Well, after a few weeks, we return today to our study in the book of Philippians. So I invite you to turn to Philippians chapter 2 this morning, and we read verses 12 through 18. This is found on page 1165 in those Bibles that are in front of you. Let's give our attention this morning to God's wondrous word from Philippians chapter 2. Therefore, my beloved, as you have 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. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that on the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me. And that ends our reading today in Philippians chapter 2. Well, one of the things that we have to give time to in the Christian life, obviously, is the truth of sanctification, isn't it? It's amazing how often there are so many debates around sanctification and what we expect people to look like in the Christian faith and how they are to live in the Christian faith. Remember, sanctification is that lifelong way of learning to put to death sin in our lives. And as we considered a few weeks ago, to hate sin, to die to sin, to have genuine sorrow for our sin, and to now walk and live in the newness of life. We're talking about putting on Christ. We're talking about a holiness. We're talking about looking like Jesus, being conformed to his image when we talk about sanctification. The fear is, is that there has been an overemphasis on justification, that legal declaration that's made where somebody receives the righteousness of Jesus to their account. There's been such an overemphasis on that that it will produce what people call a narrow, truncated gospel, as I often hear. The discussion assumes that too much emphasis on justification will lead to a neglect of sanctification in our lives. The apostles never made that kind of assumption. They knew that when God justifies somebody, when God saves you, when God puts his mark, and then in the course of true faith, as we heard from Jacob, when he acquits Jacob of all of his sins and saves him, that God is also finishing the work that he starts. That's what God does. That's how wonderful it is. The apostles knew that they needed to help people understand this great truth, but then to properly motivate us to sanctification. That's what we need to talk about a little bit. What drives sanctification? What drives our conformity to the image of Jesus? What makes us want to pursue becoming holy? And that's exactly what Paul is doing here in Philippians chapter 2. Remember, he is helping this particular church to understand their sanctification and they need to appreciate one great truth. So if you're taking notes, there's one great truth that's here today. It is that God is with us in this. That God is near to us in this. God, through their actions of love and through their actions of serving one another, God is working to accomplish his will. That's the heart of this message here. And that they should, because God is involved in this project, because God is committed to this project, they should give themselves to that. Understand what he's accomplishing. And that's what we're going to look at today. I want to consider this great call to sanctification. And then you'll notice here as he goes on, what are the sort of hindrances to sanctification? They're not the things you often think. And that's what we're going to look at today briefly. And then we'll look at the pursuit of it. What does that look like for you as a believer? So it's pretty simple. The call, the hindrances, and the pursuit. Remember the context here. It's a really important context for us to appreciate. We have a strong foundation and understanding here what precisely went wrong with this church. Something went wrong. They had lost their way as a church. They had, because of external persecution, because of a culture that was now turning on them, it turned and forced internal divisions in the church. And we've never seen any of that, right? We've seen this our whole lives. Paul is grabbing them and putting them back on track. How do you fix a church that lost its way and is fighting about all these ridiculous things? This goes on incessantly, even in the Reformed community, especially in the Reformed community. He did the most effective thing he could have done in chapter 2. He took them right to the mind of Jesus, didn't he? When he came, he humbled himself. What kind of mind did Jesus have? When he chose a body in coming to this earth, he chose one that was not outwardly glorious or good-looking on purpose. He chose a body that had no outward glory. Shows a body that no one said, wow, look at him. He was lowly. And he didn't hold on to that equality with God selfishly. He didn't grasp it for his own gain selfishly. To make a name for himself selfishly. Instead, he made himself nothing. He didn't walk around parading his glory. He didn't walk around saying, look at me. He wasn't a Hollywood star by any means. Paul said, he went all the way to the death of the cross for you, humbled himself to that degree, and loved you that much. He's laid a pretty powerful, motivating moment to say, so guess what? You should have that mind too. You should really have that mind. So now we're moving in to something that he says to help us with that mind a little more. Notice he says in verse 12, therefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence. He's going to get to the heart of an issue here, but first he doesn't beat them, which I really appreciate. He doesn't beat them and say, you wretches, here's what you need to do. encourages them. This is what he does first. You as a church, looking at the whole trajectory of your church, you've been a faithful people. You've been a people committed. You've given yourselves to the truth of the gospel. You've been obedient to what's been said. That's the general truth. Now things have happened that we have to address. And here's what they've forgotten. Here's what the calling was. I want you all to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it's God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. To work for his good pleasure. That's quite a verse, isn't it? That