Rejoicing in the Sacrifice

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Philippians 2:17-18 Pastor Rob Kimsey April 16, 2023

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This morning, we'll be continuing our preaching from this wonderful letter.
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We're going to be looking at chapter 2, verses 17 and 18 this morning.
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As you can see up behind me, it's the title of the sermon is Rejoicing in the
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Sacrifice, Rejoicing in the Sacrifice, Philippians chapter 2, verses 17 and 18.
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Let me start with a word of prayer and then we can get into these verses. Heavenly Father, thank you
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God for this day. Thank you for giving us another day of life that we may come before you to worship you.
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God, to magnify the name of Jesus, pray that our worship this morning through the preaching of your word would be pleasing and acceptable in your sight.
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I pray God for your servant, your slave, that you would enable through the power of the
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Holy Spirit to speak the truth in love and that God, you would help us all to grow in our understanding of who you are and deepen our relationship with you.
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God, help us this morning through the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray in the name of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.
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Rejoicing in the Sacrifice, we're still in the section of the letter where Paul is talking about Christ's humility and then his exaltation.
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And in chapter 2, verses 17 and 18, he says this,
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But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith,
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I rejoice and share my joy with you all. And you also rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.
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An example of Christian sacrifice. So there's a guy named
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Eric Liddell, famous person in history. And Eric Liddell was a
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Scottish sprinter, a rugby player, and a Christian missionary.
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He was born in China to Scottish missionary parents. At the 1924
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Summer Olympics in Paris, Liddell famously refused to run in the heats for his favored 100 meters because they were held on a
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Sunday. Instead, he competed in the 400 meters held on a weekday, a race that he had not prepared for but that he would go on to win.
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These events are depicted in the movie Chariots of Fire. He returned to China in 1925 to serve as a missionary teacher.
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Aside from two furloughs in Scotland, he remained in China until his death in a
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Japanese civilian internment camp in 1945. Eric was not living his life for himself.
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By living for Christ, he was living for others. So a pretty famous movie,
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Chariots of Fire, it actually won the best picture the year that it came out.
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And he's known for this part of his life where at this amazing time, he decides,
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I'm going to honor the Lord. I can't run because that's the time that I'll be worshiping
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God. So he is favored for this event and decides, I'm not going to do that. He ends up running on a weekday, an event he's not prepared for, and God gives him the gold medal.
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But some of the movie is not accurate. There's a scene in there where he's meeting with royalty. None of that happened.
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No, actually, probably the royalty was mad that he wasn't going to compete because that meant England might not get essentially a gold medal.
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No, he wasn't glorified in that way. He did it to glorify God. He didn't get to have any benefits.
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And it's amazing because he was actually the child of two missionary parents who were
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Scottish missionaries to China. And so you think about this, it's 1924, he wins this gold medal.
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It's this big spectacle because he had decided he wasn't going to compete. So on the world stage, at the height of fame, contracts, you think money, all of that stuff that goes along with being an
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Olympian, and not just an Olympian, but a gold medalist. What does he do? He actually walks away from all of it.
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And a year later, he goes back to China to become a missionary. And he's serving there when eventually the
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Japanese come in and they take over that area. And all of the missionaries, all of the foreigners were all rounded up and put in this internment camp.
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And you don't see this in the movie, but he actually was locked up there and he died there.
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And there's stories about his life and eyewitness testimony about what happened to him. There's an actually really great book called
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For the Glory that tells a little bit more about Eric. And it's amazing because when he was in that internment camp, he was there to serve.
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So he was the one that would get up in the morning and kind of like clean up all the dirt and the trash and kind of like make the place livable.
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He would make sure he got extra rations of food and he would go visit the people that were too sick to make it to the food line.
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He would minister to them, pray with them. He held Bible studies and he preached on the
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Lord's day. So that's how he really should be known. We don't often think about him when we think about this story, but this guy gave up his life to serve other people.
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And even in that internment camp, he just ran himself ragged until finally he got a medical condition and not being able to receive proper medical care.
