Unity Through Humility — Westlake Bible Fellowship

0:00 Introduction and prayer

Before we start talking through today's, we'll call it lesson, this is one of those sections of scripture at the end of Chapter one in Philippians and the beginning of Chapter two that is very familiar, very powerful section of scripture. And I thought, I'm not I don't want to bite off more than I can chew here because there's just so much there's so much good stuff involved. And yet, I'm sure that I did, even though I cut down how much I was going to attempt to cover. If today feels like, there are things missing and left out, it's probably because there are does this come down more? That's all the way down?

Has it always been like that?

Only since we got it. I'm

not very perceptive. There, that'll work. Well, let's open in prayer before we begin. Heavenly Father, we come before you, humbled by your love, by your grace, by the love that you have for each one of us, undeserving sinners that that are so dependent on you for all that we have and all that we are. We pray this morning, Lord, as we talk about our unity as a body and, the reason we meet, that you would be the focus this morning and that your son would receive the glory in all things.

We pray this in your name. Amen. Okay. So just a quick... Very quick.

It's gonna be amazingly quick, hope. Philippians chapter one. Philippians, Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians, as a thank you. It's one of his letters that is the most, there's a lot of joy in this letter. I think 12 times throughout the letter, joy or the word rejoice is talked about, or is mentioned.

And Paul, you can feel in this letter the personal nature of this letter and how much he loves that church in Philippi. And if you want more background on that, go back to Acts chapter 16, not now, but later. Acts chapter 16 to see how it it all came how it all came about. And Paul, in his visit to Flip Eye, was beaten and thrown in prison, after he healed a a young girl from, her evil spirit. And that young girl had been making money for some some folks and they didn't like that, and so they had him thrown in prison and beaten, and he was, you know, whipped and all those things.

And an earth an earthquake comes up and and Paul is released from prison, or could have been, but he chose not to. He stayed there, which is part of what our lesson is going be today. We're going look back at that, I hope, if we get time. But Paul chose to stay there. And in staying there, the jailer in that prison who thought was about to take his life because he thought that Paul had escaped and Silas with him, he comes to know the Lord through that experience because Paul stayed.

Incredible story. An incredible faith on Paul's part, right, to seek God's will over his own, because most of us would have wanted hightail it out of there. Had a chance, earthquake, prison's, you know, a mess, and let's get out. And not Paul. He sat there sang hymns, waited for the jailer to come get him, and the jailer was saved.

And there, and you have, part of the beginning of that church. So it's good to go back and look at that in Acts chapter 16. So as, as I said, we're going be focusing on today the second part. Now in Acts, in Philippians chapter one, we go through the, there's a salutation, there's the greetings to the church. Paul talks about then some of the challenges.

You know, after his prayer for the church, he talks about some of the challenges that he's faced and how those challenges, the suffering he's gone through. Because the people in Philippi, they witnessed what he went through there, the whippings, the beatings, the throne in prison, even though he's a Roman citizen, he wasn't treated that way. All those things that he experienced there, he's he's experiencing now in Rome. He's imprisoned in Rome. He's probably been in there for two years.

He's allowed, he's been given the ability to write letters and converse, and people have been able to come see him, but, so it's not in the worst of conditions, but he's still a prisoner. And he's not able to visit the churches that he started all throughout, all throughout Asia and, and, into Europe. So he's not able to visit those. And that's, I'm sure, was a frustration for him. But he got a letter from the church in Philippi and a gift.

And that's really what he's writing about is to thank them for the gift that, that they sent. And, so it's kind of a nice letter. Now, it doesn't mean there's not some, exhortation that's involved as well because it seems like when we look at chapter two that there is a slight dispute that's going on in in the church. And so even though there's not some of the scathing rebukes that we see in other books from Paul, there is a mild, call it mild, exhortation, to the to this church to be in unity. And as I've been reading it and going through it and studying it and reading what other people write about it, I've been convicted about a lot of different things.

And, and I'm hoping that today, even though I don't know that anything, you know, any new revelations will be thrown out there, it's not like that. It's certainly when we open God's word, there's always revelations for us. But, but I think, I'm hoping that today, you're convicted about a few things yourself because I know that I'm not alone in some of the areas of difficulty that I have. I know that I'm not alone. I know that these are things that we all struggle with.

And as a body, we have to be aware of and, and, we have to be contemplating these things for our own health. And then as we talk about the next time we speak, it's going to be about our responsibility before the world. Our unity is a responsibility before the world. So we're going be talking about that the next time though. So here's some questions.

