Who's the Gaffer?

Do you ever pay attention to the credits at the end of the movie? How about the author’s acknowledgements at the end of a book? Or the legal jargon at the end of business emails?

I really don’t. I watch the movie, but I don’t care who did the make-up and stunts, and if I want to know who an actor is, it’s easier to find it online. Books, half of you probably don’t read books, let alone anything extra at the end, right? ;)

[Philippians 4:21-23: Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.]

Along with skipping credits or acknowledgements, how many of you skip genealogies? How about the final greetings of Paul (or Peter or John)?

The book of Philippians was actually a letter Paul wrote the church in the town of Philippi. The words Paul writes were intended for real people. He wrote to teach them, encourage them, disciple them. The things he said were inspired, so they are just as relevant to us today. Through them we are also taught, encouraged and discipled.

In the verses in this chapter, we see some personal comments from Paul towards a specific person or two. Today we read his final greetings. There’s not a sermon with a 3 point outline based on these couple of verses. I don’t have some awesome application of these verses to our lives.

But God had Paul write them for a reason.

It’s easy for me to think that people had it easy in Bible times. I mean they didn’t have facebook or tv or all sorts of distractions like we do today. But these letters were written to people who had their own issues. Sometimes they got along, sometimes they didn’t. Sometimes they did what was right, sometimes they didn’t.

When you are reading the Bible, remember these people are real. They read this letter from Paul and had the option of whether to believe and obey what they read or not. You have that same choice. As we are finished reading through Philippians, are you going to choose believe and obey what you’ve read or not?

1. Skim through chapter 4 and find the names of some of the specific people Paul directs comments towards. Anything interesting jump out at you?

2. The ______________ of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

3. Take a minute and journal your thoughts about this passage:

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These are devotionals written for the teens. A handful of us are taking turns writing, so it may seem like sporadic passages. It all flows nicely for the teens in their devo books though.

Are You Content?

Pete aka “Drug Lord Pedro” aka Lauren & Michael’s dad, whatever you prefer to call him, used to be my youth leader back when I was in middle school. One day Jeff, Pete and I were reminiscing about those days and I said one of the few things I remember from then was Pete standing in the stairwell on the bus on the way to the Superbowl refusing to look at Christmas lights because it was before Thanksgiving. Pete was a little crushed that the one thing that I remember was so trivial and not some great lesson he taught or anything. 

[Philippians 4:10-13: I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.]

That’s a hard passage to swallow! Whether he's rich or poor, Paul's learned to be content. What does it mean to be content?

Contrary to what I may have led him believe, I actually do remember something Pete taught. He was probably teaching on the very passage you just read. He was explaining what it means to be content. Pete said, “Being content is desiring what you have.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t always desire what I have. I don't desire day to day subbing or snowy, icy weather. I desire a real teaching job, a husband, a warm place to live. 

So what's the secret to being content that Paul discovered? "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." If I can be content with Christ – if I can desire my relationship with Him, the rest kinda falls into place. Not that life suddenly becomes perfect but if Christ is our focus, it doesn't matter whether we've got a lot or a little. 

1. Are you content with your life?

2. I have learned in _____________________ situation I am to be _____________________.

3. What is one practical step you can take this week to help you be content?

4. Take a minute and journal your thoughts about this passage:

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These are devotionals written for the teens. A handful of us are taking turns writing, so it may seem like sporadic passages. It all flows nicely for the teens in their devo books though.

Fit for Life

As most of you may know, I used to weigh significantly more than I do now. When I was 24, I went to the doctor and was told I had high blood pressure and either needed to start taking blood pressure medicine or lose 12-15 pounds. I lost the recommended 12-15 pounds plus an additional 75 pounds. I’ve kept off most of that weight for the last 5 years. People that have lost weight often talk about how losing weight is the easy part, it’s maintaining that weight loss that is tough. I’ve been feeling pretty confident in myself since I’ve maintained it for so long…Then, over this past holiday season I gained like 10 pounds. #fail

[Philippians 3:13-16: Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.]

There are so many correlations between a weight loss journey and our spiritual journeys.

In verse 13, Paul talks about forgetting what’s behind and focusing on what’s ahead. If you are focused on all the bad decisions you made to get you overweight, you can’t focus on moving forward and learning how to make good decisions. Similarly, if you are focused on the sin and baggage of your past, you may be missing opportunities to focus on Christ and move forward.

In verse 14, Paul talks about having a goal he’s reaching towards. Initially I lost weight so I wouldn’t have to take blood pressure medicine, once I lost that weight, my goal became having Wii Fit tell me I was normal (not obese). I have continued to set new goals as I meet previous ones. In our spiritual walks, we should have goals as well. Ultimately our goal is abundant life in Christ, but maybe right now that looks like addressing one specific thing and then another and then another. There are always goals we should be striving towards.

