WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:03.120 We study through books of the Bible here at the village chapel. 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:04.160 We've got extra copies. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:08.640 If you didn't bring one and you'd like one to follow along, just raise your hand up real high. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:13.839 Someone will drop one off at your row, your aisle, and that way you can follow along in the text. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:15.199 Always helpful to do that. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:21.280 The password, if you prefer to follow along on your device, is uh up on the screen as well. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:31.839 And uh I love to hear the sound of rustling pages or the swipe of glass as you open your Bible and turn to it and follow along with us. 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:42.719 We're looking at the book of Philippians, uh ancient letter written by the Apostle Paul, probably the warmest, most pastoral uh letter that he wrote. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:45.679 He he's he founded this church in 52 A.D. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:49.520 He wrote this letter about 10 years later, 62, right in there. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:52.560 And he's writing to a church that's actually younger than this church. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:54.799 Our church here is about 18 years of age. 00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:57.039 And uh so we've we've got no more excuses. 00:00:57.119 --> 00:00:58.399 It's time to grow up, people. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:00:59.920 That's that's all of us, right? 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:02.880 And um uh, but they were 10 years old. 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:06.719 Uh they lived at the time during the Roman Empire when Nero was the emperor. 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:08.319 He ruled from 54 A.D. 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:09.680 to about 68 A.D. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:15.200 He became quite violent in the last, especially the last half of his reign. 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:24.560 And Paul the Apostle is probably writing from a jail cell in Rome at this time, and it's, you know, who knows what's going to happen to him. 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:30.000 He he's he, I'm sure, not aware of whether or not tomorrow is his last day or not, but he's riding. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:32.799 And he writes these, what we call four chapters. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:38.480 They get in the English Bible, it gets broken up into chapters and verses, and he writes uh about joy. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:41.519 He talks about joy and rejoicing 16 times. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:44.560 He talks about Jesus, we just sang Jesus only, Jesus. 00:01:44.640 --> 00:02:09.199 He talks about Jesus uh almost 40 times in this short letter to the church at Philippi that he started with an interesting core group, a successful businesswoman who ran a prayer meeting down by the river, and uh formerly demon-possessed teenage girl who isn't even named, and an unnamed Roman jailer. 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:19.759 They're a part of the core group that launched this church with the Apostle Paul, with his friend Silas, Timothy, and Luke, who are with him on this missionary journey when they go through Philippi. 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:22.800 So it's a fascinating letter. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:30.159 It's an interesting ancient city set right on the main thoroughfare east to west at the top of the Aegean Sea. 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:37.439 We typically in our day and time we would think of the Aegean Sea as that body of water between Greece and Turkey. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:43.599 And so this is 10 miles inland from the top, the tip of the Aegean Sea. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:47.039 And uh that's who he's writing to, this ancient church. 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:54.240 And we're looking like I say at chapter 2, um, verses 1 through 11, if you'll turn there with me. 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:55.680 And he says this there. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:04.639 By the way, I'll tell you in advance, because some of you I know just need little helps to sort of, so we're doing the study, and you need little helps to keep you awake or keep you focused or dialed in. 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:06.479 I'm a guy that needs that all the time. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:14.159 There are three groupings of four things that we will read in these eleven verses. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:18.479 So it's kind of like the Highlights magazine, find the number of squirrels that are in the picture. 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:28.639 You you dial in, you pay attention, you find the three clusters of four things in these eleven verses, and I'll give you a gold star later. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:29.919 Okay, so here we go. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:04:05.919 If therefore, and it starts with the first grouping, if therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there's any consolation of love, if there's any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy, there's one of his favorite words, complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:14.000 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit or vainglory, some of your translations might say. 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:21.920 But with humility of mind, let each of you regard one another as more important than himself. 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:29.519 Do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also for the interests of others. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:37.120 Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:40.160 In other words, think like Jesus thinks. 