Be A Philadelphian Christian, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. He says, look, God's given you everything you need. Jesus Christ has given you his precious and magnificent promises. How many of them are?

There are hundreds. He said, I've given you the promise. So God only says I provide the power. But Jesus said, I'll tell you what the promises are.

I'll give you all these promises. And notice what it says the result of all that would be. He said the result of all that would be that you would be partakers of the divine nature. What's that mean? You would be like Jesus.

That's the point. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world.

As you know, I've been doing this for quite a long time. And the big concern that I have had over this last year, especially, is that I have never seen so many angry people. The amount of anger in our culture now has begun to define our culture. Some of the articles I read over the last few weeks were called the culture of anger.

Unfortunately, that anger spilled over to the Church of Jesus Christ. And the secular experts, as they look at it, they say things like, well, the reason we're so angry is America is built on the culture of individualism, where Asia is more like group. And so they're not near as angry. But America has always been an individualistic culture.

But something has really changed in America. Some say the emergence of social media has certainly made America more angry, and I certainly wouldn't dispute that. But I think there's even something deeper seated than that. Others say it has to do with the amount of conspiracy theories that you find in America, and it makes everybody angry. Other articles I read said anger is a wonderful emotion.

It lets people know how you feel immediately. Rather than using words, you just get angry. Angry helps people become anger, helps people become more competent if they're angry enough. And the one I read said anger helps people rise to power. And I was thinking of Adolf Hitler and thought, yeah, that might be true, but I wouldn't say that's a good thing. What we end up seeing is that this culture of pervasive anger has enormous consequences. The amount of multiple shootings in the last 10 years.

Incredible. Just this past week, my wife was telling me about a couple from the same county that we lived in in Pennsylvania. And they had seven children. And they decided that at an anniversary to have an anniversary, but just the two of them going to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

And so the kids all stayed home. And then the parents went on to Myrtle Beach for a weekend. And apparently somewhere on the trip, he pulled out and must have caused the guy to move out of his lane or beep his horn or something like that.

Cut him off a little bit. So the guy just drove up beside their car and shot his wife to death in the passenger seat. And it's like, what what is really happening in this culture? One writer said that one of the problems is that our media and our politics, he said the people involved are often anger brokers.

In other words, they constantly want to keep you and I angry and they do everything they can to make that happen. I guess it's become a career to make people angry in America. But that should have no effect on us. We're supposed to be different. And the reason is we are different. You see, we're not supposed to be this culture and we should not be known as angry Christians. In fact, I read an article this past week that he described the church and he was a secular writer as the angry church of Jesus Christ.

As he looks at it, he says Christians are angry. We're not supposed to be that way. In fact, we're supposed to be kind.

Loving. Being from Pennsylvania, I very much realize that our state was founded by William Penn. And he's a Quaker. And William Penn decided to establish a city in Pennsylvania called Philadelphia. And when he established it, he said it's known now as the city of brotherly love. And that's partially true. But he said, I want a city that will be known for its kindness and its tolerance and its love for others. And so that's what Philadelphia is named after.

Now, it's kind of ironic. At least in the sports world, the people are Philadelphia are known as anything but loving and kind. Philadelphia sports fans boo the other team, like in other cities, and they boo their team.

It doesn't really matter to them. And I can remember years ago in a NFL football game, the Eagles. The Eagles apparently weren't playing well.

And Santa Claus came out and they pelted them with batteries. So it is kind of ironic. But Philadelphia is a biblical term. It's right in the New Testament.

And in fact, it's what a word is used that's supposed to describe you and me. So my question this morning is this. Are you a Philadelphia Christian? You see, is that who you are?

Or are you just angry? Open your Bibles to Second Peter, Chapter one, Second Peter, Chapter one. And I want you to see something here. Both Peter and later Paul are going to describe what you should be like and what I should be like. In fact, what God's will is for you to be and what God's will is for me to be. And I'm going to ask you in a variety of ways this morning, are you a Philadelphia Christian?

You see, are you? And you have to be honest with yourself as we go through these. The first thing Peter does, and it's typical of an epistle, he wants to tell us what we have from God. You see this all the time in the word of God. He says, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.

What else is there? Now, he's he's not talking about going to heaven when you die. I think that's where a lot of Christians just limited. I believe in Jesus. I believe he died for my sins and when I die, I get to go to heaven.

But it has nothing to do with my life. He says no. He said by his divine power, he is granted to us everything you need pertaining to life. So what's our limitation here? His divine power. How limited is his divine power?

