Philippians: The Christ-Like Mindset in Action
Philippians 2:12-18
by Sean Kelly

Christlike mindset. And so when we get to verse twelve here, which is where we're going to be this morning, we're jumping off that. In fact, the first word in verse twelve is therefore.

And when you see therefore, you ask, what is it therefore? Well, it's there because verses one through nine, one through eleven, talked about to consider others as important as yourself. You look out for the interests of others to have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. And so because of that, this is okay.

How do we apply that now? What do we do with our lives? And that's where we're at this morning. So let's go ahead and we'll pray, and then we'll dig into the lesson. Nathan, why don't you go ahead and pray for us? Dear heavenly Father, we're just thankful that dad has spent time prepared to teach us from it.

I just pray that you allow them to have a clear mind so you can teach us and allow us to have open minds that we can understand and learn a lot. Just because you allow us to just work on applying whatever lesson has for us to our lives, and just so we grow closer to you through Jesus name. Amen.

So let's look at Philippians 1212 through 18. Who would like to read that for us this morning? Matt, go ahead. Therefore, beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God who works in you both to will and do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless children of God without fault in the midst of equipped generation, among them among whom you shine as light in the world, holding fast the world, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not let him vain. Yes, I have. Drink off him on the sacrifice and service of your faith.

I am glad and rejoice with you all for the same reason you also be glad. So Paul concludes the section on having the right mindset at verses one, that should be verses one through eleven, and then goes on to apply it to our sanctification and our actions. When we think of the way Christ thought with a humble, servant like sacrificing attitude, our actions will go on to reflect that we have a proper mindset.

So this is putting verses one to eleven in practice, as I said, this is what do we do when we're considering others as better than ourselves, when we're putting others interests ahead of our own, when we're humbling ourself when we have a mindset like Christ, who is humble, who is a servant mindset, who is sacrificing himself for us, what does that look like? And that's what we're looking at this morning. So starting in verses twelve, and I love verses twelve and 13. These are two verses that I go to a lot when people ask about sanctification and what does it look like and how does it work? This is one of the places I like to start.

So these are two very cool verses to me. They're not cool throughout the whole Bible, mind you, but I like these two. So number one here is to be responsible for your own sanctification.

Point a kind of covers it. Therefore, it's based on our unselfish Christlike attitude. Again, that should be verses one through eleven.

I'm not sure why I kept on thinking nine when I was typing this, but that happens sometimes. So based on the attitude that to have, it says, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed not in my presence only, but now much more my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

So it talks about obedience here. It brings up obedience. What are we supposed to do with the right attitude? Well, we're supposed to obey what Christ wants us to do.

And obedience is a key component of that, that we ought to obey Christ. Paul here makes a statement as you've always obeyed not only my presence. And when we think about that, we think it's always easy to do what's right.

When you have other people around you that are doing what's right and want you to do what's right. And are encouraging you to do what's right. That's the easy part.

Right. You come to church on a Sunday morning. It's easier for your attitude to be a little more right.

It's easier for you to be kinder to people. It's easier for you to want to serve because you're around people that are expecting that of you. I think maybe that's what Paul's saying here.

You have obeyed while you're in my presence. But he also said, but now much more my absence. So in Paul's absence, when he's not looking over their shoulder, when he's not seeing what they're doing, how they're living their lives, he's heard a testimony.

And remember in chapter one, he talked about that their testimony came to him even in his imprisonment in Rome. And he's heard this testimony that they are obeying. They are doing what's right.

In fact, he says that they're in baying much more. They have this consistent testimony of obedience. Let's look at Philippians one 7127.

Sorry, I can't even read this morning. Philippians 127. Who wants to read that? Lynn? Go ahead.

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs. You stand fast in one spirit with one mind, trending together for the faith of the gospel. So he commands.

Chapter one, verse 27. Let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. This has to deal with the way they're living, with their obedience.

He says, whether I hear about it or I'm absent, do what's right. So it shouldn't matter that Paul's there. Paul's not there.

Paul's encouraging the Philippians to do what they are supposed to be doing, that they are to be obedient no matter what. And in fact, he's saying here that much more, my absence. Work on your obedience.

Then he talks about working out your salvation. Now, we go over this a lot. I think it's good to go over it, and maybe you're tired of hearing it.

So we have the word salvation here, and we need to understand, and this is important, when we see the word salvation, depending on the context, it can mean a number of different things. Right. So the number one way that we think of salvation usually is what? Be saved.

Being saved. Justification, right. Yes.

The act of going from someone who is outside of God's grace to being in God's grace. The act of going from being an unbeliever to a believer. We talk about that.

That's salvation. And that's true. That's in the Bible.

