back to indexWed Bible Study Phillipians Lesson 6
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Alright everyone, we're going to gather our attention to the front and go through our 00:00:08.780 |
So what I'll do is I'll read our passage in full and then we'll jump right in. 00:00:16.400 |
Starting from verse 12, it says, "So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, 00:00:22.920 |
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with 00:00:28.280 |
For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 00:00:34.240 |
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless 00:00:39.560 |
and innocent children of God, above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, 00:00:45.240 |
among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life. 00:00:51.280 |
So that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory, because I do not run in vain nor 00:00:56.240 |
toil in vain, but even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice 00:01:01.120 |
and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. 00:01:06.600 |
You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me." 00:01:16.080 |
Lord, we do pray that we would understand in this grand scale the great purpose to which 00:01:26.600 |
God to share in the glories of Christ, to be used the proclamation of his name, and 00:01:33.360 |
God to experience the privilege and the joy of being called children of our God. 00:01:39.240 |
And we do pray God that with great sense of appreciation, sense of privilege, Lord we 00:01:44.960 |
would desire really to experience that in our lives. 00:01:47.600 |
God, we thank you for your word, it's in Christ's name we pray. 00:01:53.800 |
So as we look at this passage, I'd like to first take a moment to break the passage 00:01:59.080 |
I already put it into chunks for you, but a good practice is to make sure that as we're 00:02:04.960 |
understanding the flow of thought, to summarize what those chunks are. 00:02:09.240 |
Now one of the easiest ways to do that is just to make sure we look at the sentences 00:02:16.040 |
So in terms of an outline, this is the way I wrote it out. 00:02:20.560 |
Here in verse 12 to 13, reading it again it says, "So then my beloved, just as you have 00:02:26.480 |
always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your 00:02:32.560 |
salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will 00:02:40.120 |
And what I'm going to say is that as we take a look at that sentence as a whole, you take 00:02:46.760 |
a look at the main, main command or the main verb in that sentence, and it's the command 00:02:54.040 |
What's more, the second part of it, command is right there at the front. 00:02:57.560 |
Do all things without grumbling or disputing so that you will prove yourself to be blameless 00:03:03.000 |
and innocent, children of God above reproach, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation 00:03:08.040 |
among whom you appear as lights in the world. 00:03:11.600 |
So that, I summarize as do all without grumbling or disputing. 00:03:22.640 |
Verse 17 through 18, he says that, you know, "Do this so that in the day of Christ I will 00:03:28.960 |
have reason to glory, because I do not run in vain or toil in vain, but even if I am 00:03:33.880 |
being poured out as a drink offering upon sacrifice in service of your faith, I rejoice 00:03:41.160 |
So that phrase, "I rejoice and share my joy," is the main clause. 00:03:45.520 |
And that second part in verse 18, that is actually a command. 00:03:49.520 |
It is in the imperative form, "You too, I urge you, rejoice." 00:03:57.760 |
So that's why I summarized it as, "I rejoice, you rejoice, we all rejoice for ice cream." 00:04:03.160 |
Not for ice cream, but for the sake of Christ. 00:04:06.640 |
Now, I want to highlight this just a little bit as good practice. 00:04:09.380 |
I'm not going to take a whole lot, but typically when I read a passage, I read through it multiple 00:04:17.960 |
But sometimes the act of trying to summarize it to the core point is difficult. 00:04:25.400 |
I want to give you an example of verse 12 to 13. 00:04:28.860 |
My whole point to you is going to be you have to find the main sentence out of the thought, 00:04:33.040 |
okay, out of the main point out of the sentence. 00:04:36.120 |
And how you do that is you realize certain phrases cannot stand alone. 00:04:40.460 |
If I read to you, "So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed." 00:04:55.420 |
