Growth That Lasts - Philippians 2:14-18 (Feb 18) Myles Holmes

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists.

Glorify God for the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

There are certain investments in life, certain ways that you spend your time that over the course of your life you more and more realize are good investments.

This certainly is true of finances, but it's especially true of our life, isn't it?

And there are times in life, maybe it's like you're at a funeral or you're just for whatever reason contemplating the brevity of life.

There are times where especially the investments we made in life with our time and our talents and our treasure, it's made clear to us that these were either good investments of time or they were bad investments of time.

That they either paid a great dividend and a great return, or they didn't.

And so maybe even as we're reflecting on this, some of you are looking at your life and you're thinking, yeah, there is some great things, but also there's some things to regret.

There's some things, maybe if we could do it again, we we sort of wish that we would have done things a little differently and would have been experiencing a different reward now.

Regardless, it's true that in life there are certain pursuits that are worth the time.

And this morning in Philippians 2, verses 14 to 18, as sort of a continuation of our message last week, we want to consider the return on the investment that you and I make as Christians in our growth.

Philippians 2:14–18

And so last week we were together in Philippians 2, 12 and 13, and in many ways we were thinking, how do we grow?

But this morning, the question that we're really asking is this why do we grow?

What's the reward?

What's the point?

And Paul wants to point us to this answer.

He wants us to tell us this, and maybe we could boil the main idea of the message this morning down to this.

He wants to say this: we grow because it's the only pursuit in life that can provide lasting joy.

There is a Christian growth that you can experience that will provide for you something that lasts, that nothing else in the world can provide.

And Paul wants to point the Philippian church and by nature us this morning to some actions that we must take as Christians, some growth actions that will lead to lasting joy, to joy that will endure even beyond the passing of this world into eternity itself.

In other words, we could say this this morning, we're thinking about this, that the investment we make in growing as Christians, it pays a direct return on joy.

It's possible for you and I to pursue the things of this world, and it's possible for you and I to experience the fleeting pleasures of the things of this world, but it is impossible through the pursuit of the things of this world to find lasting joy.

That's only possible through growth.

Paul wants us to understand this for or consider this this morning.

Now let's read the passage together, Philippians chapter 2, verses 14 to 18.

Philippians 2:14–18

Paul writes this.

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, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in run in vain or labor in vain.

Even if I'm to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.

Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Now, Paul's looking at the Philippian church, and he's saying this there is a way that you can act in which if you act like this, I'll be able to rejoice in your faith, and you will be able to rejoice in your faith.

On that final day when you meet Jesus Christ, there will be much to be proud of if in your life you have pursued these actions, the very actions that a growing Christian pursues.

We consider that for a moment and we consider this reality that I imagine there has never been a single Christian who has made it to that day, who has met Christ on that final day and looked back on their life and said, Ah man, you know, I should have just spent some less time growing.

I shouldn't have invested so much in my spiritual life.

You know, like I really gave way too much to Jesus.

I really wasted my life doing that.

Instead, every ounce of effort that they poured into Christ's likeness, we are told in Scripture, it was returned a hundredfold in joy.

They never got to that day and regretted an ounce of effort they poured into their own Christian growth.

Instead, the reward of their growth, it lasted.

It lasted the test of time.

And when the all the other per worldly pursuits, that all their reward had faded away, they stood on that final day with great thankfulness.

And Paul looks forward to that day, wanting to stand there with great pride in the fact that the things he pursued had lasting benefit, and the consequence of his growth and pouring in the growth of other people was lasting joy.

And that's what I want us to think about this morning.

To ask this question.

So that on that final day when we meet Christ, we will look back and have much to be proud of.

To know that we spent our time well and received the reward of lasting, everlasting joy.

Now that's a big question.

And so we need the Lord to help us in this.

So let's turn to the Lord now in prayer and ask him to help us.

Father, we bow before you.

And God, in a time of self-reflection and examination, we ask for the help of your Holy Spirit.

God, we thank you that as we just saying, you are present here with us now and with great power and potential to change our lives.

You want to speak to us.

And yet, Lord, I just confess how often I am blind to the things that you want to show me.

And so I pray that each of us now in this moment praying in our own heart would lift this request to you, Lord, that you would open our eyes to the things that we need to see this morning.