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He died there, living his life right up until the end, preaching the word of God and ministering to other
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Christians. He's a great example in history of sacrificial living that is an act of worship.
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The way you can live your life is an act of worship for other Christians, for other brothers and sisters.
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So just wanted to think about this as we think about an earthly example of an example of Christian sacrifice.
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And we'll see that a little bit in the verses that Paul gives us this morning as he even relays his own life as being poured out like a drink offering.
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I think before we get into these specific verses, let's do a brief recap in Philippians and we can consider a little bit of what we've learned so far and some of the background to this amazing letter.
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Paul encouraged and exhorted the church at Philippi as partners with him in the gospel.
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He did that by conveying thanksgiving in their partnership and exhorting them to live in unity and demonstrate
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Christ -likeness. This letter can be divided by really three major divisions.
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The first division is the circumstances of Paul, it's chapter one. This section includes
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Paul's greeting to the church and his circumstances in his ministry of the gospel. The second division is the exhortations, this would be chapter two and three, this is where we're at this morning.
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This section includes Paul's exhortation to the church and update on his companions in the ministry and Paul's warnings to the church.
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The third and final division is the thankfulness of Paul in chapter four. This section includes the final admonition of Paul, his thankfulness to the church and his farewell.
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Paul conveyed his thankfulness for the Philippians. He relayed his joy and rejoicing in all circumstances resulting from the ministry of the gospel of Christ.
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Paul made it clear that he saw them as partners in the gospel ministry. He relayed to them his circumstances of being in prison for the sake of preaching the gospel.
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He told the Philippians he rejoiced in those circumstances because of Christ. Paul went on to convey the superiority of being with Christ in death over being alive in the body for Christ.
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His life was dedicated to the other believers, including his beloved
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Philippians. Only a servant mindset in seeing them increase in their sanctification, their spiritual progress and joy in the faith would be the reason why it would be worthwhile to continue in the physical body over being with Christ.
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Their progress in building up for gospel ministry was the most meaningful reason for Paul's life and ministry and all for the glory of Christ.
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Paul teaches that conducting ourselves in a worthy manner of the calling means standing firm with each other in our convictions.
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And thinking about God's word and striving together for our belief in the gospel.
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Paul makes it clear we cannot defend our beliefs with one spirit and mind if we all believe something different about God's word.
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We can make joy complete by thinking of each other with humbleness and humility.
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And by believing the same thing about God's word. Joy is a strong theme in this letter.
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Even up till now we've heard him say this word and he keeps bringing up this theme. He says, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all.
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Chapter 1 verse 4. He says, convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith.
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Chapter 1 verse 25. Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
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Chapter 2 verse 2. But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith,
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I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too,
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I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.
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Chapter 2 verses 17 and 18. In today's passage, the Apostle Paul demonstrates two amazing principles of serving others so that you can live your life sacrificially for the body of Christ.
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Two principles that explain Christian servanthood. Serving others, verse 17, and joy produced in Christian service, verse 18.
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Two principles that explain Christian servanthood. Verse 17, serving others.
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Serving others. Paul says, but even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith,
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I rejoice and share my joy with you all. The concept of being poured out is from the
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Greek, which literally means to be offered as a libation or a drink offering.
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Paul is not living his life for himself. By living for Christ, he lives for others.
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This particular verse has been wrongly associated with Paul's future martyrdom. Of course, now we know in the facts of history that he would go on to be released, but at the time of writing, he didn't have that certainty.
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Paul is living in a world of uncertainty. He knows one thing for sure, that Christ will be glorified by his life.
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That he, when he dies, is going to be with Christ. So he's unshakeable, but there's still an element here of he doesn't know what's going to happen.
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Of course, we know he goes on and writes a bit more and then eventually is killed. But you think about this idea that he is writing this and that he's about to be killed or martyred.
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Well, we know that doesn't happen, but as we're reading this, this is where the rules and principles of grammar are so helpful.
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This verb that Paul uses to describe his pouring out is in the present tense.
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And that's the clue. Paul is not talking about his eventual murder at the hands of the secular and religious authorities of the day.