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:43.040 See what Jesus sees. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:46.879 Take on the mind of Christ, the heart of Christ. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:54.720 Weep over what he weeps over, rejoice over what he rejoices over, value what Christ values. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:56.879 All of that. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:09.519 Have this mind, this attitude in yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant or a slave. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:12.399 And being made in the likeness of men. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:28.959 Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, and that's interesting that he mentions the form or the method of death, because back then it wasn't just an item of jewelry, the cross. 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:35.360 It was actually a means of execution, and beyond that, it was the means of executing those who were criminals. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:49.360 It was a symbol of shame, a symbol of you having done something so heinously wrong that the emperor in all of Rome is gonna say, death to that kind of person, that kind of thinking. 00:05:49.839 --> 00:06:02.720 And all along the Appian Way outside of Rome, not only Nero, but other emperors would crucify, literally crucify Christians on crosses, all along the Appian Way, thousands, thousands of Christians. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:12.560 And a public display of the fact that they refused to worship the emperor, who it whichever one it was, uh beginning with Nero and those that followed. 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:19.680 And they refused to worship the emperor, and they they kept claiming that this Jesus was their king. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:21.920 And so they lost their lives. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:30.319 So death on a cross was a symbol, a sign that the Roman Empire was more powerful than you and whatever you stood for. 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:45.600 And when Jesus died on a cross, Paul writing to the Philippians who lived in a Roman colony where their citizenship as Roman citizens prevented them from ever being crucified on a cross, because they had rights. 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:59.680 And when he says that Jesus humbled himself, the most debased thing that could happen to Jesus would be that he would be put to death with a criminal's execution. 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:02.160 And that very public thing. 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:12.319 Therefore, also God highly exalted him. 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:24.399 So after telling us he just he was put to death by this in this criminal's death, this criminal's execution, God, the great reversal artist, reversed all of that and highly exalted Jesus, okay? 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:30.079 And bestowed on him the name which is above every name, including the emperors. 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:46.879 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth. 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:54.560 That pretty much includes everybody everywhere, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. 00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:57.439 And then the purpose of all of it? 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:00.639 To the glory of God the Father. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:01.439 There you go. 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:02.000 That's it. 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:02.879 Don't miss that. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:08.800 That's not just a bit of filler, that's not just a bit of biblical filler or religious filler. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:10.639 It's the purpose of the whole deal. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:12.399 The glory of God. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:14.240 It reminds us of our purpose as well. 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:26.240 You were created and designed by God for God's glory, and he wants to pour his glory through you and his glory through me, not so that we're glorified, but that God would be glorified. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:27.439 You know? 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:29.439 Man, there's so much here. 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:31.600 Um let's unpack just a little bit of it. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:34.159 First, we're calling our study in Philippians the hope of joy. 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:34.639 Why? 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:49.919 That's because we're, as we read this thing, and as we've read, uh, those of us who've read it before and studied it before, we kind of see that there's this inextricable tie and connection between Jesus, our relationship with Christ, and deep abiding joy. 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:56.799 Not just happiness, there's nothing wrong with happiness, I'm okay with happiness, but happiness tends to depend on happenings. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:00.399 Joy seems to be something that's deeper than that. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:21.440 The kind of sustaining confidence in the God who is there and is sovereign that carries one through the kind of suffering and the kind of persecution that for Paul includes being chained to a Roman cell and being able to write about joy. 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:24.320 So it's much deeper than mere happiness. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:28.879 Happiness is okay, I'm all for it, but joy is way deeper than that. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:41.360 And it's the kind of thing I think that we're all really longing for, the kind of thing that lasts, the kind of thing that sustains through even our suffering, our times of difficulty, as we see with Paul. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:45.600 All right, so those of you who are wondering about this passage, what is it really all about? 