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SERIES: |
Technicolor Joy: A Study through Philippians |
MESSAGE: |
News Flash: You’re a Saint! |
SPEAKER: |
Skip Heitzig |
SCRIPTURE: |
Philippians 1:1-2 |
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MESSAGE SUMMARY
You've heard it before. Someone excuses his or her crude behavior by saying something like, "Well, I'm no saint, but I do the best I can." Or, "She's so wonderful; she's a saint!" The idea most folks have is that saints are those who've died and attain special status because of their unusual accomplishments while they lived on earth. Nothing could have been further from Paul's mind when he wrote this letter to living "saints." I hope you're one.
STUDY GUIDE
Connect Recap Notes: April 30, 2017
Speaker: Skip Heitzig
Teaching: "News Flash: You're a Saint!"
Text: Philippians 1:1-2
Path
You've heard it before. Someone excuses his or her crude behavior by saying something like, "Well, I'm no saint, but I do the best I can." Or, "She's so wonderful; she's a saint!" The idea most folks have is that saints are those who've died and attained special status because of their unusual accomplishments while they lived on earth. Nothing could have been further from Paul's mind when he wrote this letter to living "saints." In this teaching, Pastor Skip defined a biblical saint:
- A Saint Belongs to Two Spheres
- A Saint Behaves Submissively
- A Saint Believes in the Scriptures
- A Saint Benefits Spiritually
PointsA Saint
Belongs to Two Spheres
- One of the most misunderstood words in the Bible is the word saint. Some think of a saint as a dead person made into a statue. Webster's Dictionary defines it as such:
- One officially recognized through canonization as preeminent for holiness
- One of the spirits of the departed now in heaven
- In short, the popular understanding is that a saint is a near-perfect person, now dead. But this is not how the Bible defines a saint. Rather, a saint is someone who has been saved by Christ.
- God's people have dual citizenship: we have a physical and a spiritual address, and eventually, we will have an address in heaven.
- They Have a Spiritual Address
- The term "in Christ" (v. 1) means a life united with Christ.
- Though Christians live in the world, we are not of it; we should have a light touch on the world's terrain because we are just passing through.
- They Have a Physical Address
- Notice the physical address: "in Philippi" (v. 1). Christians are residents both "in Christ" and in the world. As citizens in the world, we should live responsibly, not cloistered away from it. We need to be responsible at both addresses.
- Probe: Write down two lists. On one list, write your responsibilities as citizens in our society and world (to vote, pay taxes, etc.). On the other list, write your responsibilities as Christians and citizens of heaven (to love, pray, serve, etc.). What are the similarities and differences between the lists?
A Saint
Behaves Submissively
- Notice the word bondservants. Paul introduced himself as a servant. He was a servant writing to servants.
- Forty percent of people in the Roman Empire were slaves, often regarded as a piece of property.
- In Judaism, slaves were freed after six years, but could voluntarily stay. This is the type of servanthood Paul referred to: a willing submission to a master.
- Probe: What are the characteristics of a servant (humility, giving, thankfulness, etc.)? How is submissiveness at the heart of a servant's life?
A Saint
Believes in the Scriptures
- After Paul wrote this letter to the church at Philippi, the people practiced it and circulated it. Early Christians considered Paul's letters—along with the Gospels—Scripture.
- A saint is someone who believes God and His Word and has no problem seeing God's superintendence over Scripture. Saints see the Bible as a love letter from God and live and learn from its principles.
- Probe: What is your attitude toward the Bible? Does it occupy a prominent position in your life? Discuss your dependence on God's Word. Share how you daily study and read God's Word.
A Saint
Benefits Spiritually
- Philippians opens with a typical ancient salutation. Paul combined the greeting of the Western world with Eastern sensibility, replacing the normal greeting of the day, euphrainó (rejoice), with charis and eiréné (grace and peace).
- Grace and peace are always together in the New Testament. Grace leads to peace.
- They Experience Grace
- Grace is the fountain; peace is the stream that flows from it.
- They Enjoy Peace
- Peace is the ability to sleep with a clear conscience—a heart at ease.
- A saint is someone who allows the light of Christ to shine through them.
- The word saint means the most holy things. When God sees you in Christ, He credits you with Jesus' righteousness. Even though we are all sinners, God looks at you "in Christ." You are a most holy thing to Him.
- The Father sees through a type of rose-colored glasses, blood-stained with Christ's sacrifice.
- In the world, there are either saints or ain'ts. The difference is how God sees you, and that depends on whether or not you've received Christ as Savior.
- Probe: As Pastor Skip taught, the Greek word for saint is hagios. It means set apart by (or for) God, holy, sacred. Compare the biblical definition to the popular Roman Catholic definition. What are the main differences?i
PracticeConnect Up: In 1 Peter 1:16, Peter echoed Leviticus 11:44, where God said, "Be holy, for I am holy." How does our holiness honor and bring praise to the Holy One? How can we make sure we are genuinely holy, not acting in a pretentious way but honoring God?
