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Philippians 2:14-18, Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. 18 You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.
I spent a little time this week checking out social media influencers. Some of these influencers have millions of followers. Joe Rogan has 19 million subscribers. Mel Robbins, close to Rogan in popularity, promises you can change and she’ll tell you how. These are the secular preachers for a secular age.
Here’s my point this morning – every believer is an influencer for Christ in this world. These verses in Philippians today gives Paul’s instructions on how God’s people can be effective influencers for Christ and the gospel. Paul starts this section with a purpose statement, “So that.” Why are we here? What is our mission?
We’re here as God’s children to be lights in the thick darkness of this world. We’re here to reflect the glory of God in this darkness. We’re here to display to this world that God is real. He is good, glorious, holy, gracious, and merciful. He is a redeeming God. The early believers turned the world upside down with their powerful influence through the gospel ( Acts 17:6). We’re partakers of the divine nature – salt for the corruption of our world and light for the darkness. Everything about our lives should be different. We ought to stand out not as smug or holier than thou, but as joyful, contented in Christ, not grumbling but praising, grateful people! We are to be God’s influencers for Christ and the gospel in a morally and spiritually twisted, crooked world.
Let’s briefly track Paul’s thinking up to this point. In Philippians 1:25 – he lives and serves to help God’s people grow in their joy in the faith. In 2:1-11 – growing in joy and faith requires unity among God’s people, which requires humility. This humility was perfectly illustrated by Christ Himself who humbled Himself and obeyed the Father. In 2:12-13 – we are to obey, working out the glorious salvation God has worked into our lives. We can’t work for our salvation but we are to work out what God has already put in us when we were saved. I read an illustration by a liberal preacher this week. He said salvation is like a frog falling into a bucket of milk. He tried to jump out but got no traction. So, he kept paddling away with his feet and eventually the milk turned into butter and there was enough firmness for him to jump out of the bucket and save himself. That, said the preacher, is how you get to heaven. Just keep paddling, keep on working, keep on doing your best, and you will make it. That’s not only heresy, but the religion of the man on the street. No, your best will not get you to heaven. First you need God’s work of grace in your life. Paul says we are to work out what God has put in our lives by His grace. God is empowering us to do His good pleasure as believers, and that includes no grumbling nor griping. Now Paul wants you to remember four things so that your lives will have maximum influence on this world.
REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE – CHILDREN OF GOD.
Philippians 2:15, so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,
There are only two spiritual families in the world. Jesus told unbelievers, “You are of your father the devil”(John 8:44). John told us in 1 John 5:19, “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” How did you become a member of God’s family? You had to be born into it. Jesus said we must be born again or we’ll never see the kingdom of God. John 1:12 says, “As many as received Him, to them God gave the right to become His children.” Believers are born of God. He made you a part of His family. God chose you, loved you before the foundation of the world, adopted you into His family as sons and daughters. You are joint-heirs with Christ of eternal glory. You sit at His table. You are in fellowship with the almighty God! You are living evidence of His grace, power, holiness, and love. Every day when you go out, you represent Him.
You are a child of God, but how does that show? How can you influence others as God’s child. Paul says you’re going to be different on the outside and on the inside. You will be blameless, innocent, and above reproach. These are the qualities of God’s genuine influencers in this world. Paul’s not talking about perfection, but he does set the standard high for the family of God. Imagine if he said, “You can’t lie too much, or commit adultery too much, or it’s okay to have a little bitterness, just not a lot.” No, you and I as God’s children are called to be blameless – not indulging in anything that the world could hold against you. Zechariah and Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s parents, are described as “walking blamelessly before the Lord.”
Innocent means pure in heart. You fight sin in your heart and don’t let it rule over you. It’s the idea of unmixed motives and desires. And then Paul adds above reproach. No one can bring a legitimate charge against you. Our moral integrity should be unquestionable. This is how God calls His children to behave. He gives us His Spirit to energize us, to motivate us to purity of life, and we ought to walk above any charge from the world. When we do mess up, thank God we have a forgiving God who is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). How many people think it’s okay to sin a little. No, it’s not. Jesus said if you even just look at a woman with lust you’re guilty of adultery! In Ephesians 4 Paul describes spiritual virtue as speaking the truth, not letting the sun go down on our anger, using words that build up and not tear down, putting off bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, malice and instead putting on kindness, tenderhearted, and forgiveness. Paul says as children of God you are called to unquestionable virtue in the eyes of the world.
REMEMBER WHERE YOU ARE – IN A DARK WORLD.
Vs.15 …in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation…
Paul describes the world around us as a crooked, perverse generation. Notice, you are in the midst of this dark world. This is exactly where God wants you. This is where you’re going to shine, where you’re going to influence lost people for Christ. In the midst of it. Like Jesus said in John 17, we are in the world but not of the world.
John 17:14-16, “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. 16 “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Paul describes the world two ways, as crooked and perverse. This world is utterly anti-God. Crooked is the word skolios – bent, deformed, warped. Perverse means distorted, corrupted, without moral scruples. This is the nature of the world in its hatred and rejection of God and His truth. Compare this bent, twisted, warped, darkened world view with the believers’ world view.
- Who are we?
World: Products of time and chance, basically good and getting better all the time.
Believers: Created in God’s image, fallen and depraved, and in need of salvation.
- How did we get here?
World: Purely by time and chance through natural selection over millions of years.
Believers: Created by God in six literal 24-hour days.
- Where are we going?
World: Death is the end of us or we’re all headed to a better place.
Believers: Heaven or hell.
- Why are we here?
World: To enjoy life as best we can for a few short years.
