Philippians 3:15-4:4 "Solid Ground in a Superficial World"

Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah.

! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah,

either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us

that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself?

The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian,

we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the

Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do

what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian,

checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us

questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things

that you're really struggling with. So God bless. Just bow our heads in prayer. Father, thank you so much

that we can, that you are a God who speaks, that you speak to your people. And we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit

will move with gentle but deep power in our hearts, that we might recognize ourselves in your Word, that we might

hear your profound and beautiful promises, and that we would claim these promises, hold them dear to our hearts.

We ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit will bring your Word into our hearts to form us for our good,

for the good of this world, and for your great glory. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our

Saviour. Amen. Please be seated.

It hasn't happened in a couple of years, but I, when I have some of my younger grandchildren come to visit, and they

haven't been to the church for, you know, for maybe a long time, and they come, and there's a set, if they haven't come, like in

January or February. One of the things I like to ask me is if I would take them up on the stage, because they're very

fascinated with the stage. They would find this stage today very, very, very fascinating, actually. And so one of

the things they love to do is they'll come, and depending on their age, they'll take my hand, you know, I tell them I'm not

allowed to run around and all of that. And, you know, I have this curtain here, but they'd love to walk through

that door that way and that door this way and look behind. And they just find it so amazing that it looks so

real. But they just take a step behind it, and it's just all surface. That's all it is. It's all surface,

no depth. It's not real. I mean, it's a real stage, but it's not a real house. And they find that very

fascinating. They get very excited about it. They want to, of course, run around and all that stuff. But

here's the point about it. If you, one of the things that we struggle with in our society today

is being consumed with what's superficial, all the surface of life. You know, when I think last week,

I mentioned that I periodically will have Instagram on my phone, but it doesn't last very long, because

before you know it, I'll have wasted 40 minutes just scrolling through the things. And I have to

take it off, because I don't have... Anyway, I just have to take it off. But as a society, we're very,

very, very consumed with the latest, the most recent, the superficial. We don't think of it that way. We

think every superficial thing is unbelievably important and don't realize that the next superficial thing,

which is different, is just as unbelievably important, which means the first superficial thing

wasn't important at all. And we completely forget that. And while on one hand, there's this powerful

pressure in our society to get caught up in the superficial, to get caught up in the surface,

there are, amongst many people in our society, a longing and a desire to find something which is

solid, something which is real, something which isn't just surface and transient, something

real. I can tell you right now, for those of you, those of us, who are just interested in the

superficial, you will never like the Bible, like you never will. You'll find it completely and utterly

unhelpful, because the Bible talks about things which are very substantial all of the time. And so,

the text that we're going to look at today is a very wise and beautiful text for those of us

who would like to move from being consumed with the superficial, the surface of things, and to begin

to have a life and to be formed in a way that deals with things which are really solid and deep.

And like a lot of things in the Bible, it doesn't look like that at first. And it does a couple of

things that make Canadians uncomfortable. But it could very well be, in fact, I'm going to suggest

that unless we get uncomfortable, we're not going to actually be able to progress and actually find

those things which are deep, not just surface. So, if you take your Bibles and open them, we're

looking at Philippians chapter 3. We're preaching through the book of Philippians. This was originally

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

a letter written by Paul in around the year 61 or 62, while he's under Roman imprisonment. And he's

writing it to a small church of people who, I mean, they still be Jewish, but they're Jewish and now

Christians and also pagans who are no longer pagans. See, because a Jewish person can become

a Christian and remain Jewish, but you can't really be a pagan and become a Christian and remain pagan.

That's a whole other topic of conversation if you're curious about that. And he's writing this

letter to them from jail, and this is how it goes. We're just preaching through verse 15.

Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if any of you think otherwise, God will reveal that

to you also. Now, just, you know, because I go through the book, I always want to read things,

even if I don't talk about them very much, just so you know I'm not playing fast and loose with the

context. What he's just talked about is how Christians should know that they're not perfect,

they haven't arrived, they have to keep growing and growing and growing and growing. And that's what

he said, you should think this way too. Don't think, never think you're perfect.

Verse 16, only let us hold true to what we have attained. In other words, just keep pressing on.

And then he gets to this thing which is a bit odd, verse 17, brothers and sisters,

join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

Which sounds a little bit narcissistic, but it isn't. And if I have time at the end,

I'll mention why it's not, within the context, why it's not narcissistic.

And now we get into the nub of the matter about being consumed with the superficial and the surface.

And for those of us who have a longing to not live our lives on the surface and superficial,

but to get to things which are real and have substance, the first thing that Paul's going to do

is break a rule, a Canadian rule about what you talk about.

And that rule about what Canadians aren't supposed to talk about is this.

Every single one of you in this room are going to die.

I mean, I'm not saying that there's a bomb outside, you're going to die the next second.

I'm not threatening you.

I'm just saying, if you want to begin to have a serious life,

a life dealing with things that are meaningful,

you need to begin by understanding that you will all die.

Well, let's see, how does he put it?

Verse 18,

Now, there's all sorts of things about this.

And you say, George, okay, this doesn't sound like a very promising way to begin talking about

getting over superficial things and surface things and looking for things which are more substantial.

Well, it actually is.

Begin like at verse, look at verse 19, their end is destruction.

What Paul here is saying is, on one hand, there is a bit of a,

there is a clear hint towards the Christian doctrine of hell,

which I don't have time to talk about today.

But it also is saying something far more immediate.

And one of the most, the most empirical truth there is about human beings,

which is that all of your lives are moving to the end of your life,

where your life will be destroyed, where you will die.

Death isn't something that you can take as much vitamin D as you want.

You can have a perfect diet.

You can exercise in the most rational, wise way.

You can do all sorts of things like that.

Most of it will just mean you have a better looking corpse.

than another person, but you will die.

That's just true.

In fact, if you think about it, how can you be wise if you don't ever think about that?

And just before I go anything further with this list of the five things, right?

Your enemies of the cross of Christ, your end is destruction, your God is your belly,

your glory and your shame, your minds are set on earthly things.

This is just a very basic truth, that the Bible, when it says very hard things about us,

does it not to push us away, but to connect with us, realistically.

Because these are profoundly realistic and wise things to say, which I want to try to show you.

Look at this thing, the thing here.

We'll just jump.

Their end is destruction, their God is their belly.

Well, what does it mean to say their God is their belly?

What it's saying is that human beings very easily fall into being driven by their appetites.

And we get driven by our appetites.

And when we are consumed by an appetite, when we let an appetite have more and more power over us,

that thing which we want to satisfy our appetite becomes almost like a God to us.

It becomes the thing that we organize around, that we think about all of the time,

that we just desire very, very deeply.

And if you think about it for a second, the more that human beings are controlled by their appetites,

the more that human beings become like animals.

And here's the thing about animals.

For an animal, there is no right and wrong.

There is no heaven and hell.

For an animal, there is only breakfast and supper.

For an animal, there is only breakfast and supper.

And we all know people.

And we all know that there's been times in our lives where we've been controlled by our appetites.

We know how easily it is to slip into this.

Well, what about this other thing?

Here, look again.

Their end is destruction, verse 19.

Their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things.

I'm doing this one next because it helps us to understand the other phrases.

What this is talking about, the word earthly things here.

So one of the things we're going to be doing in September, we're going to go through the book of Ecclesiastes.

And if you're familiar with the book of Ecclesiastes, it keeps going on and on about all things are vanity or all things are meaningless.

But really, the phrase which we're going to look at in the fall, the Hebrew word is actually referring to vapor, to things being transient.

So if you want to understand what it means, just think of what it's like to walk outside in January in Ottawa when it's minus 20.

