I'm going to begin reading in verse 12, Philippians
2. Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always
obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much
more in my absence, continue to work out your
salvation with fear and trembling. For it is
God who works in you to will and to act according
to His good purpose. Do everything without complaining
or arguing, so that you may become blameless
and pure, children of God without fault in a
crooked and depraved generation, in which you
shine like stars in the universe as you hold
out the word of life, in order that I may boast
on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor
for nothing. But even if I am being poured out
like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service
coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice
with all of you. So you too should be glad and
rejoice with me. I hope in the Lord Jesus to
send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be
cheered when I receive news about you. I have
no one else like him who takes a genuine interest
in your welfare. for everyone looks out for his
own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But
you know that Timothy has proved himself, because
as a son with his father he has served with me
in the work of the gospel. I hope therefore to
send him as soon as I see how things go with
me, and I am confident in the Lord that I myself
will come soon. But I think it necessary to send
back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow
worker, and fellow soldier, who is also your
messenger whom you sent to take care of my needs.
For he longs for all of you and is distressed
because you heard he was ill. Indeed, he was
ill and almost died. But God had mercy on him,
and not on him only, but also on me, to spare
me sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore, I am all the
more eager to send him so that when you see him
again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety.
Welcome him in the Lord with great joy and honor
men like him, because he almost died for the
work of Christ, risking his life to make up for
the help you could not give me." We continue
today with the theme of the joy of unselfish
living. We need to beware when all of the arrows
of life point inward. That is a joyless way to
live and it happens so subtly. Times of diversity
in particular have a way of causing us to lose
perspective. Before the trouble we were healthy
spiritually, balanced, with a genuine concern
for others' welfare along with our own. And then
something happened. Our world was turned upside
down. It was followed by hurt and disappointment,
anger, maybe jealousy, whatever. And the result
was that we turned inward. Self -pity was indulged.
And we lost our joy in Jesus Christ. Joy can
be lost, but thank God, joy can also be regained.
After all, joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit,
isn't it? But the fact is that the Holy Spirit
doesn't and can't grow that fruit in heart soil
that is packed down and hardened. by self -centered
living and thinking. How can we experience fresh
joy in our lives even in the face of adversity?
Part of the answer to that is that by giving
of ourselves unselfishly to others, Christ's
joy will be released. Giving of our time, our
energy, our influence, our interest, to others.
And doing so without thought of what we will
get in return will release the joy of Jesus Christ
afresh in our lives. We're going to follow basically
the same simple outline that we used last week
as we look at this second half of the text. Let's
go back to the exhortation that the apostle has
given us. It can be summarized in the idea Seek
the welfare of others. Consider them before yourself.
Include their interests as you look after your
own interests. Seek the welfare of others. He
develops that in our text by saying that doing
so is a matter of obedience. It's a matter of
obedience to live this way. It was the way that
Jesus lived and he obeyed It says in verse 8
that he humbled himself and became obedient to
death even the cross death What does that mean?
It means that our Lord Jesus in humbling himself
and seeking the welfare of sinners you and me
In doing so obeyed God For us to seek the welfare
of others is likewise obedience in our lives.
It's a matter of obedience Paul says you obeyed
when I was there, but now I'm Sure that you're
going to obey even more You poison girls are
sometimes given a job to do by your parents and
It's one thing to do it while they're there in
the room with you Maybe your parents says pick
up your toys or clean up this room, it's a mess.
Now I realize that would be unusual for your
room to be a mess, wouldn't it? But once in a
while, a parent will go overboard and ask you
to clean up. Clean up this mess, and while they're
in the room, it's easy for you to do that. But
let's suppose your parent says to you, clean
up the room, and then goes on an errand and leaves
the house. Well, that's the real test as to how
obedient you are when your parent is gone. Paul
writes to these children of his in the faith,
and he says, you obeyed when I was there and
lived this way. And I'm convinced that even now
in my absence you're going to do more. Seeking
the welfare of others is a matter of obedience.
Paul goes on to say that it's also a matter of
evidence. In verse 12 he says, continue to work
out your salvation with fear and trembling. Notice
he does not say work for your salvation. We cannot
work for our salvation. It is given to us freely
as a gift from God. Our part is but to open our
hearts by faith and to receive the gift of God.
The Philippians had received salvation from God,
but now Paul says, work it out. Work it out.
