Skip to content Joy in Sacrificial Service | Philippians Part 06 | Rev Paul Jeyachandran Jul 14 · 57 min ...more
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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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0:01 A pastor had a dream, and the dream was this: he had been given the opportunity to see both heaven and hell. And when he was ushered into a0:13 closed door, he was informed that hell was on the other side of the door. As he entered through that door, he was surprised to see a banquet hall, and it0:25 was set for a feast. Everything was beautiful, but all the diners mourned and veiled in agony. At the side of each person was a0:36 large fork strapped to 1 arm and a large knife strapped to the other arm. The fork and knife were so long, they are long enough to dish out the0:48 food, but too long to put it in one's mouth. Thus the people were unable to eat and were starving and shrieking with hunger pains. The terror was1:00 more than the pastor could handle, so he asked to leave. So that when he was brought to the other door, which leads to heaven, he walked through that door and he was terrified to see the1:12 same scenario. Everything was the same, only languishing and groaning was replaced with laughter and joy. Those in heaven did not mourn because they1:23 could not feed themselves, but instead they used their folks to feed 1 another. That is how they were joyful. I want you to listen to me carefully.1:35 In hell, they were thinking about feeding themselves and they were upset. They couldn't do it. But in heaven, they were feeding 1 another. That was in the dream. The moral of that story is this, that there is a1:47 joy in serving others. And that is what Paul begins to highlight to us in the passage of Scripture that we are going to study today. Now, if you and I were listening to the past few1:59 sermons, you know Paul is talking about examples because I believe with all my heart that as a disciple making pastor, you just don't just2:10 instruct people. You know, when I preach the word of God, I'm not just instructing the congregation. I'm not just giving them information about the word of God. But 1 thing we want to do as pastors is we want2:22 to leave you with models so that we can inspire you. Not just instruct and inform, but inspire. Because we believe there's a philosophy that we carry here in this house that example explains2:34 everything, isn't it? The best way that you can leave a legacy for your children is an example, a life that is filled as a model for them to follow. Like Paul says, follow2:46 me as I follow Christ. Imitate me as I imitate Christ. So Paul knows that he wants to leave you with an example. So in chapter 2, he gives you example of Christ from verse 5 all the way to verse2:57 11. And then he knows that some of us will think, but Christ is the Son of God. He's not just man, he's God man. He's fully God and fully man, so he can3:09 live a life like that, selfless, sacrificial, and he was sensitive to the needs of others, and he was always service minded. He served others. But I'm not like Christ.3:21 I'm not the son of God. I'm not fully God. I want you to listen to me carefully. Paul knows that there will be people who will say, how can I live? How can I live the life that Christ lived?3:34 Even though Christ is my model? So Paul gives you very practical example of people who lived like Christ, that people that they know, the Philippian church knew. And so he3:46 brings a young man by the name of Timothy and maybe a mature man by the name of Ephrathroditis and he uses them as examples. And I want you to capture this because in chapter 23:58 verses 19 all the way to 30, I see 3 men given to us as examples. So I want us to learn from Apostle Paul as an example. I want us to learn from4:10 Timothy, his spiritual son, as an example. I want us to learn from Aphrodite, the coworker of Paul. And I wanna learn this 1 thing, what can we emulate from the lives of apostle Paul, his4:21 spiritual son and his fellow worker? So if we can learn from these 3 men, we can definitely apply it into our life and ask the Lord to do the deep work in our midst. So I'm going to give you 3 things,4:34 3 lessons from these 3 lives. Number 1, it is the sincerity of heart as seen in Paul's life. You find the heart of Paul4:46 revealed in this passage. Secondly, it is the genuinity of humility as seen in Timothy's life. Timothy was used as a model for humility,4:57 meekness. Thirdly, it is also the practicality of helpfulness as seen in Iphraimphroditus' life. The practicality of helpfulness. In other words, this man5:09 was so helpful. He was so selfless and sacrificial to the point of serving others, risking his own life. And we want to learn from him. So these are the 3 things that we have in this5:21 passage. Now usually I would have preached this entire chapter 2 in only 2 sermons. That means this would have been a long sermon. But over the past few weeks, our