This is just, just letting you know what hit me as we went through this and, and I'm going try to make sense out of why the thoughts went through these and I'm not going to answer all these questions. I'm not going to, I'm not going to answer all these questions completely. Some of them, I hope to, you know, touch on a little bit, and if it seems incomplete, it's because it is. We're going to be where we end is where we start the next time that we're going there's going be overlap, in the next time I speak concerning some of these things. So hopefully we'll address them by the time we're done.

6:47 How do I become humble?

What's going happen to the poor in spirit? We'll make this slightly interactive. But unless you give me answers that I don't like or that are better than mine. So what what's the... What what happens for the poor in spirit?

Do you remember? They inherit the kingdom of God. They inherit the kingdom of God. The poor in spirit. So those...

Who are the poor in spirit? The poor in spirit are those who know that they need God, that they understand in their own lives that they cannot, of themselves, be what God wants them to be. Right? That they can't do it. And for those people, and this is, I say this over and over again, whether it's with the kids or whatever, sometimes falling flat on your face is the best thing that happens to you.

Right? Because it's when we're... When everything's going well, it's hard for us to go to God, isn't it? We don't go to God as much. When things are going well, it's when we're having struggles.

Even as Christians, that's the truth. When you don't know the Lord or Savior, when things are going well, that's why I say it's harder for a rich man to be saved, right? Because he doesn't need God. In his mind, he doesn't need God. Although he does, he just doesn't know it.

He doesn't know it because things are going well. It's those people that are struggling and they're having difficulty. That's the ones that come to Christ. And and a lot of times, in our own lives, we know that that's the case. It was at a low point in our lives where we reached out to God and there he was.

And thank the Lord He was, right? You think about the people who Christ, we're going talk about this later, the example that Christ set. Think about who Christ spent His time with when He was here. Think about who He spent His time with. It was with sinners, right?

So how do I become more humble? This is a tricky one, isn't it? Because the harder you work at it, right, if you're working hard at it, I'm going to be more humble. My goal is to become the most humble person at Westlake Biofellowship. And I'm going to stick it in their faces, man.

Right? I mean, humility, if it's something you're working for, if it's something you're earning through your own effort, should we have a mindset of wanting to the hard attitude of wanting to become more humble in our lives? Absolutely. But if it's something that you work for based on your own efforts, and I'm going to do this, and I'm going do this, and I'm going to do this, and by the time I'm done, I'm going be more humble, it doesn't work out because it's just going to puff up your pride that you you know what mean? So it works against itself.

You can't do it. So I'm going to we're going to talk about that a little bit because it's an issue for all of us, whether we know it or not, and if you meditate on these things, and I'm telling you the meditation part of this is really, I'm gonna talk about that a lot. If you meditate on those things, that just means to think carefully, we're not talking Zenist stuff here, but how can I make Jesus Christ preeminent in my life? How can I make Jesus Christ truly preeminent in my life? How can I make Jesus Christ truly preeminent?

Preeminent. This was a big challenge to me as I was going through this. In how many ways, when I analyze my own life, in how many ways is Christ not really preeminent? In how many ways, I mean, He's preeminent here, and He's preeminent here, but you know what, I really like this, and I kind of like doing this, and I like doing this my way. My way is kind of worked out.

In what ways should I be making Christ more preeminent in my life or completely preeminent? How do I reject my own will and submit to God's will? And how can I know God's will? And that's tough. I don't care what anybody says.

If anybody tells you it's simple to know God's will, there are some areas where it is. Right? Yeah, those things that are blatantly told to us in Scripture, here it is, black and white, right in your face, that's easy to know God's will. But there's a lot of areas where it's not. And some of them are the day to day things that we do.

Some of are the big issues, right? What do I do with my life? How do I serve you, Lord? Right? Those things, I think, you pray and meditate and it'll be real.

But some of the smaller things aren't necessarily as easy. And to find those, it's a challenge. It's a challenge. And so how do you go about doing that? And I think it starts with, in all these things, our hard attitude.

Is that really what we want? And that's where I've questioned myself. Is that really what I want? Why do I keep doing this? Why do I keep responding this way?

Why do I keep doing these things? Is it because in my heart, I have truly not given myself or yielded myself to Christ completely? Because if I had, I wouldn't be struggling with some of the things I struggle with. Right? And I know I'm not alone here.

