"Worship that Leads to Life" Philippians 3:15-4:4

Let us pray. We'll open up God's word together.

And then we'll dive right in.

Will you pray with me?

Father in heaven, we thank you for this wonderful, beautiful, essential truth

That you are one God, yet you are three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Lord, we thank you for who you are and for what you have done.

Lord, we thank you that the call for us is not to ascend,

to heaven, but your Son descended and then lived and died and rose again

and then ascended.

And that's the promise for us.

Father in heaven, will you please make that real in our hearts?

Help us to embrace the truth.

Help us to look to you for real reality.

Everything that runs contra to this is not reality.

For you are the creator and you set the boundaries of what is real.

So Lord, help us to live in this real world that you have created.

Bless this time in your word.

And we ask this in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Amen.

If you are following along with one of these Philippians scripture journals, awesome.

Good job.

You can pick up one if you don't have one at the welcome table.

We will be on page 16 this morning.

I've been on a bit of an introduction here.

I've been on a bit of an espionage tip.

I don't know.

I want to watch spy shows.

I want to listen to spy stories and podcasts and read spy novels,

even though I get confused at all the details.

But I started recently listening to the story of the man who betrayed Osama bin Laden.

He was an Al-Qaeda operative in the late 90s and the mid-2000s.

It's a great podcast.

And there's a whole series of them.

There's like 16 seasons.

I'm loving life right now.

And I'm on the edge of my seat, even though not actually on the edge of my seat,

oftentimes on the edge of doing dishes or something.

But I'm listening to the free version, which means there's ads.

And in the middle of like a very high intense moment in the podcast,

it cuts to an advertisement about some random podcast that's boring or not as exciting.

But it's like it pulls the e-brake, so to speak, with all my excitement.

And one of those advertisements was for a podcast called How Do You Cope?

That was a really interesting podcast.

How Do You Cope?

It's a British podcast, so I've never at all heard of the...

It's a comedian and journalist who hosts it.

And he has, I don't know, I don't want to say like B-level celebrities because maybe they're A-level.

I'm not sure.

But I would say B-level.

I haven't heard of them.

It's not like they're in big box office hits.

But you have different celebrities or different kind of thought leaders on to talk about ways to cope.

And what strikes me about this, and it's on like in between every show, this advertisement,

is how fragile men and women are.

And by the way, I don't say that as like a judgy person.

I'm finding myself more and more fragile in my day-to-day.

I, as an example, I'll let my thoughts wander and they just go to a dark place, usually around my children.

And I realize just the thought, just the thinking of certain things.

And I can be set off for a half an hour or 45 minutes of just really terrible distraction.

But all that to say, you know, here we are, very put-together people in the West.

Again, general, I'm speaking generally.

We're put together.

We have opportunities abounding.

We have wealth at our disposal, opportunities at our disposal.

We have kind of life, you know, on a silver platter.

And yet, we're still extremely fragile.

Maybe, potentially, more fragile than we've ever been.

We struggle and suffer with change and with pain.

Unmet expectations.

Fears.

In my case, irrational ones.

Sometimes they're very rational.

Hiccups in our schedule.

Okay?

A canceled meeting or a deadline that's been moved up.

Whatever it may be, we are easily knocked off course and are surprisingly quick to abandon

our principles, our philosophies, our beliefs that we claim to hold on to, that we think are, or at least we, you know, put forward that it's our guiding North Star.

We're quick to abandon such things.

We compromise our convictions.

We find them to be weakly held.

Or we deny their effectiveness.

It's a really interesting time to be somebody in the West.

And yet, is not our desire to be more whole, more grounded, more stable, more reasonable, more solid?

Is this not the point even of this podcast?

How to cope?

We want stability.

We want to be strong.

We don't want to be fragile.

We want to be anti-fragile.

You might be familiar with that concept.

It's somewhat popular.

It's gone around a lot of kind of self-help or psychology, pop psychology.

