Asphalt Theology (Part 2) - [Philippians 3]

The role of works has been controversial in the church for a long time.

Doing good things, doing moral things, doing ethical things. In and of itself, that's fine, but where do we put those works?

Some religions will say you have to put works before you believe. You have to do certain things to get

God to essentially like you and accept you. Of course, we know that can't be true because God only accepts perfect works, and He accepts the perfect works of the

Lord Jesus. So we can't have works before we're saved. Some say, well, to get people to live holy lives, we have to make sure we keep doing good works to maintain our salvation because we might be prone to lawlessness.

So make sure you keep doing good things as Christians to keep your salvation, to keep your position so you don't lose your salvation.

That like the first one is an error as well, a different kind, but certainly an error. But then we realize that the role of good works for the

Christian is important. Not to stay saved, not to get saved, but because you're saved, but because God has saved you and graced you, and you'd like to respond with obedience and out of gratitude and a heart of thanksgiving.

So today we're going to talk about the role of works. And in fact, yes, we're supposed to be intentional.

We're supposed to work hard. We're supposed to say no to sin and yes to righteousness, but because of the right reasons.

Not to get saved, do good things. Only Jesus could do that. Not to stay saved.

The Spirit of God seals us to the very end. But because we're saved, we are supposed to do good works.

Turn your Bibles to Philippians chapter 3 today. Pastor Meister will be here next week, and then hopefully we'll start the

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Luke the week after that.

But I wanted to finish up chapter 3 today of Philippians that we started last week.

Now I have in front of me here something that I used to use for my children. It's called the Catechism for Young Children.

Catechism just means question and answer. Maybe you come from a religious background where you think catechism is in fact strictly

Roman Catholic. But catechism is a way to teach anybody anything. How to tie a slipknot.

You could have a catechism kind of format. And this is the one that we used to use for our children.

It brings back lots of good memories. And before our children could even pronounce words, I remember them saying some of these things.

Who made you? God. What else did God make? Anybody? God made all things.

There's a remnant here at Bethlehem Bible Church. When you look at a minor prophet, God judges sin and there's always a remnant.

He keeps His promises. Why did God make you in all things? For His own glory.

This section here, you're failing this section right here. All the homeschoolers, right on. How can you glorify

God? By loving Him and doing what He commands. Why ought you to glorify

God? Because He made me and takes care of me. Are there more gods than one?

No. There's only one God. In how many persons does this one God exist? In three persons.

Who are the three persons? God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. And off we go. 145 little questions that help your children think about the

Bible, but in a way that they can get their arms wrapped around it, maybe in a systematic theology way.

When you graduate from the Catechism for Young Children, if you're in our circles, you might graduate to something called the

Westminster Shorter Catechism. It's not for children, but it's shorter than the

Longer Catechism. The answers are shorter, so you're working through, okay, catechism for children is like elementary school, shorter catechism is kind of for middle school, and longer catechism is for high school.

Let me ask you a question from the middle school Westminster Shorter Catechism.

Don't say the answer out loud, but let me ask you a question. Question 35. What is sanctification?

What is sanctification? The answer, according to the

Westminster Shorter Catechism, and I agree, sanctification is the work of God's free grace, it's

God working, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God. He's changing us.

And we are enabled more and more to die to sin, know to sin, mortification, and live under righteousness, vivification, to do the right thing.

Sanctification is God's work, where He works in you, so that you might respond with, say no to sin and yes to righteousness.

That you might respond with, I'd like to do good works, and I don't want to do bad works. I want you to know, for the

Christian, in light of God's sanctifying work, you are supposed to pursue holiness.

You're supposed to pursue godliness. We are not just to lay back and let

God. We're not just to grab the, I don't know, I'm thinking about maybe Sacramento, because Pastor Meister's from there.

You go down the Sacramento River, and I ride my bicycle past there, and there are about literally 700 people out on inner tubes, just floating.

I think it's some kind of float therapy or something, and they're just floating. Is that the Christian life?

God saves you, you stand before Him, no condemnation, all the benefits of Christ apply to you, you're in Christ, and now you're just like, coast.

