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Sunday Service 4/25/21
out with one another. So with that being said, our call to worship this morning comes from Psalm chapter twenty -five verses eight through ten which says, good and upright is the
Lord, therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way.
All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and testimonies.
Let's pray. Three in one, one in three,
God of our salvation, heavenly father, blessed son, eternal spirit, we adore you as one being, one essence, one
God and three distinct persons. For bringing sinners to your knowledge and to your kingdom, oh father, you have loved us and sent
Jesus to redeem us, oh Jesus, you have loved us and assumed our nature.
Shed your own blood to wash away our sins, brought righteousness to cover our unworthiness, oh holy spirit, you have loved us and entered our heart, implanted their eternal life and revealed to us the glories of Jesus.
Three persons in one, God, we bless and praise you for love so unmerited, so unspeakable, so wondrous, so mighty to save the lost and raise them to glory.
Oh father, we thank you that in fullness of grace you have given to us Jesus to be his sheep jewel portion.
Oh Jesus, we thank you in the fullness of grace you have accepted, espoused, bound us.
Holy spirit, we thank you that in fullness of grace you have exhibited Jesus as our salvation, implanted faith within us, subdued our stubborn heart and made us one with him forever.
Oh father, you have enthroned to hear our prayers, oh Jesus, your hand is outstretched to take our petitions.
Oh holy spirit, you are willing to help us in our infirmities, to show us our need to supply words to pray within us, to strengthen us that we faint not in supplication.
Oh triune God who commands the universe, you have commanded us to ask for those things that concern your kingdom and our soul.
Let us live and pray as one baptized into the three -fold name, amen.
Let's go ahead and stand on this beautiful, wonderful day. Let's go ahead and sing out, sing praises to our savior
Jesus Christ. He became sin, who knew no sin, to be my righteousness.
He humbled himself and carried the cross.
Our soul, Jesus Messiah, the name above all names.
Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel, the rescue for sinners, the ransom from heaven.
Oh Jesus Messiah, his body the bread, his blood broken and poured out, all for love.
The whole earth was torn, amazing, love so amazing.
Jesus Messiah, let's sing that out. Jesus Messiah, the name above all names.
Oh blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel, the rescue for sinners, the ransom from heaven.
Oh Jesus Messiah, all our hope is in him, isn't it church?
Let's sing that out. All our hope is in you.
All our hope is in you. All the glory to you
God. The light of the Lord.
Jesus Messiah, the name above all names.
Amen. The rescue for sinners, amen. The rescue for sinners, and the ransom from heaven.
Oh Jesus Messiah, the
Lord of all. Be the
Lord of my heart. Not be all else to me, save that thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night.
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
My true, my true son.
Thou in me dwelling be one.
Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise.
Thou mine inheritance now and always.
Thou and thou only, first in my heart.
High King of heaven, my treasure thou art.
Let's sing of our High King of heaven. High King of heaven, my victory won.
May I reach heaven's joys, bright heaven's sun.
Heart of evil, still be my vision, oh ruler.
Still be my vision, oh ruler.
Amen. Who is the object of our vision this morning?
Who is it? Come on church. Jesus, Jesus Christ. That's who we're singing about this morning. And it's in Christ alone.
That's why we can stand here and worship together. We can sing these songs and these great truths.
Out not only in worship from ourselves to our Savior Jesus Christ. But in order to affirm these truths to each other.
Right? That's why we gather. We can affirm these great truths. And this is a great hymn.
In Christ alone. The one that we come here this morning to worship. Let's sing this out together. In Christ alone, my hope is found.
He is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground.
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace.
When fears are still, when strivings cease.
My comforter, my all in all.
Here in the love of Christ I stand. In Christ alone, who took on flesh.
Fullness of God in helpless babe. This gift of love and righteousness.
Scorned by the ones he came to save. Till on that cross as Jesus died.
The wrath of God was satisfied.
For every sin on him was laid.
Here in the death of Christ I live. There in the ground his body lay.
Light of the world by darkness slain. Then bursting forth in glorious day.
Up from the grave he rose again. And as he stands in victory.
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me. For I am his and he is mine.
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
No guilt in life, no fear in death.
This is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man.
Can never pluck me from his hand.
Till he returns or calls me home.
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand. Till he returns or calls me home.
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.
This next time in our order of worship, we have the honor and the blessing of partaking in the
Lord's Supper. I want to read to you the words of the Apostle Paul of the importance and the gravity of what we're getting to partake in.
He says in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the
Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said,
This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying,
This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
This is a wonderful opportunity to think back on Jesus' death.
His body was shed on our behalf. And this is a model to the passing world that we are in Christ.
