http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX1eJHE1K_s
A. Background & Comments:
• You tube clip by the group, “Coldplay”, entitled “Viva la Vida”.
• The issue the song raises is important for Christians to consider! Paul, the Apostle, raises the very same issue – for Christians to “live the life” – in the book of Philippians.
B. Main Thought:
The Apostle Paul instructs the reader to understand that a life worth living can be experienced through being able to overcome obstacles & fears.
C. Key Question:
What are the fears & obstacles in your life that are keeping you from living the life that God intends for you & that you desperately want?
There are two key principles that the Apostle lays out in this passage that help us overcome the “chains” of life:
I. Defeat Chains: Reject Denial, Depend on Grace (vs. 7,8)
“It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.”
A. Don’t Deny Reality, Recognize It
• Paul writes these words of hope & overcoming in spite of the fact that he writes from jail, imprisoned for being an outspoken representative of Jesus Christ. He doesn’t deny the situation he is in: he recognizes, yet determines to live above the mess.
B. Depend on God’s Grace for Strength to Manage
• How do I access God’s grace?
II. Defeat Chains: Embrace Knowledge, Insight, Discernment (vs. 9-11)
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may 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.”
A. Paul’s prayer for the Philippians is that they grow in their knowledge, insight & life discernment, both of Christ & the world around them
B. In our culture, the difference between “knowledge” & “discernment” is not often recognized.
Implications for Life
A. If you choose to live a life of defeatism & acceptance of chains, then I guess that’s your choice.
B. The point is this: concentrate on who you are IN CHRIST to live life to the fullest.