Right? Amen? I know I'm not alone. That is the case for most of us. Now there are a few that you could say, you look at their life and you say, that is a person that's yielded, but they will tell you that in their heart there's things they still haven't yielded, right?

And so we're all in that same boat. So these are the questions that came up for me. This is what I was dealing with as I went through it. And did we have more copies? Do we need more or does everybody have them for the kids?

Did we get one? Anybody else? There you go. Thanks. Okay.

12:17 Conduct worthy of the gospel

I have to tell you, I had a wonderful experience on Friday. I was able to go up to camp. I'm using this as my excuse why my kitchen, my bathroom didn't get painted, but I was able to go up to camp to see Tammy get baptized, which was very nice. And so, I would be all for that, Logan. Go ahead, get it started.

Get it started. It was a joy to see that and to hear her testimony and be able to witness that. It truly was. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. And we're gonna start Philippians chapter one and verse 27.

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, and that you stand in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Now Paul had just gone through and talked about, you know, his... The decision... You know, his mindset in terms of his own life. And he makes a statement that is probably, I would call it the key verse of Philippians, and that is, he says, for me to live is Christ and to die gain.

Right? I would call it the key verse of Philippians. For me to live is Christ and to die gain. His whole life was about Jesus Christ. That's what's...

That's the statement he's making. It's one of those statements that that all of us should should be able to make and should want to make, and, to to be able to make it honestly is a whole another deal. But but for me to live as Christ, my whole purpose, my whole, my goals in life, everything that I do is centered on Jesus Christ, because He's worth it, right? And that's what Paul had said. And so he's going through, he's given this example of how he approaches suffering, how he approaches possibilities of death.

In fact, death sounded pretty good, and it sounds good to all of us who know the Lord, right? Death isn't a bad thing. Death is just something better at the other end. Sometimes you, give me a can. No, not always.

But there are days. But yeah, we know that there's something better. There's something better for us. And the question is, Paul has to ask this question, but God, I'm still alive, so God still must have a purpose for me, Right? He must still have a purpose for me.

And he's going to start addressing that purpose right now as he deals with this conflict between a couple of people in the Philippian church. So reading that verse again, Only let your conduct be worthy. He's he's making a statement here. Let your conduct be worthy. Make sure that you're doing the things that you should be doing as a church to be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

There's a few places in scripture where God says to the to the Israelites, you have blasphemed my name among the Gentiles. Why? How had the Israelites blasphemed the name of God before the Gentiles? How'd they done that? How?

This is interactive again. Idol worship. Idol worship, right? Leaving his direction for their own, living their lives for themselves, not being an example to the nations around them of what they were supposed to be as the children of God, right? And so he had, they had blasphemed the name of God before the Gentiles.

Embarrassed them, right? Not that guy gets embarrassed. But they, you know what I mean? They blasphemed his name. And he said, that's not going to work.

Well, guess what? As a church, we also can blaspheme the name of God by our conduct. If it is not becoming of what what he has set out for us and the... And and what he has asked us to do, we also can blaspheme the name of God. And we're seeing it, guys, in the news.

We're seeing it. We're seeing the name of God blasphemed where it says, what God wants doesn't really matter. We have a better way. We're going to take human philosophy, we're going to take our own thoughts, our own ideas of how life should be and we're going to go that route instead, right? The name of God is being blasphemed every time that happens.

And we have to be careful. This is a warning. This whole thing comes down as a warning. I'll get into that in a little bit. So only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

16:51 Unity and striving together

Each of us has to consider how do we react, to suffering because while we're not suffering yet, I believe our generation, my generation might get away with it. I wonder, I worry about the generation after, how they're going to, what kind of suffering they might have to endure, but yet, we find, we should be hoping for it, we should be praying for it. That kind of suffering is something to glorify God by our response, by how we react, right? And then through humility, that each one of us has to consider our own humility. How we come to the, what we bring to the table when we approach the Lord, both collectively as a group, how, what's our hard attitude and then individually, right?

Because that's what's going to make the difference. So we're going to look at this in two ways. There's a unity as a body for our own functioning that we function in way that's pleasing to the Lord, that's edifying to each other, that's productive. There's a certain amount of product productivity, which we're not going to count by based on numbers. I don't think that success as a church is based on numbers.

It's based on on on our growth and the way that we glorify God through what we do. That is our purpose, is it not? Yes? I mean, isn't that our purpose? To glorify God by what we do.