God, that our ears would not be deaf to your word, but Lord, that as you have been so faithful to do so many times in our life, would you take your word and through the power and presence of your Holy Spirit, would you deliver to us what we need to hear?

And would you give us the conviction and the power and the strength to be able to turn to you in this moment, Lord, and say we're ready to make the necessary changes.

God, that we're ready for growth.

You're so eager to provide it.

And so we pray for it, Lord.

Bless us, we pray.

I pray this in the name of your son.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, we're talking about growth that lasts this morning, and I want you to see this first thing about growth at last that Paul wants us to download.

And the first thing is this that growth at last stands in awe of God's work.

Growth at last stands in awe of God's work.

Now, I want you just for a moment to consider where we were last week.

Last week we saw that Paul is calling those who believe in the exaltation of Jesus Christ, who those those who believe what we sang this morning, that Jesus' name is the highest of all names, he's calling them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling.

To be sort of obsessive about their growth, of working out the things that God has already accomplished through their salvation.

But then in verse 13, as he said in verse 12, that you need to take care to work out your own salvation, he tells us also that God is committed to helping us in that.

In verse 13, he says, For it is God who works in you.

God is going to do the work.

Paul says in Philippians 1:6 that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Christ.

Philippians 1:6

And Paul has this recognition that if your faith is in Jesus Christ, God is going to bring you to the end.

Now, lest your reaction to that sort of be like, okay, well, I can just kind of sit back and let God do all the work, the very next verse comes sort of as a surprise to us because Paul says this do.

Do.

There is something for the Christian to do.

There is an action that you must all take.

And Paul is concerned here with the way that we take this action.

Notice what he says in verse 14.

He says, Do all things without grumbling or disputing?

Now let me ask you this question.

As you hear this admonition, do all things without grumbling, you hear this exhortation to be a person that really never complains.

He says, do all things without grumbling.

With what weight do these words hit you?

You know, Paul has just said, don't complain.

Now I want to be honest with you, as I read this verse, I kind of thought like it was kind of like a soft punch.

It's like, you know, it's kind of you're in this grand moment.

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it's God who works in you.

And don't complain.

It feels a little light.

I would guess that you would put it kind of in the same category that I often put kids complaining in.

It's kind of like nail biting.

You know, nail biting, we'd all probably agree it's not a great thing to do.

It's not, you know, you don't want to do it.

It's not a positive thing, but on the list of things you've got to change in your life, it's kind of far down there, isn't it?

Like there are some bigger fish to fry, some bigger things to deal with in life.

And so we think about complaining, and certainly it can be annoying when we, you know, are with a coworker who complains a lot, or maybe our one of our kids, or probably all of our kids, just have taken this habit of complaining too much.

It's an annoyance to us, and and certainly, you know, like we complain about things from time to time.

But let me just say this: I I I've counseled a lot of people.

I've never had someone come into my office and say, you know, I just complain way too much.

I just can't stop complaining.

In fact, most of the time people are in my office to complain.

And me too.

I consider that in my life as I've reflected on the various sin struggles I've had.

This week I've had to look at my life and think this, you know, I haven't often made a concerted effort against grumbling.

And so the question then becomes this why?

Why do you and I consider complaining to be kind of this like respectable sin, that we we recognize that it's something that's not positive, but it's certainly not something that we often feel the need to deal with.

And let me suggest this that Paul wants us to see that our tendency to complain is part of a much bigger problem.

I mean, consider what Paul says in this passage.

He says, do all things without grumbling or disputing, so that you may be blameless, innocent, and children of God.

Now we'll reverse that.

And you know what Paul's saying?

If you uh complain, you cannot be holy.

Consider for a moment what else Paul says as he goes throughout this passage.

He says, the reason why the Philippians shouldn't complain is because if they don't complain, then on the final day, Paul is gonna have something to be proud of.

And so what's that mean in reverse?

That if the Philippians continue to complain and grumble and quarrel, on that final day, Paul's gonna look at them and he's gonna have nothing to be proud of.

And you consider the weight with which Paul gives this exhortation, you start to realize that this is a significant thing.

And so here's what I hope the spirit is sort of stirring this conviction in your heart right now is this self-reflection to say this that complaining is a bigger deal than I thought.

Complaining is a it's a salvation issue.

And what Paul is doing here is he's elevating complaining to be a bigger deal than we often make of it.