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:48.000 Steve Lawson's a seminary professor. 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:50.720 He says, this is a high call to a lowly life. 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:51.600 I think he's right. 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:56.480 This passage is a high calling to a lowly life. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:01.200 It runs contrary to a lot of what we get programmed with all week long out there. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:12.159 And so we come in here for like one hour, and I'm the guy trying to stand up here and remind you, you know, there's a high call to a lowly life, and then we all go out there and we get this call to a to a high life. 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:20.559 We get this call to, it's all about you! We get this influencing, this, this, this messaging that just pummels us everywhere. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:26.320 That the most three most important people on the planet are you, yourself, you know, and and you again. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:29.279 Me, myself, and I are the three most important people. 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:32.720 And yet the Bible says it's not that way at all. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:37.039 So I'm gonna give you the three clusters of four things. 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:52.960 And I'm gonna start with the second one, which is in verse two, not in verse one, because four distinctives of our unity in Christ, because this really is, he's writing to a church, he's I think this passage could act could possibly be called an apostolic attaboy. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:56.399 I think he's actually saying, Well done, church. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:10:57.360 Yeah. 00:10:57.519 --> 00:10:58.000 You know why? 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:02.799 Because the word if uh in verse one could be translated since or because. 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:13.840 That it's an in the intention of the author is that it's an indicative, not just a question that's up for grabs, and you could just you could say no or you could say yes. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:20.000 I think he's saying, since there's great encouragement in Christ, since there's all of this other stuff that comes with it. 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:24.879 And what he says is basically here the distinctives of unity, being of the same mind. 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:26.399 You see that up there in verse 2? 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:33.840 Be make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:37.200 I don't know about you, but being of the same mind can be hard with people. 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:38.559 Have you ever noticed this? 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:45.919 How many of you know that it's it's kind of hard to order pizza if there's more than one of us? 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:54.720 I mean, even with people you love, you say you love, they say that they love you, and yet they don't like your choice for pizza. 00:11:55.120 --> 00:12:11.519 And it's in about 14 different categories that we divide and that we separate and we go our, we get mad and we get huffy and we try to we try to vie for control and power over what kind of crust and what kind of sauce and what kind of toppings. 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:16.720 And I used to like round pepperoni, but now I like that angle-cut pepperoni. 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:20.879 And I don't like mushrooms, it's fungus, people. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:24.799 Why do you want fungus in your body? 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:25.679 There's enough. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:30.320 I heard a I heard a guy at Burgers and Bibles, I don't know how many of you are here for the genetics and self-ding. 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:35.600 He says half of our physical body is actually not human material. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:38.960 That's scary to me. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:43.039 Be careful what you eat on your pizza. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:53.759 But being of one mind with something like pizza is a very trivial illustration of the fact that we actually have difficulty being of the same mind. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:13:01.039 That's what the problem is so often for me, is that everybody doesn't want what I want. 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:03.440 How dare they? 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:09.120 We've all thought, oh, how perfect the world would be if everybody could think just like me. 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:15.200 From your first cry when you were delivered, you said this. 00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:19.279 I want what I want, and I want it. 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:21.200 Yeah. 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:28.639 And your mom and dad thought you were the sweetest, cutest little thing that ever lived. 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:36.399 And at two o'clock in the morning, you and you were saying, I want what I want, and I want it now, and you gotta get out of bed and give it to me. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:44.559 And you grew up, and that just turns into a mom or a dad, and you're still crying, I want what I want, and I want it now. 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:56.240 And then you get a little older, maybe you get married, maybe you got coworkers or whatever, and you're now you're going, honey, or or you're yelling at your boss, or your boss is yelling at you, you want what you want, you want it now. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:59.200 And it happens, it's over and over and over again. 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:08.000 It's it's it's one of the like like for those of you, and we know we have a bunch of people that have been in the music business in our in some category of the music business in our lives. 