That's very clear. What's another way salvation is used? Physical salvation. Okay.

Physical salvation. Yeah. We sing a song about that.

I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies. That's not talking about God saving us from our sins. That's not talking about these other types of salvation.

This is a physical deliverance. This is God going in, especially in the nation of Israel. David talks a lot about the Lord's salvation.

He's talking about that God helped him to win battles against his enemies, and that was his salvation to David. So that's another one. Physical salvation number three.

What's another one? Thank you. Sanctification. Ah.

Where's a verse that talks about sanctification? What's that? Okay. This verse, too? Yeah. I didn't look at Philippians one six.

You could be right on that. But this verse is the one I always go to because it talks about working out your salvation as we understand salvation. If I was talking about being saved, you can go to Ephesians two, eight and nine.

Right? For by grace you have been saved through faith is now yourself as a gift of God, not by works. So if that's true and this is about being saved, then there's a problem, because the Bible is contradicting itself, saying, now you need to work out your salvation. So that can't be that.

So what can it be? Well, working out your salvation. This is the sanctification. This is the process of going from being saved from your sinfulness, from your wickedness, from your unsaved lifestyle, to becoming like Christ, to be living the right way.

So you have sanctification. What's the fourth one that we generally think of? Glorification. Thank you.

What's glorification? Abigail? Yeah. Glorification is when the sin nature is removed, we're saved from the sinfulness that we are, and we become like Christ because we see him as he is. So, very good.

I asked the bible college student because she better know that this one's not talking about being saved from our enemies, which I would usually put first, but that's not the one we usually think of. This one's not talking about being saved because it's time about working out your salvation. So it's not time about the justification.

This one's not talking about the glorification, because we don't do anything to be glorified. That's God who does that at his return. So this has to be sanctification.

Right. So working out your salvation here, that's sanctification. One Corinthians 9:24-27.

I don't know why my bible works program puts in chapter ten one, why I don't have verse one in there. But it does that once in a while. Nathan, go ahead.

Do you not know that those who run the race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things now. They do it to obtain perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.

Therefore, I run. Thus, not without certainty. Thus I fight not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjugation, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

Why do I bring this verse up? Well, this shows you that living the christian life is something you work at. This is something that you put effort into. Look at the illustrations that are here.

Running a race, fighting a fight. Then it talks about disciplining my body, bringing in subjection. The idea of your sanctification is a process that takes work.

It takes effort. It takes focus on doing it. This is not something that just comes about and happens.

This is not something that you sat on your couch and let God do the work. And voila, timer's done. I'm there.

I got it. No, it's something that you even put effort in. And you look at Paul.

And again, if I were to rank people who lived for God and were spiritual people, I put Paul towards the top of the list because of what I know about Paul. I'd be amazed in the presence of Paul. And Paul said, I got to work hard at this.

I got to discipline my body. I run like I want to win a race. I fight like I want to win a fight.

I'm working hard at this. If Paul says that that should be true of all of us, that we need to put the effort into our sanctification, he adds on, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Two words.

And I just realized I forgot my commentary and didn't put the quote in there. So I'm not going to get the MacArthur quote this morning. So sorry about that.

So, with fear, a couple of verses. Proverbs one seven. Isabelle, go ahead.

I appreciate what Dr. Paul said about fear, because it talked about fear in his passage, too, and just talking about the reverence. And a lot of times I felt like reverence was just not enough.

But it's a reverence in who God is. It's a reverence in his nature, in his character and understanding his holiness, and therefore our sinfulness, our depravity, and just what God's grace is. And so I appreciate you sharing that, Dr.

Paul, because that helps me a lot. And that's the kind of fear that we ought to have of God, that we understand who he is, that we understand where we stand before God, that it's all based on his grace. It's all based on his mercy to us.

And that helps us to see, okay, I need to focus on this. I need to focus on this effort to be the type of person that God wants me to be. Another one.

Proverbs 824. Another reader who wants to read. You're too young to read.

Go ahead, Abigail. Happy is the man who is always reverent. And happy is the man who is always reverent.

The word reverent is the same word, fear. It's just translated different for some reason here. Happy is the man who is always fearful, who is always.

But that idea of reverence of God, that he who hardens his heart falls into calamity. So with fear, and then also with trembling. And trembling, maybe is the outward showing of it.

Maybe it kind of is another way of saying this here. MacArthur had a great quote, and I wish I would have brought the commentary to share with you because it really helped me a lot. Now I don't remember what it is anyway.

So we need to be responsible for our own sanctification first. John two six kind of sums up. Go ahead, Jenna.

So if you say you're in Christ, if you say I'm part of who Christ is, there's a responsibility that you need to walk the way Christ walked. You need to walk in the same way. We are responsible for our own sanctification.

