”Obedience Produces Joy” // Philippians 2:12-18 // Lakeview Bible Church

Okay. So, Philippians,

uh, when I was a kid, uh, Dunkin Donuts

had a series of commercials about the

making of the donuts.

And in these commercials, they

highlighted the like herculean task of

day after day continuing to slave away

at the doughnut making table so that you

and I could have not something that's

going to pack on pounds. These are

actually vitamin rings. I don't know if

you knew that.

Some call them vitamin um discs, if you

will. Um, no, that's my buddy Ted used

to call donuts. He's like, "Oh, I'm just

going to have another vitamin ring." Uh,

but if you didn't see them, this is what

one of them looked like.

>> Time to make the donuts. Dunkin donuts

are always fresh. I made the donuts. We

make them at least twice every day. Time

to make the donuts.

>> Not a few kinds like supermarkets.

>> The donuts. Time to make the donuts

>> for up to 52 varieties. The donuts.

>> Time to make the donuts.

>> I made the donuts.

>> Dumpin donuts. Up to 52 varieties, fresh

day and night.

>> So, there you go. There. There's your

refresher. And I do I I am empathetic

and I apologize that I put this thought

in all of your heads right now and now

you're like, I could really go for a

donut. And so could I to be quite honest

with you. Uh, but the real reason that I

I kind of give us this picture is kind

of like that last scene where the uh

weary, dreary doughut maker and the um

bright and bushy tailed doughnut maker

meet at the door in that moment. And um

why I do is because uh sometimes I have

found in my own life, and I wonder if

it's true for you, that as I've walked

with God, sometimes I'm bushy tailed,

and sometimes it's a slog. Sometimes I'm

like, "Oh, let's take the hill and go

get it." And and other times I'm like,

"Can I take a pass today?" And what I

mean by that, and here's where I want to

kind of get a level more of clarity, is

around obeying him in all of his

commands.

So, um, it doesn't take long as you open

your Bible and start to read through

that God has a lot of instructions for

how you and I are to live our lives.

Some of them he straight hits us between

the eyes and be like, "You will do

this." Other things are a little less

forceful, but all of them are like,

"Hey, I need you to obey me."

And sometimes obedience is fun and

sometimes obedience is really hard and

some of it it's kind of like uh a grind.

So you you may have had this feeling

where you're like, "Okay, I know I read

in in the Bible that I'm supposed to

love my neighbor. My neighbor's a royal

jerk,

and I'd rather not obey that one." But

then here's what you do. because you

want to be a person of the book. You're

like, "Guess I'll do it." And you try to

love your neighbor. For some of us,

you're like, "Oh, the Bible says, hey,

it's better to give than receive. You

need to be generous." And you're like,

"I guess so. I don't see anyone else

being generous, and they have the toys

that I want.

I guess I'll be generous." Or you're

like, "Hey, you need to think more of

others than yourself. You need to be a

humble servant. Looked at that a little

bit last week in Philippians 2. And

you're like, "Well, I guess ain't no one

serving me."

Okay, I'll do it. Have you ever had a

time where obedience was hard?

You're like, "In the past five minutes."

Here's here's what I want you to I want

us to get a hold of.

What if all those commands are actually

not an impediment to the life we want,

but they're actually the pathway?

What if obedience is actually the

stepping stones toward joy

and not an impediment from it?

What if I was to tell you that whatever

season of life you're in, the way to

more joy most quickly is obedience.

Would you believe me?

Yeah. You're like, "Well, I'm in church.

I have to say yes."

We've been looking at the book of

Philippians, and the subtitle of made

for joy is Paul just over and over,

"Joy, rejoice. Count it all joy. I

consider it joy. Rejoice. We'll see it

again today.

And what we're going to look at is,

okay, what's the connection between

obedience and joy? Because most often

when you put those two together, it's

more that obedience brings the picture

of the doughnut guy. Okay, obey. I guess

I got to do it. No one usually or very

few I have found and was like, "Oh,

obedience. Yay. Can't wait to get me

some of that."

But what if

What if God has actually woven this

world and your life in it so that

obedience is the way to get to joy in

the life that you Man, I know it's

possible. I would really like to

experience kind of like eating your

favorite donut with no guilt.