And when you walk outside when it's minus 20, your breath leaves your mouth and you can see it.

Well, that's what the text is referring to in the book of Ecclesiastes.

That's what life is like.

When you breathe out and you can see your breath for but a second and then your breath disappears.

And earthly is a similar type of idea.

It's the New Testament sort of analogous, closely related idea to the Old Testament word that's translated often as vanity or meaningless.

And that's the word earthly.

It's referring to things which are completely and utterly transient.

Now, so it says here that, what does it say here?

It says our minds are set on earthly things, on transient things.

And we might think that that's a little bit harsh.

But just think about what we people, what Canadians set their minds on, what maybe some of us have set our minds on today before we came here.

If you talk to Canadians and look at how they live, what do they live for?

What do they set their mind on day by day?

Well, some people say all I can do is just get through my day by day.

That's my entire life.

But some of them say I set my mind on the party that I'm going to go to next Friday.

I set my mind on buying really, really nice clothes, nice purses, nice shoes, looking really good.

I set my mind on exercise so my body will look really good.

I set my mind on money.

I set my mind on power.

I set my mind on fame.

I set my mind on being able to create music or writing.

I set my mind on having a good job.

I set my mind on having promotions.

I set my mind on having a wife or a husband.

I set my mind on having lots of sex.

I set my mind on having children.

I set my mind on pornography.

I set my mind on having a family.

I set my mind on my country.

I set my mind on developing my mind and having a powerful intellect.

I set my mind on knowledge, on popularity, on applause, on personal transformation,

and everything in that list is transient.

Too bad the Bible doesn't talk about me.

It's just brilliantly described human beings.

It's described the average Canadian, including lots of us, all of us, to differing degrees.

Our minds are set on things which are completely and utterly transient.

I don't know. I've used the analogy before, but I don't know.

About 18, 19, 20 years ago, I buried the man who, for many years, was one of the richest men in Ottawa.

He became a Christian here, and I'd say things like this to him, and he would agree with me 100%,

which is that the second after he died, if there was a street person who died at that exact same second,

on the other side of death, they have the exact same bank account and financial resources, which is zero.

As Flannery O'Connor said, you can't be any poorer than dead.

So, in fact, how does it describe us again?

Their end is destruction.

In other words, we're all going to die.

We don't even want to think about it in Canada.

You're not allowed to talk about it in Canada.

Even in funerals, you don't really talk about it.

Good grief.

You know?

Their God is their belly, their appetites.

They glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things.

Well, what does it mean to say glory in your shame?

You know, one of the ways to help us to understand what it means and why it's true is

when we come time to do communion,

one of the things that we say in the communion service

is we ask God to help us to feed on our hearts by faith in Christ.

Feed on him in, I'll say to you, you know, that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ,

which was given for you,

preserve your body and soul unto everlasting life.

Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died on you, for you.

Feed on him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

When I go along here saying communion to you, that's what I say.

I'll say it as I'm walking along.

The body of our Lord Jesus Christ given for you.

Preserve your body and soul unto everlasting life.

Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you.

Feed on him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

Feed on him in your hearts.

So this is a very profound thing to say,

and it's not something that I invented.

It's in this ancient liturgy.

Because what do we feed on in our hearts?

I was really convicted with this a couple of weeks ago.

Well, many of us, if we're honest, we feed on thoughts of revenge.

We think on unforgiveness.

We think on greed.

We think on adultery.

We feed on envy.

Very huge problem in Canada.

If Canada has one besetting sin, it's not our sexual problems, which we have.

It's actually the greatest sin is the sin of envy,

which is thinking, being upset by those who have things that we don't,

that we value, and wanting them to get lowered and destroyed,

even if we don't get enriched in the process.

It's a very huge problem in Canada.

And that's what we feed on in our hearts.

It's what we think about during coffee breaks when we're falling asleep.

I'm not saying we're all completely evil all of the time,

but these are shameful things.