sermons have already5:32 been long enough that I wanted to break down the passage so that we can dig deep. So today we got verses 19 to verse 30 and 3 lives as examples for us. Let's look at it 1 by 1.5:44 Number 1, the sincerity of heart as seen in Paul's life. The sincerity of Paul's heart is seen in the double sending of Timothy and Epaphroditus.5:56 There are 2 men that are being sent here. First, Paul wanted to send Timothy. Second, Paul actually sent Epaphroditus. And the reasons is given to us, why he wanted to send Timothy first,6:09 but then why he held Timothy back and sent Epaphroditus instead. The passage gives us the clue. But in these 2 sendings, you actually see the heart of6:21 Paul. So I want you to catch the first 1 that you see a father's heart. In the father's heart, a concern for a spiritual welfare of his children. That is what you see in6:33 Paul. The first 1 you see is the father's heart for the church as a concern that he has for the spiritual well-being of his children. And the second thing I see is a servant's heart. A servant's6:45 heart because he is concerned for the physical welfare of his coworker. I am sending him, I am more eager to send him, therefore that you rejoice at seeing him again6:56 and that I may be less anxious. Where is Paul's emphasis here? Paul's emphasis is actually in Philippian church that has become distressed hearing7:08 that Epaphroditus is now sick to the point of death. Wow! In other words, the Philippian church sent Epaphroditus to be a help for Paul.7:20 But rather, when Epaphroditus becomes ill, is he going to be helpful to Paul or is he going to become a liability for Paul? So the Philippian church is wondering what is going on. They may have concern for7:32 Epaphroditus, at the same time they also have concern for Paul. But you know what Paul has? Paul has the same concern. He says, I know you guys are distressed. And not only you are distressed, even7:43 Epaphroditus is distressed, knowing that you know that he was ill. So you know what I'm going do? I'm going to send him back to you so that when you see him, you will rejoice,7:55 and you will know the news that he is well and he is okay. And I want you to see the servant heart of Paul. You know why? Epaphroditus was his servant. He was sent to serve him. But8:07 Paul put aside his own self interest. Paul puts aside his own need. He's chained to a Roman prison guard. He's chained to a Roman guard. 208:19 fourseven, he's chained. He needs help for daily menial tasks. But you know what he does? That is not important. I want him to go back to8:30 Philippi. Why? So that you will have joy. So that he will be relieved of the distress that he is feeling. I want you to see the heart of Paul. Paul was never putting himself first. He was not a self8:42 serving leader. He was a leader that was selfless. He was a leader that was sacrificial and he was a leader that was serving others. And in this case, he wanted to send Timothy8:54 because Timothy represented his father's heart for the welfare of the whole church. But at the same time, he wanted to send Epaphroditus back because he to he9:06 had a concern for this 1 individual, his co laborer. And that is the first thing I want you to catch. That when you model life after Christ, that mindset that Christ9:17 carried will be upon you. And here Paul says, Paul, in his writings we can discern that he had that same heart, the heart of a servant and the heart of a father.9:29 Wonderful. And the reason why is because he's a follower of Christ and Christ lives in him. Praise God. The second thing is the genuinity of humility as seen in Timothy's9:40 life. Genuinity of humility. What is humility? You know in Philippians chapter 2 and verses 39:52 and verse 4, it was already declared what humility is like. What is humility? Paul wrote in Philippians two:three, Do nothing from selfish10:04 ambition or vain conceit, but in humility. And then he defines what humility is: Count others more significant than yourselves. What is humility?10:16 Humility is to count others more significant than yourselves. See, the world will think of humility like this: putting yourself down. No, no, no.10:28 It's not putting yourself down. Or if someone says to you, You're a good preacher, and you go, No, lah, I'm not. I just croak like a crow. No, no, no, like a frog. No, no, you don't do10:40 That's not modesty, that's not humility, that is fake humility. Listen to me carefully. When you're given a compliment, you accept it, you give thanks to the Lord and give glory to God. That's the10:52 important part. But the reality is, what is humility? Humility is not putting yourself down, but lifting someone else up. That is humility. Humility is not thinking less11:04 of yourself. Humility is actually not thinking of yourself at all, that you're not even mindful of your own needs, you're not even mindful of how things are for you, whether you will11:16 gain or whether you will lose. You're not even thinking of yourself. That