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Rev. Paul Jeyachandran leads the Intentional Disciple Making Church (IDMC) Movement, which is all about calling churches back to its disciplemaking roots. Visit us at idmcmovement.com
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0:00 Joy in humble obedience. Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 to verses 18. The story was told of a little old lady.0:12 She walked into a department store 1 day and she happened to be the millionth customer. And because she was the special customer that day, she didn't realize there0:24 was television crew there filming every person that walks in and she happened to be the millionth customer. So the executive came and they gave her a gift from the store0:36 and the reporter put a mic in front of her and asked her, what brings you into the store today? And the old lady sheepishly said, I wanted to go to the0:48 complaint department and give a complaint. How embarrassing is that? I want you to listen to me. The world is always watching how the Christian behave. You and1:00 I are living in a fishbowl. In other words, all eyes are seeing every decision you make, every action, every deed that you commit. Isn't that right? That's why 1 of the core things1:12 that Paul is trying to establish in chapter 2 of Philippians is that your outward behavior matter. That's why he had moved from belief to behavior. He's1:23 emphasized on character and conduct in chapter 2. So in chapter 2, he develops this mindset that he he wants us to embrace. And the mindset is the mindset1:35 that we have in Christ. Paul writes about this mindset of selflessness, of sacrifice and not only that, it's a mindset of serving others, preferring others. And he gave us1:47 an example in verse 5 onwards in chapter 2. He says that example of Jesus Christ, isn't it? He says, have this mind among yourself which is also found in Jesus. In1:59 other words, this mind, mindset, this attitude about how we live our life ought to be the 1 that governs our life. And 1 thing specific about this attitude that he speaks2:11 about Jesus is found in verse 8. He says that Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. I want you to circle that2:23 word, humbled himself to the point of death. In other words, he obeyed. He become obedient. Do you know that Jesus modeled the mindset of2:34 sacrifice, service unto others, and selflessness, a mindset of humility. You know how he did? By becoming obedient. Now why these 2 words are important? Because that is the2:46 context that in which this today's text is also taken from. In verse 12, he says the same thing. Therefore, you, my beloved, as you have always obeyed.2:58 See that 2 words? As you have always obeyed. In other words, obedience is the fact that he wants to highlight to us. And Paul writes about this because obedience to God's word,3:10 obedience to the work of God in our lives, he already established that this is the mindset that you and I need to have in order to preserve unity, whether within a family or within a3:21 community. And now he's going to talk about how this is so vital for us as we live in the world among heathen and pre believers. Now listen to me carefully.3:33 This is an essential part of discipleship. We must recapture the spirit of obedience in our discipleship today. Obedience is a vital truth for us to embrace.3:45 It doesn't nullify the fact that when we believe in the gospel, the gospel ought to be also executed in our lives, carried out in our lives and obedience must be recaptured. So 1 of the core things in discipleship is we3:57 must recapture that spirit of obedience in our discipleship today. It is found in fourfold pilgrimage of life that Paul wants to emphasize. So what does he do? The spirit of obedience must be4:09 seen in our walk, in our work, in our witness and in our worship. I'm gonna give you 4 key things to write down and after that we will take it deeper. These 4 things are found in this4:21 passage. Firstly, it's the seriousness of obedience seen in our walk and that is verse 12 to verse 13. Then it is the service of obedience seen in our4:33 work. It is verse 14 and verse 15. And then it's the statement of obedience seen in our witness. And then finally, it is the sacrifice of4:45 obedience in our worship. Now in all these 4 things, you'll find this in this text. Let us take us take it deeper. Firstly, the seriousness of obedience, the seriousness of4:56 obedience in our walk. Verse 12 and verse 13 says like this, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but much more in my absence,5:09 Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Then verse 13 says, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. See 1 of the core things that Paul5:21 want to highlight to us, and here I believe when Paul is writing this particular text, he's actually thinking of the children of Israel in the wilderness. He's thinking5:33 about the life and ministry of Moses. Why I say this is because in this episode, he repeats this phrase. Look at it in verse 12. It keeps saying, whether in my presence or in my5:45 absence, I want you to obey God. I want you to obey. You have always obeyed in my presence. You have obeyed what I taught you. But now I'm not there and I don't know whether I5:57 will be able to come and see you again. But