Good Works Make Life Worth Living

Please turn your Bible to Philippians chapter one. That can be found on page 980 if you're using the

Pew Bible. Philippians chapter one, please stand when you have that.

I'll begin halfway through, verse 18. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the

Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but with the full courage, now as always,

Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is

Christ and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.

Yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I am hard -pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this,

I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress in joy and the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent,

I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents.

This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw

I had, and now hear that I still have. Amen. You may be seated.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you today for your word. We ask that you would grant us an understanding of it, that we might be full of the zeal and joy that you would have for us.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well, as we continue talking about motivations for good works, and particularly motivations related to the notion of productivity, today, we'll be looking at the fact that good works make life worth living.

Paul says here, for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Now, next week, we'll look at a different passage to see, though it is not very grammatically or syntactically correct.

Good works also make death worth dying, but this week, good works make life worth living.

It's important to understand the purpose of your life in order that you might fulfill it, in order that you might enjoy your life completely, and that can be found when you realize that purpose of your life.

It's found in what God has prepared beforehand for you, good works, that you may walk in them.

Paul speaks here in verse 22, and he says, for if I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.

This is the purpose of his continued life. Why does he desire to continue living?

Well, it is because if he continues living, then he will be able to engage in more fruitful labor.

Likewise, this is the purpose of our lives. Notice that he says at the end of this passage that it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw

I had, and now hear that I still have. He wants the Philippians to be engaged in the same things that he is, the same conflict that he has, and what is the purpose of his life?

Fruitful labor. Therefore, what is the purpose of the Philippians' lives? Fruitful labor. Therefore, what is the purpose of your life?

Fruitful labor. Now, once again, to clarify, when we speak of good works, we're speaking of any kind of obedience to the

Lord, any kind of sincere, heartfelt obedience to the Lord. Anything that he calls you to do, whether it be to follow his law positively, doing the things it commands, or to follow it negatively, not doing the things it forbids, resisting temptation, all those things are good works.

He continues on in this passage, saying, "'I am hard -pressed between the two,' he says before that, "'yet which

I shall not choose, I cannot tell. "'I am hard -pressed between the two. "'My desire is to depart and to be with Christ, "'for that is far better.

"'But to remain in the flesh "'is more necessary on your account.'" It's interesting the way he speaks of this, as though it is a choice of his.

Maybe more literally, we might render it, he doesn't know which one he will take. But regardless, he presents this as some sort of fork in the road for him.

He will either die very shortly, or he will continue on living. And this is not so much a conflict in choice, as though he has the opportunity to decide.

He knows that it is ultimately the Lord's decision. But it is a conflict in his desires.

He desires both of these things for different reasons and different ways. He desires to die, because if he dies, he would go and be with Christ, and that is far better.

If he were to live, then he is able to continue engaging in fruitful labor for the sake of Christ.

But notice the confidence that he has after this. He says in verse 25, "'Convinced of this,

I know that I will remain "'and continue with you all, "'for your progress and joy in the faith, "'so that in me you may have ample cause "'to glory in Christ Jesus, "'because of my coming to you again.'"

Paul reads his situation of providence. He sees on one hand that one thing is good, he sees on the other hand, this thing is good, it's better for the

Philippians' sake, and he's able to read and discern that providence confidently that he will continue on for the sake of the progress of the, excuse me, if I said

Corinthians a minute ago, I meant the Philippians, but for the Philippians' sake, he is going to continue on for their sake.

He's reading providence, and he has confidence about the matter. "'Because for him to live is

Christ.'" To live is Christ. Now that's a very interesting phrase.

It's one that's hard to discern. What does it mean that to live is Christ? A verb compared to some kind of noun is not easy to make sense of.

What does it mean that to live is Christ? People have interpreted this two different ways. One is efficiently.

The other is finally. What that means is, efficiently, that Christ is the means by which he has life to continue living.

We see Paul say elsewhere that his life is hid with Christ on high, that Christ lives in him, and so it is through Christ that he has the power to live.

We see this earlier in the passage. He says in verse 11 that he is filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

So maybe it is that his labor is coming through Jesus Christ, Christ being the efficient cause of the life within him.