That we take his flesh and his blood. We take in the drink and the bread as a remembrance of what he did on the cross.
And so this is a command for believers, for us to partake in this blessing.
And it's a wonderful thing. The Apostle Paul goes on to tell us that if we are not a part of the body, not to partake in this way, to do so would be to drink judgment on yourself.
And he even goes on to say that if you have an unrepentant heart, if there is something that you need to examine, then let the cup pass from you.
To do so would be to drink judgment on yourself. He goes on to say, Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the
Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the
Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat the bread and drink of the cup.
For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
That is why many of you are weak, and some ill, and some have died. Now you may be somebody that says,
I really do want to partake. And we would love for you to please reach out to Pastor Nathan or myself, and we'd love to share with you what it looks like to have forgiveness of sin in Christ and to be a part of the body.
And if you're somebody that has unrepentant sin or a broken relationship with another brother, reach out to us so we can help bring restoration.
So with that being said, I'm going to pray here in just a moment. And if you're on this side, you can take turns going up here, and you're welcome to go back to your seat and pray with your family and partake.
And then over here, I'll be over here, and we'll direct you as well. So with that being said, let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this time of worship. Lord, I pray that each and every one of us that desire to partake in your supper,
Lord, I pray that we would examine our heart for any unrepentant sin, that we would confess that to you,
Lord. And if you're dealing in our life, God, and we see that we are not fit to partake,
God, please help us to just understand that it's okay, that there's a time for restoration and just getting fellow brothers and sisters together to help us walk in holiness together.
Lord, we love you so much. We pray these things in your name. Amen. We wonder why we do this every week.
We'll be doing a sermon series, a two -week series on that. That is way too high, buddy.
Let's bring it back. That's a little hot. It's still a little high. Let's bring it down. We're still learning the sound system,
I apologize. But no, this is a great opportunity for us every single week to evaluate, to look, and to remember.
So this is something we're going to continue to do. And like I said, we're almost done with Philippians, and we'll be talking a little bit about what that means and why we're doing it every week.
Let's go ahead and open your copy of God's Word. We are in chapter 4 of Philippians, and we are still in verses 4 through 9.
We started verses 4 through 9 last week, and y 'all didn't let me finish. So we're back at it.
This is part 2 of last week. Philippians chapter 4, starting in verse 4.
It says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice.
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone the Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, it will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
And what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the
God of peace will be with you. This is the reading of God's word. Let's go to him in prayer one more time before we jump in.
Dear only Father, Lord, we thank you. What a great opportunity that we have to come before you and worship and sing of your great salvation.
So God, right now we pray that you would guard me from speaking error.
Lord, and you would open our ears and hearts to hear the truth of your word this morning,
God. Lord, do the work that only you can do in our hearts and minds.
In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well, just as I said last week, we jumped into verse 4 and we made it to verse 7.
But verses 8 and 9 are critical to the Apostle Paul's continuous thought here.
And we didn't get to make it to those verses. So I thought today as we look at verses 8 and 9, we're going to have to do a recap.
And I know I can see in some of your faces you know what that means when I do a recap. But trust me, it is a brief recap.
But I think it's important that we talk about what we discussed in verses 4 to 7 last week to build into this thought process of where Paul is going here in these verses.
So in verse 4 last week we saw a positive command. Does anyone remember?
What was that positive command in verse 4? Rejoice. It was to rejoice in the
Lord. And we talked about what that meant, what it meant to rejoice, how we are to delight in the Lord, how we're to delight in our
Master, how we're to delight in our Savior. And that rejoicing is this positive command that the
Apostle Paul gives us. And not only are we called to rejoice in the object of our delight, the
Lord, but he also gave us a duration of that rejoicing, that command, right? It was at all times, always.
Rejoice in the Lord, always. Again, I will say rejoice. And then in verse 5, he then calls for a visible confirmation of this command, right?
He says, let your reasonableness be known to everyone. And if you remember, if you were here last week, we talked about this word reasonableness.
And it's better understood from my perspective in the Greek, what the
Apostle Paul wrote there, it's better understood as an assurance. Remember that?
Not only just an assurance, but an abiding assurance. Assurity.
An assurance in your soul, in your heart, and in your mind. And an assurance in what? Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
It's an assurance in our Savior. It's an assurance in our Master, in our
Lord, the one that we're rejoicing in, the one that we're delighting in. That's who we're supposed to be having an assurance of.
And that's so that the watching world can look in and say, so -and -so is going through this difficult situation, but they still have an abiding assurance.
They have this assurance that I can't even begin to understand in this God that they serve, in this
God that they worship. So that they can look in and see the evidence in your life of being obedient to God in this command of rejoicing in the
Lord. And it's also for other believers. Just as I mentioned when we were singing a second ago, our singing is not just us with God, it's us with God together so that we can be affirming these truths to each other.