And then it says, "Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence." 00:04:59.660 |
If you leave it there, it doesn't make sense. 00:05:02.840 |
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, period, right? 00:05:10.920 |
And that's how you get to the main thought of the sentence. 00:05:14.180 |
The other part, "For it is God," that also cannot stand alone. 00:05:18.520 |
And so if you remove it, what you have is work out your salvation. 00:05:23.000 |
There's your central thought to your sentence. 00:05:25.640 |
If you want to get all crazy, I put a diagram there. 00:05:29.560 |
This is the way when I prepare a sermon, not for my own personal devotion, but for the 00:05:34.060 |
way I prepare a sermon, this is the way I break it down. 00:05:37.060 |
And if you've ever wondered why in the world do some pastors take one sentence and preach 00:05:42.260 |
an hour-long sermon, it's because you can get so much from breaking it down. 00:05:47.300 |
For example, I recognize that these clauses that can't stand alone all point to the centerpiece, 00:05:57.120 |
But the relationship is where I can preach, meaning I can show you what He means. 00:06:02.540 |
Just as you've always obeyed, and immediately you're like, "Oh, shoot. 00:06:12.020 |
All of a sudden, you have a sermon right there, right? 00:06:19.700 |
What's more, when it says, "Work out your salvation," I can even go on to this, "How 00:06:26.720 |
Not only in my presence, but much more in my absence." 00:06:31.660 |
When we think about even young kids, how many of them pretend like they're obeying, but 00:06:36.940 |
as soon as a parent turns the eye, they're like, "Ha, ha, ha, ha." 00:06:43.340 |
And then when I think about, "With fear and trembling," wow. 00:06:46.540 |
How you're supposed to work out your salvation is with fear and trembling. 00:06:50.260 |
And so you can see how each portion of that sentence can be broken down, and the relationships 00:07:00.660 |
However, I don't expect you guys to do this on a daily devotional basis, but sometimes 00:07:08.240 |
My main point to you was, when you think about finding the main sentence, you realize you 00:07:13.780 |
can look at each phrase and just simply ask, "Can this stand alone?" 00:07:18.500 |
And when you realize the stand-alone sentence has the main subject and verb, here it's clearly 00:07:27.300 |
There you have a kind of summary of that little section. 00:07:33.220 |
So, that being said, that was a quick overview of the passage, but now we ask this kind of 00:07:38.900 |
review and introductory question, a connection with the past, a connection with last week. 00:07:44.580 |
What is the flow of thought from the previous passage? 00:07:50.760 |
And what you need to do is you got to realize, "Okay, I got to start reviewing." 00:07:53.980 |
I remember that in the very beginning, Apostle Paul was super thankful for this church, right? 00:07:59.340 |
He's like, "I ought to be thankful for you because," and then we recognize that there 00:08:03.340 |
was faith, love, hope, all the genuine marks of Christianity. 00:08:08.820 |
But what's more, Apostle Paul shared that he had this prayer and desire for the church. 00:08:14.220 |
He says, "And I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and 00:08:19.820 |
all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere 00:08:24.900 |
and blameless until the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness 00:08:35.540 |
It's because you realize Apostle Paul is, yes, writing this letter and it's one whole 00:08:41.600 |
You do realize the flow of thought where he has this main objective for the church, and 00:08:48.420 |
therefore the commands of you follow his example, have his attitude, all of that comes into 00:08:54.700 |
What's more, Apostle Paul did share his own personal perspective. 00:09:01.180 |
He shared his mentality and one main passion, and he talked about how to live is Christ, 00:09:07.620 |
to live is just amazing because it's all Christ, but to die is even more Christ, so it's gain. 00:09:14.020 |
And if you remember in verse 20, chapter 1 verse 20, he said, "According to my earnest 00:09:18.740 |
expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness 00:09:24.620 |
Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death, for 00:09:34.020 |
And we spent a long portion, and the whole portion is from like verse 12 through 30, 00:09:39.500 |
