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| Rev. Brent Russett |
Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/ _______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to program - Sunday, January 1st, 2017:
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Broadcast Notes:
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What Really Matters
Good morning and Happy New Year----Welcome to good news in the morning. My name is Brent Russett. I am the Senior Pastor at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church here in Ottawa. I have been pastoring there for 26 years. One of the things I love to do is show how God’s word that was written a long time ago, connects with our world right now
I am glad you have turned your radio on this morning. Starting your day and your year with God’s word, is a really good place to start. Of course if you are not a morning person, and you want to re-listen, or get the manuscript for this program, you can find us on the internet at Goodnewsinthemorning.ca . There you can keep up to date with what is happening around Good News Christian Ministries.
I want to say a special welcome to our international listeners, who listen via the internet. We are glad that you have found us, and that you are finding this ministry an encouragement.
It is new Years day and I trust that you came through Christmas and New Year’s Eve well. And I trust that this will be the start of a blessed year, that you would experience all the love and grace that God has for you in Jesus.
New Years is a time to start new things, and with that in mind, I am going to take you into the New Testament book of Philippians. It was written to the church in the city of Philippi by the Apostle Paul and it was one of Paul’s favourite churches.
I love the book of Philippians because it is full of coffee cup verses – if you know what I mean. Statements like, “You are God’s workmanship” or “You are God’s masterpiece” or “I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.” The wisdom in the book of Philippians is profound.
Here is the quick back story. Paul planted the church in Philippi around 50 A.D. He went down to the river on the Sabbath to pray and he met a woman named Lydia. He shared Jesus with her and she became a Christian. Now what you need to know about Lydia, is that she was rich. She invited Paul to make her home, his base of ministry. He did, and the church grew.
After he had been in Philippi and the church was just being established, Paul was walking through the market and this slave girl, who was spiritual, and demon possessed, and a fortune teller, who made a lot of money for her masters would walk behind Paul and yell “these men are servants of the most high God telling you how to be saved.” This happened day after day after day.
Now this just shows you how spiritual Paul was. If this was me, I would be turning around and saying – hey crazy lady, they have a crazy lady seminar at Conference center – I’ll pay your way. But no, the Bible records that Paul was annoyed so he turned around and cast the demon out of her.
Her masters saw that she was no longer any good to tell fortunes, and so they lost their meal ticket, so they brought Paul and Silas before the city officials – and they played the race card. These men are advocating customs that it is not lawful for Romans to practice. Everyone got up in arms, Paul and Silas were arrested, beaten thrown in prison and put in stocks.
At midnight they were too uncomfortable to sleep so they had a hymn sing, and there was an earthquake and their stocks flew open and the jail doors flew open. The jailer thinking that his prisoners had escaped was just about to commit suicide when Paul stopped him and said, we are all here.
They had a discussion about Jesus, and the jailers whole family got saved. The next day everyone had heard what had happened, and they thought that they would just let Paul and Silas go quietly. Paul said, wait a second, we are Roman Citizens – and you treated us in a way that is unlawful – you owe us an apology. Anyways, it was best that Paul and Silas left town, so they did. This all happened in 50 A.D.
And now it is 60 A.D. Paul has been arrested again. He is incarcerated in Rome and now he is writing this letter, the letter to the Philippians, and the theme of the letter is “Rejoice in the Lord, always, I will say it again Rejoice!” As you can see, Paul lead a complicated life, a messy life, a life where he experienced more than his fair share of pain. And yet his theme to his favourite church is – Rejoice.
I don’t know what this year will bring you. As I look at what is coming this year, my life could be more than a little complicated –, and yet this message to rejoice resonates with me as something that is really important. There is something about intentional thanksgiving and expressions of joy that is so good in complicated times. It is also the best in great times.
Paul in writing to the church in Philippi is writing to followers of Jesus. He is writing to people who have experienced the love that God has for them in Jesus Christ. They have asked and God has graciously forgiven their sin, just like he will when you ask. They have given their lives to following Jesus – because they have seen the love that God has for them. God loves you, and if you will return his love by entering into a relationship with him, then he takes you on this wonderful adventure.
Before we get to what Paul said to the church in Philippi, let’s listen to Petra
MUSIC : The Road to Zion. 4:00
Here is how Paul starts of his letter to the Christians in Philippi.
Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
I love this verse because it reminds us that spiritual growth is a process. In a world where we can post a selfie to Facebook instantly, and where we can microwave minute rice – it is good to remember that spiritual growth is a process. It happens over the long haul.
It is God who began it, and God will complete the process, as we cooperate with Him. I don’t know about you but sometimes I want my spiritual life to happen instantaneously. I want God to zap me, or make it easy for me. I want the war of temptations to cease and the trials to abate and I just want to be full and complete and strong – but the reality is I often feel weak.
Christian, if that reflects how you feel, then take heart.
Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
You are in process. God is at work. God will finish his work – you can trust him.
But you know what – even in the middle of the process it is not wrong to have desires to be more than you are. Paul says I have aspirations for you, I pray for you – and it is Paul’s prayer that I want to focus for the rest of our time.
Paul says
Philippians 1:9–11 (NIV)
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
This is a challenging set of verses to translate with all it nuances. So let me read it this time from the New Living Translation
Philippians 1:9–11 (NLT)
9 I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. 10 For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. 11 May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ*—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.
Verse 10 of the NIV says that Paul prays that you “may be able to discern what is best.” NLT say that Paul prays “I want you to understand what really matters.”
Both are reasonable translations. But what a great prayer of blessings for us on this first Sunday of the New Year. I want you to understand what really matter – I pray that you may be able to discern what is best.
I have a cousin named Kendal. He is a couple of years younger than me. We actually went to college together, and then he went into the world of banking.