is really one of those mesmerizing verses you have to kind of stop and just meditate on for a minute. And some people will say, oh, you people missed this one. You know, here we're told we have a key part in making salvation happen. Notice that we're not called to work for salvation. We're called to work it out. Don't miss that. Work it out. Exercise it out. We're going to get to what this looks like. But I think the really important thing here is notice what Paul emphasizes in this. It's a really powerful passage, and I don't want to miss what the emphasis here is where he says, do it with, this is what I think is missed in this whole section, fear and trembling. Work out your sanctification, your salvation, with fear and trembling. But that requires some kind of seriousness to our faith, doesn't it? This is not just a get-together. This is not just to come to be entertained. This requires a real giving of ourselves to our faith. This requires a seriousness to our faith. But I think it captures something that Paul will say in chapter 4, let your reasonableness be known to everyone. Why? Because the Lord is at hand. What does that mean? What it means is, is that the Lord is with you and working and accomplishing this in your lives. We talk a lot about fear and trembling in worship. And what we're saying is, is that when we come together to worship, we say God is present in this place in a special way. His holiness, his majesty, his greatness. And we have, as the Spirit has united us to heaven in that heavenly worship, there is a gathering that you can't see right now of the angels and the horses. This is what Elijah said, open my servant's eyes that he might see. And he opened his eyes and there was the mountain of the Lord right in the midst. Heaven is not a place far, it's another dimension. See, what Paul is saying here is very important. That we are, when we come to worship, we have this boldness to come, but we also come with fear and reverence and awe because we've come before the face of God. Angels, fire, glory, and worship. Now, that requires from us, we would all say in worship, if anyone has any sense of anyone who came before the presence of the Lord throughout history, they didn't want to go touch his face, they wanted to bow in reverence. Until the glory comes and we're resurrected, then we can see Jesus face to face. But the point is there demands reverence and awe. Here's the marvel of what Paul's saying. In your sanctification, I want you to think the same way. And we don't think this way. We functionally live as if God is far from us. We functionally live as if God is on another planet. And we call on him when we need something. And maybe way up in the sky he'll hear us. And the New Testament just tramples that view. I want you to work this out with fear and trembling because God is with you. See, it's driving us to look at sanctification in a whole other way because he's saying this is what God loves. This is his will, your sanctification. 1 Thessalonians 3. God is with us. I think this has a lot to do with certain verses like what John would say in 1 John. No one's ever seen God. It's what everyone says. Well, show us God, and we'll do this or that. Everyone asks, where's God? And John says, if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us. Did you hear that? You see God in the sacrificial actions of love in the people. Do that with fear and trembling. Because that's how people see God. You see how you could mess that up, right? So a lot of people complain about the church and the divisions and how we've wrecked that. Paul is saying, there's two, I want you to notice this here. This leads to really two real hindrances to sanctification. If you look at verse 14, and he mentions both of them there, they're not the kind of things you think because you do them so regularly. And I do. Do everything without grumbling and disputing. You can't say that in our culture, can you? It's like that's how people live every day. do everything without grumbling or disputing that you may become blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. Paul is saying it's time to move forward. It's time to stop the squabbling. It's time, verse 14, to stop the grumbling and disputing. Whatever it was in the church, you see he's going after it here. We know the two ladies in chapter 4 are fighting, and it's caused divisions in the church. What he's saying is it's time to stop the divisions and the disputing and the grumbling. It's high time for the church to put that stuff behind them and press on with what's most important. And that's why he'll give the positive view of that here in the next chapter, in chapter 3 and 4. But he's striking in verse 14 at the heart of the problem of this book. I don't think you can miss it. Paul has zeroed in on two besetting sins of Israel's history. I remember there were certain sins that got Israel in a lot of trouble in going to glory. And it has a direct echo of Deuteronomy 32. Listen to this, the song of Moses at the end of his life. In the assembly of Israel, you have a million strong hearing this. Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak. And hear, O earth, the word of my mouth. For I proclaim the name of the Lord. Ascribe greatness to our God. He is the rock. His work is perfect. All his ways are justice, a God of truth, and without injustice, righteous and upright is he. Now listen to verse 5. They have corrupted themselves, Israel. They are not his children because of their blemish, a crooked and twisted generation. Do you thus deal with the Lord, O foolish? Am I not your father who bought you? It's interesting how Paul speaks to the new covenant community. Israel became a twisted and crooked generation. What does Paul say to you? He says, instead, you the fulfillment of God's people, the true Israel, in the new covenant, you are to be blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. That should really encourage you. He doesn't call you and address you as he did Old Testament Israel. You're in the midst of it. Well, you know that. I mean, news. You know that. But what were the