Philippians (Lesson 21)

And thank you so very much for tuning in today to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast.

I'm Brother James.

I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Hope you can stay with us for the next half an hour as we continue our look at the book of Philippians, as we continue our look at Philippians two, verses one through eleven, and as we enjoy together the incredible passage of Jesus Christ setting for us the example of self denial as the doorway to full joy.

Now let's review ever so quickly, review for those of you been with us, introduce in just the most cursory manner for those of you just joining us, the idea of Philippians.

In Philippians 1 1, we read Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ.

In chapter 1 verse 23 and 24 we read, for I am in a straight betwixt two, having a desire to partner to be with Christ, which is far better, nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

In chapter one verse twenty seven, that ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, full joy, same love, one accord, one mind, nothing done through strife or vainglory, in lowliness of mind each esteem other better.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Now this is the context of the remarks made in Philippians two verses five through eleven about the reason for Jesus' death upon the cross.

As we have seen, Philippians is written to instruct born-again believers as to the way in which we should live in fellowship and in communion with one another.

And the first chapter leading into the second chapter points out that our manner of life toward one another is one of humble servitude.

Then, when the Holy Spirit brings the apostle to the fifth verse of chapter two, he points to the Lord Jesus Christ, not so that he may instruct us as to his deity, though that truth is found in the verses, not so that he may give us insight into the cross and the shame of the cross, though that is certainly to be found in the passage.

No here the Holy Spirit is pointing to the downward path that Jesus traveled voluntarily for you and for me, to show us just exactly what he is talking about when he says serve one another, love one another, fellowship with one another, commune with one another.

Because you see, the only reason I wouldn't serve you would be my pride.

The only reason I would not sacrifice myself for you would be my pride, my self-love.

So lack of service, wrong thinking, all of these are the outworking of too high an estimation of oneself.

Why me?

I'll help her because she's trying to live a good life.

I'll help him because he's living up to my standards, but not them because they aren't doing as many things right as I'm doing.

They don't deserve my sacrificial service.

That's a heart problem, it's a thinking problem.

And it's manifest when I compare my relationship to you with God's relationship to me.

Let this mind be in you.

Who was the superior party, Christ or man?

Let this mind be in you.

Who was deserving of service?

Christ or man?

Let this mind be in you.

Who desired it?

Christ or man.

And yet the one who was worthy and deserving, the one who had every right to receive ministry, just turned that thing around and said, No, no, no, let me serve you.

Let me help you, let me bless you.

He is our example.

He's not just our Savior who died for our sins, and hallelujah, he did that.

He's not just our hope who rose for us, and we thank him forever that he did so.

But in the context of Philippians, he is the one who showed us that the Holy Spirit wants us to humble ourselves.

Here the Bible says Jesus humbled himself to become a man.

Humbled himself to become a man.

Listen to this.

This is Romans, uh not Romans, uh Psalm, I'm sorry, Psalm number eight and verse one.

O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who has set thy glory above the heavens?

Verse three, when I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him and the Son of Man that thou visitest him?

Isn't that incredible?

When you consider the marvels of God's creation, they take you beyond the creation itself to a consideration of God, and we marvel, we are amazed and astonished as we behold, consider, think upon our God.

But what a what an incredible thing.

When you compare man to the universe that God has made, to the extent and glory and wonder and beauty of his creation, you just say to yourself, why does God even think about man?

Obviously God is absolutely the greater, and man compared to God is pretty insignificant.

Look at God stretching out those heavens, ornamenting and decorating them with solar systems and galaxies and nebula and novas and supernovas and quasars and stars and all the rest of that, planets and who knows what.

And yet God sets his attention upon man.

In Psalm 113, the Bible says, Praise ye the Lord.

Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord, blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore, from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same.

The Lord's name is to be praised.

The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.

Okay, now that's us looking up at the creation and saying, Lord, we see your creation.

We don't praise the creation, we praise you for making it.

Now quickly we shift gears to the throne room where the Father sits next to the Son, verse five.

Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth.

You want a comparison?

We stand on earth and look up at the heavens, and we say wow.

God sits on his throne and has to humble himself to look down upon the creation of the heavens and the heavenly bodies that so boggle our mind.

In fact, when you compare Jesus to the noonday sun, the Bible says in Acts chapter number nine, and again in Acts 26, that the glory of Jesus Christ is brighter than the nonday sun.

When the Bible says that God had humbled himself to look at the heavens and the things that he created, how do we comprehend that God so humbling himself to not just think on man, to not just look at man, but to become one, and then having become one to die as a man and not just die as a man, but to take the sum total of all man's sins upon himself in that body on the tree?

How far down could anyone possibly go?

And there's nothing in it for himself.

Why when the whole thing is over in Philippians 2.11, do you know where Jesus is?

You say he's on the throne, okay.

You say, well, everybody's bowing to him, okay.

You say, well, everybody's praising him, okay, but that's just where he started.

He didn't go any higher, he didn't get any greater, he didn't become any bigger.

You know what was going on before Jesus came to this earth?

He was seated at the right hand of the Father.

You know where he was when he got back?

He was seated at the right hand of the Father.

Do you know what he had before he left?

Praise, worship, honor, and glory.

Do you know what he had what he got when he returned?

Praise, worship, honor, and glory.

Do you know who he was when he left?

The beloved of the Father.

You know who he was when he got back?

The beloved of the Father.

He took all that trip down, and there's nothing in it for himself.

Now you know what the Bible says to those of us who are thinking about quitting because we don't see anything coming of it, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

It's not about getting something from it.

It's about somebody else getting something from it.

Those of you thinking about throwing in the towel because it's just not worth another round, it's not worth another effort to make things right, it's not worth another prayer meeting trip to see the pastor or another argument trying to make the family what God wants it to be.

