The Safeguardsof Life

Philippians 3:1-4 

Adapted from a Steve Shepherd sermonhttp://www.sermoncentral.com/

print_friendly.asp?SermonID=64562

Philippians 3:1 ESV Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same

things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. 2 Look out for the dogs, look

out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the

circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no

confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh

also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:

The story is told about a monastery in Portugal, perched high on a 3,000-foot cliff and accessible only by a terrifying ride in a

swaying basket.The basket is pulled with a single rope by several strong men, perspiring under the

strain of the fully loaded basket.

One American tourist who visited the site got nervous halfway up the cliff when he noticed that the rope was old and frayed.

Hoping to relieve his fear he asked, "How often do you change the rope?“

The monk in charge replied, "Whenever it breaks!"

How safe are you in life?

That may depend on where you are.

Not many of us will ever choose to be pulled up a 3,000-foot cliff in a swaying

basket!

If you’re in your car, you have seatbelts, air bags, side air bags, smart air bags, all-

weather tires, antilock brakes, anti-whiplash headrests, tire pressure warning,

etc.Some cars actually come with a collision

avoidance system.CAN YOU BEAT THAT?

This system warns you if an object is near. It’s almost like anti-collision radar for

aircraft.

Regardless of where we are, what we’re doing, we prefer to be safe.

Common sense is probably the biggest safety device there is.

A fellow was walking his long-haired dachshund and he met a friend who said

“What a funny animal!How do you tell his head from his tail?”

“It’s very simple,” the dog’s owner replied.“You pull its tail and if it bites, it is his

head.”

Common sense says that if a mad, mean growling dog is facing you, you don’t try to

pet it!Common sense always pays off.

A busy mother once overheard her two young daughters talking.

One asked the other, “How do you know you are safe?”

“Because I am holding Jesus tight with both my hands,” replied the sister.

“That is not safe,” said the other, “suppose the devil came along and cut off your two

hands?”

The little sister was momentarily troubled, then her face suddenly beamed with joy.“Oh, I forgot! Jesus is holding me, and

Satan couldn’t cut off His hands, so I am safe!”

Yes, we are safe in the hands of Jesus! That’s the safest place to be wherever we

are in this world!

Our text in Philippians speaks of some spiritual safeguards that we have.

1-The repetition of truth – God’s Word

2- The recognition of evil - Legalism

3- The realization of worship – God’s Spirit

1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no

trouble to me and is safe for you.Paul’s writing was the Word of God.

That is, he was inspired by God’s Spirit to write words that would direct and bless the

readers.Paul didn’t mind repeating himself.

He knew that repeating spiritual truths would help to protect them and direct them

in life.

The Repetition Of TruthGod’s Word

Efforts of Carol Frazer, 17, to have a street named after singer Elvis Presley who died

in 1977 were finally realized. The city fathers of suburban Whitehaven assigned the name of a subdivision lane as “Elvis

Place.” Miss Frazer said she was so excited she didn’t know what to do.

Probably watch another Elvis movie. But she has seen them all: Love Me Tender, 107

times, Loving You 110 times, King Creole 91 times, and Jailhouse Rock, 79 times.

I’ve seen a few movies a second time and maybe even a third time, but not 110 times!

If we can watch movies and TV programs over and over, and still get something from them, what about listening to &/or reading

the Word of God over and over?

On their way home from church, the husband and wife were discussing the

sermon. The wife said, “It seems to me that he didn’t put enough fire into his sermon.”

The husband replied, “In my opinion, he didn’t put enough of his sermon into the

fire.”Boring and long sermons are not much fun,

nor are they helpful. However, well prepared sermons and well delivered

sermons can be a blessing and can stick with you a long time.

At Ozark Christian College in the mid-60’s Boyce Mouton from Carthage, MO, stood up in chapel service & offered to preach

when the speaker didn’t show up that morning.

Boyce said, “I promised the Lord I would never turn down an opportunity to testify

for him.”Boyce went to the pulpit and preached a

great 20-minute sermon entitled, “Fools for Christ” from 1 Corinthians chapter four.

Another time, Professor Bob Stacy preached a sermon in chapel.

He started that sermon with these words: “YOU OUGHT TO BE DEAD!” Did he ever

grab our attention! He went on to preach a powerful sermon about being crucified with

Christ.

Sermons like those are a safeguard in life. We need to hear them, over and over.

In the paperback book, “HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY,” James Weinland wrote, “A fact once

learned may be so interesting, so important, so satisfying, or so shocking

that no effort is required to remember it – it seems to be remember itself.

But the ordinary run of little facts cannot be recalled without attention and effort.”