sins of Israel's downfall? and the people, Exodus 15, complained against Moses. The whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the children of Israel said, oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full. And you complained in your tents, Deuteronomy 1, and all the congregation complained against the rulers, Joshua 9. Therefore he, Psalm 106, said he would destroy. Had not Moses, his chosen one, stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath, lest he destroy them? Then they despised the pleasant land. They did not believe his word, but complained in their tents, and did not heed the voice of the Lord. You guys complain in your homes? Do you complain in your homes? The Lord's there in your sanctification. Feel that? The things you say in the bedroom, he's there. Complained in their tents, complained against their leaders, complained against the rulers, complained against God. God says they became a crooked and twisted generation because of that. Now, Paul doesn't really give any allowance for complaining. You've got everything. What are you lacking? What did he say even about persecution? Let's just say things get really rough in America. God appointed it for you to show Jesus. That's how he looks at life. What did he say about everything that happens? He wants us to look at life a certain way. God is with us and God's appointing things and God has purposes and God is actually orchestrating the events of life for a reason. That's why we're here. This is not running off the rails willy-nilly. You see, I think that's why I've always said, I want to encourage parents, be careful how you present the church to your children. I guarantee you, you'll run them out of the church early in life if you're a complainer in your home. I've seen it. I would even suggest some of our young people to this day have struggled because we've not presented a positive view of the kingdom of God. Notice how this comes in the context of the church. How do we help sanctification in our sanctification and growth in the church? Well, we say, well, we should read our Bibles and we should pray more, and that is absolutely true. But here's something for you. Paul says that the most effective outworking of salvation is accomplished right here in the body of Christ. Your growth happens most within the body of Christ. where God has placed you sacrificially to give yourself for one another. There's a great witness in that, he'll say. I've become more and more convinced today that people, they come to the church with all the wrong questions. And they look at a church and they assess a church and they say, I just don't like this, or I don't like that. And I don't like the people. And I don't like that it hasn't has this. And you know, it's too this for me. And I don't like the worship. And I don't like the music. And I don't like, can I keep going? I mean, this just goes on and on. How about this? Since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near and worship with a true heart. In full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love. Oh, you mean that's, if I don't like something, it's my responsibility to go stir it up? Yeah. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Not neglecting to meet together. Well, there's a good one for our day. Where so many just neglect even coming together. How can you be sanctified if you're not gathering with the saints? How can you not be out on your own narcissistically fulfilling your own desires when you neglect to meet with the saints? You're saying no thanks to sanctification. That's what you're saying. so let us consider when we come how to stir up one another to love and good works not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but instead encouraging one another see how that's the opposite of complaining and murmuring all the more as you see the day drawing near that's in the context of worship He wants you to sacrificially be built up by your neighbor. I don't know how that's fulfilled if our soul existence is coming in as late as we can and getting out as first as we can and never fellowshipping with the body and never making this really an integral part of your life. That's why I would say it's a really important thing to make a rhythm of morning and evening on Sunday. It's a training of your life. It's a discipline of your life. But it's not just about you. You see how we think. How can I help my brothers and sisters grow in the truth? Do my actions exemplify the mind of Jesus? Or am I really out for myself? This is sanctification we're talking about. I've been laid the work and the beautiful work of Jesus we've been looking at and the gospel. And now we're getting to what that looks like as we are who we are called to be, you see. Notice, I notice this every time among you, I see our people love and in acts of kindness and in embrace of one another and encouraging one another. And I see this when men take up and in a culture that doesn't have leadership, men begin to step up and lead in a new generation of conviction among the men in the church. and a new generation among the children who embrace the faith. That's a, I think you saw today, I think you saw today, that was a joint work. I mean, it's really powerful that our youth leader today, as the Lord had his child, the sign put on, has been working hard to bless our young people, and one stands up here and profess faith. This is what it is. This is beautiful. This is what he's after. And he gives you the strongest platform in the body of Christ, the strongest witness. And he says, two benefits flow from this, beloved. You become shining lights in the world. Do you notice that? There's a great witness to all this. And you get to rejoice when Jesus comes. There's a confirmation, there's an excitement, there's an understanding I'm sharing in that work. And when Jesus comes, all this is fulfilled. So what do we need to work on in the EURC? Well, some people sometimes will say to me, you know, this is good to be introspective at times as a church. This is what Paul's doing for this church. Some people will say, well, the