WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.080 Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:07.360 We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:12.480 Glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission, the spirit of the Great Commandment. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:14.640 Thanks for joining us today. 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:17.039 It's good to be with you here this morning. 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:18.640 Let me say one thing about the men's ministry. 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:25.199 About two weeks ago, the women met together, and there's about 30 of them in that room, and they all came away from that just so blessed. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:30.320 But I hear there's word going around that the women are starting to think that they're better than the men. 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:33.439 So we need a better showing than 30, okay? 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:34.240 We have a goal. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:38.960 We're gonna beat it, but I just trust we're gonna be blessed as we meet together this coming Sunday. 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:40.479 Men, is it in your calendar? 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:41.759 Is it in your calendar? 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:42.799 Give me a nod right now. 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:43.679 Give me a nod. 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:45.039 Not many of you are nodding. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:46.880 Some of you are like kind of like nodding. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:48.240 Yeah, I'm gonna put it in the calendar. 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:49.119 Put it in the calendar. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:51.759 Okay, we're gonna be blessed as we meet together. 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:55.600 I want you to turn to your neighbor right now, ask him this question: how are you doing? 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:02.320 Ask him it, embrace the awkwardness, ask him, How are you doing? 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:03.520 That's good. 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:05.040 That's good. 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:07.200 I was thinking about that question this week. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:15.120 It's interesting that often when we ask that question, how are you doing, there's sort of this superficial level to it, isn't it? 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:18.000 Like the answer you expect is probably what you just got. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:20.560 It's kind of become just like a social thing that we do. 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:21.519 You ask, how are you doing? 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:23.519 And the answer you get is, well, I'm good. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:29.200 I don't know if you guys have ever asked that question and been kind of caught off guard when someone says, Well, you know, things aren't very good. 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:36.799 And you weren't expecting that, so you're like, oh, well, um, you know, I don't know if this Tim Horton's drive-thru is the best place for therapy. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:39.840 And so you just kind of move on. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:42.719 But there is a way to ask that question, isn't there? 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:48.879 That that kind of show comes from this place of genuine concern and desire for your well-being. 00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:52.319 In fact, I remember an elder at the previous church that I served at. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:55.040 I I think he might, I don't, I don't know if this is a spiritual gift. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:58.319 It's probably not, but I think he had the spiritual gift of asking how you're doing. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:03.840 Because he would come to me in a conversation, and you know, there's the hello, he exchanged those, and then he'd say, How are you doing? 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:17.360 And something about the way that he looked at me, or or just you could sense his sort of genuine concern to really know in the time that he had to hear you if you weren't doing well, he would ask me that question, and sometimes I feel like I would just break down in tears. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:34.080 And I think what God wants to do for us this morning is come down to that level and ask us this question, looking into our eyes, inviting us to believe that he has the patience to hear whatever we have to spill out. 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:50.000 Inviting us to believe that he has the mercy, that whatever you would say in that moment, when he asks how you are doing, whatever you would say in that moment, his mercy is deeper than the deepest evil that your answer could ever contain. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:03:01.680 And what Paul really is doing here in Philippians chapter 2, verses 9 to 24, is asking us this question. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:04.560 He's sort of doing a spiritual check. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:07.840 He's asking us this question: how are you doing? 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.560 Like, like, no, not on the superficial level. 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:12.800 How are you really doing? 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:17.520 How is your walk with the Lord going? 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:29.759 You see, Paul throughout Philippians, and especially in the second chapter, has really concerned himself with what that walk should look like, with what you should be doing as a Christian. 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:31.520 He's already concerned himself with that. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:42.400 And so you'll remember that the whole header of this section is really verse 27 of chapter 1, where when Paul calls us to let our manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:46.159 He essentially says this, you've been saved now, you are a citizen of heaven. 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:48.960 And so he says, live out your citizenship. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:54.319 And over the next chapter or so, he really shows us what that means. 