Alright everyone, we're going to gather our attention to the front and go through our passage. So what I'll do is I'll read our passage in full and then we'll jump right in. Starting from verse 12, it 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.

For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God, above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life.

So that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory, because I do not run in vain nor toil in vain, but even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.

You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me." Let's take a moment to pray. Alright God, we thank you so much. Lord, we do pray that we would understand in this grand scale the great purpose to which you have called us. God to share in the glories of Christ, to be used the proclamation of his name, and God to experience the privilege and the joy of being called children of our God.

And we do pray God that with great sense of appreciation, sense of privilege, Lord we would desire really to experience that in our lives. God, we thank you for your word, it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Okay. So as we look at this passage, I'd like to first take a moment to break the passage down.

I already put it into chunks for you, but a good practice is to make sure that as we're understanding the flow of thought, to summarize what those chunks are. Now one of the easiest ways to do that is just to make sure we look at the sentences as a complete package.

So in terms of an outline, this is the way I wrote it out. Okay. Here in verse 12 to 13, reading it again it says, "So then my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Okay.

And what I'm going to say is that as we take a look at that sentence as a whole, you take a look at the main, main command or the main verb in that sentence, and it's the command to work out your salvation. What's more, the second part of it, command is right there at the front.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing so that you will prove yourself to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world. So that, I summarize as do all without grumbling or disputing.

Ha ha ha. Okay. Just making sure you're paying attention. All right. All right. Verse 17 through 18, he says that, you know, "Do this so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory, because I do not run in vain or toil in vain, but even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon sacrifice in service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all." So that phrase, "I rejoice and share my joy," is the main clause.

And that second part in verse 18, that is actually a command. It is in the imperative form, "You too, I urge you, rejoice." So the command is there, "You rejoice." And then he says, "Share your joy with me." So that's why I summarized it as, "I rejoice, you rejoice, we all rejoice for ice cream." That's good.

Not for ice cream, but for the sake of Christ. Okay? Now, I want to highlight this just a little bit as good practice. I'm not going to take a whole lot, but typically when I read a passage, I read through it multiple times before I make the outline. You have to, right?

But sometimes the act of trying to summarize it to the core point is difficult. How do you find that? I want to give you an example of verse 12 to 13. My whole point to you is going to be you have to find the main sentence out of the thought, okay, out of the main point out of the sentence.

And how you do that is you realize certain phrases cannot stand alone. If I read to you, "So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed." That is not a complete sentence. You learned that in like first grade, right? It is called a subjective clause. It can't stand alone.

So guess what? You can just remove that for a little bit. And then it says, "Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence." If you leave it there, it doesn't make sense. You remove that too. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, period, right?

There's your command. It's your independent clause, okay? And that's how you get to the main thought of the sentence. The other part, "For it is God," that also cannot stand alone. And so if you remove it, what you have is work out your salvation. There's your central thought to your sentence.

If you want to get all crazy, I put a diagram there. This is the way when I prepare a sermon, not for my own personal devotion, but for the way I prepare a sermon, this is the way I break it down. And if you've ever wondered why in the world do some pastors take one sentence and preach an hour-long sermon, it's because you can get so much from breaking it down.

For example, I recognize that these clauses that can't stand alone all point to the centerpiece, which is the command. But the relationship is where I can preach, meaning I can show you what He means. Just as you've always obeyed, and immediately you're like, "Oh, shoot. These people always obeyed.

Not me." All of a sudden, you have a sermon right there, right? "You don't always obey, do you?" Right? Like, "There's my sermon." I can preach. I can preach that. What's more, when it says, "Work out your salvation," I can even go on to this, "How did you obey?

Not only in my presence, but much more in my absence." Ooh. When we think about even young kids, how many of them pretend like they're obeying, but as soon as a parent turns the eye, they're like, "Ha, ha, ha, ha." Right? I've got examples now, right? And then when I think about, "With fear and trembling," wow.

How you're supposed to work out your salvation is with fear and trembling. And so you can see how each portion of that sentence can be broken down, and the relationships of the phrases all matter. Now, this could take you forever. However, I don't expect you guys to do this on a daily devotional basis, but sometimes if you want to, you can dig that closely.

My main point to you was, when you think about finding the main sentence, you realize you can look at each phrase and just simply ask, "Can this stand alone?" And when you realize the stand-alone sentence has the main subject and verb, here it's clearly you work out your salvation, right?