talking about this is Apostle Paul's mentality that helps him interpret everything in life, 00:09:44.820 |
his suffering, his work, his pains, his burdens, and he's like, "Dude, in all that I will rejoice 00:09:53.180 |
because my one objective is Christ's exaltation." 00:09:56.220 |
And so last week we heard Apostle Paul's command where he connects that and says, "Therefore 00:10:04.660 |
if there's any marks of genuine faith and experience," remember he talked about how 00:10:10.220 |
if there was any encouragement in Christ, if there's any consolation of love, any fellowship, 00:10:20.700 |
Same mind, intent on one purpose, and he says, "How are you going to do that? 00:10:25.220 |
By being humble and having the attitude of Christ, who emptied himself and became obedient 00:10:31.860 |
to the point of death, even death on a cross. 00:10:34.340 |
I highlight that because now I want to show you his flow of thought is all the way from 00:10:42.900 |
He had his intentions for you to be blameless in Christ. 00:10:47.060 |
He wants you to understand what it is to truly live and die well in Christ. 00:10:52.440 |
He wants you to be obedient like Christ, following his example, and therefore he says, "So then," 00:11:02.940 |
The passage that we have today begins with the "so then," and it points to all of that, 00:11:09.100 |
It points to the example of Christ where he has emptied himself and Scripture says has 00:11:18.060 |
He became obedient even unto death, even death on a cross, and therefore you too, just as 00:11:30.840 |
Section one, "So therefore you ought to obey and work out your salvation and do everything 00:11:41.640 |
So here in verse 12 he says, "So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not 00:11:47.060 |
in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear 00:11:52.280 |
and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good 00:12:00.420 |
And in here what we find is I'm just going to briefly mention just because we don't have 00:12:04.900 |
time to go over every phrase, that when he says, "Just as you have always obeyed," I 00:12:10.900 |
always make sure that when I see these comparative words, I ask myself, "What's he comparing? 00:12:16.460 |
Is he comparing like, just like Jesus obeyed? 00:12:26.340 |
And he's not actually pointing to something before, he's actually pointing to the command, 00:12:31.780 |
He's pointing to the command and saying, as an introductory, "Look, I commend you because 00:12:38.180 |
you are a healthy church that is already striving and obeying, persevering through trials. 00:12:47.620 |
And even when I'm not here, you're showing your fruitfulness by obeying." 00:12:52.420 |
And again, immediately I'm sitting here like, "Yeah, yeah, me too." 00:12:57.900 |
I didn't say that when I was studying, but I'm just thinking like, already that's a point 00:13:03.180 |
I mean, how many of us can say like, every time we hear like some kind of admonition 00:13:09.140 |
or exhortation, it's in the context of, "I'm already doing well and I've already been listening 00:13:16.100 |
What a challenge for us to be like this church. 00:13:19.140 |
Or on the flip side, you could have guilty feelings like, "Oh yeah, honestly speaking, 00:13:23.180 |
that's really convicting because I actually really need to get it together." 00:13:28.900 |
Now, moving forward, the main point of it though in that first section is the command. 00:13:36.500 |
And it says, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." 00:13:41.540 |
And you guys know, I'm sure you guys did it in your groups. 00:13:44.620 |
We can sit there and start asking all these questions like, "Wow, what does that mean? 00:13:49.100 |
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." 00:13:53.340 |
And each one of those terms, actually, you can sit down, camp out, and start asking all 00:14:05.220 |
Because to the normal person in modern day Christianity, if you hear these words, "Work 00:14:09.940 |
out your salvation with fear and trembling," they're going to automatically think like, 00:14:19.020 |
You can imagine your average American Christian thinking like, "Does that sound a lot like 00:14:37.380 |
Is it talking just about general sanctification? 00:14:39.820 |
Is it talking about like, "There's suffering out there, so work hard." 00:14:44.420 |
And then reach the end, what is it talking about? 00:14:47.700 |
Now, I do want to just first say, here where it says, "Work out your salvation," it is 00:14:55.300 |
