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The Obedient Christian Life – Part 1 (Philippians 2:12-18)

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

Opening Prayer

Let’s pray. Lord, we do have so much to rejoice for and be thankful for. We rejoice in our salvation that you’ve given us through your Son Jesus. We rejoice that we’ve been made right with you, our heavenly Father. We rejoice that we can come before you at any time and present our requests to you. Father, you are a good, good God. And we thank you, Lord, that you’ve gifted us your Holy Spirit. We rejoice in the Holy Spirit that fills us, so that we can walk in your ways, that the Spirit can produce fruit in us. That’s the fruit of the Spirit. And we rejoice, Lord, that we have other brothers and sisters in Christ who love you as well, who encourage us, who walk with us, who help us when we’re down, who come alongside us and encourage us, who give us, Lord, encouragement, correction as needed, and that we can do life with. Many, many more things we can rejoice in, Father. We thank you, Lord, for your Word. We rejoice in that, that we have your Word, the very words of God spoken to us, written down for our edification, God. We thank you, Lord, that the path of salvation is clear. It is clear. So I pray, God, that you would open people’s eyes and that they would see that clear path, that you would be gracious to save many even today, Lord, as your Word goes forth in the pulpits across this land and across this world. Lord, we pray for our brothers and sisters in Belize. We pray for the churches down there that we’ve partnered with, that you would continue to bless them, continue to have the Word go forth in their churches, let them continue to be faithful, let them continue to persevere, Father, and that you would use them as lights in their villages and in their towns, God, to spread your Word, and that they would continue to walk with you in all faithfulness. We pray the same for us here, Lord, that we would be busy about your work, that we would continue to do your work wherever you send us and wherever you call us. Lord, we pray for the Cooks as they’re a long way away, but they’re busy about your work and they are endeavoring to do your will in discipling the nations, Lord. So we pray, God, that they would be steadfast about the work, that you would bless them in their ministry there, that you’d give them favor in the eyes of men, that they would have wisdom from above in terms of translating your Word, in terms of getting it out to the people, and that you would save this people group, Lord, and that many, many, many, many, many would come to know you, Lord. And just as you talk about in the book of Acts, there’s people that are appointed for salvation, God. So may that be true in that village as well, Lord. We know it is, God. So you are calling people from every tongue, tribe, and nation to you. So do that there, do it far, and do it here, do it near, Lord, and do it all for your glory, we pray. Amen.

Philippians 2:12–18

All right, so here we are in Philippians chapter 2. What is this passage about that we’re looking at? We’ll probably look at it for the next couple weeks. I want to draw your attention to kind of an oversight first. The title of my sermon is “The Obedient Christian Life,” part one. So I want you to notice back in verse 8 because this ties together with verse 12. When he’s talking about Jesus in this Christian hymn in verse 8 of chapter 2, he says, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of even death on a cross. So part of what’s happening in that Christian hymn in Philippians 2 is Jesus is being held up as an example, primarily in the area of humility, but he’s being held up as an example for us.

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 is 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 in 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.

(Philippians 2:12–18)