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Paul is clearly using present tense language. Paul is simply referring to his own personal and sacrificial ministry to the believers in Philippi.
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This drink offering is referring to the ancient animal sacrifice and how the sacrifice was topped off with wine.
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The person offering the sacrifice poured wine on top of the burning animal and the vaporized wine would give off a steam symbolizing the
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God for whom the offering was made. And this is critical to our understanding. We need to think about what
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Paul is actually saying here and how deep this is. He's using an illustration of a drink offering from the
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Old Testament. And we can think about this if we look at the book of Numbers, specifically
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Numbers 28, one through eight, but listen to what's written here. And then we can think about how
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Paul is using this language in our verse this morning. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, command the sons of Israel and say to them, you shall be careful to present my offering, my food for my offerings by fire of a soothing aroma to me at their appointed time.
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You shall say to them, this is the offering by fire, which you shall offer to the Lord. Two male lambs, one year old without defect as a continual burnt offering every day.
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You shall offer the one lamb in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. Also a 10th of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering mixed with a fourth of a hen of beaten oil.
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It is a continual burnt offering, which was ordained in Mount Sinai as a soothing aroma and offering by fire to the
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Lord. Then the drink offering with it shall be a fourth of a hen for each lamb in the holy place.
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You shall pour out a drink offering of strong drink to the Lord. The other lamb you shall offer at twilight as the grain offering of the morning.
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And as its drink offering, you shall offer it an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the
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Lord. And that's what Paul is referring to. He's using this really amazing Old Testament illustration.
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Paul clearly viewed the whole of his life as a drink offering.
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At this point in Paul's life, he is pouring out his life for the
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Philippians' sacrificial service. In the English Standard Version translation, this verse reads, sacrificial offering, which
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I really appreciate as it draws a connection to the book of Romans in another of Paul's statements about being a living sacrifice.
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And we'll look at that Romans passage a bit later. But that's helpful for us to think about.
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What is he talking about? He's being poured out as a drink offering. I mean, that's an amazing way to view your life.
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To live your life as an act of worship, that you're a drink offering being poured out?
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The word service here is also very important to our understanding in Paul's logic in this section.
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It comes from the Greek word, which means sacred priestly service.
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So Paul is referring to the Philippians as kinds of priests who offered their lives in a sacrificial way toward God and by extension, others.
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So if Paul had to die, Paul was ready to die. Paul was content.
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Paul was ready to die because he knew he had served the Philippians by helping them to live for the glory of Christ.
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What a way to think about life. I mean, we often think about what we're going to do in our life and sort of what we can get out of it and even serving others and trying to be sacrificial.
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But have you ever thought about that? Are you thinking about the glory of Christ when you're serving another person?
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How are you serving others? How are you serving others?
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Is it with the glory of Christ in mind? Now, you may not be called to die literally, but you are called to die to self.
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Consider the context of Christ's emptying in verses 5 through 11. Chapter 2, verses 5 through 11, have this way of thinking in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a slave.
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By being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
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Therefore, God also highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is
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Lord to the glory of God the Father. An emptying of ourselves.
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To die to self. To live your life for other people. One commentator
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I read is extremely helpful here. He said, often people excuse selfishness, pride, or evil by claiming their rights.
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But as believers, we should have a different attitude, one that enables us to lay aside our rights in order to serve others.
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If we say we follow Christ, we must also say we want to live as he lived. We should develop his attitude of humility as we serve, even when we are not likely to get recognition for our efforts.
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Serving others produces an effective joy. To be effective means to be successful in producing a desired or intended result.
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So how does a person rejoice if they are going to be killed soon? Certainly this,
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I mean, Paul's not some kind of, you know, dope. He knows he's in a prison.
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These people have the authority to take his life. Could he have thought about it that one of the scenarios was he's not going to get out of prison and that he's going to be killed?
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Of course. So how does a person rejoice if they think they're going to be killed soon?
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Paul's example of rejoicing is the result of an effective joy that only comes from serving other believers in the body, despite personal cost.
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This joy is founded first in service to the Lord. Paul can rejoice despite eminent danger.