I'll just float, and go to and fro, and you know what, I'm saved, so I don't have to respond. I can't save myself with good works,

I can't keep myself with good works, so I might as well just lay back and let God. Is that the response for the

Christian? And so today when we look at Philippians chapter 3, verses 12 and following, we're going to see that there is a response to God's sanctifying work, and it's not coasting, it's not relaxing, but out of gratitude we want to obey.

Christians should love God, Christians should love their neighbors, Christians should pursue holiness.

You, dear Christian, at Bethlehem Bible Church, should pursue godly living, and so should

I. Not to stay saved, not to get saved, but as a consequence of God's working in our hearts,

His free grace working, renewing in us, enabling us to live unto righteousness, and say no to sin.

So let's go to chapter 3, verses 1 and 11, and just have a quick review, because it's important that we understand 3, 1 to 11, and not just jump in and parachute behind the lines in verse 12.

Remember last week I called it, Asphalting Your Theology. Why did I call it that?

Number one, I just tried to get your attention, and that's kind of probably a sermon title you've never heard before. And number two, because if you look at verse 1 of chapter 3, it uses that Greek word where we get our

English word asphalt. Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord, to write the same things to you is no trouble to me.

I'm a pastor, basically, Paul was saying. I'll remind you of these things again, and it is safe, or asphalt, for you.

Asphalt just means not to totter. It means something that's firm and stable, and that's what

Paul wants for your life. The world is trying to get you to go back and forth, and our own hearts are running hither and thither and pell -mell all around, and we're just kind of like the sea that rages, and Paul says,

I just want you to be stable. We'd like to have a stable theological life, a stable moral life, a life that, you know, the winds can come and go, but it's just like that tree that just weathers the storms.

That's what Paul wants for his readers, and that's what I, of course, want for you. Problem is, there are bad people out there that don't want that.

One of the ways you can manipulate people and get money from them and get power over them is you teach opposite things and get them to be unstable.

Then they're going to need you. Then you're going to need your words. And so Paul says in verse 2, look out for the dogs.

I mean, these people want you to be unstable. This is not a nice family dog. This is the old, gross kind of dog.

You could probably even think of hyena, and that would give you a good idea. These are false teachers.

They're dogs. They are evildoers, and they mutilate the flesh.

These are the kind of people that do the works error number one that I started the sermon off with.

They try to say faith is fine, Jesus is fine, resurrection is fine, divinity of Christ is fine, but you need to add something, and you need to add circumcision.

They were called Judaizers. They're saying you have to do something plus Jesus. And what does he say?

Oh, that's a minor error. It's no big deal. It's a secondary issue. We all disagree.

Let's take a poll on Twitter. I mean, poll. It's like duck. If you're going to add to the works of Christ, that means you don't think

Christ's works are good enough. You don't think he was sufficient enough. You don't think he's the ultimate Savior and prophet, priest, and king.

You're demeaning Jesus's works if you say, no, you need something else. It's Jesus plus.

Kind of language of Galatians, wouldn't you say, when Paul says, if an angel from heaven should come and preach to you a gospel contrary to what we preach to you, let him be what?

Accursed. This is a non -negotiable for the Christian. Christians should be kind and loving, but we are intolerant when it comes to the work of Christ.

It's Christ's work alone, and we will not settle for anything else. On the other side, verse 3, we're the circumcision.

I mean, they were the mutilators. We're the circumcision, spiritual circumcision, who worship by the

Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus. We're not glorying in our works. I'm glorying in my baptism. I'm glorying in my circumcision and put no confidence in the flesh.

I'm not getting to heaven by my circumcision. I'm not getting to heaven by my baptism. I put no confidence in my flesh.

I put my confidence in the Lord Jesus. And then remember Paul said, if you Judaizers want to play a game, who's got more assets in their spiritual life?

He gives a bunch because he says, I have more. Verse 5, circumcised the right day.

He's an Israelite, not an Ishmaelite. He's a Benjamite. He's a Hebrew. He's a Pharisee.

He persecutes the church. And he says, you know what? All that stuff I put in one heap, one big pile.

Verse 7, whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. It didn't mean anything.