is humility. And here Paul says, do nothing out of selfish ambition, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Then11:28 in verse 4, he goes on to give the second definition of humility, let each 1 of you not only look to his own interests. When we were studying this in detail, I already told you in the Greek that11:39 word only doesn't appear. In other words, humility is this, not even thinking of your own interests. So in other words, let each of you look not to your own interests,11:51 but to the interests of others. So the only and also is only added in the English translation. So I want you to think about this. What is humility? Humility is counting others more significant than yourself. Not only12:02 that, humility is also looking outside of you for the interest of others and not even thinking of your own interests. And that is the genuinity of humility that you see in12:14 Timothy's life. Look at verse 19. And I want to give you these 2 things because I want you to take down what is that genuine concern that Timothy had. How do you see12:26 this genuinity of humility? The genuinity of humility is seen in his concern for church and concern for Christ. It is seen in his concern for church,12:38 concern for Christ and his church. That's the key thing I want you to capture because this is what it is. In verse 19 it says, I want to send Timothy to you so that I may hear and be cheered by your news of you.12:50 For I have no 1 like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. See Timothy has genuine concern for others. That's why he models humility. Not only that, for13:02 they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. See, I want you to think about how exceptional this young man is. You know as a disciple making pastor, I13:13 have journeyed for years now with young people. I think recently in the conference I shared with you that 1 of my greatest desire is13:25 to wave this flag of intentional disciple making and raise the next generation of disciple makers and disciple making pastors. So my wife and I, we give ourselves completely13:37 to walk with the next generation. And over the years, by the grace of God, I have pilgrimaged with many, many young men and young women together with my wife. And the joy13:49 of seeing them walk in the ways of God is amazing. But there are some who don't have that genuinity. They still have that self seeking,14:01 they still have that selfish ambition, they still have that that ingrained in them of performance, I want to be someone, I want to do something, I want to be this influencer, I want to go here, I want to do that.14:14 And sometimes it's a struggle. I want you to listen to me carefully. We want to journey with them until that Christ likeness is developed. 1 of the core things that I want them to catch is this14:25 church. If you are listening to me as a young person, listen to me. As a father, my heart's desire is that my children outgrow me and that they go further than I have been,14:37 where I have been with the Lord. I want them to grow further and I want to go higher. I want them to go deeper, both my spiritual children and my biological children. But the reason I'm saying this is because that's the14:48 father's heart that anyone has. But the key thing is that you need to learn to die to self. Because in the kingdom of God, it is not achieved. You don't15:00 achieve success. The kingdom of God is success is bestowed upon you. You receive success. And the success comes not by lifting yourself up, but by actually15:12 humbling yourself down. That is the model of Christ. How was Christ exalted? The Bible says that Christ was given a name above every other name and he's highly exalted, but before he was15:23 exalted, he humbled himself. He emptied himself. So the pathway of exaltation is the pathway of humiliation, to go through humbling yourself. Here the Bible15:35 says Timothy humbled himself. How? He had a genuine concern for others. Not only that, verse 21 goes on to say, For they all seek their own15:47 interests, not those of Jesus Christ. I want to think about who this they all are. Wow, who are they all? You know who are these guys that15:58 are they all? In chapter 1 and verse 15, he already gave you who these are. I believe these are the people who Paul said, they preach Christ16:10 from envy and rivalry. These are preachers. These are pastors. And these are pastors and preachers in Rome who probably want to do things16:22 but they want to achieve things so they do it out of sense of rivalry and competition and comparison and envy. And I want you to think about this, they all seek their own16:34 interests. Maybe this is what I'm thinking. Paul approached a few of those pastors, called them in, brothers, please come. I have Timothy with me. I have Aphroditus with me.16:46 He just recovered from his illness. And I want to send something back to Philippi as a note. I want you to go to Philippi and bring this letter to them and then bring back news from