Everything should bring glory to Him and to the name of Jesus Christ. That's why we meet. And so that's how we can gauge our health by those things. So I was thinking about this, let our conduct be worthy of the Gospel of Christ. And really, you know, this is saying, when it comes to your faith, and you notice that it says stand fast in one spirit, it's not capitalized, it's about our spirit together, right?

Our our general spirit, our, the way we feel, you know, our emotional, no, not emotional. That's not the word I'm looking for. I'm having one of those mental blanks for a second. When we stand together in one spirit, it's about our approach and our will and our reactions to the things of God. Right?

It's about how we come together, how we think about those things collectively. We want to stand in one spirit. We want to have one mind. That means we're always going to agree on everything because we've seen that, right? That that's so easy to do.

No. No, we're not going to agree on everything. But, but with the right focus, with the right if we're pointing in the right direction, if we're looking to the right person, that is the person of Jesus Christ, in all that we do, those things work themselves out, if we're all doing it. Now, I suggest to you that whether it's in marriage or whether it's any relationship, any relationship here in the body, if you have two people that are focused on doing the Lord's will, is it a lot easier than when there's one only or none, which is even worse, right? Yeah?

When you have two people that are focused on doing the Lord's will, it comes together. There's a lot better chance that it's going to come together than if only one does, right? Now think about it as a body. We have, I don't even know numbers, but we have how many people that meet here together and fellowship regularly, the challenge of us all being on that same page. Go back in the history of Westlake Biophilology.

I've been around forty four years, right? There's been conflict. There's been people who left for different reasons. There have been there's been conflict. There has been.

If you were to break down if you were to break down where those conflicts come and from where they come, how much of it do you has how much of it do you think has to do with our own personal pride and and those types of things coming into play? Where we think about what we want, what I want, what I expect to happen versus seeking the Lord's will. What percentage would you guess of our issues have been about that? Once again, interactive, throw out a number. Probably.

Probably darn close to 100%, right? When those conflicts come up, it's not because it isn't the nature of human beings to work together and not always agree. There's going be times that we don't agree, that there's things that we're not, going to see eye to eye on. But the problem comes into play when you haven't examined yourself, if you've gone into it and say, I have a good idea. Nobody's listening.

By golly, there's a better way to do this if they just listen you just made your mistake. If they just they if they just listen, right? Well, guess what? If you're in fellowship with us, if you're part of the body of Christ, if you have been in fellowship with us, you're part of this local body, there is no they. There's no they.

It's we. And that's to me, that was the first and I will fail in this again. I failed in it before. I will fail in it again, I'm sure. But it's been a big step to start thinking in terms of we rather than they because they puts the that's and that puts the emphasis on somebody else.

It's their problem. They didn't listen. They didn't do it the way I wanted, right? But when you think of it in terms of we, we, the body of Christ, there is no other, there's no they, that changes your mindset completely, it does. Now there's ownership.

We're all in this together and we've got to make it work, right? Now, I'm going to get I'm going to ask this question later. I want you to start thinking about it now though. I'm going to come back to it. And it's going to be, how many of you, whether verbally, vocally, in your heart, however it is, it is, have complained in the past?

How many of you in your heart, verbally, vocally, however, whatever, have in your heart said, Man, those guys really messed up. Or you've used some of those they statements, right? How many of you have done it? Once again, want to talk about percentages? My bet is 100.

100%. We're all guilty of it. 100%. If there isn't somebody who's done that, I'd like to know who it is. So come and see me later.

Tammy, raise your hand. Never. Oh no, not you. No. Okay.

24:06 Jesus' prayer for his disciples

And so we're going to take a quick look at really just a couple of verses. I want you to turn to John 17 real quick. John chapter 17, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. John 17. And we're gonna start, even though on my notes I say verse 17, but we're gonna...

We're actually gonna start at verse 14, I believe. Yeah. So Jesus is praying for his disciples. But as he tells us later, he goes, I pray not just for my disciples but for everyone who will come to believe through their word. Right?

So this is not just about the disciples. This is about it's not just about his disciples. This is about us, okay? I've given them your word and the world has hated them because they're not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Jesus knew what was going to happen with all of us.

Guys, I'm telling you right now, the more the world accepts you this is another thing I've learned over the years now the more the world accepts you, you're probably doing something wrong. You're probably not living for Christ the right way. Because I found that it's in the rejection and through people going, woah, that dude's a holy ruler. You better watch out for him. That means I'm probably doing something right.

