Route 66: Philippians - Finding Joy in Chains

So if you have a Bible, you can turn to that book.

If you don't have one, you'll find a pew Bible in front of you and you can go to page 1040, 1040.

We're in our series, very deep into our series called Route 66, book by book through the book of books.

So one message for each book of the Bible, and we started in Genesis and now we're all the way up through the book of Philippians.

This afternoon, royal and I had the privilege of spending lunch with Brian and Elaine McLaughlin, who recently returned from a trip to Italy, and they were able to show us some pictures and some stories about their time over there, and we got to see some pictures of Rome and how much they got to enjoy in that city.

They were there in Rome the day after the Pope was picked, elected, chosen, whatever the right word is, and so it was an interesting day to be there, right For them to be in the midst of all of that, as everybody rushed to the city in order to be part of that announcement.

When we read the book of Philippians, we read a book from a letter from Paul, who was in Rome, and for many years, I'm sure, paul longed to be in Rome but not to see the sights right.

He actually wanted to go there in order to preach the gospel and even on the day he was converted was told that he would be preaching in some fairly significant places, and I'm sure Rome came immediately to mind when it did.

And looking at how Paul would approach different places and cities, you could tell he did so in a very strategic way.

He wasn't haphazard in what he wanted to do.

Even though the Lord sometimes redirected him in different ways, he certainly had a plan and a purpose for how he preached and where he preached.

So when he entered Rome, he didn't enter Rome the way he thought he might have done.

The first time he thought about preaching the gospel there.

He thought he could walk in, go to maybe some of the major places of meeting and to preach the gospel to people on the street or people, politicians and people higher up.

Little did he know maybe on that first day he considered preaching there that he'd be entering Rome in chains, which is exactly what he did.

I don't think that was the kind of strategy that he opted for and it's certainly not the strategy that church planting books talk about today.

So if you want to go to a place and start a church, get yourself arrested and I don't think that's how that works and yet, in confinement and arguably under house arrest at this time, in the middle of all the uncertainties that faced him personally and were around him in his ministry, in the book of Philippians, we read one of the most joy-filled words ever penned.

It's a wonderful, wonderful part of Scripture.

And despite whatever opposition he was facing, despite whatever rumors were rolling around, despite being cut off from the ministry that he believed he should be in, his letter shines with rejoicing.

Orrin Wearsby has titled a lot of his commentaries with a key little word be and then he would fill in a different word.

That gave a focus for the book.

And what do you think his title for Philippians was right?

Be joyful, be joyful.

Yeah.

Well, why was he shining with joy in the midst of all of this?

Well, it certainly wasn't because the plans were going the way he wanted them to go.

It came from who he knew Jesus Christ.

In the middle of these difficulties, his joy wasn't in the fact that he could do things for God, but in remembering what Christ had done for him.

I love the book of Philippians when I first came here in 2013, I prayed long about what would be the first book of the Bible that we would study together as a church.

I knew that the church prior to Micah and my coming had been through some conflict and loss and quite a bit of difficulty, that it was in a place that was challenged, and in those kind of moments you can sort of close in and think more immediate rather than more expansively, and I was happy for us to join together on Sunday nights.

A series on the sort of a slow crawl through the book of Psalms had already been started and I said let's continue that for sure.

But when it came down to Sunday mornings, I prayed and thought and considered, well, what would be a very appropriate book for all of us to study together, and it ended up being this book Philippians.

That was the first book that we went through and as I did so, I did so because, like I said, paul writes from prison and yet his circumstances aren't mitigating his joy.

He still rejoices His joy, though he might have been confined.

His joy wasn't confined, his joy was unfettered, and I wanted our church then and I still want us to know what it means to be a joyful people, not because our circumstances go well, because we have a Savior who watches over us in every situation.

And so, as we go through this book, I want to give you a four-point outline, and you can remember it well by the word let's, which is actually a contraction of two words.

But anyway, for all you English teachers, please forgive me, let's.

So L-E-T-S.

Let's look at the book of Philippians, right, and to know that Christ is our life, christ is our example, christ is our treasure and Christ is our strength, right.

