[0:00] Philippians chapter number two, if you wouldn't mind turning there, thank you for that song and for that testimony. When somebody sends a text and says, can I tell everybody about how good Jesus is, it's going to be kind of hard to say no to that question, wouldn't it?
[0:11] And I'm glad that he did share that testimony there. We're talking about the subject of others tonight, as seen in the Philippians chapter number two, and what is being taught there.
[0:21] When I say this phrase, where do you think of, it's my pleasure, where do you think of? Chick-fil-A, all right? They somehow got the trademark. You know, when a student around here worked at Chick-fil-A for any time, because then they're always saying, it's my pleasure.
[0:33] When I say our ice cream machine is broken, you think of? McDonald's, all right? That's kind of what they're known for. They have a saying. I would like to talk about the doctrine of it's my pleasure to say, as Christians, we are the people in this world that can honestly say, when we do something for somebody else, that we're able to say, it's my pleasure.
[0:52] That we can really find pleasure in serving other people. I believe that's what we see in Philippians chapter number two. And speaking of others, David Clapp, I'm glad to see you in here. When you came in in uniform, a lot of people looked real nervous.
[1:04] Philip seemed a little nervous when you walked past them there. I'm sure all those warrants are gone by now, Philip. You've been gone a long time. But we're talking about others. Do you know anybody up here on these pictures here? Do you know any of these pictures here, right?
[1:16] Any of them? You see our church photo bomber? How many? Who do you see? You see Andrew right there. He is our church photo bomber. I thought he needed to be in that picture. But we have pictures of random people and Andrew up there representing others' people.
[1:32] And you probably heard this expression before. But it is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others. We talk about others all the time at this church.
[1:43] We don't often just say others. But our missionaries represent other people. They go to other people. Chris represented other people in the jail. We serve. And in so many different ways, I can look across this room and talk about decisions that you have made for other people.
[1:57] And as Philip said so well the other day when he preached, sometimes the problem with other people is they're crazy, right? So the problem with other people is they take energy. They take so much out of us.
[2:08] And it can really wear on us. And I asked Pastor Bill, okay, if I went out of Isaiah 41, not just because it was harder, but also because of the fact that I really wanted to share this place that I go to in the scriptures a lot, serving in ministry, when I find myself still getting tired and wore down because I decide that if I just stop doing stuff, that will make me feel energized.
[2:27] But I find stop serving people doesn't give me the energy that I need, that it's changing in my perspective is what I need. And so coming to God's word here. Before I read verse number one of chapter number two and get you to respond, I'm going to tell you a quick story that I tell the teenagers a lot.
[2:42] And they say every time we go to nursing home, I tell this story. It was when I was a junior in high school. I was at a Bible study near a college campus, Murray State. Which won the first round of the tournament tonight. Congratulations, Murray State.
[2:53] I was at that college campus. And at the Bible study, there was a bunch of girls at it. And they said, we need people to volunteer tomorrow to work in the nursing home. Well, me and my buddy Josh, we didn't raise our hand. We didn't want to go work at the nursing home at 7 o'clock in the morning.
[3:06] But all these college-age girls raised their hand. And they said, we're going to volunteer at the nursing home. So me and my buddy Josh, we caught on real quick. And we're like, and we're going to volunteer at the nursing home. He's a missionary in Africa now.
[3:17] So the story works out pretty good. So we raised their hand. And next morning, 7 o'clock, we go there. And we're like, huh, I guess we're the first ones here. Because those girls are nowhere to be seen. I'm confident they never go to the nursing home.
[3:28] The guy that led the Bible study just told them, raise your hand. And we'll get some other guys to volunteer to go to the nursing home. So we went around giving out breakfast to the people in the nursing home all morning before church.
[3:38] But I met this lady named Verbal Collins who was born in 1899. And she was about this tall. And she became one of my close friends over the next couple years when I was in high school.
[3:49] Because she asked me if I'd read the Bible to her. She said, I have a hard time reading. I'd say, I think so. You're 100 years, you know, probably hard to do a lot of things. And she said, would you read the Bible to me? So I began to read the Bible a chapter at a time when I would visit her.
