WestGate Church Teaching WestGate Church

Janet Jackson once famously asked “what have you done for me lately?”  And although the sentiment behind this sentence is vastly different, the Apostle Paul also employs this line of questioning to the Church of Philippi, encouraging them to truly examine - really meditate on - all that God has done for them.  But, Paul says, that activity shouldn’t be a mere mental exercise.  It should change us.  Or at least, make us want to change. South Hills Campus Pastor Archie Jackson stops by to talk about Paul’s famous exhortation to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”  We dive into what it means, what it most definitely DOES NOT mean, and why the stakes are too high for Christians to refuse to partner with God to be transformed.  

Midway through his letter, Paul encourages the young church family of believers at Philippi to “work out their salvation with fear and trembling.” This term “work out” can make us nervous. Is our salvation dependent upon how good of “work” we do? Because if so, uh oh! But Paul makes it clear that it’s God who does the work in us, through us and for us. Paul isn’t talking about working for or earning individual salvation. Paul is talking about how our already-saved-lives ought to work out in the real world, in our relationships with one another, so that an unbelieving world might see our otherworldly relationships of humility and sacrifice like light illuminating the darkness and be captivated. This isn’t easy - and does absolutely require passion, effort and focus on our parts, but it means that we get to participate with God to bring light to a dark world.

You don’t have to be a sociologist to see that selfishness and self-centeredness seem to be the default setting for us humans. Left to ourselves, people (often) use other people for their own gain. Ruth Nazanin BetEivaz stops by to talk about Philippians 2 and Paul’s incredible passage about the staggering humility of Jesus. We chat about how humility shows up in our world, why it’s so attractive to us and why it’s so difficult for us to live out. Ruth also shares how an act of humility by her sister changed her whole life. And as hip-hop heads, Ruth and David are the *only* theologians in the US talking about how Philippians 2 could solve the ongoing battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. Also, David shares a particularly humiliating story about that involves him, a skunk and Safeway.

The Silicon Valley is a place of chasing. Chasing success. Chasing more. Chasing upward movement. But this relentless pace can be utterly exhausting. In contrast to this, Paul says that Jesus provides a different model of what it means to be human and find life. And counterintuitively - Jesus shows us that true life is found not by climbing the ladder for your own gain, but by descending in humility to serve other people. And if we follow suit, and live a life of humility, serving God and serving others, we will find not only joy, not only life, but God Himself.

As children of the 80s, things have changed *quite a bit* in the realm of civic politics for David and Jay. We chat about how changes in technology have shifted the way that people engage with politics - and how that’s not always for the better. We talk about what it means to follow Paul’s instructions in Philippians 1 to “live as citizens of the gospel of King Jesus.” And finally, we discuss author Kaitlyn Schiess’s book “A Liturgy of Politics” which says that the modern political/news machine sends a number of messages to us including:
* The Prosperity Gospel (money is what’s really most important)
* The Patriotic Gospel (requires uncritical allegiance to one party - or one country)
* The Security Gospel (candidate so-and-so will keep you safe from harm)
And then we talk about how the Gospel of Jesus confronts each of these and often, upends them.

Speakers: David Tieche + Jay Kim

When Paul was writing the letter to the church at Philippi, a man named Nero was Caesar. Nero’s favorite titles were “Lord” and “Savior” and his demands of allegiance were total. To declare any other emperor (or king) as lord or savior was dangerous. But that’s exactly what Paul goes all around the empire doing. And Paul’s message to the Philippians is clear: living as citizens of God’s kingdom means declaring an alternative Gospel. This is a message with real edges. It means that in the midst of a false empire, Christians are called to declare the true kingdom. And in the midst of a false emperor, Christians are called to follow a true King. And as citizens of a different kingdom in the midst of this world’s kingdoms, Christians are called to live differently.