PHILIPPIANS 2 EVIDENCE THAT JESUS IS YOUR PRIORITY2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Philippians 2 Evidence That Jesus Is Your Priority

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. Well, this evening we're here in Philippians chapter 2, and we'll be finishing up the chapter, picking up where we left off last week, and starting in verse 12 to work our way through the end of the chapter. But let's begin tonight by just reading the first few verses, verses 12 through 18, and then we'll...

dive into the message that God has for us. Philippians chapter 2 verse 12 says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing.

Verse 17. Verse 18.

I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason, you also be glad and rejoice with me. I've titled the message this evening, Evidence That Jesus Is Your Priority.

Here in the book of Philippians, we've been focusing really on the priority of Jesus as Paul has made Jesus his first priority and set the example for us and showing us that even in the midst of adverse circumstances, there he is in prison and yet he can have great joy and he can encourage the Philippians to rejoice over and over and over and over again because despite his circumstances, he

Jesus Christ is his priority and that hasn't changed. And so his foundation remains sure and firm, even though his circumstances are not ideal or not what he would hope for or what you or I would want either.

And so as we've been considering the focus of Jesus and the priority of Jesus in our lives, we've been looking at a few different aspects. And Paul last week addressed the issue of conflict within the church and between relationships and brought into that the example of Jesus Christ who was

And it's a powerful doctrine, and it's true, but Paul's primary purpose in pulling that doctrine in and causing us to reflect on it was to

Well, to say, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. That you and I are to have that same type of attitude to humble ourselves and let God do the exaltation later on. And let God do the fulfillment of his promises later on. And so there's the call to unity through humility, just like Jesus humbled himself. Well, now as we continue on, Paul's gonna continue that line of thought and he's gonna give us three more examples, okay?

He's going to teach us a little bit in the first couple of verses, but then he's going to give us himself as an example. He's going to give us Timothy as another example. And then Epaphroditus, one of their men that brought the financial gift to Paul, and that he's sending this letter back with this guy as well. So these three guys, along with Jesus, we have Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus to set an example for us, to give us something to compare our hearts and our minds and our lives to, and

to verify, to validate, if we, you know, ask ourselves the question, is Jesus my priority? Probably our automatic answer is yes, unless we're kind of, you know, depressed or down on ourselves, then we automatically say no, you know, but it's not a real evaluation. And so here we get some opportunity to do some real evaluation, to see some evidence in our lives of

that Jesus is the priority. And I would encourage you this evening that as we look at these things, if you see evidence that Jesus is the priority, that's great, and enforce that and continue down that path. But also, if you find the evidence that Jesus really is not the priority of your life, well, then it's an encouragement for us. It's helpful to us. Now we know, and as G.I. Joe would say, it's half the battle, right? Now we know, now we can address that.

And we don't address the issues that we see directly, but it always should bring us back to Jesus. And so let these things be some reminders for us tonight. As you see these evidences and as you kind of think about them for your own life and your own heart and your own circumstances and situation, where you fall short.

Don't let it be an issue of condemnation or guilt or, you know, you should stay away from the Lord, but let it be a reminder of you need to put Jesus first and to come back to the Lord and to worship him and to give yourself to him afresh and anew. Well, the first evidence that we'll see as we begin in verses 12 and 13, here's evidence number one, you have power to obey. Okay.

Here's one way that you can tell that Jesus is the priority of your life, that he's first, that he's foremost. You have the power that you need to be obedient to God. Let's look again at verse 12 and 13. Paul says, "'Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, "'not as in my presence only, "'but now much more in my absence, "'work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.'"

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Now verses 12 and 13 here, similar to the verses we looked at last week, there's some important and powerful doctrine here in verses 12 and 13. And if you're familiar with it, your mind already goes there. My mind automatically goes to the subject of grace versus works here in verses 12 through 13.