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Paul can rejoice despite eminent death. Paul can rejoice because his joy is not tied to his earthly circumstances.
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Christian joy has nothing to do with earthly material. Our joy is in the
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Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul can be joyful over giving up his life for the
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Philippians because his hope and his joy is anchored in the
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Lord Jesus. I mean, realistically, if your joy is anchored in an overpowering desire for comfort, then your joy is anchored in a sinking ship.
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If your joy is determined by avoiding daily adversity, it will be impossible for you to serve others.
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Paul's joy was tied to his service to others. Actually, a transition will happen for you when your desire to serve others is stronger than a desire to serve yourself.
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You will experience joy no matter the negative circumstances of your present struggle.
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The transition is from inward to outward. Personal ministry to others is a reason to rejoice, not the circumstances, the mission.
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When you are 100 % committed to serving the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be filled with joy no matter the circumstances.
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Sacrificing your personal time to build up the faith of fellow believers brings a joy that is effective.
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Also, our service to others brings us a joyous reward in heaven. It is better to suffer in this life for Christ and be rewarded in heaven than to deny
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Christ to pursue your own self -interest and suffer in hell.
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The mistreatment of others won't send anyone to hell. The denial of Jesus as the
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Lord will send many to hell. The rejection of the gospel will send many to hell.
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The mistreatment of fellow believers is a very serious transgression. A habitual pattern of mistreating fellow believers over a lifetime may reveal unbelief.
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Christ warned the church about hell. The final judgment is referenced in the gospel of Matthew.
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Let's turn here and just look at this passage. Matthew chapter 25, starting in verse 31.
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Matthew chapter 25, we'll start verse 31, go up to verse 46.
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Matthew 25 includes the final judgment reference. It's the words of the
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Lord Jesus Christ from this gospel speaking of the judgment. But something is really important here.
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He identifies believers by the way they treat other believers.
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And he identifies unbelievers by the way they treat believers.
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So something is revealed in this passage that's important for us to really cue into.
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The final judgment, Matthew chapter 25, starting in verse 31. But when the
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Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then
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He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him.
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And He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
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And He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the
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King will say to those on His right, Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
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For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave
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Me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited Me in. Naked, and you clothed
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Me. I was sick, and you visited Me. I was in prison, and you came to Me.
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Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you?
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Or thirsty and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you?
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And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the King will answer and say to them,
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Truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.
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Then He will also say to those on His left, Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.
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For I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave
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Me nothing to drink. I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in. Naked, and you did not clothe
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Me. Sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me. Then they themselves also will answer, saying,
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Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?
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Then He will answer them, saying, Truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.
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And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
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What an amazing passage. He identifies belief by the way that professing
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Christians treat one another, the way that we live with each other. Pursuing the interests of others in servanthood mindset reveals spiritual condition.
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Obviously the, I mean, this is a very convicting reality. That's what Jesus says is going to happen.
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It's going to happen. How are you living your life? Is it as an act of worship to God, sacrificially serving other believers?
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Or are you a self -seeking person who only wants to serve themselves? Are you a sheep?
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Or are you a goat? The true sheep of Christ are known for their love for one another.
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Pursue the interest of others. Consider Paul's reasoning here. Look at what he just said in verses three and four.
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Chapter two, three and four. He says, doing nothing from selfish ambition or vainglory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves, not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
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Do you lay aside selfishness and treat others with respect and common courtesy? We ought to consider others' interests as more important than our own, because this links us with Christ, because Christ is our true example of humility.
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Christ is our true example of sacrificial service. One way to think about this is that passage from Romans.
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Sacrificial service equals sacrificial worship. The Apostle Paul said this in his letter to the church in Rome.
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Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
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And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
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To help us think about this first point, I read this illustration. It's, I think, a good way to think about this particular verse.
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A student at a Bible school became disturbed over the condition of the men's restrooms, since they always seemed to be neglected in the cleaning routine.
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When nothing was done to clean them up, to eliminate the filth, he took matters into his own hands and he complained to the principal of the school.