Dwight Pentecost says this has in it the idea
of translate. Translating what is known into
daily conduct. The fact is that most of us here
know more, spiritually speaking, than we live.
And so he says, work it out. It's there, it's
in you, salvation is within. Now get it worked
out to its results in your life. That's a matter
of evidence giving proof that we are genuine
Christians. Seeking the welfare of others is
living like the one whom we name as Lord who
lived that way. It's a matter of obedience to
seek the welfare of others. And it's a matter
of evidence proving that we are truly His, that
we have salvation. Thirdly, he says it's a matter
of witness that we should so live. It's a matter
of witness. Notice how he puts it. Do everything
without complaining or arguing so that you may
become blameless and pure children of God without
fault in a crooked, depraved generation in which
you shine like stars in the universe. He says
do all things without griping and criticizing.
Now there are some parameters around that and
we have to think of the first parameter which
is the context and what Paul is saying is that
as you seek the welfare of others and whatever
you do, do it without complaining about it. Do
it without murmuring and criticizing. There are
times when we do things on behalf of others,
but man, under our breath, we've got a few things
to say regarding this duty. Paul says, whenever
you seek the welfare of others, do that without
a sense of murmuring under your breath that you've
got to do this. Or criticizing. or complaining.
He says when you live that kind of a life, it's
a testimony. That kind of a life which is submissive
and seeks the welfare of others is dynamic in
a world like ours. He says you will stand out
like the stars in the night sky. You have to
get away from the city to see those stars, don't
you? Go up to a lake, the Northland somewhere,
or even better, go to a farm in Kansas. And there
you see the stars laid out in the expanse of
the heavens and the Milky Way running through
them and the constellations that you can remember.
It's a marvelous sight on a dark night. The Apostle
says that you live in a dark world. And when
you live this way, it will be a witness to that
world. You will stand out like illuminaries reflecting
the light of God Himself. Like the world in that
day, ours has a bias against God. And that prejudice
against God has produced a warped generation.
He describes it here with two words. crooked
and depraved. The word crooked is scolias. Some
of you will pick up in that Greek word the word
scoliosis, which is a disease of the spine, causing
the spine to unnaturally curve. This is where
the word comes from. He says you live in a generation
that is curved unnaturally. that is diseased
by sin and bent over, out of shape. And he says
it is depraved, it is twisted in its moral condition.
We live in a world with twisted values. We live
in a time when people will protest to protect
the spotted owl, but think nothing of killing
babies in a womb. twisted sense of values in
a world that is biased against God in the midst
of that darkness of morality. Paul says you will
shine like lights in God's universe because you
will seek the welfare of others and look after
their interests. You will live unselfishly and
give. energy, time, and influence, resources
to help them. It's a matter of witness in our
world. So giving of ourselves unselfishly and
seeking the welfare of others is a matter of
obedience, evidence, and witness. And living
that way provides meaning and purpose for us
ourselves in life. It gives to us a joy in living.
We've talked about cultural key ministries as
a church. This bridges perfectly into what we
mean by that. We have a mainstream culture out
there that has built walls against the witness
of the gospel. And our need as a congregation
is to ask God to raise up amongst us people with
a vision for certain hopes and hurts of those
people in the world. Hopes and hurts that we
can practically, in some way of Christ's love,
address in meaningful ways. And as we seek those
cultural key ministries, we will be able to unlock
the doors of culture and let the light of the
gospel shine in there. It costs to do that. It
means we have to give of ourselves to do that.
It means it will take time and resources and
effort, but it's worth it. That's what he says.
Live this way. It's the way Jesus lived. Then
he gives us three marvelous examples of others
who've lived this way. We had Jesus' example
last week to admire, and now this week he gives
us three additional examples. One of them is
Paul himself. He describes his life in verse
17 as a drink offering. Even if I am being poured
out, he says, like a drink offering on the sacrificial
service coming from your faith. It's helpful
to understand what a drink offering is. In the
Old Testament, God provided for a libation, an
offering of wine. which was supplemental and
complementary to the main sacrifice. The main
sacrifice was put on the altar and then, to augment
the meaning of it, the worshiper would take wine
and pour it by the altar. It was called a drink
offering. Paul does a marvelous thing here. He
sees the the sacrificial service of the Philippians
as the main sacrifice in the altar being offered
to God. And he says, I am like a drink offering
just on the side being poured out. You see how
he defers to the Philippians? He says, you're
the main thing. The sacrifice and service that
you offer to God, what a wonderful thing. But
he says, my life is being poured out. Like a
wine offering on the side of it to augment Its
meaning to God and he says I'm glad about that
He says don't pity me in prison He says you rejoice
with me that I have the opportunity to see my
life poured out in this way and remember when
Paul was about to die He wrote to Timothy And
he said to him I am already being poured out.