It's automatic for us. Paul talks about working out your own salvation, but then going on to say it's God who works in you to will and to do for his good pleasure. And there's, you know, long and lengthy and great doctrinal debates that go on over the means of inheriting salvation. And is it by works? And how does that work? And this verse is, you know, one of the key passages that these things are discussed and wrestled with and

There's some great truth here in verses 12 and 13. However, our focus this evening is not really to dive into that doctrine to great degree in these verses, but to kind of step back a little bit and understand the overall picture of what Paul is saying. Notice he starts out with the word therefore in verse 12. He's not introducing a new subject, right? He's continuing on. He's...

speaking to us in light of what he's just been sharing. And what he's just been sharing is the example of Jesus who humbled himself to great degree to be obedient to the Father and is now exalted. But that doctrine is not just by itself either. That ties back to verse 5 where Paul is saying, let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. So this is the example that Paul set. Jesus is our example. Here's what Jesus did. Therefore,

Paul is calling them to be obedient because of the example of Jesus that we have in his obedience. In verse 8 here of Philippians chapter 2,

Paul tells us, being found in appearance as a man, he, that's Jesus, humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, as you have always obeyed, when I've been with you, you've been obedient. But now, much more in my absence, he's saying, be obedient, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

which is another way of saying be obedient. He's calling us to be obedient, to have the mind of Christ. And backing up to the first few verses of chapter 2, to have like-mindedness, to have a genuine love for one another. He's talking about our relationships with each other. He's talking about the way that we relate to one another. And there is a need for us, a call for us to be obedient to

And putting others first and humbling ourselves and letting God take care of the exaltation just like Jesus did. And because Jesus did, therefore, be obedient. And Paul says, you've obeyed in my presence. When I was there, I was teaching you and you jumped on board and you were eager to humble yourself. You were eager to love one another. You were eager to follow the Lord and do what the Lord was calling you to do.

He says, now much more in my absence. It's good that you did that when I was there. But now much more in my absence, the need is for you to continue to be obedient. For you to continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. To work these things out in your life. To put them into practice in your life. Not just because I'm there. Not just because I'm with you or I can see what is going on in your life.

Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, Think about this. In your life, is it easier to obey? Do you only obey when there are people watching? When there are people around that know you?

that know who you are and know that you're supposed to be a Christian. And when there is eyes upon you, is it easier to obey? Do you only obey in those occasions? And when nobody is watching, when nobody is looking, when there is not that direct connection, Paul says, in my absence, much more now. It's more important now. I'm not with you.

And when I was there, that's great. You jumped on board. You were obedient and you had reason and motivation. And yes, you wanted to be obedient, but that's external. And there's some serious limits to what external influences can have upon you. There's limits to what external influence can produce in you. And what Paul is saying is, look, when you're only obedient when somebody's eyes are upon you,

Well, it's an indication there that Jesus is not really your priority. He's not really first. He's first enough for you to fake it while others are watching or for you to be mindful of it while others are watching. But when Jesus is first, then even in the absence of others, we can work out our salvation with fear and trembling. And Paul goes on to explain why in verse 13. "'For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure.'"

Paul says, look, you can be obedient. You can do what I'm asking you to do. You can follow the model, the example of Jesus Christ who humbled himself to this degree. You can do that because God works in you. And because God works in you, you have what you need. You have the power. This word that is translated works here. It's a word that we get the word energy from. It's God's energy in you.

God is energizing you. When Jesus is your priority, when you are seeking after the Lord and he's the priority of your heart and life, God gives you the power, the strength, the energy that you need. But notice he says the will and the to-do. So the power of God is at work in your motivation, in your mind, in your heart, as well as, well, for your actions, right?

And for you to be able to be obedient to the Lord, you have what you need because it's God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Pastor David Guzik says, this is not to work their salvation in the sense of accomplishing it, but to work out their salvation, to see it evident in every area of their lives, to activate this salvation that God freely gave them. This working out our salvation,

is something that is not just, you know, on Wednesday nights in church, we have evidence of salvation. We have power to obey, you know, here in this building. But in every corner of our hearts, every aspect of our lives, every corridor, you know, every alley, every corner, every aspect of what we do, Paul says, God works in you.

to be able to be obedient. You have the power to obey when Jesus is first. And so it's God working in you to will. And so when you recognize, I don't desire to be obedient. Again, you could work really hard to try to change your desire, right? How do I change my desire? But the issue there is not so much that you need to, on your own, of your own resources, fix your desires, fix your will. The issue is I need to come back to make Jesus the priority here.