So to live is Christ in that sense. But the other way, and perhaps the answer is in part both, but the other way is that it is finally, finally meaning that his purpose in living is

Jesus Christ. Efficiently means the fuel behind him. Finally means the goal in front of him.

Verse 13 says, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

So here his labor, his service, his suffering is for the sake of Christ.

That is the purpose of it. So this is the final cause.

And that seems to accord best with what he says in this passage, because he says in the very next verse, if I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.

That his purpose is to serve Jesus Christ. His purpose, just like the

Philippians' purpose, just like your purpose today is to serve Jesus Christ. If you are one who has been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, that is your purpose.

If you are not one who has been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, if you have not turned to Jesus Christ, you have no purpose today.

You might be filling that void with different kinds of things, different kinds of goals.

Maybe you have existential dread occasionally, but then you fill it with different purposes, but ultimately you have no purpose.

The only way that you can find a true purpose is to have an eternal one, and that is found in Jesus Christ.

This is the only real purpose that anyone can have. Have you ever considered why it is that God still has you here and has not taken your life, if you are one that has trusted in him?

Is it just to sit here and bide your time and wait for that moment when you will be taken away? Well, that seems hardly much of a point.

Is it just for you to enjoy this life? Now, in some senses, it's good to enjoy the blessings of the

Lord while you are here. He gives us our daily bread, some competent measure of the good things in this life to enjoy, but is that our primary purpose?

Paul said here that his desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. If God's purpose for us was merely the most immediate kind of enjoyment in life, then he would take us away immediately because that would be far more enjoyable in all the immediate senses.

Instead, the primary purpose that he has you here still and has not taken you to be with him is for fruitful labor, fruitful labor.

If you're wondering what fruit means, think of the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

These are all fruit. And then, stirring up within others' fruit, even as you see

Paul having stirred up within others' fruit. Said in verse 14, and most of the brothers, having become confident in the

Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. He's, by his fruit, has stirred up within others' fruit.

This is the primary reason why God has not taken you. You are not guaranteed the next moment's breath, but the

Lord has extended your life. And if you are one who serves him, this is the answer.

The answer is for fruitful labor. Have you ever considered the pattern that exists among those who are saved?

It is most typical that people are saved in the earlier years of their life. Why is this?

There are several reasons. Some of it is to protect people from having committed so many offenses against the

Lord. Some of it is to prevent people from having such hard hearts and to have to correct so many bad patterns by the time that they have been called to serve the

Lord. But one of the main reasons, if not the main reason, why people are saved typically in the earlier years of their life is so that they would have many years in order to serve the

Lord. This is the reason that God has this pattern before people, and this is their purpose.

You may have heard the question, or it's phrased otherwise, not just as a question, but do you eat to live or live to eat?

And that's a question about enjoyment of things. Is your purpose in living in order to enjoy things or is your purpose in eating to continue living?

And that conjures up two different mindsets that one might have about enjoying life, et cetera. We might ask a similar question.

Are you working or serving the Lord in order to live or are you living in order to serve the

Lord? Many people go about the work that they have before them just in order to continue eking out an existence.

That is the primary purpose of their labor, whether it be just their secular labor in order to have enough to survive or whether it be some kind of modicum of obedience before the

Lord. Yet far better is to have the purpose that you are living, the whole reason that you are living and not immediately going to be with the

Lord is in order that you can continue engaging in fruitful labor. You see the pattern of the people of old and their pattern was not to see the enjoyments that they would have in this life as being their primary purpose.

Rather, they despise the things of this world, longing for the things of God. In Luke 2, you see

Simeon and Anna in the temple. Simeon, it said, is longing for the consolation of Israel.

Anna prophesies to those who are longing for the redemption of Jerusalem.

These are people who recognize that the current condition is not what it ought to be.

If you focus on what is here now as the ultimate thing, as the ultimate good thing, you will not be someone who recognizes what is truly the ultimate good thing, which is to be with the

Lord. And in turn, you will not be able to serve the Lord here as you ought.

Elsewhere in the Gospels, it speaks of the days when Jesus returns as being like the days of Noah and Lot, people marrying and being given in marriage, people eating and drinking.