It's unlimited. And he is granted to us everything according to life and godliness. He said through the true knowledge of him, which is Jesus Christ, who called us by his own glory and his own excellence, all through the idea of knowing Jesus Christ. He then goes on and says, for by these, he, Jesus Christ, has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises.

So that by them you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. He says, look, God's given you everything you need. Jesus Christ has given you his precious and magnificent promises. How many of them are there?

Hundreds. He said, I've given you the promise. So God only says I provide the power. But Jesus said, I'll tell you what the promises are. I'll give you all these promises and notice what it says the result of all that would be. He said the result of all that would be that you would be partakers of the divine nature. What's that mean? You would be like Jesus.

That's the point. He said it. God said, I've set this up for you. Jesus called it the abundant life. He said, I've set this all up for you.

This is the bad effect. Now, the issue then becomes extremely important. We have all these resources.

So there's at least one thing you need to know early in this is this. You don't have an excuse. You and I have no excuses for our behavior. You can't say I have no power. You have all the power of God.

Why don't know what to do? Do you have all the promises of Christ? You don't have an excuse. And I know you guys use them because when I'm in counseling, that's what I hear over and over again. It's amazing how many Christians say, I just can't do that. I just can't. And inevitably I say the same thing to him over and over.

You can't. He can. And that's why he's in your life. You see, it's OK to say I can't as long as I say he can. And so he goes through all this.

We don't have the excuse. And he says, but there's some things God's provided what we need, but there are some things we have to do for ourselves. So he goes in verse five and he says now for this very reason, also applying all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence. So notice what he says. God did his part.

Now you and I have to apply all diligence. See, that's part of the Christian life. There used to be a movement back in the 80s that was more popular than today, but it's called the Let Go, Let God movement. The whole idea is you just don't do anything. You just are completely apathetic to life and let God do everything. Sounds right.

It's not. There's a part that God will do and there's a part that you have to do. It certainly it certainly comes under the nature of God's will, but it also comes under the nature of your will. You and I have certain responsibility. And he said, apply all diligence. You've got to work this through.

Think about the things you love to do and how you apply diligence. I mean, if you're successful in the workplace. It just comes free, right? There's no price to pay.

Or is there? Your favorite hobby. You know, I mean, I know men that if they have a free moment in life, they're either going to be golfing or fishing. And they're usually pretty good golfers and pretty good fishermen.

And you know why? They apply all diligence. He said, yeah. What do you do with your faith?

Do you apply all diligence in what you're trying to do here? He said, in your faith, supply moral excellence. That word supply is the Greek word choreography, which at that time meant the idea of a rich man who supplies everything you need to put on a play as a benefactor. He said, yeah, you need to supply all that to your own life. He said of supplying, as he said, all diligence. And then he goes on and he says, and in your moral excellence, knowledge.

In other words. You need to know things. If you don't know anything about Christianity, you're not going to live like a Christian. You're going to live like a pagan. You might be going to heaven when you die because the one thing you do know is the gospel.

But it's not going to change you. You have to know that. He said that's a very important aspect of this. And he starts making this list. And God loves these lists. Galatians Chapter five. Paul calls it the fruit of the spirit.

Remember that? And he wrote a whole list of things that are the fruit of the spirit. You have the same idea here. And so he says, in your knowledge, self-control, in your self-control, perseverance. That's the hardest word in this, by the way, perseverance.

In other words, what he's telling me is, Bill, you not only have to apply all diligence and do things differently. You have to do it every day. See, I can't say to the Lord, Hey, Lord, I didn't get angry last Thursday.

All day long. No, you have to persevere in these things. This has to become part of your character. He said in your perseverance, godliness. Which means I attribute to God what he deserves.

And then it says this. In your godliness, brotherly kindness. Guess what the word is? Philadelphia.

That's the word. Philadelphia. Philo is the kind of love. You see, brotherly kindness.

He said that's what you have to do. Stephen Cole said this is the Greek word Philadelphia, which means brotherly love. It is a feeling of kindness or mutual understanding and care that should exist among all of us. It could apply, he says, to how we are to treat every human being since we are members of the human family. But it specifically applies to the reference of the family of God. We must accept all who Christ has accepted. Romans 15. We must be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit. Ephesians 4. And we must do good to all people.

Galatians 6. That's what it means to have Philadelphia in your life. Does that describe you?

Are you a Philadelphian Christian? Are you angry? You see, are you angry? New Testament says there's three different kinds of anger.

See which one describes you. One is thumos. Thumos means to boil over. These are explosive people. They just erupt on people. I feel so sorry for people that have to live with people like that for a lifetime. They're just explosive.

