the thing that informs us?

And so that's why we do those secret moments in the morning or in the afternoon to get alone with Jesus, to encounter his love, to let that love pump its way into every corner of our lives.

Can I just tell you one more thing about the book of Philippians and then we'll pray?

You guys doing all right?

It's really good to be with you this morning.

So, one more thing is about how the book is constructed.

And so, because words and the cost you're writing a letter like this, is there's no sort of like, there's not really many accents, it's really well crafted.

And so if you were to like look at the structure of the book of Philippians, like break it into its parts, there's there's like there's like a center of orbit that everything else kind of orbits around.

It's not the center of the book, per se, but it's the center of the literary structure.

Does that make sense?

So it's like it's a key piece of the whole book.

It's as if everything you would read is relating to and drawing from this one paragraph, kind of a third of the way in.

And it's like if you were to be able to put it out on like a big poster board, you would see the whole thing orbits around this one thing.

And what it orbits around, it's interesting, Paul breaks out into poetry in chapter two.

I don't know if you've done any like Shakespeare or anything, but like when the when you break into poetry, sometimes it's because the structures and syntax and rules of grammar can't contain the love I'm trying to express.

And so we break into a different shape, different rules for writing.

So all of a sudden, in the middle of Paul's letter, he breaks into a poem.

And this is the center of the book.

And the poem is Paul pondering Jesus and going, Oh my goodness, there's no one else like Jesus.

And it's like Paul's in prison, and he's thinking about Jesus, and he's pondering Jesus, and he's like, There's no one like Jesus.

And he wants everything else he's saying to the people in Philippi to flow from a picture of like eyes set on Jesus, like Christian discipleship is keeping our eyes set on Jesus.

And I want to read this poem to you.

And and our task as followers of Jesus is to keep our eyes on him, to see him, his character, his person, and and to and to to proclaim him as Lord in our life, and so to hold him up into such a high regard in our life above anything else.

Like, what does it mean to become a Christian?

Among other things, it's lifting him as the highest voice in your life.

And so Paul takes this message of Jesus, he holds it up as if to say, How do we conduct ourselves?

How do we live as citizens of heaven while living in Rome or Philippi or Vancouver or Edmonton?

He goes, it begins by fixing our eyes on Jesus and listen to what he says.

Maybe if you're comfortable, you close your eyes because we'll let this just move our hearts into worshiping Jesus.

Because this is how we do it.

It's not, it doesn't begin by trying harder, sorting it all out on our own.

It becomes by gazing at Jesus and then saying, God, make me like you.

Listen to what he says.

Philippians chapter 2, verse 6.

Philippians 2:6

Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.

Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that's above every name, that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledged that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

If you're comfortable, you just keep your eyes closed for a moment.

Let me summarize what he says.

He begins by saying, Jesus, just staring at Jesus.

He goes, This is God I'm looking at.

He's pondering and reflecting on Jesus.

He goes, This is God Himself.

But he didn't consider a quality with God something to be used for his own advantage.

Instead, he emptied himself, like he was serving people.

He even died for people.

This was God who did that.

And it's like he's just like in awe of the kind of God that would lay down his life.

The servant king.

And he's reflecting on how humble that posture is, the sacrifice of his death.

But then he zooms out and he sees the reality that the humble king who laid down his life is now ruling and reigning.

That he is seated in the highest place of authority.

Caesar's not Lord.

Jesus is Lord of all.

He says he's exalted to the highest place.

Jesus is the name above every name.

At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow.

Every tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of God, the Father.

Holy Spirit, we just pray in this moment you'd come and you just minister to us.

And if you're comfortable, friends, just in this place, you just stay in that posture of just reflection and prayer.

And we'll just be still for a moment.

It's hard to find stillness and reflection in our week, so we'll just have a little bit right here.

And maybe if you're comfortable, you could say a real simple prayer.

You could just say, Holy Spirit, my heart's open to whatever you want to do in my heart today.

In my life today.

And we'll just wait for a moment.

Maybe there's an idea or a thought that I wanted to draw your attention to.

Maybe there's something special you wanted to do in your life today.

So we'll just have some silence with him.

Come, Holy Spirit.

One of the things I want to pray for some of you this morning is that God would maybe put in your heart or restore to you a sense of wonder about how he builds his church.

It's possible that you like me at times kind of can get complacent, unsure, and you hear how he moved back then and over there, and you go, yeah, yeah, that was back then and over there.

But that imagination doesn't make its way into what could happen in my life, in my time.

And so if that's you like me, who just needs God to restore that wonder in our imagination what he could do, let me just pray.

Holy Spirit, I pray for myself, my brothers and sisters, that you would just give us like a holy curiosity about what your kingdom's doing, what you're up to in and around us.

God, a curiosity of what it would look like to participate and join in.

And God, if you can build a church in a city like Philippi in the first century, you can do it here, now in this city, setting people free, drawing people to yourself, second chances, third chances, people jumping in.

And so, God, we pray for more and more stories like that happening amongst our community.

I know what's happening here, God.

We're just asking for more.

And God, I pray you'd give us wonder, imagination, and faith for it in Jesus' name.

And lastly, if you're here, whether it's for the very first time or the thousandth time, uh, would you take a moment and remind your heart that Jesus is Lord?

And maybe you're here and you've never done that before.

You've never said that he is the king above all kings, he is the name above all names, and actually yielded your life underneath that authority.

And in him we find forgiveness for the past, healing, and hope for the future now and forever.

He paid all of our debt on the cross so that we could have new life.

That's the kind of king he is.

And so to follow him is to submit your life under his lordship, to let go of the steering wheel of your own life and say, Jesus, I want you to be in the driver's seat, not me.

And so, if that's you, whether it's for the first time or the thousandth time, you want to just remake that commitment or you want to make it for the first time, would you just pray after me?

You could whisper this prayer on your own.

You say, Jesus, today I make you king in my heart again.

You've always been the king of the universe.

And I'm getting in line with that truth.

You're the king of my heart.

Forgive me.

Restore me.

I want to follow you all the days of my life.

I want to submit to you.

I want to order my life around you.

So I need your help.

So fill me with your Holy Spirit, your love and peace and power to follow you.

In the name of Jesus, I pray.

Amen.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit EvolveChurch.com.

We hope to see you soon.