Again, using the same analogy, he saw his life
as being poured out. Can we see our lives that
way? Can God give us grace to see our lives as
having the greatest possible meaning in being
poured out as a sacrifice upon the altar? The
second example is that of Timothy. The heart
and core of what he says about Timothy begins
in verse 20. I have no one else who's a soul
brother, he says. No one else who's like him
who takes a genuine interest in your welfare.
Now, Paul didn't mean that there was absolutely
no one else because of Epaphroditus and perhaps
Luke and Aristarchus and some of his other team
members would have been something like Timothy,
but it seems that Timothy stood out by himself.
He points to Timothy and he says, I have no one
who's really quite like him. And then he says
sadly in verse 21, everyone looks out for his
own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. If
there were any verse that might be written across
the Church of Jesus Christ in the latter quarter
of the 20th century, it might be verse 21. where
so much of the Church of our Lord has adopted
the thinking of the world, we have become truly
worldly in seeking our own interests and not
those of Jesus Christ. And so how special and
refreshing to meet people like many of you who
would be more like Timothy than like the others,
who are willing to put first the interests of
Jesus Christ. And then he points to the example
of Epaphroditus, the man who had brought a message
of love and a gift of money to Paul in prison
from the Philippians. Paul was about to send
him home again. He had gotten sick while he was
in Rome. They had heard about it. Epaphroditus
was upset. But Paul says, I want you to know
that he did almost die. And he puts it this way
in verse 30. He says he almost died for the work
of Christ, risking his life. Paul uses a word
there that's filled with a lot of color. Risking
his life was a verb that was used originally
to play the gambler. It was for high stakes dice
gambling. But the word then began to broaden
out in its meaning. It was used of a merchant,
for example, who would risk his life on the seas
of that day for produce to bring back to sell.
For his gain, he would gamble his life or risk
his life on the sea. Or it was used of a soldier
or an athlete who would enter the arena and risk
his life. in order to have some temporal gain.
Paul picks up that word and applies it to Epaphroditus
and he says Epaphroditus was willing to lay it
all in the line. He held nothing back. He was
willing to risk even his life in this world for
the work of Christ. What marvelous examples the
apostle brings before us of people who are willing
to live for the welfare of others like we are
exhorted to live. But why should we live like
Paul and see our lives poured out as a drink
offering? Why should we live like Timothy and
live for the interests of others? Why should
we be like Epaphroditus and lay it all on the
line? Why should we be like Jesus? and submit
ourselves even to death for the welfare of others
who are undeserving. Well, we come to the explanation
of it as we look back at verses 13 and 16. The
apostle first tells us how we can do it and then
explains why. How can a person really live the
way Paul did? How can we live like Jesus did
with such an attitude of submission and humility?
He explains that we can do it because God is
working in us. That's how. He doesn't say that
we've got to try hard to live this way and do
it in our own strength. He says it is God who
is working in you. Both the willing and the doing
of His good pleasure. And what is His good pleasure?
That we should seek the welfare of others. And
he says, God is energetically working in you,
unleashing His power, first changing you so that
your will is affected. And you will want to live
this way. And then He is enabling you so that
the deeds that flow out of your choices will
have meaning and eternal fruit. God is at work
in your life. How can we possibly live like a
Timothy or an Epaphroditus? We can't in ourselves
But by surrendering to God We can know God's
work in our midst in our lives changing us making
us Building us and why should we live this way?
Paul touches on this when he says what he does
in verse 16 He says in order that I may boast
on the day of Christ That I did not run or labor
for zip for nothing Paul has a concern about
himself. He says I want you to follow through
and to to live this way So that when the day
of reward comes, the day of Christ, I'll have
not lived my life in vain." Has that thought
ever crossed your mind as a high school young
person? That you can live the rest of your life
and for it to amount to nothing? Does that create
any kind of desire in you to have life be meaningful?