Can I. No, it's okay. Thanks, Sutherland.

So, number one, be responsible for your own sanctification. Number two, allow God to work out your sanctification. Now, if you start to think about it, you understand that I'm saying two separate things.

We need to be responsible for our own sanctification, but we need to let God work in our lives to sanctify us. Which is true. Yes, they're true.

Look at verse 13. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Why does this have to do with sanctification? Well, it's that do to will and to do what are we doing? The way we're living our lives is what's going on in our lives.

And this verse says, is God who works in you. So while we put in 100% of the effort and while we work to be the type of people God wants us to be, God's going to work in us, too. And he's going to come alongside and help us and work in us, guide us, direct us, give us tools that we have so that we can be sanctified so God will work in us.

A couple of verses that we want to look at. Two Corinthians three five. Another reader, please.

Josiah. Go ahead. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.

See, I think that if you have element number one here, that you're responsible for your own sanctification. I got to do it. I got to work hard of it.

Guess what? We're not sufficient in and of ourselves. We can't do it on our own. Our sufficiency here talks about comes from God, that it's from him that we have the means to be Christlike in our lives.

We have the means to be holy, as he is holy because he's working in us. Now. That doesn't negate our responsibility to do what we're supposed to do, but we can't do it without God.

Let's look at Ephesians 320 and 21, other reader, forever and ever after. So you look at verse, verse 20, especially him who is able to do not what's just necessary, not what we ask for, but exceedingly above all that we ask or even think. That's the kind of power God has to work in us.

And then it goes on to say, according to the power that works in us is God who is working in our lives. It's God who is working to grow us. Again, this is a partnership between us doing what we're supposed to be doing.

This is us being committed to living holy lives for God. We have to make that commitment. We need to make that effort.

We need to run the race. We need to fight the fight. But God's going to give us that power, that exceedingly above what we're even asking to do.

He's going to work in us. And so it's God who is working in us. And it says two things in this verse, both to will and the will, that the word for will here is a word that means desire.

So it's what you desire to do. God's going to change our desires. Let's look at Romans twelve, one and two.

I'm sure this is a familiar verse to many of you. Olivia, go ahead. Fully accept the world God, which is the original church, and do not be conformed to the things of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may do what is good.

What is that? Good and acceptable and perfect. So verse one talks about the actions present your body as a living sacrifice. This is what you're supposed to be doing as a Christian.

This is how you're supposed to act. You're supposed to be sacrificing yourself for the cause of Christ and for others around you. Verse two talks about transforming your mind, that you understand what God's will is, that you can approve it, that you can see that is good is acceptable and it is perfect.

That God's will is exactly what you need in your life. God's will is exactly what you need to desire in your life. And there's a transforming, a renewing of your mind that causes that.

So God wants us to desire what he desires. God wants us to seek what he seeks. God wants us to be wanting to do what he wants us to do.

There needs to be a start in the mind what we desire, what we will for that, we align that with what God wants. And he also says to both to will and to do so, what you desire to do, it needs to line up with what God wants, but you also have to do it. And this probably isn't a perfect example, because obviously I don't desire enough.

I would like to lose weight. I would like to exercise more. I would like to eat better.

But thus far in my life, my actions have not lined up with my desires. I still like Mountain dew too much. I still like potato chips too much.

I still like sitting on the couch instead of going out and taking a walk too much. So I haven't lined up my will with what I'm doing. But even if I say, well, I really, really want that, but I just can't do it, it doesn't make any sense, right? So we need to desire what God wants for us, but we need to also go and do it.

So Ephesians 210, another verse that we're going to look at here, creating Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand, were created for good works by God. This comes after Ephesians two, eight and nine, which we just talked about, about being saved. The justification that the purpose of our salvation is to do, the purpose of our salvation is to be workers of good works, goes on to say here which God prepared before him, that we should walk in them.

We should be doing what God wants us to do. He wants us to not only desire, but to do. He wants us to be people who put the Bible into action.

We're going to be just hearers of the word, but doers of the word. See that in James. And so the purpose here that we both to will and to do for his good pleasure, our ultimate goal ought to be to please God, to hear him say, well done, thou good and faithful servant.

That's what we ought to be seeking. We ought to be doing it for his good pleasure. Hebrews 1320 and 21.

Wants to read. Go ahead, Matt. Now may the God of Jesus make you complete and every good work in you.

Jesus Christ, verse 21. There he's his desire is to make you complete in every good work, to do his will. Here's his will.

You should be doing it by doing that. It says, do his will working in you what is well pleasing in sight. That's what's going to please him is that we are doing what God wants us to do, that we are pleasing him, that we are obeying him.