Not that there's any problem with these things inherently, but if the focus is on those things as the main importance of life, rather than service before the

Lord, people have missed the main point. John 12, 25 says that if you seek your life, you will lose it.

The point of life is not, and life here on this earth anyway, is not for life here on this earth for its own sake.

Rather, the point is once again for fruitful labor. This is the priority as it has to be organized, that the purpose is not just to continue eking out an existence.

The purpose that you are here is for fruitful labor. And this can be best understood if you understand certain polarities.

And I'll explain what I mean by that. Maybe you've heard me talk about this before because I think it's an important polarity to understand is your view of yourself should be both one of a perfect kind of self -hatred and a perfect kind of self -love.

Ezekiel 36, 31 says that when people are given a new heart and a new spirit, what that stirs up within them is a self -loathing, that they detest themselves because of their sin.

This is right for you to detest yourself because of your sin. But then as you are found in Jesus Christ and recognize that God has so loved you that He has sent

His Son, and then that Son having died for you, you having forgiveness of sins and being covenantally found in Him, that means that God perfectly loves you.

And so you should be able to embrace both a self -loathing, knowing that you are worthless and wretched outside of Christ, but then also a perfect self -love, knowing that you are perfectly valued similarly to Christ Himself.

And if the Father loves the Son, well, then He certainly loves you because you are in the Son, and you are joined together with Jesus Christ in such a way that the

Father has no option but to love you because He loves His own Son. Many people try to encourage themselves by stirring up in themselves a confidence about the love of God in a view of themself and their own self -worth by trying to find some kind of moderating position.

Okay, I might not be perfect, but I'm not that bad. And so instead of embracing the poles that would give them a perfect self -hatred and a perfect self -love and a perfect understanding, they instead have something in the middle that gives them an okay self -love and this little niggling self -hatred that always follows them around.

And this is not what God has called them to. He's called them to embrace both poles. Now, as we learned recently from one of the catechism questions, one of the things the

Holy Spirit does in the effectual call is awaken people to both their sin and their misery. So their sin is their guilt before God, and this has to do with the poles that I'm just talking about because your guilt before Him has to do with your sin, but He also awakens us to our misery.

And you can have the same sort of mistaking of the polarities when you think about the misery that you are under.

You could come to a moderating position and you could say, well, you know, this life, it's not perfect, but it's also not that bad.

Or you could embrace the poles and you could say, this is a miserable condition that we are all in.

We are all faced with death all around. We are surrounded by death. In fact, apart from Christ, everything is vain and worthless.

Any work that we do just fades away. There's really no point to anything. It is all fleeting.

But then in Christ, everything I do, even the most minor things are perfectly purposeful so that they have eternal purpose before the

Lord because my fruit, that fruit of the Spirit being stirred up within me is something that continues forever and is not shaken.

And God has his purposes in all those things. And that stirs up the right kind of obedience where you are able to shun the things of the world in as much as you should, taking those things that God gives you on a daily basis for the enjoyment that they're worth, but no more knowing that it's purposeless and fully committing yourself to him.

Or once again, you can take that moderating position and say, well, this life isn't that purposeful.

It isn't completely perfectly purposeful, but it is kind of. My condition isn't all the way miserable, but it's not all the way on the other side either.

And so I'll go about just enjoying some things here, enjoying some things there, not complaining too much about it.

That's what most people have in mind. But what does that moderating position stir up?

A moderate kind of obedience. Just like a moderating position on your guilt before God, your wretchedness and the love that he has for you.

If you moderate that, then what it stirs up in you is a moderate sense of your self -worth rather than a perfect sense.

Embrace both poles, embrace both poles. This world is absolutely miserable, but everything you do is perfectly purposeful in Jesus Christ.

Now, you are here in this life in order to work. And it is additionally the case that you are here for the sake of others.

It's not just that your purpose is to work without any kind of point to that work, but particularly your work is to be for others.

Now, there is some sense in which it is for yourself. The Bible speaks of the need for us to suffer.

You know, we see here at the end of this passage, it has been granted to you for the sake of Christ. You should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake.