Jesus as Our Example

There’s nothing [audio unclear]. Lord, he’s also a great example. So, that’s not to take away from anything else that he is, but he is an example. And Paul is saying, hey, we’re talking about unity in the church, we’re talking about humility. If you want the greatest example, look at Jesus. Like he was God, yet he didn’t go around touting that as some great thing that he wanted everyone to acknowledge. What did he do? What was his purpose? Well, he was sent on a mission, all right? The part about the touting, that comes later, we read every knee bows, every tongue confesses. But Jesus expressed great humility, didn’t count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he humbled himself. And the idea partly is this, hey, if God himself can humble himself, how much more can we? How much more can we? The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, right? But to serve. So that’s what we have here. So he talks about becoming obedient, and then Paul picks that idea back up in verse 12. And he says, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed. So this whole next seven verses is about the obedient Christian life. What does that look like? We have the example of Jesus, we have humility, now we’re supposed to walk that out and we’re supposed to obey as we’re walking it out, well what does obedience look like? And it’s kind of laid out for us here. Years ago when I was in seminary we had to read a book, it’s actually a rather small book, it’s called The Plan of Salvation by B. B. Warfield. And it talks about, we had an assignment, we had to read the book. And then the assignment, in the book, was basically you have to like trace what your particular theological belief is, you know. So it’s like, I mean, you’d have to read the book because it goes very in depth, but it’s kind of like, okay, are you Calvinist, Arminian, you know, okay, if you’re this, okay, then which of these are you? Okay, you’re this, and then which of these? It’s like this giant, you know, diagram system, and you get all the way down, right, and then he’s like, okay, now I want you to write a paper on, and list all those different things that you are and talk about why that’s important, you know, in regards to your walk with Jesus. And you end up with like, I mean, the path down, you’re like 15 different things or something like that is really when you’re, you know, drilling down. So, you know, everyone’s writing the paper, why is this important? Writing the paper, right? So, we get the papers back, he’s turning them back to us, and he’s like, pretty much y’all did not a good job on writing these papers. And he’s like, only like two people really got the assignment. And he was like, really? What I wanted you to say is like, it really doesn’t matter. Like if you’re a follower of Jesus, that’s the most important thing. Who cares about how far down you are if you’re infralapsarian or supralapsarian or all these different things. And I was like, bro. I’m like, you’re probably the only professor in all the seminaries in the United States that if someone pulled something like that, it might fly, okay? But if I tried that in any of my other classes and was like, yeah, actually it doesn’t matter, like they’d fail me, okay? So I’m not trying it in your class, like, yeah, it doesn’t matter. The point was somewhat well taken apart from the bad grade that he gave me.

Justification: God’s Work and Ours

But what is the believer’s role in salvation? What is the believer’s role in sanctification? This passage hits on that. It hits on that idea of what is the believer’s role in our salvation. Now, when we talk about salvation, when we talk about like an initial salvation, we’re really talking in the area of justification. So when we think about justification, God has his responsibility, an action that he does. We think about that word justification. It’s a declaration, right? God is declaring us to be righteous in his sight. He’s seen our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness now as belonging to us. That’s your definition of justification. I mean, think of a judge in a courtroom. He makes a ruling, but he also makes a declaration. So when he says the defendant is innocent, I mean, that’s the ruling. Or if he says the defendant is guilty, that’s the ruling. But if he says the defendant is innocent, and then he says the defendant is now free to go, well, that’s not really the ruling. That’s the declaration. So when we talk about justification, there kind of is a ruling of a sort where God is saying, hey, our sins are forgiven and Christ’s righteousness belongs to us. But then there’s the declaration that he declares us to be righteous in his sight. When you talk about salvation, we talk about God’s responsibility, but does man have a responsibility? Does man have a responsibility? Yes. Man has a responsibility. What is man called to do? Repent and believe. He does have a responsibility. So look at, I just want you privileging this because a lot of people don’t realize this. Let’s look at Matthew chapter 4. So at the end of Matthew 3, Jesus gets baptized. It goes right into Matthew 4 where immediately he goes into the wilderness. He’s tempted by the devil. So we get that whole story. Then it says verse 12, Matthew 4, now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” And then notice what it says in verse 17. From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” So John gets arrested, and this is right after the temptation of Jesus. So it’s really the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. But what is his message? Repent. Right? Repent. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We see a similar thing in Mark. Look at Mark chapter 1. Mark 1:14, now after John was arrested. Same thing that we just read. Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Over and over, we can look at many more verses. Over and over again, man’s responsibility. Repent and believe. If he wants to be saved, repent and believe. Man has a responsibility. Justification, if you talk about it, in terms of who is doing the work, right? Well, in one sense, Christ did the work. If you say, hey, am I saved by works? Well, if you wanted to be kind of snarky about it, you could say yes, because you’re saved by the work of Christ. Right? I mean, Christ did a work, and I know we don’t like hearing the word like merited, but that’s the proper term. He merited salvation for us. He earned it. He earned it. So Christ does a work, but what’s our role? Again, repent and believe. Repent and believe. That is man’s responsibility. God solely is the one who justifies. He is the one that does that work. So Christ has a work and the Father has a work. He is the one that is declaring us to be righteous, and he is the one that does the work. We might call that, if you want the fancy word, monergism. Which ironically is from the same Greek word that we’re going to look at today a few times with the word work.