You know what I mean? It probably means I'm doing something right. The world hated Jesus Christ and He was healing the blind and the sick and the lame. He was feeding thousands with nothing, right? Boom, two fish and a couple loaves of bread, boom, feeding 5,000.

Talked about this morning. He's doing all these things and they hated Him. They hated Him. What do we have to offer that compares to what Jesus had to offer and we expect the world to like us and to think we're okay? No.

They're they're going to hate us because the news that we have is different. They hate us because we bring to them a message that says, you are not good enough in and of yourself to stand before God and be accepted. You're not. You're not. And neither are we.

So therefore, we have accepted Christ as Savior. We have come before Him knowing that His blood and His death is what makes us able and worthy. Worthy, not of ourselves, but from Him, worthy to stand before God and be accepted in His sight, Where God looks at us and says, My wrath isn't on you. I see my son in you. We could do that, right?

We can do that. But the world rejects that. They hate the idea that we say, no, you in and of yourself, you're not good enough to do that. You can't stand before God and be okay. Yeah, but come on, I gave some money to the poor.

I did some good things. You know, I helped some people. Helped I an old lady across the street. You've to be kidding me. I'm shoeing.

No, you're not. And that's a message that the world doesn't like to hear. People don't like to hear that. And so it's no wonder why we're rejected. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one.

They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. And this is referring to us too. We're not of the world either if we believe in Jesus Christ as savior. And then verse 17, Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth.

I love just the power of that statement. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. It's everything, isn't it? It's everything.

For us, it's it's all we have. This, the word of God, what God has said is all we have. And this is my what I was convicted about as I went through this is the dangers, the dangers, and not maintaining this as our truth. That this has to be the foundation of what we do and what we believe and how we practice And yes, I say how we practice as well, right? This has to be the foundation of all those things.

Because if it's not, it will fail. And look at, guys, I hate to bring it up, but look at the assemblies that we've seen in our own area that have failed. Now how does that happen? Was it the Lord's will that they fail? Well, sure.

In a way, it could be because just like the Israelites were punished for blaspheming His name before the Gentiles, He could blow it all up if that church isn't acting in a way and conducting itself in a way that brings glory to His name. And if it's blaspheming His name, it's going to blow it up, right? And so you've got to consider what is it how does that happen? How do we get to that point? And I want you to consider, could we be in danger?

Could we be in danger? And the answer to that is yes, always, always in danger. And this is part of what Paul is reminding them of. Be careful because this can happen. If you let this thing fester, if you let these things fester, if you don't have the right mindset, if you don't put Christ as preeminent in your church and in your individual lives, this can happen to you.

29:34 How do we come to a place of unity?

First and foremost, God's word is truth. That has to be accepted, believed, you know, some people want to try to... Well, you know, this scripture, that was kind of for then and this is for now and I get all that. It's no. God's word is truth.

God is immutable. He does not change. His is the his the way he looks at sin does not change. It didn't change just because it's the twenty first century, right? And because the Supreme Court said it changed.

It didn't change. God's views on sin and what is right and what is wrong have not changed. And the biggest mistake that I see as I read World Magazine, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad because it's discouraging sometimes because I read it, I read it and it talks about these articles, these churches that are now saying, well, we're going to have women pastors and deacons and we're going to have women do this and that and they're going to teach in the church and they're going to say, and you know what? There's areas of liberty that we should be aware of, but then there's areas where there's not liberty, where the Bible clearly states this is what we are, this is what you practice, this is the right way to do it, this is what God wants. You don't have to like it.

You know what I mean? You might want to find one of those places that's that's going outside of God's word. But that's what God's word says and that's an area that's concrete. Those things are concrete and we have to be in the areas that are concrete. We have to be solidly based and founded on God's word.

Period. Period. Now, in the areas of liberty, we also have to be careful that we are not, well, this has been our tradition, right? We should not be, this is what I'm comfortable with. This is what we've always done.

This is what I like. This is what I prefer. You know what I mean? I'm going to tell you, I'm not the idea of someone standing up here with an electric guitar busting out some music for Jesus, forty four years I've been in this place. I can't...

That's not comfortable for me. I'm not... You know what I mean? Like that's not my comfort level. But I'm telling you right now that if someone's doing it for the glory of God, we shouldn't get in the way.

