Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 through 18, we continue our study in this letter, and the title of the message today is Shining with the Stars, the Word of the Lord. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with His Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility. Consider others better than yourself. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing. Taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself. and became 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 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more, in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure children of God without fault. in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe, as you hold out the word of life, in order that I may boast on the day of Christ, that I did not run or labor for nothing. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you, so that you too should be glad and rejoice with me." The word of the Lord. Let us look to Him in prayer. God, our Father, we thank you for this wonderful book of Philippians, one of many scriptures you have given us, your inspired word. We thank you for the personal testimony of the Apostle Paul and your working in him and the lives of these children of yours. And Lord God, we pray that you might work in us as well and cause us to reflect your love in our lives. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as I've already said, we have blessed very greatly in our Bible school this past week. Not only did we have a great time learning the Lord's Word and all the singing together and just having a great time together, but I'm very thankful for a very good spirit that was evident in our time. That spirit that really started with the staff as they all are getting their lessons together weeks in advance. and looking forward to coming together once again to serve. And then that just trickles on down, the enthusiasm of the children running to get in line and to be here and to participate in all of the different aspects of the school. And you could just see it in their faces, hear it in their voices. They really just wanted to be here, even on the hottest of days. And believe me, it was hot. Our theme, of course, was the king is coming. And throughout the week we couldn't help but be reminded of the truth, of the reality. I'm a child of the king. And that's our focus this morning for the few minutes we have together. That's the challenge that Paul holds before us in our text today, Philippians 2, 14-18, that we are children of God. We are children of the King. So we want to just remind ourselves of what that means. What does it mean to be a child of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? passing out these tracts. Who will be king? And that's the challenge before us. And what does it mean to be a child of the king? Especially as you and I are called to work out our salvation with reverence and awe and display the attitude, the mind of the king himself, the mind of Jesus Christ as that outlook controls your life. Chuck Swindoll has said, attitude is everything. Attitude is everything. If you think about it, there's a lot we can agree with that statement. There's a lot we cannot control in our lives, people and circumstances that come our way, surprises, changes. But there's one thing we can control and that is the way we respond, the attitude we display, whatever. the Lord brings our way. So Paul, throughout this glorious chapter, has been honing before us the attitude, the mind of our Savior, which we must make our own. And so he says there at the beginning of the chapter, your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. And what attitude is that? It is a spirit of humility. A meek and childlike attitude because you, first of all, are a child of the King. Now, let's be honest here. What are children like? We had a great week in Bible school, as I've said, full of joy and fun and laughter and just getting together. I think the children would love to go all summer when you have a Bible school instead of just being bored at home and asking, Mom, what's there to do, Mom? What can I do? I'm bored. And they just had a great time. But what was it like? You remember your childhood. What was it like for you growing up with your brothers and sisters? What is it like now growing up in your home? How did you all get along? How do you all get along now? Do you remember those days? Maybe you remember those times when you fought like cats and dogs, right? Or picker, picker, picker. If we're a little bit honest, if your childhood was anything like mine, it's probably like what Paul was warning his children in Philippi against here in verse 14. Do everything without complaining or arguing. That's a pretty strong challenge, isn't it? Everything, do everything without complaining or arguing. You begin to scratch your head and wonder, how is that possible? To do everything without some, rightly, without some objection. How can he make such a statement? And especially for children. At least as adults, we're better at covering it up, right? We don't lamb-ass people quite so much as little ones might. Hopefully. And yet that was Paul's primary concern. As he points to what comes out of our mouths as a first indicator of the attitudes of our heart, right? Here he's been holding up this glorious picture and model for us. Be like Jesus. Display that Christ-like attitude of humility in your life. And what's the first way you display it? By