Two False Views of Sanctification

That’s justification, but when you talk about sanctification, we still have the same question. Well, what’s God’s responsibility? What’s man’s responsibility? Well, one, there’s a couple false views that pop up with sanctification that I want to point out. There’s false views with justification as well that pop up, but we’re really looking at sanctification today. The first view is what’s called quietism. Quietism, I’ll save that story for a second, in a minute. Quietism is the idea that when it comes to our sanctification, we don’t do anything. [audio unclear] six, eight-foot cross. And I mean, people would come, there’s actually a little space on the campus of Mizzou called Speaker Circle. Anyone can go there and pretty much say anything they want without fear of retribution. And so people will go there and they’ll do all sorts of different weird crazy stuff. But pastors and evangelists will go there also and they’ll preach the gospel and use it as an opportunity to reach people. Well, this guy was there in some shape or form attempting to preach the gospel, but talking to him afterwards, he said that he had not sinned in 20 years. And I was like, well, you just did because you lied. Okay. So some people believe that you can get to the point like this guy thinks that he got to, and perfectionism might be another term that you might hear used instead of quietism, but you can get to the point like this guy where not only don’t you sin, you don’t even have temptation. Now that’s a foreign concept to me, okay, and it’s likely and should be a foreign concept to you. There’s a danger in that view. One is you become like that guy who thinks he hadn’t sinned in 20 years. That’s a dangerous place to be. If I had to go back the last time I sinned, it definitely would be a little bit sooner than 20 years. It’d probably be in the last hour or two. No kidding. The other thing though is you just wallow in passivity and sin. So I’ve talked to a number of people, not a ton, but a number of people over the years, and they’re dealing with something or their walk with the Lord isn’t where they know it needs to be. And the response from these people is I’m just waiting for God to touch me. I’m waiting for God to touch me. I’m like, dude, God did touch you. Like you’re saved, right? Like you’re a believer, he touched you. Like you have salvation from him. Like what else are you looking for? What are you looking for? And the fact that you’re having a conversation with me acknowledges that you need some help and that you’re not doing well. So like ignorance is not an excuse for you. You can’t claim ignorance. You’re acknowledging it right here. So we have to guard against any type of mentality like that. And the believer can never say, you know, I’m saved, you know, and then I’m done. Like I’m done. I’m good. No, that’s like a cheap grace or an easy-believism. We have a race to run, right? I mean, if the imagery is running a race, I mean, you know, and if you’ve ever been to a race or run in a race, like, you know, they have a little gun and it goes off, like, you just stop immediately? Like, boom, oh, I’m in the race. I took a first step. And then you just stop. You’re like, well, I’m good. I’m good. No, that’s not what you do. You run the race. That’s why the illustration is used. Run the race set before us. So we’re in a race and we’re running. Are there going to be times where we’re going to slow down because of bad choices, sinful choices? Yeah. Are there going to be times where we’re walking? Yeah. Are there going to be times where maybe we’re discouraged and we sit down, we shouldn’t, but we do. But we’re in the race and we’re heading towards a target. We want to make it. So that’s a false view of quietism, that we just, okay, my sanctification is just 100% God, I don’t do anything. It’s 100% God. But there’s kind of another false view. It’s pietism. Now that started in the 17th century. German religious movement, people saw kind of the sterile, the sterileness or the flatness in the churches, which there was that. So it emphasized like a personal heartfelt faith. Hey, that’s good. It emphasized individual devotion over this formalness or ritualness. Well, there’s nothing wrong with that. It stressed the importance of experiencing a new birth. That’s good. It stressed a personal relationship with God. Well, that’s good as well. But here’s where it went overboard. It was an overemphasis on self-effort. So it started out good. They’re like, man, there’s this deadness in the churches, you know, so they, I mean, they probably were getting saved themselves for the first time. And then they’re on fire, but what happened is, is it turned into legalism. It turned into an overemphasis on self-effort. Well, that’s not helpful either. I mean, it’s not just all about you doing everything possible, like pick yourself up by your own bootstraps. No. But if you look back in Philippians. If you start in verse 12, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. If you just take that verse in isolation, where are you going to end up? You’re going to end up with pietism. If you go to the next verse and just isolate that, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure, if you just isolate that verse, where are you going to end up? Well, you’re going to end up with quietism. But if you take them together, then you get a biblical understanding of what sanctification looks like in the believer.