I'm not saying it's, that means it's bad, but this idea of humanity has this desire to not be fragile, but to be anti-fragile.

And yet, you know, it's hard to think about being a holistic, stable person when, if we're honest, not all the time, but more than we'd like to admit, our default setting is survival.

But I want to suggest to you, this will be the main thrust of today's message.

I want to suggest to you that our problem isn't that we know there's a few issues that just need a bit of tweaking or need a little bit of fixing,

that we just need to, you know, go through just a bit of training to gain a bit more resilience.

Maybe we just need some productivity app to help us with our out-of-control schedule.

All those things are fine.

All those things are very helpful.

I would say to you, though, that the real problem that we have is an issue around worship.

Our strategy is to be more whole.

They don't necessarily consider who to worship and how to worship.

I mean, I would be awfully surprised.

Maybe, maybe, you know, I'd be proved wrong, but I'd be awfully surprised if there was a, you know,

a whole series on how to cope on the importance of worship in one's daily life as a means of stability.

And yet, our problem is primarily one of worshiping the wrong things.

We worship, but the wrong things.

So our text today, Philippians 3, starting in verse 15 that Katie read,

our text today offers a remarkably wise blueprint on how to be spiritually mature,

or to put another way, to be anti-fragile in the best sense of the term.

This spiritual maturity is a godly maturity that addresses our deepest needs and longings.

It's exactly what we need.

So we'll break up the text asking the question,

how does this text teach us to be spiritually mature or anti-fragile?

The text will help us to know, in light of that, what to embrace,

who to imitate, and then how to stand.

What to embrace, who to imitate, and how to stand.

Point number one, what to embrace.

Look with me at verses 15 and 16.

Again, page 16 if you're following along on the scripture journal.

Let those of us who are mature think this way,

and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.

Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Verse 15 is, it's a bit of a hinge verse.

Paul is alluding to the previous section, chapter 3, 1 to 14.

And especially, and he'll touch on it shortly, like in the next verse,

but especially verses 12 to 14.

In this section, Paul speaks of the mature believer as the one who thinks this way.

And the thinking this way is a reference to this articulation that the Christian life is one of joy and privilege of knowing Christ.

It is not about climbing our way to heaven.

It's not about building our kingdom on earth.

Even the resurrection of the dead serves the purpose of knowing Christ.

The privilege and the joy of knowing him and being known by him.

It is a gift from God, and therefore it can't be attained.

It can't be gained through this piety or this status.

You remember in last week, and if you weren't here, no problem,

Paul, he talked about these false teachers who were leading the church astray,

and they were really promoting, it was like this mutation of the law

to make the law become the means by which we could then know Christ,

which would then be the means that we could know God.

Where Paul was saying, listen, if that was the case, I'd be front of the line,

but it has nothing to do with that.

It's about the grace that God gives us in Christ Jesus.

It's actually a gift from him.

And Paul is saying to the Philippians here, think this way.

This is what maturity looks like.

Christ Jesus himself has given us himself.

He claims us, and he calls us.

He claims us as his own.

He invites us into his presence.

So in sum, what it means to be mature,

what Paul is saying here in verse 15, to think this way,

is a call to embrace Christ as the ultimate prize in life,

as the ultimate goal, as the ultimate thing to cherish.

It is Christ Jesus himself.

And that, we looked at this last week, but as a bit of a reminder,

that will then properly order the rest of our affections and our loves.

That we will put the right emphasis on the right things,

and not elevate things to the place of God or devalue God,

not that we can, but just in our day-to-day, in our worship.

So spiritual maturity, Paul is saying,

involves recognizing at the very core of all of this

that this is a gift from God,

which means you are helpless to achieve it.

Mature thinking is really a sign that you recognize

that you're actually not all that put together.

That you are in need of a Savior,

and that Christ Jesus is him.

It is nothing short of having a proper understanding of the faith.

