Local Church and Global Mission

Thank you for having me. I know not all of you have had me in your homes, but a number of you have, and we're very grateful.

We've been staying with Joy and Ross last night, and so that was lovely.

I guess I wear two hats as well as being the pastor of Egberth Community Church.

I'm also chair of the board of Radstock Ministries.

I'm on the board with Ralph over there, who is the one who really holds it all together.

So I've been doing that for a number of years.

Radstock is a network of churches of which you guys are a part, trying to help one another to be involved in church planting projects around the world.

And so it's great to be partnering with you guys in the work in Jilan in Kosovo.

And I know you were a real encouragement to Naomi and Rich when they came to visit you, so thank you for that.

And thank you for having us this weekend.

My plan is to be talking a little bit about local church and global mission this morning.

And we're going to be darting around different parts of the Bible.

So if you've got your Bibles on your laps, that will help you.

And I'm going to pray for us as we start asking that the Lord would help us.

So let me pray for us.

Lord, we do thank you for our fellowship in the Lord Jesus.

And we thank you that we meet together in the Lord Jesus' name as brothers and sisters in Christ.

And we come together now to open your word that we might be addressed by you together.

And so we pray that you'd give us tender hearts, eager ears to listen to what you say in your word.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen.

I wonder if you were to make a list of all the things that a local church must do, what would be on it?

What things must a local church do?

Well, let me suggest a few things.

A local church must meet together.

The word church in your New Testament means together.

So a church must meet together.

Another thing a church must do, they must pray together.

A church is by definition, as we heard at the outset this morning,

a company of people who depend upon the Lord for everything.

And that must be expressed in their life together as they come and pray together.

We also must open the Bible as well, mustn't we?

So we mustn't only just gather and pray.

We must open the Bible because not only do we want to speak to God and express our dependence upon God,

we also want God to address us and speak to us in his word.

So we must open the Bible together.

We must study the Bible.

We must hear the Bible preached, taught, explained.

We want to see the message of the Bible acted out in the Lord's Supper and in baptism.

We want to sing the message of the Bible together in the songs that we sing.

If we don't open the Bible together, all we're really doing is sharing one another's great ideas.

And as much as I love Johnny, I don't want to sit and gather around his great ideas on a Sunday morning.

That's not what we're doing, is it?

We want to listen to what God says.

You know, also our church should love one another.

The Lord Jesus says, by this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

You know, our love for one another in the life of the church is where the transforming power of the gospel becomes visible to the community around us.

As they see people who have no connection with one another, other than their mutual trust in the Lord Jesus and membership of a local church.

They see people sacrificing time and money and energy for one another's goods.

So we must love one another.

We must also reach out to others.

Do the work of evangelism.

Preach the good news of the Lord Jesus to others.

Both publicly as we gather, but also in conversation in the places that the Lord scatters us to during the week.

As we reach out to neighbours, friends and colleagues.

That they too might hear about the forgiveness and reconciliation that they too can have and find in the Lord Jesus.

Now that's the core of what we do.

We might do it in slightly different ways.

We're in different countries, in different contexts.

We do it with different languages, different accents.

The music that we sing might be different.

The time that we meet, the venue that we meet in might be slightly different.

But the truth is that local churches everywhere should do those five things, shouldn't they?

They should gather.

They should pray.

They should hear from God's word.

They should love one another.

And they should reach out with the gospel.

Now let me ask you, if that's true, let me ask you this question.

This is the question I want us to deal with together this morning.

It's amongst those five things.

What place does global mission have?

What part does an active concern for the work of Christ amongst the nations have amongst those five things that a local church like this,

like our church in Egbert, should be doing?

I don't know if you've heard the story of William Carey.

William Carey was a brilliant young pastor in the 18th century in Northamptonshire in the Midlands in England.

And he, by the age of 21, he had mastered Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Italian, and presumably English as well,

whilst also working as a cobbler in a local shop.