you need to continue to obey whether in my presence or in my absence. It reminds me of Moses. Moses in the book of Deuteronomy, it6:09 was the last 3 sermons that pastor Moses preached to his congregation. And towards verse chapter 31 and verse 27, this is what he says, for I know how rebellious and stubborn you6:20 are. I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today, while I'm yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death? Look at that6:32 verse. It says, even today, while I'm yet alive with you, you are so rebellious and stubborn. That means you don't want to obey all the commandments of the Lord. How much more you will be6:44 like this when I'm gone? See, the concern of a pastor is that whether he's present in the congregation or whether he's absent in the congregation, that the congregation is holding onto the6:56 word of God and they are living out a life not only that not only that pleases God, but displays the gospel to the world. And that is the seriousness of obedience he's7:08 bringing to us. I want you to consider this, whether in my presence or in my absence, that means you need to now know how to live this gospel centered life, how to obey Christ, how to7:19 embrace this mindset that was in Christ, which is to prefer others, be selfless, be humble, be obedient. Not only that, be sacrificial and you need to learn to do this on your own.7:32 And this is the key for you and I to embrace. And he says in verse 12 that this is what he talks about. Number 2, 2 things he's talking about here in verse 12 and in verse 13. Paul writes about7:44 the seriousness of obedience and this is the seriousness of obedience, 2 things, human responsibility and divine sovereignty. The human responsibility is the7:55 outworking, that's found in verse 12, and the divine sovereignty is found in verse 13, that's the energizing, I want you to pay attention to because these 2 things are very important for us to grasp.8:07 In these 2 verses, he gives us a clue that you and I need to work out our salvation. Now whenever he you when you use the word work out our salvation, we gotta hear this thing.8:19 He's not saying work for your salvation. He is not saying work at your salvation. He is definitely not saying work towards your salvation. Why? Because Paul as a preacher of the gospel knows8:31 that you cannot earn your salvation. It is already granted to you by grace. Isn't that what he said in chapter 1? For it has been granted to you to believe, not only to believe but also to8:43 suffer for his sake. The same thing, he says it is a grace that is given to you. You will receive salvation by God's gift but at the same time, here he's talking about the emphasis of8:54 obedience, you need to learn to work out your salvation. What does it mean to work out? I wanna I wanna highlight the Greek word here for work. There are 2 types of work mentioned here. Verse9:06 12 mentions, it is the word katagazomai katagazomai, and this word means to take responsibility, to work out something. The second word9:18 is in chapter 13, sorry, in verse 13 and it says, for it is God who works in you. It is the word. In other words, it is God who energizes you. In other words, it is not your9:29 human, effort, but it is the work of God. It is the energizing of God. It's the divine enablement of God. So these 2 things are very important for us to pay attention to. So here he says, work out your9:41 salvation. What does it mean to work out your salvation? It means this, that word could mean, if for example, it is a word that is used in mining fields. For example, if you are9:53 given a field filled with, gold, it's a gold mine. And just because you inherited a gold mine doesn't mean that you are wealthy. What you have to do is you have to now10:04 dig and take out the gold. Is that right? And that's what he's saying. You have now received your salvation. You've now received your inheritance. Now, it is time for you to work it out. It is dig it out.10:16 Otherwise, you won't be able to enjoy the wealth that has been bestowed upon you. It is the same picture. The farmer will say, I'm working in the garden. I'm working out the garden. In other words, he's trying to pull10:27 the weeds out and he's planting and he's wanting to see a harvest. In other words, it is like you've got to do that work that you have to do in order to do, in order to get what you need to get. Is that right? And the10:39 same thing here he says, work out. Becoming a As a mathematician, if someone writes a problem on the blackboard and says solve this, what they are saying to me is work out the solution. Is that right?10:51 That's exactly right. So in other words, when working out a solution of a problem in an arithmetic, all I'm doing is this is the stage. This is step by step. I'm trying to arrive at the answer. When I was young, when11:03 we need to do problem solving, sometimes you do the cheat work. You know what that is? The textbook always has the answers at the back. So you just skip to the end and look at the11:14 answer. And you say, okay, that's the answer. I need to arrive at this answer, but I need to show how I arrived at the answer. Here, Paul is saying, you need to work it out, but you11:26 got to take assume. You need to take responsibility for this. So it is not talking about justification in your life, but it's talking about sanctification of your life. It is talking about that you need to work out11:38 the proper conclusion of your salvation, which is, obedience unto the Lord, and that you need to do with your life. So this, he places squarely upon us. And I wanted to highlight 2 things that11:50 I want you to take down in your notes. 