The Basics Of The Gospel

These days, life can get pretty complex, so much so that some people find it hard to cope. It's good to remind ourselves of foundational truth to hang on to. From Chicago, welcome to The Moody Church Hour with Pastor Philip Miller. Stay with us for a time of worship and teaching as we begin a new series on Back to the Basics. There's no better place to begin than by grasping the basics of the gospel, and we'll do that from Philippians chapter 1.

Here now is Pastor Philip and worship leader Tim Stafford.

Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to The Moody Church. We're so glad you've joined us for worship today as we look at what it means to get back to the basics of the gospel: the gospel that gives us life, the gospel that has saved us, the gospel that has drawn us here today.

So, as we begin, would you pray with me? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the gospel, the truth that Jesus Christ has died in our place and for our sake and saved us and is reconciling all things to you through himself, through his blood shed on the cross. We are here because we are gospel people. Let us never forget who we are and where we stand.

Remind us today. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Let's sing about the mercy of God.

Of can remember no wrongs we have done on his shall knowing he counts not their sum thrown into a sea without bottom ashore Our sins they are enemy his mercy is more praise the Lord His mercy is more stronger than darkness you every more sins they are heavy His mercy Is more. Riches of kindness he lavished on us. His blood was obtained, his life was the cost. We son be the dead we could never afford. Our sin are many, his mercy is more.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, His mercy is more stronger than darkness to every morning. The sinful many His. His mercy is always the Lord, His mercy is more stronger than darkness in every one. Since they are ready, His mercy is more. I since they are ready, His mercy is more.

I since they are ready, His mercy is more Amen. Have you experienced God's mercy today? How big the chasm that lay between us, how high the mountain I could in desperation, I turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night. Then, through the darkness, your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul. The work is finished, the end is written, Jesus Christ, my living Lord.

So great a mercy. What if I could fall on such boundless grace? The God of ages step down from glory to bear my sin and bear my shame. The cross has fallen, I am forgiven. The King of Kings calls me His own.

Miriful Savior, I'm yours forever, Jesus Christ, my remorse. Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me.

You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living Lord. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free.

Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living Lord.

King of morning, let's seal the promise. Your very body began. Out of the silence, the roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me. Then came the morning that sealed the promise, your very body began to ring. Out of the silence, the roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me.

Jesus, yours, is a victory of victory. Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain.

There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living one. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord who set me clean. Hallelujah.

Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living Lord. Jesus Christ, my living Lord.

God, you are my living home. Thank you, Lord. Lord's mercy is great. It's abounding. It's new every morning.

I'd like to read for you now from 1 Peter chapter 1. about how the gospel shapes our lives. Would you please stand as we read God's Holy Word together? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope.

Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. to an inheritance that is imperishable. undefiled and unfading. kept in heaven for you. who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation.

ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice. though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been griev'd by various trials.

so that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire. may be found to result in praise, and glory honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Uh And can it be that I Should get an entrepreneur, my Savior's blood died. He for me, who caused his me for me, who scorned his perfect love, amazing love. How can it be that you, my God, would die for me?

Amazing love. How can it be that you, my God, would die for me? You let your Father's throne above so free and your race empty yourself of all and breath for us a blessed grace amazing love how can it be that you my God will die for me amazing love how can it be that you my God Would die for me, no condemnation of my dread Jesus and all in him is mine. All I'm in my baby head and cold in righteousness be mine. Amazing love, how care it be that you, my God, would die for me.

Amazing love of heaven be that you, my God, die for me. Holy I come before your throne to mercy and free. Lord, greater love wherever me long. For oh, my God is alone. Amazing love.

That you, my God, die for me amazing love cadence, my God, would die, that you, my God, would die. That you, my God, would die for me. How can it be? What kind of love does this give? If this is what the gospel is.

