Gospel Partners Decline to Claim Their Rights

[0:00] All right, well, we're going to talk first of all about what you and I deserve. That's a great way to start. Everyone likes that one.

[0:12] Let's talk about what we deserve. When you say that you deserve something, what you're saying is that you have a right to something. So if I say to you, I deserve birthday cake, I'm saying that I have a right to that.

[0:28] If I'm saying to you that I deserve good health care, I'm saying I have a right to good health care. If I'm saying to you my kids deserve a good education, then I'm saying that my kids have a right to good education.

[0:43] So when I'm saying, when you or I are saying that our family has a right to these kinds of things, what that means is that other people or other institutions, such as the government, they have a duty to give me good health care or give my kids a good education or give me a birthday cake.

[1:02] The government needs to give that to me. They owe it to us. And that language of rights, that language of being owed something, that language of deserving something, it is a language that is so common in our culture that we barely even notice when it's used.

[1:16] And ad agencies absolutely love this. Ad agencies have a field day with this language of rights, this language of deserving something. So I'll give an example of that.

[1:27] And I know this is an example. I'm pretty sure I've used this with some view. I don't think I actually used it in a sermon yet. We're going to find out here really fast if I did or not already. When I lived in Indiana, our TV channels were flooded with ads from a local car dealership.

[1:44] Car dealership ads are pretty much the same everywhere you go. They're loud and they're obnoxious and they're noisy, and these were no exception. The local car dealership kingpin was a man named Bob Rorman. Bob Rorman.

[1:56] And so his ads were super cheesy car commercials. Bob Rorman didn't care. All Bob Rorman wanted was he wanted you to notice Bob Rorman's car deals and come to Bob Rorman's car dealership.

[2:08] And Bob Rorman's tagline that he would include in every single commercial was this one. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to yourself.

[2:20] That's why you should come and you should buy Bob Rorman's cars. Because you deserve to give yourself something nice. Or to put it another way, you owe it to yourself to give thousands of your hard-earned dollars to Bob Rorman.

[2:34] What a guy. This language of rights, it's the way that we're trained from birth to think. We don't give it a second thought. We're trained to think of ourselves as people who are owed something.

[2:46] We have certain inalienable rights that we naturally receive. So for example, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it lists 34 sections of rights that each Canadian possesses.

[3:00] The rights to be free in what I believe. To be free in how I communicate. How I meet and associate with others. The right to vote. The right to move in and out of and around Canada to pursue my livelihood here.

[3:12] The right to security. The right to just treatment by the courts. The right to equal protection under the law. And these are all good things. These are all very good things. Our Charter of Human Rights, in fact, begins by saying, Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law.

[3:33] So our Charter actually very explicitly draws these rights from what? From the reign of God. With the government acting as God's agent. And we as Christians would say rightly so.

[3:44] That means that the government has no authority to take these rights away even if it wants to. The rights don't come from the government. They come from a higher authority. Even if it's popular to do so, the government should not take these rights away because we are owed them.

[3:59] And we deserve them regardless of what the government thinks. That's what this Charter is saying. That's a good thing. But when it comes to our everyday interaction with other people, and especially when it comes to our interaction with people closest to us, our focus on rights, our focus on being owed something, our focus on deserving something, it starts to cause problems there.

[4:23] Because there's a dark side to that focus on rights. The dark side is what happens when other people around us don't give us the things that we believe we are owed.

[4:35] The things that we say we deserve. This happens just even in very simple interactions that we don't even think about. You're driving to work in the morning. You run into unexpected road construction.

[4:48] Traffic is unusually busy. You get stopped at a train crossing. That never happens in Squamish. Inwardly, you're fuming. Why? Because you deserve a quick and easy commute.

[5:02] You get to work. You try to explain a frustrating problem to your boss. Your boss just blows you off. Won't listen to what you have to say. You're mad because your boss owes it to you to treat you with respect.

[5:15] Especially after all the hard work you've done for your boss. You get home from your lousy day at work. The sink's full of dishes. You say a few passive-aggressive words to a family member or to a roommate about it.

[5:26] It's not fair for you to wash all those dishes. You have a right to fair treatment after all. You're owed something. Now, wouldn't it be something if that were the way that Jesus thought?

[5:41] What if Jesus had thought that way? Well, Jesus had a different way of thinking. And here's how the Apostle Paul explains the mindset of Jesus Christ in his letter to the Philippian church.