1, it is the responsibility is personal. At the same time, this responsibility is plural. It's giving to everyone. It's a corporate thing. He's saying to the whole church,12:02 work out your salvation. Whether I'm there or not there, I want you to work out your salvation. In other words, it is a corporate responsibility. Your sanctification as a church is a corporate responsibility. That's12:14 why you need to know that you are part of a loving community that is going to keep you accountable and continue to help you and encourage you and challenge you to keep working out your salvation in your life.12:26 Listen to me carefully. It is personal at the same time. He's also talking about it as a plural. But secondly, I wanna highlight this responsibility is also perpetual. In other words, it's a12:38 continuous working out. You don't just work out once, you work out every single day, every single year. In other words, you work out your salvation. And in verse 12, he goes on to say, not only12:50 work out your salvation, but he says with fear and with trembling. I want you to catch this because it is it many times people don't understand why he uses the word fear and trembling.13:02 Because we are not supposed to fear God in that in that sense of, oh, God God is gonna judge me and I have to I I what if I fail? I will be eternally damned. No. No. No. It's not talking about the13:14 insecurity. It is it's not talking about the security of your salvation. He is talking about that God in his grace has redeemed you. God has shown so much incredible grace and13:25 favor and love to redeem you. Now, you've got to recognize that there is temptation in the world. The enemy is, trying to snare you with certain temptation. There is the13:37 flesh that you need to overcome every single day. So all these things, you need to understand there are pitfalls in your journey that you need to know how to manage. And that is what he13:49 says, do it with fear. Don't be careless, but do it with fear. You know, Paul uses the same word in fear and trembling in another letter he wrote in Corinthians. In first Corinthians14:01 chapter 2 and verse 3, Paul writes and he says, when I was with you, I was in weakness and in fear and much trembling. Why did Paul say I was in weakness and fear14:13 and trembling? Maybe when Paul was visiting Corinth, he had just gone through flogging, he had gone through prison prisonment and he was in Philippi, beaten up. And14:25 then he went to Thessalonica, and then he came to Corinth. And now as he's in Corinth, this Corinth is a very prosperous commercial city. It would it is like the sin14:37 city of those days because it's a seaport city and it's a it's a bigger city than he had ever been. Like, not not a small city like Philippi. It is a huge city. And this in14:49 this huge city, it's a sin city, there there are so many ways, so many temptations are there. And here Paul is coming armed with the gospel. He how is he gonna reach out to these people? All he has is just15:01 he's just a person with the gospel of Jesus Christ in this huge city. So he goes there with fear and with trembling. Fear of what? Fear that he may not be15:12 adequate enough to deliver. What if he fails in his mission to do what God has called him to do? I want you to listen to me, and that is a sense of fear and trembling that he's talking about.15:24 So you and I, we need to have this within us. Just because you and I have lived a holy life in the past years doesn't guarantee that in the coming years that you will be holy and you will behave15:35 right. Listen to me. I have to remind myself every single day what I heard Billy Graham said to him, prayed before the Lord every single day. Billy Graham always prayed, Lord, up to today,15:47 you have helped me to walk in the integrity of my heart. You have helped me to obey the scriptures and to be in the center of your will. I want your help even today to continue to do that. I want you to listen to me15:59 carefully, church. That is how you learn to finish well because with fear and trembling, you work out your salvation. And that is exactly what he's saying here. He's saying that you need to work out. You gotta take16:09 responsibility. And what if I don't do this? You know, I'm talking to believers. Within the believers, there are many types of people, some who are, fervently serving the16:21 Lord. Some who are just every now and then, when it feels like, when it's convenient to them, they will serve the Lord. But there are some who have no heart's desire to serve him. You know, they are missing out16:33 because they don't work out their salvation with fear and trembling. I'm reminded of a poem. Let me read it for you. He wasn't much for striving about. It wasn't his16:45 desire. No matter what others did, he was sitting by the fire. Same old story day by day. He never seemed to tire. While others worked to build a16:57 church, he was sitting by the fire. At last, he died as all must do. They say he went up higher. But