We bow down at your feet in reverence and awe, thanksgiving. pouring out our hearts. of love in return. Thank you, Lord, for this mercy. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Thank you. To see the dawn on the darkest day, Christ on the roads will carry. Tried by sinful men for an enemy to them while to a cross is the power of the cross Christ we came save for us to praise O'er the breath peace and for living bed the cross Oh, to see the blame written on the face, every awesome wave of sing every heart, every believer in your blood's given from his heart of the cross, Christ He gave saved for us to the place for the breath praise, and for him and death. All the daylight fleece now the ground beneath quakes as its neighbor bows his hand urgent toy too high above So the name for that praise and forgiveness sing my name is in those solid free I am great and just I see what he's self-esteem is the love of God saved for love is safe for me to be here.

In 1961, at the start of training camp, Vince Lombardi walked into the locker room of the Green Bay Packers and spoke what would become one of the most iconic lines in all of sports history. Gentlemen, this is a football. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. He was reminding them of the fundamentals, getting back to. the basics, because it's easy to forget the basics.

It's easy to neglect the core disciplines of the game that make for a winning team. And Vince Lombardi knew that no amount of trick plays or player talent would be enough. if they didn't master the very basics. of the game. And the same thing is true, friends, of the Christian life.

If we want to be joyously in love with Jesus, If we want to be filled with the fruit of the Spirit, if we want to be growing together as the family of God. It doesn't matter how many fancy conferences we go to. or how many of the latest books we read or podcasts we consume. If we aren't engaged in the very basics of the life of following Jesus, It won't matter. All of us, whether we've been following Jesus one day or a lifetime, need to remember the basics.

Get back. to basics. And I know of no better place to go to remind us of the basics of the life of following Jesus than the Apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians. Philippians is all about getting back to the basics. The basics of following hard after Jesus.

The basics of living in the power of the Holy Spirit, the basics of the interdependencies of the life of the family of God.

So, grab your Bibles. We're going to be in Philippians chapter 1 as we kick off our series today. We're going to look at the first 18 verses. You'll find today's reading on page 980 in the blue pew Bible there by your knees. Today, we're going to get back to the basics of the gospel, the basics.

of the gospel. Because for followers of Jesus Christ, the gospel, the good news that God is reconciling all things, including us, to himself through his Son, Jesus Christ, that gospel, that good news is the news that changes everything. The gospel changes. Everything. And today we're going to see four fruits of the gospel for our lives.

Today, we're going to see how the gospel creates a gospel family. It creates gospel charity. It gives us a gospel destiny. and it gives us a gospel Priority. A gospel family, a gospel charity, a gospel destiny, and a gospel priority.

Would you bow your heads? Let's go to the Lord as we open. His word. Father, would you be with us now? Teach us what it means to get back to the basics.

of following Jesus Christ. This year filled with chaos has unhinged so many of us. knocked us off course and messed up our rhythms. We need to get back. Teach us, we pray.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. First, we see here a gospel family, a gospel family. Philippians chapter 1, verse 1.

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. Just pause for a moment here. The Apostle Paul and his protégé Timothy are writing this letter to a church that they planted in the city of Philippi about a decade earlier.

Paul came to Philippi on what we call his second missionary journey around AD 49. You can read about this in Acts 16. He now writes this letter about a decade or so later, 60 to 62 AD, while under house arrest in Rome. And in many ways, this letter is a thank you note. You know the ones your mom made you write?

This is a thank you note. The Philippians had heard that Paul was in prison, so they took up an offering to help with his expenses and to stand in solidarity with him. And they sent one of their own, a guy named Epaphroditus, to bring to Paul a care package, a journey that would have been over 800 miles. And on this seven-week journey, it took its toll on Epaphroditus' life. And upon arrival, he had to be nursed back to health because he fell gravely ill in travels.

But now having sufficiently recovered from his illness, Epaphroditus will head back to Philippi with this letter of thanks in hand, a letter we call the book of Philippians. It is addressed here to the Philippian congregation, the church, and to their leadership, the overseers, the elders, and the deacons. And in customary Pauline fashion, he extends his greetings with the phrase, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The customary Jewish greeting, of course, was shalom, peace. And so Paul has that, but he leads with grace.

Because it is by grace that we have peace with God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, verse 3. 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.

I love this. He says, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. You remembered me, you sent me a gift, and now I remember you. I remember you in my prayers, and I'm full of thanksgiving. I think Paul would have remembered someone like Lydia.

