day no. 17,499: intro to philippians (sermon outline)

Christ Church Leavenworth

Philippians 1:1-11

September 20, 2026

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OT READING: Daniel 2:31-45

NT READING: Acts 16

Intro to Philippians

READING OF THE TEXT

Our text this morning is Philippians 1:1-11, these are the words of God

“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of our God stands forever.

PRAYER

Our Father and our God, we come before You this morning through Jesus Christ, our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit. Thank You for Your Word. Help us to hold it in high esteem, persuaded that by it we live and not by bread alone. Fill us now with Your Spirit that we might hear Your Word for what it is and apply it like our lives depend upon it. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.

INTRODUCTION

Good morning! Today we are beginning our study of Paul’s epistle to the church at Philippi, commonly referred to as Philippians. Our study will take us up to the first Sunday of Advent where we will begin a four week walk through the Chalcedonian Creed. And in between, of course, we will have a break, as is our tradition at CCL, for Reformation Sunday, where Steve Wilkins will be our guest speaker. So, that’s a preview of what’s to come. This morning, we will be reviewing the background of the book of Philippians and then diving into the first eleven verses of chapter one.

CONTEXT: WHO, WHOM, WHERE, WHEN, AND WHY?

Let’s begin with the who, what, when, where, and why. The author, as already mentioned, was the apostle Paul and his partner in crime, Timothy. The original recipient, as the name implies, was the church at Philippi, which was a Roman colony located in Macedonia, or modern day Greece. Philippi was established as a retirement community for Roman soldiers. So, while it was geographically part of the old Greek order, it was culturally nearer to the Roman order of its day, and due to its demographics, that meant the militaristic part of Roman culture. Philippi had more in common with Mars, the Roman God of War, than it did with Mars Hill, the place where Greeks argued about the gods. This letter is one of the four often referred to as “the prison epistles,” the others being Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon, all of which were penned while Paul was in the pen. While he does not directly identify the prison from which he wrote this particular letter, there is good reason to believe that it was written from a jail cell in Rome around the year 62 AD, roughly five years before his beheading at the hands of Nero in 67 AD. Take note: beheaded, not crucified – crucifixion was for foreigners, and Paul, as you may recall, was a citizen, which is why he was in a Roman prison to begin with – he, as a citizen of Rome, had appealed to Caesar.

Paul’s mention of the imperial guard in 1:13 and Caesar’s household in 4:22 provide additional support of the idea that this letter was written from Rome. So, putting all of that together, the book of Philippians is a letter written from Rome by a Roman to a community of retired Roman soldiers. That makes this, perhaps, the most Roman letter in the NT, which is really saying something, considering there is a letter in the NT literally called Romans.

That said, consider the themes that dominate this letter: glory, honor, death, and duty. Paul appeals to the very best of what Roman culture had to offer; and then he reveals how it, even in all its glory, is no better than a hot pile of something a dog does on the sidewalk when compared with the glory of Christ. It is not a sin to aim at glory, it is a sin to fall short of it. All have sinned in striving for glory? No. All have sinned in wanting glory? No. All have sinned, how? By falling short of the glory of God. The glory of Rome, even when it rose to its full height, could not reach Heaven, even on tippy toes. Rome was not wrong to seek glory and honor, it was wrong for settling for its own glory. It was wrong for not reaching beyond its own grasp. Rome was too low of a target. If modern men reportedly think about the glory of Rome at least once a day, the Philippians thought about it even more. They lived in the midst of its glory and were themselves retired soldiers which means they saw and survived glorious battles. If anyone had something to boast about, it was these men. And if those men were convinced that Christ was better than what they had, how much more must we, who daydream about Rome, confess that Christ is better than the glory of our American dreams?

Consider our OT reading from this morning. In it we saw that Nebuchadnezzar was given a vision and that Daniel was given its interpretation. The Babylonians would give way to the Persians who would be overcome by the Greeks who would be conquered by the Romans. And during the reign of Rome, the Messiah would be carved out from the mountain of God and He would smash Rome into pieces. He would be like the stone David used to slay Goliath, but unlike that rock, He would not stay buried in a dead giant’s skull. This Rock would rise from the place of the skull and then grow into a mountain that filled the entire earth. The remains of the giant would blow away like dust in the wind, but the Rock of God would go on to break all the kingdoms of men into pieces and bring every last one of them to an end. Dead giants make for great compost; and Jesus is a giant killer. Daniel 2:44 puts it like this, “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.” 

