Sermon by Aurelien Duperchy, apprentice pastor

Introduction:

Can we speak of peace in an era when conflict is everywhere in the world? It’s daring, but yes, I believe we can, as the Bible addresses it. But Christians are not immune to conflict, the church is not an atomic bunker. The adversary tries to sneak into the church and unfortunately succeeds. And unfortunately, it happens all too often. If we don’t take refuge in Jesus who is the prince of peace, we are doomed. We need to take refuge in him because he is better than any bunker.

When we hear about peace, we usually mean the absence of war, but in the Word of God, peace goes beyond an absence of evil, of suffering of any kind, and today, we are going to see how peace goes beyond the absence of evil.

Our source of peace is in God and it is because the world does not seek God, that it is not at peace. How can we find peace and become peacemakers in this world depraved by evil?

Sermon by Damien Jourdain

THE PROBLEM
Last Sunday, Vincent preached his message on the first part of Philippians chapter 3, verses 1 to 11. He showed us how Paul effected a drastic transfer in the bank account of his life. All the qualities, the successes, whatever gave him a name and a reputation, he transferred them from the “profits” column to the “loss” column. For he understood the excellence of Christ. And when you take hold of it, the « Excellence of Christ », everything else pales in comparison. There is no competition, Christ becomes the ultimate gain, and everything else becomes loss.

Like many of you, Sara and I on Tuesday evening logged onto Zoom to discuss this message with our cell group. One of the questions asked was « What is Paul’s goal? Is it also yours? » Paul’s goal, it was clear, was Christ. Christ, Christ, Christ. That was the easy part to answer. Now, is that also your goal? So there, a little more embarrassed silence … I think it was Donatien who broke the silence for us: “Yes, well, we too must have Christ as our goal. But do we do it?… that’s harder to answer. » Indeed, it is more difficult…

Sermon by Pastor Vincent Bourrel

Introduction
In verse 1, Paul, who is in prison, addresses the Philippians who (as we know from reading 2 Corinthians 8) were very poor and were in great need. He said to them « Rejoice in the Lord » and to consider Christ as so precious, as such a great treasure, that although being in prison, in affliction or in poverty, to know and belong to him and to be with him forever gives you joy. ‘Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same
things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.’

In church, we need to remind one another of this truth. Paul never tires of repeating the same things, both for them and for us. But what exactly is he talking about? I believe he is introducing what is to follow, it is intimately linked to our joy. And these things are so important that he is willing to repeat them as often as needed because they are beneficial, because they are for our salvation.

Sermon by Nicolas Maalouf

In the previous passage we saw that what motivates us to obey God is neither a reward nor the fear of punishment. You may remember Samuel’s illustration with a carrot and a stick to make a donkey move. Conversely, we have seen that it is God himself who is the engine of our obedience: « For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. » (Phil.2:13)

We also saw that the joy of obedience was to shine in the world to reflect the character of our loving God and rejoice with other Christians as the Gospel progresses not only in our lives, but also in theirs. And this is exactly the joy that characterizes Paul in his letter, he is joyful not only at the progress of the Gospel in his life and in those of his co-workers, but also in the lives of his brothers and sisters far away, in Philippi.

Sermon by Pastor Samuel Niblack

The letter to the Philippians is filled with much encouragement, gratitude, and joy. And what stands out clearly in these verses is the encouragement to obey: “Obey”. Work. Try. The Greek word « energy » comes up  several times. Like a coach who goes to motivate his team that is leading at half-time, « don’t give up. »  The Christian life is not without effort. But we will see this morning how Paul encourages and  motivates these Christians to obedience.

You know the expression: « The carrot or the stick »… Should you motivate people with the threat of punishment or the promise of a reward? Or even better, a carrot on a stick…

When we think of faith and religion, most people have this unenviable image in mind. People are  motivated either by the promise of an illusory reward, never really attainable, or by the threat of  punishment. « I want neither, I want to be free, so no thanks to religion. » I’ll grant you, that’s how religions work. But the gospel obedience, the character transformation that Paul teaches, is different.