And I'll just say this.

This is one of the reasons why, in our church,

we are affirming the faith in either the Apostles' Creed,

or the Nicene Creed, or in the Athanasius Creed,

because proper theology, it matters.

It's really important.

And having proper theology isn't,

it doesn't matter, so that we can elevate ourselves

and say we are the church that has excellent Orthodox theology,

you know, not like them, or not like those outside,

but rather that we can know who God is

because we are in desperate need of him.

And if we need him, we need him.

Not some picture of him,

not some kind of, again, mutation of who he is,

or this false idea of who God,

but him.

So it's important then that we understand

who God is.

So that, just a plug for the Athanasius Creed

on a random Sunday in June.

It's a wonderful thing.

I'll just say this before we transition to the next bit.

This is so much different

than just having positive thinking.

I'd say, listen, have positive thinking.

Think positively.

It's a good thing.

I don't know, have positive thoughts.

It's much different than this idea

of manifesting your success

or praying to the universe

or hoping to the universe

that you will have some kind of favorable outcome.

Listen, those are belief structures.

They're not just nice things.

Those are forms of worship.

Okay?

They are belief structures.

The starting point of all of those,

I mean, they might make you feel really good,

but the starting point of all of those

has to do with what we deserve,

our success,

our happiness,

our victory,

our wholeness.

However, all of those things,

the huge problem with them

when they become the guiding philosophies

and religious practices of our lives

is that they are devoid of this understanding

of our need,

that we are broken before God,

that we have this propensity

to elevate ourselves

to the throne of grace,

and kind of kick God off.

Again, you can't do this,

but just in our mentality,

that's what we do.

And this is a very offensive thing to God.

It is the worship of self.

Again, we have this worship problem

that is happening.

Paul says this is not the way to mature thinking.

Mature thinking is understanding

that you are in need.

Remember Paul, he says,

listen, I have all the reasons to boast,

but I'm not boasting in any of that.

If you look back in verse 7 and 8,

he says,

whatever gain I had,

I consider it,

and we talked about this last week,

rubbish.

It's a very kind of cleaned up word

to talk about excrement.

It's nothing.

It has no value at all.

The real gain is the surpassing knowledge

of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord.

This is what true maturity is.

This is what it looks like.

And any philosophy,

any kind of belief structure or religion

that really promotes otherwise,

it is one that is antithetical to the gospel.

What's also important to see in these verses,

and in fact,

it's something that we have seen,

and you'll notice this

if you read through Philippians,

we've seen throughout the letter,

is this mindset

is to be embraced collectively.

There's a huge call

and call for unity

and togetherness

and community

sprinkled all through this letter.

It's a huge deal for the Apostle Paul.

He puts a heavy emphasis on unity.

Unity of mission,

unity of worship,

and in this case,

he's saying,

listen,

have the same mindset.

Think the same way.

Embrace this same reality.

This call for a unified posture

of commitment

to living under this lordship

of Jesus Christ,

which is,

I think,

I'll put this forward to you,

that the mature thing

is not to draw away

from God's people.

There is no faithful living

outside of worship,

worshiping with God's people,

of being kind of your own thing

on a Sunday

or on a Tuesday

or on a Thursday,

just you and your Bible

kind of divorced from the church.

It's a really important thing

that you come to church

and it's a wonderful thing

that you're here.

my spirituality is contingent on you guys,

which is an incredible thing to think about.

Your spirituality is in part contingent on other people.

We are to embrace this together.

And of course,

it's not as though we take the place of God,

but God has designed worship in his body

to be this unified,

beautiful thing

where we spur each other on

and we help each other identify

when this mindset is not there,

when immaturity is the thing that marks us

and not godly spiritual maturity.

We embrace the gospel together,

looking to Christ as our example to imitate.

But what happens when,

you know,

people aren't where you're at?

Maybe you're a bit more mature than others

or maybe spiritually,

you're less mature than somebody else.