So we see these two parts here. We see that we are responsible for our own salvation. We need to put the work in, we need to do what God wants us to do.

But God gives us, he works in us now, I think he gives us tools, he gives us ways to do that. I'm going to look at this just quickly. So I don't know, I'm going to even title this.

We're just going to list what has God given us to help us to be able to be sanctified, be able to live for him, what kind of tools, what kind of resources? I don't know what term I want to use, but. Okay, good. You're on the right track here.

Okay, I'll get that 1 second. Let's talk about one at a time here. Holy Spirit.

So this is important, right? Think of the Old Testament, the Old Testament, how did the Holy Spirit act? Yeah, the Holy Spirit would come onto somebody for a specific task, specific thing. You think of Saul, especially, the Holy Spirit would come upon him, he would do some good things leading the army of Israel and then he'd be gone. In fact, Saul had a problem that he get an evil spirit that would come into him and he'd do some crazy things.

How does the Holy Spirit act for us as Christians? Yeah. When you are saved, you're baptized with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes and fills you.

You have the spirit indwelling in you. Now we can listen to him, we cannot listen to him. We can grieve the know, we can do all these things, but the Holy Spirit is with us.

So we have that resource. If we're putting the effort in and we're doing what's right, God's holy spirit is also working in us to help us to do that. It's that partnership.

So good. Eric, your answer. Okay.

Sorry though, I talked too much, probably forgot. But we have the Bible, God's word, right? Psalm 119 says, how can a young man guard his way by taking heed according to your word. With her whole heart I have sought you.

Let me not wander from your commandments. Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. So what kind of tool we have, we have the word of God as we're putting the word of God in our lives, as we're studying it, as we're understanding it, as we're taking time to know what God's word says.

That's going to help us live the right way. Okay, what else do we have? Okay, good church. You're using it the right way.

Nathan wasn't saying the building. He was saying the people, not the building. We have each other, right? We're to build up one another.

We're to encourage, we're to admonish, we're to come alongside one another. We're to share each other's burdens. We're to love one another.

You can go on and on. I did a study years ago about one another's, and I had like, I don't know, 16 or 18 different one another's that I categorized in the Bible. And you probably could categorize them differently, but we're here for one another.

God has put us here to help each other to grow. We have accountability with each other. We have a common experience of that.

We're sinners trying to be like Jesus Christ, and we're helping each other do that. So the church, great resource. What else? We have access to the throne of God.

You can talk to the guy who created everything. You can talk to the guy that, according to first Corinthians, holds all things together. You can talk to the guy who is truly the head of the body of Christ, who is in charge of it.

You talk to the guy who knows the beginning, from the end. We can go in prayer to God. Do you think that's not.

That is a resource. That is a huge resource. What else? Anything else? Provide.

I like that. I'm putting that up there. That's good.

Thank you, Dory. Absolutely true. That is good.

Trials work in us. The triangle of our faith produces patience, patience produces maturity, this whole process that goes on. So that's awesome.

And we don't like to hear that. And I think we've talked about this several times over the last few weeks, but even Paul here is saying I'm in prison and I'm looking forward to what God's going to do with the gospel. With me being in prison and not having the freedom that I normally have.

He understands that this little trial he's going through is just going to be for the glory of God. So, trials, what else? I'm going to add this one on here. We don't maybe think of this like the other things.

And the reason I bring up grace, one of my favorite verses, and some of you know that I deal with migraines and have gone to the doctor and they tried to do stuff about it and it hasn't really helped any. And at some point. I've just said to know.

It's kind of like Paul and the thorn in his flesh. And Paul said, get rid of this God. I don't want to.

Yes, three times. God's response was, my grace is sufficient for you. God's grace is sufficient for us.

We have God's grace in our life, and however that manifests itself, we can trust in God that he's going to work, that he's going to give us the things that are beneficial to us, the things we don't deserve, that we can be made like him. So I add that to the list. That's a good list, though, right? So God is working out our salvation.

He's put, say, oh, I remember one more. This is what I was thinking about. We almost forgot it.

Reason I bring up this one is because in the passage in Ephesians four where it talks about us, where it talks about the building up of the church and the edification of the body and all that, it starts out in Ephesians 411 by saying, and God gave some the apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastor teachers. And we believe that apostles and prophets are probably not for today, but pastors and teachers and evangelists. And you can put that in that category, too.

God's given for our benefit. So this might be a subset of believers in the church, because hopefully your church will have that. Hopefully we'll have that at some point in time.

But these are special people God has given to help us to grow and to walk in the way God wants us to. So I wanted to add that one in there. Okay, let's move on.

I have a couple verses, kind of summary verses that summarize this two part sanctification process that we're working and God's working in us. So two, Peter one, two through eight is the first one. Nathan.