And then God will work in me to will. He will change my will. He will change my heart. When I have the will, like Peter, right? But my flesh is weak. You know, the spirit's willing, but the flesh is weak. What do I do then? I don't try to, you know, build up my discipline or build up my strength or, you know, fortify myself. I need to go back and continue to make Jesus the priority. And God will work in me the will and the to-do. And so when Jesus says,

is our priority. It will produce some evidence that we will have power in our lives to obey. We'll have the will to obey God, the desire to obey God, and then we'll have what we need, the power, the energy, the strength, the boldness, whatever it is that we need. It's God who's working in us to give us what we need to be obedient.

Notice the end of verse 13 for a moment there. He says, it's God who works in you, both to will and to do, for his good pleasure. And this phrase here, his good pleasure, brings us back to this idea of priority. A lot of times we kind of have it in our minds, and maybe we don't think about it consciously this way, but if we could verbalize it,

The attitude, if we could verbalize what we're thinking, if we could verbalize what we want, we would say it like, well, Jesus will help you achieve your goals and fulfill your dreams. Jesus will help you achieve your goals and fulfill your dreams. That's not at all what the Bible says. We may think that. We may wish for that. We may want that. We may crave that. We may desire that. We may tell people that. And sometimes, you know, like,

We have the phrase, God loves you and has a plan for your life, right? You could loosely translate that. Jesus will help you achieve your goals and fulfill your dreams. That's not really what was originally intended with that line, that God loves you and has a plan for your life, right? That's not really what it means, but sometimes that's what we mean when we say it. Sometimes that's the idea that we have, and we're thinking that Jesus is going to help us achieve our goals, right?

And Jesus is going to help me fulfill my dreams. But when we're in that mindset and when we're in that heart, we've got things so backwards. God is at work in us for his good pleasure. It really doesn't matter what your goals are. When Jesus is your Lord, it's what his goals are. That's what matters. It really doesn't matter what your dreams are.

When Jesus is your Lord, when he's the priority, what's his dreams? What is his desires? What is his will? Not my will, but his will. And that's not to say that we should not set goals or have dreams. But again, it's about the priority. Jesus doesn't exist. Jesus isn't part of my life to help me achieve my goals and fulfill my dreams. Jesus is in my life because he loves me.

Jesus is in my life because of his motivation, because of what he's done, and it's for his glory. And me walking with the Lord and seeking after the Lord and making him the priority is not to get what I want, but it's in response for what the Lord has done for me. And so I need to repent of this Jesus, help me achieve my goals and fulfill my dreams, and turn back to you, Lord, what are your goals and what are your dreams? Think about what the Lord said about Paul.

When Paul was converted, he was Saul of Tarsus. He's converted on the road. He tells Ananias to go and pray for him. And Ananias is like, I don't know. You know, he's here to persecute the Christians. And the Lord says, no, no, no. Go pray for him. He's had a vision. He's believed in me. And I have shown him how much he will suffer. He must suffer for my name. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. The Lord told him.

Is that a kind of prophecy that you want? Is that the kind of revelation that you want? He didn't tell Ananias, listen, I'm going to help Paul achieve his goals and fulfill his dreams, right? No, no, no. His life is going to be suffering. And here is Paul in Philippians writing from prison, fulfilling some of what Jesus showed him on the road to Damascus. Some of that suffering he's experiencing right now. Much of it he's already experienced, right?

But he'll go on to tell us a few verses. We'll see. That's okay. Paul's okay with that because Jesus is the priority. And so when Jesus is the priority, you have power to obey because you're not all about fulfilling your own goals and fulfilling your dreams, but God is working in you to will and to do for his good pleasure, his will, his desires, which ultimately is what's best for you. And so the question to consider is, do I have power to obey? Do I have the will? Do I have the to-do?

to obey God, to humble myself like Jesus, to have the mind of Christ, to be like-minded, and to love one another in the way that God has called me to. And if I find that that evidence is lacking, again, I don't try to fix that problem myself with my own resources, but I need to run back to the Lord to fill my mind, fill my heart with the things of Him, to put Him first.