And so Paul is calling for us to have an abiding assurance in our Lord, in our
Savior, so that other Christians can look in and go, they're going through a difficult time, but they still trust.
They still have this assurance in the Lord. And we see that reasonableness in the present
Savior. When he says the Lord is at hand. When he tells us the Lord is at hand, remember we said that that was not necessarily
Paul talking about Jesus coming back, but that Jesus is present. That Jesus is with us.
Because if we're going through a circumstance, if we're going through a situation, no matter what it is that we're called to rejoice in, that we're called to have an abiding assurance in, no matter what that circumstance,
Paul is saying, you can have an abiding assurance and you can rejoice in the Lord because your
Savior is present with you. And not only is he present with you, he knows the circumstance that you're going through because he's the one that brought you to it.
Now that may be difficult for some of us to understand or even comprehend or accept because we go, well, you don't know the circumstance that I'm in.
You don't know how difficult this is. Jesus wouldn't have brought me here. Well, then you don't understand the passive will of God.
We have an active will of God and we have a passive will of God. And God actively does things and God passively does things, but everything is under his guidance and his ordaining purposes.
And so when Jesus has you in that circumstance, he not only just brings you there and says, hey, have fun with it.
I'll see you, but I'm with you. And Paul is reminding the believers of Philippi that. And then in verse 6, he gives us a negative command.
You remember what that negative command was? Do not be anxious.
Do not be anxious about anything. We talked about anxiety, didn't we? We talked about this worry that we constantly fall back to.
I made a confession to you that that is a sin that is constantly pulling my heart away from God because I fall into worry and that's a sin
I have to mortify constantly. I think all of us struggle with it, right? Otherwise, Paul wouldn't have addressed it so clearly.
But he says, do not be anxious about anything. And when we are anxious and when we do worry, we know ultimately this is because of why.
I'm going to check and see. This is a test. I'm going to see if y 'all were listening last week. What is the reason that we are anxious and worried?
Trust. It's a small view of God, isn't it? It's a small view of God because when
I fall into worry and I know what Paul said that I'm to rejoice in the
Lord always and I'm going to have an abiding assurance because Jesus is with me. He's the one that's brought me to it. Then I have to say one of two things.
I have to say, God, I don't trust you because either you don't have my best interest at heart.
This is not for my good and your glory. I don't trust you. Or we're saying you're not powerful enough to actually have ordained this circumstance.
So when we fall into anxiety and worry, this may seem like a small thing where we say, well, I'm just worried.
I'm anxious about the situation. This is a small sin. I didn't kill anybody. Think about the ramifications of that worry and that anxiety and what we're saying not only to God but to a watching world, to our family, to our loved ones, to other saints.
That's what we're saying is we don't trust God because we have a small view of God. But when we see God for who he is, when we see
God for the all -powerful, sovereign, ordaining God that he is, then we see ourselves in light of that God.
Amen? I hear you. We see ourselves, and when we see ourselves in light of that God, then it produces a humble countenance, doesn't it?
It produces a humble countenance in us. And that's why Paul says to let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, he goes on, he says, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.
This is a humble place. When you go to God in prayer, this isn't just communion.
This is humbly setting yourself before your Creator and going to your
Father in supplication but with thanksgiving. Well, it's hard to be thankful for something when you're not humble, when you don't know that you didn't deserve that.
You know, when you get something that you deserve, there's not necessarily thankfulness there, is there?
You're like, well, I earned that. But when we get something that we don't deserve, think about that for a second.
Think about what Paul is saying here when he says, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, as to where to have a thankful heart because of what
Christ has done for us. If you were in Christ this morning, you were at one point an enemy of your
Creator. Amen? You were an enemy of God.
You hated God. And if you were not in Christ, God hated you. Now, if you're in Christ, ultimately
God set his love and compassion on us from the foundations of the world, but only through and because of Christ.
But you were an enemy. It would be as if, and I was thinking about it this week, as I was thinking about this recap.
I wish I would have said it last week, but it's as if you have murdered someone's entire family brutally and violently.
You were their enemy. But instead of them coming after you to prosecute you or to get vengeance, they come to you and adopt you as their own child.
And then you inherit everything they have, and you're brought into their family. That would produce thankfulness, right?
That's the thankfulness that we're to have in Christ when we go to God, and it brings a humble countenance.
And when we do this, he says there's a promise that comes with it. In verse 7 he says, And the peace of God, this peace that only
God can give you, the peace that only your Creator can give you, which surpasses all understanding.