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:17.440 One of the things that to me that's proof of the existence of God is that our church council actually has former bandmates of ours on it. 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:20.960 That to me is proof of the existence of God. 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:26.639 That former bandmates not only are they in a church together, but they're serving on a board together. 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:28.799 And that is like a miracle. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:36.000 That is a major miracle if you know anything about church boards and them not getting along and how people can in churches be of one mind. 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:38.240 I mean, you know, you guys have grown up in church too. 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:47.120 We if we don't argue over the color of the carpet, you know, here at the village chapel, we might argue over why the floor looks like a shuffleboard game. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:50.799 It's got those diamonds in the middle there, and some of you are like, push. 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:53.679 I made it, look at that, ten points. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:59.200 And people who go to church have a hard time being of the same mind. 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:01.759 There's so many options. 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:04.559 It's like, you know, just thousands of options. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:06.480 Maintaining the same love. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:15.360 And, you know, I don't know about you, but I think I've learned from reading the New Testament that I don't have it in me to actually love everybody. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:17.039 I really don't. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:21.919 And and you may or may not admit that about yourself, but I think it's true. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:28.399 And that's one of the reasons the book of Romans teaches us that the love of God has been poured out within us. 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:29.200 Why? 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:31.759 Because I run out of the love of Jim. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:33.919 I don't run out of loving Jim. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:35.840 I don't have any problem loving Jim. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:39.840 What I run out of is the capacity to love others as Jim. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:47.200 And so what I need is the love of God poured out in my heart by the Holy Spirit so that I can then turn and love others. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:49.759 Maintaining the same love united in spirit. 00:15:49.840 --> 00:16:03.360 And that, again, I love other, I love the way the Apostle Paul sometimes will run like a list, these, especially these three lists of four things, because he's really showing us what a beautiful jewel, a diamond, if you will, a multifaceted jewel this is. 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:12.159 And some of these things overlap, but but some of us need to hear it one way, some of us need to hear it another way, and it resonates with you, perhaps, in one way or another. 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:17.840 And basically what he's saying is that there's a unity in Christ that can only happen because of Christ. 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:27.600 It doesn't happen because you and I just decide that we're gonna be good little southerners and get along with each other, and we're gonna pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and, you know, and just be awesome. 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:29.600 You know, we're not awesome. 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:31.440 We need transformation. 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:35.440 We need unity, we need to be united by the Spirit of God. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:41.759 He does a work in our lives and in our hearts and draws us to this one purpose, which we read about in verse 11. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:45.200 To the glory, all of us, to the glory of God. 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:47.039 You know, so that's so important. 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:53.600 Um, verse one was that first cluster of four, and I know some of you probably marked that down in your Bibles or in the Pew Bible. 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:55.600 Encouragement in Christ, so important. 00:16:55.840 --> 00:16:58.720 Consolation, love, fellowship, spirit, affection, and compassion. 00:16:58.879 --> 00:16:59.919 We need all four of these. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:01.600 I need these desperately. 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:06.480 Um, encouragement means to pour courage into. 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:08.160 That's exactly what it is. 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:11.359 When you encourage somebody, you pour courage into them. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:13.440 When somebody encourages you, that's what they're doing. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:19.359 They're pouring courage into you to do something that you otherwise might be a little bit afraid to do. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:20.720 How many are afraid of heights? 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:21.680 Anybody afraid of heights? 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:22.640 I'm afraid of heights. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:23.119 Okay. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:24.720 I'm not afraid of this height right here. 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:26.480 This is about six-inch stage. 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:27.839 I don't have any problem with that. 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:28.640 That's not a problem. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:29.519 I'm good with that. 