I really believe that. We shouldn't get in the way of it. Right? Because it's all about hard attitude and how we approach it. And I know, listen, if you're over I'm going to say if you're over 50, that's maybe unimaginable.

You know what I mean? Good. It's not. Good. All right.

Well, yeah, but if if you've been in the assemblies your whole life and you're over 50, that's unimaginable. Maybe below that, you could maybe, you know, like because it's hard for me to imagine, you know? I have trouble with that too but but as I was going through it, it was one of the things I was convicted of. You know, in our in our areas of liberty as a church, you know, we need to be solid in those things that are scriptural and we know based on what god has told us. This is the way we should practice but in those areas of liberty, guys, let's make sure that we're not doing things by tradition and legalism and all that other stuff that can enter into it because I think it's just as destructive.

Okay? So just this is where I'm going this is what I've gotten out of this. So hopefully, it rings a bell. But God's word is truth and Christ is preeminent. He is number one.

He is the tops. He is all in all. He is our everything. It's our foundation. It's our defense.

It's our defense against the the world, right? People that would bring false philosophy and false ideas amongst us. Right? God's word is our defense against that. It's our defense against Satan who wants to divide us, who wants to make us unproductive and futile in our efforts to share God's word with the world.

He wants us to be nothing. He wants us to get nothing done. And he can do that if we're not careful. It's our mission. It's our mission not just to not just to, as a body, say that, you know, god's word is truth but it's to tell the world.

It it is part of our mission as well, is it not? To share that, that god's word is truth And it is. It's the only way to salvation. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it's the power of salvation, right? That that message needs to get out there.

34:10 Christ has the preeminence

It has happened to me before. This one is easier though. And He, Jesus Christ, and this is what Scott read before we spoke, before, I came up. And He is before all things and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that all things, that in all things, he may have preeminence.

In all things, he may have the preeminence. For it pleased the father that the fullness in him... That in him, I'm sorry, all the fullness should dwell. That's what it's all about. That in all things, he would have preeminence.

All right, let's take a look at back to Philippians. And let's take a look at twenty eight and twenty nine. And not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which we've already talked about, the world, the Satan, anybody that would try to, diminish or or change in some way the truth of God's word, which is in them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation. And I wrote this down here. You know, our unified steadfast adherence to the truth of God's word puts us at odds with the world and Satan.

Rejoice in the suffering that will follow. That's Paul's message, isn't it? Rejoice in the suffering that will follow. Expect it. It's going to happen.

And guess what? When they abuse you, guess you did something right. Right? When you're suffering, you did something right because you stood up for me and the world hated me and it's going to hate you. That's how you know you did something right.

But it's... And it's an opportunity, folks. It's an opportunity to give glory to God because God is glorified through our sacrifice, right? He's glorified when we go to when we go and we say, you know, suffering for his name's sake. You think of the suffering that we deal with, and I've talked about this before from up here.

The suffering we deal with is being made fun of, you know, oh, he's the holy roller, you know, whatever. We don't deal with suffering. We've been sheltered from that. I'm going to tell you a quick story here. And And it kind of, this is a point of shame for me, so I'm going to, I was down at the Cleveland Clinic because I had an appointment for my shoulder.

I can't remember if it was pre op or post op, it doesn't really matter. But I was down at the clinic and my appointment was supposed to be at the clinic. Then when I got there, they said, no, your appointment's at Euclid Hospital, which is where I had the surgery at and the doctor works out of both areas. He's down at Euclid Hospital today, so you're going have to go down there. And I made the brilliant decision, I made the brilliant decision to take Euclid all the way there.

Say it again?

It's the most direct route.

It is a direct route. Direct into the middle of a drug deal or something, right? Okay. It is bad neighborhood. It is not nice down there.

It was roll up the windows and lock the doors and make sure I have some type of weapon available. You know what I mean? Like, it was it was a bad neighborhood. And I'm I'm thinking to myself and I remember thinking, I said, Lord, thank you that I don't have to live here. I said it.

And as I kind of as I was driving along and I'm thinking about that, I said, what did I just say? What if that's exactly where the Lord wants me to live? I know. No monkey brains, no East 85th. That's where I draw the line.

But what if that is where the Lord wants me? What if that's where he wants me to buy a house in that neighborhood so that I can share the word of God with people in that neighborhood? Am I willing? Am I really is it really about His will? Is He really preeminent?