So that's where the L-E-T-S comes from, because, as we go through the book of Philippians, we're going to be able to understand that we can experience a joy that is not crushed by our setbacks, that we can experience a joy that can go through a betrayal, can go through a betrayal, that we can have joy and a song even in the middle of what might be a nighttime experience for us, because joy is not found in the absence of trials, it's found somewhere else.

Now, before Paul teaches us about joy in content, he teaches us something about how to receive that joy, and this is an important word.

He uses a Greek word 10 times.

I believe it is in the book of Philippians, and it's praneo, which means to think, to think, to have this mind in you, to think, to have this mind in you.

And what he's calling the Philippians to do is to not some passive reception of an emotional experience, but to a determined effort to set their mind on certain things, and if they do, joy will be produced.

So we think, we set our mind on, we adopt a mindset, we think, because joy is not accidental, it is purposed and it grows in the soil of a gospel-shaped mind.

That's where joy comes from.

Now let me just give you two of those 10 references.

First is in Philippians 1.7.

It is right for me to think this way about you.

So there is just a perspective that Paul has about the people at Philippi, and his considerations and his mindset about them are geared a certain way.

It's right for me to think this way about you.

And then we'll look at another one soon, in Philippians 2.5.

Let this mind be among yourselves, as it was also in Christ Jesus.

So there's another use of it.

It's a way of thinking, it's a mindset, it's a determination of thought.

As I said, his kind of joy is not a rush of exuberance that comes from good experiences and circumstances.

But it's an overflow that comes from us by a reorientation of our mind around the truth of the gospel.

We don't drift into Christian joy, we grow into it.

We don't stumble into Christian joy, we seek it with our minds.

And this is why in Philippians 4.8, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are honorable, whatever things are of good report, think on these things.

There's three of the ten right there.

So giving our mind to certain things will have the overflow, production of joy within our hearts.

So if we want to have Christ's joy, we need to invite ourselves to thinking about Christ well, and that's why Philippians is saturated with Christ.

Christ is our life, christ is our example, christ is our treasure and Christ is our strength.

Chapter 1, 2, 3, and 4.

So let's look at Philippians that way.

First of all, chapter one Christ is our life.

There we go, thank you.

All right, let's take a couple of verses here.

Verse six for one.

I'm sure this that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

So we can see that our spiritual life is begun by God in Christ and that it will be completed on the day of Jesus Christ.

So in all ways our spiritual life is wrapped up in him.

And then also in verse 21, a very familiar verse to many of us.

For me, to live as Christ and to die as gain.

So those are two key verses out of several that we could look at in chapter one that speak to this idea that Christ is our life.

Now, remember, paul is in prison, his future is uncertain, his ministry is limited and there are even people preaching in order for him to gain more trouble while he's in prison.

You can see this in verse 16 and 17, some preaching out of love.

And in verse 17, others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely thinking they'll cause me trouble in my imprisonment.

But how does Paul think about this?

Well, he says in verse 18, what does it matter?

Only that in every way, whether from false motives or true, christ is proclaimed.

And in this I rejoice, yes, I'll continue to rejoice.

So we find the root of joy to be the life of Jesus Christ, no matter what his circumstances are, even if people are causing deeper trouble for him, because he is lost up in the life of Christ.

And this is not denial of reality, but it is a Christ-shaped, defiant joy.

Despite the hardships, his sense of purpose, his identity and his ministry is wrapped up in Christ.

And if Christ gets proclaimed when he's imprisoned, because people are out there preaching either sincerely or impurely, then thank God that Christ is proclaimed and so he knows that this isn't going to be a joy of deliverance from prison, a joy of freedom, a joy of greater influence in his ministry, a joy of outcomes that might be gainfully used for his liberty.

No, it's Christ.

It's Christ.

What happened to me has actually advanced the gospel, he says in verse 12.

And from that perspective he finds joy.

And that's why he's able to say for me to live, even in prison, is Christ and to die is gain.

You just do the math If I live it's Christ, if I die it's gain.

We might say that's a winning equation right there, because Jesus is his life, his source, his reason for being, his hope in life and death.

Then he can respond with a joyfulness.

So a question for us as we think about this is Christ our life?

Is Christ our life despite our circumstances?

Are we able to see our circumstances in such a way that Christ is displayed more, either in us or through us?

And if so, then rejoice in that.