[5:54] Philippians is a little book near the end of the Bible in the New Testament. And I'll be reading Philippians 2, verses 1-11. Now, if you're using one of the blue Bibles or usher's handout, Philippians 2, verses 1-11 is on page 980.

[6:09] So I'm going to read verses 1-11 to give us the larger context. We're going to focus on verses 5-11 this morning. And in particular, we're going to have a lot of extra focus on verse 6 in particular.

[6:24] So starting in verse 1, here's the message that God has given us through his Holy Spirit. The message that we are to put into practice. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

[6:53] Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

[7:06] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

[7:24] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

[7:53] This is the word of the Lord. Here's what Paul's doing. He's encouraging the Philippians to identify themselves as partners in the gospel.

[8:06] They're meant to partner with one another, and they're meant to partner together with him, with the apostle Paul, and their reason for their partnership is to advance the message of the gospel.

[8:19] They're advancing the good news that Jesus of Nazareth is the long-awaited Messiah. He is God's chosen king. Jesus is the one who is going to save the people of Israel and ultimately save the world from its rebellion against God.

[8:34] And so Christians, people who are followers of Jesus Christ, who have entrusted themselves to him, who believe in him, they are meant to partner together in proclaiming this good news throughout the world.

[8:49] But here's the problem. Paul knows that, in the news flash, there's a lot of potential for conflict in the church. If you don't believe me, hang around a church for a while.

[9:00] Paul knows that when you bring together a diverse group of people who come in with diverse backgrounds, diverse upbringings, diverse interests, diverse opinions, diverse personalities, there's going to be friction.

[9:16] There's going to be butting heads with each other. You know that expression, iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. It's one of the proverbs. The reason iron sharpens iron is because they're both jagged and rough, and when you rub them together, the sparks fly.

[9:31] And so it is in our relationships with other people, isn't it? That sharpening happens in the church. That's especially true. In a town like Squamish, so many Christians have come from other places, including myself.

[9:46] We've come from other towns, we've come from other churches, other church backgrounds, and there's so many different expectations that we bring in. Some of them spoken, many of them unspoken.

[9:59] of what a church ought to be doing. What a church, how it ought to be structured, what we should be doing, expectations that often conflict with one another.

[10:13] One of the joys of church leadership is finding out someone says, we need to be doing more of X, and another person says, we're doing way too much of X. Paul is urging the Philippians to maintain their unity by rallying around what is of first importance, the reason for our partnership, the message of the gospel.

[10:36] And Paul is reminding the people of this church that they have been brought together to follow Jesus Christ. And so they must adopt the mindset that Jesus Christ had.

[10:48] That's the point of verse five. The point of verse five. I really like the way the New International Version translates verse five. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.

[11:03] That really brings out the sense of the verse very well. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. So what Paul does next, now that he's introduced the idea of the mindset of Christ Jesus, what Paul does next is something everyone does when they're writing a letter.

[11:20] He breaks out into song. I mean, is that just me? Maybe we don't all do that. Verses six through 11. We're not 100% sure, but it's probably an early hymn or early poem in the Christian church.

[11:35] Now maybe your translation has it arranged in lines and stanzas like poetry, or maybe not. We don't know if Paul wrote it or if he's just quoting it. And quite frankly, all that doesn't really matter all that much because Paul clearly loves the message that these verses communicate.

[11:56] What's found in verses six through 11, Paul loves the message. He authorizes it. He says, this is what's true. These words teach us doctrinal truth about Jesus Christ. And Paul uses this doctrine.

[12:09] It's not just, you know, dry, dusty, theoretical doctrine. This is a real life, flesh and blood, example of character for us to follow as we're empowered by the Spirit of God because we're part of this new family of God.

[12:23] Christ Jesus is our older brother, our example. And it's clear from this letter that Paul believes that Christians, in some sense, share in the suffering of Jesus Christ and will share in his glory.

[12:37] They share in the suffering and in the shame of Jesus Christ and they will share in his honor and in his glory. And so Paul explains how Jesus Christ humbled himself as an example for us to follow.

[12:50] Now you can trace three themes that are running through these verses. And you can break down Jesus' example of humility into three parts. And we're going to focus on the first one this morning. Next week we'll focus on the second.

[13:03] We'll see whether we have time to focus on the third. The first one that we're going to focus on this morning is that Jesus declined to claim his rights. Jesus declined to claim his rights.

[13:16] The second one is that Jesus deprived himself of glory. And the third that Jesus degraded himself through obedience. That's the example Jesus gave for us to follow so that we can be partners in advancing the gospel.