Now Kendal is a pretty bright guy, with a mind that is quick as a whip, and tongue to match. He is fun to be around. His career has lead him up the cooperate ladder. He was manager in the Visa department of one of the major banks then he oversaw all the ATM’s at another major bank. He travelled all over the country. He was a good at his job.
At least he was until a couple of years ago. He came down with some sort of rare eye disease and now he is legally blind, he can no longer do his job, and so he is off on long term disability.
So what do you do when you are relatively healthy but you can’t see to do your job. He has great kids but they have all moved away from home. His wife works. So he decided the best thing that he could do is volunteer. He chose to volunteer at a hospice.
Now Kendal has been a Christian all his life. His dad was a minister, he went to bible school, and he has faithfully been to church. After a year of volunteer at the hospice this is what he said to me.
– Brent working at this hospice has really brought life into perspective – it shows what really matters. When you get to the end you are in this small room – and everything that is in the room is rented – it shows what really matters.
He says there was this one woman who was in the power circles in Washington. She had pictures of herself and President Regan and then President Bush – but all that didn’t matter now. She was in this small room – and she was staring at eternity.
He tells me, I’m not there to evangelize. He says – I hate that word. But all God is calling me to do is to be there and to be faithful.
He says if there is a door that opens up to talk about spiritual things then am I willing to be faithful enough to walk through that door. He says doors often come open.
He is asked – why does he do this. He replies when asked, “God has been so faithful to me, and so by being here with you is a way that I can show my love back to him. “
He says it is easier to say, well you know it is just because it is a good thing to do. But part of what it means for him to be a follower of Jesus is to be able to tell the truth when the door is open.
He says, “You know when I first started this, it was to help them. But it has really been brought home for me – what really matters. And when I go to church and we say high to people but don’t really get to know them – we betray that we don’t really know what matters. And I am not judging anyone, because I was so busy with my career, and accumulating the stuff that I couldn’t see it either.
Paul’s Prayer is being answered in Kendall
9 I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. 10 For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.
Paul’s prayer for the Philippians, and my pray for you is that you will understand what really matters. That you will know what is best.
Do you see how you come to know what really matters. Paul says, 9 I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding
It is as you love God and love people, and as you grow in your understanding of how to love God and love people that you will understand what really matters.
Paul didn’t say you will come to understand what really matters if you hear a great sermon on it. Paul didn’t say that what you really need to do is take a philosophy course – and then you will understand what really matters. He didn’t say, “Here, let me give you a website address or the name of a book.” He says, “I pray that your love will overflow more and more with knowledge and depth of insight.”
The only way you are going to understand what really matters is if you grow in love. The only way you are going to understand what really matters is if you grow in your love for people. The only way you are going to understand what really matters is if you grow in your love for God.
I am afraid for our culture and our country. One of the most dominant forces in our culture, may be the predominant force is the force that funds google, it is the force that funds television and radio and newspapers and a whole host of other stuff - it is the force of advertising.
The whole point of advertising is to make you believe that a particular product, a particular cause, a particular thing, matters to you. So many of us are convinced that it matters that we have the latest technological gadget, or have seen the latest movie, or have heard the hottest band, or are part of the latest fashion, or drive the right car.
But Paul says, 9 I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. 10 For I want you to understand what really matters
And I must say that our city is particularly prone to missing what matters. We are in Canada’s capital where laws and policies that govern our land are created. And I believe I peace order and good government, but often we focus on the trivial. .
If we were guided by the question, what does it mean to love the people of our country and the world we might ask questions about whether or not we have the right foreign and immigration policy, or the right employment or environmental policies. These are not easy questions, and there are no easy answers, but they are the right questions.
But I will tell you this, if you want to know if our immigration policies are good or not – the way to figure it out is not by reading op-ed in the newspapers – it is by loving some immigrants. If you want to figure out what really matters love someone who is poor, or is the working poor, or is disabled, or who is hurting.
If you want to find out what really matters love someone who is grieving, or who is losing a business, or who is dying. If you want to find out what really matters love someone.
But also love God. Because you need to do both because sometimes what people think they need and what they really need are two different thing. Often time what the poor think they need is money. And it is ridiculous to think we can help the poor without money. But if all you throw at the problem of the poor is money – it won’t help.
As friend of mine, Ken McLaren, head of Ottawa Inner-city ministries says, “The difference between the homeless and you, is supportive relationships.” You know if you have a run of bad luck and nobody is there for you, you could end up on the streets. Relationships matter.
The whole point is, when you love people and you love God you can really get a perspective on what matters.
It is New Years day. This could be the most significant year of your life if you focus on what really matters. Your relationship with God matters. Loving others matters. Loving your neighbour matters. Caring for the hurting matters. Giving thanks matters.
But my prayer for you for this coming year is that we will know what really matters.
Talk about being a pastor at funerals.
Let’s
Pray
Lord
Jesus, I pray that for each person listening, that the eyes of their heart would
be enlightened with knowledge and understanding, so that they would know what really
matters.
I
pray, Lord, that you would gift them with supernatural revelation, so that they
would know what really matters.
I
pray, Lord, for those who are far away from you that they would draw close to you,
because that matters.
I
pray, Lord, that for those who are walking with you, that they would live lives
that matter.
Thank
you so much for who you are. Thank you so much for allowing us to walk in relationship
with you.
Lord,
I pray that this would be the best year, ever, for everyone who takes you up on
the offer to say, “Lord, I want my life to matter.”
I
pray this in Jesus’s name, AMEN.
And Thank you for listening this morning.
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As you pray, may you encounter God for who he is. Loving and gracious. May you encounter the God who is calling you to be all that you were created to be through His son Jesus Christ.
By Rev. Brent Russett
Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
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