Philippians chapter 2 is where we're

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

going to be. And we're going to look at

this connection between obedience and

joy because when we get a hold of it, I

think it'll transform our obedience and

us in the process. So, right out of the

gate, I'm not going to bury the

headline, obedience produces joy. I've

stated it. I've asserted it. Now, let's

look at it in God's word.

Philippians 2, we're uh in verse 12 now.

So the word of God says, "My beloved,

therefore, my beloved, as you have

always obeyed, so now, not only as in my

presence, but 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 to work for his

good pleasure." Now, uh, verse 12 starts

with the word therefore. Every time you

see a therefore, you're supposed to ask

the question, what's it there for?

And so what you do is you look up above

what we just went over in order to go,

okay, given whatever Paul has just said,

whatever the word of God has just said,

we are now going to unpack. We're going

to dive deeper into we're going to

explain it further. We're going to

apply. So what did God just say to us

through Paul? Well, he said these things

like in verse 5, have this mind among

yourselves which is also in Christ

Jesus. So apparently Jesus had a way of

thinking that's supposed to be our way

of thinking. And then verse six, he

starts to unpack that who though he's in

the form of God did not count equality

with God to thing to be grasped. Like

Jesus in his incarnation, he comes and

he lays aside in essence his godness

fully. Otherwise, like we said this last

week, like if he showed up with all his

godness, the only thing that humans

would be able to do is fall flat on

their faces

in response to his glory and majesty. So

Jesus in a sense, he goes, I'm going to

lay that aside so I can come and be near

you. I'm not going to assert all my

prerogatives as God. I'm not going to

grasp them. He's like, I there's

something I need to do first, which is

what? Verse seven, but he emptied

himself by taking the form of a servant,

being born in the likeness of man. He

was fully God. He was fully man. And

then verse eight, notice this. and being

found in human form, he humbled himself

by becoming obedient,

becoming obedient to the point of death,

even death on the cross. So Jesus in

obedience of the will of the father for

salvation for us, for humanity, to set

right what sin had destroyed,

Jesus says, "I will be obedient." And

what Paul does is he picks up the idea

of obedience and now he's going to apply

it to us. So now back to verse 12.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have

always what? Obeyed.

Paul's thinking about the Philippians.

And he goes, "Man, I I know you guys

like I've been with you for an extended

period of time. I've heard how you're

doing." And he's like, "You guys have

always been basically obedient people."

He's not necessarily asserting

perfection, but he's like in general,

you've obeyed. And I love this next

phrase. So now,

not only is in my presence when I was

there, you guys were all about it. You

guys were obedient. You were getting

after the things of the Lord, man. Every

time I turned around, you're like, "Hey,

Paul, like this is what the word says.

We're going to we're going to try and do

it here individually and collectively."

And then and then I love this, but much

more in my absence. Hey, do you remember

back in high school when the substitute

teacher showed up?

Were you more obedient or less obedient?

I just think it's interesting. Paul's

like, "Hey, while I'm gone, you're still

going to be obedient, right?"

And then he says this, it's super

interesting as we're in camp out on this

next phrase for a little bit. He says

this. He says, "Work out your own

salvation with fear and trembling." Now,

that phrase has gotten people worked up

in the wrong ways because they're

misinterpreting it and misapplying it.

So, let me let me explain to us what

that what we just read. Work out your

own salvation with fear and trembling.

What it does not mean it does not mean

like, hey, man, salvation's a big deal.

So, what you need to do, like if you're

considering following Jesus, you need to

take it seriously.

You need to take seriously where you

stand with him. Like you need to take

seriously your sin and his offer of

salvation for your sin such that on the

cross all your sin went to Jesus and if

you place your faith in him that this

great exchange happens where you get his

righteousness and like you got to take

this serious. It's no laughing matter

right in a sense you know what you

should kind of have some fear and

trembling when you think about it.

That's not what this verse is talking

about. Now, I would say this. Please

take seriously your salvation. I think

that's a good thing. I think having a

soberness about who you are apart from

God and coming to the place where it's

like, man, if if the claims of Jesus and

the Bible are true, man, I need to get

right with God. I pray that you have

some serious conversations. If you

haven't yet, you should. challenges.