if he's doing what he used to do, he is sitting by17:08 the fire. I want you to think about it. If you don't do anything else and just sit idly by the fire, maybe you have not really been saved. Maybe you're17:20 totally lost. Because any believer who is found in Christ, who has come to faith in Christ, who has tasted the goodness and the grace of God cannot sit17:32 idle because there is something put within you. You have you are in Christ and you have the indwelling spirit. So that will energize you. Now he says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.17:44 But then he goes on to say, it's not just you working out. Look at this in verse 13. He says, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work good and to work for his good pleasure.17:55 Pay attention to this. For it is God who energizes in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. It is not just you working it out. You don't just work18:07 out by yourself, you work out because God is working it in you. And because God is working it in you, you work it out. See, many times we think it is18:19 either God works or I work. But Paul's understanding is God works and you also work. But the reason why you work is because God is working in you.18:32 And here he goes on to say, if God works in you, that means God is energizing in you. He's energizing both your willingness to do things. In other words, he's putting the desire in your18:44 heart and he's also giving you the determination. He gives you the desire. He works out the desire. He energizes the desire as well as the deeds. He energizes the desire18:55 as well as the determination. So the prompting is from the Lord as well as the performance is from the Lord. Both are from the Lord. But it's not because you deserve it. It's because for his good19:07 pleasure, he works it out. That's why no matter what the situation you're in, Paul can boldly say, work out your salvation. Why? Because God is working in you and he's the 1 who is working in you and19:19 through you. So allow him and he brings his good pleasure come to pass in your life. Hallelujah. So in every season of our life, we need to recognize there is only 1 person who19:31 has lived a holy life. There's only 1 person who can live a life of a disciple and that is Jesus Christ. If you truly want to live an obedient life, there's only 1 who obeyed perfectly. So19:43 the Christian life is impossible for us to live. The only way you can live the Christian life is let him live in you and through you. That is what Paul says. Paul writes and he says, it's no longer I19:55 who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loves me and gave himself for me. Hallelujah. In other words, I let him live in20:07 me and let him live through me. Let him be the 1 who gives me the desire and he and and he prompts me what I need to perform, the deeds, the actions, the determination through which I need to carry out20:19 for his pleasure. Now why is this so important, church? You and I, we need to learn to cooperate with God. In chapter 2, he already said that you have encouragement in Christ in verse 1. He20:30 already said in verse 1 that the indwelling of the spirit, there is a koinonia of the of the spirit. In other words, there's a partnership. There's a communion of the holy spirit. There needs to be a koinonia. In other20:41 words, there needs to be a partnership between you and the indwelling spirit to work out your salvation. But if you don't cooperate with him, like 1 1, country preacher20:52 said years ago, if I don't Lord, help me to cooperate with you because I don't want you to operate on me. See, if you don't cooperate, he has to do21:04 the surgery. He has to do the surgical work of bringing that obedience in you. And that is what the the lord was highlighting here through Paul. That's the first 1. You the seriousness of obedience must be21:16 seen in our walk. The second thing he says is the service of obedience in our work. The service of obedience in our work. Philippians chapter 2 and verse21:28 14 and 15, the first part. It says here, Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish21:40 in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. Listen to me carefully. What he's saying here is, do all things without21:52 grumbling and disputing or disputing. Paul writes about the service of obedience. Is that right? Paul is writing about the service of obedience. 2 aspects he says,22:03 1, to be contented disciple because he says do everything without grumbling or disputing. And secondly, says be a consistent disciple. What does that mean? Be blameless,22:15 harmless, spotless children of God in the midst of a crooked generation. Now you and I need to pay attention to this. He says that you and I are obedient children of God. Now, as a22:26 parent, know that, it is very hard to get your children to obey, isn't it? Some children are very good. They willingly obey. For example, if you ask them to clean their room, some of them22:38 will do it willingly. And they do it joyfully. And they do it repeatedly, consistently. They do it every single day without being prompted because they know that is what pleases you. But then there are children who22:50 you need to prod every now and then. You say, come on. Do this. Or some children are worse. You have to bribe them. You have to arm