Am I willing to do it? Obviously, it'd have a few obstacles to overcome, right? But am I willing to do it? I... Because I thought my first reaction was, wow, I'm glad I'm not down here because this is a mess down here.

And that's exactly where sinners are that need the Lord. What am I thinking? What am I thinking? I don't know. But you have to question those things, right?

39:12 Opportunity even in suffering

Now, if we can get to that point, you tell me, you look at your own life and you say, honestly to yourself, because I do a lot of honest sitting in the dark thinking, okay? If you're honest with yourself and you'd say, am I fully, am I committed to that point? Is the Lord really preeminent my life to that point that I would do anything? Even going into a situation that I know could put myself, my wife, my children in danger, would I be willing to do that? Could I do it?

I don't know, I did a little soul searching on that and still am and will continue, continue to do it. But I'm telling you that it's our hard attitudes individually that when we get to the point where it's truly His will that takes the place of our own in our own personal lives, when it's truly that way because it's scary, isn't it? It is I'm telling you, it's flat out scary to think I'm going to commit myself to life my life to Christ the way I should. It's scary. And I don't care if you're 75 or if you're 14 or 10 or whatever.

It's a scary thing. Because if you did, I guarantee your life probably wouldn't look quite the same as it does right now, would it? Not quite. Something would change. Something would change because whether it's Billy Graham, whether it's the Apostle Paul, whether it's whatever, there's always something that we hold on to, you know?

And I don't even know if it's possible to complete... You know what I mean? Because we're just too imperfect to completely do it. But boy, it's a great goal, isn't it? To yield ourselves as completely as possible as we can to the to the lord.

I mean, it's a great goal, isn't it? But I would say that our effectiveness as a group, as an assembly, increases exponentially if individually we all go through that process, right? Nod your heads. Make me think you're paying attention and still awake. Yeah.

So yeah, you know, we have to improve as a group in our functioning if that happens. And it's certainly the way we project ourselves to the world, which is the next message, that's certainly going to improve as well, right? Our projection to the world changed. So the question comes in then, how can we fail? And this takes us into the beginning of Chapter two.

And wow. See, I need that clock right back there. That's not helping me at all. Okay. Which evidently, the next time, we're going to be getting into the beginning of Chapter two.

But we're going to start just this little bit, okay? We're going to start this little bit and then we'll go from there. We'll see what opens up down the road here. So how can we fail as a group? Let's read Chapter one.

I read some comment or at the beginning of Chapter two. I read some commentary for some people that really was helpful. I read, three or four different commentaries on the first section of Chapter two and they all had a just slightly different take on it. So I don't know if you've ever read this and been, especially in the New King James, it's a little different. I went back and you read it in the NIV and the NIV is a little clearer to me.

I don't know about you, but it also, based on what I've read, is a little bit more accurate, transition or translation from the Greek. It's actually a little more accurate. So let's go through and read it. Therefore, this is beginning chapter two verse one. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind.

To me, this is an if then. And it's not a question if, it's not a question, it's a statement if. If you have this, then let me see this. And if you have this, let me see this, right, in you. And so what I think, and one of the commentators I read said, just take the word if out and put since and then it helps.

Or because, right? And that, it helped me a lot because I'm not real smart. So here we go. How can we fail? Since we have encouragement in Christ, since we have the comfort of His love, since we have the Holy Spirit to guide us in fellowship, since we, through our Christian experience, and this is a little bit of interpretation in my part, since we have, we, through our Christian experience, have enjoyed the affectionate mercies of God, how can we not get along, right?

If we enjoy, if we have the encouragement of Christ, if we have the comfort of his love, and we've experienced that through the grace that that we all have received through his death on the cross. Have we not? And we have the Holy Spirit to guide us. We have these things, then how? How can we fail?

How can we fail? Well, interactive time. How can we fail? Well, yes, but don't... Shh.

Don't don't live in any of that. Exactly. Don't don't look to those things. Don't rely on those. Don't rely on the Holy Spirit.

Don't consider the love of Christ and what he did for us and why we exist. Don't exert... Don't don't look to the encouragement of Christ for us to function by... Look to me, man. I got the answers.

Right? As soon as you do that, as soon as you're a thumb guy, we always said in football, right, don't be a thumb guy. And then someone said, well, I can point with my thumb. But don't be a thumb guy, right? As soon as I look to me and it's all about me and my motivations are about me, that's when problems arise, isn't it?