Believers: To glorify God and enjoy Him forever
- What is God like?
World: If there is a God, he’s what we conceive him to be. He’ll surely forgive us because that’s his job.
Believers: God is the Creator of all things and sovereign over all things. He is good and just in all He does. He is holy and cannot condone sin. Only those who believe that Christ took the penalty for their sins when He died on the cross and that He arose from the dead can receive forgiveness for their sins.
- How are we to live?
World: Do whatever we feel is right, but don’t impose your values on other people.
Believers: We are here to know and please God, trust in His Son, and brighten this dark world with His truth.
This crooked and perverse, twisted generation, this dark world, has also spun out all kinds of religions, philosophies, moral codes. Think of the darkness and lies spewed out by Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud. This world is desperately lost and needs the One Name above all names – Jesus Christ.
Acts 4:12, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
REMEMBER WHY YOU’RE HERE – TO SHINE INTO THIS DARKNESS.
V 15. …among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life…
Jesus described every believer like this:
Matthew 5:14, 16, You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden…. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
The word “You” in Matthew 5:14 is emphatic. “You and you alone, Christian, are to shine as lights for Christ.” Nothing influences like light does. And this is why God has left us on this planet. We are to be shining bright lights in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation . God has us her to shine as lights in this darkness. Isn’t that beautiful? How do we shine? Back to no grumbling or whining in verse 14. A grumbler is not shining his light; he’s spreading darkness. That’s why God expects His children to trust Him and put off grumbling. How did you do this week? Could you think of thirty things to thank God for in your life?
You shine by your blameless, innocent, and above reproach life as God’s children. Remember Daniel in Daniel 6:5? The men who wanted to accuse Daniel said, “We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God.” Daniel was a man of godly integrity and everyone knew it. He had a sin nature just like us, but he feared God and prayed regularly to Him.
We shine in the darkness by being careful not to give the family a bad name. They may slander us as evil doers but listen to Peter’s counsel.
1 Peter 2:12, Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Shine into the darkness of your world, whether at home, work, or out and about running those errands. There’s never a time to put a basket over your light. You’re called to be God’s influencer wherever you are, whoever you are. Moral purity is certainly a big part of shining for God. Second Timothy 2:22 says, “Flee youthful lust.” Young ladies, love Christ and pursue purity. Young men, determine to go to the marriage altar as a shining light of purity. If you’ve messed up, repent, seek God’s forgiveness, and pursue purity. Somewhere between 13 and 16 billion dollars is spent annually on pornography. Covenant Eyes, a Christian accountability ministry, says 65% of Christian men and 15% of Christian women look at pornography. If that’s even close, we need 1 Thessalonians 4 teaching, “This is God’s will, that you abstain from sexual immorality.” It was a problem in the first century and probably more so today with easy access.
Of course, moral purity is just one area of godly integrity. We are called to be shining lights in business, marriage, as parents, in finances, how we use our time. We are called to be bright lights in the deep, bent, twisted darkness of this world.
But we don’t just shine with our godly lives. Paul links a participle to the verb shine in verse15, holding fast or holding forth or both. This is how we really shine, by holding fast the word of life. Get a strong grip on the Word yourself and then hold the Word forth to others. Be actively engaged with the Word of life by reading, studying, and listening to it. We are to be people of the Book. The Word of life can mean the Word that brings life or the living Word of God. We’ve been born again by the living and enduring Word of God.
1 Peter 1:23, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.
This is how we shine in this darkness. We love the Word, look to the Word, and study the Word. The Bible is our book. The gospel is that message that brought us life! Our mission is to hold forth the Word that brings spiritual life. Albert Barnes said, “We are bound to hold forth the Word of Life because that’s our mission and there are no others who will do it. This is what the church is left on earth to do in the midst of the darkness.” He adds, “Philosophy has never yet told of a way by which a sinner may be saved. The world devises no plan for the salvation of the soul. The human mind has no regenerating power to lead it back to God. The world is dependent on the church for any right views of God and of the way of salvation; and every Christian is to do his part in making that salvation known!” Hold forth the Word of Life!
REMEMBER HOW YOU SERVE – WITH GREAT JOY.
Philippians 2:17-18, But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. 18 You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.
To be an effective influencer for Christ and to shine and not whine, you need to be a joyful, Christ-honoring servant. That’s what Paul says. He wants to stand before Christ knowing his labors and his martyr’s death were not in vain. Imagine the joy to stand there with the people you have influenced for Christ. Paul knows he’s going to die. He pictures his death like a drink offering on his sacrificial service for the faith of the Philippians.
And notice, Paul expected believers to serve the Lord joyfully. Joy is so important in the Christian life and in a church. Look what Paul says, “I’m sharing my joy with you. You rejoice and share your joy with me!” Not grumbling and arguing or disputing but filled with Christ’s joy. Joy should characterize all of us. You can’t be a grumbler and an influencer for Christ. The children of God should be known as a people full of the joy Christ gives us. Christ Himself said these words.
John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
John 17:13, “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.
Notice how Paul puts sacrifice and service and joy all together in verse 17. There is great joy in giving yourself as a sacrifice, giving up some things, being a living sacrifice. Romans 12:1, “present your bodies a living sacrifice.” Paul is urging every believer to shine as God’s lights and influencers in the middle of the world’s darkness. Listen to Daniel describing God’s people.
Daniel 12:3, “Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”
The old hymn said, “Let the lower lights be burning.” That was a picture of a tall lighthouse along the shore with lower lights guiding ships safely into the harbor. Some poor, lost soul you may rescue and bring to salvation by holding forth the light of the gospel message.