Because you notice like all the various things he's pointing to with it. 00:14:59.880 |
He's pointing to it with the, "Just like you're doing this always before." 00:15:04.820 |
And what's more, he's giving the "for," like, "because," and there's motivation behind it. 00:15:13.460 |
So again, if you guys are, if you have time to do word study, just give it a look. 00:15:19.140 |
I want to recommend again, we talked about it in a previous session. 00:15:23.020 |
A nice little website is blueletterbible.org. 00:15:27.140 |
It just gives you the words and you click on a word and it shows you the definition. 00:15:33.420 |
But it's an intensified word because the normal word for work is just simply, "Goedzo mai." 00:15:38.500 |
However, it has the word "kata" to intensify that term and that's why for one word you 00:15:45.540 |
have two words like this, you got to work it out. 00:15:48.460 |
It's this idea of making sure it comes to completion. 00:15:53.660 |
Now, without belaboring the point about what does this mean, I just want to share with 00:15:58.260 |
you sometimes it's good for us to just ask, "What could this mean? 00:16:06.100 |
Another good question to ask, "Are there hints in the immediate passage that tell you 00:16:24.280 |
You got to ask the questions in the immediate context, what is he talking about? 00:16:28.300 |
What's more, you got to ask the question in the context of the Bible, how are we to understand 00:16:36.940 |
First, first, I want to draw our attention to the fact that there is this general sentiment 00:16:46.100 |
Remember, Apostle Paul is telling us you need to have the attitude of Jesus Christ, who, 00:16:54.740 |
and he gives a list of all the things Jesus did, and within that he says, "And Jesus 00:17:00.180 |
became obedient, and therefore just like you are obeying," and what's more, he connects 00:17:08.100 |
What I'm saying is this is still a continuation of Apostle Paul's expectation that we would 00:17:18.100 |
But what's more, I want us to turn to a passage, 2 Peter 1, verse 5-11. 00:17:24.860 |
It clearly gives us in another passage of the Bible generally what the scripture means 00:17:29.580 |
when your salvation needs to continue to take its whole effect. 00:17:35.300 |
And Pastor Peter in the Sunday sermons has been regular, like multiple times explaining 00:17:40.340 |
that if you have such a narrow vision and understanding of salvation that it's just 00:17:44.380 |
a one-time moment of justification, you only have part of the picture because clearly the 00:17:50.140 |
Bible talks about the entirety of God's redemptive plan for you as the whole of salvation. 00:17:56.660 |
Your justification, your changed transformation and sanctification, and your ultimate change 00:18:08.260 |
Now here is a passage, 2 Peter 1, verse 5-11. 00:18:13.180 |
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, okay? 00:18:19.760 |
Applying all your diligence, in your faith supply more excellence. 00:18:24.200 |
In your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control. 00:18:27.860 |
In your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness. 00:18:31.900 |
And in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 00:18:36.000 |
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful 00:18:42.280 |
in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:18:45.140 |
I want you to understand what he's talking about there. 00:18:47.440 |
Notice, there is both the concepts of your diligence and you applying yourself, but within 00:18:54.380 |
it he says, this is the application of your faith. 00:18:59.340 |
What's more, verse 9, "For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having 00:19:04.140 |
forgotten his purification from his former sins. 00:19:07.260 |
Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling in choosing 00:19:15.020 |
For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble. 00:19:18.200 |
For in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 00:19:27.040 |
So when you hear this, it makes all the more sense, right? 00:19:31.780 |
Because the work we're supposed to do is to take the faith that God has given us. 00:19:36.380 |
When he opens our eyes to see the spiritual reality, "God is holy," and you look like, 00:19:44.400 |
There's Jesus, glorious Savior, who died on the cross." 00:19:48.560 |
Those are spiritual moments of having your eyes opened by God. 00:19:53.440 |
