Hold The Line | Philippians 3:12-4:1

Scripture

• Philippians 3:12

About this sermon

Introduction: ESV 2 Timothy 4:2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. That is the preacher’s calling. That is the shepherd’s task. Shepherd the church with the Word of God. Shepherd the church with the Word of God regardless of the season. Reprove with God’s Word. Rebuke with God’s Word. Exhort with God’s Word. Do this patiently. Do this instructively. It is especially the responsibility to EXHORT that I want to practice today. I want to exhort us in light of the time that we find ourselves in. What is on my heart has to do with the present season that we find ourselves in, and a call that Paul issues in the 16th verse. THE SEASON The season we find ourselves in is one of great uncertainty and anxiety. From a human point of view our world has never seemed more out of sorts. Things are taking place all around us unlike anything that we have seen in my lifetime. If anyone would have described what we are seeing right now, twenty years ago, and told us that we would be seeing it in just twenty years, I think we would have had a hard time believing them. The world has lost its moral sanity. I do not need to offer examples; you are aware. Governments are acting in tyrannical fashion, and citizens that dispute with each other about whether it is tyrannical. People willing to give away their freedoms on the promise of safety. It is like we are living in a world that constantly bounces between two extremes. On the one end of the spectrum, you have an almost revolutionary spirit that is often rash. On the other end of the spectrum, you have a thoughtlessly compliant spirit that is often without discernment or cowardly. It is a time of bold-faced lies. Lies that are so blatant they seem to be designed as much to mock as to deceive. (Any American who wants to leave Afghanistan can, no one is stranded). And in such a time as this, when the clear voice of Scripture has never been more needed, much of the evangelical world seems as divided as the lost world around it. The one word that comes to my mind that most describes the moment is the word UNREST. It is a world that feels like constant upheaval, confusion, like a ship in the midst of a great storm, with waters constantly churning. THE CHURCH’S MARCHING ORDERS WHAT IS THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST TO DO IN SUCH TIMES? WHAT ARE THE CHURCH’S SHEPHERDS TO EXHORT IN SUCH TIMES? I BELIEVE THE 16TH VERSE REPRESENTS OUR MARCHING ORDERS. AND I BELIEVE ITS INSTRUCTION CAN BE CHARACTERIZED WITH THREE SIMPLE WORDS: “HOLD THE LINE.” What you have been taught that is faithful and true. What you learned in times that seemed far less stressful. The pattern of sound words that you have been given before the present distress. HOLD TO THOSE THINGS. MAINTAIN THAT STANDARD. ESV 2 Timothy 1:13 Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. That is what I want to exhort us about today. I want us to hear that call clearly. I want us to recognize the context in which that calling must be heard, and to recognize the only way in which it can be obeyed. Today, I want to share six characteristics of the spiritual life that will prove to be steadfast. THE CALL TO STEADFASTNESS (vs.16) Before we look at the characteristics of a steadfast life, I want us to understand what the 16th verse is calling for. The first word ties the exhortation to the previous instruction. It is the word πλὴν, and it is an adverb used as a conjunction at the beginning of a sentence, that marks a contrast added for consideration. Now, we will talk more about this in a moment, but what has preceded this verse is a call for PROGRESS. A mindset, an attitude, for PROGRESS. Which is why the first word of verse 16 has a bit of contrast in it. “Nevertheless,” “However,” is what this word would mean. YOU MUST STRIVE FOR PROGRESS, BUT AT THE SAME TIME THERE IS SOMETHING THAT MUST STAY THE SAME.