Title: Holy Companionship
Sunday, July 7, 2013 Sermon
Holy Companionship
Philippians 1:20-21
One.
To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Last week, as the conclusion of the sermon on the 'Apostles' Creed', I talked about the confession of faith, "I believe in eternal life." As I said these words, I said that I hope that I will be able to confess that confession of the Apostle Paul myself.
“It is Christ to live” can mean “Christ is the purpose of living”, “Christ is the reason to live”, or “The power to live comes from Christ.” That is, to live by the power of Christ Jesus, because of the love of Christ Jesus, and for Christ Jesus. If you live like that, you can not dwell on living and dying.
In the preceding verse, the apostle says:
My earnest expectation and hope is that I will not be put to shame in anything, but will be fully courageous, so that whether I live or die, Christ will be honored in my body, now and as before.
Another translation of "living or dying" is "either by living or by dying." If you die, it means that you will honor the Lord through the way you die.
A lot of people think this way, but it's actually a finge. Our hearts are contaminated with the virus of sin, and Satan, the 'father of lies', constantly disturbs our hearts. In particular, it subtly shakes the will to live a holy life and quells the desire to draw near to God. The most effective excuses for destroying the spiritual life are “I am different,” “I am not,” or “I am different.” They try to deceive themselves and even deceive God with such an excuse. But God is not the one to fall for such shallow deception.
Brothers and sisters, imitate me together. Pay attention to those who live by imitating us, just as you have made us an example. (3:17)
The words “Imitate me” appear in other letters as well. Examine them all and you will find out more about what they mean. I am not telling you to imitate me because I am perfect in every way. He also had shortcomings and faults, and sometimes made mistakes. However, my heart for the Lord Jesus Christ never changed, and my total devotion to him never wavered. That is to imitate it.
2.
If so, how can we in our ordinary daily lives imitate the high faith and attitude of life of the Apostle Paul? The answer can be found in another famous confession of the Apostle Paul. In Galatians, the apostle confesses:
I have been crucified with Christ. I am not living now. Christ lives in me. The life I am now living in the flesh is living by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. (Ga 2:20)
God is working in you, making you desire and put into practice what pleases God (2:13).
Therefore, our first concern is to pursue this same holy communion every day. For that, the most important thing is to have a deep communion with the Lord every day. At the most important time, you should set aside a sufficient amount of time to get to know the Lord.
I don't know how many people think that coming to worship once a week is enough. Worshiping with all your heart and soul is very important in your life of faith. But if you are satisfied with worshiping once a week, you will never grow in your faith.
The reason is the 'principle of socializing'. All personal relationships start with one-on-one meetings. Mixing in a crowd and meeting one-to-many doesn't lead to true socializing. Coming together to worship can be compared to meeting God in the crowd. In addition, meeting with God once a week or once or twice a month cannot deepen our friendship. We have to meet constantly.
In addition, 'human properties'