Grace and peace multiplied in you knowledge of God. Jesus our Lord, divine power, has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world, lust, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue to virtue, knowledge to knowledge, self control to self control, perseverance to perseverance, godliness to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful.

In the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So you look at this, and the verse begins with, look at what God's done for you. Verse three talks about his divine power has given us all things.

He's given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, everything we need to live for him to be godly in his sight. He's given us knowledge of him. So he's given us knowledge of him who's called us by glory and virtue.

He's given us exceedingly great and precious promises in order that you be partakers of divine nature, have escaped corruption, as in the world through lust. So this whole part up to this point is all, look at what God has done for you. Look at the good things God has done.

Then in verse six, it says, but for this very reason, given all diligence, this is talking about you. You be diligent now and be diligent to do these things. And it lists a number of things that this leads to this, this leads to this, and so on.

So when you get to verse eight, for if these things are yours and you're bound, you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in knowledge of Lord Jesus Christ. So here, very clear, it talks about, here's everything that God's done for you. You have everything that pertains to life and God.

I can't talk life and godliness. You have these exceeding precious great promises, but you need to be diligent. You need to do your part in it, too.

One more passage. One Corinthians 1510. Here, go ahead.

By the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace was not vain, but I labored more abundantly here. Paul's attributing where he's adding his life to the grace of God.

He says, the grace of God, I am what I am. His grace towards me was not in vain at the end, he says, the grace of God was with me. So he's emphasizing the grace of God here, right? And then in the middle he says, oh, by the way, I labored.

I did my part. I did what I was supposed to do. I labored more abundantly than they all.

So God's grace is working, but I put work into it also. So that's kind of the two things here. We're responsible for our own sanctification, but God works out our sanctification in our lives, and it works together as we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, God's doing what he's doing.

That helps us to grow. So let's move on. We're going to cover a few more verses this morning.

So what affects our sanctification? Well, number three here, I'm going to lose my mic. It's only the first time, and we're already. .3.

Our attitude here affects the progress of our sanctification. Command here is to do all things without complaining and disputing. That comes from an attitude, right? So to do all things without, first of all, complaining.

Ideal. Complaining is like a whispering. That's what the word literally means.

Nakartha says it's like a guttural muttering sounds that people often make when they're disgruntled. He says it's Anamanapia, which is a word that sounds like what it is. So we tend to do that a lot.

Right? So we're complainers as people, we see something happens. My biggest area where I complain is when I'm driving on the road, people just annoy me to no end. You're turning right.

Put on your signal. You're crossing four lanes at a time on I 235. Can't do that.

One at a time, people. Come on. It just bothers the living daylights out of me.

I complain about it a lot. We find things to complain about, right? God wants us to do all things without complaining. One Corinthians 1010.

Let's read that passage, Ted. All things without complaining and disputing. Children of God without fault, in the midst of a crippled generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast as the word of life, of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ.

Okay, so that was the passage we're in. Let's go ahead and read the next verse that's on the list there. Sorry, I wanted to read first Corinthians, Ted said, but that's okay.

Nor complain, as some of them are also complained, and we are destroyed by the destroyer. So this passage, I took it out of its context. Paul is talking about the children of Israel in the exodus and talking about that they were given to us as example, and they're given to us as an example of, hey, look at them.

Don't be like that. And one of the things he brings up is that they complained and they complained to God. Why have you taken out here to starve? We had food in Egypt.

We had all this good stuff. We didn't have to wander around. We weren't thirsty.

They were constantly complaining about what God was doing for them, and he took them out of slavery in Egypt. And some of them were destroyed because of their complaining. God killed off a number of them, a large number, thousands, tens of thousands of them, because they were complaining about what God was doing in their lives.

And that's an example for us to say, don't complain. That's not what God wants you to do. So they were complaining.

But it says, do all things without complaining, without disputing. The word disputing literally means a thought or question, but we came to mean, like, a questioning or a doubting. So the idea you're doubting, you're disputing what? And I think in this context, what God's word has told you, what God is doing.

You're saying, I don't think this is right. I don't think that God's doing the right thing in my life. And God says, don't do that.

Trust what I've given you. So first, Timothy two eight, who would like to read that desire? Therefore pray everywhere? So here it's applied to prayer, but you can see the idea in there that God doesn't want you to pray. Without doubting God, you lift up holy hands without wrath and without doubting.

And that's true in our life also, the way we live. We should not be doubting what God is doing. So the results here.

So do things without playing, disputing the result. Verse 15, that in order that you may become blameless, blameless could be faultless. So the idea is that you're going from a point where someone could say, hey, look at that Christian.