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:30.240 That's all right. 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:36.799 But some evil person in Kim's family at one point when Dad turned 80, 70, oh, it was when he turned 70. 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:40.160 Some evil person in Kim's family still made the plan. 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:40.799 Was it you? 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:41.920 It was not you. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:43.200 Oh my goodness. 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:50.000 Made the plan to go on a hot air balloon ride with dad and the whole family had to go, okay? 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:52.480 Including Jim, who's afraid of heights. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:58.079 I spent the entire hot air balloon on my knees in the basket with everybody else standing up. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:02.880 And remember, when you're standing up in that basket, most of you is not in the basket. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:05.599 Most of you is outside of the basket. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:08.960 I was not, however, I was on my knees, you know, doing this kind of thing. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:12.720 And it's just because I have this visceral fear of heights. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:20.799 And especially when, like the twin parrots, we're in Florida, and there's these exotic birds are flying by, and they're below us, flying. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:26.480 And they're beautiful and everything like that, but they're down there, and that's even further to the ground. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:30.720 And I don't like it, I needed courage if I needed, yeah, I needed some courage. 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:31.839 I took one for the team. 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:34.640 I went in the thing, went on the ride, but it wasn't pretty. 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:36.079 It was not pretty at all. 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:40.319 The disciples needed courage when they were out in the stormy sea on the boat. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:42.480 Jesus was back on the mountain praying. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:44.880 He looked out and could see them from a distance. 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:46.720 And I love this about Jesus. 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:51.279 He he saw they were strained, he saw they were fearful, he thought their lives were passing before that. 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:53.039 They thought their lives were passing before their eyes. 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:56.160 And he walked out on the water to them, we're told. 00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:59.680 And they thought that he was a ghost, so they were really afraid. 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:02.559 I mean, people generally don't walk on water, right? 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:09.279 So here he is in the middle of a night, they've been surrendering at their oars, they think they're about to die, now they're hallucinating. 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:12.720 And Jesus says, Fear not, take courage. 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:13.680 It is I. 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:14.720 Okay, great. 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:15.599 That's awesome. 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:16.640 That reminds us. 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:21.039 Courage isn't something we drum up as believers, courage is something we receive. 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:25.920 It's a gift given, like so many other things. 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:31.920 A gift of his grace to us when we don't have whatever it takes to be courageous. 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:38.480 For some of you, you don't have what it takes to be courageous enough to actually talk to a person that you need to talk to. 00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:47.759 You avoid every conversation about some subject because you just don't have the courage to do it. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:51.200 And yet here's God saying, Don't be afraid. 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:52.559 Don't be afraid. 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:57.440 And there is encouragement when you're in Christ. 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:01.519 Some of you are afraid of other things, some of you are mad about other things. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:09.519 And he's coming along and saying, There is this consolation of love, this solace, this comfort. 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:26.480 That even though we're living in in what I for me, and I've been here probably longer than most of you on the planet, but I don't remember a time that was so so filled with acrimony and rancor and animosity and people at odds with one another. 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:29.599 And so this passage on unity to me is fascinating. 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:31.200 And I I long for it. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:34.880 I want it for us as a community of faith. 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:41.920 And I what I'm really pleased to be able to say, I think with the Apostle Paul about Philippi, I think I can say about the village chapel as well. 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:46.640 I see the unity in Christ in our church. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:21:07.680 We have five different worship services, but I actually, over the past month, especially when the pressure's been turned up on our congregation because of a lot of loss and some things going sideways, God has been pouring his glory through his people as he has enabled them to love one another well and respond to the needs of our congregation. 