And we know that from Hebrews 12, excuse me, 14, that this is needed for the holiness without which no one will see the

Lord. Romans 8, 16 says it is necessary to suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified for him.

So there's some senses in which this labor is for the sake of yourself. Also, another caveat is it is not the case that God needs you for anything.

He does not need you as though he could not supply others directly. God is omnipotent, he has all power.

He is also perfectly blessed. That means he has all the things he needs. He does not need anything from you.

However, it is the case that he has chosen to work through means he has chosen to work through people. And what that includes is both working through you to show off his strength in your weakness, and also working through you in order to show off the body of Christ.

1 John 4, 12 says that no one has ever seen

God, but if we love one another, then God abides in us. The point is that there is a sense in which

God becomes visible in Christ, Christ becomes visible in his church because he is not here with us.

How is he made known? Well, no one's seen him, but we make him in some sense visible as we love one another and as we are serving one another.

The purpose of these works is for the sake of one another. Consider the way that Paul speaks of this.

Says in verse 24, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

He's not thinking about what he needs, he's thinking about what others need. For the sake of the

Philippians, he is discerning that he is needed for them. And he goes on in second half of verse 25, for your progress in joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again.

So for the sake of the progress of the Philippians and for the sake of their joy, so they have reason to glory in Christ Jesus when he comes to them, this is the reason why he should go on living, why he should continue.

And not only that, but even before his living has been for the sake of others.

As it said in verse 14, and most of the brothers, having become confident in the

Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Paul's life, his service has been for the sake of others. He knows that his purpose is to continue on for the sake of the

Philippians. Likewise, your purpose is for the sake of others. God has placed you in his providence at this very particular time, at this very particular place.

There's no one other than you who has the exact same relationships that you do, that has the exact same position and roles and resources.

And if he has not taken your life at this point, that means that there is something, there are more things in particular that he would have from you, that God is continuing you on for a purpose.

These are all true of you, and that purpose is for others. Consider that as you're discerning what your purposes may be.

Now, I don't mean to make this so mystical that, like some people have trouble where they think that they have to receive some kind of special sign from God or discern out from tea leaves what their purpose before him is, and it's going to be one particular thing that stands in isolation from everything else.

It may be a very simple purpose of serving your church family, may be a very simple purpose of serving your natural family.

It does not have to be anything so so unique.

Yet, it is unique in the sense that no one has the capacity to do that like you do because God has made you in your own particular time and your own particular place.

Now, along with that, God is perfectly sovereign so that you are here to work, you are here for the sake of others, and you are here as long as the work requires you to be, as long as God requires you to be.

This may be a long time, this may be a short time. It has been observed by a number of people how short the lives were of some of the people that had the more notable contributions in the history of the church.

Many have speculated, and I think this is a very reasonable speculation, that essentially God used them in a very short period of time for his particular purposes and then their purposes on earth were done.

You should be thinking about your life in that way. You should be thinking about your purpose not in terms of longevity, but in terms of labor, what you can do for the

Lord and what his purposes might be for you here. Do not cultivate thoughts about wanting to last long for your own purposes.

The only reason that you should want to last long is for his purposes. And praying in that manner that God would give you a long life so that you would be able to fulfill all your purposes is a good thing.

Likewise, it is good to pray that you would be able to complete those things as quickly as possible and that you would finish the race as quickly as possible.

You can embrace both of those at the same time. Two more polls for you to embrace.

Praying for a long life and praying for a quick end to the race that needs to be run.

Pray that the Lord would grant you both of those. Consider how Paul discerns

God's sovereignty in this matter. He says at the beginning of verse 24, or excuse me, the beginning of verse 25, convinced of this,

I know that I will remain and continue with you all. Paul does this elsewhere where he presents two options as possibilities, but then prophetically speaks one that he is confident of.

Another example of this is in Hebrews 6, where he talks about how the

Hebrews may fall away, but then afterward he says, but I am confident of better things concerning you.

So he does this where he'll present two options and then show the one that he is confident about and how he's discerned it.

Here, he presents these two options. He may die very soon. He may live significantly longer.