twist them. You have to threaten them in order for them to do certain things.23:02 Now he says you are obedient children of God. Why is he saying that? Because he's saying this is attached to how the world will see your work. It is by your work that the church the23:14 world will know whether you are truly obedient children of God. And that what is he talking about in the context of what is the world that the world needs to see? The world needs to see that you have a heart of service23:25 like the master himself. The master became obedient. He humbled himself to the point where he lifted others. He counted others precious. That's why he set aside his23:37 own self He set aside his own, interest and he came for others. That service he did willingly, voluntarily. And Paul now writes and he says to the Philippian church, when you are23:49 doing it as a contented disciple, how do you do it? You do all things without grumbling or disputing. Now these 2 things, I think he takes an imagery from the Old Testament. What is24:00 grumbling? The word grumbling is the word, it has the undertones of dissatisfaction. That means you're not happy with, the God's providence in your life.24:13 It is almost like an emotional rejection of all that God is doing in your life. It's like you're not happy. You're not you're not satisfied. And that causes you to murmur and grumble.24:25 What is, disputing? Disputing is the it has an overtone of dissension. In other words, it is the it is the intellectual questions and criticisms and arguments, and you don't want to accept24:36 as as it is, but you want to challenge everything. And Paul writes here and he says, these 2 things he finds in the in in in in people, and he says, I don't want you to have24:48 that. Do all things without grumbling or disputing. As a pastor, I believe Paul is just recollecting Old Testament. Earlier, I25:00 said to you that I think Paul must be thinking about the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness and pastor Moses leading them in the wilderness. You know, when you think about the old testament, no wonder,25:12 you know, 1 day Moses was so tired, he climbed up, he stayed in the mountain for 40 days. He must have been so worn out leading 2000000 people. And there are 2000000 people full of headaches.25:24 So they must have given him a very bad headache. Why? Because when he went to Mount Sinai and stayed there for 40 days with the Lord, the Lord ended up giving him 2 tablets. That was just a joke, people.25:36 Don't write and say, oh, where is this in the Bible? No. No. It's just 2 2 things. The bible says that he heard the people grumble and complain every single day. Listen to25:48 this. From the time they were delivered with the mighty hand of God, the Passover night has just finished. They had been redeemed from Egypt. What happens? The very next day, they were grumbling at Red Sea.26:00 He said, because there is no grave in Egypt that you have brought us here to die in the wilderness. You know, Egypt, the Egyptians are notorious for building tombs and they are always26:12 mindful of death. Death is a big deal for them. So here, the children of Israel are saying, is that because there's no tomb in Egypt that you brought us into the wilderness to die? They were murmuring right from the day26:22 1. They walked for 3 days and there was no water and they started to murmur in Marah. They said that we are thirsty. We need water. You know, even God miraculously26:34 provided water once. There was another time when they were again thirsty and they were murmuring and complaining. I want you to listen to me. They they they were fed with manna, the bible says, but still they murmured26:46 and complained about hunger. I want you to listen to me. There would be there are times that the that Moses could not handle how they grumbled, so he went before God. You know what God ultimately said to them?26:58 That they are not murmuring and complaining against you. Look at this. In verse in in Numbers chapter 14 and verse 27, how long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the27:10 grumblings of the people of Israel which they grumble against me. Twice the Lord says, they grumbled against me. I want you to write this in your notes. Grumbling is idolatry. In other words, you are27:22 grumbling not against the leader that you're following, but you're grumbling against the Lord. That's how the Lord sees. The children of Israel wasn't grumbling. They they were not grumbling against the leader Moses,27:33 they were grumbling against the Lord himself. That's how personal God took it because it's idolatry. Not only that, the Old Testament, you also find Moses and Aaron and27:45 Miriam challenging the leadership of Moses. Moses is a meek man, the bible says. He was a humble man. He let the Lord venge venge all his enemies. The second thing, it was a27:57 Korah and and the and the sons of Korah came and and rebelled against his leadership. Again, Moses was quite chill. You know why he was chill? Because he knows that it's God who appointed him. And if God has28:09 appointed you in that post, in that position, you can stay humble and you can allow God to fight your battles. And that's exactly what Moses did. But the Bible says God took all of that personally and he dealt with it.28:21 Grumbling is idolatry and God will deal