Because it's all who Jesus is and what he did. And so when I look at the work of Jesus and I look at my works and I compare the two and I think,

I thought this was gain and it's really loss. And before I was saved, I actually thought Jesus was loss and now he's gain.

And there's this great transaction in his mind. And he doesn't just say, when I got saved,

I thought that way. Do you notice verse 8? I even think this way as a Christian. And so do we, by the way.

Indeed, I continue to count. I keep on counting every day. Everything is loss, verse 8, because of what?

Because of who? The surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my

Lord. The Lord knows me. I know him. Why would I exchange something else, some ritual for knowing who

Jesus is? I count them as rubbish, as dung, in order that I may gain

Christ. I mean, is not this reminiscent of the Lord Jesus when he said, for whoever would save his life will lose it.

Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits its soul?

Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? I mean, to have the intimate relationship, knowing who

Jesus is, and he knows me. Verse 9, he goes on to be found in him. Not having a righteousness of my own.

Righteousness means doing something right. You have a law, you do the right thing. Jesus is born under law, he does the right thing.

We get his right thing doing, his righteous doing, we get. It's not our righteousness that comes from the law, because we can never keep the law.

But that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, not ourselves, not from legalistic things, not from circumcision, comes from God on the basis of faith.

And here's this language again of knowing Jesus, not just a theological, theoretical thing, but a person to know

Jesus that I might know him in the power of his resurrection. Well, knowing that, looking back at your life, seeing that happen to you, what's your response?

What's your response now that you're a Christian? And we're going to see six responses. I better not do that, sorry.

Take that out of the tape. Remember we had tapes? I think I told you this story, the longest sermon

I ever preached on a Sunday morning was 92 minutes. And it was not at Bethlehem Bible Church, that would be a fail.

I went to another church, it was in South Central LA, and I said, well, you always say to the pastor, how long do you preach?

And then you preach a little less than what the pastor does. So he said,

I preach 92 minutes. 92 minutes, where did you get that number? 92 minutes, he said, well, 90 minute cassettes are technically 46 minutes on each side, so that's 92 minutes.

So preach through the first part of the cassette, they'll record it, look at the sound person, flip it over, and then keep going.

I want you to preach 92 minutes. I thought I'm only prepared for 49, so I had to quick scrounge another sermon and put two together.

Mission accomplished, 92 minutes. What do we do that God's now saved us?

What did Paul in jail want for the Philippians? What did he want them to do to make sure they, of course, are solid in Christ by faith alone, they get to know

Jesus, they're known by Jesus, they stand before the Father as perfect, but in light of that, not to get saved, not to stay saved, but because they're saved, they should work out their salvation.

They should respond with holy living. This is important for the Christians. There's nothing wrong with good works, it's just, where do we put the good works?

And, of course, in the world, there's always theological error. If 6 o 'clock is the truth, then 5 o 'clock is legalism,

I add to Christ's work, and 6 o 'clock is, well, I can't keep my salvation,

I can't earn my salvation, so I might as well not do anything, because I don't have to. Now, right there in the center, 6 o 'clock, you can see

Paul, and here's Paul when it comes to the doctrine of sanctification. God has justified you,

God is sanctifying you, what's my response? Actually, now I'm able to do it,

I wasn't able to do it before, I was a dead man walking, the Spirit of God is in me, how should I respond?

And here's how Paul wants us to respond today, and I'm going to say several, because if I say six, it might be the 92 -minute sermon.

Let me say several, we'll just get as far as we can get. Responses to your salvation.

What should you do, dear Christian, now that you're a Christian? That God had you count everything as loss, and everything about Jesus was gain, and He granted you repentance and faith, and now you think, okay,

I'm a Christian now, how do I honor God with my life? Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.

What would you like me to do, Lord Jesus, what would you like me to do? There are many things for the

Philippians in this Roman colony, He wanted to do these six things. Response number one, imitate

Paul and press forward. Imitate Paul and press forward.

Verse 12, not that I already obtained this, or am already perfect, he's been talking about this righteousness that we have in Christ Jesus, becoming like Him in His death, sharing in His sufferings, knowing

Him and the power of His resurrection, chapter 3, verse 10. I haven't arrived yet, but I press on to make it my own.