And that's what we feed on.

Isn't it?

More than you think about this,

their end is destruction, their God is their belly,

they glory in their shame.

When they say their glory in their shame,

it's what they feed on it, and they have a confidence in it.

Like, they think it's a good thing.

We think it's a good thing when we think of these things.

And our minds are set on earthly things.

And then why does it say that we're enemies of the cross?

Because most people would say that's not true.

That most people would say, I mean, I never give Jesus a thought.

Why would you say that I'm an enemy to the cross of Christ?

Well, we see that when we come face to face with the Bible saying something,

a no, to something that our appetite desires,

or we want to set our minds on.

So you ask, you tell a very, very rich person,

if I was to tell a very, very rich person,

that it's not that having money is a sin,

but if you earn your money in such a way that people are oppressed,

that's wrong.

You should stop it.

And that the highest form of living is not amassing a fortune,

but being more generous.

So God says you should begin by giving away 10% of your wealth,

and because you can afford it,

maybe it should be 20 or 30 or 40%.

And can you imagine me saying this to a very rich stockbroker or business person?

You expect it to be used as an example about sex.

Let's not use about that.

Let's just talk about anything from forgiveness.

You know, you should forgive.

What do you mean, I should forgive?

And as soon as God's commands intersect in a way which is pointy enough

that we might actually feel, well, how do we feel?

Who is God to say that to me?

We want to go against God with our elbows up.

And we want to stop our elbows up because we want to give him the finger,

which it's hard to do that with your elbows up,

so you have to go back and forward.

You see, at that point in time, you realize that even though God is a God of grace and mercy,

that in fact, if it impinges on it,

we experience him as an enemy, as a threat.

Now, just before we go anything further,

you can begin to see that in some ways,

the whole Bible text today is about two different ways.

And the hope is that you will choose to continue to walk in one way

or move to one way if you aren't already,

and then some advice and beautiful wisdom about how you deepen and walk in that way.

And one way is the way of destruction.

The other way is the way of undeserved kindness from God,

undeserved mercy from God,

undeserved unearned grace from God.

Those are the two ways.

But before we go any further,

Paul here is not othering.

It's far from it.

It's the exact opposite of othering.

He's not pointing a finger.

It's like that old analogy.

If I point a finger at you,

I have three fingers pointing back at myself.

And he would be the first to say,

not only if I could point my thumb backwards,

I would do that too.

I mean, just before this,

he's talked about how he used to boast in the fact

that he persecuted Christians and put them in jail and killed them.

Something for which he's now ashamed.

You see, the Bible would say that all human beings,

in a sense,

when the Bible says,

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

in a sense what the Bible is saying,

for all human beings walk in the way of destruction.

And it's only by God's grace and mercy,

his undeserved kindness,

that Jesus takes me, in a sense,

out of one way and puts me in the other way.

That's what the cross is all about.

The cross is not,

look at all those bad people

and we're the pure people in here.

And hopefully it's come forward in how I'm talking.

It's me, it's me, it's me,

oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.

It's why Spurgeon so truly said,

the Christian way is not a way of othering,

but it is one beggar telling another beggar

where to get free bread,

the free bread of eternal life.

And that's what I am here to tell you about.

There is a better way.

There is a way that you enter purely and utterly

by God's grace, his mercy, his kindness, and his beauty

coming to you in a way which is unmerited and undeserved.

And that's how it came to me.

It's the only way it comes to anybody

when his grace comes to you,

completely unmerited and undeserved.

And that's the next bit.

Look at verse 20.

One of the things which is really important in the Bible

is the Bible, the New Testament especially,

is the book of big butts.

It's big butts in the sense that there's a but

after something like that.

And it's a big but.

You need to really pay attention to it.

So look at verse 20.

But, he's going to talk about another way.

Our citizenship is in heaven.

And from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body

by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

A very dense text.

Let's sort of try to one.