Back to Philippi. It was named after Philip II of Macedon who conquered it in 356 BC. That same year he had a son. He named him Alexander and that son would go on to conquer most of the known world when he grew up. In addition to giving birth to one of the greatest conquerors of all time, Philipp II also gave birth to one of the greatest burns of all time, although he was on the business end of it. He is the one who sent word to Sparta saying, “If I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city,” to which the Spartans famously responded with a single word, “If.” So, Philippi, while being a city many outside of the Christian faith have long since forgotten, had a very unique historical perspective. It had the unique privilege of being a witness to the death of the last two great kingdoms of man, Greece and Rome, and having a front row seat to the birth of the eternal kingdom of Christ.

So, that is the who, whom, what, when, and where, but what about the why? The reason for this letter is unlike many others. Paul did not write this letter to correct a doctrinal error like his letter to the Galatians, nor did he write it to answer any practical questions like his letters to the Corinthians, no, he wrote this letter simply to say, “Thank you.” The Philippians had heard of Paul’s imprisonment and decided to send him some financial support. Prisoners were not paid for by the state back then and so you needed family or friends to meet your needs or else you would perish in prison. Epaphroditus, a member of the Philippian church, was entrusted with their gift and given the task of delivering it. Paul had received it with gratitude and wrote this letter to send back with him to thank the Philippians for their kindness in remembering him and to encourage them in their Christlike concern and care for all the saints. So, this letter, in many ways, is a thank you note and as such it is one of Paul’s most friendly letters. It is filled with rejoicing for the goodness of God and His gift of good friends.

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

With that, let’s take a closer look at the first eleven verses of chapter one.

:1-2 “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul was arrested many times. Some of those times he was chained up with friends as we saw in our NT reading when he was sent to the slammer with Silas and other times his friends were free to come and visit him as we see here in this letter. Silas and Paul may have sang together, but Timothy and Paul wrote together. This letter represents their shared sentiments regarding the church in Philippi. Timothy, as you also may recall from our NT reading, was there when the church in Philippi was founded. So, they knew him and he knew them, so it makes sense for Paul to bring him up. “Hey guys! You’ll never guess who’s here!”

Consider how Paul introduces himself: “a servant of Christ Jesus.” Paul is in prison for the sake of Christ and Timothy is with Paul for his love of Paul and their shared love of Christ. They are both serving the Lord: Paul in his way, Timothy in his. We all have a part to play in the body of Christ. Paul was called to preach, and as a result, he was arrested; Timothy was called to shadow Paul, and as a result, he was with him in prison. You do not have to be the one in jail in order to be faithful, but you do have to be willing to go to jail in order to be faithful. You may be the one called to be behind bars or you may be the one called to visit the one behind bars. Both require obedience and both are easier to talk yourself out of. But faithful servants do not sass their masters, they do what they are told and they go where they are sent. The body has many members. The eyes see on behalf of the whole and the kidneys flush toxins out of the entire system and both are needed for the body to thrive. If the eyes refuse to see, the whole body is blind. If the kidneys refuse to take out the trash, the whole body is poisoned.

Consider 1 Corinthians 12:14-18 “The body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose.”

So, we serve each other by serving Christ where He has placed us. He has determined the time and place of our habitation and the talents we have. We offer them to Him by offering them to the body. A body is a bunch of parts working together, but a bunch of parts disconnected from one another is a crime scene. If you came across a hand here and foot there, you would not call it a body, you would call the police. The body needs different parts working together. Everyone cannot do the same things, but everyone must do the thing God made them to do. Everybody may not be called to be arrested, but some might be, and some of us are certainly more likely to be, but the rest of us must be prepared to visit them. (Hebrews 13:3)

Paul and Timothy addressed this letter to “all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi.” Note the word “saint” here is not being used in the Roman Catholic sense. You cannot, strictly speaking, write a letter to a Catholic saint because in order to be “sainted” by Rome you have to be dead, and these saints were still very much alive. So, what does Paul mean by referring to them as “saints.” The word is hágios which literally means “different,” or “other,” and carries with it the figurative meaning of being “set apart.” Thus, temples and places of worship were described this way, as in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. A church is a building, but it is not just a building, it is set apart as a house of worship. The same can be said of saints. They are people, but they are not just people, they are people set apart by God. So, the term, “saint,” is unique to Christians, but not among them. In other words, all saints are Christians and all Christians are saints.

