Joy in the Hard Places

Devotion: Philippians 2:17-18

Jesus demonstrated what it means to be joyful in the midst of the hardest places and situations in the world. In Hebrews 12:2 we read, "...Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." What Hebrews is telling us (and the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:18) and what Jesus demonstrated is that the present suffering and struggles in this world are not to be compared to the glory and joy to come. It is this precise notion that led the Apostle to write the following to the Philippians:

"Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me." -Philippians 2:17-18 ESV

 

The Apostle views his life as only valuable if it is used in the service of the Christ. Jesus who himself poured out his life for the sake of others is the role model the Apostle looks to as well as the Lord who empowers him through faith to live and, if called upon, to die for the glory of God. The Apostle views this as a cause of joy and invites the Philippians to rejoice with him even though at present he was facing almost certain death for proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Far from weeping and wailing at his possible death at the hands of the Romans, he invites celebration.
Our place in this is to learn from the example of the Apostle and of Jesus himself. We spend much of our lives avoiding pain, suffering and struggles in a vain attempt to live the good life. Jesus himself is the demonstration of the good life lived in a world lost, hurt and broken by sin. To be God's man or God's woman in this world will invite the mistreatment of the world. For a while the Church was in a culturally advantage position and so the pain associated with the Christian life was minimized if not eliminated. Now, however, the Church has fallen out of favor in the Western world and the anger, misunderstanding, and mistreatment that characterized much of the early church's history seems to have returned. As neo-pagan values are on the rise (power, greed, lust) in all ideological viewpoints the values of love, mercy and grace are seen not only as unnecessary, but dangerous unless redefined through a non-biblical lens. Love, for instance, ceases to be the self-sacrificial variety described in our passage this week and becomes instead the self-gratifying variety that only returns love when it provides personal benefit. Mercy and grace are meted out in this neo-pagan sense only to those deemed worthy by one's own standards of morality and never for those regarded as enemies. In my own short lifetime the country I live in has become a harsher, darker and crueler place. Despite the overcoming of some true injustice in the mid-twentieth century, this land has slipped into self-centered madness lifting up identity politics and its reductionist scheme (in which we all are divided into a series of labels) on the one hand and the sovereign self (in which power and control by the self, even or perhaps especially at the expense of others) on the other hand. Hard places are easy to find in life these days as a result.
So what is the Christian to do? The Apostle's answer is surprising. Find joy in the hard places as we pour out our lives for the sake of others. We are to practice true Christian virtue enabled and empowered by the constant application of Christ's saving work by the Holy Spirit that makes us newly and truly human. We love, we forgive, we practice kindness, mercy, grace, peace, gentleness, faith, goodness, self-control and, in the midst of the hard places, even joy. For our Savior lives and will yet stand upon the earth. On that day everything will be put to rights and the tears will stop. In the meantime, we are on a mission to live under his gracious reign in the world today, sharing the Good News and the joy we have in him.

Shout Outs:

A big thank you to all those who helped put up the decorations in anticipation of Christmas. The Sanctuary and all the church are looking quite festive.

News:

• The Winter Wonderland Youth Gala will be held this Saturday, December 3 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and dessert auction will be held. All proceeds go to support our annual youth camp. Come out for a good meal, good fellowship and a good cause.
• Throughout the month of December we will be collecting canned goods (and donations) to help the needy in our community. Bring something to share a little bit of love this Advent season. 

 

Opportunity to Serve:

Sign ups are under way for our next two shelter weeks (December 4-10 and December 25-31). Please contact the church office if you can spend a night giving folks a warm, safe place to sleep. Both men and women are needed!

Shine

Devotion: Philippians 2:14-16

The Apostle Paul throughout his letter to the Philippians was calling the church to faith in Christ Jesus, the humble one who gave up any outward sign of honor to give his life that we may live. He did this without complaint or protest out of love for us that He may shine the light of God in our midst and give His Father the glory. Christ did all this without thought or consideration for himself--He thought of His Father and us above all. This humble Savior loves us and gathers us to Himself in unity that we may shine as lights in this dark world, bringing the hope and truth of Christ Jesus to the world. That's the Apostle said in our passage this week.

"Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain." -Philippians 2:14-16 ESV

The world can be a truly dark and ugly place. The last thing the humble, unified church needs to be is dark and ugly. We follow Jesus who gave Himself completely for us. Grumbling and disputes are unbecoming the followers of Jesus. We do not have to turn far to find grumbling and disputing in our current political climate. How different the Church should be in the world!
Sin has twisted the world out of shape and it takes Jesus to set the world right. To do this we need to shine in the light of Christ, hold to the word of life that He has given to us and eagerly wait for the great and terrible day that Jesus Christ comes in glory to judge the living and the dead. Even as we wait for that day, let us be sure to shine the light of Christ as we come to know it in the word of life everywhere and to everyone. Never in triumph, we should add, but in surrender to Jesus who loves us.