00:03:54.479 --> 00:04:02.719 Like in chapter 2, verse 4, where he says, Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but have the interests of others in mind. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:07.599 Or in verse 12, where he told us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:13.520 Or verse 15, where he compelled us to pursue a holiness that is out with complaint. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:25.600 Paul has fleshed out what it looks like to walk in a manner of worthy of the gospel, and now he looks us in the eyes, so to speak, and asks us this question: How are you doing? 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:28.319 How's your walk? 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:30.639 How's your walk going? 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:40.560 It sort of means this morning as God meets us in his word, it's this moment of self-reflection, this moment of self-examination. 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:46.720 And the way that Paul is going to do that for us this morning is by holding up the example of Timothy. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:54.319 As sort of a rubric for us to examine our life by to ask ourselves how we are really doing. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:05:05.519 And so this morning, as we look at Timothy's life, we see what Paul says in verse 22 is an example of a proven servant. 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:08.399 He says, You know Timothy's proven worth. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:17.920 Here's an exemplary servant, and we hold his life up to our life, and we ask God, am I really walking in a manner that's worthy of the gospel? 00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:22.480 Now listen, church, this is a time of self-reflection. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:28.319 It's a time for us to look at our life and really ask if we are walking in a manner worthy of the gospel. 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:34.319 And so I would just at this moment ask you to ask the Lord to give you great courage, because that's hard sometimes, isn't it? 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:39.519 It's hard to look at yourself, and at times it's hard when you know sin is exposed. 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:45.680 It's hard when we hold ourselves up to the mirror of God's word and see that something in our life is not sufficient. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:55.439 I'd ask you to have great courage and also to have great faith as you trust that whatever is shown in the mirror of God's word will be met by God's mercy and grace. 00:05:56.399 --> 00:06:00.319 We need great courage, we need great faith, which means you and I, we need to pray. 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:02.480 So would you pray with me right now? 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:06.959 Father, we bow before you. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:13.279 And God, we know that you have us here for a reason, God. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:15.920 You want to speak to us. 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:23.680 I just am so amazed that you are a God who for all of time you have loved to speak to your people. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:34.720 And God, that no matter how much we fail to listen at times, no matter how much we don't really care about what you say at times, Lord, you continue to speak to us. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:38.720 And you have us here this morning to speak your word to us. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:50.319 You have us here to to reflect on our life for a moment, to ask how we are doing, how our walk with the Lord is going, if we're walking in a manner that's worthy of the gospel. 00:06:52.240 --> 00:07:00.240 And Lord, as we stand before your word, as we prepare our hearts to go on this journey, Lord, we just pray for your help. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:09.199 Would you give us all the courage we need to dive into our life and to really see with a clarity that can only come from your Holy Spirit, to see how we are doing. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:23.920 And God, would you meet us with your grace and your mercy so that we would not be afraid to ask this question of ourselves, that we would not be afraid to have sin maybe exposed, or our inadequacy, our weakness exposed in this moment. 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:46.639 And Lord, would you give us just this overwhelming sense that as you said through your prophet Jeremiah, that our iniquities have only withheld good things from us, that our sin has kept good things from us, but you say through through your servant David that you withhold no good thing from him who walks uprightly. 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:50.560 And so we look at our lives and we say, Lord, we want the upright life. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:58.959 We want to live for you and trust that you are our shepherd and our father, and you are looking, Lord, that you are looking to bless us. 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:00.720 And so bless us now, we pray. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:02.879 God speak to us, we pray. 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:05.120 In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:06.240 Amen. 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:08.959 Amen. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:17.920 Well, we want to think about walking worthily and what that looks like, and I want you to see this that if we're walking worthy, it means that I'll embrace potential pain for gospel progress. 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:22.560 This is what we see in the life of Paul and the life of Timothy. 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:34.240 You see this willingness to embrace relational pain so that they can be a part of the progress of other believers. 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:52.879 In other words, what Paul really wants to show us this morning, and thereby God wants to show us, is that an indicator of our spiritual vitality, an indicator of our spiritual health, is the willingness with which we are willing to embrace pain for the progress of other people. 00:08:53.840 --> 00:09:09.919 Notice that in verse 19, this is why, this is what Paul says, this is why he is sending Timothy, he says there in verse 19, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be cheered by news of you. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:19.360 He goes on, for I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare, for they all seek their own interests, but not those of Jesus Christ. 