They just blow up, hit everything they can. And then they'll say, well, I'm over it now. I'm fine. But and I hear often people say, but I've always kind of been this way. Well, that doesn't matter. The Bible says you're a new creature in Christ. All the old things have passed away. So you can't use your past life as the reason for the sin in your life now.

You can't. He said, that's why you're a new creature. And so there's thumos. Then there is par, agusmos, and that means inside seething. These are the people that just are angry, but you don't know it. They just seethed. They just have it inside of them. And what they do is they just keep compressing it. Until they have to use it.

This is the kind of anger I deal with most. You see it in marriage all the time. Couples are on the verge of a divorce. They're really struggling.

And for 20 years, they have been pushing it down, pushing it down, pushing it down. And they got to the point that every time they have a fight, virtually every time, it's the same pattern. You start out in a fight with something small.

You know, you forgot to get bread and milk on the way home from the office today. It starts out that way. I call that the beginning of that is what I call a spitball fight. You're just throwing spitballs at each other.

OK. But then someone gets their feelings hurt. So they get the knife out. Then the other person pulls out the revolver.

Then the person pulls the cannon out. And then finally you bring out the nuke. You see, and you know, when the nukes out, when you start screaming at your partner, you always, you never.

And then you give them all the litany for the last 20 years of things they did wrong. First of all, it means you never forgave anything. And secondly, you're using these risks, repress that repression to expose the anger of it. You see, that's what ends up happening. We see those things. You don't have to be an outburst to have control.

Some people see it on it. The third form of anger is org. And it means you get angry when our priorities aren't met.

Let me give you an example of that in this last year. The pandemic has made a lot of people and a lot of Christians angry. And we're angry about all of it.

And if you put it in with all the conspiracy theories and everything else, the things that I have heard have just been absolutely amazing to me. Christians say in these words, you know, that what they're trying to do when they give you an inoculation is to control your brain and just it just goes on and on. Makes them angry. Some Christians get angry and they've talked to me and because they will not wear a mask no matter what. You say, I will not. I'm not wearing a mask.

And I'm not socially distancing. No one can tell me what to do. And I kept thinking, when you're going 90 in a 45 and the trooper pulls you over, is that what you tell him? You can't tell me what to do. I have my rights.

You get the ticket. He has his job. You see, you can't. And you see this all the time. So you have Christians even angry about that.

Think of how every year in the United, every four years United States, we have a national election. And do you realize this? After the national election, half of America is angry. They're really angry.

Why? I didn't get what I wanted. You see, that's org anger. That's the kind of anger. When life's disappointing me, I'm going to be mad at somebody. Hey, that's fine if you're in the flesh.

But if you're a child of God, you shouldn't be at all. You see, you can see this with org anger. In my flesh, you know what my enemy is? My enemy. But in Christ, you know what my enemy is? The object of my love and prayer. You see, Jesus said, Love your enemies.

Pray for them. You see, it's a different thing. We have a different responsibility. We are to be Philadelphia Christians. That's what he says we should be. Well, then he goes on and he says, For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, you render yourself neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. What he's saying here is if you're not a Philadelphia Christian, you know what you are to God? Useless.

He can't use you. You're filled with anger and rage. He said, For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short sighted. Wow.

That's kind of convicting. Because we always want to justify our anger. He says, Yeah, you're blind or you're short sighted. What's short sighted mean? You don't see it from the right perspective. You see, how am I supposed to see life? From God's perspective. That's short sighted. I don't really do. I see it from my perspective. See, that's what I want to do.

I want to see it from my perspective. He said you have forgotten his purification from his former sins. Do you understand? He saved you and you're a new creature in Christ.

You forgot this. And then he goes on and says, Therefore, brethren, all the more be diligent. Make certain of his calling and choosing of you. For as long as you practice these things, you'll never stumble.

He said, I want to warn you about that. In other words, your life should be evidence of your conversion. And if your life shows no evidence of your conversion, does someone have a right to doubt your conversion? Yes, because there's no life.

It doesn't show any of the difference in my life. I hear this over and over. Christians. Well, I had an uncle and, you know, he's going to be here. I know he's with the Lord because he told me once when he was eight years old, he went to a camp and he received Jesus. Now, since then, he's a very crude, terrible man. He never talks about Jesus. He wants nothing to do with Jesus. He's never mentioned him.

I tried to talk to him before he died about the Lord. He wanted nothing to do with it. But I know when he was eight, he made the decision. I'm not saying he didn't. But do you have a right to be skeptical? Yes, because the spirit of he did.

If he did, the spirit of God indwells him and he has rendered the spirit of God totally impotent in this life. He said, no, that's not the way it should be for us. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.