Now, now, what's significant here is that all throughout this passage, Paul is alluding to these Old Testament texts so that the uh Israelite readers of this text would hear this and they would immediately think of some of these passages.

The first one that he alludes to is in Exodus 16.

By asking us not to grumble or dispute, Paul is asking us to consider the Israelites.

Something that Paul does time and time again in his letters.

He asks the churches to consider the examples of the Israelites and especially where they failed and how we might do better.

Now, the Israelites in Exodus 16, they found themselves in a situation that's very similar to the situation you and I are in now.

They stood on the other side of the Red Sea, they had just been delivered miraculously by God.

They had walked through the waters of judgment unscathed, and they stood on the other side of the Red Sea, having been delivered from their greatest enemy.

Does that sound like anyone, Christian?

That sounds like you.

You stand on the other side of the cross, judgment has been given, laid on Jesus' shoulder, he's paid the punishment, and you stand now on the other side of the waters of judgment, having been delivered, having been saved.

But now the Israelites, they had a journey before them.

Much like you and I, they were to set out to the promised land.

They were, in other words, to work out their salvation.

It wasn't over yet.

Now in Exodus 16, it pretty much immediately when they leave that part, that piece of land on the other side of the Red Sea, it says this this is going to come up on the screen.

It says, They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of sin, which is between Elim and Sinai.

And on the fifteenth day of the second month, after they had departed from the land of Egypt, and the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

And the people of Israel said to them, Would that we have died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full?

For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

Now, the people they look at the journey ahead of them, and they look at their circumstances, what's happening in their midst, and they look at God and they say, What are you doing?

God had been clear what he was doing.

God was saving them.

Like just a month and a half ago, they were in Egypt under the weight of slavery, crying out for God to deliver them.

Now God is delivering them, and as though they know better, they're sort of like that, like they would be a better author of the story.

They're saying, Hey, listen, we used to have meat, and we got nothing now.

They're complaining about the way that God has worked, and yet they've just been delivered miraculously to salvation, and before them is the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

And here they are grumbling about the way that God has chosen to save them.

Now, this isn't the last time that Israel can would complain.

In fact, time won't allow us to do an extensive study, and I would encourage you to do that.

You can read through the history of Israel, and you take out a pen, you start circling the places where Israel complains, and soon your Bible is going to be very colorful.

Time and time again, almost at every turn, the people of God are complaining about what God is doing.

Until eventually in Numbers 21, we're told this.

Sorry, Numbers 14.

Numbers 14.

It says, The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me?

I've heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they with which they grumble against me.

Say to them, as I live, declares the Lord, what you have said to me in my hearing, I will do to you.

Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and all of your number listed in the census, from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb, the son of Jephana, and Joshua, the son of Nun.

You see, the the Israelites, understand how serious this is.

The Israelites stand on the edge of the promised land, and God looks at them and he says, Because of your complaining, you will die out here, and you will not enter into the promised land.

Parents, there's a little nugget for you next time your kids complain, okay?

You're gonna die because of this.

And yet we see like the harsh reality of what grumbling had done.

Like they missed the mark because of their complaining.

They shipwrecked their faith.

They did not receive the war reward.

Grumbling at its very heart is leading us to a deeper issue.

Grumbling is the a fruit, the fruit of a serious problem.

Complaining is the fruit of a serious problem.

I think we get a good idea of what this problem is when we look at Psalm 106.

In Psalm 106, the psalmist is reflecting for a moment on Israel's history.

And he says this.

He says, Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise.

What condemning, what condemning words.

Could you imagine hearing those words at the end of your Christian life that you despised heaven itself, that you despised the very promises of God, that you had no faith in his promise.

And look how these this reality of their lack of faith fleshed itself out in verse 25.

They murmured in their tents.

Therefore, he raised his hand and swore to them that he would make them fall in the wilderness and would make their offspring fall among nations, scattering them among the lands.

See, here we get to the heart of the issue with grumbling.

Whenever we grumble, whenever we complain about the situation that we're in, or the changes that are occurring in our life or in our world or in our society or heaven forbid in our church, or the circumstances we find ourselves in, or the comfort that we lack, whatever we're complaining about, what we're doing is looking at God, even though he might not be the direct one we're complaining to, we're looking at something that he has chosen to send into our life, and we're saying, God, you should have known better.