Notice again,

verse 16,

the Apostle Paul says this,

actually the second part of verse 15.

And if in anything you think otherwise,

God will reveal that also to you.

Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

You know,

there is also this recognition

that we grow at different speeds in the faith.

We have different intellects,

different spiritual sensitivities.

And sometimes you will need to be buoyed,

so to speak,

by your brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Sometimes that will be your job.

Sometimes you just won't understand it.

We've read about the Trinity

and the Athanasian Creed

and it's like,

maybe you picked up on 5% of it

and you're like,

what?

Like there's this whole bit at the beginning

saying if I don't believe this

or embrace it,

I can't be saved.

I would say,

listen,

like hellfire is not licking at your feet

right this second,

okay?

The point is,

there is this grace

built into the church

whereby as we grow,

we grow together,

but we grow at different speeds.

And that is okay.

But keep your eye out for others

and don't be so proud

as to not ask for help

and direction in prayers.

The second point,

who to imitate.

Let us read verse 17

and we'll pause there.

Brothers and sisters,

whenever you see this,

especially in Philippians,

there is such an affection

that is oozing from the page.

We don't necessarily see it here,

but there is affection

oozing from the page

and we'll really pick that up

when we read verse 1

of chapter 4,

but I'll start in verse 17 here.

Brothers and sisters,

join in imitating me

and keep your eyes on those

who walk according to the example

you have in us.

So much of good mentorship

involves imitation.

It is a key way we learn

from infancy to adolescence,

into teenage years,

into adulthood,

our professional lives as well.

We observe those

we wish to be like

and we imitate.

We see them

as an inspiration.

Yet,

I would say,

maybe you're like me,

but I would say,

if somebody says to me,

hey listen, imitate me,

I would say,

not imitating you.

I don't like

that kind of self-promotion.

So what is happening with Paul?

Is Paul cocky here?

Is he self-promoting himself?

Again,

in the previous section,

it's very clear

that the false teachers

are the ones

that are promoting themselves,

but here,

it would seem that Paul

is doing the same.

What is happening?

Although Paul's words

seem awfully cocky,

especially

as we,

again,

have a bit of a phobia

towards this kind of talk

in our society,

Paul here,

he is not prideful.

He has already established

that the only thing

that truly matters

in this life

is this humble faith

and bending a knee

to the lordship

of Jesus Christ.

So therefore,

he calls the Philippians

to the same goal.

In another letter,

in 1 Corinthians,

Paul will say,

follow me

as I follow Christ.

Paul really,

truly here

is saying,

listen,

follow me

because here I am

in chains.

I have walked

this walk authentically,

not in my own strength,

but in Christ's strength

that he has given me

by his Holy Spirit.

Follow me,

imitate me.

And I think

this is incredibly wise.

Two reasons.

Number one,

you're going to imitate somebody.

You're just bound to.

You're not this kind of

by yourself,

silo,

automaton,

you know,

you just have

a code in your brain

that's kind of

setting your life.

No,

you take in,

you have these things

called eyes and ears,

these senses

that help you process life

and you're going to,

you're bound to imitate

something or someone.

Paul is saying,

listen,

imitate me.

And the second reason

is huge

because Paul will go on

to talk about

those that are trying

and actively trying

to,

again,

divert people

away from Christ.

He says,

listen,

you're going to follow somebody.

These people

are promoting something

that is

awfully appetizing.

It looks good

on the outside,

but believe me,

and he'll mention this

in the next couple verses

we'll read in a moment,

their end

is not towards life

but towards death.

So follow me.

And the great irony

in this

is that Paul

is in jail

in chains,

unjustly held

for almost three years

at this point

and he is

really saying

this is the way

to life.

Let's pause

quickly.

We'll go to

verse 18

and 19

and read what Paul says.

For many of whom

I have often told you

and now tell you

even with tears

walk as enemies

of the cross of Christ.