Rejoice in that I think I mentioned this not too long ago.

I was going through some difficult times in Northern California and one of the elders asked me a question why are you even still here?

It was that difficult and he was genuinely wondering what was keeping me here.

It could have been easy to go anywhere else and I said to him I said I'm learning more about Jesus Christ in this situation than I think I can find anywhere else.

That's the kind of mindset that Paul had.

He said for me to live as Christ, he was learning something about Jesus even when life wasn't all that good, wasn't all that good.

So when we think about Jesus being our focus, when we speak and when we act, when we respond, we also need to think about Jesus when we suffer, when we suffer Because he is part of our life, no matter what Good times are bad.

And here, in the face of loss, in the face of uncertainty, in the face of limitations, paul is saying for me to live is Christ.

If someone asked Paul, if Christ took nothing away from you that was causing you discomfort or pain right now, but gave you more of himself, would you be willing to stay in that situation, and Paul's answer to that would have been yes.

Yes, because he who began a good work in you will carry it to completion.

We'll carry it to completion.

You see, christ is our life and while we live he's still writing his story into our story.

We're learning more about him day by day.

Now that brings us to the second chapter and we're going down our contracted word let's, he is our life, he is our example.

Lets, he is our life, he is our example, he is our example.

So Paul moves from chapter one broadly to speak about declaring Christ as our life, to presenting Christ as our pattern or our example.

And he does so largely by singing one of the most exalted hymns of all of scripture, an anthem of descent and of glory.

And it begins with a statement we'll come back to adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus.

Or another translation would say let this mind be in you Again, a mindset, a mindset.

And the pattern that's etched for us is the very life of Christ itself.

He is our example in this pattern, and as we read verse 6 through 11, we can see that it begins with a place of exaltation.

Who, existing in the form of God.

God did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.

So there he is in the most high realms of honor and glory and praise, receiving all the fullness of the Godhead, and yet he empties himself in verse 7, by assuming the form of a servant.

Now, he doesn't empty his divinity, but he certainly does divest himself of his privileges and he wraps himself up in humanity, as it says here in verse 7.

But it doesn't go just to that, as humbling as that might be, it tells us that when he became a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient Obedient to the will of the Father in every regard in his earthly existence, and including an obedience to the cross and to death in verse 8.

But when we get to verse 9, we see something else.

This song is a song of descent, but it also is a song of ascent, and verse 9 brings that to us.

For this reason, god highly exalted him and gave him a name that is above every name.

Now, this is not a surprising ending.

This is the shape of redemption.

It's the shape of humility before glory, descent before exaltation, of cross before crown, and this rhythm is not found just here in the book of Philippians.

And for those of us who come on Sunday mornings, I'm giving you a little foretaste of what's ahead of us.

But this is a proclamation that was prophetically echoed in the book of Isaiah in chapter 52 and 53.

Paul is bringing the melody out of the fourth servant song of the book of Isaiah.

When Isaiah gave that fourth song, he talked about the descent.

Listen to these words.

Talking about the servant.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief Isaiah 53.3.

He poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors Isaiah 53, 12.

Do you hear the reverberations here?

The humility, the rejection, the submission to death?

But listen also to verse 13.

My servant shall act wisely and he shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.

It's almost a quote.

It's more than an echo.

Do you hear it?

It's the same shape, though.

It's the same redemptive shape.

It is the shape of humility before glory.

It's the shape of descent before exaltation.

It's the shape of descent before exaltation.

It's the shape of cross before crown.

And here we have Christ in voluntary descent to sorrow and shame, a vicarious suffering on the behalf of sinners, and then a divine exaltation by the Father.

And what Paul is saying here very clearly is that Jesus is the suffering servant of Isaiah 52, 53.

He's the one who went low so that he might take the undeserving and lift them up.

He's the one that bore our griefs so that we might share in his glory, our griefs so that we might share in his glory.

He's the one that's humbled himself to death so that we might, as chapter 1 said, claim Christ as our life.

But this is not just something to wonder at, to marvel at, a mystery to behold, and it is, of course.

But it's more than that.

It's an example for us.

Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus.

This is something for us to follow.

This is an example of how we are to conduct ourselves as people in this world and particularly as people within the body of Christ.