And then he will work in me to will and to do for his good pleasure. Well, the second evidence we'll consider tonight is found in verses 14 through 16. You do not complain and dispute. Here's another way that you can tell if Jesus is your priority. You do not complain and you're not involved in disputing. Verse 14, do all things without complaining and disputing.

Here Paul tells us something quite challenging. Do all things without complaining and disputing. Let me ask, did you obey this verse today? Did you complain at all today? Did you obey this verse today?

Did you dispute at all today? Now, I shared last week, it seems that in Philippi, there was some disputing going on. There's some conflict within the church. And that's what Paul has been addressing back in chapter 1, verse 27. Then on into chapter 2, he's going to address again in chapter 4, that there is this conflict. There is this battle that's going on. We don't know exactly the details and to the degree, but here he says,

Brings it back to that and calls their attention to how they're behaving in their words and they're complaining and disputing. Now, if God is working in you to will and to do for his good pleasure, a legitimate question is, what do you have to complain about? If God's working in your life to accomplish his purposes and for his pleasure, what do you have to complain about? But it's so easy for us to become complainers.

This word complain that Paul uses, in some translations, it's translated as murmuring. It's not just this idea of complaining, but it takes it to a deeper level. It literally means a secret debate, a secret displeasure. It's a displeasure, a dissatisfaction that's secret.

And so you're murmuring about it because, well, either you're talking to yourself and you're just displeased and it's internal, or you're murmuring about it because you're just hush-hush complaining, talking to someone nearby. And there's this complaining that's going on. And then you have disputing. And this goes in really the same line. It's a kind of debate. And it can be internal and it can be external. Okay?

And so you have the type of debate that is strictly internal, the complaining, the murmuring, and then you have the other kind of disputing, the battles that can go on, both internally and with other people around. And here Paul is saying, look, everything that we do, we're to exclude those things. Do not be a complainer. Do not be a battler, a disputer. Don't be doing anything with that type of heart, with anger.

with an ungrateful heart, a dissatisfied heart. As we talked about putting Jesus first in our conflicts last week, we saw the priority of unity and the need for us to increase our care, to become servants like Jesus did, and to trust God to be glorified.

And it flows into this idea of not complaining or disputing. That if we are putting ourselves in the rightful place and putting Jesus as the priority and being a servant like Jesus and trusting God in the midst of our circumstances and situations, then we will not be those who are complaining and disputing. Yet often within families, often within the church, often within the workplaces, often within our communities,

There is complaining and disputing. And to think about it, you know, I would suggest it's somewhat tragic. Maybe not somewhat. Maybe it's just tragic. We as Christians as a whole are not known for this kind of characteristic, right? That's not a characteristic. Like everybody knows, yeah, Christians don't complain or dispute. That's not something we're known by. And yet here Paul says, do all things without complaining or disputing. But this is not to be part of our lives at all.

It has no place in our lives. And when it is a part of our lives, well, it's a red flag. Jesus is not the priority. He's really not first. And that's why we're complaining and disputing. That's why we're in that position of unsatisfied and in the battle, in the war, in the dispute. Now, please understand that

We don't need to try to pretend like there are no difficulties in life. That doesn't mean that we don't like pretend like things are not hard, but there's a difference between going through things that are hard and complaining about how hard things are. You can look at Jesus for the example, right? Jesus went through hard things and he was open and honest about that. He told his disciples, all my soul is exceedingly sorrowful to the point of death.

right? That was not a complaint. He's not complaining. He's not maligning God. He's not, you know, dissatisfied. He's just expressing what he is going through. Paul, I think, is another good example of that. He wasn't shy. He didn't have to pretend like, you know, I don't have any problems because I have faith and so everything just goes well for me. No. In many of his letters, he says, I want you to know how hard things are for me. I want you to know the things that have happened to me and

In 2 Corinthians, he talks about being hard-pressed and perplexed and all of these things, but he's not undone. He's not given up. He's not complaining about it, but he is going through it. And so there's a difference between pretending there's no difficulties and not complaining, right? That we need to be genuine and able to express, this is what I'm going through. I am experiencing some great difficulties, some severe emotions perhaps, right?