This is the way of undeserved grace.

And it gives us truths to remember and to rehearse

and to tell each other.

And the first thing here is it's not telling us

to be so super spiritually that we don't deal with the real.

The way to deal with those things is all laid out here.

Look at verse 20 again.

Our citizenship is in heaven.

I just want to tell you, for a lot of us in this room,

we don't appreciate that word citizenship.

But I also know that there are people in this room

who came to Canada as refugees.

They understand the importance of citizenship.

There are people here who've come as immigrants.

They understand the value of citizenship in the right place.

And when it says our citizenship is in heaven,

heaven is the place where God rules.

Friends, brothers and sisters,

someday Max Carney will not be the Prime Minister of Canada.

Our citizenship will still be in heaven.

There will be a time when Trump is not...

Even if you don't like Trump,

our citizenship is not in heaven.

Sorry, our citizenship is in heaven.

There will be a time when he's not...

Our citizenship is in heaven.

Heaven is the place where God rules.

He rules from it.

What does Jesus teach us in the Lord's Prayer?

Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth

as it is in heaven.

Heaven.

It's to understand that

while we are to be the best Canadians we could possibly be

and the best Ottawaans we could possibly be,

at the end of the day,

Max Carney is our Prime Minister.

King Charles II or III, I think it is,

is our king.

But our true king,

the King of kings and Lord of lords,

is our saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the first thing that it tells you,

that he is our ruler.

And then it tells you that he will return.

Look at this.

But our citizenship is in heaven

and from him we await a saviour.

It's not that we have to wait for him to come.

He's already come.

We're waiting for him to come the second time.

Christians should be deeply uncertain

about when he will return,

but we should be spectacularly certain

that he will return.

It changes how you think.

And he is described as our saviour,

the Lord Jesus Christ.

And this is a profoundly...

You see, people,

as people from the outside of the Christian faith,

you don't understand,

they don't understand,

and Christians don't understand often

when they first become Christians,

or maybe they do at first,

their grasp with the beauty.

But the beauty is deeper

as you get deeper into the Christian faith.

Because when you see this simple phrase,

our saviour, Lord Jesus Christ,

there's something emotionally powerful

and beautiful about it.

Because, you know,

you just think about the average Canadian,

just person just formed by Canada.

We have a particular origin,

which is evolution.

And then we have a particular way

to try to think of what's right and wrong.

And then we have another particular way

to think about how we're going to be spiritual.

And we have another particular way

to think how about we're going to be practical

in this life.

And we have another way

where we have to deal with the laws.

And then we have another thing about death

and what happens when we die.

And then we have this whole other thing

about longings.

And that longings is sort of a separate thing

from the spiritual thing

or sort of connected

and separate from morals,

but sort of connected.

And then for some Canadians,

there's beauty.

And there's all these completely

and utterly separate categories.

But that's not there in the Bible.

We have, what do we have here?

We have our saviour,

the Lord Jesus Christ.

There's just one

who will transform our lowly body

to be like his glorious body

and by the power that enables him

even to subject all things to himself.

20 and 21.

There is one God in heaven

who's created all things,

who sustains all things,

who will bring all things

to their proper end.

There is that one God in heaven,

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

who have worked together.

They are a God of love

because from all eternity,

the Father has loved the Son

and the Son has loved the Father.

I miss that there's a whole other

separate principle of love for Canadians

and how that love fits with meaning

and beauty and right and wrong.

Those things can be all complicated.

And it can be complicated

for us to figure out how they are.

But at the end of the day,

there is just the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit

with love and beauty

from all eternity.

And it's the same God,

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

who has saved us.

And God is good

and goodness comes from that.

And because he's the creator,

how to live wisely and well

comes from understanding his word.

And there is this profound unity

and coherence in all of it.

And that's who we're looking forward

to having come back.

And then there's this whole thing

about our body,

which is just so precious.

You know what it says here?