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A little while later, the student noticed that the problem was being corrected. But he saw with amazement that the man with the mop and pail in his hand was the principal himself.
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Later the student commented, I thought he would call a janitor, but he cleaned the toilets himself.
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It was a major lesson to me on being a servant, and of course it raised a question in my own mind as to why
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I hadn't taken care of the problem. You know, an example like Eric Liddell, to start the sermon this morning, helps us to think about taking ownership.
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Sometimes we put it off on somebody else to take care of things. You know, we don't always think about what we're doing in life, in our relationship to God.
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We're so busy about making ends meet and thinking about our own relationships that we often don't have a perspective of God's glory and what the best of the other person is in our relationships.
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We can have a servant mind because Christ had a servant mind, and we can have this living that Paul is encouraging and exhorting the
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Philippians to live by. We must humble ourselves and look to Christ as our ultimate pattern of example in how we are to live our lives, sacrificially for other people, for other
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Christians. Two principles that explain Christian servanthood so that you can live your life sacrificially for the body of Christ.
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Serving others produces an effective joy. And number two, joy produced in Christian service, verse 18.
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Paul says, and you also rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.
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It's amazing. Paul sees himself as a drink offering. As the drink offering,
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Paul wants to grant the Philippians the recognition. Paul is, according to them, the more substantial credit and honor.
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It is Paul's desire to have his ultimate sacrifice be counted to their credit and not his own.
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For Paul, this will only result in joy. Paul knew the joyous reward that awaited him.
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Paul advances the Philippians to accept his sacrifice with joy. Paul is calling for them to do the same for other believers.
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Our ultimate example is Christ. And Paul is an imitator of Christ. When you become a
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Christian, you are adopted into the family of God. You are a co -heir with Christ, an adopted son or daughter.
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Christians are not an island unto themselves. We are made to be in community with one another.
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And this is back to the concept of iron sharpening iron. We all grow from one another.
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We all learn from one another. This sharing of joy is more than wanting the
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Philippians to be filled with a great feeling of pleasure or happiness. I think of what
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James, the half -brother of Jesus, says. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
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And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
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James 1, 2, and 3. Critical to our understanding of this passage is the right understanding of joy.
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Paul is going much, much deeper than earthly happiness. He assigns the credit to the
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Philippians. His joy is giving up his life so that their faith may come to full maturity.
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His joy is giving them the credit for his sacrifice. And we're back to the first part of the sermon this morning, and the first part really of Paul's letter.
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In chapter 1, verse 18, Paul connects his affliction for the gospel with joy.
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He says, what then? So what? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth,
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Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice, yes, and I will rejoice.
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In chapter 1, verses 25 and 26, Paul connects his sacrificial service and a reason for boasting in Christ.
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And convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your reason for boasting may abound in Christ Jesus in me, through my coming to you again.
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And what Paul wrote here was not some one -off. We see it in all, I mean the majority of Paul's writing has this theme, this greater message.
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We can look at three examples, Paul's joy in sacrificial service. Great is my boldness toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf,
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I have been filled with comfort, I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction, 2
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Corinthians. Now, I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and I fill up what is lacking of Christ's afflictions in my flesh on behalf of his body, which is the church,
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Colossians 1. For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our
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God because of you, 1 Thessalonians. You see, there's a theme, not just in Philippi, there's a theme in Paul's life.
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He lived his life for other people, he lived his life for other Christians, and it was all joy to him.
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Because he could point at the end of his life and say, I did it for Christ, and then by extension
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I did it for you. And that, it doesn't matter what's going to happen to him. The earthly circumstances can't touch
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Paul. He's living for Christ. He's living for other people. This is a sharing of joy that is not possible for the unbelieving.
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One commentator noted here that an attitude of mutual joy ought to accompany any sacrificial
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Christian service. The service Paul gives to the church in Philippi, he then says, you're a part of this, you're a part of this.
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So he's sharing his joy in serving them. His sacrificial life, he's sharing with them.
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He wants them to receive glory the way that he knows what's ahead of him when he sees
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Christ and he's with Christ forever. He says, you get the credit for my sacrifice.