We're saying, God, how dare you send this thing into my life?

I don't deserve this.

My story should be a lot better than this, God.

Do you see this?

At the heart, what God is doing is He's promising us, He's gonna bring us to heaven.

He's promising us that you and I are on a journey to heaven, that He's gonna complete the work, but then as soon as God starts doing His work, we complain about it.

God, what are you doing?

This is the reality about anything we pray about.

When you go outside and you complain about the weather, this is who's it who's the one who's in control of it.

And listen, we got nothing to complain about.

So if you're complaining this year about the weather, we got real problems, okay?

This sermon is for you.

It's been very, there's been no snow almost.

This is the reality of our complaining.

It's against God.

It's looking at God and saying, listen, God, I would be a much better author of my story.

I got a better way that this could go.

And this thorn in the flesh that you've given to me, I don't deserve it.

See, complaining, grumbling, murmuring points to a deeper issue.

It's a salvation issue.

We have a problem with the way that God is delivering salvation to us.

We're happy that he saved us, but we're not happy about the way that he's bringing us to heaven.

And these trials and circumstances and changes, these things that theologically you as a Christian knew from the very beginning of your faith were given by God.

You look at now and you say, God, what are you doing?

Why have you put this thing into my life?

See, see, at its heart, it really is a salvation issue, but the question is, what's our what is our response ought to be?

Paul says that rather than grumbling and disputing, he said he says further down here that we are to hold fast to the word of life.

You see that in verse 16.

I mean, we'll talk about the consequence of not grumbling in a short moment, but I want you to consider.

That the positive way that he phrases not grumbling is holding fast to the word of life.

Now, this is what Israel should have done.

God had given them his word.

God had told them exactly what he was doing.

He was saving them.

And the trials that they would face along the in the desert, God would provide for them, and at the end of the day, it would all be to his glory.

If they had just held fast to what God had told them, they would have known that.

But instead they forgot.

And it's the same thing that you and I do whenever we complain.

We forget the basic truths of Christianity that you could have told me pretty much, maybe from the second day that you were a Christian, that God is sovereign over all things, and we take the things that God is sovereignly doing in our life, and we say, God, how dare you?

And what we need to do is hold fast to God's word.

We need to interpret the events of our life through the lens of God's word and not through our own understanding.

And every time we complain, we've missed the mark.

We're interpreting our life through our own understanding.

Now listen, you parents with teenagers, you understand exactly what God wants to do in us.

Isn't the most frustrating thing about parenting a teenager the reality that you know what's best for them, and they think they know what's best for them, and you want to shake your teenager.

Some of you, you know, parents, I see you nudging your teenager right now.

Some of you kids are that teenage that very teenager, and you're like, no, this is the worst sermon I've ever heard.

This guy does not even know what he's talking about.

But you know, as a parent, like you know, a 16-year-old boy, he thinks he knows what he's doing, he's got no idea.

And the best thing he can do is sort of lean on you and lean on your counsel because you do have years of wisdom, even though you're not on TikTok.

You have something valuable to offer.

And what the wise teenager then does is say, okay, well, well, listen, uh, you know, I have a lot to learn, so it's often best for me to sort of understand the perspective of my parent.

And listen, as children of God, that is exactly what you and I need to do.

We need to hold fast to this book and interpret the events that are happening in our life through the lens of God's word.

We hold fast to his word.

And even when it contradicts what I'm feeling, even when I'm tempted to complain about what God is doing, I hold fast to the word.

I understand it through his perspective.

This is what it means to stand in awe of God.

We believe that what God is doing, even if we don't understand it, is actually a good work.

I'm standing in awe of him.

I'm working out my salvation with this fear, this reverential fear and trembling.

Now, this is what growth at last does.

It stands in awe.

The second thing I want you to understand is that growth at last, it shines an announcement of God's work.

It shines an announcement of God's work.

Now, notice what Paul says next here in verse 15.

He says that the reason why we ought not to grumble and dispute is that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish.

Essentially, God, what God is saying is this is that by not grumbling, that you know, when when you are healed of this heart issue, this salvation issue of grumbling, you can then be holy.

You'll then be a holy child of God, devoted to Him, blameless and innocent.

But notice what he says, that you are holy in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world.