There you have a kind of summary of that little section. Hope that's helpful, okay? All right. So, that being said, that was a quick overview of the passage, but now we ask this kind of review and introductory question, a connection with the past, a connection with last week. What is the flow of thought from the previous passage?

Okay, I asked you that question. And what you need to do is you got to realize, "Okay, I got to start reviewing." I remember that in the very beginning, Apostle Paul was super thankful for this church, right? He's like, "I ought to be thankful for you because," and then we recognize that there was faith, love, hope, all the genuine marks of Christianity.

But what's more, Apostle Paul shared that he had this prayer and desire for the church. He says, "And I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus." Now why is this important?

It's because you realize Apostle Paul is, yes, writing this letter and it's one whole piece. You do realize the flow of thought where he has this main objective for the church, and therefore the commands of you follow his example, have his attitude, all of that comes into play. What's more, Apostle Paul did share his own personal perspective.

He shared his mentality and one main passion, and he talked about how to live is Christ, to live is just amazing because it's all Christ, but to die is even more Christ, so it's gain. And if you remember in verse 20, chapter 1 verse 20, he said, "According to my earnest expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." And we spent a long portion, and the whole portion is from like verse 12 through 30, talking about this is Apostle Paul's mentality that helps him interpret everything in life, his suffering, his work, his pains, his burdens, and he's like, "Dude, in all that I will rejoice because my one objective is Christ's exaltation." And so last week we heard Apostle Paul's command where he connects that and says, "Therefore if there's any marks of genuine faith and experience," remember he talked about how if there was any encouragement in Christ, if there's any consolation of love, any fellowship, right, you remember all that?

He says, "If that's all true, be united." Same mind, intent on one purpose, and he says, "How are you going to do that? By being humble and having the attitude of Christ, who emptied himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. I highlight that because now I want to show you his flow of thought is all the way from the very beginning of the letter.

He had his intentions for you to be blameless in Christ. He wants you to understand what it is to truly live and die well in Christ. He wants you to be obedient like Christ, following his example, and therefore he says, "So then," and that's what I'm coming to is.

The passage that we have today begins with the "so then," and it points to all of that, okay? It points to the example of Christ where he has emptied himself and Scripture says has become obedient, right? He became obedient even unto death, even death on a cross, and therefore you too, just as you obey, right?

So here we jump into verse 12 through 13. Section one, "So therefore you ought to obey and work out your salvation and do everything without grumbling," okay? That's the flow. That's the flow. So here in verse 12 he says, "So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." This is the first section.

And in here what we find is I'm just going to briefly mention just because we don't have time to go over every phrase, that when he says, "Just as you have always obeyed," I always make sure that when I see these comparative words, I ask myself, "What's he comparing?

Is he comparing like, just like Jesus obeyed? Just like I obeyed? Or just like you obeyed?" And just like what? Like what are you comparing? And he's not actually pointing to something before, he's actually pointing to the command, okay? He's pointing to the command and saying, as an introductory, "Look, I commend you because you are a healthy church that is already striving and obeying, persevering through trials.

And even when I'm not here, you're showing your fruitfulness by obeying." And again, immediately I'm sitting here like, "Yeah, yeah, me too." I'm just kidding. I didn't say that when I was studying, but I'm just thinking like, already that's a point of conviction, right? I mean, how many of us can say like, every time we hear like some kind of admonition or exhortation, it's in the context of, "I'm already doing well and I've already been listening hard," and all that kind of stuff.

What a challenge for us to be like this church. Or on the flip side, you could have guilty feelings like, "Oh yeah, honestly speaking, that's really convicting because I actually really need to get it together." You know? Like, which one is it? Now, moving forward, the main point of it though in that first section is the command.

I like to put my commands in purple. And it says, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." And you guys know, I'm sure you guys did it in your groups. We can sit there and start asking all these questions like, "Wow, what does that mean? Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." And each one of those terms, actually, you can sit down, camp out, and start asking all these questions.

What does work mean? What does salvation mean? What does fear mean? And what does trembling mean? Why? Because to the normal person in modern day Christianity, if you hear these words, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling," they're going to automatically think like, "That don't sound like the gospel." Right?