Why? Isn't this the greatest? Don't miss this. Because Jesus Christ has made me His own.

He wouldn't need to say that, because He's already said essentially that in chapters 1, 2, and 3 earlier, but just to make sure we realize, why is

He pressing forward, why is He running, why is He saying, you know what, just to let you know, those Judaizers, those false teachers, they think they have arrived.

Those dogs and evil workers, those mutilators, they're like good to go, they don't have to do anything else. I, Paul, I thought

I had arrived by getting circumcised the right day, zealous, etc., etc. I want you to know,

I'm in a race, and to use theological terms, I was justified, I'm being sanctified, but I'm not yet glorified.

So while I'm waiting for the Lord to return, I'm waiting for my glorification, what do I do?

I keep pressing on. Do you see it? Verse 12, I press on. That's a very interesting word, pressing on.

It's almost like He takes the word, well He does, He takes the word persecute, and instead of Paul persecuting the church with the same intensity you would persecute someone,

I'm now moving forward, I'm pressing on. Jesus has laid hold of me, so I have nothing to lose.

What's the worst thing that can happen? I'm going to press forward and then die for my faith? Doesn't matter to me,

He's got a hold of me. This is race language.

This is track and field language. This is 40 yard dash, 100 yard dash, 100 meter dash.

And it's hard to run a race looking at yourself. It's hard to run a race looking around at other people.

And Paul says, I'm in a race. There's other language that Paul has that's race -like.

I fought the good fight, I finished the course, I've kept the faith. My dad used to say to me when

I was acting in a lazy fashion, which was only every 10 years, but once in a while he would say such a thing like this.

Stop lollygagging. Like, lollygagging? I typed in, what's the etymology of lollygagging?

Just stop dawdling, stop just kind of going half speed. Kind of just idle.

Get moving. Not to stay saved, not to get saved, but because you are saved. If the

Lord Jesus asked you to do something after He saved you, died for you, lived for you, you'd say, Lord, here

I am. Whatever you want me to do. Paul's not just saying, you know what,

I'm just going to coast. I've got these spiritual credentials now that are given to me by Christ Jesus through faith. There's some kind of, may

I say, dissatisfaction in where he is. And I could ask you the question, wouldn't you like to be more mature than you are?

Wouldn't you like to be kind of farther along the spectrum of the race that you're running? If it's a hundred yard dash to glory and you're at 40, wouldn't you kind of like to be at 80?

And that's what Paul's saying here. Paul knows that he needs to progress in the faith.

Paul knows he hasn't made it yet. And Paul said, I'm going to run.

Just because I'm converted doesn't mean I don't have to respond to God's sanctifying work and say no to sin and yes to righteousness.

I want to be conformed to the image of Christ, Romans 8. Spurgeon said, and I say to you,

I invite every soul that has been saved by the precious blood of Christ to gather up all its strength for this one thing.

To cultivate a passion for grace and intense longing after holiness.

If we were but to serve God as God should be served and be such manner of people as we ought to be in holy conversation and godliness, we would see a new era in the church.

The greatest one of the church at this day is holiness. He's pressing on.

He's stretching out. I like to watch bicycle races and sometimes people actually running races.

And what do they do when they're getting really close to the finish line? With a bicycle race, you kind of jam your bike out because you can get that last kind of half second, that tire lead where you just push your bike out or you see the runner straining to get to the tape before the other person.

That's the language of Paul. It's not lollygagging. It's not laying back and letting God. Verse 13, brothers,

I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do. Here's the race language.

Here's the straining forward language that I just talked about. Forgetting what lies behind, straining forward to what lies ahead.

He said it again now. He says it again. I press on to the goal of the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus.

I, Paul, am completely accepted by God in Christ Jesus the moment I believe.

But my response now to God's saving work out of gratitude and thanksgiving is I'm running.

I'm pushing. I want to see progress. I'm not just laying around. The opposite to this word is

I'm idle. The opposite of this word is I'm content with my spiritual walk. The opposite of this word is, you know what, it's not that big a deal.