News and Thanks

• The annual Youth Camp Gala and Dessert Auction is coming up December 3 at 7 p.m. Childcare will be  provided for those who need it. Tickets are $15 and all proceeds will go to send youth in our community to a week of camp where they will hear the Gospel clearly proclaimed.
• Operation Christmas Child boxes are due back this Sunday, November 20.
• Big thanks to all those who have volunteered for our first week of the Rotating Shelter. We need one more woman volunteer this Saturday, November 19. Please contact Pastor Bill as soon as possible to volunteer for this outreach ministry!

Opportunities to Serve

Our first day for Salvation Army bell ringing will be Saturday, November 26. Please sign up after worship this Sunday for one hour to raise funds to help the needy in our community.

Salvation and Togetherness

Devotion: Philippians 2:12-13

Following the amazing declaration that Jesus Christ will be the one that everyone proclaims as Lord to the glory of God the Father (2:10-11) we read this:

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." -Philippians 2:12-13 ESV

The Apostle has heard from Epaphroditus that the Philippian church has been practicing infighting. This is why he called them to humility, that in turn is in service to unity. When we are humble it leads us to put the needs of others before our own and that leads to a community united in mission. So where does it all start? The Apostle is clear it begins and ends with Christ.

Salvation as a topic is one that is often treated in a reductionist way. To be sure, salvation is full and complete through faith in Christ alone and it is to be had only by the grace of God out of his good pleasure to bestow it upon us. Yet, salvation is more than a mere point in life when we surrender to God. Salvation is also a lifelong path of discipleship. While I will not bore you with a complete order of salvation here, let us look at two points within the category of salvation. There is a moment when we come to know Christ as Lord and bow our lives before him. This is justification and all too often justification is seen as the only moment of salvation. Beyond justification, however, is the long road of sanctification in which the Spirit continues to work among us to lead us to both desire (will) and actually do things for the glory of God. Sanctification trains us as Jesus' followers and sets us apart day by day as the Spirit continues to apply the saving work of Christ to our lives. Salvation is only ever of God, yet we grasp and live in and out of that salvation in the power of the Spirit.
So what then of all of this fear and trembling? The Apostle is calling the Philippians to humility and unity. As he is in prison he cannot go to them, yet his authority still resides over them. He calls them to realize the power of salvation in Christ and how they must, TOGETHER, work out the implications of that salvation. This should be done in fear and trembling as they, an unholy people, now stand exposed to a holy God. It is not that somehow their work will gain their salvation, but rather they have salvation now they must figure out how to live together as the newly constituted people of God.
At the time that I write this to you the United States has just had a presidential election. In the wake of a national election (and we only elect one position nationally every four years) the sharp and stark divides in our country are exposed. Some will gloat in victory. Some will lament in defeat. Others will take matters too far on both sides and use the election as an excuse for all sorts of vileness and hatred. Sisters and brothers, it cannot be so among us who call Jesus Lord. We have one Lord and as such, we are one people. Like the Philippians we need to learn to live and love together in the midst of differences. This is precisely what the Apostle is getting at in our passage this week.

Shout Outs:

A big thanks to Elders Fred and Randy who will be heading up efforts to organize our bell ringing. We will have sign ups for ringing in front of Walmart beginning this Sunday.

Opportunity to Serve:

We are in need of a few more women to staff our Rotating Shelter Week. Specifically November 15 and 17. If you can donate one night to the shelter this week we will be sure to give people a warm place to sleep if they need it.

The Humble and Exalted Christ

Devotion: Philippians 2:5-11

The major theme of Philippians, so far as I read it, is unity. We will see later that the Philippian church has some internal strife, but we have already seen that they have overcome this strife, at least for a time, to give the Apostle financial support while in prison (for which he is deeply thankful, another theme of the letter with joy). Over and again the Apostle surrenders the desire to be right, well-regarded and respectable. Why? In a word, Jesus.

 

The so-called 'Christ Hymn' of Philippians 2:6-11 is in the service of promoting the unity of the Church. The Church is called in 2:5 to have the same mind among us that is ours in Christ Jesus. We are used to reading the Christ Hymn as a statement of Christ's divinity, the true glory of the humble Lord upon the cross and a statement of final judgment. While all of this is technically correct, the point of the text is to put this doctrinal statements into service for uniting the Philippians in mission and ministry. As Joseph Hellerman points out in his excellent commentary on the Greek text 

"...Paul has leveraged Christology--conceived in terms of status and prestige--in the service of ecclesiology."