Much of the time it’s hard for us to remember spiritual truths.

When they are presented in an interesting way or manner, it helps, but otherwise, we

must work to remember the good stuff.Paul said, “It’s no trouble for me to write

the same things to you again…”

Repetition is necessary in some cases! When it comes to Biblical truth, this truth

needs to be repeated over and over.

Preacher Ed Bousman used to say, “My desire is to read the New Testament every week or 52 times a year, but being sort of lazy by nature I only read it about 40 times

a year or every week and a half.”

Don’t we all wish we were that good about reading God’s Word?

What a blessing and safeguard it would be!

Psalms 119:11 ESV I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin

against you.How can we hide the Word of God in our

hearts?Repetition is one good way.

We need to hear it over and over.We need to repeat it over and over.We need to read it over and over.

The new preacher had delivered the same sermon for three Sundays in a row.

The church board and members were getting a bit concerned.

One of the board members said to the preacher, “That’s a wonderful sermon you’ve been preaching, but could you

preach a different sermon?”The preacher fired back, “I will preach a different sermon, as soon as folks in this

church starting practicing this one.”

I may repeat a sermon occasionally, because I think we need a certain spiritual truth driven into our minds, over and over.(Or I just forgot I had preached it before.)Repetition of spiritual truths from God’s

Word are good for us, no matter how they are repeated!

Please don’t get aggravated or irritated when you hear spiritual truths presented to

you, over and over.Thank God for them!

They are safeguards for your soul!

2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate

the flesh.

The RecognitionOf Evil – Legalism

The ten-year-old girl was walking with her parents on a street downtown. Spying a

movie theater, the youngster ran off.Her frantic mother found her inside the

theater thirty minutes later.Outside, she said to her, “Whatever possessed you go to in that place?

You know that our preacher teaches that it’s wrong to go to movies.”

“Mama,” she said, “I just couldn’t help myself. I smelled that popcorn, and it

smelled so good that I had to buy some.And then the floor of that movie house was

so slick I just slid inside.”

The recognition of evil in the world is a safeguard for us.

We all need to be more spiritually alert to evil.

A man took his car to have the tires rotated.

When he picked up his car, they said, “You’ve got a badly worn tire on your car.

It’s almost worn out.”He said, “What!” He was surprised & was caught off-guard. He had not been alert to

what was happening with his tires. Likewise, we often find ourselves caught off-guard spiritually. WE ARE NOT VERY

SPIRITUALLY ALERT!

When I was a youngster I let a friend talk me into breaking into a store & some

houses & stealing loose change, cigarettes, candy & of course watermelon

from the neighbors garden.YES, I GOT CAUGHT!

It was not a pleasant scene when the police car came up our driveway.

I was not spiritually alert at all. However, I think we all know our enemy is lot more

clever and deceptive than blatantly asking us to steal a watermelon.

1 Peter 5:8 ESV Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls

around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

The evil “dogs” to which Paul refers were the Judaizers, that is, they insisted that Christians must keep the law. Today we

might call them “legalists.” They demand that everything must be done

by the letter of the law and no grace is allowed in any way, shape or form.

The story was told some years ago of a preacher who found the roads blocked one

Sunday morning and was forced to ice skate on the river to get to church, which

he did.

When he arrived the elders of the church were horrified that their preacher had

skated on the Lord’s Day.

After the service they held a meeting where the preacher explained that it was either

skate to church or not go at all.Finally one elder asked, "Did you enjoy it?“

When the preacher answered, "No," the board decided it was all right!

That’s the spirit of legalism.

Sometimes we think we are so right about things that we often force our “rightness” on people, without showing any mercy or

grace at all.

Chuck Swindoll in his book “The Grace Awakening” tells about a missionary family

that quit the mission field because of peanut butter.

They had been regularly receiving some peanut butter from America, which they

enjoyed very much. Apparently, some other missionary families heard about it and said that they had to stop eating peanut butter

since others didn’t have it.

The family didn’t stop eating peanut butter but neither did they flaunt it. They simply

wanted to enjoy the peanut butter that some gracious Americans sent them.

However, some of the other missionaries became so petty about it and pressured

that family to the point that they got fed up and moved back to that states. How

ridiculous!THAT’S NOTHING BUT LEGALISM!

There was a man who was once an elder in a church.

In his own words, he told about going to call on a lady who had been attending the

church.Apparently, she had been living with a man

outside marriage.This elder plainly told her that she could

not come to their church.Why? I assume he thought that she had to

straighten up her life first.

Hey, I thought that’s what the church existed for?

