'Philippians' Tagged Posts
OUR DUAL CITIZENSHIP
“Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the king as the supreme authority, or to governors as those who have been sent by him,” says Peter in his first epistle. Only a few verses earlier, Peter addressed the scattered children of God as “aliens and temporary residents in the world.” The fact is, we Christians are dual citizens. By birth we are all citizens of some earthly nation. And by faith in Christ we are…
HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS
The bumper sticker says: “Life is hard. Then you die.” The T-shirt says: “Life is short. Play hard.” A famous American author whose son was dying of a brain tumor advised the boy: “Live life while you can and die and be done with it.” The Epicureans of ancient times said: “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” Not much different than the beer commercial of a few decades back: “You only go around once in life, so…
BACKWARD BLESSINGS?
In our recent Lenten and Easter sermon series we focused on “the Beatitudes” in Matthew’s Gospel. As we resume our study of Luke’s Gospel, we find a very similar sermon but in somewhat varied and briefer form. Surely Jesus must have preached “the Beatitudes” and other portions of the Sermon on the Mount more than once during His earthly ministry, as any preacher or teacher of God’s word presents the doctrines of the Bible many times and in various ways.…
THE PEACE THAT PASSES UNDERSTANDING
Amid the final lines of Paul’s letter to the Philippians is a beautiful promise which we hear at the close of every sermon in our circles: “The peace of God, which transcends [passes, surpasses] all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” What is this “peace of God?” To the Roman Christians Paul once wrote: “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” For those who trust…
“OOH….AAH”
To only two people did Jesus ever say: “Great is thy faith.” One of them was a Gentile solider who beseeched Jesus on behalf of his sick servant. The other was a Canaanite woman who chased after Jesus, begging only for the crumbs from the Master’s table Why should a foreign soldier, who had no Jewish roots, believe in a Messiah who was rejected by His own countrymen who should have recognized their Savior? Why should a Gentile woman understand…
OUR DUAL CITIZENSHIP
Our first three children entered this world as dual citizens – Americans by virtue of their parents – and Canadian by virtue of their place of birth. When we crossed the border to move back to the States, we laid out all the appropriate paper work at customs while the little nippers slept soundly in the van, oblivious to our crossing in the middle of the night. The apostle Paul knew all about dual citizenship too. Born of Jewish parentage…