with it. Listen to me. The Paul writes this in first Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 10, not grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the28:32 destroyer. In other words, God let some fiery serpents to come and and and kill many of them. The destroyer comes to destroy when there is a spirit of grumbling. That's28:44 why God's people who have experienced and tasted the goodness of God, their life will not be characterized by grumbling and murmuring and disputing. Why? Because they are contented disciples.28:56 They are people who are consistent in the walk with God. Listen to me carefully. This grumbling is something that you and I, we need to deal with. Are you a grumbler? Ask yourself this question. Do you29:08 grumble against your father, your mother? Do you grumble against your wife or your husband? Do you grumble against your leaders? Or do you grumble against the government? As people of God, you and I, we need to come29:20 before the Lord because the Paul says, this is the witness that we leave to the world. You and I cannot be grumbling. The world will grumble, not you and I. But pastor, does that mean that I can never29:32 complain? See, when you definitely have a complaint, like the Psalmist did many times when you read the book of Psalms, they do have a genuine complaint. They go before God and they pour their soul before29:43 the Lord in prayer and in worship. Like Jesus quoted from Psalm 22 and verse 1, he says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In other words, it was a genuine complaint.29:55 It wasn't a grumbling, it was not a murmuring, but it was a complaint. Now what is the difference between a genuine complaint and murmuring? Let me give this to you. Write it down. In grumbling, you say, God, I don't30:07 know. God, you don't know what you're doing. That's grumbling. But in a genuine complaint, you're saying, God, I don't know what you're doing. In other words, when you're going through a set circumstances, maybe it's the30:18 dark season of your life, you come before God and you're pouring out your soul. You cry out to the Lord and you say, Lord, I don't know what you're doing. I don't know what you're doing, but help me Lord. Enlighten me.30:27 Give me grace to understand. Now that is a genuine complaint. But if you're grumbling, you're saying, God, I don't know what you are God, you don't know what you're doing. In other words, satisfied with your response.30:38 I'm not satisfied with the way that you have divinely orchestrated these things in my life. That is an emotional rejection of what God's providence is in your life. So listen to me carefully. It helps you know,30:50 it reminds me of a poem. We thank him for the sun. Do we thank him for rain? We thank him for joy. Do we thank him for pain? We thank him for gains. Do we thank him for31:02 losses? We thank him for blessings. Do we thank him for crosses? You know, we are always prone to want the blessing of the Lord, but we don't see what God does31:14 certain things for our own good. We don't see it and we start to grumble. Listen to me carefully. Why is Paul writing this specifically in this passage? You know why? Because grumbling was not only31:26 found in the old testament saints in the wilderness, grumbling was also found in the new testament church, isn't it? That's how the deacons ministry started. Acts chapter 6, the bible says they were grumbling and31:37 murmuring. There was 1 group of women complaining against another group of women and therefore, the apostles started a deacons ministry, a helping ministry, help ministry, ministry of helps.31:49 And the ministry of helps job is to put down murmuring. That's why sometimes the leadership of the church appoints people in leadership just to put down the murmurings, just to address32:01 the issues that can be so point for people. Listen, grumbling ought to be eliminated if you are a believer of Christ. Why? Because your master modeled it. He humbled himself, emptied32:12 himself, became obedient even to the point of death, even the death on a cross. And Paul says, if you are called to have that same mindset, then do all things without grumbling or disputing.32:25 And then he goes on to say, you and I, as children of God, we need to display to the world that our character is changed. Look at this. He gives you a description of 3 things. He says, be blameless. Look at that verse 1432:36 again. That you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. Listen how he says, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God.32:48 Blameless and innocent. What is blameless? Blameless means that you have no it's not that you don't have any fault, that people can't criticize you, that people can't criticize33:00 you for anything that you did as sin or evil. Listen, that's blameless. It's not sinless. You and I can never be sinless, but you can be faultless. That means you do things in a manner33:12 where no 1 can criticize you for doing something evil or sinful, and that is the blameless. And then he says innocent. In other words, your motives are pure. It's harmless. What you do for33:24 others, you do it with genuine concern, not because it's self serving. And that's, he says, it's a harmless, innocent children of God without blemish. Without blemish is the language of the Old Testament33:36 