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:26.480 But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father, he has served with me in the gospel. 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:33.279 Paul's driving motivation is to see their progress. 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:34.879 We saw this in chapter one. 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:39.200 You remember when Paul's in prison and he's trying to, he's just sort of doing the math. 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:39.759 What's better? 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:44.960 Is it better to depart and be with Jesus, or is it better to be here and to labor for your progress? 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:46.960 And he says, I'm gonna stay. 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:53.360 For the progress and the joy of the believers in Philippi, I am going to stay here. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:10:03.519 Last week we saw how Paul was willing to put himself on the altar of sacrifice, this like intense sacrificial language, and he says, I'll do this for your faith. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:11.759 Paul was intensely interested in their progress, but notice here that in verse 19, he's not just interested in his progress. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:17.440 Paul desires to be cheered by the news of how they are growing in Christ. 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:20.000 In fact, look down with me at verse 28. 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:22.559 We're gonna see this next week, especially, but look what he says. 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:33.600 He says, speaking of Epaphroditus, he says, I'm all the more, I am the more eager to send him therefore, that I may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:47.440 Paul desires to be cheered by news of the progress of the Philippians, but he also has this sort of holy anxiety in and of himself that says, if they're not doing well, I'm gonna be disappointed. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:52.879 Now, this is the example then that Paul and Timothy set for you and I. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:11:01.840 That to be a Christian is to make yourself the biggest fan of a group of other believers. 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:11.840 That to be a Christian is to sit in the bleachers of other believers' lives and support them through thick and through thin. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:17.519 To long that you might be cheered by news of their gospel progress. 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:21.519 Now, this, I want you to understand, this is what gospel fellowship is all about. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:33.200 If you do not find yourself rooting on the faith and investing yourself in the lives of other people for the sake of the progress of their faith, you do not have gospel fellowship. 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:35.840 This is what gospel fellowship is. 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:41.600 It's not coffee and tea and cookies in the church basement. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:52.000 It is this integrating your life with other believers so that their highs are your highs and that their lows are your lows. 00:11:52.240 --> 00:12:05.440 It's this willingness to embrace this emotional, relational pain in order that you might be an instrument used in their sanctification and in their path to glory. 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:19.120 And so, as Christ followers, you and I, we are to be so invested in the lives of other believers that our emotional well-being rises and falls on their spiritual well-being. 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:26.480 And this is the kind of gospel fellowship that Paul is calling us into in the letter of Philippians. 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:36.080 I want you to understand that the reality is that just because you attend church on a Sunday morning does not mean that you have this kind of gospel fellowship. 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:45.120 It is very easy to attend on a Sunday morning and just kind of show up and not be too invested in other people's lives and then to go home. 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:51.759 What God's doing here is He's really prodding you and I to ask ourselves this question. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:55.600 Are we really in fellowship with other believers? 00:12:55.759 --> 00:13:08.879 And the way that you know that is by looking at Paul's words here, looking at his desire to send Timothy, that he might be cheered by news of their progress and really asking this question Do I have that in anyone else's life? 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:13.039 Like, is there anyone in this church that I am rooting for them? 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:18.080 I'm so intimately aware of what's going on in their life that I'm just constantly cheering for them. 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:22.879 And if I feel like they're not doing well, like I'll wake up in the middle of the night and they're just on my mind. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:27.600 I just love them, like Paul says, with the affection of Christ Jesus. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:29.440 And I want to see them grow. 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:33.279 I want to see them thrive in their relationship with the Lord. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:40.399 Are there people in this church who if if they're mourning, you're mourning? 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:43.279 If they're laughing, you're laughing. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:46.480 If they're encouraged, you are encouraged. 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:49.600 This is the fellowship God is calling us into. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:14:02.480 It is a fellowship where we mourn with those who mourn, and we weep with those who weep, and our lives are inextricably tied to the well-being of other believers. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:21.759 See, this is what we're seeing in the letter of Philippians, is that when this the gospel, when it does this inward work on us, there is this outward work in that I look to other believers so that I might be influential in their life, just as Christ has been influential in my life. 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:32.720 I attach my life to other believers' lives, like a train car does to the engine, to say, wherever you go, I'm going. 