The Militant and Triumphant Church

When we talk about the church, we have to remember something. There’s kind of two aspects to the church. There’s what might be called the triumphant church. When we talk about the triumphant church, that’s the people that are already in heaven. And they’re triumphant, why? Because they have the victory against the world, the flesh and the devil completely, fully, entirely. They’re continually enjoying God’s presence and the fullness of his goodness. We’ve had brothers and sisters go before us, right? They’re the triumphant church. What are we here on the earth? We’re the militant church. Believers still living on the earth. We’re engaged in holy warfare. We’re fighting, right? Ephesians 6, like we have armor, we put it on, why? Why have we been given armor? Because we’re in a battle. We’re in a war, we’re waging a war. So we’re engaged in a holy warfare. We’re fighting the world. What are we fighting in the world against? Well, we are fighting against the world. We’re also fighting against the devil. And we’re fighting against the flesh. So, Berkhof: if the church on earth is the militant church, the church in heaven is the triumphant church. There the sword is exchanged for the palm of victory. The battle cries are turned into songs of triumph, and the cross is replaced by the crown. Some theology, like the quietism, some theology gets this mixed, it actually doesn’t even really have a distinction between those militant and the triumphant church. And some theology put the triumphant church here on earth. That’s not how it’s supposed to be. We’ve got the militant church here, triumphant church in heaven.

Two Different Works

So God, when we talk about his role, I mean here specifically, it shows us that he’s doing two things. Verse 13, God works in you. What is he working in you? To will and to work for his good pleasure. Those two things. But here’s the point I want to make. At the beginning of sorts, we’re still at the beginning. There’s two different works that are occurring. There’s two different, and it makes sense, but there’s two different works that are occurring. There’s God’s work and our work, but it’s brought out a little bit more clearly in the Greek. Look back at your text because when it says in verse 12, work out your salvation, well, that’s actually one Greek word, but then when it goes to 13 and it says, for it’s God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure, that’s actually a different Greek word. Well, what’s the reason behind that? Well, because it’s like God’s work is his work, and we don’t really cross into that at all. So we’re given a command to work, but it’s completely different than what God does. God has his own area completely that he’s doing. We can’t even cross into that if we wanted to. Two different works. What does that mean for us? Well, our work can fail and fall short at times. We will sin and mess up and stumble. We can work and it doesn’t always work. But God’s work never fails. His work never fails. God works and his work always works. Ours, not always, his always. So when we look at sanctification, this is what this passage is dealing with. It’s not dealing with justification. It’s not telling us how to get saved. We have so many other passages that talk about that, so many other passages that make it clear, it’s not about works. Do I need to look at those with you? You guys are like probably not, but I don’t want to say that. But we have so many verses, right? Ephesians 2:8–9. For by grace you have been saved through faith. This is the gift of God, not by works, I mean, it can’t be any clearer. True. Not by works. Not by works. It’s interesting. We’re not saved by works, but then it goes on in that verse 10, but we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. [audio unclear] the new believer that just believed, you’re just like, I just know, I got saved. That’s the word that you use, right? Born again, all these different things. But positionally, yes. At the moment of salvation, we do have sanctification.