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:09.599 And it's a beautiful thing to watch. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:17.759 And so, like Paul saying to Philippi, yeah, there's definitely some encouragement in Christ, some consolation to love. 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:21.200 There's some fellowship of the Spirit going on here, and it's wonderful. 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:30.559 And there's affection and compassion that's flowing between persons because it's flowing from the throne of heaven to us. 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:37.519 Because he first loved me, I can now turn and love somebody who I find it difficult to love. 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:41.680 And I again I'm I'm trying to be honest with you, there are some people that annoy me. 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:58.480 And you're probably you can probably think of somebody that annoys you as well, and they're difficult to love, and and you run out of the your own resource so beautifully, God wants to pour his love through us because it's an unlimited supply. 00:21:58.960 --> 00:21:59.759 Because he came. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:04.720 To a rebel planet where nobody really sought after God. 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:13.039 Some of us were religious at that time, but nobody actually wanted to surrender before God and let God be God in every category. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:14.960 Everybody was going their own way. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:20.240 And he came into a world of lost sinners and gave his life for us. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:22.960 Who wouldn't want that kind of a God? 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:28.880 The third and final of the four clusters that I saw in this, and maybe you'll see others. 00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:34.240 I don't know, but I'll throw these out, as ways that we can preserve our unity in Christ as a church. 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:40.960 In other words, he gives them that apostolic attaboy, that's true, but he also says, but keep doing this. 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:50.400 And it's a disposition of heart when you're a part of a community of faith to do the kinds of things that the Apostle Paul told us to do. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:52.319 Avoid being self-centered. 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:56.240 In this selfie generation, we love our selfies. 00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:19.359 Because Philippians 2 is saying, do nothing. 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:21.039 How much is that? 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:22.160 Nothing. 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:25.359 Do nothing from selfishness. 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:32.319 Nothing from this sort of vainglory or this attempt to elevate the self. 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:36.480 And our culture around us is all about the self. 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:43.440 And it's in a misguided way, putting a too, far too heavy a burden on the individual's ego. 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:51.279 On us trying to find our own identity, on us trying to find our own sense of meaning and purpose in life. 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:59.759 When God says you're a created being, you're created in the image of God, which is awesome, and God wants to pour his glory through your life. 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:08.160 And sometimes it's gonna look like one little thread of suffering or sorrow in a beautiful tapestry. 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:12.960 Beautiful tapestry, a multicolored tapestry of grace. 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:16.240 Suffering in motion, yeah. 00:24:16.559 --> 00:24:21.759 But nonetheless, when you stand back and you look at all of it, you go, oh my goodness, look how they love each other. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:23.359 In and through that loss. 00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:26.079 Look how they serve each other. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:32.400 And it all ends up glorifying God, not us. 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:47.680 And I think one of the things about vain glory, you know, that verse in particular, where it's it's really what's happening to us is we're redirecting the proper object where glory is supposed to go. 00:24:47.839 --> 00:24:49.519 That's what's happening to us. 00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:57.359 We're redirecting it, for instance, to our to our money or to our sexuality or to our to our social power. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:03.759 And what happens is we put so much weight on those things, and they're not, they never were designed to bear that burden. 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:10.640 And it's not that we're saying those things are evil in and of themselves, it's just we're saying they aren't designed to carry that weight. 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:17.839 So we have a whole, we have a whole wave of children that are confused about what does it mean to be a human person right now? 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:22.880 Because some of us adults have forgotten what it means to be a human person. 00:25:23.279 --> 00:25:33.039 And we've allowed it to just slip away into this absurd level of build your own thing, you know? 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:41.200 And God says, no, no, you're, I'm a creator, there's a big line, and then everything else is creation, including human persons. 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:47.279 So you as a human person, we are, we are given the gift of life. 00:25:47.839 --> 00:26:04.319 And so it we're not supposed to be in charge, we're supposed to be giving glory to him, and vain glory would be me giving glory to me, or me giving glory to the culture, or me giving glory to some aspect, one little aspect of life or category of life. 00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:08.960 And none of those were meant to bear the weight of glory. 