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:34.879 I'm with you through thick and thin. 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:41.679 I am committed to your growth in the highs and in the lows. 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:58.399 Now I want you to understand that this kind of life where you know you're willing to embrace this relational pain in order to see the progress of others, it can only really come as a product of gospel belief. 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:02.720 In other words, you will only invest yourself in others. 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:16.399 And we can say this as strongly as this that you will invest yourself in others when you realize how Christ has committed himself to you in your highest highs and your lowest lows. 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:20.559 Consider, Christian, for a moment how Christ attached himself to you. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:21.759 Have you ever thought about this? 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:27.120 Like in the lowest moment of your low after faith, where was Jesus? 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:30.320 Jesus was with you. 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:37.759 He was with you, like on the darkest of dark days where even your spouse is like, you know, you're a little too grumpy for me. 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:40.000 Where is Jesus? 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:45.200 Jesus is right there beside you on the lowest of lows. 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:48.159 What about your the highest of hives? 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:50.159 What about like the best day that you've ever had? 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:55.120 Like, you know those days where you're just tempted to forget even, you're even tempted to forget God's existence. 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:56.799 Where is Jesus in that moment? 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:00.879 In that moment, Jesus does not depart from those that he loves. 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:02.240 He is right beside them. 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:12.080 He has attached himself to you so that what Paul says is that he humbled himself by taking on human flesh so that he could be Emmanuel, God with us. 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:15.600 He's with us. 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:24.080 He's attached himself to us in our humanity so that in our lowest of lows and our highest of highs, we have an advocate. 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:27.759 We have a brother who is bringing us to heaven. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:31.519 Jesus is interceding on your behalf right now. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:34.080 He is He is in heaven in this moment. 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:42.320 If your faith is in Jesus Christ and He is rooting for your progress, every word is for your good. 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:44.720 He is interceding on your behalf. 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:46.879 He is bringing you to heaven. 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:59.679 No matter where you are right now, no matter how you walk into this church this morning, no matter how far you feel that you are from God, if your faith is in him, you have an intercessor in heaven who it does not matter, he is for you. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:06.400 And now, out of the gospel foundation, that Jesus is doing that for me right now. 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:10.640 I I commit to doing that for other people. 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:18.160 I want you to see this this is where the power and motivation to embrace this potential pain comes from. 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:20.720 It comes from, look at what Paul says in verse 19. 00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:22.960 He says, I hope in the Lord Jesus. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:27.920 This is something that you and I can only have in the Lord. 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:42.160 This can only come from a recognition that what you have done for others and embracing potential pain in order to see them progress has already been done in a much more significant way for in you. 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:44.400 For you in Christ. 00:17:45.440 --> 00:18:05.680 And so if you find yourself at a place right now where relationally you're kind of like holding other believers at arm's length, because you just maybe you don't want them to see into your life, and maybe you also don't want the additional burden of having to see into their life. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:19.039 I want you to ask this question if if the gospel has really sunk deep to a heart level to affect you with this understanding of what Jesus is doing for you right now. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:30.720 If there is anyone, if there is anyone who can stand on a firm foundation and say, you know, I don't think I should be involved in your life right now, it is Jesus for you. 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:33.680 He has been with you through thick and thin. 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:41.359 And it is this understanding that becomes a firm foundation for us to then invest in other people's lives, even when it is hard. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:50.319 Even when that means to take on their garbage, even when that means to be potentially stabbed in the back by them. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:54.640 Even when that means to be hurt by them. 00:18:55.599 --> 00:19:04.160 Now you see, this sort of gospel fellowship, I want you to understand that it is completely countercultural. 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:10.480 It's supernatural and it is against everything that we are as a culture. 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:12.640 Everything is against you in this. 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:19.119 Maybe you're you know an unbeliever looking into the church, maybe maybe you know you're visiting this church for the first time, trying to decide if it's for you. 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:20.400 Maybe you're even in this church. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:26.079 I want you to understand that everything is against you pressing deeper into this kind of fellowship. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:31.279 Our culture, you think about it for a moment. 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:36.079 Like, isn't everything in our culture kind of designed to keep us separate from each other? 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:39.279 Think for a moment about the way that houses are built. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:46.799 Aren't houses built so that now you kind of pull into your garage and you don't even have to know your neighbor? 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:51.440 In fact, have any any of you guys you ever pull into the driveway at the same time as your neighbor? 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:58.480 And you know they have this first 21st century thought where it's like, I I cannot talk to this person, so all of a sudden they become like a Navy SEAL. 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:02.559 They get out of their car, they're in a ghillie suit, they're hiding in the bush. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:07.039 In fact, some of us we had we we have each of us probably have this neighbor, don't you worry? 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:08.240 Like you just never see them. 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:13.359 You think like they're gonna be the next missing person on that prime crime podcast that you listen to. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:15.599 This is the reality of our culture. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:29.680 We just we don't want to be invested in other people's lives, so that there are probably many here who regularly, the only thing that separates you from your neighbor is like six feet and two walls, but you don't even know them beyond a superficial hello. 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:30.720 And that's not a problem. 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:34.160 I'm just saying that's that's the culture of water that we swim in. 00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:37.759 Think about the way that churches have been designed in these last hundred years. 00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:44.000 Like the church has never been like this, but now the church has kind of been designed in many scenarios to be highly programmatic. 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:53.359 You can kind of plug into it without having to know anybody or really be fully known, and you can take all the material, you can download it all, but you don't need the relationship. 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:57.359 You don't need the messiness of doing life with other sinners. 00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:00.400 Think about social media. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:07.359 Isn't social media kind of built on this kind of constant sharing your highlights? 00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:10.480 Nobody on social media is sharing the lowlights. 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:15.359 Nobody's on their Instagram story saying, you know, hey, I want you to check out this rash I got this week. 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:16.640 Nobody doing that. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:20.160 If you do if they're doing that, you're you don't follow them, you unfollow very quickly. 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:23.359 There's some men in the church right now pulling up their Instagram account. 00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:24.880 I didn't know I wasn't supposed to post that. 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:49.279 Delete that everything in our day and age makes it easy to push away from other people and to push away from meaningful relationships where we fully know others and are fully known by others, where we have to put any sort of relational stock in the progress of other people. 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:59.759 And God is here this morning stepping in front of our 21st century relational chaos to say there's a better. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.720 Way. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:08.960 When it comes to fellowship, when it comes to relationship, there is a better way, but the way involves risk. 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:13.039 It involves the potential of being hurt by others. 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:16.319 It involves the potential of being let down. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:22.400 This way of gospel fellowship, it involves the potential of being stabbed in the back. 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:27.359 And as you think of it, like, doesn't that kind of just make sense? 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:43.440 Like, if if the the relationships that that Jesus is calling us into this morning are relationships where at the very least there are two sinners in the relationship, doesn't it make sense that out of that relationship there's gonna come sin? 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:46.799 Like I love the title of Paul Tripp's marriage book. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:48.480 It's called What Did You Expect? 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:50.400 I love that. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:55.119 I want that to be like a banner in my house that I hang in the kitchen that I can pull a string and it comes down. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:56.559 What did you expect? 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:01.920 Like we are sinners trying to do life together. 00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:08.319 And so, I mean, I'm not good at math here, but you put two sinners together, and what are you gonna get? 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:10.799 And my guess is some sort some relational sin. 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:19.039 That if we're gonna be involved in the lives of other people, there is going to be times where there is great potential for us to be hurt. 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:20.960 And I just need to be honest with you. 00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:34.160 I I look at the relationships in my own life, and I cannot find you one single meaningful relationship where there's not just sort of like this history of this need for a constant stream of forgiveness. 00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:36.400 Like it just becomes laughable at times. 