So when it comes time to die, you'll be able
to say, I have not lived in vain. How do we do
that? By seeking the welfare of others? We received
a telephone call last Sunday as we do every other
week from my in -laws. They told us a very sad
story. When we had ministered in that area, there
was a couple who had come to our church, had
been there in fact for many years, whom God had
blessed in financial ways. They had been successful
in business, and as a result of that, had a lot
of money. And they were willing to talk about
that. And as life went along, they, like everybody
else, gave some to the work of the Lord. But
the general pattern of the life was to give a
little bit and keep a lot. They had no children.
The older they got, the more the arrows began
to point inward. And in the last few years, in
their old age, this couple has lived in a mansion,
but they invited no one to come to see them because
it was in total disrepair on the inside. They
were ashamed of it. Lived rather eccentrically.
Two years ago, he bought a big Mercedes. and
bragged to my father -in -law about his Mercedes.
And how much money he had in the bank. My father
-in -law said, well, what are you doing with
it to serve the Lord? Well, the man didn't want
to hear anything about that. He really began
to live like a Scrooge. He hoarded his wealth,
and it became more and more true of him that
he didn't have money. Money had him. And as a
result of that, he lost the joy of living. He
was an angry and bitter old man who really did
not serve the God he professed to know. And with
all the arrows pointed inward and being greatly
discouraged and depressed, though he had all
of the wealth that a person could want really
in this world and could have used that for the
glory of God invested in the lives of people
in ministry. Last Sunday, he put a gun in his
mouth and pulled the trigger and ended his miserable
life. Zip. Paul says, when I come to the day
of Jesus Christ, I want to note that I have not
lived in vain. That I will have reward that Jesus
will give me on that day because I have lived
for others. I have sought their welfare. Oh,
let's live that way. Paul says, you shine as
lights in the world holding forth the word of
life. You can say, holding out the word of life.
And it reminds me of a track meet I went to a
few weeks ago with my son. We went to watch a
friend of ours run from a local college. And
while we were waiting for his race, we watched
some other relays. And one particular runner
got my interest because he was standing near
me in his lane. You could see him getting his
muscles all loosened up, and yet his mind was
focusing more and more. the race that was about
to be run and the gun sounded in another part
of the building you could see the race was started
and the baton was being passed off from runner
to runner and finally the runner was coming toward
him and he got into place in his lane put his
hand back and began to run at just the right
moment and the runner held out the baton and
he dropped it and it bounced back and forth in
the lane and the runner had to stop and turn
around and pick it up and then take off again.
And I watched as this young man who only seconds
before was filled with hope and belief they were
going to win the race. I watched as he came around
the track to the finish line in last place. Dejected
and disappointed. The race had been for nothing.
Let's not drop the baton. It's been passed on
to us. And now we have our race to run. Paul
says if you want to run it so it won't be in
vain then seek the welfare of others as you live
Live like the Lord Jesus lived Looking not for
your own interests only but also for those of
others Let's pray together With our heads bowed,
I wonder how the Spirit of God would apply this
to our lives, and who it might be that He's calling
us to minister to, or how it is that He wants
us to respond. Oh, we must beware when the arrows
of life point inward. Father, teach us to live
as we've been exhorted to live. in this chapter.
Deliver us from the terrible mistake of living
for ourselves and seeking only our own interests.
Deliver us, I pray, from the worldliness that
is about us on every side. As we live, as you've
told us to here, may that be an effective witness
for Christ. in our community. In Jesus' name
I pray, Amen. I invite you to turn in your hymnal
with me to hymn 92 as we sing a verse or two
of this prayer that recognizes that we are channels
of the power of God and vessels of His that He
has graciously chosen to use. How I praise thee
precious Savior that thy love laid hold of me
we've sung about that earlier in the service
That thou has saved and cleansed and filled me
that I might thy channel be Let's stand together
and sing the second verse emptied that thou shouldest
fill me And who is working in you both the willing
and the doing of his good pleasure? Let's sing
verse 3 that talks about that Let's bow our heads
please. Jesus, fill now with thy spirit hearts
that full surrender know that the streams of
living water from our inner man may flow. And
may we so live that we will be your channels,
your drink offerings. your sacrifices, your lights
in a dark world. And empower us, I pray, as we
go out this week to live just that way. For you
are our Lord. And we desire to have your one
mind seeking the welfare of others that we might
then fulfill that mission you've called us to.
God, may it be so for us individually and us
as a church body together. In Jesus' name, amen.
You're dismissed.