You can imagine your average American Christian thinking like, "Does that sound a lot like you have to accomplish your salvation? You're responsible for making it work? In the end, it's up to you?" I mean, what's it trying to say? Is it talking just about general sanctification? Is it talking about like, "There's suffering out there, so work hard." And then reach the end, what is it talking about?

Right? Now, I do want to just first say, here where it says, "Work out your salvation," it is incredibly emphatic. Right? Because you notice like all the various things he's pointing to with it. He's pointing to it with the, "Just like you're doing this always before." And what's more, he's giving the "for," like, "because," and there's motivation behind it.

And what's more, just the term itself. So again, if you guys are, if you have time to do word study, just give it a look. I want to recommend again, we talked about it in a previous session. A nice little website is blueletterbible.org. Okay? Blueletterbible.org. It just gives you the words and you click on a word and it shows you the definition.

It's great. Okay? But it's an intensified word because the normal word for work is just simply, "Goedzo mai." However, it has the word "kata" to intensify that term and that's why for one word you have two words like this, you got to work it out. It's this idea of making sure it comes to completion.

Right? Now, without belaboring the point about what does this mean, I just want to share with you sometimes it's good for us to just ask, "What could this mean? What are the possible interpretations here?" Another good question to ask, "Are there hints in the immediate passage that tell you what kind of interpretation it could be?

Is he talking about the extreme case? It's up to you. Salvation is in your hand. Do it!" Right? Is that what it's saying? Is that what it's talking about? You got to ask the questions in the immediate context, what is he talking about? What's more, you got to ask the question in the context of the Bible, how are we to understand this in other passages, right?

First, first, I want to draw our attention to the fact that there is this general sentiment of obedience in this passage. Remember, Apostle Paul is telling us you need to have the attitude of Jesus Christ, who, and he gives a list of all the things Jesus did, and within that he says, "And Jesus became obedient, and therefore just like you are obeying," and what's more, he connects it with, "So then you," right?

What I'm saying is this is still a continuation of Apostle Paul's expectation that we would follow Christ's example, right? Follow Christ's example. But what's more, I want us to turn to a passage, 2 Peter 1, verse 5-11. It clearly gives us in another passage of the Bible generally what the scripture means when your salvation needs to continue to take its whole effect.

And Pastor Peter in the Sunday sermons has been regular, like multiple times explaining that if you have such a narrow vision and understanding of salvation that it's just a one-time moment of justification, you only have part of the picture because clearly the Bible talks about the entirety of God's redemptive plan for you as the whole of salvation.

Your justification, your changed transformation and sanctification, and your ultimate change in your glorification. On all of that, God is redeeming you, right? Now here is a passage, 2 Peter 1, verse 5-11. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, okay? Applying all your diligence, in your faith supply more excellence.

In your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control. In your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness. And in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I want you to understand what he's talking about there. Notice, there is both the concepts of your diligence and you applying yourself, but within it he says, this is the application of your faith. This is the true knowledge. What's more, verse 9, "For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling in choosing you. For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble. For in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you." So when you hear this, it makes all the more sense, right?

Because the work we're supposed to do is to take the faith that God has given us. When he opens our eyes to see the spiritual reality, "God is holy," and you look like, "I'm sinful. There's Jesus, glorious Savior, who died on the cross." Those are spiritual moments of having your eyes opened by God.

He's saying when that knowledge is there, it needs to have its fruit. So clearly, Scripture tells you, "Bear fruit. Apply what you know." Right? Walk in a manner that's in accordance to the faith that you have. It's pretty much exactly the same thing. And in all honesty, I think sometimes we just continue to overcomplicate simple things.

What do I mean by this? Somebody is going to come and ask you, "Hey, when this passage says, 'Work out your salvation,' does it mean like that your works have merit? Is Catholicism correct? Like, do you have – is it a combo of your work and faith together?" Someone could ask that kind of question, right?

You need to have an answer for that. And let me make it simple. If you make it a doctrinal debate about works' merits, like who works, God or you? What value does your work have? How does your works apply to God's redemption? It's going to be very hard. But Scripture has made it really, really clear to you.

What do I mean? Here I want you to understand that there is a lot of talk of your identity as a child of God. Jesus was the prime son of God, and as you have been given the grace of salvation in the gospel to be adopted into God's household, Scripture is really clear.