That's when problems arise. We have all these things, right? So the answer comes in verse three and four of chapter two and that's selfish ambition and conceit. And he doesn't answer it like that, but he says avoid these things because that's where the problem is. And then he goes through and he's going to teach us through the example of Jesus Christ what humility really is, okay?

So before we close, and I'm just going this is going be the final thing because I'm going to open with this next time we boy, I got halfway through. And that's okay. I'm going to start out with a definition. I went and looked up the definition of humility. I wanted the official one, okay?

And so what is humility? Because between now and whenever the next time is, next July or something when the numbers are down again, But when I'm just kidding. So sometime between now and then, whatever the next time is, start thinking about yourself, about your own humility. In what areas do I need to work on my humility? Work on.

Yield. In what areas do I need to yield? Because I say those things because I think like that. It's part of the fight, right? In what ways do I need to yield to be more humble?

In what way? And am I as humble as I should be? I believe, we've said it in football, the guys that humbly take you you take a guy who's supposed to be, know, who thinks he's a running back, and I'll go to tell him. He thinks he's a running back, right? And you tell him, brother, you can help us more guard, right?

And you're going to have kids that go, well, I don't want to be a guard, I want to be a running back. So you'd rather be a third string running back than a first string guard? So be it. So be it. But you have some kids that come in and go, coach, whatever I can do to help the team, right?

And you love to see that kind of humility. That's a beautiful thing. You coach guys like that, you can make something out of that. It's the guys that are all about themselves that kill you. In the end, they kill you.

And so I've always said, humility is one of the top things that we need in sports. You need that's not what we preach today in sports, is it? Right? Guys signing stuff, pulling out Sharpies and doing all that stuff. That's the garbage that the world has brought into it.

But boy, it's made athletics worse. Teams are worse. That's why these guys trade it every other day and nobody cares about you know, whatever. But it's made it worse, right? So I want you to think about it.

This is the dictionary. The quality or condition of being humble. Well, doesn't help a lot. Modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance. Is that a true definition?

Yes. I say it's not the Christian definition. It is part, it is part of the mindset that you want to have as a Christian, but to me, it's not the Christian definition. And so I started to write my own. And I wrote this thing out and it was ridiculous.

I was trying to sound like Ironside or something. You know what I mean? Like writing this big, long thing out. It's going to be really complicated. And I thought, wow, this is going to be real impressive.

And then I realized, well, this is about my own pride. This ain't about... You know what I mean? And so, the lord simplified. He really did.

As I was going through, I go, wait a minute, this, you're making this about you. You know, don't, you ain't going to impress anybody. Lord's made it simple for us. Here to me is what I believe the definition of Christian humility is. The quality of condition of being a complete submission to the will of God.

That's humility. How do we know? How do we know? You don't have to wait till next time. You just keep reading.

48:25 What did Jesus do?

To take to take human form. Right? To even become like God. So imagine going from heaven where in spirit, where there's no pain, there's no hunger, there's none of those things. All is right.

You blink it, think it, boom, it exists. You know what I mean? You have that kind of well, he didn't give up that power when he took on human form. But he did take on pain, suffering, hunger, thirst, all the other things, the grossness of being a human, we're gross. Ask the people who were at camp, right?

We're gross. Okay, but he took that on. He took that on. Fully God, fully man in that respect, right? Didn't give up being God.

We talk about positional and all. We'll get into that next time. But think about what Jesus Christ did between now and next time. Think about what Jesus Christ did. He gave up His positional place in heaven to take on human form for the purpose of suffering.

For the purpose of suffering and dying. That was his life's goal. Right? That's humility. Because his father willed it, and he said, I'll do it.

And we were going to go, and we're going to look at some verses that show us where Jesus says, not my will, Lord. You know, if you wanna take this cup from me, not my will, but your will be done. That's what it was all about. Right? I think that's the perfect example that we have, and that's why Paul brings it up.

Want You an example of what humility looks like? Be like Christ. Do it the way He did it and you'll be all right. Okay? All right, let's close.

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the perfect example to us in how to honor you, how to obey your will, how to live in a way that's pleasing to you, forsaking what the world wants, what the world would have from us. Lord, we know that You have things that are so much better for us. Help us all to be more willing to forsake our own wills, our own desires, our own fleshly desires, and to live a life that would be pleasing to you and that would be according to your will. Help us to seek your will in all things. We pray this in your name.

Amen.

Unity Through Humility — Philippians 1-2

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Unity Through Humility — Philippians 1-2

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