Joy in spite of the people in your life

--- Tonight we get to study chapter 2 of Philippians in our Bible study. That's called finding joy and last week we found a way to process our Circumstances with Paul's words when he said it's granted unto us not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for him and So I want to put a room as a reminder from last week 2nd Corinthians 4 17 on the screen that we went over last week and it reminded us that these light and Momentary afflictions are actually preparing for us an Eternal weight of glory and so we're reminded that one thing is That the duration of our difficult circumstances is brief in the context of everything in the grand scope of things and that Their purpose is for our good and for God's glory You know as Paul himself was writing this letter He was pressed in a difficult set of circumstances He didn't know what the outcome was going to be. He didn't know if he would make it out alive He didn't know if it was life or death and you might remember in verse 21 from last week last chapter I'll put it on the screen too. He made the summary. He concluded to live as Christ and to die is gain and So we had this 32nd dialogue last week about the fears and the reality of death And do you remember that I said in this passage to the Philippians Paul is going to go on and talk about life Live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ And so I said that's a different Bible study, but little did I know then that Sunday morning in our complimentary passage in 2nd Corinthians where Paul goes on to talk about the realities of dying and About departing from this world and preparing for that. He taught the dying Bible studies So you got both of them in the course of one week. It's pretty fancy when that works out that way But now in this chapter what we're working up to is a dialogue about our mind our Thinking and our attitude and the conclusion that we're going to come to is that our thinking Can be and should be the same as that of Christ Jesus So what I'm gonna do is I want to begin reading our text in verse 5 And you can open your Bibles to Philippians chapter 2 We're gonna read verse 5 through 9 and let me tell you why I'm starting there is because I want those Four verses to be in focus. I was thinking about when you go on Vacation or Something like that if you go to the Oregon Coast or what came to my mind is going to Mount Rushmore When you're on the highway to Mount Rushmore, you turn a certain corner you're still miles away from the place, but you turn a certain corner and there they are the four presidents and You're not at the destination yet, but now it's in focus What you're about to do is in focus and you see that that's why I want to start with verse 5 I want to put this into focus for us. So verse 5 begins This way

. So let's pray Father we want to focus on this. We want to focus on not only what you've given us in our salvation But Lord an example that you've given us as well and Lord, you know how we're made, you know how Difficult it is for us to yield ourselves to this type of an attitude But it's why we study your word is it so we can be changed into your likeness? So we humbly ask Lord that you would help us not only as we study for the next hour But Lord as we leave here that we would put into practice the things that we read in Jesus name. Amen So I want to suggest that this chapter in this book of the Bible teaches us that we can find joy in spite of the people in our life and the way we do this is by purposefully Advancing this same mind which we read is yours in Christ Jesus That's what Paul said. It's already been made available to those who believe and belong to God Because we have the Spirit of Jesus. We also have the same mind as Jesus So that's what we're going to investigate. Is that reality? Now as we read this chapter, we want to contemplate spiritual growth and by now You can probably say this little phrase that I've been saying every week You can probably say it along with me that we want to rejoice Because we belong to God and we want to make progress like we belong to God That is the theme that we're looking at verse 25 from the first chapter Said I'm going to continue with you for your joy and progress in the faith It's rejoicing and it's growing so we want to keep spiritual growth on the forefront So when we believe in Christ, and this is a believers Bible study when we believe in Christ We ask him to forgive our sins. We become born again We are given the Spirit of Jesus to live within us right then But that doesn't mean that we will necessarily Immediately look like Jesus Act like Jesus or talk like Jesus right away we need to grow we need to make progress in our thinking and As we purpose to have the same mind as Christ and then we can live that joy filled experience in spite of the Circumstances in our life in spite of the people in our life So because that's what Jesus did, you know Jesus didn't flaunt his position in front of other people as if to say don't you know who I am and He didn't he didn't kind of pull the equality card with his father and kind of say Don't you have some other way to do this or somebody else to do this kind of thing? You know, don't you know that I'm equal with you? but he willingly and purposefully humbled himself to serve his enemies Aka you and me We were his enemies so he purposefully humbled himself to serve his enemies I'm willing to bet that you have people in your life today that seem like enemies We might call them Neighbors, we might call them family. We might call them co-workers, but sometimes they may seem like their enemies So here's a question. Do you want to serve them right now right now? Don't overthink it. Do you want to serve them? Probably a lot of us would say Do you want to grow to have the same mind as Christ so that you can answer? Yes to that We would probably all go. Yes, we do. So it's a matter of spiritual growth one more Scripture I want to put up on the screen for us before we actually go back to verse 1 and start this chapter It's from a retreat. We did a couple of years ago that we really loved. It was the from Hebrews chapter 12 It was that passage that encouraged us to run with endurance the race set before us and verse 2 says Looking to Jesus who for the joy That was set before him endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. He endured the cross. So We're here to have the same mind. That's in Christ Jesus. I Wonder what joy we might find in a disjointed world by matching up to that mind I wonder what ideals and expectations we have on the people around us that we would just let go of I even wonder how much more we might Engage in the things that God has given us to do for the joy set before us as we come to the judgment of rewards When God rewards us for the things that we have done Okay. Now we're gonna start with verse 1. Okay, Philippians chapter 2 verse 1