Sorry,

we'll back up

and I missed verse 17.

We'll start in verse 17

and we'll read 18 again

and also 19.

Brothers,

join in imitating me

and keep your eyes

on those who walk

according to the example

you have in us.

Verse 18,

For many of whom

I have often told you

and now tell you

even with tears

walk as enemies

of the cross of Christ.

Their end,

that is their telos,

their destination,

their end is destruction.

Their God is their belly.

And they glory

in their shame

with minds set

on earthly things.

This is not merely

a call to prioritize

virtues over vices,

though that is

certainly a part of it.

Rather,

it is a call

to emulate

and to imitate

those who strive

to follow Christ.

Their example

is a genuine

fear of God

and there's

also a genuine

fear

that the church

may be led astray.

Paul here,

he is addressing

this group

of false teachers.

He's already

mentioned them

a few times before.

He doesn't

specify

exactly who they are

or specify

exactly

what they do,

but it's very clear

their intent

is to distort

the gospel.

The core

of what they're

trying to do

is deny

the exclusivity

of Christ

as the means

of salvation

and if

they're the same

people as

in the previous

section,

they are promoting

again,

this type

of mutation

of the law,

a mutation

of the gospel

that kind of

either cuts

Christ out

or says

it's Christ

plus

something else.

And Paul

is saying

these people,

their end,

their destination,

the fruit

of their labor

will not lead

to life,

but actually

it will lead

to death.

And here

they are unmasked

and exposed

for what they

truly are.

He mentions

four things.

He says

their end

is destruction,

their God,

their belly,

and the belly

would be,

maybe a better

way to say

it would be

their appetites,

their desires.

They glory

in shame,

their eyes

are on

earthly things.

These people

are beholden

to desires

and they lack

a self-control.

What they see

is what they get.

They want it,

they get it.

They're driven

by wrong motives,

they emphasize

the wrong things.

There's a gluttony

about them

and surely

this is a gluttony

of food,

but it's even

greater idea

that goes beyond

physical consumption

but an insatiable

appetite for more.

Always consuming,

never satisfied.

There's no number

that they'll reach

in their bank account

that will

satisfy them.

There's no amount

of elevation

at work

that will

make them feel

like they've

arrived.

There's no

situation

with friends

or reputation

that will give

them satisfaction.

They always want

more,

they need more.

It's as if

they are drinking

salt water.

Their bellies

are full

but they are

always thirsty

for more.

They have a

disordered view

of what brings

life.

They also

confuse shame

with glory.

And such

living,

Paul is saying,

like,

it might seem

like it is

full of bounty

but it is

dripping with

death.

It's dripping

with destruction.

It is on

the road

to perdition.

In 1995,

Pope John Paul II

wrote an

encyclical.

In English,

it was called

The Gospel of Life.

And he describes

this reality,

again,

this is in 1995,

a remarkable

paper he wrote.

He calls this,

what Paul is

summing up

in verse 19,

18 and 19,

he calls this

the conspiracy

against life

and the culture

of death.

Such clarity

in this

explanation.

He doesn't

paper over it.

He doesn't

try to explain

it away.

But within

our culture,

within modernity,

this push

for materialism,

for self-expression,

for pleasure

above all things,

it is a

conspiracy

against life.

It is a

culture of death.

I was talking

to Christine

about it

this week

and

she

mentioned

about how

our culture

for women

especially

is

it is

precisely this.

It's a conspiracy

against life.

It is a culture

of death.

Women

are only

valued

if they can

bring pleasure,

if they look

beautiful,

if they can

be a means

to satisfy

the desires

of men

and when

women begin

to age,

they become,

and Christine,

this is her term,

not mine,

they become

spent foul.

Their

purpose

begins to

start

descending,

so to speak.

Their worth

begins to

descend.