Positional and Practical Sanctification

Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Very first chapter, very first verse. “Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus.” Past tense, right? Sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So there’s this positional, we’ll call it positional sanctification, positional sanctification. Look at 1 Corinthians a couple chapters later, chapter 6. 1 Corinthians 6, we’ll start in verse 9: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” And then look what it says in verse 11. “And such were some of you.” And if we’re honest, such were some of us. Right? Right? And look what it says, though. “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” So all these different things going on at our salvation that we didn’t even realize when it was happening to us. But it was happening. And one of that, yes, we’ve been set apart, sanctified. So there’s a positional sanctification. But then there’s also what we could call a practical sanctification. This is the idea that yes, there is a moment in time positionally where we’ve been sanctified. But then there’s the process of us becoming sanctified. So it’s more of a practical or an ongoing. We see this in Hebrews chapter 10. Let’s look at Hebrews 10. Verse 12, Hebrews 10: “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Now interestingly enough you actually get the positional and the practical in the same verse here. He has perfected, right, for all time those who are being sanctified. Right? So yeah, there’s that idea of, man, you get saved. There’s the justification, this perfection. He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. There’s this ongoing sanctification that’s occurring. Hopefully, who you were two [audio unclear]. Like it’s going on, it’s going on, it’s going on, it’s going on. And if it was, you know, if you charted it, I mean, it’d probably look like hopefully your favorite stock that’s doing well. And maybe not quite, because there’s going to be a little bit of down, but it’s going to, you know, it’s going to be going up, and now there’s some time you’re slipping, and you’re going, but the general course is going to be going up, going up. Right? We are being sanctified. Two chapters later in Hebrews 12. He says in verse 12, “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” What are we supposed to strive for? Two things. Peace and holiness. And the author here, I mean he’s pretty straightforward, right? Without which no one will see the Lord. So yes, we are supposed to be striving. We’re supposed to be striving. It’s not just a passivity and now God will do his work. No, we’re supposed to do something. We play a role in our sanctification. We’re striving. Even if you think of 1 Peter 1, but as he in verse 15, “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” I mean we’re given commands. Think about it. If we didn’t play any role in our sanctification, all the commands would be pretty meaningless. Why would you command us to do something that we can’t do? Why would you tell us to become more like Christ if we don’t have a role in doing it? It would just be like, it’d be kind of a short book and be like, hey, just chill out and I’ll do my work. No. We play a role. We’re given command after command after command after command. So there’s the practical aspect. Even if you think of our walk, I mean there’s human responsibility, there’s divine sovereignty. Human responsibility, divine responsibility. Look at Galatians chapter 2. In verse 20 of Galatians 2: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I 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 loved me and gave himself for me.” Again, if you just start chopping up this verse and didn’t take it fully, you’d end up on either side wrongly. Right, so there’s this idea that, yeah, it’s Christ in me doing the work. But he goes on, I have been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life, oh, I now live. So I’m still living the life. The life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. What does that mean? I live by faith in the Son of God. It’s not like, oh yeah, that one time 15 years ago when I prayed a prayer, no, I live the life by God. I live by faith in the Son of God. It’s active, it’s going on. So yeah, Christ is doing his thing, the Father’s doing his thing, but we’re doing our thing as well. Look at 2 Peter, you’re going to see the same thing. 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter 1, verse 3. “His divine power has granted to us all things.” Okay, okay, we can stop. Stop. Stop. I mean, we’ve got it all. Don’t need to do anything. We can be passive. No need for action. No, let’s keep reading. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.” So yes, is our work built on something? Absolutely. It’s built on what Christ has done. It’s built on what the Father did. But we have an effort to make. Right? Right? So for this very reason, what very reason, what God has done for us, this divine power that is given to us, for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. Right, I mean, that’s sanctification. Look what it says in the very next verse, “for if these qualities are yours and are increasing.” Now, look at that. We can grow in these areas. We can become more like Christ. If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, basically, if you’re growing, it’s going to help you to be in a position to keep pursuing God, to keep pursuing his things, to keep being a witness and an example for him. So it’s all of God on one hand, and then it takes everything you have on the other when we talk about sanctification.