He was a brilliant, brilliant young man.

And he read, I suppose, and these were maybe the Harry Potter of his generation,

he was reading the diaries of Captain James Cook,

who was the adventurer traveling the world and finding new places.

If you've ever read his diaries, they are gruesome.

They're basically lists of all the people who died and he threw overboard along his way around the world.

Anyway, as William Carey read those diaries, he was fascinated not so much by the new places that Cook was discovering,

but by the people, thinking to himself, these people need to hear about Jesus.

They're lost.

And so troubled by that kind of concern for the nations,

Carey turns up at his pastor's fraternal with other ministers from the rural Midlands of England.

And he says, what are we going to do?

How are we going to reach the nations with the good news of the Lord Jesus?

To which he was famously told, and you may have heard of this quote by a guy called Dr. Ryland,

young man, sit down when God wants to save the heathen, he'll do it without your aid or mine.

Incredible thing for him to say.

And hopefully you don't need me to tell you that Dr. Ryland was wrong.

History tells us that, at least, doesn't it?

William Carey went on to become the father of modern missions,

ultimately reaching millions of people with the gospel through the extensions of his ministry

in various parts of the world.

But even still, I think that despite the fact that because of Carey and people like him,

all of us think missions is important.

Global missions must feature somewhere in the life of our church.

I don't think often we think, how does it actually relate to who we are and what we're doing

as a local church?

How does it relate to the five things that we know we must do?

If the elders said to you, actually, guys, we're going to stop meeting,

you'd say, well, we've stopped being a local church.

We're going to stop praying.

Well, we're not going to be a local church anymore.

How does global mission fit in to those things that we should do?

Well, to help us answer that question, I've got three points

from three different passages in the Bible.

So we're going to keep ourselves warm by thumbing through the scriptures.

So turn with me first to the book of Romans, to Romans chapter 15,

Romans 15 · chapter mention

which is on page 1141, if you have a church Bible.

And the first point is this.

The gospel is a message that wants to travel.

Let me say that again.

The gospel is a message that wants to travel.

Romans chapter 15, I'm going to pick it up in verse 7

Romans 15 · chapter mention

and read to you down to verse 24.

Romans chapter 15, verse 7.

Romans 15:7

The gospel is a message that wants to travel.

Paul writes this.

Accept one another then, just as Christ accepted you,

in order to bring praise to God.

For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews

on behalf of God's truth,

so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed,

and moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.

As it is written,

Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles.

I will sing the praises of your name.

Again it says,

Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.

And again,

Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles.

Let all peoples extol him.

And again, Isaiah says,

The root of Jesse will spring up,

one who will arise to rule over the nations.

In him the Gentiles will hope.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace

as you trust in him,

so that you may overflow with hope

by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters,

that you yourselves are full of goodness,

filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another.

Yet I have written to you quite boldly on some points

to remind you of them again,

because of the grace God gave me

to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles.

He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God

so that the Gentiles might become an offering

acceptable to God,

sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus

in my service to God.

I will not venture to speak of anything

except what Christ has accomplished through me

in leading the Gentiles to obey God

by what I have said and done,

by the power of signs and wonders,

through the power of the Spirit of God.

So from Jerusalem all the way round to Illyricum,

I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel

where Christ was not known,

so I would not be building on someone else's foundation.

Rather, as it is written,

those who are not told about him will see,

and those who have not heard will understand.

This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.

But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions,

and since I have been longing for many years to visit you,

I plan to do so when I go to Spain.

I hope to see you while passing through,

that you will assist me on my journey there

after I have enjoyed your company for a while.

Now often in Paul's writings,

it's not really until you get to the end of them,

the end of the books or the end of the letters,

that you realise the purpose for which he's writing.

So the book of Romans is not written,

firstly at least,

as a kind of thorough explanation of the gospel,

but rather it's written to a local church

to persuade them to be involved in Paul's project to reach Spain.