He's acting like the world. He's not doing what he's supposed to be doing, to the point where they say, well, that guy's living pretty consistently with what he believes. I can't really find a lot of fault in him.

I can't really point him and say, you're not living like a Christian, because you are. So that's the idea here. First, Thessalonians 312 through 13, so that you may establish your hearts blameless before our God.

Here it talks about establishing your hearts blameless or faultless before God the father. And this is as we're living for God, as we're doing what he wants us to do, that God's goal is that we stand before God. And God says, you've done a good job.

Well done, my good and faithful servant. There's no fault in us. There's no saying, okay, well, I saved you, but look how you lived your life.

You kind of messed it all up, didn't you? No, that we want to stand faultless and blameless before God. So to become blameless and that you become harmless, harmless means unmixed. It has the idea of being pure, of being innocent.

Romans 16 nine. Paul gives his benediction, and he tells what he wants for the roman church here. So let's read Romans 16 nine.

Josiah, go ahead. For your obedience become known to all. Therefore, I'm glad I broken half, but I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning.

And this word simple is kind of the same, is the same word here. It's simple concerning evil, that we're innocent. We're not experts in evil.

We live a life that's like, well, yes, I know people sin, but I don't know how to sin because I'm living for God. I'm doing what God wants me to do. Now, again, does that mean we're perfect in our life? And obviously not.

We will struggle with sin until the time of our glorification. But our lives ought to be moving more and more like being like Christ, to be living like him, to becoming like who he is. So he goes on to say here, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, and I call this be consistent as children of God, he talks about being without fault, and this is in contrast to the wickedness and perverseness around you.

To be without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Jude 24 gives another benediction where he's talking about, this is what God would want for the church. So let's read Jude 24.

Lynn, "Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling". So God's goal for us is that we don't stumble, that we live consistent lives, that we're walking in the right way, and that we are presented faultless before him when he appears. So we should be without fault.

Talks about shining as lights. I think about what lights do. I've talked about this a number of times.

I have terrible night vision. When I was younger, my optometrist said, really? You're not a good driver in the dark. You can't see well in the dark.

And I really do struggle sometimes when I'm driving and there's, like, these bright led lights shining at me from other cars, and then they pass you, and then I can't see anything for, like, three or 4 seconds because it is hard for my eyes to adjust to that. But light in general, during the day when it's bright, when the sun is out, my eyes don't have any trouble. They can see what's going on.

They can see what's around me. They can see what is the truth of the situation I am. And I think that's what light is.

As lights, we're displaying God's truth. I think a lot of times light in the Bible is related to truth, that Jesus is a light to the world. He showed the truth to the world.

He showed God's salvation, the truth in that to the world. We're to be lights too. We're to show the world what it means to live the right way, to live the true way.

Ephesians five eight is a verse that talks about being light. Who would like to read that? Elizabeth, go ahead. So our position, we are light.

We are light in the Lord. As God saves us, he makes us light. We're to walk as children of light.

We're supposed to do the things that a child of the light would do, a child of the truth would do. And that's what we're supposed to be. We're supposed to be consistent as children of God.

And then I said it at the end here, holding fast the word of life so they may rejoice in the day of Christ. There's a consistent living and proving of the word of God in our lives, that we're holding fast the word of life. We're doing what God's word tells us to.

Then let her see here. This is Paul's goal for his ministry. He wants his children to be walking in the right way, to be consistent with who they are in Christ.

And he adds that on so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ. I have not run in vain or labored in vain. So he's rejoicing.

They may rejoice in the day of Christ. This is when we stand before God and there's rewards for us as Christians. We stand before the bema seat and Paul will be rejoicing that, that his ministry has been effective because of their faithfulness, that they have done what God wants them to do, and that his effort was not in vain, that he didn't put all this effort into seeing them become not only saved, but become people who love God, who are living the right way.

He puts all this effort in to see them actually do it. This brings Paul great rejoicing. So that's Paul's goal for his rejoicing.

Now I want to talk about one last thing here in verses 17 and 18. So number four is God provides others for our sanctification. We already talked about this over here, down here.

But I think you see us in verse 1718. It says, yes. And if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all for the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me.

So this is what I think Paul is saying, is that this is his purpose, is to serve the church, to help them be who they're supposed to be, to help them be consistent with who God wants them to be. So Paul's possible situation, he's being poured out as a drink offering. He says, if I'm being poured out as a drink offering, what does that mean? How do you get poured out as a drink offering? It's a sacrifice.

He's using it very specifically here. Let's look at two Timothy, four, six and seven. Go ahead, Nathan.

And the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Second Timothy is the last letter Paul wrote.