them16:58 how they are. Would you please go on my behalf? And you know what some of these brothers would have said to him? Old man, stop it. We are so busy. Ministry is actually17:09 prospering. We are more busy than before. Since you are in prison, we are the only 1 doing the ministry now. So we need to preach Christ here. I can't be bothered traveling thousand kilometers and going through all that17:20 hardship to reach Philippi just because you want this letter to be delivered and you want news of how they are going. Find another person. I believe that's what happened because that's what he says.17:32 They all seek after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. How sad it is. Paul was not pulling the punch here. Paul did not hold back from17:44 punching. He punched all the way. You know what he says? They all are like that. I don't know how many people he spoke to, but he genuinely knows this. They are all like that. And he17:56 says, not 1 can I find who are preaching the gospel, who have it out of interest for Christ? They all have self serving interest. How18:08 sad it is. You know sometimes you and I, we think that today the church world is like this theologian who said, I look for the church, I found it in the world. I look for the18:20 world, I found it in the church. The church is so worldly, very carnal. Oh, the good old days where the Spirit of God moved in the church and the church was mighty and powerful and holy, But now the church18:32 is very carnal and worldly, we say. But you know in the time of Paul, the church was as worldly as it was today. During the time of Paul, he still had the same concerns that you and I have today in18:44 a disciple making church. They all were still self seeking. They were self serving. But here Paul says, I have no 1 but only Timothy who loves Jesus and he18:56 puts Jesus' interest ahead of his own. Hallelujah. And I think Paul in this letter, you know when he writes this, he is not just writing only to the Philippian19:07 church. Let me give you a clue in terms of how letters are written in those days. Letters are written in a scroll and given to a man, and this man travels through different towns19:18 over a period of maybe months before he will reach the destination. So along the way, wherever he stays, people will say, so what are you bringing to Philippi? What19:30 is your business? Oh, I'm bringing a valuable letter. This is a personal letter from the apostle to the Philippian church. Oh, wonderful. Can we read it? They will read. Many people,19:42 in fact, it is actually recorded that people will take copies of it because it's from Paul. They want to be instructed in the gospel. So in other words, when Paul is writing this, they all seek their own interest. Paul19:54 knows that they will read it. But he still says it because they need to be corrected. They need to be disciplined. As a father, he brings that correction. He says, they all seek their own interest, not the interest of20:06 Jesus Christ. But Timothy, at least I have 1 who seeks the interest of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. See, believe Paul is an is an optimist. Paul is a man who is20:18 joyful. How can you be so joyful, Paul? I thought people around you, are like this and yet you are still joyful. 99 are not good but that 1 is very good.20:30 I'm joyful for that 1. You know because Paul in this episode is very Christ centered, isn't he? He's very Christ centered. He already said in chapter 1 and verse 6 that he who begins a good work in you, he is20:42 able to complete it. Why? Because Christ will complete it. Not only that, in chapter 2 and verse 12, he already says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Because in verse 13, he says, For it is God who20:54 works in you, God is continuing to work in his people. So even though they are like this today, 1 day they will be changed. So Paul is optimistic that they will change 121:06 day. But today, they are self serving. They are self seeking. But Paul didn't give up on them. Paul just says that I have Timothy at least, so I am joyful to the fact that I can do this. Hallelujah.21:17 And this is the key for you and me. The sincerity of Paul's heart is seen here. At the same time, the genuity of humility is seen in Timothy's life because21:29 Timothy was willing to lay down his life for the interests of others. I wanted to capture some things here. In verse 22, it talks about21:40 how Timothy has not only been an exceptional man, but he's also an experienced man. He actually proven his worth. How as a son with a father he served with me21:52 in the gospel. Let me highlight something about this. I'm thankful to the Lord for the team that God has given us in Life Church. Whenever I speak of them22:04 as a team, I usually call them sons in the house. You would have heard me say this term. We use that term with a purpose. There are sons in this house. The22:16 reason is because they not only embrace the vision of this house, but they