Hey, it's not for you.

It's for the other person.

Do you know who can never find a good church?

People who are looking for a place that's going to be for them.

You know who gets in, locks in, falls in love with the brethren, goes all over town saying, Man, that's the best church I've ever been in my life?

When it may be just like any other church, those who are there to be a blessing to others.

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

You can get bitter against your children, you can get bitter against your husband or your wife, you can get bitter against your fellow church members, you can get bitter toward those people you work with, you can get bitter if you are selfish.

If what you do is for your benefit, bitterness bitterness will probably find you.

But if you're doing for others, when there's always somebody that needs something, why you can find joy in serving every single day.

You can always be joyful if you find satisfaction in administering to others.

You can always be satisfied because there's always somebody that needs some help.

You see, well I try to help people, but they just there's nobody faced more rejection than Jesus.

There's nobody had more thrown back in his face than Jesus.

There's nobody been taken for granted to a greater measure than Jesus.

There's nobody that's given more to people who've just took it and walked away and abused the gifts he gave them than Jesus Christ.

And the last time I checked in, he was still love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, temperance.

Why?

Because serving others brings joy.

In John chapter fifteen John chapter fifteen.

The scripture says in verse eleven, these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy, see, Jesus says he's joyful, that my joy might remain in you.

This is Jesus Christ, not just imparting salvation, but imparting joy to his followers.

I know a lot of saved people, but I don't know a lot of joyful saved people.

Jesus said, This is my command.

Now watch, watch carefully.

These things that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

That's verse eleven.

Verse twelve.

This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you.

Look at that.

People think they are going to find joy by getting everybody else to love them.

The Bible says you're going to find joy by loving everybody else.

How about that?

That is the very opposite of how natural, carnal, unsaved, self-loving, self-serving individuals think in this world.

But Jesus said, Love one another as I've loved you.

Explain yourself, Lord, verse 13, greater love hath no man than this.

That a man lay down his life for his friends.

You can't give any more than that.

You can't give more than your whole life.

Don't try to do certain things that appear to be act of acts of love.

That won't last.

Love others.

Set aside your self-interest, set aside your preoccupation with your own lusts, and live for others.

It's that simple.

In 1 John chapter 3, 1 John chapter 3 and verse 14, the Bible says, We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love God.

1 John 3 · chapter mention 1 John 3 · chapter mention

Verse 15.

I'm sorry.

I didn't read that right, did I?

Some of you way ahead of me.

We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.

He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Hereby perceive we the love of God.

Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us.

So love is not words, it's deeds.

And these deeds, this deed of God, laying down his life for us, proves his love.

But that's not the end of the verse.

And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

You see, there is not only the imparting of salvation and eternal life, but there is the imparting of a mindset and a heart condition that takes me out of the realm of selfishness and into the realm of service.

It takes me out of the world where everything has to revolve around me and into the world, into the realm of what can I do for you?

How can I be a blessing to you?

How may I help you?

Haven't you been around preachers and church members, and you know, they're doing what they were supposed to do, but you could tell it was with reluctance, and that the only reason they were doing what they were doing is because they had to do it for Jesus.

That's not what we're talking about.

We are talking about so losing interest in and love for self self that your sole concern in life is that others get a blessing, others grow in the Lord, others find happiness and contentment and satisfaction, others have their life made a little bit easier because of what you have chosen to do for them, because of how you have chosen to live for them.

My friend, that's what Christianity is all about.

The Bible says here in this eighth verse of Philippians 2 that Jesus obediently died the death of the cross.

I want you to know and to understand that loving others is not a feeling.

This is part of the great problem in our day is that people just have have no greater governing power in their lives than how they feel about something at the moment.

I want you to see that love is not a feeling.

I don't know that when Jesus looked at that cup of wrath in the Garden of Gethsemane.

That he had particularly good feelings about it.

I'm all but certain that as the crown of thorns was being driven into Jesus' brow, he wasn't thinking to himself, This is a beautiful day.

I am absolutely sure that as Jesus Christ was hanging upon that cross, he was not thinking to himself happy thoughts as he suffered under the wrath of God the Father to pay the penalty and the punishment for your sins and for mine.

Now please understand what I what I'm trying to say because I I'm having to counter all the garbage that you've picked up listening to anti-biblical non-Christian preachers and Sunday school teachers.

Please listen carefully.

Love is not a feeling.

That's why so many people are walking out on their husbands and their wives and being unfaithful to their marriage, but I just didn't feel like staying, I just didn't feel the love anymore.

Absurd.

The Bible says that Jesus Christ proved his love to you, proved his love to me, but greater than that proved his love to his father by being obedient.

How about that?

Is a man told to provide for his household?

Well then don't tell me you love me while you lay on the sofa and we starve.

Prove to me you love me by obeying God and earning a living and providing for your household.

How about that?

The woman says, Well, I love him, but I met this fellow at work, and you know, I just I love him too, and none of that's love.

That's the same yielding to impulses and emotions and natural desires that get your hound dog in trouble.

Love says I will deny the lust of my flesh, I will be faithful to my husband, and I will lay down my life for him.

Hey, you flirtatious co-worker, leave me alone.

That's love.

Love is not how you feel at the moment.

Love is obeying truth for God's sake and for the sake of others.

And when that is the governing principle of a life, joy is the result every time.

And that's the example set for us by Jesus Christ when he died upon the cross.

I hope you understand that.

Do you understand that?

If you don't understand that, please, please stay with us and allow us to teach you biblical Christianity from the Bible and to save you from this depraved humanism that's passing itself off as Christianity on religious television and in religious bookstores and in the vast majority of churches in our day.

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All right, until then, I'm Brother James.

May the Lord richly bless you.

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