What God is teaching you and I this morning is that the way that we stand in awe of God's work, and the way that that awe sort of removes all grumbling and complaining from our life, it actually becomes a powerful apologetic to the world.

The way that you respond to challenges and changes and circumstances that you don't necessarily understand in your life becomes a powerful testimony to the world.

Or to use Paul's very illustration, when you live life like this, you shine brightly as a star, as a light in the world.

Now, this is, I think, so instructive for you and I.

Paul is talking about why your growth is necessary to the very mission of God.

As you grow, as you continue to work out your salvation in fear and trembling, and this fleshes itself out in that you are holding fast to the word of life and you are not complaining, God is going to use that to reach the world.

He uses your holiness.

Now, this is really important for some of us because some of us have this idea that in order to reach the world, we need to be exactly like the world.

Like, you know, you don't want to be too holy because then you might kind of like present this, you know, holier than thou sort of attitude to people that walk in.

So we gotta make sure that we're like, you know, kind of messed up so that we can relate to the world.

But Paul here is instructing us you don't win the world by becoming the world.

You win the world by becoming like Jesus.

Notice what he says, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish, that is, to be holy.

And then he says these words, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation.

Now I sat in my office this week thinking about how I would preach these words to you, that we are in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation.

But then it just kind of struck me that I don't even know that I really need to explain these words.

I mean, you, I don't know if there's a single person in this room who does not understand this already.

Like, is there anyone who's gonna argue with me when I say, hey, this world, you know, this generation that we're in, it's it's twisted and perverse.

Anyone gonna stand up and say, no, it's not?

Like you don't even need to be a Christian to understand, like, something's not right here.

There is a darkness in this world that is pervasive.

And aren't I right to say, like, now it seems like that more than ever it has in our lives?

That there is a darkness in this world.

And and Paul here again is it's it's really interesting.

He loves to do this, he's drawing our attention to the way that is that God worked with Israel and what went wrong there.

You see, there's a strong Old Testament connection in this verse that Paul's drawing our attention to, and I'm gonna read this to you.

It's a connection between how Paul says that we are to be children of God in a wicked and perverse generation.

Let me read this for you.

Deuteronomy 32.

Moses is looking back on his life.

He's about to die.

And he kind of reflects on his life.

He's about to, he, they're just on the edge of the promised land.

He's about to die and leave the people of God so that they can go into the promised land.

And he sings a song.

It's kind of a cool thing.

I kind of thought that would be a really cool policy to kind of like, you know, establish in our church.

If you're staff and you want to leave the church, you've got to sing a song.

Come up here, sing a song, a musical in reflection.

I thought we could do it with the members of our church too.

You know, might maybe, you know, I want to leave the church, but I gotta go sing a song on the stage, so I'll just stay.

So that's a policy we have now written in our handbook.

Because Moses does that.

And this is what part of Moses is a song.

I'm just kidding, by the way, it's not a policy, but I would love that.

Deuteronomy 32, verse 4 and 5.

Deuteronomy 32:4

Listen to this.

He says, the rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice.

The God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

But then he says this in verse 5, and it's really interesting.

Because they, speaking of Israel, have dealt corruptly with him.

They are no longer his children.

Remember, Paul.

Paul just encouraged us to be children of God, didn't he?

And here Paul's looking at the people of the people of Israel, and he's saying, they are no longer his children because they are blemished.

They're not blameless, they're not innocent.

And then listen to these words.

They are crooked, they are a crooked and twisted generation.

I mean, Paul has his mind on this verse.

He's saying, Israel was supposed to be holy, and they were supposed to be a light shining in the darkness of the world, but instead the darkness came into them, and they forfeited their position as children of God, so that no longer could they shine as a light in the darkness of the world.

Now they emulated the darkness of the world.

They became the darkness of the world, they were the twisted and perverse generation themselves.

Now Paul looks at you and I, and he says, Don't make the same mistake.

Don't make the same mistake.

As children of God shine brightly in the darkness of this world, by growing to be more and more like Jesus Christ, by working out your salvation in fear and trembling, by accepting what he sends to you as a child of God.

And I am convinced that now more than ever, this message is so necessary for the church to adopt.

Has there ever been a time when the world has been more divided?

Don't you find this?

Like when you're talking to your neighbors, isn't there kind of like a Rolodex of issues?

You're like, I better not bring up that issue.

You know, I better not bring up gender.

