Paul's Sanctified Dilemma

Driving home: Now, a dilemma for the sake of you kids who think that's a 50-year-old, 50-cent word, is a situation of perplexing uncertainty in which we are torn between two choices.

A child choosing between two favorite ice cream flavors (chocolate vs. peanut butter swirl) illustrates a 'good dilemma' where both options are desirable, making the choice difficult.

That's a dilemma in which either alternative is negative. But there can be dilemmas that are good dilemmas. For instance, maybe someone takes you out for a walk in the heat of the summer and happens to stop by the Carvel ice cream parlor, and as you're standing there, someone comes up to you and says, now I have two ice cream cones, you can have one or the other. Well, one happens to be a rich, dark chocolate, which is one of your favorites, and the other happens to be a peanut butter swirl, and that's also one of your favorites.

4:44 - 5:16 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Now, a dilemma for the sake of you kids who think that's a 50-year-old, 50-cent word, is a situation of perplexing uncertainty in which we are torn between two choices.

A child choosing between visiting a beloved grandpa or grandma illustrates another 'good dilemma' of two desirable alternatives, mirroring Paul's internal conflict.

Well, immediately you're in a dilemma. You love the chocolate, but you love the peanut butter swirl, and you can't have both, so you've got to make a choice. And feeling the pull between your chocolate and your peanut butter swirl, you are in a dilemma. Or it may be that mom and dad have said on a Saturday you're going to go off and visit one of the relatives.

5:16 - 5:37 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains that Paul is 'thinking out loud' in this passage, leading to a nuanced translation. He then details Paul's dilemma: an intense, inward spiritual struggle between a…

Martin shares a personal anecdote about his wife thinking out loud, illustrating how Paul's words in the passage are a 'verbal shorthand' of his internal dialogue, making precise translation challenging.

and likeness to Christ. Now then, beginning with verse 22, it's as though the apostle is thinking out loud. And when we think out loud, we usually do so in the kind of verbal shorthand. Because she's not here this morning, it would be embarrassing if she were, I feel free to illustrate this from my own family life.

9:10 - 9:31 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I have this strong, sanctified lust, this desire to break tent, to cut my moorings, to be with Christ, which from the perspective of personal advantage is much more better.

The analogy of a tug-of-war, with one end of the rope anchored to Christ and the other to the Philippian church, vividly portrays the intense, opposing pulls Paul felt in his heart.

As he's aware of the problems internally of people dwelling in harmony and submitting to one another in Christ-like humility, a theme that he picks up in the next verses and carries on into chapter two, his pastor's heart so yearns that he cannot irresponsibly think of all that it will mean for him personally to depart and to be with Christ without thinking of the need, the realistic assessment of the need there is for his further ministry to his beloved Philippians. So in a very real sense, the apostle had a tug-of-war going on in his heart. Now you know what happens in a tug-of-war, you kids...

19:57 - 21:10 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine whether your desires, plans, and dreams are focused on personal advantage or the profit of others.

The metaphor of drawing a big circle and piling in 'selfish trees' (feelings, ambitions, possessions) illustrates how self-centeredness prevents spiritual progress and hinders thinking of others.

The problem with some of you and the reason you make so little progress in grace is that you've drawn a big circle and into it you've piled your feelings your temperament your likes your dislikes your conclusions your ambitions everything that pertains to you your family its clients its closeness its needs its warmth its love your things your possessions and everything that touches your life you view it in terms of the woods of your own selfish trees that are all rooted and staring you in the face and you can't get out of that morass long enough to think in terms of others.

30:33 - 31:23 Read in full sermon