also submit willingly their own ambition, their own vision for22:28 their life, they submit willingly and they embrace and they come together and they serve together as a father and a son serving in the gospel. I don't know whether you have heard22:40 me say this before but I would say this in leadership circles and this is what I usually say to pastors. The Lord spoke to Abraham and Lord says to Abraham,22:52 Go sacrifice your son, your only son, and the mountain that I will show you. But do you know at the time when God spoke to Abraham to sacrifice his son, the son23:04 Isaac was already a teenager? In other words, Isaac has to cooperate with what God has spoken to the father. But if Isaac, for whatever23:15 reason, says, O man, you don't know what the heck you're doing, and if Isaac resisted Abraham, Abraham would not been able to obey23:27 God and show that he fears God. Listen to me carefully. God did not speak to Isaac's heart. God spoke to Abraham's heart. But Isaac had to trust in God23:39 that God is sovereign. Not only that, he also has to have trust in his father that is a father is a man of integrity and a man of faith that he heard God and he is obeying God.23:51 That this is the picture I carry, that not only Isaac carried the wood, not only Isaac carried the fire, not only did he carry the rope with him, that when they went to the24:03 mountaintop, Isaac helped build that altar. Isaac laid those wood as an altar. And then Isaac laid down on top and24:14 tied his own hands and then says, Father, I'm ready to be sacrificed. Sacrifice me now before God. Unless and until there was a cooperation between Isaac and24:26 Abraham, I don't think Abraham could have done what God called him to do. The reason I'm saying this is because it doesn't take the gifts of a few to build church.24:38 It takes the sacrifices of many to build the church. It is not the gifts of the few that you see on TV that builds the church. It is the sacrifices of many who behind the24:50 scenes work hard to build the church. That is why, listen to me carefully, when we use that word sons in the house, it's because we know that that term is an endearing term, that25:02 without you doing what you are doing, we can't be doing what God has called us to do. We play a part in this. So the sons in the house are not just the people who are working on the staff team, they are the people who25:14 are taking the shepherding role as being a life group leader, who take the zone shepherding role seriously and partner together in pastoring the church. All these are sons25:26 in the house. Why? Because they take that same heart of the gospel and they say because as a son I serve with my father in the gospel. You're not serving the father.25:38 Listen to this language of Paul. He didn't say Timothy served me in the gospel. He said he served with me in the gospel. He didn't serve me, he served Christ25:49 by serving me. Listen to me carefully. When you and I come together, that is a beautiful partnership in the gospel that we see. That's why it saddens my heart when I walk26:01 into a church as a leadership consultant and I find bickerings and murmurings and complaining between the staff team and the senior pastor or the senior pastor and the board and the pastoral staff and the26:13 church. Oh, it saddens my heart because when there is so much of this murmuring and complaining and dissatisfaction, they have stopped being 1 mind. They have26:25 stopped being 1 soul. They have stopped becoming people with 1 vision. When you have 2 vision, it's division people. When you have 2 vision, it's division. But when you have 126:36 vision, there is provision of God. The grace of God will be there. There'll be unity and there will be a command of God's blessing that flows. That's why as a father who served, as a son who served26:48 with me, he has proven this. So here is a man who is not only exceptional in his character of placing others first, but he is also a humble servant and he's27:00 willing to serve with Paul in humility. I want you to think about how Timothy was served throughout the New Testament. Do you know as long as Paul was alive, you know what27:12 Timothy was? He was only the second man, not the first man. Timothy had to do the hard job of being sent to places that Paul couldn't go. So when Timothy was27:24 sent to some places, maybe that place, in that city, they would have expected Paul to come. But for whatever reason, Paul is tied up and now Timothy comes in this place. Some people will show attitude.27:35 Oh, you're not Paul, you're Timothy. Some people will look down on him. Some people will think that he is not good enough. But can I humbly say this, Timothy didn't care about any of these things27:47 because he has died to the self and he is now emulating the attitude of Christ in putting other people first, the other people's concern and welfare first, and not seeking his own interest27:59 but the interest of Jesus Christ? That's why he was a willing servant. And