I don't know how they feel about that.

I better not bring up politics, you know.

I don't I don't know how they feel about that either.

I better not like especially do not talk about COVID.

I do not, you have no idea how this person will react.

It seems it kind of seems like there's no issue where there's a moderate position.

Didn't there used to be like a central position on issues?

Couldn't you kind of be in the middle?

Now it's like you're either way on the left or you're way on the right.

And Paul's saying, how do we win this world that's so divided against itself?

And listen, I'm worried that some Christians will say, well, what we need to do is join the left, or what we need to do is join the right.

We need to join the side of truth and stand for truth.

And that is true.

I am all for standing for truth.

And yet, Jesus here, he's not calling us to call to join the left side.

He's not calling us to join the right side, he's calling us to a vertical growth.

He's calling us to be like Jesus.

It is that that will win the world.

So that Paul says here in verse 15, he says that when you are holy, you shine as lights.

You shine as lights in a dark, dark world.

In Paul's day and age, the sailor, some of us you can't imagine this world that they lived in.

They had no GPS.

They had no phone to pull out, to pull up Google Maps, to get them to where they needed to go.

And so what did they do?

Well, they navigated by the stars.

Could you imagine a world with no stars shining?

I mean, there's one person in each of our families, isn't there, who always uses the GPS?

They've been to Redemption New Market 150 times, but this morning when they came, they typed in Redemption New Market.

I don't know how to get there without the GPS.

I need my GPS.

I don't know where I'm going without my GPS.

What would we do without a knowledge of direction?

What would these sailors do without the stars?

And listen, apart from the church, do you understand this?

Apart from the church, the world has no GPS.

The world has no example of where to go.

I am convinced now more than ever that the only thing that can bring healing to the brokenness of this city, to the brokenness of this nation, to the brokenness of this world is Jesus Christ.

It is Jesus Christ and Jesus works through his church.

Do you recognize that?

The church is Jesus' plan A to reach the world.

It is the church and its members that shine brightly as stars in the darkness of this world.

Now, the world, you see, it should look at the church and it should see our differences, and it should walk in here and it should say, all these people are radically different, and I don't understand what's bringing them together.

They look different, they believe different things, they do different jobs.

What's bringing them together?

And what the church does, you know, at especially dark time like this, is it it displays that there is something greater than all these disagreements in our midst, and it is Jesus Christ.

He's the only one that can bring healing, he's the only one that can provide unity.

And I just need you to know I praise God for the many people in this church who, you know, me and them, we might have disagreements, but but I actually come to rejoice in them because we're able to look past them to something more important.

If we were all the same on everything, it would be kind of hard to pick out what's the most important thing.

But when someone comes in this church, it's like, yeah, they got all these different beliefs on all these different things, but the thing that joins them together is this love of Jesus Christ.

That's the important thing.

That's the life-changing thing.

That's why everyone in this room is experiencing life change because they're united on the gospel.

I love it.

That is the testimony that the church is giving to the world.

See, the world, they can't do that.

The world majors on the minors, they minor on the majors.

Let it not be so with the church.

I want you to see this next.

The growth at last, it shares in accomplishment of God's work.

It shares in the accomplishment of God's work.

Now, at this point, Paul kind of takes a weird turn in this verse, doesn't he?

He says in verse 16, holding fast to the word, then he says, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Paul kind of makes their growth about himself.

I don't know if Paul was just like the youngest child in the family, everything had to revolve around him.

I think there's something more important here.

Paul had just made the argument that their growth is becoming a bright shining light of guidance to the world.

And then he adds one more motivation for us to pursue growth.

If that's not enough, like if it's not enough, if your heart at this point is not bursting with like, I just want to grow because you you love the lost, then Paul wants to also give you this personal motivation so that he says this that in the day of Christ, the thing that should motivate you is this desire to be proud, that you did not run or labor in vain.

He says in verse 17, even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.

Likewise, you should also be glad and rejoice with me.

Now notice again that Paul brings up the day of Christ.

Paul's obsessed with this day.

He doesn't know the date, but he he knows this day is coming, and he cannot get his mind off this day where he will stand in front of Jesus Christ.

Paul's already talked about in Philippians 1, verse 6.

Philippians 1:6

He said that he was sure that if God had begun a work in them, he would bring it to completion, and he would bring it to completion, he said, on the day of Christ.