Consider 1 Peter 2:4-9 “As you come to Christ, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.’ So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.’ They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do… But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

So, we see the imagery of a building or body here again employed to describe the church and the title of “chosen” or “set apart ones” being applied to those who are in Christ Jesus. So, hear the Word of the Lord. Those who are in Christ are saints. What else could they be? And this isn’t just for officers in the church, this is the case for all Christians. Back to Philippians 1. Note that Paul applied the status of “saint” to the whole congregation. He adds the phrase, “overseers and deacons,” almost as an afterthought. The word for overseer here is “episcopos.” It can also be rendered as bishop. It is often used synonymously with the word “presbyteros” which is rendered elder. Note that it is plural. The church in Philippi was not governed by a monarchical bishop, not from within and not from without. It was governed locally by a session of elders and served by a band of deacons. A key takeaway here is that plurality of leadership, distribution of power, and limited government are all Christian concepts and they were present and in practice in all the churches from the very beginning. No one elder ruled his church and no one church ruled the others. In short, there were no popes in the Bible.

This principle, as it relates to the chain of command, was likely of particular interest to a community of retired soldiers where rank was a tangible reality. The rank of saint is the highest to which a man can rise and everyone enlisted in the army of the Lord receives it. As we march behind the Lord, we become more like Him, and when God looks at us, He sees Christ. And how does the Father see Him? Is there any doubt in your mind that the Father loves Him? Honors Him? Accepts Him? Is proud of Him? No. So, why is there a doubt in your mind as to how He sees you, Christian? “Because you don’t deserve that kind of praise from anyone, let alone God?” Duh! Of course you don’t. That’s why He had to die ya ding dong. Consider Galatians 2:21, “If righteousness could be gained without grace, Christ died for no purpose.” If there was any other way, do you not think God would have done it? Jesus prayed and asked His Father if there was another way. But there wasn’t. And so, He got up and He drank the cup. He submitted Himself to the cross and He surrendered His Spirit on it. But three days later, He rose from the dead and forty days after that, He ascended to the Father’s right hand. And from that place this morning, He is looking down on those who have called upon Him and what does He call them? Saints. Who are you to argue with Him?

Listen to these words from Oswald Chamber from My Utmost for His Highest, “To say ‘Oh, I’m no saint,’ is acceptable to human pride, but it is unconscious blasphemy against God. It literally means that you defy God to make you a saint. ‘I am much too weak and hopeless, I am outside the reach of the Atonement.’ Humility before men may be unconscious blasphemy before God. Why are you not a saint? It is either that you do not want to be a saint, or that you do not believe God can make you one… The way we continually talk about our own inability is an insult to the Creator. The deploring of our own incompetence is a slander against God for having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining in the sight of God the things that sound humble before men, and you will be amazed at how staggeringly impertinent they are. ‘Oh, I shouldn’t like to say I am sanctified; I’m not a saint.’ Say that before God; and it means – ‘No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me.’ That may sound wonderfully humble before men, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.”

So, are you a saint? Yes, Christian. You are! Stop arguing with God. Stop trying to change your name. Your Father has called you to Himself through Christ, He has called you a Christian, He has called you a saint. Receive it as a gift and then get on with it! Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. (Eph 4:1) Go, in the words of Philippians 1:2, in the “grace and peace that you have from God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is Paul’s standard salutation. We see some version of it in each of his letters: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and here in Philippians. “Grace and Peace to you” is how Paul greets others in salutation. Note that the word “salutation” carries with it the idea of saluting. We tend to think of a salutation as a nice way of greeting someone, usually in a letter, whereas we think of a salute as a formal way of acknowledging someone’s rank, usually in person. In this case, it functions as both. We greet the saints and we salute them. We are all fellow soldiers in the army of God and our common marching orders are “All of Christ for all of life.” That means working out our theology wherever we are and whatever we happen to be doing while also remembering where it comes from and what fuels it. We need fresh grace every day and we have peace with God every day, because of Christ. Grace and peace are proof of the Spirit’s presence, of His ongoing work, and of His promise to continue working until the work is completed. More on that in a bit.