And he knew his death was at hand. He knew he was going to be with the Lord soon. And look at the way he talks about he's being poured out as a drink offering.

The time of my departure is at hand. It's eminent, it's right now, I'm going to be with the Lord soon. In fact, he goes on verse seven.

We talked about fighting the fight and running the race and stuff. He says, I've fought the good fight, past tense, I'm done fighting. I finished the race.

There's nothing left for him to do. He knows his ties ahead. So this idea of being poured out as a drink offering, saying, even if I die in service to you as a church, he's going to say, this is what my purpose is, this is what God has for me.

And as a reminder in Philippians one, remember, he talked about that. He doesn't know if he's going to live or die, if he's going to be with Christ, which is far better, or if he's going to stay here, which is good for the church. At the end he says, I realize I'll stay here for your benefit.

But he was unsure, even in his imprisonment, when he was in Philippians here, what the outcome was going to be at this point. He wasn't sure if it was going to lead to freedom, if he was going to just be imprisoned the rest of his life, if he was going to die. He wasn't sure where he was going with this.

But he knows that even if God ends his life because of his ministry, the church this is what God had purpose for him. This is what God had for him to do to help the church live the way they were supposed to live. So he's being poured out as a drink offering in order to serve the church and diaga from the sacrifice and service of your faith.

So he's serving their belief. He's serving what they're doing, how they're growing. He's there to serve the church.

Let's look at first Peter 2424 through five. Go ahead. Coming to him as a living stone, rejected indeed by man, but chosen by God as precious.

You also have living stones are being built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer us spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Here, you look at this. What are we to be doing? We're to be serving God's design and purpose.

It says we're being built up as living stones, a spiritual household, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ Jesus. Our lives ought to be in sacrifice to the service of what God wants us to do, and part of that is to serve others around us, to help them to grow. Romans 14, seven and eight.

Go ahead, Dr. Paul, therefore. So here, it shouldn't matter to us what the outcome of our life is as long as we're doing it for the Lord.

Whether we live, we live for the Lord, or whether we die, we die for the Lord. It's all in service to him. It's all doing what he wants us to do to serve the church.

So Paul's attitude here is he talks about that. If this is happening to him, if I'm being sacrificed, if I'm being poured out as a drink offering, if I'm dying in service to you, I am glad and rejoice for you all. Paul's not thinking about himself.

He's not thinking about what he's doing ten years down the road, what his ten year plan is. He's serving God and serving the church. And if he can do that, he's glad and he rejoices.

So he's glad. There's a happiness and there's a rejoicing. There's a rejoicing in what God is doing.

Let's look at Philippians three, seven and eight. Go ahead, Matt. Lost for Christ.

Indeed. I also count all things lost for the excess of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my boy, with whom I have suffered the loss of all things. This passage is in a passage where Paul's talking about that he's the Jew of Jews.

He was trained, he was zealous for the Lord. He did all these things, and he was this prominent guy, he was this well known guy. He was this guy who had an outstanding place among the Jewish leaders, he says.

But in comparison to knowing Christ, I count that all garbage. That's all rubbish. That's nothing.

But to me is most important. I count the loss of all things, for the excellence is just knowing Christ. And so his focus is on Jesus Christ.

His focus is on serving there. So our application we see in verse 18, for the same reason. What's the same reason? Even if you're being poured out as a drink offering, but as long as you're serving what God wants to serve or you're doing what God wants you to do, for this same reason, you also be glad and rejoice with me.

So we're to be glad, we're to rejoice, and we're to do it with Paul, that God is working in the way he is. So a couple takeaways here. Let's look at these quick our sanctification takes effort.

We can assume that we become like Christ. We can assume we cannot. Okay, typo.

Put it cannot in there. We cannot assume we will become like Christ without putting the work into our lives. Sometimes I think I should be reading this out loud beforehand, I guess is a continual effort to make sure we are doing the things Christ wants us to do.

So we have to put that effort in. We have to work, we have to do our part of being like Christ. But on the other side of the coin, God desires our sanctification and will thus give us the power and the tools to be like him.

We can trust in God's faithfulness to give us the ability to live how he wants us to live. And we talked a lot about that. So yes, hard part, go do your work.

Go do your homework. You got to work hard at this. Every moment of the day, every decision you make, every thought you have, you need to make sure that you're doing the right thing.

But the good part is that God is there with you. God is working in you. He's helping you through that.

So you have both that next application there from, .3 complaining and disputing work against our sanctification. Therefore, we as Christians should remove them from our lives.

I think it's pretty easy. If you're type that complains about a lot of stuff at the time that doubts what God is doing, you need to put that aside. You need to trust God and you need to do what's right.