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:42.880 My greatest relationships, there's like a hall of fame of like, hey man, you remember that scar you stabbed me in the back pretty time, pretty hard that time. 00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:46.480 And oh, remember that time I let you down pretty good that time. 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:49.680 And that just becomes relationship, doesn't it? 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:57.680 It's like this willingness to embrace pain in order that you might be a part of the other person's progress. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:01.519 And yet, this is what makes it so valuable. 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:08.480 That to be a part of the pain, that to experience the pain is to experience the potential to be a part of their progress. 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:16.880 And what Paul is showing us is that there's really no greater joy than to be used by God to progress the faith of other people. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:33.039 You put yourself in the path of other people's lives, you put yourself intimately connected and invested in other people's lives, and what God begins to do is He even uses their sin to sanctify you. 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:34.880 Like, Christian, can I ask you for a moment? 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:35.279 Do you believe? 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:44.720 Do you have the theology to say that the sin of the person that you are like friends with or married to or they're in your family? 00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:50.160 Do you have the theology to say that the sin of that person is sovereignly being used by God? 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:52.799 That's what God does. 00:24:53.039 --> 00:25:00.000 God uses the sin of other people, the way that their pain hurts you, he uses it as an agent of sanctification in your life. 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:01.599 He sent it for your good. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:10.160 So that even the darkest clouds of relational pain that you can imagine, what happens is they come overhead and they break into rain and they bless and grow your life. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:12.480 And I have seen it time and time again. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:25.759 Countless testimonies in this room of people who have been hurt because they've plugged into a church filled with sinful people, just like this church, newsflash, and they've been hurt. 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:35.519 And God has worked in magnificent ways through the pain so that now they look back and they say, I would not be the person I am today without having to struggle through that. 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:40.400 Now listen, I'm not saying that you endure any sort of pain and that's okay. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:50.000 It's not okay, but I am saying that whenever we're in relationship with other believers, invested in their lives, there is the potential for pain. 00:25:52.240 --> 00:26:05.119 Notice that Paul had invested himself so deeply in the progress of others, even though he says in verse 20 that I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:06.400 Look at this in verse 21. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:10.240 It's so sad, for they all seek their own interests. 00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:12.240 No one was with Paul. 00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:18.960 There's no one, as Paul's in Rome, in jail, house arrest. 00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:22.079 There is no one who's standing with him. 00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:25.839 They've all departed, they've all sought their own interest. 00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:33.359 Now, this is so significant, because if you've ever read the letter of Romans, it was written about five years before Paul wrote the letter to Philippians. 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:36.960 And in Romans 16, it's one of those chapters that comes up in your daily Bible reading. 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:39.440 You guys ever have these where you read it and you're like, okay, there's nothing here. 00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:40.640 So you just kind of skim it. 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:42.079 It's all names. 00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:44.480 Paul's like, okay, greet this person. 00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:46.000 Oh no, oh yeah, greet this person. 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:47.359 And he does that over 30 times. 00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:51.759 He's like so intimately aware of the people in Rome, and he's got this intimate knowledge of him. 00:26:51.920 --> 00:27:00.559 And here, five years later, he, after having listed over 30 people by name, he says, There's no one who does not seek their own interests. 00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:04.079 Everyone seeks their interests. 00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:09.519 Paul knew what it was to be deserted by people. 00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:15.759 Paul knew what it was to be invested in people's lives and have them turn around and stab them in the back. 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:18.160 In fact, in 2 Timothy, you know what Paul says? 00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:21.519 He says, all of Asia has deserted me. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:23.119 Have you ever thought about those words? 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:24.160 Like, do you believe them by faith? 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:25.920 Paul's saying, it's not hyperbolic. 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:28.240 He says, all of Asia has deserted me. 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:30.880 Listen, you've had people turn on you before. 00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:35.599 I don't think you've ever had a whole continent turn on you before. 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:39.359 Paul had experienced pain. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:45.200 But he refused to throw the baby out with the bathwater on the church. 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:50.400 He was like, you know those annoying little yappy dogs? 00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:52.160 You just cannot get them to stop. 00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:56.079 You can push them over, they'll get right back up, they get right back at you. 00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:58.960 They're always chomping at the bit to get at it. 00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:00.000 And this is like Paul. 