I think we could look at the example of David as well and the many Psalms that we see where he's experiencing the depths of emotions and great difficulty and he's expressing it. And you can go through those things complaining the whole way, but you can also go through those things without grumbling and complaining and murmuring. Trusting in the Lord, just like Jesus did. Trusting in the Lord to work things out.

Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, The faithful Christian will discover that his sufferings on earth have been transformed into glory in heaven. He will see that his work was not in vain. It was the same kind of promise of future joy that helped our Savior in his sufferings on the cross. This future joy, these promises that God has given to us, they're not for nothing. They're real. But when we don't believe those promises, we'll be complaining.

We'll be disputing with one another because we're upset, we're unsettled. I didn't get my way. I didn't get what I wanted. I didn't get to do, you know, we didn't get, they didn't do, you know, I didn't get the credit, whatever. Like there's this battles because we're not settled and satisfied in Jesus and he's not the priority. Paul goes on to say, look, if you will be those who are not complaining or disputing in anything, you will become powerful witnesses.

Verse 15, he says that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Paul says, look, if you will do all things without complaining or disputing, this is going to be radical. You're going to be blameless. You're going to be harmless. You're

You're going to be children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Like this is what our world needs. We're still in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Our world needs those who are blameless and harmless and children of God without fault. But so often in the workplace, in our homes, in our communities, we have Christians, we're there and we're not blameless, we're blameful.

We're not harmless. We're harmful. We're not without fault. We are the fault. We are the source. We are the cause. And so instead of shining like lights in the world, we're shadows. And if that's the case, as you consider these evidences in your life, if you're complaining, if you're disputing, Jesus is not your priority. And the result is you're not blameless. You're not harmless. You're not light. If you need to consider this further, I would propose that you consider the

Mixed multitude in the nation of Israel in Numbers chapter 11, where they were with the children of Israel in the wilderness. And the complaining that the mixed multitude was doing was like poison. It was spreading to the rest of the people around them. Even the people who weren't initially complaining, but now that there is complaining going on, now others are complaining and it's feeding them.

Upon the people around them. In Numbers chapter 11, verse 1, it says, Complaining displeases the Lord. It is so disrespectful to Him. It is such a lack of faith and trust in Him. We don't really trust God when we're complaining.

And we complain because we don't really trust God. And so this happens here in Numbers 11, verse 1. There's some more that goes on, but here it records some of the complaints in verse 4 and 5 of Numbers 11. The people are saying, we remember the fish, which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our whole being is dried up. There is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes. And here God is providing for them, but it's not what I want.

And it goes back to what's the Lord's good pleasure, right? When it's for his good pleasure, it's his will, that's what matters. But no, I have food, I have provisions, you know, but it's not what I want. It's like when you go look in the closet and there's a closet full of clothes and you say, I have nothing to wear, you know, like I have everything that I need, but it's not what I want. And we begin to complain and dispute. What does the Lord want? What is his good pleasure?

And that complaining there in Numbers chapter 11 spread from the mixed multitude into the rest of the camp of Israel. And it caused others to join in. Instead of being light and blameless and harmless in the midst of the nation of Israel, the complainers and disputers became a stumbling block and caused further issues amongst the camp. So Paul tells us, don't have any part. Do everything without complaining.

Do everything without disputing, no grumbling, no fighting, no backbiting, no gossiping, none of that. Do not let that be part of anything that you do. It's evidence that Jesus is your priority when you're able to do all things without complaining or disputing. And if Jesus is not first, and you find yourself complaining or disputing, what do you do? Well, I would not suggest that you try to set something in place. Okay, so what I need to do is...

I need to count to 10 before I say anything to make sure I don't complain, right? Remember that word complain? It's a secret debate. It's not just the issue of the words of complaints, but the issue goes back to the heart. It's not satisfied. And what you need is for the Lord to change your heart. You can't fix the complaining and disputing by zipping up your lips. You can zip up your lips. You can sew them together. You can duct tape them. And you're still going to have issues with complaining and disputing if Jesus is not first.