:3-5 “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”

Are there people in your life that when you think of them, your first thought is gratitude to God for them? If there are, let them know. Yes, pray to God and thank Him for them, but then reach out to that person from time to time and let them know that you thank God for them. We run into some people more than others and it is easy to forget about those you don’t see very often and it is easy to overlook those you see all of the time. So, if something reminds you of someone you haven’t seen or talked to in a while, send them a short message letting them know that you thank God for them. And if you have people that you see all of the time, do not take them for granted. Let them know how much you appreciate their consistency. As Chesterton once observed, “When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.” This is especially true of those who partner with us in the most important things. The Philippians partnered with Paul to help him spread the Gospel. That was his calling. What are you called to and who is helping you do it? Don’t forget to thank God for both the calling He put on your heart and the help He put in your life to pursue it, and then make sure you say, “Thank you” to those who help you do what you value most.

:6-8 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.”

God is not like you. He does not have a long list of abandoned projects. He does not begin things that He does not finish. He does not overpromise or underdeliver. He does not get in over His head and then get discouraged. He always knows what He is getting Himself into before He gets into it, and that includes you. He was not unaware of how hard you were going to be to work with. He knew exactly what a pain in the rear you were going to be, and then He took you on anyway.

So, rest assured, He who has begun a good work in you will finish it. He will not leave you half-baked. He will not abandon you or forsake you. He is not done with you. Like a good dad, He is easily pleased and impossible to satisfy. A good dad rejoices when his two year old puts a few words together, but he wants more from him when he is twenty-two. How much more so is God like that? He is easily pleased with our first attempts to walk and talk, but He keeps pushing us to go further up and further in. He doesn’t want us to toddle around our entire Christian lives, He wants us to grow up and mature in Christ. So, you do not have to be a completed work to get into Christ, but if you are in Christ, you are a work in progress, and more to our point here, that is enough for God, for now, but He will not leave you buffering forever. He will not stop working until the work is done.

And that was true for the Philippians, it was true for Paul, it was true for Timothy, it’s true for me, and it’s true for you. We are all partakers of the same grace. Grace always does what it does best: it saves sinners, it continues to save them, and it will save them in the end. As Paul here puts it, as God is my witness, as much as you want yourself to be more like Jesus, God wants it more. By the grace of God, those who delight themselves in the LORD will have the desire of their heart. And just in case this is beginning to sound a bit sappy, Paul goes on to explain that love is not a mindless feeling in your gut, it is an intelligent decision of the will

:9-11 “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

As we already noted, God is easy to please and impossible to satisfy. So, if you have a love for God and His church and His Word, that is great. Keep it up, keep going, and keep growing. Don’t settle for yesterday’s love and do not lean upon yesterday’s faithfulness. Do not put your confidence in a decision you made five years ago, put your faith in God today. Paul is not disappointed in the Philippians’ love. He is not praying for them because they are that kind of prayer request. No, he is praying for them to grow in what they already have. He wants him to grow in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and others, not because they have no wisdom or stature or favor, but because he wants him to have more.

So, how does love abound? Do the feelings need to be stronger? No, the knowledge and discernment of what is excellent needs to grow. Love is not a function of emotional capacity per se as much as it is a function of discerning the mind of God. Not only in being able to discern the difference between what is excellent and what is subpar, but in being able to better appreciate that which you know to be excellent. Simply put, Biblical love has a brain. True love is disciplined.

Consider, Hebrews 5:14, “Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” Discernment is a muscle. It can get stronger, but it can also atrophy. So, just as an athlete does not depend on last year’s sit-ups, so a Christian should not depend on last year’s Bible reading. Stay in shape. Did you hear the admonition? This requires constant practice. God does not want you to eat baby food your whole life. You need to learn the difference between black and white, but growing up is learning the difference between white and off white. It is more subtle and requires more knowledge, but it can be learned. That is good news. Greater discernment is a product of more practice. Did you hear that? The thing about the need to practice is that it implies that you haven’t arrived, but it also implies that you are working your way there. So, take heart if you’re not there yet, it’s ok, but take up your cross again and keep going, for in Christ, your labors are not in vain.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, thank You for taking us from where we are and not from where we should have been. We have all fallen short of the glory You deserve and yet You have loved us. While we were still Your enemies, You extended terms of peace to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Your Son. Send Your Spirit now to help us appreciate that gift more and more and to walk in a manner that manifests an increasing dependence upon You and a cheerful obedience to Your Law.