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:02.640 When it comes to the church, he's like, I'm gonna progress this people. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:04.319 I'm gonna pour myself into these people. 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:06.559 It does not matter what pain I feel like. 00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:11.200 This is the same guy who was like stoned, he got up and walked right back into the city. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:16.240 Where does this come from? 00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:19.279 Where does this power come from? 00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:23.359 Paul tells us it comes from hope that is in the Lord. 00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:27.839 It is something that is directly given to us by the Lord Jesus. 00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:31.440 And I believe this is so practically instructive for you and I. 00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:48.720 I love that whole old hymn. 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:49.599 You know it so well. 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:51.119 Prone to wonder. 00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:52.319 Lord, I feel it. 00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:54.480 Prone to leave the God I love. 00:28:54.559 --> 00:28:56.079 That is you and me. 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:00.079 And yet Jesus is so committed to that. 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:04.559 He leaves the 99 to go and find the one lost sheep. 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:06.720 And he does that for you and I. 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:35.759 Name me a single soul that on that day that Jesus was dying on the cross, name me a single soul who said, I'm for that guy, who did not take their metaphorical knife and stab it in her back. 00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:38.000 The crowds yelled, crucify him. 00:29:38.240 --> 00:29:40.640 There wasn't one voice that spoke against that. 00:29:40.799 --> 00:29:43.440 And there Jesus is hanging on the cross. 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:46.240 And it's really significant what he did not say. 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:52.799 Jesus never hung on that cross and said, Man, I'm really gonna need a break from the church after this. 00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:58.240 Jesus did not hang on that cross and say, Man, I'm feeling a little burnt out right now, God. 00:29:58.319 --> 00:29:59.920 I cannot give any more. 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:19.920 Instead, for the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross, knowing that the pain he was experiencing it was sovereignly being used by God for the progress of others. 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:34.400 You will never begin to taste that pain because even in that moment, not only had men departed from Jesus, not only were all the evil spiritual forces of the world against them, even in that moment God departed him. 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:38.880 So that Jesus would cry out on the cross, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:30:39.039 --> 00:30:40.640 He faced the wrath of God. 00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:42.000 He was all alone. 00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:43.519 And why did he do it? 00:30:43.839 --> 00:30:44.480 For you. 00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:54.880 For you, so that you could be saved, so that you could realize the gospel of the good news that there is now salvation through Jesus Christ. 00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:59.359 And now the question is, what are you going to do in light of that? 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:10.559 We embrace potential pain for the possibility of gospel progress. 00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:21.119 The second thing that Paul is pointing our attention to here is this that I know I'm walking worthily if I'll forsake personal projects for God's priorities. 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:25.680 My walks worthy when I'll forsake personal projects for God's priorities. 00:31:25.839 --> 00:31:29.759 Notice what Paul says, and and I do not want you to be cold to this, okay? 00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:37.759 So we just gotta take a moment, take a breath, understand that what you hold in your hands right now is God's word. 00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:48.319 And whenever we read God's word, we need to, with all the power of our imagination, insert ourselves into the text and do not be cold to how sad this next verse is. 00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:56.400 In verse 20, Paul says this, for I have no one like Timothy. 00:31:58.160 --> 00:32:01.759 There is no one who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 00:32:02.799 --> 00:32:08.720 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 00:32:11.200 --> 00:32:15.519 Love one, this is this is an incredibly sad verse. 00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:22.000 Like who apart from Jesus Christ has given more to the church than Paul? 00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:24.400 But I don't think there's anybody. 00:32:24.640 --> 00:32:32.319 And yet, Paul here, almost apart from Timothy and Epaphroditus, Paul stands in Rome alone. 00:32:32.640 --> 00:32:37.599 Everyone has forsaken him so that they can pursue their own interests. 00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:49.759 And church, I just want you to understand that this right here is why we are in Philippians, because I am praying that if Paul were to come in here today, that would not be the case. 00:32:50.400 --> 00:33:13.920 That he would find in this room that there are many who have given up their own personal interests, their own personal progress, projects, for the sake of God's priority in their life, for the sake of the interests of Jesus Christ, in order that they might be servants, not of themselves, not of their own kingdom, but of Jesus Christ and of his kingdom. 00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:21.839 And in many ways, we we look at our church and God, I just need you to know God is answering this prayer in so many ways. 00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:31.440 And in a few moments, after the sermon, I should not say in a few moments because now some of you guys have an expectation tied to that, like, oh, that's that means five minutes. 