WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:02.160 You maybe see there well, it's quite a passage. 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:08.240 There's a lot going on, and so I don't pretend to uh think that we're gonna hit every single part of it. 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:12.320 Uh you'll read parts of it and you'll see parts of it that I'm not gonna hit on. 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:22.559 Uh but this is a passage in Philippians, and Paul is in prison while he's writing this to his friends in a town called Philippi where he helped start a church. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:29.280 And there's two popular phrases in here that jump out to us, especially if you've been around church, these phrases jump out. 00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:33.039 The first is to live is Christ and die is gain, right? 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:35.200 That's the one we put on the summer camp t-shirt. 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:41.759 The second one is let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:52.399 So maybe you're here and those sound incredibly religious, or maybe you're used to those, so they don't sound quite as religious, but maybe they sound abstract. 00:00:52.640 --> 00:01:04.959 Because on some level, you sense God in the scriptures calling you to something, like a call on your life, and then you read something like that, and you're like, I can't quite get my arms around. 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:05.760 What is that? 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:06.640 What does that mean? 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:07.599 What does that mean? 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:13.920 I read it, I say it, we put it on a t-shirt, but what does that actually mean for my life? 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:19.599 And it doesn't always, at least for me, it doesn't always seem incredibly, incredibly clear. 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:30.480 So we're gonna look at the context of this passage, we're gonna dig into the passage a little bit, and then hopefully these two key phrases at some point will jump out to us and we'll have some understanding of these. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:33.359 So remember, Paul's in prison. 00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:46.640 Here's the context of the passage, and the next day, or the next day, or the next week, upcoming for him is some sort of court date where he will either be sentenced to death or he'll be set free. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:50.400 And so you imagine that amount of uncertainty, right? 00:01:50.640 --> 00:02:00.879 Sitting in a cell, he's writing letters, he's contemplating his life, he's contemplating living, he's contemplating dying, he's contemplating which of these has benefits and what are the benefits of each of these. 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:04.159 And he's all here because he's upset the power structure, right? 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:09.120 I mean, the Roman Empire had this phrase we talked about last week: Caesar is Lord. 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:24.719 Because they believe Caesar was a god, and a great way to keep your thumb on the people is to create, you know, make the president a god, and then everybody has to bow to the president and worship the president, and therefore the people don't have freedom. 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:29.759 And then Paul comes along and says, No, no, no, like actually that guy's not a God, he's not God. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:44.400 Actually, there was another guy, and he was God, and he died for us, and he took our sin, he gives us righteousness, and we are free because of that, and we don't bow to anybody or anything or anyone except Jesus is Lord. 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:50.080 And so Paul is saying this, and this is upsetting the power structure, and so he's in prison. 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:52.719 All right, that's the context. 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:53.280 Three points. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:56.560 Point number one we are called to love. 00:02:57.360 --> 00:02:58.319 No surprise. 00:02:58.479 --> 00:02:59.599 I didn't surprise you on that one. 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:01.759 I won't surprise you probably on any of this. 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:04.639 Jesus sums up spirituality that way. 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:06.639 It's the greatest commandment. 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:08.800 Love God and love your neighbor. 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:13.919 This is the summary of the law, it's the summary of spirituality, it's what our lives should look like. 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:16.960 This is the context of what Paul's life is about. 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:22.639 Paul's life is about loving people and proclaiming good news to people for their freedom. 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:24.719 This is what Paul's life is about. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:31.680 So anything that Paul is writing is coming out of love for people, for them to have salvation in Christ and freedom. 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:34.960 So let me reread these verses as we work our way through it. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:37.280 Philippians 1, 18 through 21. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:49.360 Yes, and I will rejoice, verse 19, for I know that through your prayers, so he knows something, through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:58.560 He's in prison, he's feeling pretty confident, things are gonna work out because of people's prayers and the spirit of Jesus Christ in him. 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:04.319 Verse 20, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, that's his hope. 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:11.919 He doesn't want to be ashamed, but that with full courage now, as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:21.439 So then now he's kind of saying, Well, maybe I might die, I might die, but either way, either way, he wants to go the route of courage, is what he wants to go. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:26.480 And then he says, verse 21, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:38.079 And so, verse 19, that word deliverance is soteria, and this could simply mean something as simple as just being delivered from prison, like physically, and that's what he's hoping for. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:46.639 Or probably because of the context of this, and he's recognizing that he might die, it probably means something more, something more profound. 