and we ask what would that look like in verse 3 tells us

. So let's stop and review that just a moment. Those are pretty straightforward Phrases for us. He says no selfish ambition no focus exclusively on our own needs and what we want is to walk in him humility and Look to the interests of others Because we love to be around people who are humble and look out for our interests. Don't we and That's the problem is we love love to be around people who are humble and look out for our interests. We crave that. That's what comes naturally to us. So what we realize is that how other people treat us is really what moves our joy meter in our lives. When other people affirm us, respect us, value us, care for us, we have a much easier time experiencing joy when people do that to us. And when other people in our lives ignore us, look down on us, abuse us, we feel extremely annoyed and our joy meter goes all the way down. So so much is dependent, isn't it, on what people feed to us. What if we had an attitude that was filled with joy just because we belong to God, regardless of how other people treated us? What if we had an attitude that didn't demand that people notice us or affirm us? What if we had an attitude that saw our purpose as serving other people rather than being served? If we had an attitude like that, it would be sort of like we could say, your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. And if that sounds the same but different, it is because it's the same but different. I started it off from the NIV, which uses that phrase, your attitude should be that same as that of Christ Jesus. The ESV talked about have this mind among yourselves, which I love that, too, the same mind. But maybe here for a minute, we can use that word attitude, and that helps us engage in a different way that would be great. So if you're a Christian, the mind of Christ, which is yours in Christ Jesus, that's what Paul said, the mind of Christ, which is yours in Christ Jesus, it's already been given to you. It's in there. Our goal is to get it out. Our goal is to get it out. And so let's look at the next verses that help us see this. Verse 12 says, therefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it's God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. OK, remember we talked now about attitude and same mind. So we realize it's inside of us. But spiritual growth is what helps it make it show to the outside of us. We don't want to keep it on the inside of us. We want it to show on the outside of us. And the New Living Translation puts it another way that might help us. It says, work hard to show the results of your salvation. That's an interesting way to put it. Work to the outside of your life what God has already worked inside of your life. And by the way, this was in your study guide, but I just feel like I always need to say it. This verse does not say work for your salvation. It says, work out your salvation. It's a very different thing. And we covered that in the study guide, why that can't possibly be what he's talking about. I want to stay on this for just a little bit. And I want to dissect it like we sometimes do and ask questions about this verse, OK? What are we to do? Well, we are to work out our salvation. We are to continue making progress in our spiritual life so that we work to the outside what God has worked in. How are we to do it? This verse says we're to do it with fear and trembling. That's a pretty good translation. And don't think of this in terms of like a abused worker to a high-handed boss, that kind of fear and trembling. But it's more like solemn reverence, like this is important. This is an important thing in life, not to be skipped over. So we're going to do this with fear and trembling, with reverence. By whose power? Paul says, for it is God who works in you to will and to work. It is God's power that is working in you, both to will and to work. The will is the want to. Do you sometimes have trouble with the want to? That's sometimes where I get stopped right there. I don't even want to. But it's God's power that help us to have the will, the want to, the purpose, the right attitude, the right mind, and then the work to actually follow through, to accomplish, to serve other people in an attitude of humility. So what is the motivation? He says, according to his good purpose. And this is really important. It's not according to what I think I should do, what it's my turn to do, what I want other people to think that I'm a nice person because I do. It's according to his good purpose. So I want to talk about that just a little bit because even people without Christ can be very nice. You've all met nice people that are not born again. They do not have the spirit of Christ. They can be thoughtful. They can be considerate. They can look out for the needs of others. They can do amazing projects to relieve human suffering. People without Christ can do really good things. Why is this? Because we are designed in the image of God. God's imprint is upon all of us. So we do have the capacity to do good things, regardless of if Christ is dwelling in us or not. Is this not