[13:30] Partners with one another and partners with him. And this is not an easy example. Humility. That is one of those characteristics.

[13:42] I don't know about you. Humility is one of those characteristics I love to see in other people. Humility looks lovely in other people. It is not so lovely when you're the one being humbled.

[13:56] And it is not lovely when you're the one being nailed to a cross. In Jesus' case, humility literally killed him.

[14:07] But Paul doesn't leave us with sort of a dour stoic picture of like this gloomy self-denial, this grim monastic humility in which there's no light, only misery.

[14:24] In verses 9 and 10, the hymn turns a corner and we learn that Jesus' brutal humility led to a greater glory, a greater joy that completely eclipses and overwhelms the momentary suffering that Jesus experienced.

[14:43] This glory, this joy is something that we too can share. We can share that glory as well with Christ. So today, we're going to focus on Philippians 2, particularly verse 6.

[15:00] This is the first step of Jesus' monumental demonstration of humility. And to get a little bit of context, we'll go back to verse 5 and then I'll read all the way through verse 7.

[15:13] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

[15:33] Now the two lines of this hymn that we're going to look at today, they're found in verse 6. It's these lines that say, though he, that is Jesus, was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

[15:48] Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Now, we really want to understand what the Holy Spirit is saying through us to Apostle Paul.

[15:58] It's very critical we get this right. We need to correctly interpret what is actually a bit of an odd figure of speech that's at the end of verse 6. That Paul says, Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

[16:14] That's not really an expression that we use on a day-to-day basis in our English language. What does that mean? Well, different translations over the centuries have handled this verse in different ways.

[16:26] For example, you can go back to the year 1611 in your time travel machine and you'll find that the King James Version interprets it as saying that Jesus thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

[16:37] Jesus thought it not robbery to be equal with God. And that makes some sense. Jesus didn't think it was robbery to be equal with God. He didn't think it was a theft of honor and glory.

[16:50] That doesn't seem to be what the expression means, though. Modern translations such as the English Standard Version, they take a more word for word approach and they say that Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

[17:01] And that's a bit more literal. The problem is that it's kind of hard to figure out. What does that mean? A thing to be grasped? Is Paul saying that Jesus is willing to let go of equality with God?

[17:12] That Jesus somehow emptied himself of his divine attributes when he was born a baby boy Jesus somehow stopped being God or stopped being fully God? This was actually a theological idea.

[17:26] We'll talk about it a bit more next week that became popular especially at the end of the 19th century. This idea that Jesus emptied himself of some of the qualities of God that he gave them up.

[17:40] But it flies in the face of 2,000 years of biblical study and Christian teaching. We'll talk about that some more next week. But the way that we interpret this verse is very important.

[17:51] Now here's something that's really wonderful about living in an era in which we have access to a lot of ancient writings and ancient manuscripts than we ever have before. Scholars have taken a look at this expression a thing to be grasped.

[18:06] And they've seen that actually this was an expression that was used around the Roman Empire among people who spoke Greek. And so by looking at writings from the time period we discover this is actually a figure of speech what we might call an idiom.

[18:20] Something that you can't really translate word for word into English because it won't make a lot of sense in our language. And every language has weird expressions like this. Now imagine you're an immigrant to Canada somebody accuses you of following a red herring.

[18:34] Barking up the wrong tree. Try translating that into Punjabi or into Mandarin. It doesn't carry over. You don't really understand what's going on.

[18:44] When Paul talks about a thing to be grasped most recent translations especially within the last 10-15 years they've really begun to reflect what this actually is saying. The Christian Standard Bible for example says that Jesus did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.

[19:04] As something to be exploited. And the latest revision of the New International Version puts it this way. It says that Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.

[19:17] Something to be used to his own advantage. What this tells us first of all is this that when Paul describes Jesus as being in the form of God Paul means that Jesus is actually equal with God.

[19:32] He possesses equality with God. So when we Christians speak about God we describe God as a trinity and this is a famous sort of a famous diagram image that describes what it means for God to be a trinity.

[19:47] This is often called the shield of the trinity. God is one being one nature one essence. There is only one God. There are not multiple true gods in this world.

[19:59] There is only one God one creator one father of all. But God is also three persons. God is father God is son God is holy spirit.

[20:13] The father the son and the holy spirit. But these three persons are distinct. The father is not the son. The son is not the holy spirit. The holy spirit is not the father.