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That is a humble sharing. And consider Paul's logical flow of thought in chapter 2 and what he had just said about having the mind of Christ in themselves in connection to the incarnation.
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The incarnation of Christ is very helpful here as we consider our model for servanthood.
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Look again at chapter 2, verses 12 through 16. He says, so then my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
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For it is God who has at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
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Do all things without grumbling or disputing so that you will be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life so that in the day of Christ, I will have reason to boast because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.
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Do you see the connection? Do you see the connection to living for others and salvation?
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I love what the Puritan Matthew Henry said about this section of Paul's letter. Matthew Henry has this amazing commentary.
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He's written on really the whole Bible, this wonderful Puritan, very insightful. He's talking about Philippians in this particular passage, really lumping together 12 through 18 as one section of Paul's thinking.
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This is what he says. He says, we must be diligent in the use of all the means which lead to our salvation, persevering there into the end.
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With great care, lest with all our advantages we should come short. Work out your salvation for it is
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God who worketh in you. This encourages us to do our utmost because our labor shall not be in vain.
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We must still depend on the grace of God. The working of God's grace in us is to quicken and engage our endeavors.
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God's good will to us is the cause of his good work in us. Do your duty without murmurings.
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Do it and do not find fault with it. Mind your work and do not quarrel with it.
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By peaceableness, give no just occasion of offense. The children of God should differ from the sons of men.
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The more perverse others are, the more careful we should be to keep ourselves blameless and harmless.
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The doctrine and example of consistent believers will enlighten others and direct their way to Christ and holiness.
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Even as the lighthouse warns mariners to avoid rocks and directs their course into the harbor, let us thus try to shine.
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The gospel is the word of life. It makes known to us eternal life through Jesus Christ.
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Running denotes earnestness and vigor, continual pressing forward. Laboring denotes constancy and close application.
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It is the will of God that believers should be much in rejoicing and those who are so happy as to have good ministers have great reason to rejoice with them.
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I thought that was a very helpful way to think about this passage. What are we doing with our lives?
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We can't let the day -to -day grind trick us.
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Paul will go on later in this letter to remind people, don't have an earthly mindset.
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You are not a citizen of this earth. You are a citizen of heaven.
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Are we living like that? There's a helpful saying about serving. This is kind of a classic, an oldie but a goodie here.
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It's, there is no limit to the good that a man can do if he doesn't care who gets the credit, a humble sharing.
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If you really don't care who gets the credit, then you can just enjoy yourself and do all kinds of good deeds for others.
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Just be glad that it's done and don't worry about who gets the credit on earth because your heavenly
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Father knows. That's the mindset that we have to capture. One way to think about this, there's a ministry called the
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Navigators. Some of you may be familiar with that. The Navigators is a ministry that shares the gospel of Jesus and it helps people to grow in their relationship with him through discipleship.
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The Navigators are well known for their emphasis on having an attitude of servanthood. Since its founding in 1933, the
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Navigators has upheld this mission, to know Christ, make him known, and help others do the same.
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A businessman once asked Lorne Sanney how he could know when he had a servant -like attitude.
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Lorne Sanney was the president of the Navigators for about 30 years, from the 50s to the 80s.
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The businessman asked Sanney how he could know when he had a servant -like attitude.
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And the answer was this, by how you act when you are treated like one.
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I thought that was really, really good. D .L. Moody, the 19th century American evangelist and theologian, once said this, the measure of a man is not how many servants he has, but how many men he serves.
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Two principles that explain Christian servanthood, so that you can live your life sacrificially for the body of Christ.
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Serving others produces an effective joy, and joy produced in Christian service should be shared.
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You know, we can think about this, but we can't be good servants without the gospel.
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We can't serve others without the example of Christ. And sacrificial service, think about this as a gospel connection.
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It's what Paul would say in Romans 5. For while we were still helpless at the right time,
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Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would even dare to die.
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But God demonstrates his own love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
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Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him.
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For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
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And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
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There is no greater love expressed by the one who lays down his life for his friend.