Lydia was a businesswoman from Thyatira. She was a dealer in high-end fashion goods. She marketed beautiful clothes for beautiful people. She was wealthy and influential, and she had been captivated by the beauty of the good news of Jesus Christ. Paul would have remembered the demon-possessed slave girl.

who was poor and oppressed, without rights or freedoms, who had been commercially exploited by her owners. who had been liberated by the power of Jesus Christ. Paul would have remembered the jailer, the suicidal jailer whose life had been spared by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He and his whole household had found life in Jesus. All of these faces and others from Acts 16 would have flashed through Paul's mind.

And he offers with each one a prayer of thanks. Gratitude that this group of disparate people. who otherwise would have had nothing in common. had been brought together as a family. By the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He says, I make my prayer with joy. Why? because of your partnership. in the gospel from the first day until now. He's like, we're no longer strangers.

We're partners. Our lives, our pursuits, our destinies are all bound together with one another. We're joined together in partnership in the gospel. From the first day you believed and cast all your hopes on the good news that Jesus Christ had died in your place and for your sake and offered his life to pay for your sin and shame so that you might be adopted into the family of God and made right with him forever. Would you believe that gospel?

From that day on, we became partners. Partners in this great work of what God is doing in our lives and through our lives in the world. We became partners in the gospel. God knit our souls together deeply, permanently. He bound us to one another, and he united us as a forever family in Christ.

And this is just the beginning. It's just the beginning. Verse 6, and I'm sure of this. That he who began this good work in you We'll bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. What God began.

He will finish. God never drops the ball. This gospel that has taken hold of our lives, he says, this beauty that captivated your soul. This freedom that God has won for you, this life that God has redeemed, this is just the beginning, and the best is yet to come. Because one day we will see Jesus.

Amen? And we shall be like him. For we will see him as he is. Friends, this is a gospel family. Rich and poor.

Slave and free, prisoners and jailers alike, people with nothing in common. Who are now united as partners in the gospel, God's own handiwork, becoming together like Jesus Himself. Friends, the gospel enfolds us into uncommon unity. Do you see that? One of the ways you know the gospel is at work.

in your life. Or in the life of a community, it brings together people who would never otherwise be together. That's one of the things I love about Moody Church. God has brought together here a beautiful family. From all walks of life.

from every socio-economic strata. Diverse ages and ethnicities. He has made us partners in the gospel by his grace. You cannot explain a church family like ours except for the grace of God. Amen?

This is God's doing. And we are partners in the gospel. This is a gospel family. But we have to live into it, you see. We have to live into it.

The question is, will we allow the gospel to redefine our social circle? Will we allow the gospel to redefine our social circle? Will we allow the gospel to make us partners with people we would otherwise avoid? or despise But now, because of the grace of God, have become our own gospel family. We have to yield to the work of the Spirit, you see, to the power of the gospel, to live into what God has made.

this gospel. Family. Secondly, we see here Our gospel charity. Our gospel charity. Verse 7.

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 all.

for you all. with the affection of Christ. Jesus. Friends, look at the heartfelt emotion in these verses. It is right for me to feel this way about you all.

Because I hold you. in my heart. I yearn. For you all. That's not a light word.

I yearn for you all with the affection. Christ Jesus. Even after a decade, friends, his heart is just full, warmed with affection for these dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Because they're all drinking from the same fountain of grace, you see. It is the grace of God that moved the Philippians to extend generous compassion, a gift of love, toward Paul.

And it is that same grace now that moves Paul's heart in tender prayer on their behalf. Friends, these verses are full of deep affection, intense longing. They're visceral and emotive. Paul knows that this deep affection flowing through his own heart. comes ultimately from Jesus.

That's the only place it could come from. He says, I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

So this is Paul's affection. I yearn. It's flowing from his own heart. And yet it is sourced ultimately In the affection and heart of Christ that is pouring through him toward the Philippian believers. In other words, the gospel infuses in us.

unexpected affections. The gospel infuses in us unexpected affections. The gospel of grace, friends, forges deep connections between the members of the body of Christ and we learn to love each other fervently from the heart. Having received the affection and charity and love of God lavished on us in Jesus Christ, that love received now begins to overflow through us so that we become conduits of the love of Christ for one another. The gospel teaches us to love one another with the very love of Christ.