Or, in other words, the Apostle puts doctrine about Jesus, focusing on his glorified and exalted status and how he surrendered it to serve the will of Father by saving us on the cross, into service to promote the peace, purity and, especially, the unity of the Church.
Christ humbled himself to the point of the cross and is elevated in resurrection and ascension to a greater glory. We are to see in Christ the way to the Father and thus follow him into humble service, even if it costs us everything. Following Jesus is not safe. When we surrender to Jesus we will follow him to the cross. The only way we can do that, realistically, is if we go together, being encouraged and strengthened by brothers and sisters along the way. We must surrender the self and be born again through faith in Christ Jesus, but let us remember that it is Christ that opens the way for us to be made new. So let us encourage one another as we seek to follow Jesus together.

 

News and Thanks

• A big thanks to all who served at the Trunk-or-Treat event. We served well over 450 trunk-or-treaters and had a great time. Our community appreciated our effort and hopefully this will create some avenues for fruitful outreach in the future.
• A bridal shower for Emily Martin will take place this Sunday, November 6, at 2 p.m. hosted by Stephanie Lamb and Bailee Meese. The wedding will take place Saturday, November 26 at 7:30 p.m.

 

Opportunity to Serve

1. We will host the ManFsher meal on November 20. This year we will be cooking a Thanksgiving meal and could use some help. Contact Kathy Mintzer if you would like to serve in this important ministry.
2. Our first week to host the Rotating Homeless Shelter will be November 13-19. There will be a sign-up sheet after church on Sunday. In addition, a brief training session will take place following worship at 11:45 a.m. this week. We especially need men to serve as hosts, but could also use men to serve as screeners.
3. Do not forget to get your Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes back by November 20!

Humility and Unity

Devotion: Philippians 2:1-4

In our passage this week, it is humility that comes to the forefront. In essence, the Apostle urges the church in Philippi (and the Spirit urges us) to find all of our encouragement, comfort from love, fellowship of the Spirit, affection and sympathy in Christ Jesus. The self-same Jesus who humbled himself to dwell among us and further humbled himself upon the cross when he died for us and for our salvation. We are to come together in, through and with Christ, united in our thinking and our way of life. When we see the humble Jesus at work in us and in our midst it encourages us to humility and unites us together in love.

Humility and unity in the Apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians are a bit of a chicken and egg debate. In a sense, the reader is left to consider if greater humility leads to greater unity or if greater unity leads to greater humility. Of course the answer to both of these considerations is yes. Humility and unity centered upon the humble Son of God, Christ Jesus, our Lord who unites the church as His one body are mutually re-enforcing. Yet, we need to note, at times humility takes the lead and at times unity takes the lead in our life together as a church and in the Scripture.
This is why salvation always points us outward. Too often we treat salvation as a personal benefit, when it is, in truth, a privilege to share the Gospel with others. Humility helps us to understand that we are one body, one church on one mission to proclaim one Gospel that shares our one Lord, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us and for our salvation, once for all.
This week as you go about your daily duties and tasks, look to those around you as Jesus looks to us and seek humbly to be of service and in so doing, bring others into unity with Christ through faith.

 

Opportunity to Serve

This coming Monday, 5-7 pm, we will host a Trunk-or-Treat event in the parking lot of CPC Omak. What we need are people who want to decorate a trunk, bring some candy (we are anticipated maybe as many as 200-300 trick-or-treaters) and hang out and meet the neighbors. We right now have about 10 confirmed families and could use many more. Come out for a fun night of community building. Sign up at the Welcome Center at CPC anytime.

 

Shout Out

A big shout out to Josiah and Pearl who filled in at the 11th hour for worship music this last week. It is great to see the talent of CPC used for the glory of God. If you would like to share your talent, the praise team is hosting a meeting this Sunday (10/30/16) after worship!

Suffering and Salvation

Devotion: Philippians 1:27-30

Editor's Note: Given my travel schedule last week I was unable to post a devotion. This week will pick up where we left off.
The Apostle Paul's major call to the Philippians is to be united in and with Christ. This unity is couched in the incarnation of the Son of God (more on that in a few weeks) and is expressed in facing suffering for the sake of Christ with humility and grace. When we are united to Christ, the pain and suffering we experience in this world for the sake of Christ becomes for us a sign of our salvation, even as it serves as a sign of destruction for those who inflict upon the beloved of God (i.e. the Church, see Philippians 1:28).