In verse 16, Paul says to keep living by the same standard to which we have attained. That’s like the maintenance stage of weight loss. Once the weight is gone, the habits formed need to be maintained to keep the weight off. Spiritually, it’s no different. As you are meeting goals-making a habit of reading His word, becoming more patient,  being nicer to your siblings-you can’t check them off a list and move on to the next one without ever thinking about the old ones again. We need to keep up those habits as we press on towards new ones. Otherwise we’ll gain back those ten pounds (literally and figuratively).

1. Are there any areas in your life where you accomplished a goal, but then fell back into it later?

2. What are some areas in your life where you have maintained a goal you accomplished?

3. Let us keep living by that  _______________ to which we have attained.

4. Take a minute and journal your thoughts about this passage:

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These are devotionals written for the teens. A handful of us are taking turns writing, so it may seem like sporadic passages. It all flows nicely for the teens in their devo books though.

Give her a Kleenex

I hate crying. Like if I made a list of things I hate to do, it would easily be in the top 5. Seriously, I hate it. It makes me feel weak and vulnerable and I want to be strong and capable.

One summer when Jeff was doing an end of the summer testimony night, I wanted to share but was fearful I would start crying. I had this whole plan in my head of what I could say and was rehearsing it so I wouldn’t cry. When I started to talk, I said the first sentence and started crying. It wasn’t just a tear or two streaming down the side of my face, it was an ugly cry… I kinda squeaked through the basic idea of what I wanted to say. Then the next person went. I felt so dumb, I hated it.

A few years later, I was talking to my friend Jess (Scott’s older sister) and she told me one of her favorite memories of me was that night I cried. She said it was so cool to see that someone she looked up to so much was so real.

[Philippians 2:5-8 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.]

This passage is one that causes lots of theological debates. People argue over what it means that Jesus emptied Himself. I think the cool part about this passage though is that Jesus would do something as humbling as becoming a person for us. Jesus was in heaven with God and opted to come to earth as a baby and live life on earth without all the strength and capabilities He had in heaven. He had to endure things that were certainly beneath Him, but He chose to do them for us.

We are to have this same attitude that Christ has. Sometimes obedience to God requires us humbling ourselves as well. Following Christ doesn’t always mean that we get to do these awesome things. Sometimes it means humbling ourselves and cleaning toilets. Or humbling ourselves and sitting with the smelly kid. Or humbling ourselves and crying in front of people.

1. Have you ever had an experience when God was able to use you in this sort of way?

2. He _______________ Himself by becoming _______________ to the point of death.

3. Is there anything you feel God wants you to do but it feels beneath you?

4. Take a minute and journal your thoughts about this passage:

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These are devotionals written for the teens. A handful of us are taking turns writing, so it may seem like sporadic passages. It all flows nicely for the teens in their devo books though.

She had a bad day...

You ever have one of those days where everything seems to go wrong? I remember one day in college my roommate, Amy, came back to the dorm and was super upset about how bad her day had been. She had overslept, so she didn’t have time to properly do her hair. During her Spanish test there was this high pitch noise and no one could figure out where it was coming from until the professor told Amy it was coming from her bag. The batteries were dying on some electronic so it was alerting her to replace them. She burnt her tongue on Easy Mac as she was running out the door to work. Some kids at the daycare puked on her. After work she got in her car, and it smelled of old Easy Mac she left in there at lunchtime. The list could go on.

You’ve had those days, I’ve had those days. I was having a morning like that the other Sunday. It just seemed like none of my preparations were coming together and I was getting flustered (flustered is putting it nicely). As I hurried through the narthex, I realized I had just walked past Caleb and hadn’t even acknowledged him because I was so focused on my own stuff.

[Philippians 2:1-4 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.]

As I was teaching Sunday School that morning, one of the things we discussed was how compassion means “to suffer with” and when we are so focused on all of our own sufferings, we have no time to be compassionate towards others.

Paul talks about this with different words, but the same message. If we are in Christ, we should not be looking at just our own interests but the interests of others as well.

Don’t get tunnel vision and be so focused on all the things going on in your life that you have no time to be there for the people around you.

1. What’s the worst day you’ve ever had?

2. Let each of you look not only to _______________ interests, but also to the interests of _______________.

3. Who is someone in your life that could benefit from you looking out for their interests?

4. Take a minute and journal your thoughts about this passage:

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These are devotionals written for the teens. A handful of us are taking turns writing, so it may seem like sporadic passages. It all flows nicely for the teens in their devo books though.