That is, to minister to the hurting, the helpless, the blind, and the spiritually

blind!What he did was nothing more than

legalism.

And legalism is a great evil in the world today, believe it or not.

It was in Paul’s time and it is in our time.

Legalism is that which says, “You must do it this way, my way or else it’s the

highway.”Legalism tries to put people into a certain mold by pointing to the letter of law rather

by loving them.And loving people is what Jesus did!

Legalism is a killer of people and churches and we need to be aware of this and put a

stop to it.We need to be alert to all evil which can hinder or put a stop to Christian growth.

3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ

Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for

confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the

flesh, I have more:Worship, true worship, genuine worship, spirit-induced worship is a safeguard for

the Christian. It helps to direct us and keep us safe.

The Realization Of Worship – God’s Spirit

Preacher Tony Evans of PROMISE KEEPERS fame wrote, “On August 14, 2003

Lois and I were in New York preparing to return to Dallas when the lights went out.

That’s right! We were two of the fifty million people affected by the largest electrical

blackout in U.S. history.I’ll never forget that day since our lives and

plans were turned upside down.

“One of the many challenges that faced us that day was finding a place to stay, since

all flights had been cancelled.We finally located a hotel that had a

remaining room and settled in for the evening.

The problem was that because there was no power, there were no lights, no air

conditioning, no TV and worst of all no warm food!

"When we got to our room we opened the blinds only to discover that the hotel across the street was full of lights.People were talking and eating and

enjoying themselves.We decided we needed to ‘cross over’ to

see how this was possible.When we entered this hotel the air was

cool, TV’s were on everywhere and people were in high spirits.

It was a totally different atmosphere from where we were staying just a few yards

away.

Why was there such a major contrast?

It really was rather simple.

Our hotel had no generator, while the other hotel did.

“They possessed a power source that enabled them to transcend the darkness, and it made all the difference in the world.

Today many are living in darkness and despair because they have never

understood the unique, life-giving ministry of the Holy Spirit.

When His ministry is taught and clearly understood it will bring light and life to

those living in the darkest of circumstances.”

Not only does the Holy Spirit give life to people, He also gives life to our worship of

God Almighty!And the realization of true worship is

something that every Christian and every church needs!

True spiritual worship enhances and helps us in life.

It can help to direct our lives, give us strength, etc.

One of the problems that we have had for many years in our churches is that of

putting God in a box, our box, the box that only allows God to be what we think He is.There is a small paperback book entitled,

“Your God Is Too Small,” by J. B. Phillips of the Phillips New Testament.

Phillips wrote that some people were asked the question, “Do you think God

understands radar?”In nearly every case they said, “No.”

In their minds, they believed that God was not very intelligent or able.

This might be like saying today that God doesn’t understand lightning, tornados,

hurricanes, atomic bombs, etc., etc.What in the world are we thinking?

If we think that God doesn’t understand these things and can’t handle everything then we’re worshipping the wrong God!

Likewise, we often put God in a box when it comes to worship.

We think God can only be worshipped in a certain way….the way we’ve always

worshipped Him! NO!God doesn’t care how He is worshipped as

long as He is worshipped in spirit and in truth! SPIRITUALLY AND TRUTHFULLY!

John 4:23 ESV But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for

the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

The term " spirit " speaks of a worship that is not locally or physically based. The term

" truth " was used in the Greek world to speak of a mental concept, while the

Hebrew background was that of faithfulness or trustworthiness. (Utley)

God can be worshipped with traditional Christian music and with contemporary

Christian music.God can be worshipped on Saturday night

as well as He can be worshipped on Sunday morning.

God can be worshipped in blue jeans as well as He can be worshipped in a suit.

God can be worshipped with the raising of hands or without the raising of hands. God

can be worshipped with an “Amen” or without the hearing of an “Amen.”

One important thing for spiritual growth and protection to take place in our lives and in the church is that we worship in

spirit and truth.

We must worship in a way that allows God’s Spirit to work in us!

We must pray that God’s Spirit will get to us and work in us!

It is said that the “Stop—Look—Listen” warning slogan was devised by Ralph R.

Upton in 1912. He was a safety man for the Puget Sound Power Company of Seattle, Washington, and wished to improve the signs then in use at railroad crossings, which read: “Look Out for the Engine.”

Life is full of hazards, spiritual hazards more than physical hazards.

Conclusion

2 Thessalonians 3:1 ESV Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may

speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, 2 and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have

faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the

evil one.

The greatest safeguard we have in life is the Lord. We must “stop, look, …and

listen” to Him!

We must watch for evil.

Listen to God’s Word.

And allow the worship of Christ to strengthen our hearts and safeguard our

lives.