We ask all of these things in Jesus’ name and we now offer up the words of the 

prayer He taught us to pray singing…

day no. 17,498: knowing that you're right and realizing that you were wrong

"We have to start with the fact that we are always looking out at the world through our own eyes. And we think that we are seeing accurately, which may indeed be the case, but we are sometimes wrong. You don’t believe you are always right, but you always believe you’re right." — Douglas Wilson, Athletics and the Christian Community #6

It is arrogant to assume that you have always been right, but it is silly to assume you shouldn't think you are in the moment. Everyone believes they are right in the moment. That is not a sin. The sin is refusing to see that you have been wrong in the past when you thought you were right.

"Confronted with the question 'have you ever been wrong?' virtually everyone would acknowledge it in the abstract. But acknowledging it and budgeting for it are two different things." — Douglas Wilson, Athletics and the Christian Community #6

In the moment, I believe I am right about how wrong I once was. But how do I know I am not wrong now? I don't, but I believe that I am right this time, just like I always do. Knowing that about myself, I must continue to act in a way that believes I am right while acknowledging the possibility that I may turn out to have been wrong.

"Of course you think you are right. That is what it means to think something."  — Douglas Wilson, Athletics and the Christian Community #6

Thinking means believing. If you think you are wrong, you think you are right about being wrong. If you think you are right, you may turn out to be wrong, but at the moment, you still think that you are right.

“The modern habit of saying 'This is my opinion, but I may be wrong' is entirely irrational. If I say that it may be wrong, I say that is not my opinion.” ― G.K. Chesterton

Your opinion may be proven to be wrong later, but in the moment, your opinion cannot be that your opinion is wrong. If that is the case, then your opinion about your opinion may just as well be wrong, turtles all the way down. But no one lives like that and no one can think like. Thinking requires truth claims and fixed givens.

"If we are not all trying to convince the world of the truth of our convictions, what in the world are we doing; or why in the world do we call them our convictions at all?" ― G.K. Chesterton

So, you should know what you believe and why you believe it and try to convince others to believe it as well. It would be weirder if you didn't. But in the course of doing so, you may discover that you have been wrong. So be it. Repent and believe the right things. Agree with God that you have been wrong and be forgiven.

"I always think I am right, but I shouldn’t think that I am always right. Thinking that you are right is actually the same thing as thinking at all. So you should always carry yourself as one who understands that everything that you think is subject to review. By someone who is perfect."  — Douglas Wilson, Athletics and the Christian Community #6

Confessing our sins begins by saying what God says about them. The word "confess" is from the Greek word homologeo which literally means "say the same words." So, confessing our sins is calling them what God does, which in this case means calling them "wrong." If we are willing to concede the point and call our past confidence by its proper that, i.e. foolishness, He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us of our corrupted proclivities. And when you do, you should be sure that He will forgive you, not because you think you're right, but because you believe that He is right and that you are right for believing Him to be so.

1 John 1:8-10

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

day no. 17,497: shame faced

"We have deliberately neglected this great heritage of high national sentiment. We have made our public schools the strongest walls against a whisper of the honour of England. And we have had our punishment in this strange and perverted fact that, while a unifying vision of patriotism can ennoble bands of brutal savages or dingy burghers, and be the best thing in their lives, we, who are--the world being judge--humane, honest, and serious individually, have a patriotism that is the worst thing in ours. What have we done, and where have we wandered, we that have produced sages who could have spoken with Socrates and poets who could walk with Dante, that we should talk as if we have never done anything more intelligent than found colonies and kick niggers? We are the children of light, and it is we that sit in darkness. If we are judged, it will not be for the merely intellectual transgression of failing to appreciate other nations, but for the supreme spiritual transgression of failing to appreciate ourselves." — G.K. Chesterton, A Defense of Patriotism

If western civilization falls, it won't be for a lack of interest in other cultures, it will be for a lack of commitment to our own. Our culture is the only one which can appreciate anything good other cultures may have to offer. Other cultures do not value other cultures. If diversity is to be maintained in any God-fearing way, it must be through a Christian society that upholds the ability to value others without forfeiting what makes any kind of varied appreciation possible.