The fact is that Paul sees a direct line

between his summary and explanation of the gospel

in his opening chapters

and the Roman church's involvement in his mission to Spain.

He sees that connection.

So let's see that together.

What is it that's going on in the gospel?

Look at verse 7.

Well, Christ is accepting people, isn't he, in the gospel?

Just as Christ accepted you,

they are to accept one another.

He is welcoming people.

In the gospel, sinful, fallen people

are welcomed and accepted

by a God of righteousness and holiness and perfection.

He, in the gospel, brings them into his family,

into his people,

through Christ's death on the cross.

And all of that, verse 7,

is to bring praise to God.

It's for his glory.

Now, we mustn't miss this.

This is subtle,

but it's meant there as a surprise, I think.

It's supposed to be a surprise to us

that God in Christ is welcoming Roman people

into his family.

He is accepting uncircumcised outsiders

like the Romans into his people.

Christ was, after all, a Jewish Messiah.

He is the promised Old Testament saviour,

the rescuer of God's people, Israel.

But now, says Paul,

God, through Christ,

is welcoming people in Rome,

Roman Christians.

How so?

Well, verse 8,

For I tell you that Christ has become

a servant of the Jews

on behalf of God's truth,

so that the promises made to the patriarchs

may be confirmed.

Christ came as a servant to the Jews,

the circumcised,

in order to fulfil promises made

to the patriarchs,

the Old Testament heroes.

But, and there's the mind-blowing truth,

the earth-shaking point,

so that, what, verse 9,

that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.

In other words,

the very promises of the Old Testament,

the servanthood of Christ

for the sake of his people,

the Jews,

was for the very purpose

of reaching the Gentiles,

the nations.

Now, Paul won't leave it there.

Instead, he proves the point

with a string of Old Testament quotes,

linking God's promises

to Old Testament patriarchs

with this project

of reaching the Gentiles,

who are ethne,

the nations.

And here's the thing,

God's promises,

promises fulfilled in Christ's work

on the cross,

have within themselves

this driving concern

to get out to the nations,

to go beyond,

to reach out.

With this goal of welcoming

and accepting

people in Rome,

people in Carigalline,

people in Liverpool,

into God's family,

to the praise and glory

of his name.

Imagine it like this

for a moment.

Imagine you've got a young

border collie dog,

a young sheepdog,

and you're taking her out

for a walk on the hill.

And she's young,

so you've got her on a lead.

If anyone's had a puppy,

you know that's really important,

isn't it?

You've got to keep them on a lead

because you have no idea

what they're going to do

if you let go of that lead.

But as you walk up the hill,

you decide at a particular moment

in time,

right, okay,

now I'm going to do it.

I'm going to go for it.

I am going to release the lead

and see what happens.

And so you let go of her lead

and you unclip her.

What does she do?

Well, she runs.

She runs to go find sheep

or anything as near to sheep

as she can find

and bring them back to you,

whether or not

that's what you hoped

she would do

or whether or not

it's what you had in mind.

I've got a Labrador

and the first time

I let her off the lead,

she ran and ate someone's picnic.

That's because

that's what Labradors do

instead of border collies.

But so it is

with the Gospel promises, okay?

In the Old Testament,

in a sense,

the Gospel promises

are kept on the lead

for the Jewish nation.

But in the work of Christ,

the lead is released

and boom,

it goes to the nations

because that was always in it.

That was always the purpose.

Unleashed,

the Gospel gathers people

from the nations.

It's on the loose.

It's on the run.

It's reaching out to the world.

Now that very fact

gets worked out in two ways

in the life of the Roman church.

In verse 7,

it means something very profound

for how they meet together.

It says, verse 7,

that they should accept one another.

It means, doesn't it,

that their local church

should accept one another

in the same manner

in which Christ is accepting them.

So that our churches

should be welcoming

and friendly

to people regardless

of their nationality or race.