Look at verse 21,

who will transform our lowly body.

And lowly is a very, very good way

to translate it.

But you know what it literally says?

It says,

the body, our humiliated body.

Now some of you are too young

and too healthy to understand

how your body can be a source

of humiliation.

Others of us have realized

that we're covered with dimples

that aren't cute.

And uncute dimples just grow with age,

as well as a whole pile

of other types of things.

And we become very conscious

of the humiliation of our body,

especially considering

to what God wants to be.

But it says,

who will transform?

He will transform our lowly body

to be like his glorious body.

And you know what that means

literally in the original language?

It's a body.

And so it has matter.

But it's a body of glory.

Glory.

It's made of glory.

And of matter and energy.

Matter and energy

and God's glory

is what our new bodies

will be like.

You see,

this is,

what this is saying,

what this is saying,

and when you realize

that this is what

the Bible teaches,

you realize

how you can only be saved

by God doing something,

by putting your faith

in Christ

and he transfers you

out of one way

into another way,

another area

where you are a citizen

of his kingdom,

of his people.

It's a covenant idea

and he is your king.

And what it's saying is this.

In Christ,

what we see here

is the final act

and word about us.

You or I might die in pain.

We might die alone.

We might die with no one grieving.

In some places

where Christians die,

they die with people cheering.

And they think they've won.

Some die in the haze

of Alzheimer's

with terrible diseases.

But what this is saying

is that if you are in Christ,

this death

and the humiliation

of your body

is not the final word

about you.

The moment your eyes

close on this world

will be the moment

your eyes open

in the presence

of the triune God

and you will awake

with a resurrected body,

one made alive

and healed,

suffused

and infused

with the glory of God.

that is the Christian truth.

And we

come into this way

of undeserved,

unearned,

unmerited

beauty

and goodness

and grace

because of what

our Savior Jesus Christ

has done for us

on the cross.

and we are called

to put our faith

and trust in Him

as He transfers us

from one way

to another.

You know,

who better to listen to

than Jesus

on this?

I mean,

He is the one

who died upon the cross

for you

because of His miracles.

If you read His biographies,

the biographies of Him,

you see that

it has to have been

His love

which kept Him

on the cross.

A man who could walk

on water,

a man who could

knock soldiers down

just by a single word

could never have been

held on a cross

unless He willed

to die on the cross,

unless it was His love

that led Him

to die on the cross.

And the grave

is empty,

the body has never

been found

and He has appeared

alive to many people.

And so,

who is there better

to listen to

and trust

than Jesus

who loves you,

Jesus who saves you,

Jesus who

is the Lord Jesus Christ,

sovereign over

all things,

who will transform

your body

into His glorious body,

who is there better

to listen to

and trust

than Him?

And that's why

it says to stand firm

in it.

Look at what it goes

on to say.

And therefore,

my brothers and sisters,

verse chapter 4,

verse 1,

whom I love

and long for

my joy

and my crown,

stand firm thus

in the Lord

and be saved.

So,

there is this

constant sociological

and cultural pressure

to forget these things

if you're in Christ,

to think of other things,

to move towards

superficiality

or to move

to false gods.

And Paul is here

saying,

stand firm

in thinking

and remembering

about this

and walking

on the way.

And then,

we need to get

to this other thing

in terms of

how you live

this way.

We'll read

verses 2 and 3

to get to this

in closing.

But,

I entreat

Iodia

and I entreat

Syntica

to agree

in the Lord.

Yes,

I ask you

also,

true companions,

to help those

women who have

labored side by side

with me in the gospel

together with Clement

and the rest of my

fellow workers

whose names

are in the book of life.

And that's just,

for our purposes

right now,

reminding us that

just because these

things are true

in us doesn't mean

we're instantly

transformed.

Our life in Christ

is a quest,

a continuing,

pressing into

these things

in a way

that changes us

because we aren't

perfect.