Our culture,

when it

puts an

emphasis

on pleasure

and consumption

and on

individualism,

what ends up

happening

is that we

treat

those whom

God has

made in

his image

as commodities

and when

those commodities

run out,

we discard

them.

The example

she gave,

interestingly,

I wish

Christine's not

here this

morning,

but the

example that

she gave,

and she'd

be nodding,

is,

I guess,

the Jenner

mom just

got a new

face,

she said.

And for

a woman in

her 70s,

she looks

incredibly

not 70.

But the

fact that

that is

what brings

her worth,

it really

exposes

how such

a type

of thinking

is not

a thinking

that leads

to life

but leads

to death.

Mama

Jenner

has worth

because she

is made

in the

image of

God.

And age

can't take

that away

from her.

Age

can't take

that away

from you

or me.

This is the

great problem.

This is the

conspiracy

against life.

This is the

culture of

death.

month.

And it's

all around

us.

You can

think of

other

examples.

We are

in the

month of

pride in

our city

and in

our country.

A month

that does

not lead

to human

flourishing

for it

cannot lead

to human

flourishing.

It cannot

produce life

and it

leads to

death.

That's one

month.

We live

in 24-7

of

consumerism.

Same

thing.

Paul is

saying

imitate me

as I

imitate

Christ

because you

will imitate

something

and the

current is

flowing really

hard against

godly living.

Imitate me

as I

imitate

Christ.

Focus on

the things

that matter

because there's

a lot of

things that

distort.

Look with

me at

verses 20

and 21

because I

think here

is where

the antidote

lies.

If Paul

just paused

it here

or put

a period

at verse

19

and said

listen

avoid

these

people

then I

think we

would be

in a

really

difficult

situation

because

we

wouldn't

understand

how

to access

the power

to avoid

such people

but Paul

doesn't end

in verse

19.

He continues

on verse

20 and

21.

Look with

me at

verses

20

starting

verse

20.

But 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.

Humanity

was not

created solely

for this

temporal life

not for this

mortal life

that we

live in

but to be

with Christ

forever.

forever.

All of

our deepest

longings

are

our

deepest

desires

they cannot

be fulfilled

in this

world.

For those

united to

Christ

through faith

and his

gracious

gift on

the cross

the

resurrection

of the

dead

it promises

a life

that far

far far

far surpasses

all other

promises in

this life.

It tells

us that

true godly

worship

must always

lead to

life

and God

has made

a way

for that

to be

so.

The

promise

is that

Christ's

redemption

will leave

no aspect

of this

life

untouched

unredeemed.

Listen

if this

life can

promise

the best

surgeons

to make

us look

young

but the

fact is

death is

just knocking

at the

door

the

resurrection

offers us

not just

a degree

better

but

infinity

better

than that.

No part

of the

human

condition

will be

untouched

which means

no cell

in your

body

no

muscle

fiber

no

beating

heart

no vein

no sinew

no molecule

inside of

you

will not

be redeemed

by Christ

to never

to never

experience

decay.