He's saying when that knowledge is there, it needs to have its fruit. 00:19:57.600 |
So clearly, Scripture tells you, "Bear fruit. 00:20:02.340 |
Walk in a manner that's in accordance to the faith that you have. 00:20:08.880 |
And in all honesty, I think sometimes we just continue to overcomplicate simple things. 00:20:18.480 |
Somebody is going to come and ask you, "Hey, when this passage says, 'Work out your salvation,' 00:20:24.440 |
does it mean like that your works have merit? 00:20:29.640 |
Like, do you have – is it a combo of your work and faith together?" 00:20:34.560 |
Someone could ask that kind of question, right? 00:20:40.600 |
If you make it a doctrinal debate about works' merits, like who works, God or you? 00:20:48.480 |
How does your works apply to God's redemption? 00:20:53.420 |
But Scripture has made it really, really clear to you. 00:20:58.200 |
Here I want you to understand that there is a lot of talk of your identity as a child 00:21:06.560 |
Jesus was the prime son of God, and as you have been given the grace of salvation in 00:21:12.960 |
the gospel to be adopted into God's household, Scripture is really clear. 00:21:17.920 |
If you're now a child of God, stop obeying Satan, especially stop obeying yourself. 00:21:24.580 |
If you have been adopted by God and he is your father, be a good child. 00:21:34.120 |
If that is who you are, you have this amazing calling to be inducted into his household, 00:21:44.960 |
The whole picture is you and God brought together in a father-son, father-daughter relationship. 00:21:51.760 |
In that context, Christianity has always been childlike obedience. 00:22:04.920 |
When did we make it all complicated talking about, "Wait a minute. 00:22:08.200 |
Are we talking about the doctrine of works-based righteousness? 00:22:14.440 |
And I think as we work through the passage, we're going to see that that's how Apostle 00:22:20.040 |
That as we obey, we're going to prove ourselves, show ourselves, reveal the spiritual truth, 00:22:31.160 |
Now, I think that's why the fear and trembling, and it's the "For it is God who is at 00:22:41.040 |
When I read to you 2 Peter 1, I tried to emphasize to you, all Peter was trying to say was, "Look, 00:22:48.840 |
if you have true knowledge, if you have true faith, you're going to be fruitful in these 00:22:58.080 |
Forget all the preconceptions you have of trembling. 00:23:02.500 |
Forget all the preconceptions you have of like fear, right? 00:23:06.640 |
And just ask the question, "If God walked into this room, how would you feel?" 00:23:13.480 |
If I told you, if I told you, even if it wasn't even God, but some other figure with a lot 00:23:20.280 |
of power, perhaps it was the governor, perhaps it was somebody who was a statesman, perhaps 00:23:26.280 |
it was an owner of a massive business, and I told you, "Ooh, they're in the room," 00:23:31.040 |
you would already have a sense of like, "Oh, really?" 00:23:37.600 |
All we're saying, all he's saying is, "Work out your salvation with clear understanding 00:23:48.040 |
Of course there should be fear and trembling. 00:23:50.400 |
I think we have this weird reaction to this passage because we have a lot of negative 00:24:11.200 |
"For," God says, "for my hand made all these things." 00:24:15.560 |
"Thus all these things came into being, declares the Lord. 00:24:19.080 |
But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, who trembles 00:24:31.560 |
He is pleased by the one who trembles at his word. 00:24:36.720 |
It's not a term of like, "Oh my gosh, that means it's anti-gospel." 00:24:43.760 |
Just like 1 John tells you, if you do not love, you probably have not seen God. 00:24:48.240 |
If you do not have an awe and sense of reverence for God, as heavenly Father, creator of the 00:24:53.400 |
world, that also means you've kind of forgotten who he is. 00:25:01.060 |
Section one, in thinking about the work out your salvation, the fear and trembling is 00:25:05.840 |
you appropriately seeing, accurately seeing, and intimately seeing him as Father. 00:25:11.840 |
That all comes together with knowing if he's at work in you, it all the more inspires you 00:25:17.200 |
to be that much more diligent in your sanctification, okay? 00:25:23.080 |
All right, in this next passage, he says, "Do all things without grumbling or disputing 00:25:30.320 |
so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach 00:25:35.400 |
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 00:25:41.280 |
holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ, I will have reason to glory 00:25:46.560 |
because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain." 00:25:52.240 |
Okay, when I look at this, the first part is really clear. 00:25:55.880 |
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, and I put stars by those terms because you 00:26:00.280 |
could easily ask, "Wait, does that mean that Christians should never disagree?" 00:26:05.240 |
If you're at work and your boss tells you, "Hey, I know you're already kind of overworked, 00:26:14.240 |
Is that the good and godly Christian thing to do? 00:26:17.360 |
I mean, can you never say, "No, thank you," right? 00:26:23.560 |
If someone says like, "Hey, our plan is to execute by doing A, B, and C," but you see 00:26:28.340 |
it coming like, "B is going to fail, C is going to fail, and we're going to waste a 00:26:31.760 |
whole lot of time," are you supposed to be like, "Got to hold my tongue because Jesus 00:26:39.840 |
I mean, is that the way we're supposed to respond? 00:26:42.040 |
Again, I want to encourage you guys to do word studies sometimes, especially, it doesn't 00:26:46.840 |
have to be every single word, but as soon as you feel like, "He gave me a command, but 00:26:57.000 |
I'm not going to, let's say, bore you with all the nuanced details, but clearly grumbling 00:27:08.720 |
What's really interesting, it's a vivid term that actually means murmuring to yourself. 00:27:13.960 |
Have you guys ever been so disappointed, like you got into maybe some kind of disagreement, 00:27:20.040 |
you had your fair chance to state your case, and then nobody listened to you? 00:27:28.440 |
I stated my piece, I gave my reasons, but we're going to go this way. 00:27:32.180 |
Or you can sit there and be like, "Those little guys never listened to me," you know, and 00:27:36.000 |
you start talking to yourself, you sound like a crazy person, and you have this discontent 00:27:42.720 |
This term, in other portions of the Bible, is translated discontent. 00:27:55.760 |
When you have a disputing heart, typically what happens, it's not just like, "Hey, objectively 00:28:01.160 |
speaking, this plan doesn't work because of X, Y, and Z." 00:28:04.060 |
If you've ever gotten in an argument, and you became a disputing person, no longer do 00:28:11.200 |
All of a sudden, you're like, "Well, you know what? 00:28:19.440 |
Now, the thing about it is, if you ever get there, now you know you're not just disputing 00:28:27.820 |
What you're having is this heart of putting down the other individual, not trusting them. 00:28:34.040 |
And when you apply it to God, it's actually very dangerous, isn't it? 00:28:38.440 |
For you to be so discontent, you've maybe asked them the questions, maybe you've prayed, 00:28:43.480 |
but you're so discontent, now you're not even talking to Him anymore, you're just talking 00:28:48.000 |
"This is horrible, I can't believe you did this, blah, blah, blah." 00:28:52.000 |
And then the disputing happens when all of a sudden now, the fact of the matter is, if 00:28:56.760 |
you have this spirit against somebody, you don't trust their plans. 00:29:02.880 |
And if we did this to God, you recognize how dangerous this could be. 00:29:08.960 |
And I want to highlight that a little bit because other parts of Scripture tell us emphatically, 00:29:14.580 |
Turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 10, verse 8-11." 00:29:29.000 |
In 1 Corinthians, Apostle Paul is describing how like, "Hey, you guys remember how all 00:29:35.480 |
He's talking about the wilderness generation. 00:29:36.880 |
They crossed the sea, they were baptized through. 00:29:39.640 |
And he says, "These people are for your instruction, they're an example to you." 00:29:47.360 |
Don't let us act immorally as some of them did. 00:29:55.360 |
Don't test Him as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents. 00:29:58.960 |
Nor," here's our key term, "Don't grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by 00:30:04.120 |
These things happened to them as an example that they were written for our instruction 00:30:10.720 |
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall." 00:30:13.480 |
Guys, this is just a common temptation for every man. 00:30:18.240 |
You're walking through the desert, you're all of a sudden all mad. 00:30:22.520 |
We're walking through the desert, I have no water, I have no food, blah, blah, blah, blah, 00:30:26.800 |