If we want to say that we're followers of Christ among his people, then this example of Christ should be marked on every single one of us.

Christ should be marked on every single one of us, and Paul gives three examples of this later in this chapter himself Timothy and Epaphroditus.

And let's take a look just very quickly at these three examples.

Paul says in verse 17 of chapter two, even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrificial service of your faith.

I'm glad and rejoice with all of you.

What is Paul doing?

He is expending himself for the purpose of building others up.

Now what about Timothy?

Paul says in verse 9, he's going to send Timothy to them so that you might be encouraged by him.

Why Timothy?

For I have no one else like-minded who will genuinely care about your interests.

Again, the same pattern self-giving in love for the purpose of someone else's benefit.

Giving in love for the purpose of someone else's benefit.

Now, epaphroditus.

I considered it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother, co-worker, fellow soldier, as well as your messenger, minister, to my needs.

He's been longing for all of you and was distressed because you heard that he was sick.

Who is this man?

This is a man who loves the people of God and even grieves when they feel a sense of loss about his condition, was willing to be sent out of his home and away from his city to go to Paul and to be a messenger and a benefit to Paul himself, on behalf of the Philippian church, giving himself in self-sacrifice for the benefit of others.

You see, jesus is not just our life.

He's also our example, and his humility is not again just something to wonder at.

It's meant to be part of who we are.

It's meant to transform us.

And so some things that we can ask ourselves is this In our relationships, how do we descend rather than defend Right rather than defend right?

How can we be humble rather than defensive when we are facing people that might be in conflict with us?

Are we willing to take the lower place, not to be noticed?

But because that's where Jesus walks, is Christ on display when we stand up for our rights or when we willingly yield?

You see, god is going to exalt what the world overlooks.

Right, christ went to the cross.

He went to the place of death on behalf of others, and it says that the father highly exalted him.

And so God exalts what the world overlooks.

He lifts up what the world passes by, and so if you've been striving and joyless, maybe you should try humility and find joy there.

Look at the servant and look how he freely descended for us.

He stooped low in order to save us, but he also stooped low in order to show us how to live, and the more your life echoes with the humility of Christ, the more your life will be filled with the joy of Christ.

Now that leads us to chapter three.

So he's our life, he's our example.

He's also our treasure, our treasure.

And Paul really brings this out in verses seven to 11.

I consider everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.

And he talks about this glorious possession, a surpassing value, of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, in verse 8.

Having called all of us to the humility of Christ, he's now inviting us to embrace Christ as our unsurpassing value, to pursue the glory that comes in Christ himself.

And Paul goes through this discussion here, in which he's not doing spiritual bookkeeping, but rather he's doing a reevaluation of all the things that are worth to him.

What is a real treasure?

A reevaluation of all the things that are worth to him, what is a real treasure?

And so he takes all the things that he had put on one side of the equation as his treasure his identity, his upbringing, his religious fervor and zeal, his attainments in those areas, and he puts it through the fire of grace.

And as he does so, the only thing that's left at the end of that is Jesus.

Everything else is burned up His identity, his upbringing, his religious zeal.

What are they now?

Scrap, refuge, rubbish, all the things that he was and some of those things weren't necessarily bad.

All the things that he was and some of those things weren't necessarily bad they all pale in significance compared to the unsurpassed glory of knowing Christ.

And so what he sees here is that Jesus is his treasure, the ultimate gain that he's gotten by union with Jesus Christ himself.

And Paul begins to discuss what that looks like in chapter 3.

He says in verse 9 that one of the treasures that he has in Jesus Christ is a righteousness that's not his own, not having a righteousness of my own but that which is through faith in Jesus Christ.

And he gladly laid down this law-based righteousness that he once prided himself in in order to receive the perfect record of Christ himself, given to him unearned, given to him unshakable, given to him unending into the heavenlies, unending into the heavenlies.

He also, in verse 10, talks about here in chapter 3, about a fellowship that suffering cannot break Right.

So not only a righteousness that's not his own, but a fellowship that suffering cannot break Verse 10, that I might know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings.

For Paul to know Christ was a lot more than just to study him.

It was to enter into his life.

It was to understand his nearness in his own weaknesses, to experience his spirit raising him from the depths of despair.