In heaven

I wonder

this is

speculation

it's found

nowhere in

God's

holy word

I wonder

if cancer

will be

like

permanently

forgotten

in our

brains

in heaven

if something

like diabetes

or

or some

kind of

immune

issue

or Parkinson

disease

or whatever

dementia

it's not

just that

it doesn't

exist in

heaven

we will

have no

concept of

it

I don't

know

but certainly

every aspect

of the

resurrection

will touch

us

it will

also mean

that betrayal

will not be a

thing in the

life to come

that heartache

will not be a

thing in the

life to come

the possibility

of offense

will not be a

possibility

in the life

to come

and how

will this

happen

look again

at the

second part

of verse

21

by the

power

that enables

him

that is

Christ

even to

subject

all things

to himself

this means

that the

heavenly power

of God

who raised

Jesus from

the dead

Jesus ascending

into heaven

sitting at the

right hand

of God

where everything

will be subject

to him

that power

is the very

same power

that will

infuse

and touch

and transform

our bodies

into something

that we can

we can only

hope to get

a little

sliver of a

glimpse of

through Christ

Jesus

we will be

100%

outfitted

for eternity

with him

it's really

good news

wonderful news

in fact it's

great news

but here we are

citizens of

heaven

but we're still

here on earth

with all the

struggles

with all

of the

influencers

with all

of those

that would

would speak

sweet words

of life

that are really

horrendous

words of death

they are still

whispering in

our ear

our hearts

are divided

how can we

then keep

our gaze

upon heavenly

things

how can we

remember that

our citizenship

is in heaven

how can we

live anti-fragile

spiritually mature

lives

and leads

us to our

final point

verse 1

and verse 4

in two weeks

we'll return to

verses 2 and 3

in a bit more

detail

we'll touch on

them briefly

but this is what

it says

this is our

third point

how to stand

we'll read

verse 1

therefore my

brothers and

sisters

here's that

affection kind

of oozing

out

therefore my

brothers and

sisters whom

I love and

I long for

my joy and

crown stand

firm thus in

the Lord

my beloved

continues on

I entreat

Judea and I

entreat

Syntyche to

agree in the

Lord

yes I ask

you also true

companion

help these

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

rejoice in

the Lord

always again

I say rejoice

listen there's

no reason to

tell somebody

to stand

firm

if they are

secure and

rested

and they're

feeling 100%

charged

you tell someone

to stand firm

if they are

weary and

worn and this

is the reality

of this life

when the tide

seems to be

against us

and the reality

for such a

heavenly

citizenship

is that the

earthly pull

is it's

difficult

to push

against

but the

call here

is to

stand firm

and specifically

in the truth

of who Christ

is

and his

victory upon

the cross

and the power

that he gives

by his

Holy Spirit

it will give

us the ability

to discern

right from

wrong

give us the

strength we

need to

both embrace

the gospel

every day

to imitate

others

as they are

following Christ

and to

imitate

Christ

himself

and I'll

say that

there is no

promise that

life will get

easier

but what

will happen

is that

things will

get put

in the right

perspective

and we will

not fear

things like

we have

feared them

in the

past

so case

in point

and again

we're not

going to

jump into

it

Paul here

he is

walking

towards

this

conflict

that is

happening

in Philippi

between

these two

godly

women

who are

leaders

in the

church

he is

walking

towards

the

problem

because

number

one

he is

not

going to

be

shaken

in this

situation

and number

two

because

the

transformed

life

that

embraces

the gospel

will always

seek to

do what

Christ

himself

does

which

is

to

heal

and

to

restore

and

to

reconcile

and just

in case

we think

that again

this is

a recipe

for a

very

difficult

life

that will

be

full

and fraught

of

with

all sorts

of

headaches

and

dark

clouds

that

follow

us

around

verse

four

rejoice

in the

Lord

always

again

I

say

rejoice

and

Paul

returns

once

again

to

this

proclamation

that

in the

gospel

there

is

joy

abounding

for

all

let us

pray

father

in heaven

thank you

for this

wonderful

of what

it means

to be

spiritually

mature

to be

people that

is

turning

towards a

life

that is

anti-fragile

a life that

is secure

and stable

not because

of

our own

willpower

not because

of our

own

digging

deep

but because

we have

looked

outside

of

ourselves

to

you

and that

you

give

liberally

you

give

generously

and

Lord

we

thank

you

for

this

wonderful

truth

Lord

it is

a high

calling

but we

ask

for your

help

as a

community

of

Christians

as

this

church

help

us

to

strive

to have

this

same

mind

together

that

we

would

embrace

the

gospel

together

and look

to bless

one

another

and to

seek

blessing

from

others

Lord

we

ask

that

you

bless

us

even

now

and

bless

the

remainder

of

our

service

and we

pray

this

in

Christ's

mighty

name

Amen