I'm going to make it to heaven anyway. Paul says,

I'm pushing. So let's make it really simple. Remember the

Judaizers? You've got to do things in order to get to heaven. They're dogs, they're evil workers, they're the mutilation.

They think they've arrived. They think they're perfect. They think they're mature. There's nothing else for them to do.

So, dear Christian, don't act like a Judaizer. It might be for different reasons.

You're saying, well, Judaizers try to do things to get to heaven. I'm not doing that.

But I don't really need to do anything in response to God. So while the Judaizer doesn't do good things for other people, he doesn't have to love

God and love neighbor. Neither does the person who says, I never have to obey

God's law. He's a father. He gives me a law to direct me. And I don't really need to do it. And so the same fruit of the

Judaizers is the same fruit of the people who don't follow Paul's example and press on by God's grace, by the

Spirit's enablement. Don't be a functional Judaizer. This takes concentration.

This takes movement. Let me remind you of two words from our Lord Jesus. Three words.

Remember Lot's wife? She's looking back.

Paul says, I'm in a race. It's all this stuff in my background. Yeah, that's right.

But I'm running a race. And I'm in the race. I've got the baton to pass to the next generation.

And hear me, and hear me clearly. I'm not saying if you don't run the race properly, you're not a

Christian. I'm not saying if you don't run the race properly, you're not going to make it to heaven. You make it to heaven by faith in the

Lord Jesus who ran the race to the very end. But out of a response to Him, out of gratitude, and knowing we'll be chastened if we don't, we want progression.

We want to move forward. Verse 15, let those of us who think we're mature think this way.

If you think you're a mature Christian at Bethlehem Bible Church, how do you think? And if anything you think otherwise,

God will reveal this also to you. Only let us hold true to what we've obtained. Let's think the right way.

Our conduct should be consistent with what we believe. Verse 17, here's the imitation part.

Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

Paul is saying the Judaizers, they want followers. Paul's teachers, they want followers.

But Paul says, look at me. No one would look at Paul and say, by the way, Paul, as a

Christian man, thought he had to do things to keep his salvation, do things to get his salvation, and by the way, do nothing after he was saved.

Nothing out of gratitude. He's just going to kind of coast. Paul, the coaster. Paul, the lollygagger.

That's not what Paul would do. And Paul is saying by the Spirit, now, follow me. Some people are legalists and they add law.

Some people are lawless and they just say, we'll do whatever we want. Sadly, Paul knows that in verse 18 and 19.

For many, not of one, not of two, not a couple, not a couple of three, many of whom

I've told you, and now I tell you even with tears, in a letter chock full of joy,

Paul says with tears, some people walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.

You know what? They don't strive for holiness. They're all about themselves, me, myself, and I.

They're all about consumption. They're all about hedonism. They're all about that. You can see it in verse 19.

These aren't the legalistic Judaizers. These are the licentious antinomians. Their end, by the way, is destruction.

How about this? Their God is their belly. How about that?

Your God is your belly. I don't really suggest doing street evangelism that way, but at least you're out there doing something.

Praise the Lord. Your God is your belly. You worship your stomach. You worship your appetites.

Instead of deny yourself and pick up the cross and follow me language, that's the language of the cross that Paul's talking about in verse 18.

Their God is their belly. And what do they glory in? Instead of glorying in the Lord and responding to Him and obeying

His laws out of gratitude, they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things.

These gluttonous, sensuous libertines are opposite of the legalists, but have a major problem.

So what's Paul saying in verse 17? Imitate me. Watch me. You know,

Paul liked to do that quite a bit. Imitate me as I imitate Christ. By the way, one of the things that probably would help you in your

Christian life, would help you a lot, is if you would read not just the

Scriptures, although I want you to read Scriptures. I want you to sit underneath preaching on Sunday morning. But in supplement, would you read biographies of Christian people,

Christian men and women? And you'll think, I see their example. And like the

Philippians are supposed to have the example of Paul, we can have the example of Paul. There are people in your lives that you watch, and you watch them grow.

And yes, they're setbacks, and they sin, and they fall. But they repent, and they keep learning and growing.