That's not what this verse is talking

about. Okay? What is this verse talking

about when it says, notice this, work

out,

work out your salvation with fear and

trembling, here's what it's saying.

Because you have been saved, Philippian,

because you have been saved, member of

Lake View Bible Church, work out the

implications. Work out the

ramifications.

work out the visibility of your

salvation through obedience.

What Paul is saying was God is saying is

if you name the name of Jesus, we should

be able to see it. Paul, how should we

see it? Because you're obedient.

Does that make sense?

Work it out. Notice this is how we helps

us kind as we interpret.

If it was about the thing I mentioned a

minute ago that it's not about, it

likely would have said, "Work for

work for your salvation with fear and

trembling." Oo, and you better take it

seriously and all the rest. What's he

saying? Work it out. Are you saved?

We should see it, shouldn't we?

How? Because you're trying to obey.

Now, we we see this all the time in

life. this principle what I what I mean

is this say you're a physician you go to

medical school when you graduate medical

school on that day you are given the

title what

doctor and then what do you do for the

rest of your life you work out the

implications of the fact that you're a

physician and you practice the craft of

medicine and you work out what's been

declared of you for the rest of your

life. We could have said the same if

you're a lawyer getting your a JD. If

you're a coder and you're like, "Okay,

you now have a computer science degree."

Now you work out your ability to code

the rest of your life or an electrician

or a plumber or a husband or wife.

On the day you get married, you say, "I

do."

You are fully 100% a husband and you

fully are 100% a wife. And what do you

do for the rest of your life? You work

out your husbandness.

You work out your weness. Does this make

sense? That's what he's getting at now.

Let me all make you feel bad. Um,

how are you doing on your obedience?

How's it going? Are you 100% yet? Show

of hands, please.

Yeah, my hand's not up. So what then are

we in trouble?

Let me just not just note how God is so

kind.

Go back to verse 12. Therefore my

beloved literally it's a form of the

word agape.

Um

you are loved ones.

What's God's heart toward you and me in

our journey of obedience?

You better obey me.

Does he look sternly at you? Oh, you

better measure. Oh, man. I'm tired of

dealing with you and your disobedience.

No.

Hey, my beloved,

how about we work this out? And then

verse 13,

for

it is God who works in you both to will

and to work for his good pleasure. This

is so encouraging. I want you to see

this. So the text says we're supposed to

work out our salvation visibly through

obedience. And then notice, for it is

God. Who else is working?

God's working. How so? Well, first to

will.

Um, this is the motivation. This is the

desire to obey. Do you know if you've

ever had the thought, you know what, I

need to obey God right now. That thought

did not originate with you.

Why? Well, because it's God who's given

you the desire. If you've ever had the

thought, man, I need to change. I need

to make amends. I need to do. He's the

one that's giving you the will to do it.

But he doesn't start stop there. He also

gives you the power to actually carry

out the thought that he put there so

that you can do it.

And again, because he's a harsh

taskmaster,

because God's standard, my standard is

obedience. And you better hit the

standard.

No,

go get them.

I'm pleased. God says,

"I'm so pleased."

Now, if you're here and you're checking

Jesus out, you're not sure where you

stand with him, and you may be a little

more cynical at this point, you're going

to be like, "Okay, Eric, let me get this

straight."

So, your claim is that Jesus, who is God

of the universe, he's come, he's humbled

himself. He's been obedient so much so

that he died on the cross for our sins.

that's your story? I'm like, "Yeah,

that's my story." And let me get this

straight. After someone places their

faith in this Jesus for salvation,

God gives them the Holy Spirit in order

to do some other stuff in them. I'm

like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." And you and

and and you might say, "Well, let me get

this straight." So, the Holy Spirit has

to be the one in you to even give you

the idea to obey even after Jesus did

what he did. And then after he puts the

idea in you, then he has to empower you

to do the thing that he just put the

idea in you. And then God's happy with

this arrangement.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Couldn't work any other way.

And and

you guys have all experienced something

very similar to this. Here's what I

mean.