[4:02] And I'll never forget when I got to the last chapter of Matthew. And I said, we finished the book. And she's like, there's a lot more books. And I said, I've never finished a book of the Bible before. And at that time, I thought I had found the Christian secret.
[4:15] I thought I had found the life hack. That that is not what's supposed to be fun for a teenage guy. But I found that in serving other people, I found the level of joy and happiness that I would have never expected to find any other place.
[4:29] And I know that you guys have seen it. I know you experience it. But I want to encourage you to keep doing that. Philippians chapter number 2, verse number 1. I'm going to ask four questions that start with if. And when I end with the sentence, I want you to say, there is.
[4:40] Okay, let's practice. There is. Ready? There is. Great. You got the job. Here we go. If there be any consolation in Christ. There is. If there be any consolation in Christ.
[4:52] There is. If any comfort of love. There is. If any fellowship of the Spirit. There is. If any bowels and mercy. There is. So there's four if statements here. And we learned here that the wonder of the gospel in 127.
[5:05] It told us, only let your conversation be as becometh the gospel of Christ. The apostle Paul, before he gives us any commands or tells us what to do. He's going to lay a foundation here on the character of our God.
[5:16] And this is where we find our motivation and desire to serve one another. It's in God. As parents, as Bible teachers, we ought to see this example here. Before he gives a command, he lays down this wonderful truth of God's word.
[5:29] And we know there's consolation. And it's been said over and over up here. Miss Lauren did a great job. I know it's intimidating to present missions at this church here. And you wonder if you did a good job. Well, let me tell you. You did a great job tonight.
[5:41] Reminding us what you're doing. And why it matters here. There should be a unity in our church. Not just because that's what makes life better. Or it's more productive for us to be unified. But most importantly, because what God has done in us.
[5:55] There is consolation. And because of that, we should be motivated to serve. Verse number two says, So more than a command, but an experience of joy here.
[6:11] Paul is modeling for us how to find great joy in the ministry. Fulfill ye my joy. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem others better than ourselves.
[6:24] And so now we have a contrast between this is what it, what does it look like for us to live for other people? Well, let me tell you what it would look like if we don't live for other people. It would be strife. It would be through vain glory here.
[6:35] And in chapter 1, verse 15 through 17, it talks about a group of people that they were full of envy and strife. And that we shouldn't work in rivalry. Or it calls a resentment. You know, when you find yourself resenting other people in ministry, it's because you have decided that they are the ones that you're serving.
[6:51] And that you're not serving through them to an almighty God. There should be no resentment or strife among us. Because every one of us are serving our God of heaven. We are serving him. But there's a people here that were serving in competition and strife and comparing themselves here.
[7:06] And we become empty on the inside. And when we look, when we become empty on the inside, not understanding our identity in Christ and not being fulfilled in that joy of this serving God and the joy that's just found in the simple service to Jesus here, then we start looking to take in ministry.
[7:22] And that's the wrong place to find our fulfillment in taking in ministry. And then it begins to really wear on us. That's when, you know, they say as adults, what's your favorite plans? The ones that got canceled, right? And then we start to get to a place where we're just excited that everything is getting canceled because we're so tired.
[7:37] Esteem here, not just better and talent. That's not what we're supposed to do. We know this at times. But in regard to them as one that are worthy to be served. We look at people and we esteem them and say, because of what God has made you, because of you being made in the image of God, and because of the fact that I can serve God by serving through this opportunity, I'm going to esteem you as somebody that is worthy of me serving.
[8:02] And it's the decision to humble ourselves, but in a lowliness here. That's what the gospel does to us. It keeps us at that lowly state where we recognize who he is and what he has done for us.
[8:14] Sometimes I spend too much time on a computer and I get stuck and people make fun of me. I start turning like a robot around here and I have to go to a chiropractor. So I basically just pay another adult to punch me over and over and to try to get me to become more flexible because I become, literally, I become stiff-necked, right?