You know some of these people, even at Bethlehem Bible Church. No matter what happens, they just keep going.

They just keep growing. They just have that desire. Not by perfection, but just,

I want to learn and grow. And so you begin to read Adoniram Judson, and you think, this person was weak, and sinful, and just like me.

But I see the progress. I see the straining. I see the running. You read about Mary Schleser.

And Mary Schleser is a Scottish woman, and she goes over to Africa. And they used to think that, if you had twins in Africa, that they were demon possessed.

And so you would take the twins, and just set them out for the panthers, and for the lions to eat. And Mary Schleser of Calabar, Al Calabar, is that where she was from,

Calabar? She rescued 51 sets of twins. And she started bossing around all the big kings, and tribe leaders in Africa.

I liked it that they called her White Maw. I like that I can just say that today.

She's a White Maw. She's just in charge. And you watch Mary Schleser.

She's just a woman. Adoniram, he's just a man. They don't do everything perfectly.

And you watch. You pick somebody in your life, and you say, do you know what? That person is running the race. I'm going to imitate them.

I like to get to know them. One of the greatest things you young people could do is find some older saints here, and get to know them, and just say, you know what?

I know you've been through a lot of things, but you've seen God's faithfulness, and I could use some help. I mean, after watching what the wicked do, now we watch, and we observe what the righteous people do.

The friends of the cross say, I'm going to deny myself for the Lord Jesus, because of gratitude. The enemies of the cross say,

I'm going to indulge in every possible thing. I'm going to act like I'm an unbeliever. That's what I'll do. If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, the

Lord Jesus said. John Newton talking about shame and people that glory in their shame.

Then get saved. In evil long I took delight, unawed by shame or fear, till a new object struck my sight and stopped my wild career.

I saw one hanging on a tree in agonies and blood, who fixed his languid eyes on me as near his cross

I stood. What do we do to God's saving work? What's our response?

Praise, thanksgiving, honor. That's true. And for Paul with the Philippians, it was pressed forward by imitating him.

Number two, wait eagerly for the Lord's return. Wait eagerly for the

Lord's return. Verses 20 and 21. God justifies us.

God's sanctifying us. He's going to glorify us. I like to press forward. I like to work in a manner worthy of my calling.

I like to be godly and holy. My sin I repent and ask God to forgive me. And I'm waiting now.

This is what we do when we're Christians. We wait for the Lord. But our citizenship is in heaven.

Remember at Philippi, this is a Roman colony, Roman citizenship. How important was

Roman citizenship? Ask Paul. It kept him alive a lot longer than it would have because he was truly a

Roman citizen. Our citizenship, by the way, Christian, your citizenship, Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

True. Anybody here from New Hampshire? Drive here from New Hampshire? Some? New Hampshire? Did you drive from New Hampshire?

You're from New Hampshire. Okay. We'll pray for you later. Yeah, okay.

We're registered boaters in Massachusetts. We have passports to the United States. There are some visitors here that aren't.

But ultimately, our citizenship's in heaven. And by the way, we're waiting for that day.

What's this text say? We wait a Savior. Don't you love it? The Lord Jesus Christ.

He's King. He's the Savior. He's the Messiah. And guess what happens when He comes back?

In the midst of our running and straining and sometimes tripping and falling, He'll transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body.

We get resurrection bodies by the power that enables

Him even to subject all things to Himself. We're waiting.

When our name up in yonder is called, that role is called,

I'll be there. I'm a citizen of heaven. And we're waiting for that.

Hebrews 11 They desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their

God for He has prepared for them a city. Dear Christian, you ought to be thinking about the

Lord Jesus maybe today. What about those martyrs and those saints who are thinking maybe in the

Colosseum in Rome when the lions come out and they've got their wife and children, I wonder if they were thinking, what if the

Lord comes before the lion bites? And if He doesn't,

He'll come back one day for certain. I want to say in my heart of hearts that we as Christians sometimes have forgotten the doctrine of the second coming of Christ Jesus.

And 1 John 3 says when you remember He's going to come back, you live holy lives. Did you know one of the number one things about eschatology is not date -setting.