We are not inferior to others in our talents and gifts, but we may be inferior in our love of our own culture. Other cultures know what they are about and they love what they have accomplished. Only ours is sheepish and sometimes even ashamed of what we have accomplished. And even then, it is only by the Christian metric that this shame is produced. Without Christendom, there is no shame in light of any abuses. This is proven by the lack of shame or apology offered from other, invading cultures who have no qualms about extinguishing Christendom from the face of the earth. 

day no. 17,496: parasite princes and suffering servants

"He (i.e. God) has no other way to let the differences appear to men's eyes between His servants and parasite princes, than only by persecution." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

A Christian prince would not dare betray his God by betraying His people. Parasite princes, however, reveal their true nature in oppressing the very ones they have been elected to represent. Persecution reveals which uniforms the sides are wearing.

Philippians 1:28-29

And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.

Do not shrink back from suffering, but instead, lean into it when and if it comes in order to prove who you are and to reveal who your persecutors are in the process.

"If he that is persecuted, feels in his conscience, that he may do God greater service and glorify by suffering than by fleeing, he ought rather to suffer a thousand deaths, that to flee one foot. But if his conscience witnesses with him that he may do God greater glory by fleeing that by tarrying, but is bound by the commandment to depart. 'If they persecute you in one city,' says Christ, 'flee to another.' And he did not only teach it, but did it himself, forsaking Jewry, and going into Galilee, when he heard John the Baptist was laid by the heels, because the time was not yet come, wherein he was appointed to glorify God." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

There is glory in going down with the ship if that is the post God has called you to keep and there is no shame in living to fight another day if God has given you leave and called you to regroup in order to jump back into the fray another day. We can defend the city or we can flee the city to try to save the country and ultimately the city at a later date, but we cannot merely operate out of self-preservation for the one who seeks to save his life will lose it.

"Seeing that God wills princes commandments should not be obeyed in all things, but will have His rather suffer a thousand deaths, than do anything that is evil: and since also many evils and mischiefs may follow in this life, where wicked princes will may stand for laws, men ought, both for God's sake and commandment, abstain to obey such commandments, and cleave unto this maxim: We must obey God rather than man, for whose sake if we lose both goods and life, we ought to rejoice, that we be called to serve him, and not doubt, but as He is able to recompense it, so will He (according to His promise) reward it." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Disobeying tyrannical orders honors God and loves our neighbor. We do not love God or our neighbor by complying with ungodly demands are wicked restrictions. We must not be hellbent on doing what we want, but we must not be bent over by whatever our overlords dictate. We must be willing to obey things we don't like and we must not disobey things simply because we do not like them. If our first allegiance is to God then we will do what we can to obey the state where and when we can, but we will also remember that the state is God's servant, not our god.

day no. 17,495: minor keys and major bummers

"If there is one thing worse than the modern weakening of major morals, it is the modern strengthening of minor morals." — G.K. Chesterton, On Lying In Bed

The only thing worse than minoring on the majors is majoring on the minors. To elevate a secondary thing is idolatry, but to reduce a primary thing is blasphemy. 

You must give primary focus to foundational things. If you neglect them, the whole house falls down. Throw pillows cannot hold a house up, but being overly interested in them can cause a house to fall down.

day no. 17,494: look away to see what's right in front of you

"A call to look away from your heart is not a call to ignore your own condition, it is the only healthy way for you to ascertain your condition... Look to yourself, and you will be sucked into a black hole that only the grace of God can free you from."  — Douglas Wilson, So Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ

You cannot perform your own eye surgery. If something is wrong enough with your eyes that they require incision to remedy, you are not seeing well enough to see that.  Or if you can tell that something is wrong from first hand experience,  you no longer have the ability to see the source (or the potential remedy).

The same can be said about heart surgery. You cannot be both the surgeon and the patient. If you need a new heart, you cannot be the one to perform the procedure.

Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

The same is true of our spiritual eyes and hearts. We cannot identify our vision problems because our eyes have logs in them. We cannot renew ourselves because we cannot die and resurrect ourselves. We could rip our old heart out, but even then, we likely could not finish the job before succumbing to the violence of the procedure. 

All that to say, if we are going to see or be saved, we need outside assistance.

James 1:25

Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

We cannot look inside, we must look outside. We must not look to our own conscience, we must look to the perfect Law of God. That mirror will give us a glimpse of how bad it is and the ability to be made new. Without God, we do not see and without Him we die from heart disease.

day no. 17,493: governors and the governed

"His word is so plain that none can contradict that they are to be subject and obedient to God's laws and word. For the whole Decalogue and every part thereof is written as well to kings, princes, and other public persons, as it is to private persons. A king may no more commit idolatry than a private man: he may not take the name of God in vain, he may not break the Sabbath, no more than any private man. It is not lawful for him to disobey his parents, to kill any person contrary to God's laws, to be a whoremonger, to steal, to lie and bear false witness, to desire and covet any man's house, wife, servant, maid, ox, ass, or anything that belongs to another, more than any other private man. No, he is bound and charged under great pains to keep them more than any other, because he is both a private man in respect of his own person, and a public figure in respect to his office" — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

The world is not divided into governors and the governed as though those who govern were excluded from the category of created beings. Governors are not above the law they are elected to enforce. They may be sovereign over a certain jurisdiction, but they are also subjects. Christ is King of kings and any command of His is as fit for a lesser magistrate as much as it for a milkmaid. Both are subject to Him and to His law. Both have responsibilities and obligations that must be carried out according to His Word.

Romans 13:1

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

No earthly authority is absolute, which is to say that all earthly authority is borrowed from its Author. There are those invested with real authority here on earth as His deputies, but none are so authoritative as to bring any new rights into existence. All authority here is derivative. It depends on the Author. It cannot usurp its Author, but it can oppress other image bearers by usurping their ability to defend themselves or by taking advantage of their dependence upon them to wield their swords well.

"So then if by this word, soul, is meant every spiritual and temporal person, man and woman: and by this word, power, the authority that kings and princes execute, then can not kings and princes be contained under this general word, soul, as well as others? And they being but executors of God's law, and men's just ordinances, not be exempt from them, but are bound to be subject and obedient unto them. For good and just laws of man are God's power and ordinances, and they are but ministers of the laws, and not the law itself." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

No soul is exempt from God's Law. There is no diplomatic immunity here on earth or in Heaven. If God cast the rebellious angels out of Heaven and stripped them of their former ranks, how much more so will He cast out rebellious image bearers from the face of the earth?

"The good emperor Triananus (who for his just behavior, the Senate of Rome took to be a god) being in possession of his office, and minding to show that he was not ordained to be a tyrant, but to see the people well governed, and that, albeit he was the minister of the laws, yet he was subject to the laws, took a sword, and gave it to the captain of the horsemen, and said: 'Take this sword, use it for me against my enemies in just causes: and if I myself do not justly use it, then use it against me.'" — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

A good king gladly subjects himself to the weight of the law. He maintains his office by enforcing the law, executing justice, and promoting the good all according to the strict standard of God's laws.

"Zaleuchus the ruler and maker of laws to the Locres, when he made this law, that an adulterer should be punished with the loss of both his eyes, and his son had committed this offense, although the people made great intercession, that his punishment may be pardoned, he would not consent to it, by pulling our one of his sons eyes, to fulfill and keep the law, he suffered one of his own eyes to be pulled out as well." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

A just ruler recognizes he righteousness of God's law regardless of who is involved. The weight of the law is no less heavy on those elected to enforce it, if anything, it should weigh even heavier upon them.

"It is requisite and just that a prince obey his own laws. For then he may look to see that others keep his laws, when he himself honors them. Justice wills that princes be obedient and bound to their own laws, and that they can not in the own doings condemn those laws which they prescribe to others. The authority of their saying is just and indifferent, if they suffer not to do what they prohibit unto their people." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

No one below is above the law. The law goes before us all and will be all of our judge in the end. Praise God that in Christ we, who are lawless, are considered righteous and our trespasses are not counted against us. May God give us masters who understand that they are slaves and elected officials who understand that they are servants. Amen.