what you say. As Jesus himself tells us, for out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks, right? Attitude is everything. Do you have the attitude, the mind of Jesus Christ? And not just in what you do and what you say, but why you do it. What is the motivation? What is the driving force? When plans change in your life, when things don't go your way, are you able to make the adjustment with a gracious spirit, and not just on the outside, but on the inside as well? And that's what Paul is getting at, the heart of the matter, the heart issue, the heart motive. Or is there that spirit of grumbling and complaining? Does that still linger around the corners and control what's really going on inside? You know your heart, you know your life, you know the way that you respond. You know what Paul was getting at here. And you see, this was the problem for the Israelites way back when in the Old Testament, in the book of Exodus. Six weeks, just six weeks of traveling towards the promised land, and what are they doing? They're starting to grumble and complain, wishing that they were back in slavery in Egypt. Longing for leeks and onions. I just don't get it. Leeks and onions? And yet that's what they were longing for. And it seems that the Israelites, God's people of old, were the people that Paul had in mind as he wards these Christians in the New Testament against the same thing, grumbling and complaining. He's really quoting from the book of Deuteronomy. Moses declares, they have acted corruptly towards God. To their shame, they are no longer His children, but a warped and crooked generation. Paul takes the words from this text, right from that verse in Deuteronomy chapter 32. And it's a very strong warning, isn't it? We wonder sometimes, what's the big deal about grumbling and complaining? But Paul, and the Lord especially, puts his finger right on it. To their shame, they are no longer his children. It's that serious. Are we really the children of God or not? Because, you see, if there's truly this new spirit working in us, a new attitude that's controlling our outlook, That spirit is nothing left in the spirit of Jesus Christ that will be making a difference in your life, transforming your life, making you into something that is new from what you used to be. Even to the extent of what comes out of your lips. Because now you no longer belong to yourself. Now you are a child of the King. And He is at work in your right to do what is pleasing in His sight. And you see, when we grumble and complain like the Israelites, you know, we're not just griping about our circumstances or the people that we have to put up with in our lives just like they have to put up with us. But who is it that we're really griping against? And this is why it makes it so serious. We're griping against God, and who He is, and the circumstances and situations in which He has placed us. That's part of His plan. We confess that He's all-wise and all-loving, right? Well, he's the one that has, in his wisdom, has placed us exactly where he wants us to be, knowing what is best for our lives. And when as a child of God, the King of Kings, I start complaining about that and arguing against that, means I've lost confidence in my Heavenly Father and His promise that all things, all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His good purpose. What it means, what it really boils down to is I'm just not content with what God has planned for my life and His purposes for me. You know, and later on in this little book of Philippians, Paul will have a lot to say about contentment as that is a controlling outlook in your life. And it's such an important challenge that he really connects it to one of the most significant verses in this letter, if not in the whole Bible. Turn to the last chapter of Philippians, Philippians chapter 4. Just for a minute, familiar verses. Philippians 4, verses 11 to 13. And Paul writes there, I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Even the Apostle Paul had to learn the lesson of contentment. And this is one of the final challenges he lays on his beloved congregation. Do you know what this means? Do you know what it means to be content in all circumstances? Well, people are going to be able to tell by what comes out of our mouths, right? And that's what he's saying there in chapter 2. Because this light transforming outlook will happen if your life, if your outlook is controlled by Jesus Christ. Because as Paul concludes his challenge to be content in all circumstances, he again says, I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. Now we often use that Phrase that verse as a motto, don't we, or a mantra for our lives. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, right? We apply it to all situations, but Paul is especially applying it to the whole outlook we take about our lives before our Heavenly Father. Are we content? And is that reflected in our conversations, in what we say about our circumstances, about other people in our lives? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me because I am a child of the King. A child of the King. Now just take a minute and think about that fact, that reality. That you belong to Jesus Christ. And all the blessings, all the privileges that go along with being children of the Heavenly Father. One commentator put it this way. Meditating on the fact that you are a child of the King will change your life. It will sweeten your spirit. It will put the touch of heaven into your soul. So, now that Bible School is behind us, now that we're looking forward to the summer, Maybe there will be the opportunity for you to reflect on that truth about your life and about your relationship to the Lord God, the King of Kings. That you are a child of the King and what that means, all the blessings, but all the opportunities to reflect His life. And as that happens, because you are a child of the King, now Paul goes on to remind us that we will shine like the stars in verses 15 and 16. He says there, so that you may become blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like the stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life. Very simply, if we quit grumbling and complaining, people are going to start wondering, what's going on with him? You know, as we begin to learn to deal with our concerns of what the Lord throws at us, as we seek to speak the truth in love and genuinely give thanks in every circumstance, knowing that God's in control, people are going to begin to wonder. It doesn't mean we just clamp our hands over our mouth and say nothing. That's not how we deal with the gripes and complaints in our lives. We do have to deal with them. We do have to address them. But as we give them over to our Heavenly Father, as we seek to speak the truth of love and honor Him wherever He's placed us, and we begin to demonstrate that Spirit of Jesus Christ and that outlook of joy that Paul reminds us of again and again, people are going to wonder. People are going to take notice. And Paul is suggesting that those folks around us may even be drawn to the light of life as they notice it shining through your life and through mine. They see that Christ-like attitude displayed consistently in the workplace, in your home, in your relationships. Not just every now and then, not just when you get out of church and say, oh, I've got to buck up here and try and have a little better attitude. No, but the consistent long term, day in and day out. Not that we always have a smile on, far from it, but that heart attitude, that outlook controls our life because we know who is on the throne. And they're going to be drawn to the light because they notice that light shining more and more through our lives with an attitude of faith and hope and love that's not put on. And keep in mind again where Paul was writing from as he wrote this little letter and called them to do everything without complaining and grumbling. He was in prison facing a possible death sentence himself. And he knew what the world was like, and he touches on that as well. He may have also had the prophecy of Daniel in mind as he's writing these verses here. Not just Moses and the Israelites, but at the end of the Old Testament, the prophecy of Daniel. Remember Daniel? He had been deported. captured, taken into captivity by the Babylonians, and he found himself in pretty dire circumstances. He went there as a young person, not much older than the young people who are here today, 16, 17 years old, taken away from his homeland, and he lived his entire life in Babylon. Ninety years old, he was still writing, he was still serving the Lord, still serving in the government under Nebuchadnezzar. And yet, if you know anything about what that society was like, you know that it was a totally secularized and pagan world in which Daniel was immersed. A place where God had put him. And yet, in the midst of it all, the Lord raised Daniel up and used his gifts so that he became an advisor to the king himself. And not just in one reign, but in other reigns, in other authorities, as they transitioned from one king to the next, and from one country to the next. And so at the conclusion of this little prophecy of Daniel, which is filled with all these spectacular visions, the Lord speaks to Daniel, and challenges him, he speaks to him through the Archangel Michael in Daniel chapter 12. Daniel tells us that that time Michael the great prince to protect your people will rise and there will be a time of distress such as has not happened for the beginning of nations until then. a time when people will just want to run for cover. That's what people get all caught up in, these prophecies, these times of great distress and what that's going to be like. And even after everything that Daniel had already been through, there was still more to come. And the Lord goes on to speak through Michael and says, But at that time your people, everyone whose name is found written in the book, will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting content. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars, forever and ever. 700 years later, Paul is quoting from the prophecy of Daniel, pointing out to his children in Philippi how they were facing much the same thing in a very similar society that knew nothing of God. A crooked and depraved generation, a warped and perverted world. I don't have to tell anybody here, it's no different today, is it? Well, certainly we have a greater Christian influence in our society that continues to go out, but increasingly it seems like our society is more and more skewed and going further away from God. You know, all you have to do is read the paper, right? I picked up Thursday's paper this week, and second page, the headline was about the Southern Baptist Convention, its annual meeting, and the headline read this. Church, gang rights, civil rights, not the same. You can have an idea of what that was all about and the decisions and the declarations