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Christ's love transcends that statement. Think about it like this, there's no greater love expressed than by the one who lays down his life for his enemy.
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How great is the Father's love for us? He sent the
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Son into the world so that whoever believes on his name will not perish, but have everlasting life. You know, a point of view of complementary joy should accompany all sacrificial
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Christian service to others. Remember that believers and unbelievers are separated on the basis of our treatment toward one another.
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Even as you treat the least of these brothers and sisters, you treat me.
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How do you treat others? How do you treat others?
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In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us that treating others the way we want to be treated in everything we do fulfills everything
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God commanded, the golden rule. Therefore, in all things, whatever you want people to do for you, so do for them.
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However you want people to treat you, treat them the same. This covers all the law and all the prophets,
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Matthew 7, 12. The passage today gives an amazing glimpse of Christ's likeness in Paul.
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Paul is demonstrating the mind of Christ. He's a living example for the
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Philippians. He very humbly had compared his own life and probable impending death to that of a drink offering.
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Do you see how he lowered himself down to the point that he's wine poured on a piece of meat?
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He's on the ground. He's a sacrifice. He's living his life sacrificially for others.
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I encourage you today to live like Paul. Paul is an imitator of Christ.
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We must become imitators of Christ. You must become an imitator of Christ.
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And you can do that starting today and decide to die to self and start living for others.
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Open your home and hospitality to fellow believers. Open your home and hospitality to fellow believers without partiality.
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There shouldn't be little cliques and factions within the church because we are all members of one body with Christ as the head.
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We are all one family. Ask a saint if they need a ride to church. If you're not serving, get involved and ask how you can serve.
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The Bible gives us an amazing example of Christian servanthood in Paul. Two principles that explain
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Christian servanthood so that you can live your life sacrificially for the body of Christ.
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Serving others produces an effective joy and joy produced in Christian service should be shared.
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And I'll just end the sermon today with a little illustration. This is a poem on service.
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So you probably didn't think you were going to come and hear poetry today, but you're going to. A little poem on service.
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Some of you may have heard this before. This is a pretty famous one. There is a clever young guy named somebody else.
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There's nothing this guy can't do. He is busy from morning till way late at night just substituting for you.
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You're asked to do this or you're asked to do that. And what is your ready reply? Get somebody else to do that job.
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He'll do it better than I. So much to do in this weary old world. So much and workers so few.
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And somebody else all weary and worn is still substituting for you. The next time you're asked to do something worthwhile, just give this ready reply.
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If somebody else can give time and support, my goodness, so can I. May God impress upon all of us this morning that serving
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Christ means serving others. May we all have the mindset of Christ.
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To the glory of God the Father and to the glory of the name that is above every name, the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, your name is sacred.
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God may your perfect will be done on earth just as it is in heaven. Please, Father, provide for our physical needs today.
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Please give us good health. Please forgive us of our sins as we forgive those that sin against us.
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Help us to be holy. Please glorify yourself through our lives.
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May you have all glory forever. We acknowledge that you are the creator.
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Although we are creatures before you, you have seen fit to exalt mankind by making us in your image and likeness.
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We praise you for your creation. We praise you for your gift of grace and the gospel of hope in Jesus Christ.
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It is our desire to live lives that are worthy of the calling of the gospel of grace in Jesus, but we cannot apart from you.
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Apart from the power of your Holy Spirit, we can do nothing. Help us, God, to be able to live sacrificially for you that we would love others and live sacrificially for those around us.
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Help us to be a light to those who are far from you. Help us to boldly proclaim the gospel to the lost.
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Help us to live for other believers. Please incline your will to destroy our egos.
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We need your power to be humble. Help us to humble ourselves for others like Jesus did for us.
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Help us to have joy in living in a way that intentionally puts others first.
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While we suffer tribulation, yet may we be joyful in the sacrifice. May we never compromise our beliefs and our convictions.
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God, to love one another and forgive one another as you love and forgive us in Christ.
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Help us to rejoice in our day -to -day lives and impress upon our hearts your guidance in the Spirit. God, change our hearts to be like our