Stay Focused on Your Own Walk

Let me just say a few things like I haven’t already. One, stay focused on yourself. I want you to notice, to see it yourself. But notice what he says in Philippians. Verse 12, work out your own salvation. Work out your own salvation. I mean, you know, so the idea is like, hey, I’ve been saved, I’m working it out. And my point is this, focus on yourself, but not selfishly. Like you have a walk to walk with Jesus. You have a walk. I mean, everyone has, whoever’s saved, they have a walk with Jesus. But you personally, you have a walk with Jesus. And you do need to focus on that walk. But what happens sometimes is what? We focus on other people’s walk. Sometimes we focus on it, we’re like, oh man, they’re so much greater than I, and maybe that’s true. But a lot of times what we do is it’s really more we look at other people’s walk with like a critical eye. That’s usually what we’re more guilty of. And we’re focused on their, they’re kind of falling short here, I can’t believe they did that, and I can’t believe they think that’s okay. No, like you need to focus on your walk. God has them. And you need to focus on, because what happens is this. I was talking with Roger about this yesterday. What happens is this is, you know, God, if you’re growing, if you’re studying, if you’re praying, if you’re walking with Jesus, like he’s going to continue to show you things from his Word, right? Like if it’s been a long time since he’s shown you something, like that’s not a good sign. It’s not a good sign, not a good sign for you. If you’re not getting stuff out of it, that’s not on him. That’s on you. But what happens is the Lord shows us something and we grab ahold of that truth. It’s a new truth to us. It’s not a new truth, but to us it’s a new truth. And we probably, because we’re so excited about it, we like elevate it way higher than it should be. But we’re really excited about it. But then what do we do? The thing that we just learned like five minutes ago, now we’re like scolding people that haven’t learned it yet. And I can’t believe that you’re not doing that. I mean, you weren’t doing it the last 30 years of your Christian walk. Like have a little grace, right? So, I mean, everyone’s on a path, you know? And there’s other things that God’s taught other people that he hasn’t showed you yet, right? And maybe some of them are wagging their finger at you. I don’t know, but they shouldn’t be. And they’ve had grace on you. A lot of them have had grace on you, right? We’re all on the journey together, but we’re at different points. And the Lord has shown us different things at different times. So we need to be careful. Stay. That’s really my point. Stay focused on your walk. I like in John, there’s that section in the last chapter of John. Where you can just listen, it says Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Because Jesus was just like, hey, Peter, here’s what’s going to happen to you. Here’s what’s going to happen. He’s like, people are going to dress you, and basically, you’re going to be crucified for me. And Peter’s like, well, what about him? Right? And what did Jesus say? “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.” He’s like, no, Peter, you got a path, and that’s what you need to be focused on. Like, let me take care of John and the other disciples, and they’ve got, they’re going to, they’ve got this, we’re on the same path, but they’ve got different places they’re going. So every believer is on a path of growth and sanctification. Give grace if they’re not at where you’re at. Give grace. So sometimes, you know, there’s kind of a joke where when people get ahold of like certain systems of theology, you know, you want to take them and like lock them in a cage for like a year, all right? Because like they’re kind of dangerous, so to speak, right? They’re so excited about it. They kind of need to be tampered down a little bit. But give grace if they’re not at where you’re at. You have a salvation. It’s yours. What are you doing to work on your salvation? What are you doing? What are you doing to become more like Christ? What things are you doing to put yourself in a position to grow? And a lot of times, I mean, have you ever been in the situation where you haven’t seen like your friends and you know that they had younger kids at the time, but it’s been like a, sometimes it’s only been like a year, but sometimes it’s been a couple years and you’re like, oh my goodness, like what happened to your kids? Like they grew up, right? You know what I’m talking about? Well, but for those parents that were there every single day and some of them probably quite painfully, they didn’t, I mean, they saw the growth, but they didn’t, I mean, it’s not a very stark contrast to them because they’re just seeing tiny, tiny, tiny little growth every single day. We come in and we’re like, wow, look at the growth, right? Well, I mean, that’s the same with us in our Christian walk, it’s like sometimes God in his grace does do some of those where it’s like we just have a moment or a day or a week or maybe a particular conference or a camp or something like that. God in his mercy takes you, the stock triples or something. Like, boom. But