When my kids were little and Christmas

time was coming,

what I would do is I would gather up the

four kids into the minivan like a boss

and we'd go to the store cuz we wanted

to buy mom a present. And so we'd get to

the store, all the kids would rush into

the store and they would immediately see

the mountains of toys

and then I'd have to wrangle them back

around. I'm like, "Oh, no, no, no. Come

here. Come here. Come here." All right.

Remember, we're here to get your mom a

present. What do you think? We should

get your mom a bicycle. No. I think you

want a bicycle. I don't think mom wants

a bicycle. Next kid. Football. We get

mom a football. I don't think a

football. How about a Barbie? No, I

don't think mom wants a Barbie. And then

what I would say is like, hey, how about

we go over to the jewelry section and we

look for a necklace or a bracelet or a

set of earrings. And then usually my

daughter at this point would be like,

"Yeah, that makes more sense, Dad. Let's

go with this plan."

And then so so we'd go over there and

we'd look at all the different options

and we'd pick one out and then we'd go

up to the register and um we'd pay for

it and then get it home and wrap it and

then Christmas morning would come

and the kids, all four of them would

take their box over to mom, give it to

mom and she would open it up and she

would look at and she'd be like, "I

know you didn't pay for This I know dad

picked this out, so don't be thinking,

"No, no, no. What did What did my wife

do?" Oh, it's This is the best earrings

I've ever seen. No, hugs, kisses,

joy.

And then my kids would walk past me. Top

that one, Dad.

I'm like, you better watch your mouth,

too.

Is there anything ingenuine about that?

Notice

mom joyful, kids joyful,

father

joyful.

Do you see it?

Um,

how is it that obedience leads to

produces joy? I'll give you two concrete

ways.

Every time in this pilgrimage that we

call life that you find yourself, oh, I

did the thing. I loved my jerk neighbor.

I'm growing in generosity.

I'm growing in humility.

I was a humble servant today. Rejoice.

Why? It's proof of Philippians 2. You're

doing it.

You're doing it.

How else like

in that moment? You know what also is

true? The father's at work in you.

That's what the verse says.

Every time you obey, you should be like,

"God's working in me.

The God of heaven seems it so important

that he wants to work in little old you

and little old me.

Here's what's true. There has not been a

time in your life, there's not been a

time in my life where obedience has not

actually led to joy.

Obedience always leads to joy.

So here's the question again. How are

you doing?

How are you doing?

For you like me, there are places in our

lives where man, I've made some

progress. Pretty pleased. Praise God.

And like you, like me, there's some

places.

I sat with the Lord this week and I

said, "Okay, Lord, what's the place

immediately?

Where do you need to grow in obedience?

Maybe it is in your marriage. Maybe it

is as a husband or wife. You're like,

"Here's what I recommend. Lord, um, I

need you to work in me and through me so

I can ba obey you as a husband. So I can

obey you as a wife." For some of us,

it's your career. You're You've been

doing your career your way. And the

Lord's like, "That's not your career.

It's my career."

And you're like, "You're right, Lord.

How many how many do my work life in

obedience to you?

For some of us,

like I don't know if you know this, but

we installed um a machine at the front

and it reads all your phones.

You're like, "Please, no. Tell me this

isn't

Here's what I know. For some of us, you

need to take your phone and give it to

the Lord and say, "Please help me."

Because there's stuff that you've been

looking at, you shouldn't be looking at.

Stuff that you've been doing on there,

you shouldn't be doing.

What do you do? Oh, time to make the

donuts. Just grind harder. No.

Lord,

I want you to work it out.

I'd rather obey you.

Can you help me? Yeah, I can.

What is it for you? Where do you need

the proof of your salvation to get

worked out visibly

in your obedience?

And I invite you

pray a pray a really courageous prayer.

Lord, show me and Lord help me.

I promise he will.

And what's on the other side of that?

Joy.

Do you see it?

All right. Obedience produces joy. And

then we live out obedience. Three

things. United together, holding fast to

the truth, and gladly rejoicing. United

together,

holding fast to the truth, and gladly

rejoicing. So look at verse 14.

Paul goes on and he's going to expand

what he's saying corporately because if

like we all are doing 12 and 13

individually and we come together in the

body of Christ, then there's going to be

implications for obedience together as a

group. So verse 14. So do all things

without grumbling or disputing that you

may be blameless and innocent children

of God without blemish in the midst of a

crooked and twisted generation among

whom you shine as lights in the world.