00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:10.720 Glory is too powerful. 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:15.119 The only one that can that deserves glory is God Himself. 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:20.160 And if we start aiming our glory at something else, it's just not going to be able to bear the weight of it, you see. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:23.200 And that's why it's vanity to do that. 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:37.839 Because all of our idols end up turning in on us, and they end up failing us, and we find ourselves chronically dissatisfied because we're focusing on something that is not God and was never meant to be God. 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:40.319 And that's that's what happens to all of us. 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:44.640 So our affections and our compassion need to be all directed toward God. 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:46.079 We want to be available to God. 00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:51.519 We need to live for the glory of God and to that. 00:26:51.680 --> 00:27:01.680 It's that that thread of music that he, that orchestra that he wants to play through our lives that draws people, not to us, but to him. 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:05.680 That sound that will draw people to him, not to us. 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:08.240 I'll close with a couple of these quotes. 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:15.279 Chesterton, who's always one of my favorites the way he thinks, how much larger your life would be if you yourself could be smaller in it. 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:17.440 That's just amazing, right there. 00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:25.200 If you could really look at each other, um, at other persons with common curiosity and pleasure. 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:26.559 Think about that. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:33.920 I mean, when I think about when we gather and stuff like that, you know, you people come in here, you know, and you say, we do we all do this other. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:34.559 How you doing? 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:35.440 Uh huh. 00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:38.880 You got the big 97-pound Bible and the Cheshire cat smile. 00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:40.400 Everything's good, you know. 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:46.400 Um what would happen if every one of us actually asked more than just that kind of question? 00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:48.799 How's your hey how's how's your soul doing? 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:49.839 How you doing? 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:51.519 How you doing in here? 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:52.640 You know? 00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:56.319 Um, and what if we started actually answering, you know. 00:27:57.119 --> 00:27:58.640 You say, how you doing? 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:00.319 You really want to know? 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:05.920 Because if you ask, if you're just checking a box, that's one thing. 00:28:06.079 --> 00:28:19.519 But if you really want to know, this week, man, I had one heck of a week, I'm not even sure I believe in God anymore, and my children are running away from me, and everything, my car broke down, my computer froze up, and everything went sideways. 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:25.119 And you go, whoa, holy moly! You know, you kind of back off from that kind of response. 00:28:25.279 --> 00:28:35.839 But what would happen if a community of people actually started really listening to one another, caring about one another, at least to the point of we where we go, tell me more about you. 00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:44.960 We all know people who when when we when we see them in a crowd or a room like this, they're doing the radar thing, looking around to see who else came in the room. 00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:46.480 They're not really talking to us. 00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:48.079 Anybody ever have that experience? 00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:50.640 They're not really paying attention to us in the moment. 00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:54.319 We're the ones standing close to them, but they're not talking to us. 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:56.079 They're not present with us. 00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:58.000 Don't be that person. 00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:00.000 I've been that, I've been that person. 00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:04.000 I've been the, I'll catch myself every now and then, oh, ooh, yeah, oh, you know, whatever. 00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:06.319 We gotta stop doing that. 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:09.200 Um, three wonderful words. 00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:10.720 Tell me more. 00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:14.000 Means you're actually listening. 00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:15.440 Tell me more. 00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:17.680 You know, I failed in this this week. 00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:19.279 We we got back from vacation. 00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:21.119 Um, I failed in this very thing. 00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:22.400 We got back from vacation. 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:28.079 Other people go on vacations too, you know, and uh and I'm all excited, you know, came back from vacation. 00:29:28.160 --> 00:29:29.759 And somebody said, So how was your vacation? 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:31.920 Told them a little bit about it, said, How was yours? 