It's not pre -meal, post -meal, amil, pan -meal, pro -meal.

We're all pro -meal, aren't we? It's ethical eschatology. I used to think to myself, people that study all the charts and everything and date -setting,

I'm thinking, you've got to be one of the most godly people I've ever met because when you study the Lord Jesus' return, 1

John 3 says He's going to change you into His likeness because you're waiting for Him. And when you're waiting for Him, you'd like to respond in a manner worthy of your calling and to do the right thing.

I grew up in Nebraska. My dad worked for Northwestern Bell. I worked for Northwestern Bell Telephone Company for a long time.

Dad went down to Oklahoma because he was in management and there was a strike. And so he had to go down to Oklahoma to climb telephone poles and do things that he used to do.

And dad would leave on Sunday night and he would come back on Friday night. And mom would say on Thursday night,

Michael? Michael Lee? I already knew I was dead. Your dad's coming home tomorrow.

Clean up. Fess up. Wash up. I'm getting ready. Dad's coming home.

So how much more? We're in this world. We're in this very difficult situation. Yes, we want to live holy lives.

That's certain. We don't want to be legalistic or libertines and antinomians. But we have to be thinking and waiting for the

Lord's return. He is going to come back. He said it. Mark 13.

At that time, men will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

And He will send His angels and gather His elect from the four winds. That's you, Christian.

When He appears, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.

That's why when people come to you and say, we're going to transform culture, I tell those people, individually, if you'd like to do things for the culture, fine.

But as a church, we're not about transforming culture. We have one great commission, not two.

And the great commission is to preach the gospel to people, not transform culture. Because our citizenship is in heaven.

We're ambassadors for God. Through Christ. Colossians 1, He's delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved

Son. We're waiting. He transforms our bodies, everything subjected to Him, and we wait and we wait.

What else do we do? Let's dabble into chapter 4 a little bit. Response 3 to God's sanctifying work.

Stand firm together. Press forward and imitate Paul. Wait eagerly.

Stand firm together. Therefore, my brothers, whom I long for and love, my joy and my crown, stand firm thus in the

Lord, my beloved. I mean, look at that language of love there. My beloved, whom I love, my brothers, my joy and my crown.

Oh, I just want you to stand firm together. Can you imagine? This letter's read to the church.

And what if your name was listed in verse 2? And I entreat Uriah and Syntyche to agree in the

Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who've labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

Here's a couple ladies. We don't know what happened, but they're not getting along. In the light of who they are in Christ, in light of pressing forward like Paul, in light of waiting for the

Savior to come, they need to be unified. They need to be together. And he calls them out by name in the letter.

That'd be like me saying, this is not true. This is hypothetical. Let's just say Jim Caruso and Barry Aloisi aren't getting along.

So next week I get up before Steve Meister preaches and I'm up here and I'm going to do a little devotional first and I say,

I entreat Barry Aloisi and Jim Caruso to agree in the

Lord. It's about time to stop your little fight, Barry. Jim.

See, look, Jim's not even sitting next to Barry. McLaughlin's in between as an umpire.

I mean, if our focus is all heavenwardly, why can't we get along with people in the church? Anybody here you're not getting along with?

Let's just start with our spouse. God has saved you. God has granted you righteousness.

God knows you. Power of the resurrection. We just have to be on the same track.

We have to be thinking the same way. Not even unity for your sake, but for the Lord's sake.

I mean, these people had worked for Paul with the Gospel and now they're not getting along. And instead of joy and crowns,

Paul is saying, like thorn in the crown, as one writer said. Little squabbles, small squabbles.

You don't have to be friends with everybody in the church, but you have to live in harmony with people in this church.

That's the idea. Alright, last one. I said six, but we're going to do four and wrap it up.

Number four. How do we respond to God's saving work? Rejoice. Rejoice.

Number four. Rejoice. Verse four. Rejoice in the Lord always. Not in your trials, not in your difficulties, not in your health.

Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. Rejoice in who

God is. By the way, you have troubles, I'll see you Friday, Saturday, and Sunday because you're going to be rejoicing in the

Lord. You're going to learn things about God where you go, I had no idea God was so great. Rejoice in the Lord, and again

I say, rejoice. I mean, I learned that song as a memory song, I think with the seeds or some other company.