If you're now a child of God, stop obeying Satan, especially stop obeying yourself. If you have been adopted by God and he is your father, be a good child. Obey your father. That's it. If that is who you are, you have this amazing calling to be inducted into his household, what kind of doctrinal debate is there?

It's like, "Wait a minute. Am I working for…" No. The whole picture is you and God brought together in a father-son, father-daughter relationship. In that context, Christianity has always been childlike obedience. "I trust my God. I do what he says. He instructs. I follow." When did we make it all complicated talking about, "Wait a minute.

Are we talking about the doctrine of works-based righteousness? Are we talking…" It's as simple as that. And I think as we work through the passage, we're going to see that that's how Apostle Paul talks too. That as we obey, we're going to prove ourselves, show ourselves, reveal the spiritual truth, "You're a child of God." It's that simple.

Okay? Now, I think that's why the fear and trembling, and it's the "For it is God who is at work in you," all make sense. When I read to you 2 Peter 1, I tried to emphasize to you, all Peter was trying to say was, "Look, if you have true knowledge, if you have true faith, you're going to be fruitful in these ways." Likewise, just think about this.

Forget all the preconceptions you have of trembling. Forget all the preconceptions you have of like fear, right? And just ask the question, "If God walked into this room, how would you feel?" If I told you, if I told you, even if it wasn't even God, but some other figure with a lot of power, perhaps it was the governor, perhaps it was somebody who was a statesman, perhaps it was an owner of a massive business, and I told you, "Ooh, they're in the room," you would already have a sense of like, "Oh, really?" Your sense of awe goes up, right?

All we're saying, all he's saying is, "Work out your salvation with clear understanding of the reality of God. He's working in you." Of course there should be fear and trembling. I think we have this weird reaction to this passage because we have a lot of negative preconceptions to fear and trembling.

What do I mean by that? I'm going to read you a passage. In Isaiah chapter 66, verse 2, okay? Isaiah 66, verse 2, please just read this. I'm sorry, please just listen to this. I'll read it. "For," God says, "for my hand made all these things." God is the creator.

"Thus all these things came into being, declares the Lord. But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, who trembles at my word." What does God say? He carefully looks. He is pleased by the one who trembles at his word. It's not a negative term.

It's not a term of like, "Oh my gosh, that means it's anti-gospel." No, it's not. It means you appropriately saw him. Just like 1 John tells you, if you do not love, you probably have not seen God. If you do not have an awe and sense of reverence for God, as heavenly Father, creator of the world, that also means you've kind of forgotten who he is.

All right, so that's section one, okay? Section one, in thinking about the work out your salvation, the fear and trembling is you appropriately seeing, accurately seeing, and intimately seeing him as Father. That all comes together with knowing if he's at work in you, it all the more inspires you to be that much more diligent in your sanctification, okay?

Next passage. All right, in this next passage, he says, "Do all things without grumbling or disputing so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ, I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain." Oops, I put that into the next section.

Okay, when I look at this, the first part is really clear. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, and I put stars by those terms because you could easily ask, "Wait, does that mean that Christians should never disagree?" If you're at work and your boss tells you, "Hey, I know you're already kind of overworked, but can you stay another three hours?" Are you supposed to say, "Yes, sir," right?

Is that the good and godly Christian thing to do? I mean, can you never say, "No, thank you," right? "I'm going to go home now." Can you never do that? If someone says like, "Hey, our plan is to execute by doing A, B, and C," but you see it coming like, "B is going to fail, C is going to fail, and we're going to waste a whole lot of time," are you supposed to be like, "Got to hold my tongue because Jesus said don't ever dispute," right?

I mean, is that the way we're supposed to respond? Again, I want to encourage you guys to do word studies sometimes, especially, it doesn't have to be every single word, but as soon as you feel like, "He gave me a command, but I need to know the parameters," right?

Couple things I want to say. I'm not going to, let's say, bore you with all the nuanced details, but clearly grumbling has more to do with that complaining spirit. It's not just arguing with somebody. What's really interesting, it's a vivid term that actually means murmuring to yourself. Have you guys ever been so disappointed, like you got into maybe some kind of disagreement, you had your fair chance to state your case, and then nobody listened to you?

You could do one of two things. You know what? I stated my piece, I gave my reasons, but we're going to go this way. Or you can sit there and be like, "Those little guys never listened to me," you know, and you start talking to yourself, you sound like a crazy person, and you have this discontent in your heart.