Eventually, of course, he does die, but he is confident that he must live a little bit longer for the sake of the

Philippians, and he is able to discern this. I believe that this is something that we can say to in measured senses.

Now, we are not apostles. We are not prophets in the sense of being inspired by the Spirit to be able to say,

God told me. Yet at the same time, he has instructed us to read his providence.

We've even been going through that on Wednesday nights about how to read God's providence, and it is right in a measured sense to be able to say that while at the same time embracing

James 4, 14, that your life is a little vapor. You do not know how long you will last.

Even though you do not know how long you will last, it is still the case that you can read your providence and have a good confidence about God's purposes for you and that you ought to be doing such things in order that you would follow in the ways that God has for you and make the right decisions before you.

George Whitefield famously said that we are immortal, you are immortal until your work on earth is done.

Have you ever thought about that? If God has some purposes for you and you are faithfully going about those purposes and not simply casting them aside, then you will continue without impediment, without an ultimate impediment until that work is done.

God's purposes are the ultimate purposes. He is sovereign. He will protect you through anything. You are, in a sense, immortal until your work on earth is done because God is guaranteeing that you will accomplish all the purposes that he has predestined you to walk in, as it describes in Ephesians 2, 10.

To give you an example from later on in church history of one who spoke similarly, it's not

Paul, not an apostle. I was reading recently, my studies on simony that I've been studying lately, simony being the sale or purchase of any kind of spiritual thing.

I've been reading a lot on John Wycliffe because he wrote a lot on simony. And in particular, he had a lot of fights with mendicant monks.

A mendicant is one who's sworn a vow of poverty, and so they go around begging. And these monks, these friars, had taken up a lot of the seats in the universities, about 2 3rds, the biggest universities at that time was the

University of Paris and the University of Oxford. Okay, Wycliffe is at the University of Oxford. About 2 3rds of the seats, that meaning the professorships that exist there, had been taken over by the friars.

Other friars would go around begging, and they would teach, and he believed their teaching was very poor, and they would require people to pay them.

The pastors, who were known as seculars, that's a very counterintuitive term for us, but the friars, the monks, are the religious, and then the pastors are the seculars.

The seculars had their living through the church, they were getting their money through the church, and so they're teaching for free.

But the mendicants, because they do not have this consistent income through the church, would beg afterwards, and even demand in a way that functionally, even though they would call it charity, functionally was the same as charging for their teaching.

And Wycliffe argued against this, he argued against much of the substance of their teaching as well. And one day, he was very sick.

During a certain portion of his life he was very sick, and this is in 1378, several mendicants came to him, several of these begging monks came to him, and several of the non -monks who were at Oxford came to him, and they asked him to retract all his writings against the friars, because he had written about all the wrong teachings of the friars, and all their begging, and their charging for the word of God.

And he had a servant raise him up to be able to give an answer, and he says, because they had come to him thinking that he was going to die, these were his final moments, if we can just get him to retract his writings.

His answer was, I will not die, but I will live to declare the evil deeds of the friars.

He just had such a confidence about the purpose in his life was not done, that he still needed to declare the evil deeds of the friars.

Imagine having that kind of sense of God -given purpose, that you know where God has placed you in such a way where, even though you do not know what tomorrow will bring, even though your life is a vapor, you can have a sense of what

God is calling you to, so that you can have a confidence to go forward with that kind of certainty.

Now Wycliffe lived six more years. This is not, on one hand, that is a significant period of time, and he wrote a lot more writings in that period of time.

On the other hand, it's only a few more years. So it's not as though he was confident that he was going to live on forever, but rather he was confident that God was going to carry him through until his work on earth is done.

Likewise, as you consider your providence, where God has placed you, and what your purposes in life are, you can have that confidence that God will carry you through until your work is done.

You should be thinking long -term about your purposes. You should be cultivating within yourself a desire for a long life inasmuch as it will bring fruitful labor, but then a desire to finish the race as quickly as possible and to complete the work efficiently.

You should be praying along these lines. You should be praying. If you pray for a long life, do not pray it just so that you can enjoy life a little more.