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. And then this side starts it. But this is the homeschool side.

They're better, so they'll probably be louder. Rejoice.

Ever seen like a little puppy? Maybe a little cat, if you're a cat person.

Maybe like a little lamb. Just skipping around, so happy, jumping and licking and everything, you're just like, just like happy.

Maybe you haven't seen it, but I can picture it in my mind. That's the idea here. Just the joy, and it almost comes out physically where you're just like so happy.

Paul's in jail. I personally am very, very convicted that when

I think to myself, you know what? I've always been strong, I've always been healthy.

And then even the last five weeks, I think, man, this is just the worst. I stand convicted by my own sermon.

Rejoice in your deteriorating health. Rejoice that you feel awful. Rejoice that you think, you know what, is this ever going to end?

Rejoice, is this what it feels like to die? Rejoice that it's like I can't concentrate. Rejoice that it's hard to have any happiness in about anything certain times of the day.

Shame on Mike Abendroth. Shame on you if you think that way.

The focus isn't on us. Rejoice in the Lord. By the way, Lord, Sovereign, Controlling, every inch of the universe, every molecule, every bit of cancer, every bit of this, every bit of that.

Rejoice in the Lord. How do we respond to God's salvation? Yeah, we want to live holy lives and wait for the

Lord's return, but we are to be rejoicing. He didn't say happy. He said rejoicing.

God, for who you are, and the source of the gifts, and for who Jesus is.

That's why we regularly need to keep our minds in the Gospels, remembering who Jesus is. Teaching is, the text says with a command, rejoice in the

Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Preaching is, do you obey this command?

Are you full of joy and rejoicing? Of course, it's a supernatural thing, is it not? Galatians chapter 5, the fruit of the

Spirit is love. What? Joy. I can just imagine the legalistic

Judaizers being the most moody, crabby people in the world.

You put people under the law, they're crabby. They're moody.

It's just a matter of time before the legalist shows their fruit of just, you know what, it's just not working.

And then you think of the libertines and the licentious and the antinomians. You think they're joyful?

Oh, they might be happy. But where's the joy going to come from? Trying to make sure

I'm okay with God based on my own merits? Or trying to just say, I'll just live like an unbeliever.

Then my conscience and conviction, the bad fruit of my life shows up.

No, the rejoicing is right there at 6 o 'clock where you think, where do good works lie?

Good works are Jesus' works to save me, Jesus' works to keep me, and I respond with gratitude.

And here God says to every Christian here, you ought to be rejoicing. By the way, wouldn't you want that for your friend?

To be rejoicing. Somebody's going through trouble, and wouldn't you love to have them have joy and hope and the

Lord's return? This all goes together. Central right in there is the Lord's return.

This is Paul the pastor. This is Paul the shepherd. If I could be one one -hundredth of Paul, I want you to have joy.

And your joy is not going to be found in here. In here, ultimately, it's going to be found in the

Lord Jesus. And that's why every single Sunday from Sunday school, Sunday night, we're going to tell you about the

Lord Jesus who sought you and bought you with his redeeming love so that you could respond with,

I get heaven, I should be going to hell, and I get everything else as well, and I will rejoice in the

Lord and not my circumstance. And by the way, when you're that kind of people, you get along with other

Christians that you might normally fight with. Kind of hard to fight with the rejoicing Christian. But I'll talk to Barry and Jim after the service.

Let's pray. Father, I'm sure it's not just me, but the church, dear

Bethlehem Bible Church, that we look at our circumstances and we lose our joy. Would you forgive us?

Would you cleanse us? Would you direct our mind toward the risen Savior who's coming back? We want to live holy lives.

Help us. We want to long for the Lord's return, but we're weak. So strengthen us.

And I would pray as well for the relationships we have here at church between other Christians, marriages, parents, and children.

Father, would you help them to stand firm together. We have a bigger cause. We have a bigger

Savior. And Father, these things, especially in eternity, will mean nothing. And so would you help us today to rejoice in the