true? We see this all around us. But even though we're in the image of God, sin has corrupted our thinking. So now when people without Christ do good things and they look to the needs of others, the motivation is a little different. And sometimes for us, our motivation isn't always pure. It's not always because it's God's purpose. And so motivation to do good things can be things like, well, it makes me feel good to do good things. It's my turn to give back. It's my civic duty. People do good things because they feel guilty about bad things. And so then they do good things because it makes them feel better. People even try to level out the spiritual scales, and we'll talk about that next week, hoping that there's enough good stuff that will outweigh the bad stuff. But here's the deal. When we will enact, like it says here, according to his good purpose, with the attitude of Jesus, the outcome of this glorifies God. When we do it for our good purpose, our good ideas, the outcome glorifies us. It makes us seem like a good person or whatever. And so there's a different outcome to it. We want the outcome that is God's glory. So just because God is working in us doesn't mean that it's automatically gonna flow out. This passage teaches us about spiritual progress, about making a decision to work out what God is calling us with fear and trembling. So now we ask, what does it mean to me? What does this passage mean to me? And I rolled this over many of the days this week because it did have an impact on me. And every day that we get up, we face this question. We face the question of our attitudes. Am I gonna choose the attitude of my natural mind? The reason I don't wanna say my sinful nature is because when we say our sinful nature, although that's true, we shut down sometimes because we don't wanna think of ourselves as engaging our sinful nature. So I wanna say when we engage our natural mind, what comes naturally to us? We have a choice in the morning to engage our natural mind or according to this passage, to soberly with fear and trembling, engage the mind of Christ that is already in us. That is not something that I thought of for days and days before I studied this passage. And that's why we study scripture is we meet things new and fresh, and then we go, oh, this makes sense. Like the Christian life is a sober life. I need to get up in the morning and say, Lord, I need your mind to determine what I'm gonna do, how I'm gonna act. I need to yield my mind to you so that I can do the things that you've called me to do. So we have to purpose to work out what God worked in. And the thing of it is when we do that, when we actually do that, when we yield to the mind of Christ, to will and to work according to his good purpose, do you know what happens? It's for other people's good and God's glory. Okay, so last week, we talked about our difficult circumstances, we talked about our suffering, and those things were for our good and God's glory. God's glory. Now willing and acting with the mind of Christ is for other people's good and God's glory. So we kind of have pulled the whole package together in these two chapters and I like that. So if I just would exhort you like I have done and I want to continue to do this next week, you know, make a sticky note or do something. Like me you probably have a long list of intercession. If you pray you probably have many things that you're praying about. But consider taking a bigger chunk of time and focusing on this with fear and trembling for at least a couple days and say, Lord show me, show me where I need to take my mind and put it into submission to what your mind is. Give me the want to so that I have the will and to work for your purpose. All right. Now if we're wondering how we're doing on this, maybe nothing gives us a more accurate barometer of whether or not our attitude is like that of Christ Jesus than the words that come out of our mouth. And that must have been what Paul was thinking because look at verse 14. He says,

. Okay, this is the familiar parenting verse of all mothers, you know, of course from the NIV. I don't know, my kids probably know it as sing-song manner. Do everything without arguing and complaining. Do everything without arguing and complaining. Do everything without arguing and complaining, right? It gets drilled in. And it's not a bad parenting verse but it's also indicator of our surrender. There's two really neat Greek words in here and I just want to talk about them a little bit because they're just, they're just really neat. So in the ESV, the grumbling and the disputing, these words are, the first Greek word is gogosmos, which is this discontented grumbling. Gogosmos. And the other word is, I love this, it starts with the word dialogue. Dialogosmos. Dialogosmos. How many of you had children that were really, really good at dialogosmos? They could argue with you about hair brushing, about friends, about vegetables, about bedtime, about, you know, just about anything. The dialogue went on and on and on. Maybe it's you, maybe it's not your kids, maybe it's you. But interesting though, you know, we can laugh about it because we've all engaged in someone who's like that. They just have, they're just, they're complainers, right? But Lightfoot says here, he interprets this, dialogosmos, an intellectual rebellion against God. Oh, all of a sudden it's serious, right? An intellectual rebellion against God. I guess I can do that in my mind. I can begin the arguing process in my mind as I begin to think of knowing the things that God wants me, how he wants me to respond in a situation, what is having the attitude of Christ, and the arguing starts going, the intellectual dialogue in my head, rebelling against what I know is the attitude of Christ Jesus, and finding a good reason why I should use my natural attitude. Maybe it doesn't come out of my mouth, maybe it does, but I'm just telling you everything that has hit me this week. So, but you know, the Bible teaches us that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And