And that's why

we have to have

penitent,

humble hearts.

But here's the

primary lesson

I want to leave you

with.

Verse 4,

Rejoice in the Lord

always,

again I will say

rejoice.

Rejoice in the Lord

always,

again I will say

rejoice.

Rejoice in the Lord

always,

again I will say

rejoice.

So what's going on

here with this

particular text?

The Bible is not

being foolish.

The Bible is not

saying that you

all,

you can only have

one emotion

which is

rejoicing.

The Bible isn't

naive.

It's not telling

you just be,

just rejoice.

It's not trying

to manipulate you.

It's not saying

listen if something

just terribly tragic

has just happened

to you,

you're not allowed

to be sad,

you've got to

think happy thoughts.

You've got to

think rejoicing

thoughts.

The Bible isn't

telling you that

this type of

emotion is the

emotion that real

Christians have

that overwhelms

all of your

other emotions.

The Bible

understands that

you can have

things which are

sad and tragic

and conditions

in your life

that are very,

very,

very hard

and very,

very,

very difficult.

And it's not

telling you to

ignore all of

these things

and turn away

from them.

But it is telling

you to rejoice

in the Lord.

And what does

that mean?

Ten times I think

it is in the book

of Philippians

it tells you to

rejoice.

I think it's the

same number of

times that the

book tells you

to glory or boast

in the Lord.

And those 20

times they're

connected.

It's the same

type of idea.

And what is

it?

Why did the

Leafs,

why did the

Leaf fans think

the Leafs were

going to win

the Stanley Cup?

Sorry if I'm

touching a wound.

Well, what

would they tell

you?

We're going to

win a Stanley

Cup.

We got

Marner.

We got

Austin Matthews.

We got

Nylander.

We got a

great coach.

We got a

great jersey.

We're going

to win.

Why did the

Liberals think

they were going

to win the

election?

We don't got

Trudeau.

We got the

man with the

terrible orange

hair frightening

all of Canada.

We got Max

Carney.

We're going

to win.

Rejoice and

glory and

boasting is

saying, what

do you put

your confidence

in for success?

What do you

think will

help you, will

make you

succeed and

win?

So the

text is not

telling you to

try to manipulate

yourself into

feeling certain

emotions.

It's telling

you to

think about

the greatness

and the

goodness of

God and

what the

kindness and

what he's

done for

us.

In a sense,

what it is,

you know,

there's an old

hymn that

says, count

your blessings,

name them one

by one, and

it will surprise

you what the

Lord has

done.

And what

you could

almost say

here is that

the text is

saying, count

his character,

count his

attributes, count

his promises

one by one.

Count them

every day.

In the

moment of

your greatest

sadness, in

the moment

when you're

having to

consider whether

you're going

to take on

a new job,

whether you're

going to move

to another

country,

whether you're

going to deal

with huge

disappointments or

consider taking

big opportunities.

What you

obviously think

about all of

these things

practically, but

what you need

to think about

most of

all, if

you want

to be on

the way

of undeserved

mercy and

kindness and

grace, is

I do have a

Savior who's

triumphed over

death.

Yes, I have

this cancer

diagnosis, yes,

I have this

Alzheimer's

diagnosis, but

I have a

Savior who's

triumphed over

death.

I have the

promise of a

resurrected body.

Political

leaders will

come and go,

but my

Lord and

Savior Jesus

Christ will

return.

I have a

Father in

Heaven who

loves me, who

hears my

prayers.

And that even

if I have a

very hard time

here between

the moment

now and my

death, none

of those hard

times are the

true word about

me because my

Father in

Heaven loves me

and I will

spend eternity

with Him.

Those are the

things which we

are to remember

and have form

us, to

remember and

to form us.

Just in the

final little

bit about

this, why

is this text

so helpful?

I mean, obviously

it's telling us

to think and

rejoice.

You see, the

rejoicing comes

sideways when

you think about

this.