And lastly, God puts others in our lives who minister to us and help us grow to be like him. Sometimes they sacrifice their lives for us, like Paul did for the Philippians. And I'm not talking necessarily that he died for them, but he made sacrifices.

He put aside his life so he could serve God's design in their life. We should be glad and rejoice that God has given those people to us for our benefit. And I know a lot of you, I know that you're thankful for the people around you.

You're thankful for this church, for this body and the work that's going on here. And that's right and good. We can thank God for that and be appreciative of what God is working our life.

Next week, depending on what's going on, we're going to talk about Timothy and how Timothy was able to minister. That's the next thing. So it jumps from this, that Paul's being poured out as a drink, offering for the service or faith.

Oh, by the way, here's Timothy. Consider him. So that's what we'll be going towards next week.

Any thoughts, questions, concerns? Eric, it when they didn't actually have it in their mind to put all these applications throughout their life, I guess no matter how old somebody was like 85. Excuse me. I know that what the Bible teaches us about salvation, that God desires all men to be saved.

If someone comes to true knowledge of Christ, that they understand their sinfulness, their depravity before God, they understand that Christ is their sacrifice who took their sin upon them and give them his righteousness, and they trust in his death and resurrection, the gospel that God's going to save him. God desires that. And our salvation is by nothing we do.

None of us are saved by anything that's good in us, by any good work that we do, by any effort of our own. Our salvation is fully from God. Those of us who are saved younger and have years to live out, we have the opportunity to show our thankfulness and to show our praise to God by living our lives for him and doing what God wants us to do.

That's a gift to us. If someone accepts Christ five minutes before they die, they don't get that gift to live their life for Christ, but they get the gift of salvation because God provides that freely to all men who believe. Yes.

Where he has nothing. Yeah, that is a great example how he think about complaining and stuff. This is one of those things where we could look at and go, well, that's not really fair.

He didn't live for Christ. Whatever we need to look at the other way again, like I said, I think we need to look at, this is a gift for us, that we can serve Christ. We can accomplish his will not only in our lives, but in the lives of people around us.

We get that opportunity to do that here on earth. We need to take advantage of that. We need to be doing our best to please God in everything we do.

And then there's rewards for that. In heaven. God talks about those who are faithful, the gold, silver, precious stones.

They're going to have something to show for that. The things of heaven are going to last. Yeah, that's a good question.

Does that answer it? Okay, good. When I heard pastor talk about when you desire to sin, your prayer needs to be that you have. And that I feel like is sanctifying in itself just to be able to pray that.

Because when I'm in my own way of doing things, I'm like, no, I will do what I want to do when I want to do it, but to go ahead and be that living offering, it's like, okay, it's not my will. It is your will. And even though my ideas are wicked and you go ahead and take it, Lord, and direct my path and keep me, deliver me from evil.

Yeah, it's a hard thing. You look at passes like Romans seven again. I have a very high opinion of Paul.

Maybe I talked to Paul. He'd probably say, you shouldn't have had such a high opinion of me. I'm just a man, just like you.

But Romans seven, he talks about that he wills to do what God wants him to do, but he doesn't do it. And the things that he doesn't want to do, those are the things he does. It's a constant struggle.

Sanctification is never easy. And when you have the desire to sin, yes, you need to say, hey, no, this is not right. And praying that God would not give you the opportunity, I think that's not bad.

I think also training our mind that when that desire comes in, okay, how do I respond with scripture? If you are a type of person that before you're saved, were a kleptomaniac, you stole a lot of things, and that desire is still there. Then you learn verses like in Ephesians four, where it talks about not stealing but working hard so they may give to others. You start putting scripture in your mind and say, no, this is what God wants me to do.

This is what's right, because it's great if you don't have the opportunity, but how are you ever tested if you don't have the opportunity to sin. So what we need to do, we need to start with that desire and train our mind, renew our mind, rethink our mind that we put off the old man, we put on the new man. And then between those two things, it talks about renewing your mind.

In Ephesians four. I think you're right. I think, just pray.

If I'm weak, I don't want that opportunity at that point. But then going on, okay, I know this is area I'm weak in. Let me start training that by God's word also and moving forward, I think that's the next step along the line.

That makes sense. I don't know if that makes sense. Yeah.

How's God like a test if you have patience, if you're not tried on your patience? Right. And the worst part about all of it is that we got all that temptation, all that stuff inside of us to start with. And that's what we need to work on, giving over the control of the Christ and to the Holy Spirit, because we're our own worst enemy.

It's the devil, the world and ourself. And ourself is the hardest one because it's always there with us. Any other thoughts, questions? Okay, let's go ahead and close in prayer.

Matthew, will you close us in prayer for all that the world has given to us and run away from sin, let us have a good Jesus name. Amen.