Disregarding cultural differences

or differences in background

or class,

our churches should be places

where people are welcomed

on the basis of

Christ's welcome of them.

So we must do that.

But more than just that,

look at how it works out

in Paul's life.

Jump towards the end

of the section that we read

in verses 19 and 20.

Look at what Paul says.

Here Paul says

that he's finished the work

in Jerusalem

and all the way around

to Illyricum,

modern day Albania.

He's fully proclaimed Christ

in all those places, he says.

Which is an astounding thing

for him to say.

This is one man saying

all the way from Jerusalem

all the way around

to modern day Albania.

I've preached the gospel

and proclaimed Christ fully

in all those places.

Now I don't think he means

that everybody in those regions

have become Christians.

Nor does he mean,

I don't think,

that there's no more

fruitful work

even that he could do

in those places.

But it's finished

because of Paul's ambition,

verse 20,

to keep pressing on

with the gospel

to tell it to people

who've never heard.

A project where ultimately

he wants the church

to help him in.

See, this is the second

implication, isn't it,

for the church.

Not only are they

to be accepting of people

irrespective of where

they're from,

the second implication

is that they should be

involved with Paul

in the project

of taking the gospel

to other people

regardless of where

they are.

Deliberately going beyond

the boundaries

of their own church

for no other reason

other than the fact

that they believe

the gospel.

They believe the gospel

which is like this

border collie

who's on the loose

running free

and rounding up people

from the nations,

bringing them into

God's global family.

Bringing glory to God.

And this is interesting,

isn't it?

Bringing glory to God,

says Paul,

not simply by the

sheer number of people

who are saved,

but by the spread

around the world

of those who are saved.

So Paul leaves behind

fruitful ministry

where more people

would become Christians

and will become Christians

as the church reached them,

but Paul leaves that ministry

because he's concerned

about God's glory

and the spread

to every corner

of the globe.

You see,

here's the thing for us

as a church family.

If you will preach

the gospel,

believe the gospel,

gather around the gospel

as a church,

it will do this work

amongst us

because the gospel

has this power

within it.

It will send us

out to the nations.

It will give us

in itself

an otherwise

inexplicable concern

for people

who are unlike us

in places

that we have never been.

Not because we're

adventurous types,

but because the message

of the gospel

which has welcomed us

into God's family

gives us in itself

this concern

to reach the nations

with the good news

of the Lord Jesus.

So that's the first point.

The gospel has that

spreading power within it.

Second point

and second passage,

the local church

is a mission agency

for the world.

The good thing

with this passage

is you only have to

turn one page

in your Bible

to find it.

It's 1 Corinthians,

which is,

if you've closed

your Bible,

page 1144.

The local church

is a mission agency

for the world.

Now,

as we come

to 1 Corinthians,

it's going to help us

just to know

a little bit of background.

the church

in Corinth

was a mess.

I think that's

the most simple summary.

It was a mess.

You're told in the book

of Acts

that Paul

planted the church,

but it seems to have

quickly run into

difficulties.

And the letter

of 1 Corinthians

is written

to the Corinthian church

on the back

of two things.

One is a report

from Chloe's people

or Chloe's household,

as it gets called

in chapter 1,

who have sent back

news to Paul

of what's really

going on in Corinth.

The second thing

that seems to have

happened is that

a letter has been

written by the

Corinthian church

to Paul,

and Paul is answering

some of the things

that come out

in that letter.

Now,

as you read

through 1 Corinthians,

you're obviously

only getting one half

of that conversation,

aren't you?

It's like listening

to someone,

you're not supposed

to do this,

listening to someone's

telephone call,

but if you listen

to someone's

telephone call

on the train,

you're only hearing

their half

and you're piecing

together.

But as you read

1 Corinthians,

you can piece together

what seems to be

happening in Corinth

from Paul's

responses to them.

So they are split

along the lines

of personality.

Some people

are following Paul,

others are Polis,

others Cephas,

you know,

he's my hero.