00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:35.680 And they started to tell me about theirs, and I said, Oh yeah, and this other thing happened too. 00:29:35.839 --> 00:29:39.119 And I brought it right back around to me again, you know? 00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:44.960 How much larger our lives would be if our self wasn't so stinking big in it. 00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:48.319 I think Chesterton is right on with that. 00:29:48.480 --> 00:30:00.079 If we actually started thinking about others and thinking about Lewis in Mere Christianity says this the terrible thing, the almost impossible thing is to hand over your whole self, all your wishes and precautions to Christ. 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:04.799 But it's far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. 00:30:05.119 --> 00:30:14.480 For what we're trying to do is to remain what we call ourselves, to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be good. 00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:18.799 In other words, we're at war inside of ourselves. 00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:21.519 Because conceptually, I'd like to care about you. 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:24.960 And maybe even when I ask you, hey, how are you? 00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:26.160 I haven't seen you in a while. 00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:33.680 Maybe conceptually up here, I actually would like to know, but then my impulse is to turn it back around to me. 00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:36.960 See, we all know people like that as well. 00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:44.960 They ask you something about what's going on in your life or whatever, and then they actually don't ever seem to be interested in when you start to tell them. 00:30:45.200 --> 00:30:46.559 We all have experienced that. 00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:56.319 So the community of faith, though, needs to be a group of people that have learned how to, as Christ said, the only thing he said about what you should do with yourself is deny yourself. 00:30:57.119 --> 00:30:59.279 So contrary to what's out in our world right now. 00:30:59.440 --> 00:31:02.960 Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me, he said. 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:07.759 And that is supposed to mark the community of faith as well. 00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:13.359 Tim Keller in a book, uh, tiny little booklet called The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness. 00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:15.359 If you haven't read this, go buy a copy. 00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:16.880 It's so cheap, it's so inexpensive. 00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:19.519 It's a lunch read, and you'll be done with it. 00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:21.519 But it is so rich and wonderful. 00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:27.920 The thing we would remember from meeting a truly gospel humble person is how much they seem to be totally interested in us. 00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:35.440 Because the essence of gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less. 00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:38.240 It's a concept he he borrowed from Lewis. 00:31:38.319 --> 00:31:46.000 But he says, gospel humility is not needing to think about myself, not needing to connect things with myself. 00:31:46.400 --> 00:31:49.599 The freedom of self-forgetfulness. 00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:51.759 This is what the Apostle Paul had. 00:31:52.000 --> 00:32:02.720 He's riding from a prison cell in Rome to a church in Philippi, and he is not saying, you would not believe how big the rats are here. 00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:04.240 I'm such a victim. 00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:05.440 Somebody hear me. 00:32:05.599 --> 00:32:06.960 Somebody come help me. 00:32:07.200 --> 00:32:08.559 He's not doing that. 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:10.799 Oh, I just want you guys to be joyful. 00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:13.279 I want you to have one mind, one spirit. 00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:15.920 I want you to remember there's encouragement in Christ. 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:21.599 I want you to know that the Spirit is at work uniting you in ways that you could never unite yourselves. 00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:22.480 You know? 00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:24.720 He's not thinking about himself. 00:32:25.119 --> 00:32:29.599 He's got the freedom of self-forgetfulness, and it really is a beautiful thing. 00:32:29.759 --> 00:32:31.599 I'll close with this quote from Stott. 00:32:31.839 --> 00:32:35.440 It would be hard to improve on Luther's description of fallen man. 00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:42.319 Luther used the term homo in sei in curvatus, which means man curved in on himself. 00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:45.680 Human fallenness is human selfishness. 00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:48.720 Most ambition can be that way as well. 00:32:48.880 --> 00:33:01.680 Not all ambition, but a lot of ambition can be about self, asserting self, trying to self-aggrandize, make myself look better somehow or another in the eyes of others. 00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:08.319 And this is one of the sicknesses of the human person, one of the conditions that the Bible calls sin. 00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:15.279 Yes, there are acts of sin, individual acts of sin, but there is also a condition that we have of sin. 00:33:15.519 --> 00:33:18.480 And that's what we need to be redeemed from and rescued from. 00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:21.119 And that's the great encouragement of Jesus Christ. 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:27.920 While we are out on the stormy sea, paddling as hard as we can in this world, and the storm is raging around us. 00:33:28.079 --> 00:33:30.160 We can't help ourselves at all. 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:36.799 But he will come out to us, walking on the water, which by the way, for him is nothing. 00:33:38.960 --> 00:33:42.960 To walk on some of his stuff that he created, that's nothing to him. 00:33:43.920 --> 00:33:46.319