that is the genuinity of humility we see in the life of Timothy. The third thing we see is this, a28:11 genuinity, the practicality of helpfulness as seen in Epaphroditus' life. The practicality of helpfulness. Here's a man who was very helpful to Paul. I want28:23 you to think about this in verse 25. I've thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus and look at the the adjectives, words that28:35 Look at the descriptions, sorry, not adjectives, descriptions that Paul is giving about Epaphroditus. Look at the description. Number 1, my brother.28:47 Secondly, my fellow worker. Thirdly, my fellow soldier. My brother, that means he is a family member. Fellow28:58 worker, we work in the same field. So he is a brother in the family, He's a worker in the field. At the same time, he's a fellow soldier. He's a soldier in the fight.29:10 In other words, family, field, and fight. This man embodied it. He was a companion to Paul. And Paul says, I thought it necessary to send Aphroditus back to you,29:23 your messenger and minister to my need. Look at the next verse. For he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed, he was ill near to death, but God had mercy on29:35 him, not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. But I am the more eager to send him therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again and that I may29:47 be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking29:59 in your service to me. I want to talk about Epaphroditus' life. The sacrifice that is seen in Epaphroditus' life is seen in his sacrificial30:10 service. The practicality of helpfulness in Epaphroditus' life is seen in his sacrificial service. This passage of scripture is so dear to me. I want you to listen to me30:22 carefully. Why? Because Epaphroditus is not a child of Paul. In other words, he's not a spiritual son like Timothy. Epaphroditus was sent30:34 by the Philippian church to Rome and he must have been saved through Paul's ministry or maybe later on he became a follower of Christ.30:46 But the Bible says that Paul uses this description, He is my brother. In other words, Paul uses that language of brother in the book of Philippians only to people who are pastors and leaders.30:58 Imagine that in first chapter he already said most of the brothers preach Christ out of envy or some out of goodwill. Right? So brothers usually symbolizes that he's a pastor31:10 already. In other words, Epaphroditus was almost like the lead pastor of the church in Philippi. History actually records for us that Epaphroditus was the first bishop of31:22 Philippi. No wonder in this letter, it's not written anywhere else, only in this letter Paul includes in the title, in the first chapter31:34 verse 1, he includes the saints who are in Philippi, right? Saints in Christ at Philippi with overseers and deacons. So this is the only chapter, the only book where31:46 he includes the leadership of the church. Maybe it is because Aphrodite is 1 of the leaders And you'll find the reason why in his writing to this. So the Philippian church is31:58 sending their leader, Epaphroditus, and says take this money, monetary gift. Bring this offering to Paul, this love offering. And not only that, go and minister to his32:09 needs. So the 1 who is being sent is the word apostle. He is not 1 of the 12 apostles, but anyone who is sent from anywhere, they are an apostle. For32:21 example, if you are sent from 1 country to another country for the work of the kingdom, you are an apostle because you are being sent. And here, that is what it means. You are messenger. And then he goes on to say, not32:33 only your messenger, he's a minister to my need. I want you to pay attention to some of these descriptions. Brother, meaning family. Number 2, coworker in the field.32:44 Number 3, fellow soldier in the fight. That means he is a co laborer. Paul esteems him highly. And this Epaphroditus, you know what he did for Paul? The Bible32:56 says he ministered to my need. I want you to circle that word minister because it's the Greek word litergeia. Is the word, English word is liturgy.33:08 In other words, this is a language that sometimes in the English we read it more like it doesn't convey the exact tone in which this is presented. In the Old Testament,33:20 this word litigateia will appear in the Septuagint translation. In other words, the Old Testament when it's written in Greek, anytime the work of a priest is mentioned, the ministry of a priest is mentioned,33:33 this word will be used. And that is what is used here. He says, he's like a priest who served me. That means here's a pastor who has come all the way to serve33:45 the man of God and meet his needs, minister to his needs. How is he ministering? I'm imagining this. How would he minister to Paul every single day? Did he serve him33:57 communion? Did he just pray together with him and worship and lead for him? No, no. I'd tell you how he would have practically done it. Maybe he swept that prison cell where