That this would be the final day of reckoning when the plan of salvation would be finished and we would stand before God.

And so then what Paul is doing, he's obsessed with this day.

He's constantly evaluating the things that he's doing in life against this day.

This is so instructive for you and I.

I mean, I I love running, but I love running because it's got a good, you know, like the endorphans, you feel really good, and I'm told that it's really good for your health.

But you know, every once in a while I'll go on Google and I'll say, you know, reasons why running is bad.

See if there's any evidence there that running is actually bad for your health.

And the moment I find that I'm running in vain, I'm gonna stop running.

How many of you love working in vain?

How many of you love when your employer says, Hey, would you go do this work?

I mean, it it really has there's no reason to do it, it's just busy work, but you gotta go and do it.

Like, I wanna do something worthwhile, I wanna spend my time for something that is useful, that is productive.

Now, here is our reality.

Here, here is my reality and your reality.

We're all running, aren't we, in life?

We're all laboring.

Is anyone in here, you know, not busy?

I used to be a youth pastor and I talked to some of the youth in the summer, you know, they have nothing going on, they're not working, and I'm like, hey, you know, how's life?

Oh man, it's so busy.

I'm like, oh, what are you doing?

I got soccer.

Oh, you know, on Saturday night I had soccer.

I'm like, well, it's Tuesday.

What have you been doing since then?

Well, you know, nothing.

But I'm so busy.

You guys ever talk to a retired person?

You know, you talk to them, you're expecting, like, oh man, this person's gonna be, you know, living life.

And what do you what do they say to them?

Man, I'm so busy.

Like, retirement is so much busier than I thought it was gonna be.

All of us are busy, all of us are laboring.

But here's my question.

Do you know for certain that your busyness, that you're laboring, that you're running, is not in vain.

See, when you think about that day when you will meet Christ, it has this way of putting in perspective the things that you are busying yourself with now.

And Paul recognizes this: that the most important thing on that day will not be whether or not he did a lot of things.

All of us will have done a lot of things, all of us will have been busy for our whole entire life.

The most important thing will be this: did he do the right things?

Did he do the things that left a lasting reward?

And he looks at the Philippian church and he says, Here are the right things, here are the people, here are the things that is worth me pouring myself out as a sacrifice.

He already said this in chapter one.

You remember when he was contemplating between death and departing to be with Jesus, or staying and laboring in ministry, he decided to stay for what?

The progress, he says, of the Philippian church, for their progress and for their joy.

Paul thinks about this day constantly, and the question is do you think about this day that you will meet Christ and you will stand before the Lord?

And I just have this like mental image that everyone in this church is gonna stand there too, and right beside you is gonna be your family standing there too, and you'll lock eyes with them, and you'll you'll have this thought, did I prepare you for this day?

Paul's obsessed with this.

In Colossians 1, he says this that he proclaims Christ.

He says, Toiling and laboring in order that he may present everyone mature on that day.

On that day, nothing else is going to matter.

The only thing that will matter is this that I do everything I could to prepare everyone I knew for that day.

My fear is this.

My fear is that many of us will stand on that day, and we've been busy building a business.

It's a good thing, but or we've been busy leading a family.

It's a good thing.

We've been busy studying much in education, all these good things, or pursuing hobbies, or watching these TV series, or doing this, scrolling Instagram, busy, busy, busy, but with nothing that stands the test of time.

With no lasting eternal influence.

I need you to know this church is built on this belief that there is a day where we will stand before the Lord and that there are actions that you can take now, so that on that day, as you look at all of your brothers and sisters in Christ, and as you look at your family, there will be much to be proud of because you, like Paul, you sacrificed yourself on the altar of the ministry that the Lord had given you so that you could influence and progress other people's faith.

The church is built on this belief that your primary call as a disciple is to make disciples.

Your job, it's secondary to that.

Even your family, such a good thing, such an important thing, secondary to the call Jesus has laid on your life to make disciples.

That is what it's all about.

This is why we so long for you to integrate your life into the church.

It's because it's Small group, it is not just about you growing.

Small group is your opportunity.

Man, there are the 11 other people in your group that you get to influence for the sake of eternity.

A labor you get to participate in that lasts.

Which leads to our last point.

Growth that lasts, that smiles and appreciation of God's work.