Suffering is difficult (I know, understatement of the age). In the midst of suffering, therefore, God gave us the gift of community. We stand together for the Gospel, encouraging and modeling a life lived well through faith in Christ Jesus. We share in the suffering of our sisters and brothers in Christ even as we stand firm in our faith. We cannot back down, we cannot retreat, and we cannot compromise when the Gospel is at stake. The truth of the salvation we have in Christ is the one and only truth that can set us free from sin and death. To deny, dilute or deflect this truth is to be complicit in the destruction of others.
Our place is to stand together as a church community, to understand that if we truly stand for Christ we will not only be ostracized, but actually endure true suffering. For a while in our country this was not the case. Christians held the majority and the dominant position in the culture. Now, we can see that a manner of life worthy of the gospel of Christ is not only out of favor culturally, it is quite frankly, condemned as bigoted, hateful and cruel. Yet we must stand firm and encourage one another to do the same. We can no longer avoid conflict because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is at odds with the spirit of the age--the spirit of this age that promises freedom, but gives slavery, that promises fulfillment but leaves empty, that promises truth but tells lies. The spirit of this age wants us to put our own comfort and ease first, meeting our desires and wants first, turning in on oneself. Yet, it is precisely this that traps us in the downward spiral of sin and shame. The Gospel liberates us, reshapes us and truly frees us by turning us away out from the self to the other, putting the desire for God first and seeing that suffering is to be desired for the sake of Christ.
This means we will need one another to encourage and be friends along the road of faith. It also means we will need Christ to be a truest companion in faith as we live for him. For suffering is not a sign of being God-forsaken, but rather our salvation won for us by the suffering servant, Jesus Christ our Lord!

News and Events

• Trunk-Or-Treat: October 31. 5-7 p.m. we will host a trunk-or-treat in the parking lot of CPC. Decorate your trunk, grab some candy and come spend time in a great outreach event.
• Wedding Shower: Emily Martin is getting married in November and the church will be hosting a wedding shower for her November 6 at 2 p.m. Ladies, let's surround Emily and Miguel in Christ's love.

Shout Outs

A long overdue shout out for Joe Miller this week. Joe works tirelessly keeping the church's IT up and running. Honestly, if you enjoy any aspect of CPC's electronic presence (from radio to webpage), Joe Miller is the man to thank.

Facing the Trial

Devotion: Philippians 1:18d-26

As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians he was sitting in prison awaiting a trial that could very well result in his death. So, to the modern reader, it will seem very curious that he begins this discussion of his upcoming trial with joy. The Apostle is taking the time to ask the Philippians to pray for him and certainly we too should seek out the prayers of others when we will face trials of our faith, yet it is not the prayers but the result of those prayers that truly helps us through trials in our life. What the Apostle needs and what we all need is the Holy Spirit supplied to us through the gracious hand of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Apostle is not looking to avoid the time of trial, indeed far from it! He is asking, instead, that Christ is honored in him. Now, in Paul's day honor was everything to men and to be disgraced was more than an insult. Trials at the time were not just about establishing guilt, but also about retaining honor. The Apostle here is moving counter to the culture in that he cares not for his own honor (what others think of him), but only for Christ. This counter-cultural worldview gave the Apostle tremendous freedom in the ancient world. He was not constrained with care for the self at all, trusting himself completely into the hands of Christ no matter what would befall him. This is why the Apostle can look at so serious a matter as death and come away without fear. Indeed, the Apostle wrote:

"For me to live is Christ, and to dies gain." -Philippians 1:21

Much like Job longed for his day in the divine court, the Apostle longed for his day in Caesar's court that he may testify to Christ. Actually, in 1:19, the Apostle quotes Job 13:16, and this may mean that the Apostle is alluding to the whole of Job's comments in Job 12-14
When we face trials in this life we are called to stand for Christ. Too often we try to escape the trial, but the Apostle here is giving us a different way. God, in the Holy Spirit, strengthens us to endure and to give glory to Christ. In this way, no matter the outcome, we know our victory in trial is secure.
The trials will come, will you be faithful to stand for Christ? Ask for prayer and receive the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ and you will.

Shout Outs

The shout out this week goes to Don and Lyn Pearce for heading up the Pray Washington 24/7 effort here at CPC. For the first time we have all hours of the day covered. Thanks to everyone for joining together in prayer!

News and Events

• On Saturday at 11 a.m. we will join the Lamb family in both grieving the death of Jane Lamb and in taking our comfort in the hope we have in Christ Jesus.
• During worship Sunday Dave Bishop will be sharing with us his mission trip experience. This is something you do not want to miss!