where the offering that you bring before God has to be spotless. And here he says that your life should be a spotless life, that people cannot find fault with33:48 you. Listen, in the old testament, there was a man that lived like that. In Daniel, we find this in Daniel chapter 6 and verse 4. Look at what the bible says, then the high officials and satraps sought to find a34:00 ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault because he was faithful and no error of fault as found in him. Wow.34:12 Can people say that about your life? That we found we we tried to find fault or complain, but there was no fault in him, no ground for any complaint in him. Why? Because he was faithful. No error in the34:24 work he did. No fault in his motives. I want you to listen to me carefully, church. That's the life that is blameless and harmless and spotless children of God. That's the life you and I34:36 are called to live. Now why is this so important? This is important because you're living in the midst of a wicked and crooked and twisted generation, the bible says. Now listen to me carefully.34:48 You know, years ago, there was a TV show. I think you would have heard of this. Oprah Winfrey had a show on the September thirteenth, 2004.35:00 And in this talk show, she was highlighting that 11 people received cars. Pontiac g 6 sedan. Each cost about35:12 28000 dollars. But the surprise came at the end of the show when she said, 1 of the 1 of the members in the audience is going to have the twelfth car. And so she passed35:24 a gift box to everyone in the audience. And everyone in the gift, with a gift box. She said, 1 of them, 1 of the gift boxes has a key to the twelfth car. And,35:35 of course, people were very anxious to open, and then the moment they opened, everyone in the audience realized that they were holding a key to a car. And so Oprah started to35:47 yell and and scream and would jump with acceleration, and she was saying, you know, you get a car, you get a car, you get a car, all of you get a car. In fact, she gave away35:57 276 cars that day. Now, what a wonderful sight it was because to receive a gift like that, and these are people who wanted to have a car but couldn't afford to buy a36:09 car. So 28000 dollars worth of car was given to them. Wonderful car. But the story doesn't end there. Few weeks later, the scandal broke out. This is the36:21 scandal. That the people, some of them who received it, complained. They complained that they now have to declare the car as an income tax for income tax purposes and therefore they are out36:33 of pocket for up to 6000 dollars. And Oprah should have considered that and included the 6000 dollars along with the free car. Now, I know what36:45 you're saying. You would say, I would slap their face and then take the car back. But that's how people are. That is the world that you're living in, ungrateful people, people who36:57 forget all the 99 good you do and pick up on the 1. But he says that's not how you and I are supposed to live. In the midst of a crooked and wicked generation, you and I are called to live a life that is blameless and37:09 harmless and spotless. Now listen carefully. He says in this, in in in in look at this in verse 15. And he says, go back to verse 15 and37:20 towards the last part, he says that you are living in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. Crooked and weak, twisted generation. You know that's what Jesus called the Jews when37:32 he walked on earth. He actually says, you faithless and twisted generation in Matthew chapter 17 and verse 17. It's the same language Moses used for the old testament saints in37:44 the wilderness. He said, you have become, in in Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 5, he says, you have become a crooked and twisted generation. Now Paul uses that same language and he says, the world is now37:56 filled with Jews and Gentiles and he says, now they are the crooked and twisted generation, so you need to now be living a life that is pleasing to God, displaying that you are able to do,38:08 have that mindset that was in Christ without any murmur and complain. And this is how you and I are supposed to live. But I found this as I'm reading this, I found this very interesting. Moses called38:20 his congregation, you are crooked and twisted generation. Jesus, when he was speaking to the Jews and the Pharisees and especially the religious folks, he said, you are a crooked and twisted generation. You're faithless38:31 and crooked generation. But Paul here says, not to the Philippian church, he's not saying the Philippian church are crooked and twisted generation. He says, live in the midst of a crooked and38:43 twisted generation, therefore, you should not murmur and complain. Now, there is murmuring in the church. There is complaint in the church. Yet Paul doesn't call the Philippian38:54 church crooked and twisted. Why is that? Can I humbly say why is it? It is the power of the gospel, people. This is the power of the gospel that you and I believe in. I shared with you earlier what is the39:06 gospel. The gospel is a message to believe. It is the work of Christ that he has done on your behalf. He took your place so you can take his place. In other words, all your sin wasShow more
Paul Jeyachandran
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