Escondido EURC is just too clicky. I've heard that. It's always bothered me. People just huddle with their own. Why has it bothered me? Do we need to think about that? Is that something it's time to confess? Great opportunity to put our interests aside and to help those who are not like us. This was Jesus ministering to the most uncomfortable people. going to, as I said last time, the educated and the non-educated. He broke all barriers that way socially. We have to start helping the next generation better. We have to start doing that. We have to stop thinking as older people that I'm just going to minister to my older people. And younger people, we have to look to our elders and elderly in the congregation with great respect and talk to them and lean on them. We need to think sacrificially among the age groups. We need to think sacrificially among ethnicities. I need to be pushed on that. I have a dear friend who's attending this church, and he was in a gang, and he was in prison, and he was converted, and he said to me a few weeks ago, he's been coming here for a while, He said, Pastor, I want to take you down to the hood in Escondido. Don't wear red. I told Darcy, I said, well, we're going to, I'm going to go be back later. Where are you going? I don't know. I'm going to the hood. So we go to the hood. Get in the car, Pastor. All drive, all drive. I feel, get in the car. Get in the car. There's this 80-year-old mom in the back. His wife has died of COVID back in January. Comes to this church. Got a new girlfriend. She's in the back. There's a big barrel, a big thing of burritos. And there's tracts in Spanish. And we went all over this community. And we talked to people and we gave them the good news. And all I could think of was he who is forgiven much loves much. Now that may not be your calling to go do that. But you have a place in the kingdom and that's the mind he's after. He gives us this perspective finally to close. Look at, yes, verse 17, 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 for the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me. You know what that means? You know what he's doing there? Listen, just for a second, and we'll close this. This is such a powerful point. He's taking the Levitical priesthood, and he's saying, listen, when they would do an animal sacrifice in the Levitical priesthood, they would put the sacrifice on the altar. And then there would be what we call a libation, a drink offering that is poured on that sacrifice and a big puff of steam would go up. Numbers 28, it's a regular burnt offering which was ordained at Mount Sinai for a sweet aroma, an aroma made by fire to the Lord and its drink offering shall be one-fourth of a hen for each lamb in a holy place. You shall pour out the drink to the Lord as an offering. Now this was a big moment. There's the sacrifice. This big drink offering was poured. Amazing moment. When you did this, the altar was so hot, the drink offering immediately disappeared in a puff of steam. Powerful thing to see. Hear what he's saying? I am being poured out as the drink offering on the sacrifice of your faith. And I'm glad to put that in context. Paul's in prison. He's going to go die for the faith. He's got a strong possibility at this point. He's in Rome. He's going to be martyred. And he's saying, you know what? If I die for the gospel, you know how I view all my labors? That I'm like that drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith. So if I die, I fulfill exactly what that drink offering was intended to show. And for the same reason, you be glad and rejoice with me. So in other words, our lives are really but a puff of steam that are poured out on the sacrifice and service of a lot of people who have needs, who need help. And if the Lord uses us to win the more for Christ, what a blessing. But that's the mentality we have to have of our lives. Anything that we've achieved as a Christian is nothing compared to the fact that we have been used by God to work out his salvation in your neighbor. See? That's God's purpose for you. That's why he created you. That's why he left you here. Living sacrifices. Now present your bodies as living sacrifices of thanksgiving to God, holy and acceptable, which is your reasonable what? Worship. And that's his calling. That's the mind of Jesus. He loves you, his body, And all the pressures that we face today, don't fall into that. Don't fall into the disputing and complaining mindset of this entire culture that's crooked and twisted. You got everything to be thankful for. I've said this a million times. It's the worst thing that could happen to you. You could die tonight and go to be with Jesus. So appreciate what he's given you. And realize you got a great blessing to look like him. It's tough, I know. And we're all weak, and we're all sinners, and he forgives us every time we come to him 70 times seven of all the stupid things that we continue to do. But he's renewed you today for a purpose. He's bringing salvation to the ends of the earth. He's saving a people. So hopefully that helps us to let this mind that was in Christ Jesus be in you. That's the calling in sanctification. That's what he wants for us in sanctification. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for helping us. And we admit, oh Lord, that we're very selfish. Starting right here from the pulpit. This is number one. And we ask for forgiveness. We ask that you would help us to think more sacrificially. And that, Lord, our lives would be thankful. Remove complaining spirits from us. Bitter spirits. Spirits that are always moaning and complaining about everything under the sun. It's not fitting for a blameless child of God. And help us, Lord, to replace that with thanksgiving. And help us to see those in need and to love them. Forgive our sins and be merciful to us. And thank you, O Lord, for the body of Christ. Thank you for your church. Let us view it positively. let us view this church positively as a blessing that you've given to us to minister to one another in thankfulness in light of the glorious gospel of Jesus. In his name we pray, amen.