that the Southern Baptist Convention had made at their annual meeting. But the sad thing is that here, the largest evangelical denomination in our country would have to make such a declaration at all. It says a lot about how warped and how far away our society really is from the Lord. That a denomination has to affirm the true nature of marriage between one man and one woman shows us what we're really up against. And yet, even as we think of this as just a sampling of the world we live in today, this is the challenge before us. Here is the way that we as Christians can shine like stars as we hold out the word of life. At the same time as we hold on to that word. That's the little subtlety of that verse right there, because it could mean hold on, or it could mean hold out. Well, you've got to hold on to this word in order that you can hold it out. And that's what denominations like ours and like these other denominations are seeking to do. Now, one of the things that we enjoy Just getting out there and looking at the stars, when we have the opportunity, maybe we'll have that opportunity in the next week or so, on a dark night, and yet when you actually can get away from all the light pollution around us, and can they get out there and look at the stars, it has to be pretty dark, doesn't it? It has to be pretty gloomy. And that's kind of the picture that we have here, isn't it? Of the world we're in and the positions we hold as stars shining in this dark world. But the point that Paul, the encouragement that Paul gives us here is that we are not just shining out there on our own as individual stars, but that we shine together. We're not in this alone. In fact, the most effective stance we can take is as we come together and shine more brightly as one people. That's what we've done this past week, right, is we all came together to help with Bible school in various ways. That's what we'll do again as we get together and plan and prepare for the Peach Festival and support our evangelists that will be preaching and speaking through that one day. Coming together to shine the light as God's people, as one body. Yeah, but even right now, We're shining the light of life as we come together Sunday after Sunday as one people to worship the King and to lift up His name and to shine His light even through what we do right now as we are worshiping the Lord. After all, isn't this what Jesus tells us who we really are? You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house in the same way. Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. That's what it's all about. That's God's plan for each one of us. That's God's plan for His church ever since day one. That's continuing the way He's continuing to call people unto Himself and people are drawn to Him as we continue in this generation. to lift up His light, to shine His light from our lives. So let His light shine through us in the way we live, in the way we hold out His word. So as a child of the King, you and I are to shine like stars, and that will be a sacrifice of praise. That's what Paul It winds down here on these last verses of this text, but even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you, so that you too should be glad and rejoice with me. Paul didn't know what was supposed to be the outcome of his imprisonment, what the final judgment would be. In the providence of God, he went on for several more years of ministry and witness. And yet, right at that point, he couldn't help but think of what might happen, what might be in store, and yet he continues to hold out great hope that whatever the outcome, it would be worth it, because of how the Lord would use this congregation to lift up his name, and that he would know that his running, his laboring, had not been in vain. Now, in Thursday's paper, There was an article in the sports section on a local Middletown athlete, a high jumper. Not a high jumper, a broad jumper. And the headline read, Deadly Eyes Leap Across the Pond. Went on to tell about how this Middletown high school athlete had the opportunity to compete, to go to the Olympics. Just a local kid, and he's competed and won in the Penn Relays. He describes his training and all that he went through to get to that point to enhance his abilities and talents. That's what Paul is talking about for us and for him. We're to run this race. You do so with excellence. You do so with endurance. You do so as you hang in there. Because it's not a sprint, it's a long distance run. And we're in it to finish and to win. And we do so with excellence and perseverance. Because you and I are a child of the King. And your life and mine, by the grace of God, will shine brightly for Jesus Christ as a sacrifice of grace. Lord God Almighty, we thank you for your work of grace in our lives. We look at ourselves and we see ourselves often as willful children, wanting to simply gratify our own desires. But we thank you that in your grace, your very being and your light shines through us. And we pray, Lord God, that you would forgive us of the times that we resist your work in our lives. And we pray, Lord God, that we might be a people that truly give thanks in every circumstance, and that your light and your love might continue to shine through us to those around us that desperately need to turn to you and to the world. We ask these things, blessed in your name, that you have called us your very own children. In Jesus' name. Let us sing together hymn number 525. I'm a child of the King. 525.