Let it be the reminder to you. Let it be the red flag that sends you back to, man, my heart is not where it needs to be. I need to put Jesus first. As he'll work his will in me, the will and the to-do. He can change my heart. He can help me to be content. He can do the work that needs to be done internally.

And so here are some evidences that Jesus is your priority. We've looked at a couple. We're going to start to now look at the examples of Paul and Timothy and Epaphroditus. Here's the first example in Paul verses 16 through 18. And it's the third evidence. You gladly empty yourself for the benefit of others.

Now, finishing up kind of right where Paul was in verse 16, holding fast the word of life. He says, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Verse 17. Yes, and if I'm being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason, you also be glad and rejoice with me. And so Paul presents himself. He says, let me be an example.

He's calling them to behave this way. He's calling them to live this way. Jesus first, don't complain, don't dispute, hold fast the word of life so that when I enter into eternity and stand before the Lord, the effort that I put into ministering to you and discipling you, that it would not have been in vain. If you let complaining and disputing take over your life,

I could enter into eternity and that time that I spent on you, it was worthwhile in the sense that I was serving the Lord, but it was not fruitful because you let that take over your life. That work that I poured into you was really in vain. It didn't have the results that it should have had. Paul keeps himself, and you see this in Paul's letters over and over again, he keeps himself focused on the day that he stands before the Lord. He keeps coming back to this.

He's looking and he has his eyes focused on that day when he stands before the Lord where there will be a reward for faithful service, where there will be the receiving of all the promises that God has given, where it will be worth it all, all of the labor, all of the suffering, all of, you know, everything. It will be worth it there in eternity when I stand before the Lord. So he says, hold fast, guys.

Don't let disputing and complaining, don't let these things pull you away from the priority of Jesus. So that when I stand before the Lord, that labor, that effort would not have been in vain. He goes on to say, and if I'm being poured out as a drink offering, that's okay. Rejoice with me in that. Now, a drink offering pictures really the death of Paul. That's what he's talking about.

He is there in prison. He's possibly going to be executed. He's not sure. He's shared that. We considered it back in chapter one. But a drink offering, it was something that was a supplement to an animal sacrifice. So you would offer your lamb or your ram or whatever. You would offer that. And many times there would be a drink offering that went along with that. And so you'd pour out this drink before the Lord. And the pouring out, it was, well, it was emptied.

onto the altar. Paul, as he's talking about being a drink offering, he's talking about being completely emptied, poured out, his life given over entirely. Now, he talks about his life as a drink offering, but it's interesting. He says, if I'm being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I'm glad and rejoice with you all.

So it was a supplemental offering, right? The main offering, the main sacrifice was the animal. Here Paul is saying the main sacrifice is you and your service to the Lord. Your faith and your giving yourself to the Lord, that's the main sacrifice. And hey, if I'm alongside of that and I've given my life to make your ministry, to make your service unto the Lord better, Paul says, I'm glad and I rejoice with you all. Paul didn't see it the other way.

I'm making the big sacrifice. Would you guys, you know, give a little drink offering? He saw it the other way. Look, I'm here for you. And if it costs me my life for you to be able to serve the Lord to the capacity that you're capable of, that's okay. I'm glad for that. And I rejoice with you in that. In other words, Paul is saying, I will gladly give my life to help you offer a better sacrifice of your life in service to the Lord.

It's okay. My life, it's yours. I pour it out completely as a supplement to your sacrifice for your benefit. Jesus had this same attitude, didn't he? In John chapter 10, he says, look, no one takes my life from me. I lay it down of myself. I lay it down for you. I'm going to be poured out completely for you. And the thing that

should strike us in this is in John chapter 15, Jesus calls us to do the same. He says, this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. This goes back to the humility, the humbling of ourselves that we saw last week, the example of Jesus. Jesus calls us to follow his example. He says, love one another. I've loved you to the point of giving my life.