Paul was staying. Maybe34:08 he brought him water, maybe he brought him food, maybe he took the letter that Paul wrote to someone else and then he ran out in the middle of Rome and passed on the messages to other people. In34:20 other words, was doing just errands for Paul. And Paul says, even though you sent him all the way, he's your messenger and he's a minister to my needs. Paul uses the word of a priest here.34:33 And why is this word so important? Because this word in its root form appears twice in this short passage. Look at verse 30. Verse 30 actually says the same word, litagea. It says that34:45 again, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me. That word your service. In other words, you wanted to34:57 serve me but you couldn't because of distance. He has come and completed the lack in serving me. And he is talking about a priestly service here. Now why am I saying35:08 this? Because many times you and I don't think about the sacrificial priestly service that we are called to do. Do you know that Christian life is a life of sacrifice?35:21 Many times we pay attention to the word sacrifice only when we think of Christ's atonement for us. Jesus sacrificed His life for our sin. He sacrificed His life so that we can be35:32 redeemed. It's true, He sacrificed. But we only think of the word sacrifice when we think in terms of atonement, payment for sin. But the Christian language is this, the Bible35:44 language is sacrifice should be part of our daily life. Paul writes and he says in Romans chapter 12 and verse 1, what did he say? Therefore, my brothers,35:57 by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. What? Your body, meaning your life. Present your life daily as a living sacrifice36:08 to God, which is holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. See sometimes we think that what God wants from me is a few cents and a few songs and that's36:20 it. That's what God wants. No, no, no. God wants your life. He wants you to sacrifice your life and put your life at the altar every single day, which is your holy and36:32 acceptable worship unto the Lord. He's not just after you giving him tithe. He's not just after you giving him some sort of time. He wants your whole life. And that is exactly what Paul is saying here. Paul36:44 carries this picture of sacrifice that we offer ourselves completely to Christ. Not only do we offer our lives as a sacrifice, but look at this in first Peter chapter 2 and verse 5.36:56 In first Peter chapter 2 and verse 5 it says, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house. He's talking to the church. To be a holy priesthood to37:08 offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. You are a priest. You are a holy priesthood and you're supposed to offer spiritual sacrifices every single day through37:20 Jesus Christ that is acceptable to God. What are some of the spiritual sacrifices that you and I are called to offer before God? Do you know what the Bible says? Go with me to first Philippians37:32 Sorry, Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 16. Look at this verse. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 16. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have for such sacrifices37:44 are pleasing to God. The writer of Hebrews says, You are called to sacrifice and those sacrifices are worship unto God. They are acceptable to God. In other words, these are the offerings.37:56 See, in the Old Testament, they brought lamb, they brought bull, they brought different animals, right? And those animals are not only an offering, they are a sacrifice.38:08 And how many of you know if you're going to bring a bull, it's going to cost you more? If you're going to bring a lamb, it's going to cost you something. For poor people, they will bring a dow, and it will cost them38:20 something. In other words, God had all these sacrifices that they bring to the altar, but these sacrifices are expensive. It's costly to worship God in the Old Testament. In the38:32 same manner in the New Testament when we worship God, there is a sense of sacrifice and the sacrifice he's saying is you're bringing spiritual sacrifices. And 1 such spiritual sacrifice is what you38:44 do with what God has given you. Look at this in Hebrews 13. He says, what does he say? Do not neglect to do good. You know, if you are able to do good for another person and you don't do38:56 it, that's a sin, the Bible says in Proverbs. So he says, if you do the good to someone else in this COVID season that they are not able to do unto themselves, but you do them good, that39:07 good is considered as a spiritual worship. It's considered as a sacrifice unto God. Hallelujah. And to share what you have, my goodness, we39:19 all have something to share. We all have more things to share. And he says, if you are able to share what you have, those sacrifices are pleasing to God. And sometimes the sacrifice couldShow more
Paul Jeyachandran
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