And we just came out of slavery and they were beating us to death. 00:30:34.160 |
And so you recognize how important it is and how dangerous it is for us to think that grumbling, 00:30:41.160 |
being discontent, dissatisfied, and distrusting God, we sometimes think it's okay. 00:30:50.040 |
As a matter of fact, in order to highlight for you how important this is, notice how 00:30:55.280 |
he talks about do all these things without grumbling or disputing, and then he talks 00:31:00.160 |
about how in contrast, you're supposed to be this blameless, innocent children above 00:31:05.360 |
reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. 00:31:08.800 |
He's contrasting this wicked generation and he says, "You know what the difference is? 00:31:15.560 |
You've got these blameless individuals who don't complain, who don't grumble. 00:31:20.480 |
And I'm going to ask you these questions that you should be talking about in your groups. 00:31:26.720 |
How is it that not grumbling or vice versa, grumbling show you to be a perverse person? 00:31:34.760 |
Or when you don't grumble, it shows you to be an innocent person? 00:31:41.420 |
He says, "Do all things without grumbling or disputing so that you prove yourselves 00:31:46.960 |
to be blameless, innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and 00:31:51.760 |
perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world." 00:31:59.440 |
If you do complain and grumble quite often, do you see it as such a heinous thing? 00:32:08.640 |
You should ask yourself, how does God see grumbling? 00:32:12.400 |
How does it go against our identity as blameless and innocent people? 00:32:16.060 |
How does it go against our identity as children of God? 00:32:20.200 |
Typically speaking, again, when we think about disputing or having a discontent heart, ultimately, 00:32:27.920 |
are we not pridefully accusing God, "You're not doing what I think is right." 00:32:37.440 |
It is a pretty incredibly prideful position and posture before God. 00:32:46.160 |
Ultimately, the platform for us to grumble and dispute against the Lord is that fashion. 00:32:55.560 |
If God says, "No, you have to do this," then we say something like, "Fine. 00:33:00.800 |
And since I can't have a good attitude about it, I'm out." 00:33:05.320 |
Notice brothers and sisters that the command is to do all things. 00:33:11.880 |
I find that sometimes when people know what they ought to do, when people know what is 00:33:15.320 |
the right thing to do, sometimes they say, "Well, if I can't be genuine about it, if 00:33:19.160 |
I can't have a good attitude, better for me to sit out." 00:33:25.240 |
The passage tells you to do all things actually with joy. 00:33:30.560 |
The higher calling for us is to go above and beyond that. 00:33:35.040 |
If you've ever been tempted, you don't like something, you don't like the way things are 00:33:38.240 |
going and you're tempted to excuse yourself and you think that's more nobler than being 00:33:43.240 |
in it all grouchy, yes, there is a point to it. 00:33:51.720 |
Now, this next portion, I'm going to go a little bit faster, which is this idea. 00:33:57.280 |
This portion I'm going to leave to you to discuss in your group. 00:34:00.640 |
The passage has this interesting concept and flow of thought. 00:34:04.320 |
You need to be like these individuals who do things with great joy, with rejoicing, 00:34:09.280 |
with the great purpose of God so that you prove yourselves to be all these things. 00:34:13.480 |
And I ask you this question, how does grumbling prove one or the other? 00:34:18.300 |
It proves yourself to be crooked and perverse or by not grumbling, it proves yourself to 00:34:27.300 |
Now we go to the last section and we're going to go through a little bit quickly. 00:34:30.440 |
And he says, "I want you to make sure to do these things, to make sure that you work out 00:34:37.040 |
your salvation, to make sure that you're doing all things not with grumbling but with joy 00:34:43.220 |
so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor 00:34:49.520 |
But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of 00:34:53.440 |
your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. 00:34:57.400 |
You too I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me." 00:35:04.280 |
Now, what I'm going to say is, it is kind of interesting. 00:35:08.220 |
I would definitely say like, hmm, this is a little bit of a, you got to think through 00:35:11.720 |