Added to that,

they're boasting

about sexual immorality.

It seems that a man

is sleeping with his

step-mom,

and though the world

around them

is ashamed of that,

the Christian church

seems to think

this is a great

example of Christian

freedom.

And Paul is

outraged.

In another section,

church members

are taking one

another to court

in legal battles,

not because they've

done great

offences against

one another,

these are small

matters that they

should be able to

resolve in the

local church,

but instead they're

taking them to

court.

And if all of that

wasn't enough,

they're also getting

drunk as they share

the Lord's Supper.

I think this is

probably the

highlight or the

low light,

the low light of

1 Corinthians,

as Paul says,

do you know what,

when you guys share

the Lord's Supper,

it would be better

if you didn't bother.

Better if you didn't

bother.

So bad are your

meetings together.

Now into all of

that mess comes the

letter of 1 Corinthians

and Paul says some

really surprising

things.

So let me just read

the first three

verses.

We're only going to

look at the first

three verses.

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1.

Paul called to be an

apostle of Christ

Jesus by the will

of God and our

brother Sosthenes.

To the church of

God in Corinth,

to those sanctified

in Christ Jesus

and called to be

his holy people,

together with all

those everywhere

who call on the

name of our Lord

Jesus Christ,

their Lord and

ours.

Grace and peace

to you from God

our Father and the

Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ.

Now I think the

first surprise there

is that Paul thinks

that this church is

sanctified,

made holy.

In other words,

and it gets expanded

in these opening

verses of

Thanksgiving from

verses 4 to 9,

Paul looks on at

the chaos of the

Corinthian church,

all those things

going on,

and he sees them

as holy people,

saints,

he says.

That's brilliant,

isn't it?

Paul there is

showing his

confidence in the

gospel to take

sinful,

broken,

fallen people

and wash them

clean of their sin,

that they might

stand before God

as absolutely

sanctified,

holy.

You know,

this morning,

if you're struggling

as a Christian,

if you're losing

in your fight

with sin,

if you feel this

morning like a

hopeless failure,

or maybe this

morning you're not

a Christian and

you think,

I could never be

good enough to be

a Christian.

Well,

then you must hear

this from 1

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter

1.

Paul believes

that the power

of the gospel

takes sinful,

fallen,

broken people

like you and me

and makes us

stand before God

as sanctified

people,

holy people,

who in Christ

have everything

that we need.

It's astounding,

absolutely stunning.

Christ so

comprehensively

deals with sin,

even the sin

that we still

struggle with,

that we can be

called saints.

But the second

surprise really

is there in the

word together

in verse 2.

Look at what's

happening here.

The Corinthian church

in all their mess

are sanctified,

they're called

saints,

but they are

together.

together.

You notice that

they are,

his holy people

faint together

with all those

everywhere who

call on the name

of our Lord

Jesus Christ.

Let me try and

explain the shock

of that.

This doesn't

happen so often

in our house

anymore because

our children

have grown up

to the stage

where they now

wash their

hands.

But when they

were little,

we have four

daughters and

when they were

really little,

it would not

be uncommon for

one of them

to have a

vomiting bug.

And what you

know if you've

got a number

of small children

in your house

is that once

one of them

starts vomiting,

it's not going

to be very long

before another

one starts

vomiting.

And when another

one starts,

it's not going

to be long

before.

And anyway,

it's terrible,

isn't it?

It's the worst

thing ever.

Passing children

between my wife

and I to hold

them over the

toilet because we

wanted also to

throw up.

It's like the

worst week of

our lives.

So we instituted

this rule in our

house which is if

you have a

vomiting bug,

you are limited

to your room

or the toilet.

Nowhere else.

If you're going

to be sick,

run to the toilet

but you're otherwise

confined to your

bedroom and no

one else in the

family is going

to have anything

to do with you

until you're

better.

That's the

compassion of

our family for

you.

And we do that

because we want

to stop the

spread, don't

we?