Himself, we get to embody the love of Christ for one another. And as he loved us and gave himself up for us.

So we are to love. one another and give ourselves up for one. Another. The question is: Will we allow the gospel to realign our hearts' affections?

Well we allow the gospel to realign our hearts affections. Will we allow the gospel to turn our selfish hearts outward? In love toward others, to bind our hearts together with affection and sacrificial self-giving love. Will we open ourselves wide? To the affections that Christ intends to unleash through us for the sake of.

Others Will we yield? to this gospel charity. Thirdly, we see our gospel destiny here. Our gospel destiny. Verse 9.

And it is my prayer. that your love may abound more and more. With knowledge and 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. What a prayer this is, friends. He prays that your love, our love, that our love may abound more. and more, that it might grow in You multiply around you. That your love for God and love for one another would abound and overflow, that it would be unfettered and unlimited and undeniable.

That your love would abound, he says, with knowledge. Because love without knowledge is just sort of aimless and soft, isn't it? But love with knowledge. Is life changing? It is wise and it is discerning.

It is a love that sees what is excellent. What is true and good and real and beautiful. It is the love that propels us and urges us forward to become more and more like Jesus Christ Himself. That we might be pure and blameless, that we might stand before Jesus Christ full of the fruit of righteousness to the glory and praise of God. Do you see this abounding love?

Growing knowledge. Full of all discernment, so that we approve what is excellent and become pure and blameless and righteous to the glory and praise of God. Don't you see? The gospel, friends, is ushering us into unforeseen glories. The gospel is ushering us into unforeseen Glories.

The gospel has not only bound us together as a family, amen? The gospel has not only given us the affection of Christ for one another. But he does this so that the love of Christ might abound in our lives and sweep us along toward our common destiny of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God forever. And I'm sure of this, Paul would say, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus. Friends, there's no Higher end.

No greater glory. No better dream. Than to stand pure and blameless and righteous before God in Jesus Christ. It is to this end. that God is working in your life at all times.

and in all places and by all means. Friends, listen to me. Listen, listen. The aim of your life is not to build a nest egg. The aim of your life is not 15 seconds of fame on TikTok.

The aim of your life is not leisure and fun. The aim of your life is that you might be gloriously like Christ. that you might stand before the Father in purity and blamelessness and righteousness and glory forever. The question is. Will we allow the gospel to refocus our dreams?

Will we allow the gospel to refocus our dreams? Will we allow this vision? Of standing righteous in Christ before the Father in glory. to become our prayer. to become our longing.

to become the dream and aim of our lives. Our gospel family. Our gospel charity, our gospel. Destiny, finally, our gospel. Priority.

our gospel priority. Friends, not only does the gospel bind us together as a family. Giving us the affection of Christ as we spur one another on toward this glorious destiny we have in Him. But the gospel becomes the priority for which we live and even sacrifice. Look at verse 12.

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.

so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to all the rest, that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident, in the Lord because of my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Pause for a moment. He says, look, my imprisonment. Might look like a huge setback for the gospel, but in fact, it's just the opposite.

Everybody here. Yeah. knows that it's because of Christ that I'm imprisoned. There's an imperial guard here, roughly 8,000 to 9,000 soldiers who guard the palace of Caesar. And they know that I'm here because of Jesus.

Not just them, but everybody. Everybody's talking. About Jesus, this Jewish carpenter from an insignificant nation some 1,400 miles east of the bustling capital city of Rome. in the heart of the great Roman Empire, this Jewish carpenter, turned teacher and rabbi. Who laid down his life and is rumored to have come back in resurrection power?

Because of Paul's imprisonment, it is now a topic of conversation at the heart of the Roman Empire in the palace of Caesar himself.

So, not only is the gospel advancing in Rome, it's advancing everywhere, Paul says. People everywhere are preaching the gospel.