[20:25] They are distinct from one another. But the father is fully God. The son is fully God. The holy spirit is fully God. And remember there is only one God. Now if that boggles your mind that shouldn't surprise us I suppose.

[20:42] It shouldn't surprise us that an infinitely supreme God the creator of a universe we can't even begin to comprehend would be a little bit difficult for our tiny wrinkly little gray prunes in our heads to understand.

[20:56] The triune God the trinity God runs so much deeper than you and I can fathom. Beyond understanding.

[21:09] So Jesus Christ is God the son. He is one of the three persons of the trinity. There are some false perversions of Christianity that will say that Jesus oh he's not fully God.

[21:24] He's not really God in this sense. Jehovah's witnesses will say that Jesus oh he actually isn't God. He's this ultra powerful angelic being. Mormons the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will say that Jesus is another God altogether.

[21:39] They will deny that there is only one God. Paul recognizes no there is one God. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is fully God.

[21:53] Equality with God. He is equal in his nature to God the Father. Now if that's boggling your mind hold on to your seat here.

[22:06] We're going to return to a discussion of rights because if Jesus Christ is God that means that Jesus Christ has certain rights that you and I don't have because turns out we aren't God.

[22:19] Jesus Christ has certain rights that you and I don't have. He has the right to be recognized for his infinite worth, for his infinite goodness, for his infinite value, his infinite holiness.

[22:36] He is worthy of infinite honor. infinite praise. We recognize, we honor a man or a woman in our community who represents qualities that we admire, qualities like justice and kindness and heroism.

[22:50] If someone in our community were to give their lives for another person and nobody paid attention and nobody cared, that would be a travesty. We would be horrified by the injustice of it all.

[23:04] So if Jesus Christ is God, if his goodness and his value is infinitely beyond our own, this means that we owe it to Jesus. We owe it to him, to honor him with every word from our mouth, every penny in our bank accounts, every second of our span of life.

[23:24] Jesus deserves our total honor. It is his right. God to God to come to this planet and to appear before our eyes, he should appear in immense, unmistakable majesty, like a super powerful king, a king of kings, beyond all the greatest kings of the world, like Julius Caesar and Charlemagne and LeBron James, all rolled up into one.

[23:55] All of them kings. The king, the true king, should be awesome and completely overwhelming. But here's what actually happened 2,000 years ago.

[24:09] What happened 2,000 years ago is this, Jesus Christ declined to claim his rights. Jesus Christ declined to claim his rights. Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.

[24:25] And we Christians were usually very familiar with the story of Jesus Advent, the story of how he came to earth. We retell this Advent story every Christmas.

[24:41] And because we're so familiar with it, we forget how completely outlandish it is, how completely unexpected it is. Here's how Luke records a part of it in his biography of Jesus in Luke chapter 2.

[24:54] He says first, in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And so this is taking place near where Jesus is born in the small town of Bethlehem close to Jerusalem.

[25:07] And the scene is that we are out in the field with shepherds. And sometimes in nativity scenes these shepherds are presented in this idyllic form with a cute little lamb in their arms.

[25:21] Now the shepherds were sort of a rough uneducated bunch of men who had a reputation around town. They're surrounded by a herd of smelly and noisy sheep. There's a reason the shepherds stayed out of town.

[25:35] Luke continues and an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear. And the that is great.

[26:03] That is great news. Israel has been looking for this Savior, for this Messiah, this King from the lineage of King David sent from God.

[26:15] So no doubt this infant king, oh man, he's got to be dressed in the finest purple robes, a glittering golden crown surrounded by courtiers and royalty fawning over him, some sort of royal proclamation and pronouncement, right?

[26:28] Well, the angel continues, and this will be a sign for you, you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Translation, this baby is tied up in a bunch of old rags, he's lying in a cow's feeding trough and a smelly stall full of barnyard animals.

[26:46] That's the child something. But these terrifying supernatural beings think that this is the greatest news ever.

[26:59] Because Luke tells us how they respond, their heartfelt response to this defining moment in history. And suddenly there was with the angel a great multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

[27:22] So these angels, these are supernatural powerful beings who are not easily impressed. They are blown away by this revelation of the Son of God who appears in humility.

[27:38] Rather than claiming his right to kingly pomp and circumstances and honor and glory, he's bound up in rags in an animal's feeding trough.

[27:51] And Paul is also blown away by the fact that Jesus Christ declined to claim his rights even though he is himself God and equal with his father. Paul says that this truth changes everything.