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:50.480 It's probably him saying something like, I want my hands to be clean. 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:55.279 At the end of this, I want to, I don't, I, I don't want to fold. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:58.079 I don't want to be ashamed. 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:06.160 And he's banking on the spirit of God in him working, being present with him in this, in this horror. 00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:10.319 I mean, let's be honest, tragedy, horror, prison, possible death, right? 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:16.079 And the fact that these people are praying for him, these people are with him. 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:22.720 And so he puts these two things together for his hope: the spirit of God working in him and people praying for him. 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:33.040 So on Tuesday morning, I was working on this, I'm kind of contemplating these things, the Spirit of God working in you, people praying for you, how this changes things. 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:39.600 And while I'm working on it, uh my phone rings and I look down, and it's a friend of mine, his name's Bill, and I pick it up. 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:44.079 Bill is 85 years old, somewhere around there, maybe 86, maybe 84, not sure. 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:50.319 He's right around there, and I pick it up and I walk outside and we start talking, and I hadn't talked to him in probably three years. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:52.800 So, kind of one of those calls you're like, oh, I wonder why he's calling. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:53.519 I pick it up. 00:05:53.600 --> 00:06:04.000 And he went to the church, he still goes to the church that I used to work at, and he just says, Hey, I'm driving around doing errands, and I was thinking about you, thinking about your church. 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:05.040 How's it going? 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:06.959 I'm praying for you. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:09.040 And you know what happened? 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:10.160 The most interesting thing. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:12.079 It was the same thing that happened to you. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:17.199 Even if you don't believe in prayer, I'm willing to say this would happen to you. 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:19.279 Something changed in me. 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:20.639 Right? 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:22.800 Just to know, right? 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:28.079 Just to know somebody else is with me. 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:30.959 Just to know somebody else cares for me. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:31.600 Bill. 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:46.399 Bill cares enough for me that on Tuesday morning he's gonna call me out of nowhere and say, hey, I'm thinking about you and I'm praying for you, and I just want to let you know that. 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:51.040 And something in me, something actually happened. 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:53.279 Just to know somebody cares. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:56.160 To know you are not alone is powerful. 00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:58.319 And Paul is feeling that. 00:06:58.560 --> 00:06:59.519 Paul's feeling that. 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:01.920 You've all felt it or you've wanted to feel it, right? 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:13.120 Like when you're in the moment, you're in the suffering, you're in the horror, you're in the tragedy, and either somebody came alongside you and you knew that feeling, like, like, okay, now I can make it, now I can breathe, now I can make the. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:20.560 Or somebody didn't come along, and you're going, like, if just somebody came along, somebody came along, this would be incredible. 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:28.240 Hopefully that's what we're doing here, like here, hopefully that's what some of this is about, is that that would happen for each of us. 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:29.839 Verse 21. 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:33.120 For to me, to live is Christ and die is gain. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:36.079 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor. 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:37.120 So he's reasoning this out. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:41.199 If I'm gonna live, they say I can live, that means fruitful labor for me. 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:44.720 Yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell. 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:47.199 I am hard pressed between the two. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:51.839 My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:56.480 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:57.839 So he's thinking about them. 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:16.240 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy, for them, for their progress, for their joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:19.600 So point number one was we are called to love. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:28.160 Point number two is, and you're gonna have to track with me a little bit here, the call of love is a path of pain. 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:30.560 The call of love is a path of pain. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:33.279 So there's suffering that happens to you. 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.519 You get sick, uh, you're downsized. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:41.600 And then there's suffering that happens because you love people. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:42.799 Right? 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:46.080 I mean, you felt this with your first love. 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:49.279 Susan Elmore, second grade. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:52.399 I loved her, I hurt for her. 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:57.440 Yes, you can have my crayons, yes, you can have my chocolate milk, right? 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:00.000 I would suffer for her, right? 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:03.039 We felt this as early as our first love. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:09.039 You did this when you stayed up all night talking to your sweet someone, and the next day you felt horrible. 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:14.720 You did this when you drove four hours for a two-hour date, and then you drove four hours back. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:18.320 Totally illogical, and you suffered for that. 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:20.879 Now, it's also true when you get married. 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:30.799 You get married, you go to Home Depot, and you're contemplating buying a grill and a patio set, and one of you wants to buy the grill and the patio set, and the other one of you wants to buy Home Depot stock. 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:36.639 And you the two of you, you're standing there, one wants the stock, the other one wants the grill in the patio set. 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:39.279 And then you get home and you and you're one. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:41.360 There's gonna be a sacrifice here. 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:51.279 Somebody is sacrificing in this moment because you are one and two people have to make one decision and you love each other, so somebody will sacrifice. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:53.200 Love is a path of pain. 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:56.720 You get home, and you recorded the masters. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:01.039 But you're sweet, someone wants to watch Chip and Joanna flip another house. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:03.519 And we all know it's a farmhouse with shiplap. 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:04.399 We do. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:06.399 That's what it always is. 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:10.000 You don't, if you figure out what I'm talking about later, you don't have to watch the show. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:13.679 It's a farmhouse with a lot of white and shiplap. 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:15.039 That's what it is. 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:23.120 But somebody there, somebody there in that moment, in that moment, unless you divorce to separate rooms, some of us do that, right? 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:26.879 Unless you divorce to separate rooms, there's gonna be a sacrifice. 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:29.919 Or maybe you just don't want to talk. 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:39.120 You don't want to open up, you don't want to share with someone why you're anxious or why you distance yourself. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:45.440 But the only way, the only way to love someone is to let them in. 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:48.000 And that's painful. 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:50.720 Right? 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:51.600 You get the point. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:53.200 I could keep going with different scenarios. 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:56.320 The call of love is a path of pain. 00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:07.840 So for Paul to live as Christ, to live as Christ, think about that, to live as Christ means to live to love and to speak the good news, and in that there will be sacrifice. 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:09.279 That's what Christ does. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:11.279 He loves and he sacrifices. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:21.279 So for us to live as Christ means we will love people and we will speak the good news, and in that, just because of the nature of love, it will be a path of pain. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:24.000 Because love requires risk and vulnerability. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:25.679 You will carry their burdens. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:29.519 Once you start to do this, you will have to carry other people's burdens. 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:32.799 You will hurt with them because you love them. 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:35.440 You will even be hurt by them. 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:37.919 This is what Christ did. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:42.799 So to die would be gain. 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:44.960 You'd be free from that. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:47.759 But to live is Christ. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:51.840 So the call is to love in the path of pain. 00:11:51.919 --> 00:12:02.879 And the good news, point number three, good news, in the context of what Paul's writing in this whole letter, in the context of even chapter one, because even in chapter one, joy is mentioned four times. 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:04.320 So this is the context here. 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:08.080 The call of love and the path of pain is in the context of joy. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:11.919 The call of love and the path of pain is in the context of joy. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:18.559 Let's read verses 27 through 30, and we have to remember these in the context of for joy. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:24.320 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:28.320 So that whether I come and see you or I'm absent, I may hear of you. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:30.399 And he just feels love for these people. 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:34.000 I may hear of you, that you are standing firm in one spirit. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:42.960 So he wants them to be loving each other, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, not frightened in anything by your opponents. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:55.840 This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God, for it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:03.600 Because if we're gonna love people, if we're gonna do that great commandment, if we're gonna love people, speak the good news, you're gonna suffer. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:06.559 Because the call of love is a path of pain. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:15.039 Verse 30, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had, and now I hear that I still have. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:20.879 So verse 30 is actually quite a real verse, uh, because it's quite a reality, these people. 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:28.559 It's because uh what happens with Paul could be a precedent for what happens with these people. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:29.440 Right? 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:31.679 It's like it's like a it's a precedent. 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:36.000 Like if they kill them, maybe they're coming after this church also. 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:44.320 So they're watching this case, they're watching what happens here because they are claiming Jesus is Lord and they're not bowing to Caesar. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:46.799 So whatever happens here means everything. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:49.519 And yet Paul says in verse 29, hey, don't be afraid. 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:52.000 Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:59.200 And it's about now in this passage where I think we should all be incredibly grateful for where we live. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:07.200 And not for the affluence which we have, but just because this choice is not something we think about. 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:10.559 This is not something we think about on a day-to-day basis. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:16.080 That the call of loving and speaking good news might result in a sacrifice of life. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:17.759 It's not something we think about here. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:18.799 We don't have to. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:22.159 And yet we all know about suffering, and maybe you don't use that word. 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:24.000 Maybe you just want to say hard stuff. 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:25.600 Hard stuff in life. 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:27.919 Because any hard stuff is suffering. 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:37.120 And but to suffer for his sake means to love, and to love means to be open to pain because love requires risk and sacrifice and vulnerability. 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:39.279 So let's illustrate this. 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:40.480 I need a volunteer. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:44.960 A brave individual that will be slightly humiliated. 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:47.759 Not fully, just enough. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:50.159 You're willing to look silly for a moment. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:52.399 I'm just letting you know before you get up here. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:54.080 Not it's not gonna be too painful. 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:56.879 I'll call your name out if I don't volunteer quickly. 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:00.320 Okay, Matt. 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:03.360 Thank you, Matt. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:06.639 Uh right here, thank you. 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:10.639 So, here, just grab this. 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:11.759 There you go. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:25.200 So we want to believe, uh, and we some and we somewhat, we do believe that we are called to love people, but we we don't want to suffer. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:26.960 Really good, man. 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:28.960 But we don't want to suffer. 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:39.120 And so what we do is we busy ourselves, we busy insulating ourselves from other people and from pain. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:42.960 And so we don't just do this in 30 seconds like I just did with Matt. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:48.240 We do this over months, we do this over years, we insulate ourselves from other people, and you know what? 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:49.919 It's actually quite effective. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:55.759 You can't insulate yourself from other people, and you will not feel as much pain. 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:58.879 But you know what happens, inevitably. 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:08.960 Now Matt can not only he can't feel as much can't feel as much pain, but he also can't can't receive love, right? 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:10.960 Because he's insulated. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:14.000 Alright, you can you can sit down. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:14.639 Thanks. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:17.600 Yeah, just keep it on for the rest of the day, that'd be nice. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:33.039 See, joy and love and pain, they're they're all the same cocktail. 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:35.120 You drink them all at the same time. 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:38.960 Joy and love and pain are all the same. 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:40.559 It's all the same. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:42.639 You can't do one without the other. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:44.639 You can't have one without the other. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:48.159 Now let's circle back to that second phrase. 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:51.519 To live lives worthy of the gospel of Christ. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:59.120 I mean, I most of my life I read that and I have read that, and it has felt so daunting to me. 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:03.600 Because at times I felt like, ain't too bad. 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:07.359 Doing pretty good, feeling pretty, feeling pretty awesome in front of this phrase. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:12.240 Like, look, I am I am living worthy of the gospel. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:16.559 Look at me, and in that, always sort of like, oh, look at them. 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:19.359 They don't quite have their acts together yet. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:22.160 And so there's always that judgment within that sort of attitude. 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:26.000 And then you know what happens if you're living this sort of way, because you're doing it based on your own merit. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:27.599 And then there's the swing, isn't there? 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:30.559 There's always the swing, and you feel totally defeated. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:33.039 Completely defeated. 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:36.480 Like you'll never measure up, like you never have your act together. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:40.799 And what I was missing was this key, this just key truth. 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:44.400 That what we were already called. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:48.240 The calling comes after what we were already called. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:53.440 Meaning your secure position as God's beloved has already has already been handled, right? 00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:56.400 That's verse 1, chapter 1. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:17:58.079 Saints. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:00.640 Saints of Philippi. 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:01.759 Right? 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:04.240 You are a saint. 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:08.799 See, there's a pronouncement over your being. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:13.279 Paul already pronounces over them their sainthood in Christ. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:17.519 It's where it all began, it's where it all begins, it's where it still begins. 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:29.440 And I know maybe it doesn't feel like that way because your life feels like it's a bit of a wreck, or your heart feels like it's a bit of a wreck, but you are a saint, not based on you getting all that together, but based on the fact that Christ died for you. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:31.440 He was perfect for you. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:41.039 So the blessed encouragement to live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ, that's a real call. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:52.240 And it can often feel like either I gotta pull my bootstraps up and I'm gonna make this happen like I make everything else happen in my life, or we shrink back from it, right? 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:53.839 Because we feel the judgment of it. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:55.119 But it's neither. 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:57.279 It's neither of those things. 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:05.119 It is a blessed encouragement in the context of a blessing that's already been conferred upon you. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:09.359 You are a saint, live in light of your sainthood. 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:21.680 So, author and Lutheran minister Nadia Bowles Weber, she says this: you live lives worthy of the gospel because you have received grace upon grace. 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:28.319 You do not live lives worthy of the gospel in order to receive this grace. 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:39.519 See, for me, uh it always feels more natural to meet a condition for a blessing than to receive one. 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:41.359 Right? 00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:44.079 Like, I I love giving a hug. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:45.440 Like I'm a hugger. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:50.000 I love giving a hug, but I don't really like receiving one. 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:52.960 Like I hug like like Trump shakes hands. 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:54.720 You know, like that's how I hug. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:56.480 Like I'm in charge here. 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:00.559 Like I'm not really, I'm not really gonna let you shake my hand. 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:02.000 I'm shaking yours. 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:08.880 I'm not really gonna let you hug me and me feel smaller and me receive. 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:10.400 I'm gonna hug you. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:12.559 That that's how this is gonna work. 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:17.519 And and I think underneath some of that defensiveness is sort of this question, right? 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:22.960 Like, whether I am worthy before I prove myself. 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:26.559 Like, can I be loved before? 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:30.559 Can I be blessed before? 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:32.799 And imagine this truth. 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:34.799 Just imagine this truth. 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:53.519 That the call to love, the call to live a life worthy of the gospel is a just a blessed encouragement for your life, but it's in the context of a blessing already conferred upon you that you are a saint. 00:20:53.839 --> 00:21:01.920 So, my brothers and sisters, may you receive your sainthood and perfectly and gloriously living a life of love. 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:04.079 To live is Christ. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:05.680 Let's pray together. 00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:14.000 God, thank you for your great love for us. 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:26.400 Thank you that we are saints by your work and not by ours, and we are free in your great grace that is always deeper than our sin. 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:34.319 And we pause, just as we did at the beginning of the service, we pause now to say we are sinners. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:36.640 We love to prove ourselves. 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:41.759 We love to prove ourselves in a religious realm, in a moral realm. 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:46.319 We love to escape, we love all of this, we love to self-justify. 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:53.200 And it is so incredibly difficult for us to receive your grace and mercy. 00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:59.039 Would you break through our hard hearts? 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.720 Would you help free us from ourselves? 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:13.519 Would you help us see the ways we insulate our own selves and we are unable to live out the call to love? 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:19.359 God, we thank you that your work for us is sufficient. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.720 That we fall short in all these ways, we fall short before the call to love. 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:28.799 And your love never falls short. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:34.720 Would you increase our trust in the sufficiency of Jesus this morning? 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:35.680 Amen.