Some who have seen my willingness to suffer on behalf of the gospel are emboldened to speak the word fearlessly with courage and resolve. At least, that's most people. But there are others. Others who see in Paul's imprisonment an opportunity. A chance, you know, Paul's a big preacher, and all of a sudden he's locked up.

Here's our chance. Here's our chance to gain influence and expand our reach and shine and draw some crowds and gain some recognition for ourselves. That's pretty messed up. And Paul could have been bitter. and resentful and cynical.

But he's not. Look at verse 15.

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry. but others from good will, The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaimed Christ out of selfish ambition. not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment, what then? Only that in every way whether in pretense or truth.

Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Paul says, look, regardless of their motives, good, bad, ugly. The bottom line. is that Christ is being proclaimed. And I rejoice in that.

Because the gospel empowers us for unselfish mission. The gospel empowers us for unselfish mission. The most important thing for Paul was not his comfort, friends. It was not his freedom. It was not his rights.

It wasn't even his ministry. or his vindication. or even his life itself.

Now the most important thing for Paul was the gospel. of Jesus Christ. That the name of Christ was being lifted high, that the good news was being proclaimed in all the world, that many more people might have a chance to know and follow Christ. Friends, the gospel teaches us to gladly serve and sacrifice for the sake. of the gospel.

The question is, Will we allow the gospel to reprioritize our lives? Will we allow the gospel to reprioritize our lives.

Well, we allow the gospel to become the most important thing. in our lives. Will we gladly serve and sacrifice that the gospel may go? Fourth. Will we cheerfully give up our time and talent and treasure that others might hear the good news of Jesus?

So that they too might become part of a gospel family. Filled. with a gospel charity. Called to a gospel destiny. to live out.

A gospel. Priority. Friends. This is the gospel. This This is the good news of Jesus Christ.

that changes Everything. Will you allow this gospel? to change Your Everything. That's the question. This is.

The gospel. Let's pray. Father, in this chaotic, crazy world. Where there is so much clamoring for our attention. For our time.

for our emotions.

Sometimes we might feel like Paul, trapped. Unable to do the things that we want to do in life. Father, in this. crazy moment. Help us get back.

to the basics. of the gospel. Help us to trust deeply. Let the good news of Jesus is the most important thing about our lives. That is who we are.

that it defines our family. That it changes our hearts. And binds us together in love and affection for one another in ways that. don't make sense. And that together you have called us.

Not to build little kingdoms on this earth, but to live for your kingdom. and your power and your glory. That one day we will stand before you in glory. As Jesus says, the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Father, one day that will be who we are, for we will see Christ face to face and we will be like him.

Help us to remember who we are. what family we belong to. What destiny is ours in Christ? and help us to put the gospel at the very center. of our priorities in this life.

Father, we give you ourselves. We hold nothing back. Take us. Use us. Fill us.

Form us. Change us. Use us. Multiply the gospel through us. in our lives, in our words.

in our acts of love and care and sacrifice. We give you ourselves. Unleash the gospel through our lives, we pray. For Jesus' sake, to the glory and praise of God. And all God's people said.

Amen. Amen. Uh On today's Moody Church Hour, we heard Pastor Philip Miller teaching on the basics of the gospel, the first sermon in a series on Back to the Basics.

Next week, don't miss some great teaching about the basics of life. Here we'll find Paul in a Roman prison, not knowing his future, but still resilient, courageous, and undaunted. That attitude can and should be ours. Make plans to join us. What is the central calling for a believer in Christ?

Erwin Lützer tells us it's to be more like Christ. That's why he wrote a booklet titled Walking with Jesus, A Radical Return to His Priorities. This booklet is our gift to you when you give a gift of any amount to support The Moody Church Hour. Call us at 1-800-215-5001. That's 1-800-215-5001.

Online, go to ModiChurchHour.com. That's moodychurchhour.com. or write to us at Moody Church Media, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Ask about walking with Jesus when you write or call. Join us next week for another Moody Church Hour with Pastor Philip Miller and the Congregation of Historic Moody Church in Chicago.

This broadcast is a ministry of The Moody Church.