a lot of times, if we’re honest, then how does it normally work? It’s a very slow progress. But sometimes, if we’re not careful, it’s so slow, we’re just like, oh, there’s no growth. We’re like the parents, like, oh, my kid’s been whatever, this weight and this height forever, it feels like. But that’s not the case. So what are you doing? Well, it’s like slow and steady plodding. Just step by step doing the things that you know help you grow. So sometimes you might go, you know, we put on our Foundations Conference and you should go to it and you go to it and you’re like, well, I mean, it was okay, but I was like, I didn’t get any amazing insight. Well, that’s okay. Because here’s what’s happened to me many, many times. It’s like, I’ll do the conference, and I’ll do this thing, and I’m on a regular routine of reading the Bible, I’m working through a couple books, and what happens is in three or four months, I look back. And I’m like, oh wow, look how much I’ve grown. Well, which one of those things was it? That’s the one I want to focus on? Was it the conference? Was it the camp? Was it the Bible reading? Was it the prayer? Was it the book? Yes, that’s the thing. It’s not necessarily individually any one of those things. It’s the combination of you walking regularly with Jesus. And so what does that look like? I mean, yeah, you’re reading his Word, you’re studying it, you’re listening to maybe podcasts on different subjects of that nature, you’re surrounding yourself with believers, you’re in the life group going through one of them. You’re going to a Foundations Conference. I mean, it’s those things united. You can’t necessarily just individually point to one of those things, and that’s kind of the point. If you could just point to one, you just camp there and stop. Listen, if all you did was read your Bible, you’d know a whole lot about the Bible. But if you didn’t pray, if you weren’t involved in church, if you weren’t serving, if you just did the kind of, that’s the end game of where pietism goes off the road, it’s just you and Jesus, who gives a rip about anybody else. But if the only thing you did was read the Bible, like you’d know it pretty well. But if you never prayed, if you never were studying the Bible, if you never were doing any of those other things, never coming to church, you’re not going to grow. You’re not going to grow. You’re not going to grow. You need more than just reading the Word. If you’re going to tell me you can grow without reading and prayer, that’s a problem. You think you can grow without praying to God? So you need a number of things. Why? Because we’re pretty weak and sinful and fallen, brothers and sisters. Now, should the Bible be at the top along with prayer? Yes. But also, regular occurrence here with worshiping, regular fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ. Those things are all important. So if you want to grow, you put yourself in a right place for growth to occur. You do the actions for growth to occur. And so some people, the fade is real slow. If you’re at a place now where you’re like, I haven’t really grown in a couple, it’s a slow fade, isn’t it, like that song says. It’s a slow fade. And pretty soon, you’re like, wow, yeah, it’s kind of been like a while since the Lord’s done anything in my life. Well, is that a reflection on him or a reflection on you? Because it’s not like he’s holding back. I’m like, I want to do something, but I can’t. No. God’s wanting to do a work in your life. So if you’ve flatlined for a while, it’s such a slow fade, you’ve probably forgotten some of the things that originally had you in a place where you were growing. Regular reading of the Word, prayer, surrounding yourself with brothers and sisters in Christ, worshiping your heart out on Sunday. I mean putting yourself in positions to be able to grow and then pursuing that. I haven’t even mentioned service, like ministering to one another, using your spiritual gift. I mean, there’s other things. I get that. But if we want to be like Christ, when we talk about pursuing Christ, that’s such a nebulous comment in the statement. It’s like, okay, then what does it look like to pursue Christ? There’s a lot of people that aren’t pursuing Christ that say they’re pursuing Christ. There’s a lot of people that think they’re okay with Jesus and would say, oh I’m pursuing him, but they’re not. They’re not doing any of the things that you would consider like the disciplines of the Christian life. The disciplines are there. You understand the disciplines are there? Not as legalism. It’s like I want to get to know Christ better. I want to become more like him. And then we’re like, okay, well, what are we supposed to do? How do we put ourselves in a good place to do that? Well, it’s not passivity. It’s not the other thing too, where we do everything possible in our own effort. Right? There’s two ditches. You can go to the right and that ditch. You go to the left and that ditch. There’s two ditches. Right? So, yes, there’s a path and we got to make sure we stay on it. But God wants us growing and becoming more like his Son, conformed to the image of his Son, as Romans talked about. He doesn’t hold back growth. He doesn’t hold back.