And when he felt those things he said I know his fellowship in suffering.

But he also goes on to say that the treasure of Christ is a hope that death cannot cancel.

Take a look at verse 10 and 11.

My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death, assuming I will somehow reach the resurrection from the dead.

Paul here is saying that there is a glory beyond death, something that is in union with Christ, in which not only does he feel Christ's life within him and Christ's ministering to him in his sufferings, but beyond that death is a resurrection that he will be a part of.

So this servant's pattern in chapter 2, this example of Christ, is now internalized into Paul himself and he walks down that same pathway and as he continues to go down, the life of Christ and the example of Christ increase within him, the treasure of Christ, and as he even gets to the very bottom of it all, all he can say is I know that I have a fellowship with the Savior, both in the lowest and even, most gloriously, in the highest, in the resurrection himself.

You see, paul's not just admiring Christ and he's not just theologically discovering Christ, he is communing with Christ and pursuing Christ.

And so in verse 12, he says not that I've already attained, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ has made me his own.

Jesus came to save me, to make me his, and I want to be all his.

I want to be everything he's come for, to be fully his, and so this desire drives him, even in his sufferings.

Now, imagine you were walking along a field not many fields around here, but happened upon a field and there in the middle of the field you notice something a little unusual that caught your eye in the dirt and you kind of kicked it around a little bit and you went I think that looks like a ring.

And you kick a little more and you're like that looks like two rings and a coin.

And you're like, okay, anybody looking?

And you start pulling the grass and the dirt aside.

And the more you dig and the deeper you go, the more treasure you're discovering, what's the first thing you're going to do?

You know, I wonder who has a deed to this land right here.

I'm going to go sell my car.

I'm going to go sell my house.

I'm going to sell everything I've got because as soon as I buy this property, that treasure is going to be mine, and I'm willing to give everything else up in order to gain this piece of land because of the treasure it is.

The Apostle Paul is saying that when he saw Jesus Christ and the grace of Jesus Christ, everything that was part of his life before sell it.

It doesn't.

The only thing I need is him, is him, and so he doesn't begrudgingly part with his old gains.

He happily divests himself of those things because he's found a treasure.

So Christ is our life, christ is our example, christ is our treasure, but he's also our strength, and this is the big emphasis of chapter four.

After climbing to the heights of joy and longing in chapter three, being found with Christ in his resurrection, paul now plants our feet firmly on the soil of daily living, in the middle of all its pressures, in the middle of all its uncertainties, in the middle of all of our anxieties, in the middle of all our needs and yet, with our feet firmly on the ground, again, he tells us in verse 4 to do what?

Rejoice in the Lord, how often, once in a while, occasionally, when Micah rouses us with a great encouragement to be a little happier, when we sing.

No, always, always, always, always, like always when anxiety is camping at our door, always Anxiety when peace feels like just a, when peace feels like just a lost notion.

Always when there's financial needs or family burdens or frayed nerves or exhausted spirits.

Always, yeah, always.

Why?

Because joy is not rooted in circumstance but in the presence of a Savior who doesn't change.

Because Christ is not just our life and our example and our treasure, he's also our strength.

And in this chapter he shows us how the life of Christ is our strength, and he does so in very seven staccato-like yet very powerful statements of how our lives can be transformed by Christ.

Who is our strength, and I'm just going to mention these very, very briefly.

Verse 6, we have a prayer life that sustains us and steadies us In everything.

By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

One of the greatest ways that we can receive strength is to realize someone's alongside of us in it.

But God is more than just with us in the trouble.

He is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think.

So we're addressing the one who has the empowerment to do what is impossible for us.

So we bring our burdens to him, who hears and answers.

In verse seven we have the strength of a peace that will guard us, and the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds.

You see, peace again is not merely an absence of trouble, it's a shield for us.

And I don't know about you.

When do you pick up a shield?

When you're in battle, right, right.

The peace of God will guard your hearts and minds.

You don't need a guard if there's nothing that's coming at you, but when things are coming at you, you have a guard, and that is the peace of God.

In verse 8, we have a perspective that can lift us.

In verse 8 we have a perspective that can lift us.

Brothers, whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, if there's moral excellence in anything praiseworthy, dwell, think on these things.