We want to stop

this getting

through everybody

because it

would be terrible.

Now I think

that if I've been

in the Apostle

Paul's shoes,

the first thing

that I wanted

to say to the

Corinthian church

is just don't

have anything to

do with anybody

else please.

This stuff that

you're doing,

please don't have

anything to do

with anybody

else.

You've got the

church equivalent

of a vomiting

bug.

Get yourself

sorted, limit

yourselves to

your own room

and when you're

sorted then by

all means engage

with what's going

on in the rest

of the world.

But he doesn't

say that at all

does he?

He says

rather right at

the beginning

that they are

together with

saints, with

other holy

people around

the nations.

They trust in

the same gospel,

they hope in

the same saviour.

Now those are

not empty words

for Paul.

He's not kind

of trying to

inspire them to

say something

that's not quite

true of them,

to make them

feel better.

Instead as you

read through the

letter it has a

real practical

outworking in the

life of the

Corinthian church.

As you go

through the letter

you realise that

not only is

Paul responding

to Chloe's

report, not

only is he

responding to

this letter

that he's

received, also

those might be

the occasion of

his letter but

the purpose of

his letter is

to inspire the

Corinthian church

to give money

to the Jerusalem

church, to host

Timothy as he

comes to visit

them, to send

people along with

Paul to take

money and

greetings to the

church in

Jerusalem, providing

people to travel.

people.

Now I

turned you to

1 Corinthians

because I

think that's

the most

surprising example

of this, but

actually as you

work through the

New Testament

you see this is

time and again

the New Testament's

assumption about

the work of the

local church in

global missions.

It is the

responsibility of

local church, even

really messy local

church like

Corinthian church, it's

their responsibility to

do mission, global

mission.

The local church is

God's mission

agency to take the

gospel to the

nations.

Ordinary local

churches pay for

missions, host and

receive missionaries,

send missionaries, take

collective responsibility

for the work of the

gospel, not only in

their own place but

beyond them in the

nations.

Now there isn't a

separate agency set up

in the New Testament

to do this job, instead

it belongs to ordinary

local churches.

We turn to William

Carey in the 18th

century for a

moment.

It's interesting

isn't it that Carey

set up the Baptist

Missionary Society

because of the

failure of the local

church.

He went to that

minister's fraternal to

inspire local churches to

engage in global

mission.

He came away and set up

the Baptist Missionary

Association because none

of them could be

persuaded to be

involved.

Now arguably the

fruit of 200 years of

mission agencies has

been accidentally I

think that local

churches can feel like

that responsibility has

somehow been lifted

from their shoulders.

So we wouldn't say

with Dr.

Ryland, you know,

young man sit down

when God so pleases to

save the heathen he'll

do it without your

help or mine.

What we tend to say is

local churches you sit

down because the

mission agencies are

going to do it for you.

That's not what the

New Testament says.

The New Testament tells

us that local churches

like your church here,

like our church in

Egbert, should not assume

that anyone else is doing

this job for them.

but rather it belongs

to us.

It's our responsibility

to build relationships,

to engage, to receive,

to learn, to send, to go.

Which means, doesn't it,

that our local church

gatherings have this

really odd dynamic to

them.

Not only are we really

concerned to gather

together because that's

what it means to be

church and we want to

gather together, but

actually also there's

this strange dynamic of

also wanting to push

some people out.

Not because we don't

like them, not because

they don't fit in,

rather because before

God we've come to the

conclusion that these

individuals might be

better serving somewhere

else for the sake of

the gospel.

There is a grindy shaped

hole in our church in

Egbert.

And yet we are persuaded

as a local church that

they are better serving

the gospel over in

Kosovay.

Better for them, it's

better for our local

church and it's better

for the church there in

Kosovay.

And that's our calling,

isn't it?

God doesn't simply call

individuals into mission,

he calls local churches

to be responsible for

missions so that together

they feel this burden.