And this is how you are to love others also. You're to follow my example and to gladly empty yourself for the benefit of others. Boy, this is hard for us because I want what I want and I want my will and I want my way and I want to be fulfilled and I want to be accomplished and I want to, you know, have achievements and fulfill my dreams. I want, but to empty myself and to let go of my goals and dreams and to let go of what I want and

And to give myself for the benefit of others. It's tough. It's a challenge. And it's why it's an evidence that Jesus is the priority. When Jesus is our priority, we love people like Jesus does. And we're willing to empty ourselves. We're willing to lose out on what we wanted. We're willing to be emptied and to give our lives for the benefit, for the sake of

of those that God has entrusted to us. Paul had a great love for the Philippians. And he said, I'll gladly give my life. Verse 18, for the same reason, you also be glad and rejoice with me. If it costs me my life for your benefit, don't be sorrowful over that. Don't be torn up over that. No, no, you also rejoice with me in that. It's a worthy life. It's a worthy life to give myself for your benefit.

Well, looking at verses 19 through 24, we now have the example of Timothy and the fourth evidence, and that is you sincerely care for people. In verse 19, he says,

but you know his proven character that as a son with his father, he served with me in the gospel. Therefore, I hope to send him at once as soon as I see how it goes with me, but I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly. And so here Paul's expressing a few things. He's saying, look, I want to send Timothy to you

So that you can know how things are going here, but also so that when he comes back, I get to hear about how things are going there and how these disputes and complainings have been resolved or if they've not been resolved. I'm looking to send Timothy to you, right? Just as soon as I find out how it goes with me. I'm about to be, you know, standing before Caesar. So I don't know exactly what's going to happen, but pretty soon things are going to be settled. I'm going to know the state of, you know, what's going to happen. And so I'm going to send Timothy and I'm even hoping that I'll be able to come to you shortly.

And so as he's expressing these things, though, he has this couple comments about Timothy that are really crucial and important for us to consider. He says, I want to send Timothy to you because, verse 20, I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state. I don't have anybody like Timothy, Paul says. I don't have anyone who is like-minded with me in caring for you.

who has a genuine care for you. He says in verse 21, for all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. Boy, it's hard to find, Paul says, others around me, even around me. I don't have anybody around me that's quite like Timothy that really will put you first and sincerely care for you. It's a rare characteristic to find, this genuine care for people. That's why I'm going to send Timothy in.

Because he's the one who's in this with me. He's like-minded. And I can trust him. I know. He's not in it for other reasons. He's not in it for other motivations. We saw back in chapter 1, right? Paul was saying, look, there's some people who preach the gospel for selfish ambition. They're for their own desires and for what they want to accomplish. And that is a reality. Even amongst those who serve the Lord or quote unquote serve the Lord. Those who genuinely serve the Lord. Those who pretend to serve the Lord. There's

There's sometimes some complex things going on internally and motivations that are not quite there. And even around the Apostle Paul, he had nobody else like Timothy who would really care for them and put their needs first. H.A. Ironside, the commentator says, it's quite possible to be an admired teacher on whose words thousands hang and

yet be a vain self-seeker. It's possible to be an eloquent evangelist and yet be using the very gift that God has given for personal gain. I'm not trying to accuse anybody. I'm just quoting him as an example. Listen, even what we think of as the best of the best in terms of Christian service, it's not for us to figure out their motivations and hearts. That's not Paul's point. But to recognize and understand that even in that position,

Well, we can be in that position and to have our hearts motivated by the wrong things and be seeking after personal gain. But he says, like, Timothy's not like that. He will sincerely care for you. And in the same way that I'm willing to be poured out completely for you, Timothy will too. It's an evidence that Jesus is first. And when you see that this is not taking place in your life, what do you do?

Well, again, you go back to the Lord. You go back to Jesus. You seek and ask him to be the priority, the focus of your life. Well, I want to finish it up in verses 25 through 30, looking at the example of Epaphroditus. We get the fifth evidence, and that is you're willing to risk everything for the Lord. Verse 25 says, yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need.

since he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.

For indeed he was sick, almost unto death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I sent him more eagerly, that when you see him again, you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem. Because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life to supply what was lacking in your service toward me."

