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Zion Bread of Life Christian Church

Philippians 2:14-18 Shine this Generation with Light 腓力比書2:14-18 用光照耀這世代

Friday, 16th February 2024

Rev Daniel Xi An Poon

V14-15 Do Not Complain, be the Children of God 不發怨言做神兒女

“Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”

Only when stop complaining then we can receive true joy and we can speak the words of encouragement. We must shine our light in this darkness and be set apart from this world. When we complain, we become the children of the world, and people cannot see our light shine. But when we stop complaining, we become the children of God, and our light will shine. Everything we do, everything we say, without complaining and disputing.

When others hear our complaints, they will wrongly interpret the environment and the situation. But they may not be the truth, but when we bring in our negative emotions, people may misunderstand the situation. What we do must bring down the unity of God, and the presence of God.

So how do we express our negative emotions? David spent all his time with God to express his anger and depression, he knew only when he comes before God he can truely be himself. If we don’t want to express ourselves in front of God then we must examine ourselves to see if we have an orphan spirit. God told us that He is our God, He will strengthen us, and He will always be with us. Why are we still afraid? Why are we still holding back?

For the people of the world, what do they lacking? They are lacking the love, they are also orphans, and we should not let out our negative emotions to the orphans. The world is confusing us, it tells us to prove ourselves. But in the Kingdom of God, we don’t need to prove our ability, we just need to be the children of God.

V16 Live out the Word of Life 活出生命的道

“holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”

The word of life can be lived within us, it’s so natural and so real, people can see our lives differently and people will want to follow us. It’s our lives that attract people, not what we do. Our lives can influence lives, and we can be the light of the world.

V17-18 Great Joy in Faith 信心中大大喜樂

“Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me.”

How can we make offering? There must be a sacrifice. The world wants us to live in the negative emotions, it wants our emotions to be fluctuating. But we can overcome all this. For the sake of Christ, we can look lightly our emotions, and know that we can overcome all these by faith. When we trust in God, He will deal with it for us.

When we shine the light people will follow us, they will want to come near us, then our lives can change lives and we can glorify God.