We have a responsibility

beyond our own borders to

take the gospel into

places where it's not yet

been heard, to preach

Christ.

And maybe you should go.

That's the second thing.

Okay?

Local churches are global

mission agencies.

Third thing, mission

mindedness is for every

church member.

Mission mindedness is for

every church member.

And for that we're going

to turn to the book of

Philippians.

So turn forward a few

pages.

I'm going to get you a page

number in a second.

These pages in your church

Bibles really stick together.

Maybe you don't use them

very much, Johnny.

Is that right?

Okay, Philippians we were

looking at, which is page

1178.

1178.

Now Paul's letter to the

Philippians.

We're having an overview of

Romans, Corinthians and

Philippians this morning.

Paul's letter to the

church in Philippi is

centred around this word

mind.

Okay?

Not so much just your

brain, but minds as in

attitudes, your heart,

the controlling idea about

what your life is for.

That's what Philippians is

all about.

So that's why you get the

verses like, for me to live

is Christ, to die is gain.

This is what is the

controlling centre of your

life?

What is your life all about?

And he uses a special word

for it, which does come at

other times in the New

Testament, but it's here

no less than ten times.

The word phronium is this

word for mind or attitude.

And it comes scattered

through the letter, but it's

clustered three times in

chapter two.

So let me read a bit of

chapter two to you.

Let me start at verse one.

Look at what he says.

Therefore, if you have any

encouragement from being

united with Christ, if any

comfort from his love, if

any common sharing in the

spirit, if any tenderness

and compassion, then make

my joy complete by being,

here's the word, like

minded, having the same

love, being one in spirit

and of one, here's the word

again, mind.

Do nothing out of selfish

ambition or vain conceit,

but rather in humility value

others above yourselves, not

looking to your own

interests, but each of you to

the interests of the

others.

In your relationships with

one another, have the same,

here's the word, mindset as

Christ 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 is above every

name, that at the name of

Jesus every knee should bow in

heaven and on earth and under

the earth, and every tongue

acknowledge that Jesus Christ is

Lord to the glory of God the

Father.

Now that word appears, doesn't it,

like I mentioned, twice in verse

two and then again in verse five.

But it's all the same thing,

isn't it?

Paul's point is that the driving

passion and purpose, the

mindedness that we have towards

our lives as Christians should

be what?

Should be the same as the Lord

Jesus is.

And how do we know what the Lord

Jesus' mindset was towards his

life?

What was Christ's controlling

thought about his life?

Well it's seen, isn't it, there in

verses six to eleven.

His mind and his attitude is the

attitude which took him to the

cross, which emptied himself.

He did not consider equality with

God something to use to his own

advantage, but rather he made

himself nothing.

In other words, the controlling

attitude of Christ's mind is this.

It's one of self-sacrifice for the

purpose of the eternal salvation of

others.

Do you see that?

I am going to sacrifice myself,

says the Lord Jesus, so that others

might be saved eternally.

And that attitude, verse nine, means

that when God sees Christ, he says,

this is the one.

This is the one whose name is above

every name.

Bow to this name because in seeing

this self-sacrifice for the eternal

well-being of others, you see God in

the flesh.

Now the point of the letter of the

Philippians is that that is supposed

to be the heart attitude of the

church.

That is our mindedness towards one

another.

So the word mind is there in chapter

four, verse 10, where it's

translated, I think, concern,

probably.

Chapter four and verse 10.

I rejoice greatly in the Lord that

at last you will need your concern,

your mindedness towards me of

self-sacrifice.

Indeed, you were concerned but had no

opportunity to show it.

Now they've given him a gift.

So Paul writes to the Philippian

church to say, thank you for being

so minded towards me that you are

sacrificing of yourself for the

eternal well-being, not simply of me

and my perseverance, but of that of

others as I tell them the gospel.

So he writes to say thank you.

He says in chapter one, verse seven, I

think where it's translated feel, he

says it's right for me to feel this way

about you.