Now um I am a graduate of Dallas

Theological Seminary. I have a master's

degree in theology. Do you know what

that means? I still need a plane ticket

to get on the plane. Um, no. It means I

have been taught many great and wise

things

that a lot of people don't know.

And I will now like to share with you a

great and wise thing

so that you should be laughing. Um, so

that you are helped in this moment. The

Greek words that Paul uses in order to

describe grumbling and complaining. Do

you know what they actually mean?

Grumbling and complaining.

You're thoroughly unimpressed.

No, it says what it actually means. Now,

here's the thing that I scratched my

head over this week.

In a conversation about obedience, why

do you have to warn people about

grumbling

and complaining and disputing?

Why would you feel necessary? Like if

we're all obeying, wouldn't it be just

like happy days?

Well, here's what happens when we get

together and you're obeying God and hear

from God and I'm hearing from God and

obeying God and you're hearing from God

and obeying God. You know what's going

to happen? Sometimes we're going to have

different ideas about how we obey

together. So what I mean is sometimes

when people be like, "You know what,

Eric? Hey, you know what? We need to

help all the single moms." And of all

the things that we're going to do as a

church, got to be the single moms. I'm

like, "Okay, yeah, the single moms. We

got to help the single mom." And then

the next person will come up, "You know

what we need to do, Eric? It's the

students. It's the young people. They're

the future. We really need to pour into

the young people." I'm like, "Yeah,

you're right. We really need to pour

into the young people." And the next

person goes, "Eric, what about the

shutins? You realize there are people

that can't get to church. We got to deal

with the shutins." I'm like, "Yeah,

you're right. We got to deal with the

shut. We got to do the shutins. And then

what about the poor? The poor, Eric?

What about the poor? And what about the

men? The men need help. And the ladies

need the men to need help."

and all that like in everyone like

at other churches

that leads to disputing.

You're just going to have to go with me

on that.

You're like, I don't I don't see it,

Eric. I just don't see.

Isn't that interesting?

Which is why

if you glance back up to verse three and

four, this is why I love to do verse by

verse through Bible books. He's already

told us collectively, hey, as you guys

do life together, do nothing from

selfish ambition or conceit. This is

verse three. But in humility, count

others more significant than yourselves.

Oh, you've got a good idea. I don't my

idea doesn't have to win.

Verse four, let each of you look not

only to his own interest but also to the

interests of others. Instead of

right um grumbling and disputing which

grumbling is you just mumble to yourself

dumb idea. I don't know why we're doing

this idea. It's a stupid idea. And then

and then eventually if you continue to

play that tape in your head, guess what

you do? You say it out loud. That's a

dumb idea. And now we have disputing.

And here's what's interesting. Go back

to the text.

Why shouldn't you, you and I do this? So

that we be blameless and innocent,

children of God without blemish.

So that as we're all trying to live out

imperfectly this obedience to the Lord

and doing it to collectively

that there's no blemish in the midst of

a world that's all jacked up and can't

get this right. What's it say? In the

midst of a crooked and twisted

generation.

Well, yeah, of course. Like I I made I

made the mistake of scrolling through a

news feed this morning. Guess how many

happy stories versus how many people

can't get along stories. You already

know the answer.

Why? It's a crooked, twisted generation.

It's always going to be a crooked,

twisted generation. They can't get this

right. We should be different. Yes.

Why? Well, because look who we are.

We're going to be shining as lights in

the world because the world should look

at us united together and be like, man,

how do you guys get along so well?

And we're like, well, Jesus

and it's God who works in us

to will and to do for his good pleasure.

That's how.

And the passage goes on. Look at this.

Not only we were united together, verse

16, we're holding fast to the word of

life so that in the day of Christ, I may

be proud that I did not run in vain or

labor in vain. And again, I like when I

read this, I'm like, why? We're talking

about obedience. Why do you have to make

sure that you stay biblical?

When he says hold fast to the word of

life, what Paul's saying, what God's

saying is, hey, don't forget the Bible.

Stay in the Bible. stay theologically

orthodox, stay scripturally adherent.