That watching world looking in, they can't even begin to comprehend why you have an abounding assurance, why you're rejoicing in your
Creator and in your Lord and Savior and Master. They can't even begin to understand it. Not only they can't understand it, but we understand to a small degree, but we can't even understand the width and the breadth and the gravity of this great peace that only comes from God in that moment.
And so it surpasses all understanding. And then if you remember, I told you to circle this word in your Bible. He says it will.
This peace of God will guard not just your heart and not just your mind, but both that armor of God that is surrounding both your soul and your mind.
I think what Paul is talking about here is he's talking about the fact that that there are there's two aspects to us.
There's a soul and there's a body. Right. And they both need to be guarded in this world. And the peace of God will guard those things.
But ultimately, all of this is for not if what?
It's not for our Savior, Jesus Christ. That's why he says there in the end, he will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
So that's the one we're looking at here. Now, with all of that being said,
I told you to be a brief recap. But with all of that being said, I would assume that some of you may have left last week saying, yes.
I see it. Paul wrote it. Holy Spirit inspired it. I'm to rejoice in the Lord all the time.
At every aspect of my life, I'm to have an abiding assurance in my ever -present
Savior. I'm not supposed to be anxious about anything. And I'm supposed to pray and be thankful all the time.
Totally understand that. You may have left thinking those things. Maybe not exactly, but this idea of that.
But then that comes along with it. But come on, Nathan. Really?
I mean, you know good and well that's not possible. You know good and well that I can't rejoice in the
Lord always. You know good and well that I can't stop anxiety and worry from setting in in my heart and mind.
You know good and well practically. You know it from experience that this cannot be done.
Yes, theoretically that's what we're called to, and it should be done, but it can't be. Our sin nature just keeps us from this.
There's no way I can experience this at all times. I can experience moments of it.
You know, we like to call it in the Christian world, we like to say the mountaintop experience, right? We have this mountaintop euphoric experience to where we're with God.
We see God for who He is, and we're just overwhelmed, and we worship God. And in that moment, it's easy to rejoice in the
Lord in everything. It's easy to avoid anxiety and worry. But let's be honest, most of our
Christian life isn't on that mountaintop, is it? It's down in the valley. Where the weeds got thick.
And the work got hard. And God seemed far away. And so our flesh takes over, and we say, well, this can't be.
We can't do it all the time. I know that's what you're saying. I know that's what Paul called me to. But man, this seems impossible.
This seems unattainable. Well, I have a couple things to say about that. Actually, three things in response as we get ready to jump into these passages, these verses.
The first one is, in response to that question, is this even possible at all times, is one,
God will never give His children a command that He Himself does not give you the power to obey.
Now, He gives commands to a lost and dying world all the time that they do not have the power to obey.
But as His children, we have the power to obey. Well, how do we know this?
How do we know we have this power to obey? Well, passages like Romans 6, where Paul says,
For sin has no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Sin has no dominion over you. God's not going to bring you to something and say, Hey, do this command.
Carry this out. Rejoice in the Lord always. Have an abiding assurance in your ever -present Savior at all times.
And be thankful and humble all the time. If He doesn't give you the power to actually obey the command.
Because before you were in Christ, before you were awakened, before you were brought, what were you?
You were a slave to sin, weren't you? This big wall is sin.
Before Christ, I'm chained to it. I can obey nothing but this wall of sin.
I have no power to obey God's precepts. I have no power to obey this command to rejoice in the
Lord. Because I am chained to a wall of sin. And when Christ, when
Christ pays the penalty for you, and when He takes your sin upon Himself, and then imputes that righteousness of His self onto you, then
God breaks those chains, doesn't He? And now you're freed in Christ. You're freed in Christ.
And now when you're freed in Christ, you've been given a new heart. That heart of stone was taken out.
You've been given a heart of flesh. You've been made a new creation. And now, you now have the power to obey
God's precepts. Amen? That's what it means. And so when we say, this is unattainable,
Nathan. We can't do this. I know Paul called us to it, but it's not possible. God's not going to give you that command if He doesn't give you the power to overcome it.
And if you're in Christ, you have the power within you to overcome it, because you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you.
That ever -present God is with you, right? Now, this should give us great hope.
This should give you great hope this morning that all of this is possible. And why does it seem impossible?
These are things that all of you, I see all the heads nodding, yes, this is true. But practically, does it play out in our lives all the time?
No, because we typically try and do things within our own power, don't we?
And that's my second response to this question. Is it in our own power? It is impossible.
We so often, we were chained to this wall of sin, and we were enslaved to it at one point.
And when Christ paid the penalty for us, then those chains were broken, and we were freed.
We weren't just freed to something to just do whatever we wanted to. We actually have a new master now.
But that is total freedom, because our master is perfect. He is Jesus Christ. But what we tend to do is we tend to do things in our own flesh.
We have a master, Jesus Christ, and we long to be with Him at times. But there are other times when our flesh takes over, and we go back to our wall, and we stick our hands up here, and there's no chains holding you, but you're holding you back.
And you long for that wall of sin, and you try and do things on your own power, when
Jesus Himself is right there, and you cannot serve two masters, can you? And so we try and do things within our own power.
And here's what I think. And this is, take it or leave it, this is an opinion.
This is 2nd Opinions, Chapter 3, right? I think, because of the sovereign
God that we serve, that ordains everything, I think God allows those times in our lives.
I think God allows those times in our lives. And you know why I think that? I think He allows these times in our lives to deepen our dependence on Him.
Have you ever found yourself going back to that wall of sin, and trying to obey an old master, to only find that it's only going to leave you with destruction and hopelessness?
At the very end, you see how meaningless it is, you see how broken it will leave you and those around you, and it makes you run back to your
Savior, doesn't it? Every single time, you go, that is not a good master, but you are.
And you go before God, and God allows those moments in our lives. Sometimes I wish
He didn't, but He does. And He has a perfect plan and a perfect purpose. And we fall back within our own flesh.
And He wants us to depend more on Him and on His power alone.
You know, it's funny, I was thinking about this. This week, my family went to a park and found a lone duckling all by itself.
And that duckling somehow fixated on JD. And so now they've brought it home. We have a duckling at the house.
And this duck, you can hear its little feet pattering through the house. They're going through the house, and it's following JD.
Because it's now identified JD as its Savior.
JD's a mother now, yes. But the point struck me as I was thinking about it, as I was thinking about this and our dependence on our
Savior and our dependence on God, is that's how we should be. Because that duckling will stay right near JD, and it will keep busy eating things and making messes.
But if JD walks away a little bit, it knows I'm not safe anymore. And those little feet run across the floor.
You can hear it following JD everywhere. As close as it can stay, because it knows it's safe there.
Well, that's us, isn't it? That's how we should perceive God, but we don't often. We often go off on our own.
And so that is in our own power, and it is impossible. You cannot obey these precepts.
You cannot rejoice in the Lord and have an abiding assurance in your own power. And thirdly, Paul knows this propensity.
He knows our flesh, because he himself is just a man.
And so this is why I believe he wrote these thoughts in verses 8 and 9. You see the connection now?
Had to build up to that point. But there's a connection here. In verse 8, look there in our passage where Paul says,
Finally, brothers. Here's Paul coming in. He's given us these commands, and now he's wrapping up.
He's wrapping up this thought by saying, Finally, brothers. Listen, if you really want to know how this is possible, here's how it is.
Think about these things. You know, we've all heard the saying from Proverbs, For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
You know, there's an old author that wrote an entire book on this. Allen's his last name.
I don't remember the guy. But he wrote a whole book based off of this proverb about what we think about is what we ultimately become.
Right? We think about things, but what's in our minds ultimately comes out of us.
It's kind of like arguing with your spouse. You know, sometimes you get into a heated argument, and you say something that you typically would not have said, and then later you try and go back and apologize.
Well, I didn't mean that. Well, no, you actually did because you reacted. And when you react, that's what's in your mind.
That's what you've actually thought about, and now it comes out of your mouth. Right? But what you think about, you truly become that.
What do you think about? And I know it's a very open -ended, vague question.
What do you think about? What consumes your thoughts? What are you primarily focused on?
Spider -Man? That's good. There's things that consume our thoughts.
I remember my dad used to say, you truly are who you are when no one's watching.
It's true, right? You are what you're thinking about.
This isolation from everyone else. You don't know your thoughts. But what's up here, that reveals who you truly are.
You can put on a show. You can put on a show and be the person that others, your family and friends want to see, but you know truly who you are because you know your thoughts, and that's who you are.
Now, I would assume in this room that most of us in here try and make it a habit of what we refer to as a quiet time.
Right? Everyone in here tries to have a quiet time, right? We try and have a time, hopefully every day, where we set aside and we focus our thoughts and our attention on the things of the
Lord. And that's good. We should. That's absolutely essential. Yet, I would assume in many of our lives and in many times of our lives, once we're done with that quiet time, we quickly move on to other things, things that we deem more important, things that we think are essential.
And sometimes, well hopefully more often than not, these are good things.
I'm not talking to the person in here that struggles with wicked thoughts.
But most of the time when we're done with our quiet time, we then gear towards other things that are important and good things, things like our jobs.
There are some of us in here that have very important jobs. Some of the people that come, we're missing, what, three or four families this morning?
But some of the people in here have jobs that are very helpful to people, so they need to focus on them.
They need to be thoughtful about their job and about the things that they're doing that they're providing for their family.
But we think about those things. Some of you are stay -at -home moms. Some of you are focused on raising up and preparing the next generation.
Again, I told you, these are good things. Some of us have hobbies. Most of us have hobbies.
We like to say, well, I'm no good to anyone if I don't have some of my time, right? So we have these hobbies, and these hobbies consume our thoughts.
Here's another one, ministry. We become so focused on ministry.
We want to think about things, and these are important things.
But what is our primary focus? What is our mindset on?
Why? Why are we focused on these things? Because we become consumed with what consumes our thoughts and our actions and our time.
Whatever consumes your thoughts and your time is something that you become consumed with.
You all know what I'm talking about. You become fixated on it. I'm a very one -track mind person. I make a very, very terrible multitasker because I become fixated on something.
But it consumes me. But it often detracts us from what's important.
And I actually want us to take a look at a sister of ours from 2 ,000 years ago that I think had this same problem to help us understand what
Paul is saying here in verse 8. This sister of ours, you probably know her well, Martha. As a matter of fact, turn in your
Bibles back to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 10. Luke 10, starting in verse 38.
As I said, you all are probably very familiar with this encounter and this story.
But I want us to actually physically lay our eyes on it and look at it to help us understand what
Paul is saying. Luke 10, starting in verse 38. It says,
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. Here's Jesus.
He's entered the scene. This is the object of our delight, right? This is the object of our rejoicing.
He's entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
Think about that for a second. This sister of ours, Martha, did the right thing, didn't she?
She did the absolute right thing. She is showing hospitality here. When someone comes into a city, comes into a village at this time, you're to bring them into your home.
You're to feed them. You're to provide for them. You are to meet their needs. And she's doing that very thing to our
Savior and for our Savior. So she's doing the right thing here.
Look at verse 39. And she had a sister called Mary who sat at the
Lord's feet and listened to His teaching. What was
Mary doing? She was delighting in the Lord, right? She was taking her rightful place, which was at His feet.
She didn't try and sit beside Him. She didn't try and stand over Him. She sat at His feet, at her Savior's feet.
And she was delighting in her Savior. She wanted to learn from Him. She wanted to glean from Him.
She wanted to know what He had to say. She wanted to be in His presence. She wanted His acceptance. She wanted
Jesus, right? This is Mary. This is Martha's sister here. So she sat at His feet and listened to His teaching, verse 40.
But Martha was distracted with much serving.
Now hold on just a second. Martha did the right thing by bringing Jesus into her home.
And she's doing the right thing, right? In serving. I mean, come on. She's serving her
Savior. Martha is doing what she should be doing in her mind.
She believes this is the best plan of attack because somebody has to serve the food, right? Somebody's got to prepare it.
Someone's got to serve it. These people are hungry. They have to physically eat. I have to provide.
I have to be hospitable. That's what my culture commands of me. I have to be hospitable not only to someone but especially to Jesus.
And so she is serving and she is distracted with much serving. It goes on and says, and she went up to Him and said,
Lord. Now this proves that Martha knows who
Jesus is at this moment, at least as much as she can in her perspective. She calls
Him Lord, Master, right? She says, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?
This is often what we do, isn't it? We accuse our Savior of not caring.
We get so busy with all the good things. And then when things don't go our way, what do we do?
We blame God. We say, you don't care. You must not care.
You must not care for me in this situation. And she says, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?
You must not, Jesus, have compassion for me. You don't care that my sister is in here just sitting at your feet listening to you speak while I do all the work.
And now here's where it really gets interesting. Martha now brings a request to Jesus.
That's what Paul told us to do, to pray, to make requests, to let your requests be known to the Lord. But this is what
Martha does. She says, tell her then to help me. You obviously don't care that I'm doing all the work, all the necessary things while she does nothing.
Tell her to help me. That's what we do, isn't it? We blame God. We say, you obviously don't care.
And then we go ahead and we pray and we make our request to God. But it's the request that we want.
And we're trying to demand something of God as if he owes us that. She's not coming to him with thankfulness, is she?
She's trying to make a request like he's a genie in a bottle. She'll listen to you,
Jesus. Make her get up and do what I want to do because ultimately I'm God, not you.
I'm in control. I know what's right. I know what's best. Sound familiar?
It should because we often do the very same thing that Martha did. And this is what
Martha's doing. She makes a request without thankfulness. Look at verse 41. But the
Lord answered her. I love anytime you hear Jesus' response to somebody. It's either venomous or the most loving thing you could ever fathom.
In this, you can hear his love and compassion for Martha, even in her own sinful approach to Jesus himself.
He says, Martha, Martha. Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.
That anxiety, the worry about what seem like legitimate things.
Serving her Savior. And she's anxious.
She's worried about these things. And in verse 42,
Jesus tells her, but one thing is necessary. One thing is necessary.
Not you serving the food and serving the tables. Not your job.
Not your providing for your family. Not your raising up your kids. Not your hobbies.
Not your ministry. One thing. And what is that one thing?
One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion. What was
Mary doing? Delighting in her Savior. Setting at his feet.
Gleaning from him. And he says, this will not be taken away from her.
Think about that for a second. All of these other things that we do in our lives will burn away.
They will not last. But one thing will last. And that is oneness with Christ.
That is with your Savior. That is the one thing that's going to last. And Mary understood that.
Mary setting at his feet. Mary chose to delight in him. To be with him.
To love him. To learn from him. Are you trying to do things?
Are you trying to rejoice in the Lord? Are you trying to have an abiding assurance? Are you trying to not be anxious and worried?
Are you trying to pray and be thankful the way Martha was? By doing all of the necessary things?
By doing the ministry? By doing other things that are good things?
Or are you doing it the way Mary was? Because all those other things will be provided for you.
Jesus isn't saying here to Martha, well, Mary can just sit here at my feet and glean from me and physically do nothing and no work and I'm just going to provide a meal for her.
That's not what he's saying, but it's the heart of the matter. It's the desire. It's what your thoughts and your focus and your attention are laid upon.
Is it the busy work? Is it the other things? Or is it like Mary? Is it Jesus himself?
Is it the very object of our faith? Look back at verse 8 in our passage in Philippians 4.
When Paul says, finally, brothers, whatever is true, all of these things, Paul is not just saying think happy thoughts.
The world gives you this idea, they're like, man, if you don't want to be depressed or discouraged or anxious anymore, you've just got to think good thoughts.
And here's what the world is doing. The world is stealing from our worldview. They just can't bring it all the way.
They know that you're supposed to be thinking good thoughts. They know that you're supposed to have a good attitude and surround yourself around good thinking and around other things.
They know that, but it still doesn't reach the mark. It still falls short, doesn't it? He's not saying think about good things, because that's what
Martha was doing, thinking about good things, wasn't it? When Paul says, whatever is true and honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellence, and here
I'm going to key in here, when he says worthy of praise, he's speaking of someone very specifically.
Over in Isaiah 42, it says, I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
What does that mean? That means there's nothing worthy of praise in this world.
And so when Paul says that anything that is just and good, and anything that is excellent, and anything that is worthy of praise, he's speaking of Christ.
He's speaking of God. He's speaking of the triune God, the only one that is excellent and worthy of praise.
And whatever God has set before you, that is what's good, and he can redeem it.
But it's all in light of the object of our faith, Jesus Christ. Are you trekking with me?
This is what Paul is talking about here. This isn't just thinking happy thoughts. This is thinking and gazing upon our
Savior. Paul is talking about Christ. Do you consume your thoughts with your job, with your parenting, with your ministries, in light of that, with the intention of glorifying
God in it? Because I think that's the issue with Martha.
Martha wasn't looking to glorify God. Martha was glorifying herself. She wanted others to see that I'm meeting my
Savior's needs. I'm serving Jesus. Do you parent that way? You say,
I don't want people to think I'm a bad parent. I want my kids to grow up so that I look good, or so that they can be successful, or they can actually have a leg up from where I started.
Do you go to your job thinking, well, this is my identity. This is what I'm supposed to do.
This is me. I'm called to work. I'm called to be the man or the provider for the house. This is my job.
This is what I do. Outside of using it as a tool and an opportunity to glorify
God. Because I think that's the distinction that Paul is making here.
It's everything in light of your Savior. Absolutely every molecule and detail of your life should be centered around the very person of Jesus Christ and honoring and glorifying him with those actions.
And this right here is not us trying to do this in our own power. This is us trusting in the power of our
Savior. Now we also see here in verse 9, where Paul says,
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. We see the importance of discipleship.
We talk a lot about that here. This is going to be important to the life of this church because it's important to the life of believers.
There's discipleship here. You are not going to be able to keep your focus on your
Savior and do what you're called to do and obey these precepts that Paul has laid out without others around you.
You're not. You're not going to be able to stand alone because God has not prescribed that for you. He has not created you to be on your own and do these things on your own.
You absolutely have to have the church. That's why being here every single week all the time and consuming your life with it is of utmost importance.
Because you have to have that discipleship in your life. You have to have others around you because this is how the entirety of the gospel has been spread.
It started with Jesus and then to the apostles and to Paul and then to the early saints.
And it has come on all the way here to us in Jonesboro, Arkansas because it's been passed down, this truth.
And that's been passed down through discipleship. It's been passed down from each other. And so when Paul says, What you have learned, all the things that you've seen in me, everything that I have written, everything that I have taught, everything that you've received from me, everything that you've heard from my mouth, and not only that, but then he drives it further.
He says, and seen in me. Because Paul is one to practice what he preaches, right? Because remember, he's telling the church at Philippi to rejoice in the
Lord in their terrible circumstances while he's sitting in prison chained to a Roman guard.
So they see it in him. They see that, and that's important for us in discipleship for us to be able to see this in others.
And that's what Paul is saying, but he says, What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, he says, practice these things.
Paul's not telling them to rehearse them. That's not what he's saying. He's not saying, go and rehearse all of these things that you've seen and heard in me, try and conjure them up, try and be a
Martha. That's not what Paul's saying here. No, what he's saying is do them. Make them a habit of your life.
Imitate me as I imitate Christ. That's what we're looking to do, right?
Unequivocally, unquestionably, do these things. Obey these precepts in the power of Christ, not in your own power.
And this is how we do this. And we look at Paul's life, and sometimes I think we have a tendency to say,
Well, that was Paul. He was given a special grace, so of course he could live the life.
And as an example, you can say, Do what you've seen in me. Well, of course that's the apostle Paul. It's a special grace from God.
I think that's a bogus out for us. Don't you? Don't you think that's a bogus out?
Because the same power that is in Paul that is allowing him to obey
God's precepts and live the life he's living is the very same power that indwells in you. No more, no less.
If you were in Christ, you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit just as Paul did. And so we are called to live and to obey what
God has called us to do to rejoice in the Lord and be anxious for nothing. And he says,
When you've learned, received, and heard, and seen. But then he says, If you do these things, there's a promise.
He says, And the God of peace will be with you. The God of peace will be with you.
Now that may sound familiar because he said something like that previously in the couple of verses before where he says,
And the peace of God. But notice the distinction when Paul writes here. He's not talking about something that God gives you, which he was before.
He said, You will receive that peace, that same peace that only comes from God. But now what he's saying is,
If you do these things, if you look to Christ, if you gaze upon your Savior and everything in your life is surrounded around and surrendered around glorifying your
Savior and your focus is laid there, that you do these things and the very
God of the universe. Because God is a
God of peace, isn't He? That's why we can get peace from Him because He is peace. And that's what
Paul's saying here. He says, And the God of peace will be with you. That gives us hope, doesn't it?
That gives me great hope. I'm not left here alone. The God of peace, that very
Creator that created me out of dust and created the entire universe, is with me.
And not only is He with me, He's for me. Amen?
He's for me. And it says, He will. That promise. I love that. He will be with you.
This is how we can obey His precepts because He is with us. And when you think about God being with you, truly with you, and I can't help but think of Adam and Eve when they fell in the garden.
You think they would have eaten of that fruit during one of the times when God was walking through the garden with them?
Probably not. But that's the approach and the mindset that we need to keep as we are trying to set our gaze and our focus on an ever -present
Savior, an ever -present Triune God, a God that is for us, a God that has given us commands but not left us to ourselves.
He's given us the power to obey those commands. And we must gaze upon our
Savior in order to do so. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank
You. God, I thank You for who
You are. I thank You that You have not left us to ourselves here. God, I thank
You for Your Son. I thank You for the righteousness that we gain from Your Son, an alien righteousness that is not of ourselves and not of our own but that we get to share in oneness with Christ, oneness with You because of that perfect righteousness.
God, we find ourselves so often trying to go back to the wall of sin and chained ourselves to it, but we are free.
God, we look at Your precepts. We look at Your commands in Scripture to not be worried.
And we become overwhelmed and think, just, we're trying to be realistic. We think that this is just not possible.
I cannot do this at all times. But You, God, have promised that You have given us the power to obey.
So God, I pray that we rest in You. We rest in Your Son and the merits of Your Son and we gaze upon Him and we set at His feet like Mary did and learn from Him and enjoy
Him and rejoice in Him so that we can overcome sin, the attacks of the evil one here on this earth and our own flesh that pulls away from You, God.
Lord, grow us into mature, strong saints that will seek to imitate men like Paul as they have imitated
You, Lord. I pray right now as we give a time of offering,
Lord, that You would be honored in it, that we would give back to You what You have so graciously given to us.
We are so thankful for Your provision in our lives. In Christ's name, amen.