Anxiety causes the world to fall in on itself and all we see is the immediate.

And yet here, christ-shaped thinking will widen us beyond those four walls that have closed in on us.

Verse 9,.

We have a presence that's around us, and the God of peace shall be with you.

Now, here we go, from the peace of God in the previous verse to now, the God, who is the God of peace, he himself will be present with you.

Paul gives personal testimony to another of these strength-inducing supplies that we receive, a contentment that anchors us In verse 11 and 12,.

I don't say this out of need, for I've learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself.

I know how to make do with little.

I know how to make do with a lot In any and all circumstances.

I have learned the secret of being content, whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need.

Oh, the Apostle Paul.

I could never be like the Apostle Paul.

He was such a learner.

Learner.

Paul had to learn, and this learning wasn't just two plus two equals four.

Repeat it back to me.

Okay, you learned it.

This is a formative learning.

A contentment doesn't come by a mathematical equation.

Contentment comes by being pressed into situations and then discovering, wonderfully, somehow God is so operated in your heart that you're okay with it.

And so he said I've learned to be content.

And then he understands that he has a power to uphold him here in verse 13.

I know how to make do with a little and a lot.

He says in verse 12, I've learned the secret of being content.

Whether well-fed or hungry, I am able to do all things through him, who strengthens me.

This is so often misquoted.

I'd like guys who wear this t-shirt to go to the gym and stack up the bar with a bunch of 45s on both sides and say, okay, you can do all things through Christ, who strengthens you.

Let's see what your bench press is going to be today.

This is not an I can do all things of ambition.

This is an I can do all things of endurance.

I can do all things with a contented endurance.

The context shows us that Paul has just talked about learning to be content, and the strengthening he's received is a strengthening to be content.

And then, last of all, a provision that sustains him, and he mentions this in verse 19.

My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

In the economy of grace, there's no empty spot the Lord can't fill.

There's no empty spot the Lord can't fill.

And so here we are.

Christ is not a crutch, but he is the ground beneath our feet when everything else feels like it's caving in on us.

He's not a parachute we pull as a last resort.

He is the atmosphere in which we live and breathe, he is our life, he is our example, he is our treasure, and we will find that he's also our strength In the middle of all of this.

And so the invitation of the book of Philippians is not for us to pretend, not for us to act like none of it matters, not to sort of give up and in just absolute passivity and think well, no, this is something that's much more purposeful and intentional and much more focused, focused on Christ, not on the joy itself.

But when you think about Jesus as your life and you think about Jesus as your example, and you start thinking about Jesus as your treasure and you start thinking about Jesus as your strength, lo and behold, joy will come trailing along, as it will, because it is the joy of Christ himself.

So you might feel weary, you might feel stretched, you might feel like you're walking through fire, but you won't be without Christ's power and you won't be severed from Christ's hope, and you won't be severed from Christ's presence and you won't be severed from Christ's presence, because he will be with you always.

And that's why this letter written from prison is one of the most delightful, rejoicing letters you can read, because this man learned, and he wants us to learn it too.

So let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for this short look at the book of Philippians.

Thank you for helping us understand the kind of joy that is different than what we typically think of about floating along on a pleasant day, but rather a joy that will anchor us even in a stormy, stormy situation.

We thank you for showing us that Christ is our life, that Christ is our example.

He shows us that joy comes from giving rather than gaining, that Christ is our treasure, that everything else fades in relationship and in contrast to him, and that Christ is our strength, even when pressures don't let up, that he will give us more and more of himself.

And so, father, I pray for all of us that we might say honestly before you may Christ be my life, so I might be able to say what does it matter If Christ be praised?

For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

May we be willing to step into the steps of our Savior, who lowered himself in self-giving love, even to the point of death.

And so, father, may we gladly embrace humility and sacrifice and service.

Father, may we be happy to own Christ as our treasure, even if it means letting go of something that we've prized.

And I pray that you would bring us, father, to the place where, in the middle of burdens and anxieties and hardships, that we would know that we have a sevenfold cord of strength in you.

Help us to understand that this is not some theory or abstraction, but can be every beat of our burdened and loved life, because you are ours and we are yours, and we pray this in Christ's name, amen.