Drink Deeply

So each one of you gets as much of Jesus as you want. That’s the truth. So if you just want to sip, you just want to take a little sip, right? That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing with this cup. You’ve just been sipping at it. That’s why there’s a decent amount of water still in it. That’s what you can do with Jesus. You can be saved. I don’t know if you’ll be satisfied, but you can be saved. You’re just sipping. Or you can drink deeply of the well. Our heart should be like the Samaritan woman at the well, right? It’s like, well, Jesus is like, if you had the real water, and she’s like, water, right? Now she didn’t really understand what she was saying, right? She’s like, I don’t want to come back to the well anymore. So Jesus explains to her, right? But she wanted the water. She wanted the water. She wanted more than sips though. She wanted to drink deeply of it. That’s what I’m talking about when we’re talking about sanctification. You get as much of Jesus as you want. So if you just want to sip, I don’t know if you’re going to be satisfied. It’ll keep your palate wet, but that’s about it. Or you can drink deeply. I mean, there are, there are, there’s gold in these mines, okay? There’s riches here. But you can’t just enter the cave, and start pecking at the ground, and expect the gold just to fall out of the sky. Right, it takes a little bit of work sometimes. Slow, steady, plodding, right? And you chart the course, and in three months, six months, one year, like God’s been doing a work in you. He’s been doing the work. Yes, it’s his work, ultimately. And yes, you are working like this verse says. Why are we doing it? Well, we get kind of this thing from Paul, where he’s like, in verse 12, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence. Look, we’re not doing it in front of others. It’s not for a show. We’re not doing it. There’s not just a veneer. Now, we’re looking for depth of character and fruit because you want to do it. Where are you at, I guess, with Jesus is my question. Because sometimes you hear, you know, you hear, oh, the church turned me away from Jesus. Oh, the church turned me away from Jesus. The church turned me away from Jesus. Listen, that’s an excuse. That’s an excuse. Because a lot of times, it’s just someone wanting to choose their sin and blame others for their sinful choices. Most people who walk away from the church did so because they wanted to. They did so because they wanted to live their life their way. Listen, if every single person that I know who’s a believer denied Jesus and spit in my face, I’d still follow Jesus. I might be hurt by the church, but I’d still follow him. Why? Because he’s my Lord, he’s my Master, he’s my Savior, and nothing is going to deter me from seeking and following him. So people say the church turned me away from following Jesus, I actually don’t think that’s possible. You turned yourself away. The church is a convenient excuse to use. Perhaps there were bad things that happened to you by the church, but how in the world [audio unclear]. We, each of us, if you’re saved, each of us, you have your own individual relationship with Jesus, independent of anyone else, independent of it. It’s not dependent. Your relationship with Jesus isn’t dependent on me or the person next to you or the person behind, it’s not. You independently have that relationship. Now again, you can get off in the ditch and it’s just you and Jesus and I think that’s an error you can make but I’m making it clear and I don’t want to qualify. Your relationship is between you and Jesus and it’s independent of anyone else. Do others impact it, sure, greatly and they should. But whatever decisions you make regarding your relationship with Jesus, don’t blame it on anybody else. Don’t point the finger at anyone else. If you want to have a relationship with Jesus, if you want to pursue him, if you want to walk hand in hand with him, he will do that. God’s not up there withholding his mercies and graces and riches from anyone. You come to him humbly. What does he say? He gives grace to the humble. You come to him, he welcomes you with open arms. What kind of yoke does he have? It’s an easy yoke. He’s got a yoke, but it’s an easy yoke. You want to have a master, you want to have a Lord? Jesus is by far the best one. So why not walk with him? Why not grow in him in sanctification. I encourage you to do that. Let’s pray.

Closing Prayer

Lord, I do pray for each person here. I pray for those maybe that they’re not at the greatest place with you right now. I pray that your Word today would light a fire in them, would have lit a fire in them. They’d do something about it. They’d work out their salvation. I pray, Lord, that we would be serious about seeking you, about pursuing you. We thank you for the salvation that we have through your Son. We thank you that you do do a work and it is a full and complete work every single time. Help us, Lord, by your Spirit, to do our work as failed and flawed as it is at times. Help us to do that work, to trust you, to walk with you, to seek you fully for your glory. Amen.