WEBVTT 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:18.559 You are here, moving in a minute. 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:31.600 I worship you, I worship you, you are here working in this place. 00:00:33.200 --> 00:01:33.359 I worship you, I worship you, you are here, moving in our midst, I worship you, I worship you, you are here working in this place, I worship you, I worship you, you are we make miracle work, promise keep light in the darkness, by God, that is who you are, you are we make miracle work, promise keep light in the darkness, by God, that is who you are. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:02:21.120 You keep your promise, you are keep touching every heart, I worship you, I worship, you are keep healing every heart, I wish you I worship you are key turning lights. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:05:31.279 Even when I don't feel it you working, you never stop, you never stop working, you never stop, you never stop working, even when I don't see it you workin', even when I don't feel it you workin', you never stop, you never stop working, you never stop, you never stop working, even when I don't see it you working, even when I don't feel it you work, never stop, never stop working, never stop, never stop, even when I don't feel it you work, even when I don't feel it You make miracle work, promise keep light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:45.680 You are we make miracle work, promise keep light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:58.720 Well, happy midweek devotion to Redeemer and any friends who are listening in. 00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:05.680 Each uh midweek in the middle of the week, we take a little bit of moment, maybe five minutes or so, to have a Bible devotional chat. 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:15.519 So we are in the book of Philippians, we're making our way through the book of Philippians during this season, and we're looking at Philippians chapter one, verses fifteen through eighteen. 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:22.160 Here's what it says it says, Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:27.519 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for defense of the gospel. 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:35.279 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:36.319 What then? 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:44.240 Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:52.480 So there's a few truths in this passage I want us to look at to grab hold of here in this midweek short Bible chat devotional. 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:55.920 Uh the first thing I want us to look at is just our motives, right? 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:00.959 Like Paul lays it out for us here that there's different motives for doing the same thing. 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:05.040 And this is the thing that Jesus is always talking about there in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:09.680 He takes us from behavior to the heart over and over again. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:11.600 It's about the heart. 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:13.120 Oh, you say don't murder. 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:16.079 I'm saying don't even be angry. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:17.439 It's about the heart. 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:20.800 Out of the heart, the mouth speaks. 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:23.120 Jesus is about the heart. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:25.040 It is about motives. 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:32.160 And our motives here, what Paul says is we can have motive to do something good, like even something good, like preaching Christ. 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:35.920 Like we can have motive for something as good as that. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:44.800 And our motive could be envy or rivalry or selfishness, maybe words like competitiveness, comparison. 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:59.199 Those would be motives that are so toxic to our hearts and our well-being, to community, to fellowship, and there are ways of life and ways for our minds and our hearts to operate. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:01.920 We'll never be satisfied, we'll never know peace. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:07.279 And yet there is this other motive that Paul talks about, right? 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:10.639 Verse 16, that we would do it out of love. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:20.160 That the thing that matters, the calling we have as Christians is faith expressing itself in love. 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:22.879 That is the goal. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:29.360 If you're wondering what the Christian life looks like, what is the application of the gospel? 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:32.720 Faith expressing itself in love. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:36.000 Is my faith expressing itself in love? 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:38.159 That is the question. 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:40.000 That is the goal. 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:44.000 So that first thing for us to look at is just about motives. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:48.720 And the second is the complexity by which Paul views a very difficult situation. 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:53.919 You have a whole group of people preaching Christ out of rivalry and envy and all of that. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:59.279 And yet he views it and he says, Hey, even then Christ's being proclaimed, even then I rejoice in that. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:06.000 So Paul is not naive, he's not blind, he sees it all, but then he sees even further. 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:07.120 Right? 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:21.919 I mean, we have the more modern phraseology, you know, to make lemonade out of our limits, and even that could be a burden for us, sort of this pressure of, oh, you know, I've got to get to work to make lemonade out of these lemons, got to make lemonade out of this coronavirus season. 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:23.440 I've got to do something great. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:31.039 I mean, that could be so difficult, but what Paul is saying, he's saying that he actually is seeing God make lemonade inside of the lemons. 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:40.639 What he is saying is at times we make lemonade, but the eyes of faith see that lemonade is already there. 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:53.279 Meaning that God, even in difficulty, even in bad times, even in our mixed-up motives that can be toxic, God can be doing something good out of it. 00:09:53.440 --> 00:10:02.000 That is complex, and yet at the same time, we can rejoice that God is not limited by our misbehavior or our bad motives. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:14.320 I think the prayer that it gives us is for us to come and slow our hearts down before the Lord and say, God, give me the eyes to see my own motives. 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:22.320 God, am I expressing my faith in love to my family, to my loved ones, to my neighbors? 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:24.320 Is that what my faith is about? 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:26.879 Is my faith being expressed in love? 00:10:27.679 --> 00:10:35.279 And then the second is, God, would you give me eyes to see what you're doing in these days? 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:44.399 God, would you give me eyes to see what you're doing inside of me and my family and my relationships in these days? 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:50.240 And when you ask that question, get very quiet afterward. 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:55.600 And stop trying to answer it yourself and go for a walk or go journal. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:57.360 Know you're already beloved. 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:03.200 If you're falling short in any way or you're feeling convicted, a voice of condemnation is not from God. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:08.159 So when you hear the voice of condemnation, you know that is not God speaking to you. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:13.360 You confess any shortfallings to even these questions. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:21.519 You live in the kindness of God and you wait to hear from God what he would say about your motives. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:25.440 Is your faith expressing itself in love? 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:27.519 And what is he doing? 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:29.519 I wonder that for you. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:33.679 What is he doing in your heart even today? 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:40.159 In this season that you are in, and how you are feeling what is he doing? 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:42.159 What is he speaking to you? 00:11:43.519 --> 00:12:09.039 And my hope and my prayer for you, and the belovedness that you already have and you always have in Jesus, the imputation that we have of our own righteousness from him inside of that kindness that you hear the Spirit of the Lord speak to you about what he is doing in your heart and in your life in these days.