I am minded like this towards you,

the Philippian church, that I am going

to sacrifice of myself for your

eternal well-being.

So here it is.

We see it supremely in Christ and his

work on the cross.

You see it in the Philippians' love for

Paul.

You see it in Paul's love for the

Philippians.

Self-sacrificial service for the

eternal well-being of others.

A willingness to give that others

might hear and know Christ.

But the question for us this morning

is who is meant to have that mind?

Does that mind belong just to the

really keen Christians in church?

Well no.

Chapter two, as we read together, it

comes from being united with Christ.

It comes from our fellowship with the

Spirit.

It comes from our inclusion in the

Lord Jesus Christ.

And in chapter three, verse 15, it's

there's such a view of things, which is

the same word, that every mature

Christian should take.

In other words, this is the DNA of

every Christian.

When Johnny was over in October, I

think it was, or November, preaching

in Liverpool, he had the privilege of

meeting my dad.

My dad doesn't live in Liverpool, but

he was around helping me fit a new

shower.

And despite our best intentions, we

intended to finish before Johnny

arrived.

But we hadn't.

So Johnny got the privilege of seeing

my dad and I messing around in DIY.

But one of the things that Palfremen

really love is practical stuff.

So we love doing jobs together, and we

love practical presence for one another.

Now my dad never phones me up and says,

how are you doing?

Phones me up and says, what are you

doing?

Is there a job that we can do together?

This year for Christmas, my dad's

dad bought me a wax oil spray gun so I can

spray rust proofing on my car.

Brilliant.

It's the way we're made.

Palfremen think practical is best.

That's just our family likeness, right?

So if you meet any of us, that's what we're

like.

Now in a sense, that's what Paul is saying

about the Christian in Philippi.

It's not practical wax oiling.

It's self-sacrificial service for the eternal

well-being of others.

That's the DNA of Christ, and it's the DNA of

every single Christian in church.

That is to be our mind.

A mind which lies behind every pure missionary

endeavor.

The mind in every individual Christian is to be

in me.

It's to be in you.

It's to be in every single person who trusts in

Christ, which looks at the eternal well-being of

others, even outside their own church, and says,

that eternal well-being is worth my personal

sacrifice.

Which means, doesn't it, that the part of

discipleship for every Christian is seeing that

they have a responsibility for the gospel beyond

themselves.

At the cost of their own comfort.

That normal Christian living, normal Christian

discipleship, is not simply that the extreme

Christians go, in a sense, but the ordinary

Christian discipleship is that we're all involved

in that process.

You know, you might not leave Caroline, but still

your self-sacrificial love for others that they

might hear about Jesus will work its way out in

practical ways in your life.

As you give.

As you pray.

As you share news and information.

So let's just wrap this up and end where we

started before the rain gets so heavy you can't

hear me.

As a local church, we are gathering, we're

praying, we're listening to God's word, we're

loving and we're reaching out.

What place does global mission have in those

five things?

Well, actually, it invades every single one of

them, does it not?

You know, as we gather, we gather with a view to

scattering ourselves broader than just our own nation.

That more people would hear the gospel.

As we pray, we pray not simply just for ourselves and

our own needs.

Of course we pray for those.

But we realise we have a responsibility for the needs

beyond our own church, for others' needs.

So we pray for them too.

As we listen to God's word, we listen to the message of

the gospel, which is not just about a small saviour for my

own personal salvation.

It's about a global saviour who's reaching out to the

nations, a message which has within itself this expulsive

power to get to the very corners of the world.

As we love, we love not just one another in this room, but we

love others that they too might hear the gospel.

And as we reach out, certainly we reach out in the streets

around us, but also we realise that we have a responsibility to

reach the nations beyond us as well.

Let me pray as we close.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much that in the Lord Jesus we see

this message which belongs not simply to us, but it belongs to the

nations, that they might hear of the welcome that they can receive in

the Lord Jesus Christ.