00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:35.039 And so let me just tell you that's a preacher's few moments. 00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:40.480 In a few moments, uh, about 18 people are gonna stand up here on the stage. 00:33:41.200 --> 00:33:53.599 And as a declaration of their commitment to this church, and therefore their commitment to Christ, they are gonna make this declaration that they are committed to this local body. 00:33:54.480 --> 00:34:08.320 That they are, Timothy's here, that they are pouring themselves out for the sake of the progress of the other believers in this church, in this local body that God is doing a work in. 00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:11.440 They're saying it's my life goal. 00:34:11.760 --> 00:34:14.719 Like the church is Christ's institution. 00:34:14.880 --> 00:34:29.840 He has created it to reach the world, and these 18 people are gonna stand up here in a moment, and in the face of Philippians 2, verse 20 and 21, they are gonna say, I'm not seeking my own interest, I am seeking the interest of the progress of God's children who are here in this building. 00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:33.679 That is an amazingly beautiful thing. 00:34:34.159 --> 00:34:40.880 But I'm also aware that Paul was surrounded by many in Rome, and within five years there was no one. 00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:53.039 That means that it's radically difficult for you and I to stay committed to Christ's church, and it is very easy to push away from others at any given time. 00:34:53.679 --> 00:35:00.159 The commitment that we make to other people, to Christ's church, is a commitment that we must keep ourselves in. 00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:12.960 And so, loved one, I want you to understand that whether you're plugging in right now or you're not, I want you to understand that the need to put your stick in the ground and say, I'm gonna do this. 00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:16.159 I'm gonna invest my life in the progress of other people. 00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:20.239 I'm gonna give up my own interests for Jesus' interests. 00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:22.480 Because that is not our neutral state. 00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:30.320 When you put the gear shift of your soul into neutral state, you never think about anybody else, you only think about yourself. 00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:34.400 This requires pushing forward with great effort. 00:35:34.559 --> 00:35:37.920 In fact, the Gospel of John says that you have many enemies. 00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:44.480 Your sin, the world, the devil, all of these things oppose you. 00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:53.039 Pressing into the church is such a good thing, and as soon as you even in this moment, if the Holy Spirit is moving in you and saying, I gotta press, and you know what's gonna happen? 00:35:53.199 --> 00:35:58.159 Satan is gonna come, and he's gonna come with flaming arrows to destroy your soul. 00:35:58.719 --> 00:36:13.440 I was so encouraged this week as I sat down with a man, and he's just on the brink of, I truly believe, and I told him this, I truly believe if you make the decisions that you uh are thinking about making, God is gonna use you mightily, and you're gonna look back, and there's gonna be no regret. 00:36:13.519 --> 00:36:17.119 You're gonna be so filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit. 00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:24.880 He looked at me and he started to list off all these ways that he felt he was being opposed in the decision. 00:36:26.159 --> 00:36:29.440 And I looked at him and I said, You see what's happening here? 00:36:29.920 --> 00:36:36.960 Like Satan knows what good this will be for your soul, and he is opposing it at all costs. 00:36:37.119 --> 00:36:38.719 He is against your progress. 00:36:38.880 --> 00:36:40.480 So of course it's gonna be hard. 00:36:42.239 --> 00:36:56.000 But man, when you push through, the Holy Spirit fills you with this power that cannot come of yourself, and this blessing flows into your life that Satan knows will come if you make the decisions to press into all that Jesus is calling you to do. 00:36:57.920 --> 00:36:59.760 Well, what makes this so difficult? 00:36:59.920 --> 00:37:06.719 I want you to notice that the people who abandon Paul here in verse 21, he says, for they all seek their own interests. 00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:12.320 It's interesting that it's not really like a super evil thing that these people have done to abandon Paul. 00:37:12.400 --> 00:37:16.239 It's not like Paul says, you know, all the people that were with me, they're murderers now. 00:37:16.800 --> 00:37:17.760 That's not the case. 00:37:17.920 --> 00:37:24.880 Instead, what's happened is they've they've kind of just been consumed with things that are good but are not the main thing. 00:37:25.840 --> 00:37:29.519 Their life has been consumed with their own interests. 00:37:30.239 --> 00:37:38.960 And look, the danger for you and I is that instead of seeking the interests of Jesus Christ, we will seek our own interests. 00:37:39.280 --> 00:37:42.639 And so you ask, well, what are the interests of Jesus Christ? 00:37:42.719 --> 00:37:44.559 And Paul's actually already laid that out. 00:37:44.639 --> 00:37:48.880 This is why Timothy's just an example, because he's already told us to do this in verse 4. 00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:51.920 Look, flip back with me to chapter 2, verse 4. 00:37:52.320 --> 00:37:53.679 Look at what Paul says there. 00:37:53.760 --> 00:38:00.719 He says, Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 00:38:00.960 --> 00:38:08.480 And in verse 5, he says, Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. 00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:11.280 Stay here for a moment. 00:38:12.320 --> 00:38:18.880 What Paul is telling us here is that the interest of Christ Jesus in your life. 00:38:19.039 --> 00:38:20.400 This is the word of God. 00:38:20.639 --> 00:38:23.920 This is not me speaking as a pastor who's trying to rile up the church. 00:38:24.079 --> 00:38:27.119 This is Jesus Christ, his word for you. 00:38:27.440 --> 00:38:36.880 His interest is that you would not be concerned with your own interests, but that you would be totally concerned with the interests of other people. 00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:47.679 In fact, in the original language in verse 4, the the it's kind of would be a wooden translation, but the the word interest isn't actually there. 00:38:47.760 --> 00:38:53.440 So the one of the ways you could translate this is let each of you look not only to his own, but also to others. 00:38:53.679 --> 00:38:57.920