it because earlier on in chapter 1 verse 6, he talks about how, "I'm so confident, so 00:35:17.720 |
confident that he who began this thing, he's going to bring it upon completion. 00:35:24.640 |
And it's almost like, you guys need to do this. 00:35:30.800 |
You guys need to make sure you're applying what you believe, right? 00:35:35.120 |
Because I don't want to come to the end and then make all this for naught. 00:35:39.800 |
But I want you to understand what he's saying. 00:35:42.240 |
He is really going back to his original statement of his perspective on his entire life. 00:35:50.480 |
He's not just simply saying, "You have to do this so that I can glory," versus, "I can 00:35:55.640 |
What he is saying is, "In either way, I will rejoice." 00:36:02.880 |
Even if I pour out my life just as I'm following the example of my Savior who emptied Himself, 00:36:10.840 |
completely, completely emptied Himself, if I'm poured out in the exact same way, even 00:36:22.080 |
And so what I want to share with you is, I want you guys to understand that the theme 00:36:26.840 |
of Apostle Paul saying that he has found this incredible joy is obviously not in circumstance. 00:36:35.200 |
And therefore, if it's not in circumstance, it's also not just because the people are 00:36:41.720 |
Even besides the fact, even if they don't respond well, if he's poured out and he comes 00:36:48.720 |
to the point where he faces death, he has found reason to rejoice. 00:36:55.000 |
Because remember that he started with the incredible, incredible vision that if his 00:37:00.280 |
life is used to proclaim Christ, then he's going to have joy. 00:37:05.240 |
And what's more, he has commanded us that proclaiming Christ is going to come through 00:37:09.440 |
our unity, our unity in the Spirit, our unity in Christ, our unity on one purpose to proclaim 00:37:17.200 |
And what's more, that unity is going to come through the humility that you experience, 00:37:21.720 |
that you show forth because you're being sanctified in Christ, because you're working out your 00:37:28.680 |
And all of that produces incredible joy in you. 00:37:35.280 |
I don't know where you guys are at in your barometer of joy, right? 00:37:42.520 |
If you're one of those people recently who are just like, "Oh, you know, work is hard. 00:37:48.760 |
Everything's really hard and you just got to find joy in the small things of life." 00:37:52.320 |
And I see nowadays people post up like, "You know, day is done. 00:38:03.160 |
And I'm sitting there like, "Yeah, I'll give you that." 00:38:07.680 |
I get happy when things are going right or you get a nice little break. 00:38:13.120 |
But honestly speaking, if we can't get here, then we're really missing the entire worldview 00:38:24.080 |
I want to conclude by saying there are many, many commands, many commands. 00:38:33.900 |
He said work out your salvation, which I kind of summarize as being obedient as children. 00:38:44.140 |
But notice how at the end of this, essentially he's saying, "Join me in my joy," right? 00:38:52.660 |
I want you to rejoice and I want you to share the joy with me. 00:39:01.820 |
If you can have this perspective that the proclamation of Christ is the main objective 00:39:07.180 |
in your life, then whether you are living, great joy. 00:39:23.380 |
God, we recognize, Lord, that you have given to us by faith a purpose that supersedes any 00:39:34.740 |
And therefore, God, you have given to us a cause, a calling, whatever you want to call 00:39:42.940 |
And therefore, Lord, we have such a confidence and joy. 00:39:47.500 |
God, because you have called us to this, because you have given us this privilege, no one can 00:39:55.460 |
And Father, just like many of the saints before us, even if we're put in the furnace, even 00:40:00.620 |
if we're put to the dogs, even if we're put out of the city, we have this great joy before 00:40:06.540 |
And I pray, Father God, that rather than seeking all the small joys of this life, God, we would 00:40:12.700 |
find the joy of knowing you, of serving you, and ultimately, God, being like you. 00:40:19.300 |
Father, I do want to pray that you would challenge us in our faith, that what we see by the spiritual 00:40:25.300 |
eyes, what we see in your word, it would have its effect. 00:40:30.860 |
We absolutely trust you that what you have started, what you have already shown us, you 00:40:37.100 |
We thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray.