Philippians Series Pt. 5 - Associate Pastor Matt Passmore - October 6, 2024

Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to chapter and first, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.

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God is good.

So if you have your Bibles, we're in a series in Philippians.

So if you have your Bibles, open to Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

And we are going to be reading in verse 12.

And today we're going to keep our Bibles there the whole time.

So if you'll just find it, if you will, uh if you'll just find it, keep it open.

And we're going to dive into it.

I have a little one in my house.

I know some of you think I'm too old to have a little one, but I do have a six-year-old that just turned seven.

And so we are looking for something for him to have for his birthday.

And so my wife was looking around thinking of things to really burn off some energy.

And so my wife came up with a great idea.

We're going to buy him a trampoline for his birthday.

You know, we can send him out.

Nowadays, the trampolines are like a cage, so he can jump until he cannot jump anymore, and then hopefully he'll come in and go to bed.

You know, one of those type of deals.

So she gets him lumine.

We order this trampoline, it shows up, and uh this trampoline is supposed to be 12 foot in diameter, you know, 12 foot, and it came in the tiniest box you can imagine.

So it comes to the door, and um, he's off at school on Friday, and so I thought, you know what, I'm gonna put this trampoline together and surprise him when he comes home.

Now, on the side of the box, it says, two people, two hours to put this together.

Well, I was all by myself.

So it was kind of a challenge, right?

So I get all the stuff out, I lay it all on the grammar, and I find the instructions.

I take the instructions out, I open them up, I glance at it, and I'm looking through, and I'm like, okay, that makes sense.

And then I start looking at the pictures.

Well, the pictures show me exactly how to do it.

So I start putting this trampoline together, and man, I keep looking at my time.

Two people, it should take two hours.

I'm all by myself, I'm gonna do it in two hours, you know.

So I'm getting after it.

I'm building this trampoline, putting this trampoline together.

I get the trampoline all put together and I step back, I look at my watch.

Two hours.

But there's a part of the trampoline I'm supposed to put on, there's just like basketball goal, so I need to get into the trampoline to hang it.

I look around to find the hole to get in the trampoline, and instead of going straight up and down, it goes like this, and it won't unzip.

One person, two hours.

So I take a step back and I think, you know, I'm thinking, how in the world can I do this?

I really thought about just taking a knife and just going, whoop! And then he could get in anytime he wanted.

So I get to looking and I start taking things apart, and I take it all the way apart to step number two.

Then I fix it.

Two hours later, I look back and the trampoline's perfect.

But my point of that is I was thinking the whole time, I had two hours, two more hours to really think about this, right?

So I'm thinking about this and I'm thinking about the instructions.

I go back to the instructions, I look at the instructions, and I and again I'm I'm preparing for Sunday, I mean, this week, and so the Lord is really, you know, just stirring in me.

He says, Matt, isn't that what you do with your Bible?

You know, you kind of read it when you want to look at it, you kind of skim over it when you need it.

But how in tune to the instruction manual in life are you?

And it really hit me really hard because as I was sitting there, I was thinking to myself, how many times my scripture reading is the part I leave right here, and I boy, I'll do ministry, but I leave my scripture, my Bible reading to the side.

And you know, my life's a lot like that trampoline.

Man, it looks the neighbors probably looked at it over the fence and said, Man, he did a good job.

Until someone tried to get in it.

So today we're looking in Philippians, and it really challenged me the idea of what do we have to do to look in this?

This is not good ideas.

This isn't clever things to think about.

This is just something to do right here at church at what time is it, 11 o'clock.

This is God's word, his life instruction book for us.

And how many times do we just take it for granted?

And I was challenged in some way that I haven't been challenged in a long time in my backyard yesterday.

So today I want to, the picture of that, I want to look into God's word to the point of today.

It's all about God's word, and what does God's word have to say for us so that when we leave here, our life works.

So if you will, read with me in Philippians 2.

We're going to start reading in verse 12.

Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence, but even more in my absence, work out your salvation, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.

Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life, then I will boast in the day of Christ that I did not run in labor for nothing, but even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrificial service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

In the same way, you should also be glad and rejoice with me.

Will you pray with me as we start?

Dear God, I just come before you now, so grateful for your word.

Just grateful that you want a relationship with me, that you want a relationship with us.

And Lord, as we take your word today, Lord, help us get out of the way of your word, and Lord, help your word, prick our hearts, develop our hearts, and make us into the child that you want us to be.

Lord, we ask you to bless our time as we read your word.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

As we see here, it starts in Philippians, it says, therefore, and that word, therefore, has something in front of it.

There's an important part of therefore, the part before that, that we cannot skip to get going in what we're talking about today.

And Jared preached on that yesterday or last week.

In Philippians 2, 1 through 11, he preached the summarized real quick, Christ's example of humanity or humility.

See that therefore connects us to what we're looking at today.

In Philippians 2.5, it says this adopt the same attitude as of Christ.

And then Philippians 2.8 says this, talking about Jesus, he humbles himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.

We are to adopt the same attitude that of Christ, and what is that attitude?

His obedience.

Paul identified and applied what he considered to be the central truth of Jesus' attitude, his obedience.

Christ obeyed the Father and carried out his plan even to the death on the cross.

But think with me just a second, what is obedience?

Now I like the word obedience, especially when it comes to my kids.

I can look at them and say, the Bible tells you to obey me.

And so many times we think, what is obedience?

Just doing what we're told to do?

Well, that's probably the main thing.

But let's go a little deeper than that.

I saw a definition of obedience that I really liked.

Listen to what the obedience.

To hear God's word and act accordingly.

Now here's the problem with obedience.

Here's the problem with that definition.

If we don't hear God's word, we can't act accordingly.

If we don't know what the truth is, how can we follow the truth?

God's word is our outline, and if we're not spending time in God's word, how can we live accordingly?

For Paul, obedience was his primary responsibility.

It was the responsibility of the church.

It was an essential part of the believers.

I just love this picture of God telling us, showing us an example.

You know, in my life, I've had some great godly examples in my life.

There's a lot of times those godly examples, though, they can uh really encourage me.

But then on other hands, it's sometimes I'm like, do you ever struggle?

Do you ever have a hard time?

But it's important to have godly examples.

And then we see here Paul's living out, and he's saying, Listen, all through, I'm an example.

But then more importantly, right here, who he points us to one of the greatest examples of all is Jesus, and that's exactly why I think he came to the earth to live.

He died for us on the cross, but he came to what?

Show us what it looks like to live to follow Christ.

Look again in verse 12 where it says, Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence, but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Now I think it's kind of odd.

We're in chapter 2, and all of a sudden, Paul goes back to, my dear friends.

You know, this isn't his greeting.

But I think he goes back to, and I think it's important to realize, he goes to, he says, therefore, and what, therefore, because what Christ did in his example, therefore, and then he goes to my dear friends.

I think it's a time for him to go back to the idea or looking at this, when he says, my dear friends, he's telling them, I value you, I care about you.

And when he says, my friends, I think he's even saying, I'm one of you.

He didn't say I'm your teacher, I'm your rabbi, even though he kind of was.

What he said, I'm your friend.

And then he's like, I want to encourage you.

As we continue, just if you've always obeyed.

So now, not only in my presence, but even more in my absence.

I think he's still talking to them.

He's saying, Listen, I love that you have put the things that I've taught you into practice.

I hear you are still living according to God's word.

I think he's even saying here, from what I've heard, you've been obedient to the scripture.

You're not man-pleasing.

But I do think it's kind of odd that he would say, just if I've always as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence, I just think it's it's setting it up.

He says, My dear friends, just as you've always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence, but even more in my absence, and then here we go.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

To live like a Christian, the Philippians were to have an attitude of obedience.

The obedience was not to Paul, even though it helped when Paul was there.

Paul was an encouragement to their life.

The obedience was to God.

But we see here, and this can confuse a lot of people, he says this work out your own salvation.

Now there's a there's a there's something we've got to be careful here.

Paul says, work out, not work for.

Because we, listen, he said, work out your salvation, not work for your salvation.

Okay, because we know, and I want to go to this real quick, in Ephesians 2, 8, 9, here's what salvation is.

For you are saved by grace through faith, and it is not of yourself.

It is a gift of God, not from works, so that no one can boast.

Salvation is that time when we realize that our sin separates us from a holy, just God.

And we realize that we need Jesus to forgive us of our sins so that we can follow Christ.

It's that picture of repentance.

See, the Greek verb rendering for worked out means this to continually work to bring something to completion.

So Paul's not talking about justification.

Justification is that time that we repent of our sins and we become a follower of Christ.

He's talking here about sanctification, and sanctification is after justification, the day after day after day battle of being more like Christ.

And I think Paul describes it in Philippians 3 a little better.

He says it this way, listen to this.

He describes himself as straining and pressing toward the goal of Christ's likeness.

So many times we do we don't we we think, and the church has done this, so I want to be careful with this, not this church, just church in general, the idea of if I ask Jesus in my heart, I'm good from now on.

Now, there's a part of that, don't get me wrong.

But that salvation day starts us in a whole complete different direction than we were before.

We are a new creation.

So that new creation changes our hearts, our desires, and our wants.

Does it happen all at once?

No, it changes our eyes off the things that we want, and it changes us to Jesus in the process of Jesus.

We are learning to be more like him daily.

Daily.

And I love it this way.

I'm more like Christ today than I was yesterday because of my time in his word and the people that I spend time with.

As we look here, I think Psalms 2.11 says it well.

Listen to this.

Psalms 2.11 sums it up perfectly.

It says, serve the Lord in awe and rejoice with trembling.

You know, so many times we forget who saves us.

You know, if you think about it just for a second, so many times we're saved and we forget who God is.

When we talk about trembling and fear, the trembling he's talking about is the attitude of Christians as they are pursuing the goal of a healthy fear of God.

When was the last time you were in fear of the thing that you were about to do?

Let me give you an example.

When I was growing up and I was young, I got a lot of spankins.

And you know what?

As I was growing up and I was getting spankins, there was a lot of times that I didn't even know there was a consequence.

I mean, I didn't even think about it.

I just did it.

And then what did I end up having to get?

A spanking.

But you know, as I got older and as I matured, I got a little wiser.

And there were days I would sit there and I would go, if I do this, I'm gonna get a spanking.

And I really don't want a spanking.

And I'd like to say, most of the time I did the right thing.

But do you remember the time in your own life when you finally there's you come to something you know, I know there's a consequence in this.

You know what I'm talking about.

If I go ahead and do it, and I'm talking to myself, but it's amazing that if I've read my Bible, I'm where I'm spending time with God, and that situation comes up, it's a lot easier when I'm in that situation to say no.

Then those days that I haven't read my Bible.

Actually, I haven't read my Bible for four or five days, and all of a sudden it comes up, I'm not even to the point that I'm thinking of my consequences.

So I think it's important when we look at the scripture here and it says, work out your own salvation or walk with Christ in fear and trembling.

This isn't a fear that we're looking at God and saying, oh God, we're trying to hide from him.

This is a God that loves us so much, and let me we're not working for our salvation, and so I look in fear and trembling to thinking, ooh, I want to be obedient.

Think about this just for a second.

When was the last time you were in fear or trembling of a consequence that you had to choose?

Think about this.

If you thought about that, would it have changed the decision you chose to do?

So many times we forget the God that actually saved us.

You know, Deacon, the other day we were in the car and he says, Dad, you know, I love God.

And I'm like, well, Deacon, I'm glad you love God.

And he goes, Yeah, you know, God gets, he gets better every day.

You know, God is getting better every day.

And you know what?

I had to stop him just for a second.

God doesn't get better every day.

The Bible says God is perfect to begin with.

Now, our thought of God might get better every day, but that's us.

Our God is a perfect God from the beginning.

And so many times we get it, we try to put our way, if we're not careful, we're putting God on the same level of us, and it's that we cannot do that.

God is perfect from the get-go.

And so many times we forget that when we come in his presence, the place that we are at, we are at a reverent place of a true, holy God that is perfect from the beginning.

Now, the opposite of fear and trembling is doing whatever I want and not worried about the consequence.

If we call ourselves Christians and never have the thought of wanting to live for Him or please Him, I think it takes us to almost two things.

First off, we're not a believer to begin with.

Think about that just for a second.

If we never have the thought of a fear or a reverence for our God, I think the first thing we need to check is, are we a believer to begin with?

Or I think the second thing is we need to look at, is there something in our life that's stopping us?

Maybe we are a believer, but there is a sin in our life that is controlling us that has what?

Taken our eyes off God and put them on us.

And maybe it's something to the point of we have to, as a church and as a believers, we really have to what?

We have to realize to live out our salvation.

It starts with realizing who God is.

Paul urged the believers to work out their salvation and provided reason to do so.

And here's the reason to do so.

Look in verse 13.

For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.

The Philippians to were to work out their salvation, but they must realize to work out their salvation, the most important thing is that God is working in them.

The major thing in this whole thing is God.

Paul said they were to work out because God works in.

Listen to that again.

Paul said they were to work out because God works in.

God's work in them provided both motivation and the ability to do his good pleasures.

Think about that just for a second.

When God works inside of us and we commit to him with all we are, we are working according to his purpose.

Let's go back just a second to what we talked about, Jesus being obedient to die on the cross.

Do you remember?

Let's even go back a little bit further.

You remember when Jesus was in the garden?

We think Jesus came to live on the earth.

He didn't have any thoughts, didn't even have any emotions.

But you remember the time he was in the garden?

Before he was about to die?

I mean, the Bible says that he was sweating drops of blood.

He was struggling.

See the human side of that?

Now he was still God.

I'm not.

He was struggling.

And you remember even his prayer?

What did he say in his prayer?

Is there any way we can do something else?

But then what did he go back to though?

But not my will, but your will be done.

And what is God's will?

It's his good purpose.

And I think we need to look at too as we as the thing I want to, and I don't want to overstress it, but it needs to be stressed.

I think the first part of this, God's purpose, is without God taking the initiative, we would not have the opportunity to work out our salvation or even work for his purpose.

Because it's not without God's drawing through the Holy Spirit in our own lives that we even want to pursue God.

And then secondly, if you look at that, the fact that God started to work in us gives us a stewardship responsibility.

Think about that just for a second.

If God is willing to call us and work in us, don't we have part of that to play out in that also?

I hear so many people, they come into my office and they're they're struggling with different things and they're they're uh hurting.

And so many times they cannot let go of themselves enough to realize that God loves them so much, they just gotta let him be center of their life.

So in verse 13 again, it says, for it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his great or his good, but I like the word great purpose.

Here the Philippians were to apply their salvation to the problems of selfish ambition, strife, which was dividing the church.

Their salvation demanded it, their responsibility to God called for it.

And then that takes us to verse 14.

Do everything without grumbling or arguing.

Now, of all things, he says, Do all things without, and then of anything he could choose.

He could choose, you know, be a better dad, be a better worker.

Love the people around you.

I mean, there's so many things that Paul could have gone, but he went straight after, listen, do everything without grumbling and arguing.

Now I have to confess, I'm pretty good at this.

I can go home when we sit around the dinner table.

I'm so good by the time I'm done with dinner, deacon's grumbling and complaining.

My little six-year-old.

You know, it's just amazing.

I can go home and I can be complaining.

I can be, and you know it's not long, and then my wife's starting to complain.

And anybody else at the table's complaining, and then deacon, my little six-year-old, starts to complain.

How easy it is to complain.

You know, grumbling is a mutter of discontent and complaint.

Arguing is to contend or disagree in words.

Now, I think it's kind of funny about those though.

How fast this gets out in our world and how slow good things get out.

Isn't that crazy?

I mean, you can flip on anything, and the negative runs wild.

There's a football guy that's complaining, he left his team, he complained, he's mad, he didn't get the money he wanted, and he's all over the internet.

There's this other guy who just happened to find it and was reading, he took his NIL money, the money that he was getting,$50,000, and gave it to all the walk-ons on his team.

Guess which one's going crazy?

The complaining, the arguing.

Why is that?

Because we can all do it.

And the crazy thing is, and sometimes it makes us feel good in the moment.

But listen to what I think the reason is pointed out, the major problem that comes with grumbling and arguing, number one, when we grumble and argue, we are denying the good things in our lives, all the things that God has done, is doing, and will do.

I think number two, when we grumble and argue, we self-focus on what we want.

God works in our lives not so that we can complain.

I think grumbling and arguing stunts our spiritual growth.

I think grumbling and arguing discourages people around us.

Can you imagine a place without grumbling and arguing?

I mean, as I was sitting here thinking, those times at our dinner table when we're not, and I'm not saying we do it all the time, but when you're arguing and complaining, it just, when you're done, it just, there's, it's just.

And my wife does a really good job.

There's a lot of times, there's these little cards we have on our table, and so one of the greatest, and Deacon asks now, it's like, well, Deacon, tell us what your best part of today was.

And it's amazing when we take time talking about the best, talking about good things, how the night goes different than those days that we're sitting at our table complaining.

You see what I'm talking about, the difference?

And so I think it's extremely important to realize of all the things that Paul could have talked about.

This is what the two things he pointed out because they're so hurtful.

So then look in verse 15.

So that you may be blameless and pure, children of God, who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation among whom you shine like stars in the world.

You know, the other day we were we were going into savers.

Deacon had this stuffed animal.

And he was carrying it in, and I said, Deacon, you cannot take that into savers.

And you know what he said?

Well, Dad, I'll just tell him it's mine.

See the blameless and pure?

How just easy it is?

How how how just like it says the blameless and pure, but listen to it one more time, so that you may be blameless and pure children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.

You know, God's goal is for us to be what?

When we become more Christ-like, we become more what?

Blameless and pure.

And then I think he shows us that we are living in a tough time.

They were living in a tough time then.

Could you say that same thing about our crookedness here?

But why are we to be who God called us to be?

Why are we to walk through and have a relationship with God?

Not grumble and argue, be pure and holy, so that we can do what?

We can be a light that our world needs.

And then, if you will, look in verse 17.

But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrificial service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

In the same way, you should also be glad and rejoice with me.

I think it's important to look at that real quick before we close to see the point of where Paul's heart was.

A drink offering is a part of a sacrifice.

It's not the sacrifice, it's a part of the sacrifice.

And I think we see this.

Whatever happens, whether Paul was released from prison, remember he was in prison, or he died a martyr's death.

He was confident that the Lord had called him into the special ministry on behalf of the Philippians, and not even the prospect of death diminished his joy.

I think if we look at this passage today, in a quick summary, we are called to obedience and to work out our salvation in awe of God.

Because God is working in us for His great purpose.

We do this without grumbling and arguing, so you will be pure and blameless in this crooked world, so that you can shine like the stars and point people to God's greatness.

So before we close, take your finger and point to verse 13.

I want to read 13 before we close.

For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his great purpose.

So I got a question as we close.

Are you allowing God to work through you for his purpose?

Once again, are you allowing God to work through you for his great purpose?

Now, we can sit here and go, yes, and we can sing the song of invitation, and we can walk out of the door, and you say, well, I said yes to what you want to say.

Listen to the question again.

Are you willing?

Are you allowing God to work through you for his great purpose?

There comes an evaluation with this, real quick, because allowing God to work through you for his good purpose might require you to get right with God today.

Maybe today you need to say, you know what, you're right.

I need to start reading my Bible.

I had someone tell me the other day, I just leave my Bible in the car so I make sure I have it on Sunday.

Do me a favor.

Put it by your chair, read it at home, and I'll let you borrow a Bible on Sunday.

Maybe today you need to say, you know what?

I've been going so fast that I need to stop and find time to pray.

Maybe today, to allow God to work through me for his great purpose, I need to commit that the next, just start with this, the month of October, I'm not going to miss church.

Maybe there's something in your life that you got to stop doing today.

If you really want to allow God to work through you for his good purpose, you have to stop something in your life that you're doing that you shouldn't be doing.

Is there anything in your life that is blocking God to get through to you?

Now think about that just for a second.

Is there something in your life that is blocking God?

Now, don't get me wrong.

We serve a God that can do all things.

But I do think when it comes to our relationship with Him, there are things that we can put in our life that block God.

Not that God doesn't want to bust them up and get rid of them, but it comes to a condition of our heart, the idea of God, I need to get rid of this so that I can have a relationship with you, so that I can allow you to work in my life for His good, for your good purpose, God.

And I'll be honest, today's message was really hard for me.

I was told two weeks ago that I was going to preach, so I got plenty of time.

And I sit there and I was trying to come up with different notes and points, and Thursday, I was panicked because nothing had come together.

You might be agreeing with me, huh?

And I was sitting in my office, and I, you know, the day's about over, and um I was anxious, and I was so anxious I still didn't even know what I was gonna do because I'm supposed to turn into PowerPoint, and I was just anxious, and I'll never forget at lunchtime.

I'm sitting there and I'm just still just kind of we I went to the 60 plus and I come back into my office, and I was dreading coming back to my office because I just did not.

And here's what the Lord said to me was I was, he said, Matt, have you prayed about this?

Man, I'd been having my quiet time, I've been praying to God, but so many times I can get going so fast that I set God on the side and I'm doing my ministry, and it was like God said, I've made it hard on you for two weeks for a reason.

Because all I'm asking you is this put me first.

I don't, I don't need you, Matt.

Think about that for a second.

God does not need people.

However, it's the weirdest thing.

God does not need people, but guess what?

He uses people.

But who does he use?

Those that allow him to work through them.

We see it all through Scripture.

So, my challenge today as we pray, my own drive was getting in my way of who God was in my life.

What's getting in your way of allowing God to be all that you need so that we can live out this question?

Are you allowing God to work through you for his purpose?

Pray with me.

Dear God, I am so sorry.

How so many times I try to do it all on my own.

I go real fast, and Lord, I have a quiet time to say I have a quiet time, and Lord, I just I was convicted so much of the idea of Lord, I needed to give this to you, and Lord, I need to give you my life because I don't want anything in the way of you working through me for your great purpose.

Lord, I think this is something that we all struggle with, and if we're not careful, our church can struggle with the different things that we want and the things that we desire, and Lord, the calling that you've asked us to do is to what?

To give our lives to you and let you work.

And Lord, we do want to be a church that puts you first for your great purpose.

Lord, as we do give you this invitation, Lord, stir in our hearts if there is someone here today that does not know you, help them know that we will have pastors in the aisles to come share and talk with them and we can pray with them.

Lord, thank you so much for your love.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.

Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.

Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.

Thank you for listening to chapter and first, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith First Baptist Church.