Connect In: The biblical understanding of saints is a group of people who are set apart for the Lord and His kingdom. Discuss how both the individual Christian and the church is to be holy. What are the marks of holiness?ii
Connect Out: How can a biblical understanding of the word saint be used as an outreach tool to unbelievers? Where is the good news to be found in our being set apart—holy—for God's purposes? Explain your answer.
iFor help, read this article: https://www.gotquestions.org/saints-Christian.html
iiFor help, read this article: https://billygraham.org/decision-magazine/june-2007/12-marks-of-holiness
DETAILED NOTES
- Introduction
- Saint is one of the most misunderstood words in the Christian language
- The dictionary does not define saint the same way the New Testament does
- Dictionary defines saint as essentially a near-perfect person who has died
- This definition of saint came about in the early church
- It was believed that anyone who died a Christian martyr would be declared a saint
- As time went on, the Vatican in Rome established a process called canonization to keep unworthy people from becoming saints
- The New Testament knows nothing about canonizing a dead person; it knows everything about recognizing a living person
- Paul wrote to saints in his letters to the Romans, Corinthians, Philippians, and Colossians
- He did not write to dead people
- Most people do not associate sainthood with joy
- Saints are portrayed as gloomy and sad
- Due to old artistic renderings of saints
- A Saint Belongs to Two Spheres
- Because you have a spiritual address, you also have an eventual address in heaven (see John 14:2)
- Dwelling on earth, but destined for glory (see Philippians 3:20)
- God's people have dual citizenship
- Those who live only in the physical address should suck as much pleasure out of their time on earth as they can, because it will be the last good times they will ever experience
- They Have a Spiritual Address
- In Christ Jesus
- We are united to Jesus' life (see John 17:23)
- We share the same life as Christ (see Galatians 2:20)
- We should live in this world with a light touch because we are just passing through
- They Have a Physical Address
- On earth
- Since we are residents of two realms, we should live responsibly in both
- Jesus never intended us to be disassociated from our world and society (see Matthew 10:16; John 17:15)
- The struggle is how to balance both passports
- Make sure you are talking to Christ about your Philippi
- Make sure you are talking to your Philippi about Christ
- A Saint Behaves Submissively
- A saint is a servant
- Paul wrote as a servant to servants (see Philippians 2:5-7)
- They were humble
- In the Roman Empire, 40 percent of the population was under slavery
- In Judaism, slaves were released after seven years
- Bondservant: if a slave wanted to serve longer, they became a voluntary servant for life
- Redeem
- It means to go to the slave market, pay for a slave, and release the slave from the slave market to work for you
- Set free to be a slave of Jesus (see Romans 6:17-18)
- Being a believer means you ran away from the master of sin to a higher form of slavery
- Being a saint is not an emotional goose bump but a submissive heart (see John 14:15)
- It's not how high you jump but how straight you walk when you hit the ground
- A Saint Believes in the Scriptures
- When the Philippians received Paul's letter, they read it, obeyed it, and circulated it
- They believed what Paul wrote was from God, to be applied to life
- Peter referred to Paul's writings as Scripture (see 2 Peter 3:15-16)
- Paul was confident he wrote with God's authority (see 1 Thessalonians 2:13)
- Saints are people who believe that God had no problem superintending the writing of a book
- What is your attitude toward your Bible?
- Is it the Book or just a book?
- Your love for the Bible is directly proportional to your relationship with the Author
- Look at the Bible as God's love letter to you
- A Saint Benefits Spiritually
- They Experience Grace
- They Enjoy Peace
- Paul combined greetings from the Western and Middle Eastern worlds
- The common Greek greeting was chairó—rejoice
- The common greeting in Israel was shalom—peace
- Paul changed chairó to the similar word charis—grace, kindness
- You always find grace and peace together; God's grace produces peace
- Grace is the fountain and peace is the stream that flows from it (see Romans 5:1-2)
- Closing
- A saint is a person who the light shines through
- Saint means holy—hagios
- God sees us that way even if we don't feel that way, because we are in Christ
- He sees us through bloodstained glasses because of what Jesus did on the cross
Figures referenced: Caesar Augustus, Marcus Aurelius, Diognetus, St. Anthony, St. Barbara, St. Christopher, St. Drogo, St. Genesius of Rome, St. Isidore of Seville, St. Jude
Works referenced: Sixth Sense
Greek/Hebrew words: chairó, charis, hagios, shalom
Cross references: Matthew 10:16; John 14:2, 15; 17:15, 23; Romans 5:1-2; 6:17-18; Galatians 2:20; Philippians 2:5-7; 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Peter 3:15-16
Topic: Saints
Keywords: saints, martyr, canonization, joy, citizenship, heaven, servant, bondservant, redeem, redemption, submission, the Bible, grace, peace, holiness