so when we hear our mouth beginning this grumbling, complaining, that sort of thing, it is a symptom of a disease that's in here. And so we don't necessarily want to treat the symptoms, although it's, it's not a bad thing to try and rain in on your complaining, that's for sure, but we have to remember that it is a symptom that's coming out here of a disease that's in here, a rebellion against God, and that is what we want to get to, that is what this chapter is talking about, is our attitudes. So I'm going to do something that's going to drive you crazy. I'm going to take verses 15 and 16, and we're going to take those verses and set them on our little Bible shelf up here, and we're leaving them for retreat. So if you want to study verses 15 and 16, you'll have to come to Women's Retreat this fall, okay? And I want to use the remainder of our time and look at three examples that we are given of people who have purposed to work to the outside what God worked in them in terms of the mind of Christ. And the first one is the Apostle Paul himself. In verse 17, he says, even if I am poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I'm glad and I rejoice with you all. Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me. So Paul's an example of a person who has been doing this exact thing that we're talking about. He has been purposefully, with fear and trembling, working to the outside to show his salvation of what Christ has done on the inside, and how does he describe it? He says, I've been poured out like a drink offering. You may be being poured out in the same way. Maybe you feel that same sense, poured out as a mother, poured out as a caregiver, poured out as a voice of reason in an unreasonable home, you know, whatever way. But maybe through your prayers and through purposing to have the same mind as Christ, maybe we can get to echo this same thing. Paul says, even so, even though I am poured out, he says, I'm glad. I rejoice with you all. That's impressive. It's a good example. The next example is Timothy in verse 19. He says, I hope in the Lord to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you, for I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare, for they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he served with me in the gospel, and I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also. All right, so these four verses now, they're pretty self-explanatory. Paul describes Timothy as someone who has genuine concern for their welfare, okay? And this is apparently rare, because Paul says, I have no one else like him. Everybody else seeks their own interest, but not those of Christ. I find that both sad, and I find it encouraging. The reason I find it sad is because it is so rare. The reason I find it encouraging is because I'm in the same boat. I am growing, and at least I can look around and say, well not everybody's catching on to this. So we are all growing, we are all getting to the place where we have genuine concern for other people, and it reminds us to make it important, to make our spiritual growth important. The third example, and this will finish up our chapter and starting in verse 25, Paul says, I've thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he's been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed, he was ill, near to death, but God had mercy on him, and not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I'm the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me. All right, so we'll just call him Mr. E, and Mr. E was just an ordinary church guy that God called upon to do extraordinary things. That happens sometimes. I was talking with one of you even before we started, just an ordinary girl and an extraordinary thing that God allowed you to be involved with, but I'm glad we're given all these examples. The example of Jesus himself, the example of a super apostle, the example of a young pastor, and now just the example of a church guy. He's just like us, okay? He would be in the same category as us, but he risked his life to serve someone else. He risked his life because God had put that, God had put it in him to will and to work, and he obeyed, and the Lord saw him through. So just to close this up, you can see that this chapter is about having the same mind that is yours in Christ Jesus. I hope that was good news for somebody here tonight to realize that when you are born again and God puts the Holy Spirit within you, you have this mind of Christ. It is our goal, as long as we are on earth now, to, with fear and trembling, uncover that, put our own mind to the backdrop, and let the mind of Christ go forward to show it on the outside what He's done on the inside. So we find joy in doing that in spite of the people in our lives. The path is found for us in becoming the servant of all rather than the greatest of all, letting the seed of the mind of Christ grow. And I really feel this doesn't solve every single situation that you have with people in your lives. That's why we have the body of Christ, because sometimes you have really challenging, difficult situations that require counsel, that require prayer, and that sort of thing. But what I want to offer is that this chapter gives us insight to let those annoyances around us, the expectations that we have, the idealism we have of how other people should respond and treat us, let those things just dissolve. And we'll discuss here in a minute. Father, thank you for this insight. Thank you for this chapter. Lord, I pray that you would enable each and every one of us to grow in our spirits, Lord, that we would willingly put you center stage in our thinking, in our attitude, Lord. We know that we want to do that, and so we also know that you are the one that enables it. And so we stand before you asking humbly for your help, asking that you would give us the want-to, that you would give us the work, and that you would enable us to do it with your purpose, Lord. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. ---