Notice what is on Paul's mind that by pursuing this growth, says, I am glad and rejoice with you all.

Likewise, you should rejoice and be glad in me.

And Paul's convinced when he pursues this growth, this Christian growth, he will be given a reward that will lead to ultimate lasting.

And he invites you and I into that reward.

And so just as a note of application, I hope for everyone that's here will be hopefully spoken to in one of these applications.

First, maybe you don't know Christ, maybe you're here and you're not a Christian.

You're not a follower of Christ, you're not a disciple of Christ.

I want you to understand that the things that you are pursuing now, if you are not pursuing Christ, they have an end date.

There is a day where you will be holding these things that you're pursuing.

Maybe it's fame, maybe it's money, maybe it's popularity, maybe it's, you know, a spouse that will love you a certain way, or a boss that will treat you a certain way.

You're pursuing these things, and there is a day coming where like that, they will vanish.

They will become like sand, and you will try to grip them, but they'll just squeeze through your palms.

You cannot hold on to them.

The things you are pursuing have that much value.

And right now they they kind of give you these little tastes of pleasure, but man, there is an enemy of your soul whose name is Satan that loves when you experience that pleasure that causes you to hunger for more.

And he's kind of baiting you along for hoping for your eternal destruction.

And God has brought you to a place in this moment where you can see the vanity of the things that you're pursuing.

And Jesus Christ, in this moment, he says, Turn to me, and you can have everlasting reward.

What does he offer?

Eternal life.

In this moment, if in your heart you will turn to him by faith, everything changes.

This is a quote we think about so often in our church.

I've shared it so many times, but it just gripped the life of our church.

It says this only, only one life will soon be past.

Only what's done for Christ will last.

There's only one lasting pursuit.

I'm pleading with you in this moment to turn to Christ and find that lasting pursuit in Him.

Maybe you know Christ, but your experience of Him maybe just doesn't go beyond a Sunday morning experience.

Like this is really maybe that maybe throughout the week there's some devotion or some other way that you feel that you're turned into Christ.

But when it comes to like this all-consuming mission Christ has placed on your life as a disciple, to make disciples, that's just not really you.

Like this whole Christianity thing, it's kind of a part, and it's a good part that you like, but it's not the whole thing.

Can I urge you to think about this?

That the only person who is being robbed by you not pressing deeper into the mission that Christ has given you is yourself.

You are robbing yourself of eternal joy to the degree that you, like Paul, pour yourself out and sacrifice for others in ministering to them, is the degree that on that final day you will look back and have so much to be proud of.

There is so much opportunity.

Even in this church, I gotta tell you, as the pastor, there is more work to be done in this church than there is time for any single human being to do it.

You can get involved, you can get involved in the discipleship of others.

You can have much on that final day to be proud of.

And so, no, why not today choose to change the course of your life?

Change the course of your eternal destiny to pursue now the things that will pay lasting reward that will lead to eternal and lasting joy.

Lastly, maybe you're here, you're all in.

I'm so thankful for you.

I mean, I just gotta say that this church would not be here today if over the past two years there had not been a number of families who said, We're all in.

We are all in.

We will we will do what Paul said.

We're pouring ourselves out for the sacrifice of the mission.

I I'm telling you, this church would not be here today.

And let this be a continual reminder to take up Christ's mission with even greater zeal.

There's a day coming where your influence will be seen, and you will stand with great pride that God worked through you.

See, there's a way, church, for us to live now that leads to ultimate rejoicing on that day.

It's a way of growth.

It's an investment that we'll never regret, and so it's a step that we must all take.

Let's pray.

Father, we pray for courage in this moment.

We pray for protection in this moment.

From even now, Lord, maybe the spirit working a spirit of conviction in our hearts.

It is certainly the desire of Satan to come and steal that conviction away.

And even in this moment, even in this day, to send these little tiny regrets.

Maybe I shouldn't press in more.

Maybe it would be a waste of time.

Maybe it wouldn't pay off to grow more.

Maybe I should pursue these other things.

And I pray, Lord, for your protection.

Then in a in a spirit of clarity, by the power of your Holy Spirit, would you give us this crystal clear perspective that only what's done for Christ on that final day will last, that everything else is vanity.

Lord, give us this perspective and help us to respond to you in faith.

We pray this in the name of your son.

Amen.