Guess what? This term, in other portions of the Bible, is translated discontent. You're so unhappy. What's more, disputing, very interesting. It's not just the fact that you disagree. When you have a disputing heart, typically what happens, it's not just like, "Hey, objectively speaking, this plan doesn't work because of X, Y, and Z." If you've ever gotten in an argument, and you became a disputing person, no longer do you argue based on facts or truth.

All of a sudden, you're like, "Well, you know what? You're just stupid." Right? Have you guys ever done that? Of course not, right? You guys are... I'm just kidding. Now, the thing about it is, if you ever get there, now you know you're not just disputing anymore. You're not just disagreeing, I mean.

What you're having is this heart of putting down the other individual, not trusting them. And when you apply it to God, it's actually very dangerous, isn't it? For you to be so discontent, you've maybe asked them the questions, maybe you've prayed, but you're so discontent, now you're not even talking to Him anymore, you're just talking to yourself.

"This is horrible, I can't believe you did this, blah, blah, blah." And then the disputing happens when all of a sudden now, the fact of the matter is, if you have this spirit against somebody, you don't trust their plans. You don't trust their competence. And if we did this to God, you recognize how dangerous this could be.

And I want to highlight that a little bit because other parts of Scripture tell us emphatically, "Don't do this! Turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 10, verse 8-11." Ooh, I'm already at a solid 30 minutes. Okay, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 8-13. In 1 Corinthians, Apostle Paul is describing how like, "Hey, you guys remember how all have gone through the same?" He's talking about the wilderness generation.

They crossed the sea, they were baptized through. And he says, "These people are for your instruction, they're an example to you." Negative. Verse 8, he says, "Don't do this! Don't let us act immorally as some of them did. 23,000 fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord.

Don't test Him as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents. Nor," here's our key term, "Don't grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them as an example that they were written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall." Guys, this is just a common temptation for every man. You're walking through the desert, you're all of a sudden all mad. What in the world? We're walking through the desert, I have no water, I have no food, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And we just came out of slavery and they were beating us to death. Right? We can't be like that. And so you recognize how important it is and how dangerous it is for us to think that grumbling, being discontent, dissatisfied, and distrusting God, we sometimes think it's okay. It's not.

Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, in order to highlight for you how important this is, notice how he talks about do all these things without grumbling or disputing, and then he talks about how in contrast, you're supposed to be this blameless, innocent children above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

He's contrasting this wicked generation and he says, "You know what the difference is? You've got these blameless individuals who don't complain, who don't grumble. And I'm going to ask you these questions that you should be talking about in your groups. How is it that not grumbling or vice versa, grumbling show you to be a perverse person?

Or when you don't grumble, it shows you to be an innocent person? Why? Because take a look at this. He says, "Do all things without grumbling or disputing so that you prove yourselves to be blameless, innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world." I want to give you this challenge.

If you do complain and grumble quite often, do you see it as such a heinous thing? Such an important and significant thing? You should ask yourself, how does God see grumbling? How does it go against our identity as blameless and innocent people? How does it go against our identity as children of God?

Typically speaking, again, when we think about disputing or having a discontent heart, ultimately, are we not pridefully accusing God, "You're not doing what I think is right." Right? It is a pretty incredibly prideful position and posture before God. "God, you're wrong. I think I have a better way." Ultimately, the platform for us to grumble and dispute against the Lord is that fashion.

And sometimes we're so stubborn in it. If God says, "No, you have to do this," then we say something like, "Fine. And since I can't have a good attitude about it, I'm out." Notice brothers and sisters that the command is to do all things. What am I saying? I find that sometimes when people know what they ought to do, when people know what is the right thing to do, sometimes they say, "Well, if I can't be genuine about it, if I can't have a good attitude, better for me to sit out." Brothers and sisters, that's also wrong.

The passage tells you to do all things actually with joy. The higher calling for us is to go above and beyond that. Right? If you've ever been tempted, you don't like something, you don't like the way things are going and you're tempted to excuse yourself and you think that's more nobler than being in it all grouchy, yes, there is a point to it.

But the Scripture calls us to much more. That's my point. Okay? Now, this next portion, I'm going to go a little bit faster, which is this idea. This portion I'm going to leave to you to discuss in your group. The passage has this interesting concept and flow of thought.