If you try to

force yourself

to have a

smile on the

face of

sadness and

heartbreak and

disappointment,

that's emotional

manipulation.

But it might

very well be

that in the

midst of your

sadness, when

you remember

Jesus and what

He's done for

you on the

cross, when

you remember

that you have

a Father in

Heaven who

rules over

all, when

you remember

the promises

of the Bible,

before you

know it,

unbidden, the

corner of a

smile appears

on your face.

And there's a

bit of a

lightness that

comes to

your step,

unbidden,

indirectly,

sideways.

So part of

the big

problem in

life is this.

I was a

humongous

hockey fan,

true confession,

it was before,

of course, the

Ottawa Senators.

I was a huge

Toronto Maple

Leafs fan.

And I remember

I'd become a

Christian, I

remember walking

to school one

day, and I

was devastated

that the Leafs

had lost, and

it was as if

the Holy Spirit

said to me,

why do you

care so much

about a

hockey team?

Like, George,

really?

The Holy Spirit

didn't say that,

but sort of.

You see, when

it says about

earthly things,

the Bible isn't

saying that you

should never care

about having a

really good cup of

coffee or a

really delicious

chocolate milkshake

or a well-done

steak or having

a good job or

being able to

have good clothes

or provide for

your family or

have friends, it's

not saying that you

shouldn't care about

all of those

things.

What it's saying is

a little bit about

what I talked about

last week, that the

human problem is our

loves are disordered,

and we were made to

have our loves

ordered.

And what happens

for human beings is

when the thing which

should be their

biggest love isn't in

that biggest love

place, and here

obviously the biggest

love should be the

triune God, it

should be our Lord

and Savior Jesus

Christ, and if we

don't have something

to put in that

biggest spot, all

these other smaller

loves will scurry up

to take that biggest

spot, and then all

of our loves are

going to be

disordered.

We end up loving

the maple leafs too

much, or the

senators too much, or

food too much, or

sex too much, because

we were made to love

the biggest thing the

biggest amount, and

not that we don't

love anything else, but

that you love small

things a small amount,

and medium things a

medium amount, and

big things a big amount,

and the biggest

thing the biggest

amount, and part of

what discipleship is, is

walking with Jesus and

reading the word, and

being with other

Christians, not just in

a local church, but

from a global

perspective, because we

need the help of

Christians from around

the world, and from the

past, is the slow

process of having our

loves ordered the way

they should be ordered,

and it begins by putting

the biggest love, the

biggest thing that you

should love, and having

that as your biggest

love.

Please stand.

Bow our heads in

prayer.

Father, we give you

thanks and praise that

your word addresses the

real us in the real

world, that it's not a

hallmark book, but

confronts us about real

things that both

delight us, and that we

long for, but also

things that we should

be ashamed of, and

repent of.

We thank you that it

speaks about the real

us in the real world, and

we thank you, Father,

that your word speaks to

us in such a realistic

way, but also in a way

of deep love, that it

comes, Father, from your

heart, that you do not

delight that anyone would

perish.

Your longing and yearning

is that all would repent

and call out to you,

Father, to Jesus to be

their Savior, that we

might begin to walk that

way, that path of

undeserved mercy, of

undeserved beauty, of

undeserved goodness and

grace and kindness that

comes from you.

And we ask, Father, that

your Holy Spirit would do

a gentle but deep work in

us, that day by day we

might remember your

greatness, your goodness,

your kindness, your

promises, that those

might be the things that

we think about the most,

that we feed on in our

hearts, that we might

think about them in our

own minds and share them

with others and come

Sunday by Sunday to be

reminded of the greatest

things.

And so now, Father, as

this service, this part of

the service comes to the

end and we prepare for

the next part of the

service when we receive

communion, we ask that you

would help us to feed on

Jesus in our hearts by

faith with thanksgiving.

And we ask these things in

Jesus' name and all God's

people said, Amen.