[28:06] It changes the way the world works because what this means is that the good life, the good life, God's way to greatness, greatness. It is not the way of claiming your rights.

[28:19] God's way to greatness is not claiming your rights but relinquishing them. It's letting them go. Jesus Christ declined to claim his rights so gospel partners imitate his humility.

[28:33] Jesus Christ declined to claim his rights so gospel partners imitate his humility. As Paul told us in verse 5, in your relationships with one another have the same mindset as Jesus Christ.

[28:47] We follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. That's the way that we behave as citizens of God's kingdom as children in his royal family and his household.

[28:58] This means that the phrases like I deserve and you owe me and I have my rights, they have no place in this church. They don't belong among us.

[29:13] You can take those phrases to the outside world where they're welcome. Take them to that dying world out there, to that old kingdom, to that old way of life that is on the verge of passing away. Take those phrases to Calvary and crucify them on that hill.

[29:27] They do not belong in the church of Jesus Christ. They do not belong in the family of God. They do not belong among partners in the gospel. That is not our way of life.

[29:39] Let's talk about what this means in practical terms for gospel partnership. Let's talk about what this means for our relationships in the family of God. Husbands and wives, you are the family of a humble king.

[29:55] So you don't look at your spouse as someone who owes you love and respect and appreciation and affection. You don't use words like spears and clubs to punish your spouse for hurting you.

[30:13] You don't use words to manipulate and control and get them to do the things that you want them to do, the things that you deserve. Instead, you seek out opportunities to demonstrate and initiate love and respect, appreciation and affection from you to them.

[30:31] You choose to forgive your spouse. You choose to let go of your grievances. you choose to reconcile whenever that's possible, to live at peace as far as it depends on you.

[30:44] Parents, you are the family of a humble king, so you don't demand that your children behave and speak and act right so that you can live a carefree life without getting embarrassed at Save-On Foods.

[31:01] Instead, you seek out opportunities to show them mercy and grace while teaching them, instructing them to live the way that God has called them to live and setting an example of a king who gives up his rights.

[31:17] Children, you are the family of a humble king, so you don't demand your rights. You don't demand things you think you deserve like an allowance or independence or a better data plan for your cell phone.

[31:29] You seek out opportunities to honor and respect your parents, to develop a wise and responsible character that is fitting for citizens of God's kingdom.

[31:44] Employees, you are the family of a humble king, so you don't obsess over the salary that you deserve or the lack of praise you ought to receive from your boss.

[31:56] You work faithfully and diligently even without that praise because you know that your work is pleasing to your God and Father. He is your real master. His opinion is the one that really matters.

[32:12] Bosses, you are the family of a humble king, so you don't dress down your employees, you don't obsess over the lack of respect or appreciation that you deserve from them. Instead, you treat them justly and fairly because you have a master of your own who stands in authority over you.

[32:27] church members, you are the family of a humble king, so you don't get miffed over the church's failure to provide the programs and music and events that you deserve.

[32:39] You don't view your offering money as payment to secure the spiritual services of your pastor. You're not a consumer. You're not a church shopper. You're family.

[32:50] So you eagerly and gladly serve. You partner together as a team with other believers to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ in this town and throughout this world.

[33:07] And all of this is hard. This is really hard. It runs against everything that we've been trained to do from childhood.

[33:21] If this is, we're just up to us and to our own ability to maintain that mindset of giving up our rights. If that were just up to us in our own strength, we couldn't do it.

[33:35] I could not do that. This isn't a grit your teeth and gut it out sort of calling. This is a calling that is rooted in deep, immense hope.

[33:47] Hope that runs deeper than the ocean. Here's what Paul says is the result of Jesus' choice to decline his rights.

[33:57] Jesus didn't just decline his rights in a grim sense of fatalism and then he dies and the story ends. That is not what happened. Here's the reward that Jesus has received and that Jesus will receive for his ultimate example of humility.

[34:16] Verse 9. Therefore, therefore, meaning because of what Jesus did, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

[34:55] Because he declined to claim his rights, Jesus Christ will be granted the name Lord. Jesus Christ will be granted the name Lord. that is the name, the reputation that will cause every knee to bow, even the knees of those who do not wish to bow.

[35:17] There is coming a day when everyone throughout all of human history, the living and the dead, the small and the great, and all spiritual powers, and even the devil himself will have to confess.

[35:31] We'll have no choice. They can't do anything but confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. What a wonderful thing that is. That is what we are looking forward to.