Now, why in the world as we're trying to

be obedient to what God has for us to

do, would we have to be concerned about

getting off on jacked theology?

I'll give you two examples. One in the

recent past and one in the distant past.

In the 1970s, the mainline

denominations, Presbyterian,

Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran,

Catholic, in response to the cultural

upheaval of the 60s said, "We need to

get more socially engaged with the

gospel.

We need to help those down and out

better. We need to help the

drugaddicted. We need to help those who

have made a mess of their lives trying

to follow the sexual revolution that

has, you know, just washed over the

country.

All that's good. Nothing wrong with

that. You know what happened in the 70s

and into the 80s? They started to more

social than less gospel.

What happened is they jettisoned

orthodoxy on the altar of trying to be

helpful to people. Well, you can't like,

hey, don't try to force your beliefs on

others. Just help them first.

Know that they so that they know that

you love them and then you bring the

gospel. Then you bring truth. And right

now, if you're unaware, the Methodists

have split. Conservative arms still

believe the the uh gospel. That's the

global Methodists. And then the rest of

the Methodists,

train wreck.

Lutheran church, conservative arm, train

wreck arm.

Presbyterians,

conservative arm, still loving Jesus,

reading the Bible, jacked up one.

Hold fast.

Hold fast to the word.

Don't think you're going to get very far

if you forget Jesus and forget his word.

Paul, just notice how he says it.

So then the day of Christ, what's that

referring to? Judgment.

I may be proud that I did not run in

vain or labor in vain. Why? What's

Paul's concern

that you guys jettison orthodox teaching

in the Bible?

I told you a recent example. Let me tell

you an ancient example.

And to the angel of the church in

Thotyra, write, "I know the works, your

love and faith and service and patient

endurance, and that your latter works

exceed the first. So what are they doing

well in Thotyra?" This is Revelation

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, man. They're taking the

gospel outside the walls, man. They're

helping people. They're doing the thing.

They're obeying together. But here's

what happened.

that you tolerate that woman Jezebel who

calls herself a prophetist and what's

happening in the church

horrific teaching.

Here's what I also think is interesting.

Sex is involved

and seducing my servants to practice

sexual immorality and to eat food

sacrificed to idols.

Watch your teaching.

Hold fast to the Bible.

Here's what we're going to do at Lake

View. I promise you, Lord willing, by

his grace, it's always 100% truth

alongside 100% love.

100% help. Yep. And 100% truth every

time.

Why, Eric? Well, because it actually

doesn't help someone if you help them

physically, but don't help them

spiritually.

Why? Because judgment's coming for them.

And if I only help you physically, I

just help you on your way to hell. Nope.

Yeah, I love you. Yeah, I want you to

change. Yeah, I want to help you right

where you at. And you need to turn and

trust Jesus.

Hold fast.

Hold fast

together.

Hold fast.

And then last,

gladly rejoicing. Look at verse 17.

Even if I'm to be poured out as a drink

offering upon the sacrificial offering

of your faith, I'm glad

and rejoice with you all. Likewise, you

also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Paul references the um Old Testament

practice of the drink offering.

If you're a Jew in the Old Testament

Levitical system and you bring an

offering and your offering is being

burned on the altar, as many of them

were, what you would do um if you had

the means, if you were able, is you had

a cup of wine and you would pour out

that cup of wine alongside your offering

uh being burned up. It was a a symbol of

um pouring out the last full measure to

God like saying, "God, it's all yours.

I'm holding nothing back." And it was

also um additive in the experience such

that what what they taught is it added

to the pleasing aroma to the Lord

when you poured out the wine next to the

offering. And Paul takes that picture

and he says, "I'm okay that I'm being

poured out for you.

I'm okay. Actually, I'm better than

okay. I'm glad.

I'm rejoicing." Why? Because if I get to

pour out my life for you all and you all

make progress, praise be God.

Obedience always produces joy. Whatever

the Lord calls you to in obedience to

him

always produces joy.

Pour yourself out. Yep. I promise you

joy is on the other side. Always. Can't

be any other way.

Why? Because your father's pleased.

Your father's pleased. That's what it

say. Good pleasure as all this happens

in us and through us, around us, and

for us. So, here's what I'd ask us to

do. Here's my application as we close

and we're going to turn to the Lord's

supper. We live out obedience by working

to stay united together.