Here we have this passage on Epaphroditus. He was the guy from Philippi who brought the financial gift that Paul will talk about in chapter four. He brought that to Paul. He was their agent and on their behalf, he went to minister to Paul and to be a support for him. Paul says, I found it necessary to send him back, but to make sure I'm not sending him back in failure. He's coming back earlier than you expected. Not because he wasn't helpful, not because he wasn't good, but because he was a good person.

Because of his health, because of the condition that he was in, I found it necessary to send him back. But he wants to make sure. He says, look, when he comes back, verse 29, in fact, he would be carrying the letter that they're reading here, this letter to the Philippians. He says, receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold such men in esteem because for the work of Christ, he came close to death, not regarding his life to supply what was lacking in your service to me.

He didn't regard his life. It cost him his health, but he didn't regard his life. Pastor David Guzik says the ancient Greek phrase, not regarding his life, uses a gambler's word that meant to risk everything on the roll of the dice. Paul wrote that for the sake of Jesus Christ, Epaphroditus was willing to gamble everything. And I think this is important for us to consider because it is easy for us to get settled in this life.

I mean, we know what it's like to struggle. And then when we get like past that struggle, and it's like, I don't want to go back there, right? And we get settled and we get comfortable. And now I don't want to risk because I don't want to go back to that struggle. But listen, sometimes God wants us to take steps of faith. And when Jesus is first, you're willing to risk everything. What if this costs me my home? If the Lord is leading, if the Lord is calling, if it's his, you know, plan and purposes, it's worth the risk, right?

Epaphroditus was one who said, you know, if it costs me my health, I'm going to give it all to the Lord. Faith will always feel risky. Now the opposite of that is not true. Just because it feels risky doesn't mean it's a step of faith. Okay, so don't make that mistake. But when God calls you to take a step of faith, when Jesus is your priority and he says, look, here's my good pleasure. Here's what I want. There's going to be some resistance within us.

Because, oh, it's risky. It could cost me my reputation. It could cost me financially. It could cost me health. It could cost me my goals, my dreams, my hopes, my desires. You name it. It could cost me greatly. But are you willing to risk everything for the Lord? Are you willing? Gamble is where the word comes from, David Guzik says, right? But it's not really a gamble when it's the Lord's leading. It's a step of faith, yes.

But with the promise, the guaranteed reward, when you obey the Lord, when you put him first, there's no gamble. For his good pleasure, so that doesn't mean I get everything that I want in this life. It may actually cost me genuinely my health or my life or whatever in this life. But Jesus made the promise, whatever you lose in this life for my sake, you'll be rewarded a hundredfold in the life to come. It's not a gamble. Are you willing to risk everything?

Are you willing to take chances and steps of faith for the Lord? It's evidence that Jesus is your priority. And so I would encourage you to evaluate and consider. Allow these examples, these men of God that have been set before you tonight, let them challenge you and maybe stir up some things that, yeah, you know, maybe Jesus is not the priority that I automatically think that he is. Maybe I need to put him first again. Maybe I need to come back to this place and

and surrender myself in this area, in that area, that I would have the power to obey, that I would be one who is not complaining and disputing, that I would gladly empty myself for the benefit of others and sincerely care for people, even to the point of risking everything for the Lord, should he ask. That's what it looks like to put Jesus first. Let's pray. God, I pray for each of us as we consider and evaluate these things. Lord, you know the condition and status of our hearts.

You know the priorities of our hearts. And so God, I pray that you would call to our attention. If you're not first, Lord, if you don't occupy that position that you deserve in our hearts, Lord, would you show us? Would you help us to see the evidence? And Lord, not to respond then in guilt and run away and think that you're out to get us as a result, but Lord, you're showing us these things because you're calling us back and inviting us to give you that place of priority once again.

So Lord, help us to respond, to be obedient. Lord, would you be first? Would you fill our minds and our hearts with more of you? And would you remind us frequently throughout the day, Lord, that we are here to live for your pleasure, not for ours. Remind us, Lord, of your priorities, your goals, your dreams, what you desire. Lord, may we be consumed with your will and willing to let go of ours. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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