You need to be like these individuals who do things with great joy, with rejoicing, with the great purpose of God so that you prove yourselves to be all these things. And I ask you this question, how does grumbling prove one or the other? It proves yourself to be crooked and perverse or by not grumbling, it proves yourself to be these things.

Please discuss that in your group. Now we go to the last section and we're going to go through a little bit quickly. And he says, "I want you to make sure to do these things, to make sure that you work out your salvation, to make sure that you're doing all things not with grumbling but with joy so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.

But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me." Okay? Now, what I'm going to say is, it is kind of interesting.

I would definitely say like, hmm, this is a little bit of a, you got to think through it because earlier on in chapter 1 verse 6, he talks about how, "I'm so confident, so confident that he who began this thing, he's going to bring it upon completion. I'm so confident of you." Right?

And it's almost like, you guys need to do this. You guys need to go through sanctification. You guys need to work out your faith. You guys need to make sure you're applying what you believe, right? Why? Because I don't want to come to the end and then make all this for naught.

But I want you to understand what he's saying. He is really going back to his original statement of his perspective on his entire life. What am I saying? He's not just simply saying, "You have to do this so that I can glory," versus, "I can weep in vain." What he is saying is, "In either way, I will rejoice." Right?

Even if I pour out my life just as I'm following the example of my Savior who emptied Himself, completely, completely emptied Himself, if I'm poured out in the exact same way, even then I will rejoice. That's what he's talking about. And so what I want to share with you is, I want you guys to understand that the theme of Apostle Paul saying that he has found this incredible joy is obviously not in circumstance.

And therefore, if it's not in circumstance, it's also not just because the people are responding well. Even besides the fact, even if they don't respond well, if he's poured out and he comes to the point where he faces death, he has found reason to rejoice. Why? Because remember that he started with the incredible, incredible vision that if his life is used to proclaim Christ, then he's going to have joy.

And what's more, he has commanded us that proclaiming Christ is going to come through our unity, our unity in the Spirit, our unity in Christ, our unity on one purpose to proclaim Christ. And what's more, that unity is going to come through the humility that you experience, that you show forth because you're being sanctified in Christ, because you're working out your salvation in Christ.

And all of that produces incredible joy in you. Here's a challenge. I don't know where you guys are at in your barometer of joy, right? If you're one of those people recently who are just like, "Oh, you know, work is hard. Family is tough. Everything's really hard and you just got to find joy in the small things of life." And I see nowadays people post up like, "You know, day is done.

I got the kicked up my feet. I've got my nice cold Coke in my hand. I'm watching this show, Small Joys in Life." And I'm sitting there like, "Yeah, I'll give you that." I get happy when things are going right or you get a nice little break. But honestly speaking, if we can't get here, then we're really missing the entire worldview that Christ wants you to have, right?

I want to conclude by saying there are many, many commands, many commands. He said be united. He said be humble. He said have the attitude of Christ. He said work out your salvation, which I kind of summarize as being obedient as children. He says don't grumble, right? Don't be disputing.

But notice how at the end of this, essentially he's saying, "Join me in my joy," right? He is actually giving that kind of intent. I want you to rejoice and I want you to share the joy with me. What is he saying? He's asking for buy-in. If you can have this perspective that the proclamation of Christ is the main objective in your life, then whether you are living, great joy.

And even if you're dying, even greater joy. Let's take some time to pray. Lord, we want to thank you. God, we recognize, Lord, that you have given to us by faith a purpose that supersedes any other purpose in this life. And therefore, God, you have given to us a cause, a calling, whatever you want to call it that is unshakable by this world.

And therefore, Lord, we have such a confidence and joy. God, because you have called us to this, because you have given us this privilege, no one can take it away. And Father, just like many of the saints before us, even if we're put in the furnace, even if we're put to the dogs, even if we're put out of the city, we have this great joy before us.

And I pray, Father God, that rather than seeking all the small joys of this life, God, we would find the joy of knowing you, of serving you, and ultimately, God, being like you. Father, I do want to pray that you would challenge us in our faith, that what we see by the spiritual eyes, what we see in your word, it would have its effect.

And Lord, we trust you. We absolutely trust you that what you have started, what you have already shown us, you will bring to completion. We thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray. Amen.