As we as Lake View continues to grow by

God's grace and continue to reach more

people, um there's going to be a lot of

different ideas around, okay, what

should we do? What should we give our

time to? We can't we can't do them all.

Right? What I'm asking you is that we're

not going to be a grumbling, disputing

people.

We're going to humbly serve one another

and be like, "Yep, that's a great idea.

Let's do that." And I promise you

like we're prayerful

like of all the ideas. Okay Lord, what

do you have us for do uh for us to do?

But we're going to stay united. And then

next we're going to stay rooted in the

word. Again, like I am not very smart.

All I know to do is to read the book.

And so that's what we're going to do.

And I'm going to ask you read the book.

And the next day, read the book.

Day after that, read the book.

And all by grace, we just try and do it

together. Yeah.

And then last, we're going to fight for

joy.

Why? Well, because the enemy is a big

jerk and he's going to oppose us and

he's going to try to get grumbling and

disputing going and he's going to try to

upend what we're trying to do. We're

like, "Nope, you don't win. Jesus won.

And because he wins, we win.

So, we're going to fight for joy.

So,

if you grab your elements, I'm going to

close with the Lord's supper.

If you do not have the elements, raise

your hand so we can get them to you.

Oh, I think we're good.

I think we're good. And what I want to

do is I've mentioned this multiple times

as we've celebrated the Lord's supper

together, but this time I want to show

you. And what I mean by that is I want

to show you the link between joy and

what we're about to do and commemorate

and remember. Okay,

this is Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

says, "Therefore, since we are

surrounded by so great a cloud of

witnesses, let us also lay aside every

weight and sin which clings so closely,

and let us run with endurance the race

that is set before us, looking to Jesus,

the founder and perfector of our faith."

And then here's like this is what I've

said, but I've never shown you. who for

the joy

that was set before him endured the

cross,

despising the shame, and is seated at

the right hand of the throne of God.

So Jesus, you remember he's it's the

night before he's going to be crucified

and he's in the garden

and he's praying repeatedly, Lord,

Father, if there's any other way to get

him back,

if there's any other way that we could

get like the sin thing dealt with and

get get your sons and daughters back,

can we just do that?

as he feels the weight of having to go

to the cross and two things become sin

for us

and lose the father.

That's what's like shattering him like

soul level in the moment.

Three times he prays, at least that's

recorded in the gospels, and three times

God says no.

How'd you do it, Jesus?

Well, there was a joy that was set

before him.

And so, he was able to endure everything

necessary for you and I to come home.

What was set before him? This is Isaiah.

Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall

see

and be satisfied.

What did he see?

Well, by his knowledge shall the

righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities."

What was the joy

as Jesus is in the garden, as he goes to

trial, as he's beaten, the crown of

thorns, the nails, all of it. What does

he see? He sees you.

Everyone who because of him will be

accounted righteous. He sees them. I'm

satisfied.

Hebrews, I'm joyful.

I'm joyful.

Here's what I don't want us to do on the

end of a sermon on obedience.

Please don't go try harder.

More Jesus.

More Jesus is the way to more obedience.

To come again and go, Lord,

I'm just floored at what you did for me.

Make me the kind of person who longs to

obey.

and help me to do it.

He's like, I will.

Why? Well, because the father loves to

honor the son.

And every step you take,

Jesus is pleased.

So we take the bread

in commemoration of what Jesus did with

his disciples

when he said, "This is my body which is

broken for you. Do this as often as you

eat of it in remembrance of me."

And after supper, he took a cup

and he said, "This is the new covenant

of my blood which is shed for you for

the forgiveness of your sins.

You can be made whole.

You can be made new

because of the sacrifice of the son who

was glad to make it on your behalf."

And so we remember Jesus

And Father, we thank you for the

goodness and kindness

that you have shown us in your word and

through your son. I pray

that your blessing would rest upon us.

that you would continue to help us to

stay rooted in you, focused on our Lord,

and that you would do what only you can

do, which is make us more like him as we

live out the life that you've called us

to. Would you help us by grace?

We trust you to do it. We pray it in

Jesus name. And everyone said, "Amen.