You can pray in order that you would be able to thank God. David, when he asked for the extension of his life, he asks in part that he would be able to thank the

Lord for blessing. You can pray that for any prayer that you pray before him. But David also prays that God would extend his life in order that he would be able to declare his name to his brothers, in order that he would be able to do good in service to his people.

David, speaking prophetically in the Psalms, as one who foreshadows

Christ, this is how Christ prayed for his own life. He prayed that his own life would be preserved in order that he would be able to declare

God's message to God's people. He prayed for his own life to be preserved in order that he would be able to serve his people.

And this is exactly what happened. Though Christ died three days later, God did indeed preserve his life, rose him from the grave in order that he would be able to proclaim the gospel, in order that he would be able to serve his people.

Christ has gained life in order that he could complete those tasks that he was given.

And then he has brought us into that, given us duties before him, and likewise, the very life by which we might do it, not only the joy of life, the force of life, but the continuation of that life, in order that we might be able to fulfill all the things that God has called us to.

Be cultivating within yourself these kinds of desires, praying the kinds of prayers that the

Bible instructs us to pray, praying the kinds of prayers that David would pray, praying the kinds of prayers that Christ would pray, praying the kinds of prayers that Paul would even pray.

You should be meditating, likewise, on the providence of God. Meditate upon your particular position in life.

Why has God placed you where he has placed you, when he has placed you, and the particular roles with the particular relationships?

If this has not occupied your thoughts at all, if you've just kind of been putting one foot out in front of the other and never thinking about these things, then it is likely that you are lacking a lot in your life.

It's likely that when you face decisions, you find them hard to answer, because you don't have a sense of what your purpose is before him.

That doesn't mean that meditating on these things is always going to make everything easy, but when you have a sense of what

God has called you to and what your purposes are, many of these decisions become much easier.

Many of them become much easier to discern, because they are to be discerned by his word, and what he says in his law, and they are to be discerned by the wisdom that is accounted for when you consider the particular situation that you are in that the eternal statutes of God's law don't all account for, don't all specifically address.

So there's the eternal statutes of his law, and then that law as it applies in wisdom to your particular situation.

Take some meditating on why God has placed you here, and then on top of that, on top of being able to navigate life more easily, you can navigate life more joyfully having a sense of purpose, having a

God -given sense of zeal, so that even if you are living on in sickness in order that you can do the thing that God has called you to, even if you are living on in the midst of suffering and enduring all kinds of trials, you can do so with a zeal, even a righteous indignation as the times call for it.

If you endure suffering at the hand of oppression, that can fuel you in a godly way, both joy before the

Lord and a righteous indignation before evil. And God can stir up both of those within you to carry you through trials as you meditate upon the providences that he's placed you in.

And having thought long -term about your life, having meditated on your providences, you can now act.

You can act as God has called you to act. You can act wisely and without anxiety.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8, 12, that if the readiness is there, then any kind of gift that would be given is not counted on what one does not have, but on what he has.

If you're meditating on your providences and you're saying that these are the things I have before the Lord, this is where God has placed me, what he has placed me with, you don't have to have any anxiety about those things you do not have.

All you have to know is this is what God has placed me with and I can be faithful in whatever measure it is that I am called to be faithful in and I am not called to anything more than that.

So you can face the world, you can face the trials that you are in without anxiety, and you can face them joyfully, knowing your purpose, embracing all the difficulty that may come because the purpose of your life is not for some short -term, immediate enjoyment.

It is ultimately for that long -term enjoyment that will be had with God, with Christ, as we are with him forever and ever because good works make life worth living.

If you are to continue to live, then that means fruitful labor for you as you are found in the

Lord. Amen. Amen. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the lives that you have given us.

We thank you that you have not called us away just yet, but we thank you also that this path is finite and that we will one day have finished the race and be joined together with Jesus Christ.

We ask that you would extend our lives as far as necessary in order that we might do all the works that you have called us to.

We pray that you would help us to finish the race as efficiently as possible. We likewise ask that you would grant us wisdom to consider our situations and you would help us to embrace the polar truths of both the misery that exists in this world apart from Christ, and likewise, the incredible purposefulness and joy that exists as we serve you, even through trial and difficulty and death in Jesus Christ, the one who has saved us and joined us together with him by his spirit.