[35:43] That is our hope. That is our victory. That is the good news. Isn't that what your heart is longing and aching to see? Don't you yearn to see the day and you will see it when you will see Jesus as he is.

[36:02] And not just you, but everyone in all creation with you will see Jesus as he is. And Jesus will receive the honor that he deserves.

[36:15] That is his right. For some that will be a day of great anguish and sorrow because they have rejected this marvelous example of humility.

[36:28] And they will face the right and appropriate anger of God for their rebellion, for their sin. For those who believe, who have entrusted themselves to Jesus Christ, who said, yes, he is my savior.

[36:45] I have trusted him. It is his goodness, his obedience, his righteousness. That is what I will plead when I stand before God in judgment.

[36:59] For those who believe in him, we will find that this day you cannot set high enough expectations for it. It will exceed them.

[37:10] It will blow them away in every way. Jesus Christ will be granted the name Lord so gospel partners will share his glory. They will share his glory.

[37:21] glory. You too will share his honor and his glory. Because not only will we have the unbelievable opportunity to see him in all his glory, but we will share it.

[37:38] We will be with him and not only be with him, but be made like him. Spotless, holy, perfectly good, what we long to be.

[37:49] We will share his honor and glory. That's what Paul is longing for in chapter 3, verse 10 when he writes why he has abandoned his own grounds for exalting himself, his own grounds for getting what he deserves.

[38:06] Paul tells us his goal in Philippians chapter 3, verses 10 through 14. That I may know him, that I may know Jesus and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

[38:29] Not that I've already obtained it or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

[38:42] Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

[38:56] Does this sound like a man who is grim and stoic and fatalistic and yeah, I've got to humble myself and give up my rights and that's just life?

[39:07] No. This is a man who has resurrection life ahead of him. This is a man who has Jesus ahead of him pressing on, pressing on toward that goal, that prize because he's been called upward.

[39:24] And he writes in verse 17, Brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

[39:36] For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly and they glory, well they have a glory too, they glory in their shame with a mind set on earthly things.

[39:54] But our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.

[40:09] a transformation, a metamorphosis. By the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself, to subject all things to himself, everyone declares he is Lord.

[40:24] Therefore, my brothers whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

[40:35] you and I, beloved partners in the gospel, we will be with him and we will be made like him.

[40:49] Our lowly body transformed to be like his glorious body. We will share his honor and his glory. glory. No more shame.

[41:05] Only honor and glory. I'm telling you these things, I'm giving you this hope simply because that's what the Holy Spirit was telling the Philippian church through the Apostle Paul.

[41:18] you don't have to believe me. Believe God's word. The reason that the Holy Spirit tells this to us is because God doesn't want you and me to think this is a dull and joyless duty that we're missing out on pleasure and happiness because we decline to claim our rights.

[41:36] No. Just like Jesus Christ our Lord, we are storing up pleasure and happiness that's going to make the entertainment, the privileges, the success of this world seem like a deep refreshing glass of sewer water.

[41:52] I'm going to pass that up and go for something better. So may the Lord God give you a thirst for his kingdom, a thirst for his glory that cannot be satisfied by the empty promises of this world.

[42:11] Don't settle for counterfeits. There's a verse of an old hymn, the final lines go, fading as the world lings pleasure all his boasted pomp and show.

[42:23] Solid joys and lasting treasure none but Zion's children know. Solid joys and lasting treasure none but Zion's children know.

[42:36] Jesus Christ and I will be granted to claim his the name of Jesus Christ will be granted the name Lord so gospel partners will share his glory.

[42:49] That is our hope. Father, declining our rights is one of the hardest things we have to do and I know in my heart I'm always craving what I think I deserve sometimes wrongly but sometimes rightly and there are times when I need to give them up and I don't want to.

[43:20] Would you give us wisdom to know when to give up our rights for your sake? to know when giving up our rights and to know when when letting others walk over us is not is not merely giving up our rights but is an unloving thing to do to them.

[43:42] Give us wisdom to know what the right thing to do in each situation is. But Father, give us a mindset of I'm not here for my own rights. I'm not here to get what I deserve. I'm not here to get what I owe.

[43:54] Free us from that craving for human honor. Free us from our craving to be delivered from human shame. Teach us to receive and value your honor.

[44:10] To flee the shame that comes from turning away from you and sinning against you. It is your word that honors and exalts.

[44:21] It is your glory that we seek. give us a taste of it in the here and now that we may long for more and more to come. Amen.

[44:32] Amen. Thank you.