[8:30] And a turtle syndrome, right? You're working on a computer the whole time. And I'm going to be insecure about my posture, but I've got to get over that, okay? To serve you here. All right? And so the chiropractor helps work on that. And the gospel is supposed to help us daily get to a point where we're able to move freely and not become stiff-hearted in this, that lowliness, that brokenness as we look at our Savior and what he did for us and how he served us and how he came and he died for us.
[8:54] And this is just more than an idea that we all have. It's more than just a contract we sign, but it's an attitude. It's a mindset we would have. We see it when the disciples were frustrated that the children were there.
[9:05] And we find Jesus involved in children's ministry a lot if you do a study in the Bible. But they have this mindset about who's going to sit on the right hand, and so they're dealing with a matter of pride. And what does he do?
[9:15] He reaches out and he takes a kid and he sits them in front of him. And it's the contrast. Being willing to deal with children here is a contrast there with pride. But he was teaching them about a mindset that they're supposed to have in serving here, the same love, the same mind, and being in one accord.
[9:31] Verse 4, Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Looking on our own things, carrying our own burdens. But I think here we're going to see more than a 50-50 split.
[9:42] What is this mind? It's a humble attitude that leads to a willingness to serve others at a cost to ourselves. Do you remember what kind of sacrifice Philip talked to us about a couple weeks ago?
[9:53] It was voluntary sacrifice. It's to see a mess and to go into it, to see a problem and say, I'm willing to deal with it. How come do we like our interactions so much on social media?
[10:04] It's because now that we can decide how we're going to relate with one another on social media, when a person becomes annoying to us, we say, we don't want to follow that person for 30 days. You know, it's a feature, right? You can do that.
[10:15] Give me 30 days break on that person. You can swipe up. You can get rid of it. At any time, you can just walk away from the conversation that you're having with those people. But we're supposed to be willing to have the conversation and to spend time with them.
[10:29] But we live in a time where we try to keep a bubble around us so we don't have to deal with that. Paul gives four examples in Jesus, Timothy, and Ephroditus, and himself. Obviously, the ultimate example in verse number five would be that of Christ.
[10:42] We're given a story to help us see what it should look like. Let this mind be in you. Vision Baptist Church, let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God?
[10:53] God, this is teaching on the incarnation. He is God, eternal, coexistent, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man.
[11:04] And being found as a fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death and even the death of the cross. Before the service, Brother Eric and I were talking about there's no comparison to how far up in heaven he was and how lowly he became.
[11:16] We would never imagine being in that position and we'll never make ourselves that lowly. But in the same example here, we're supposed to humble ourselves, to set aside our rights and our privileges and choose the path of a servant here.
[11:30] How did Jesus, he didn't just give us an example, but he empowers us to do it. He makes us new creatures. He makes us made for good works. He gives us the ability now to live humbly because we don't find our identity in what we're doing.
[11:43] We can wash the feet of other people and know that doesn't make us less than dirt. It means that we're just serving God here. And then verse 19, But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state.
[11:56] For I have no man like-minded which will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ. So much to be said here. But verse 21 says, For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ.
[12:09] That's what he's always telling Tinsley because I think he says, You know, if A equals B and B equals C, then A equals... Oh man, that took longer than it should have. Okay?
[12:20] And then A equals C, right? If A equals B and B equals C, then A equals C here. So if seeking our own equals not seeking others, and not seeking others means not seeking the things of Jesus, is what this verse says.
[12:32] But for all seek their own, and what is the contrast of that? Not seeking that which is Jesus Christ. Which is to say, when we seek the interest of others, we are seeking the things that are Christ there.
[12:46] A equals C here. Ephroditus, it says, Yet I suppose it necessary to send you Ephroditus, my brother and companion and labrum and fellow soldier, but your messenger that he ministered to my wants.
[12:57] Ephroditus was sent to serve with Paul, and when he was there, the minister in the palm, he gets sick. And the apostle Paul says, I'm going to need to send Ephroditus back to you, and you've heard that he is sick.
[13:08] But listen to the way the apostle Paul talks about this fellow laborer who could not be as talented in the ministry, who didn't have near the years of experience, and when he showed up on the mission field to help him, he got sick, and he probably became a liability to him.
[13:21] But listen to the way that he talks about him. He calls him my brother, my companion in labrum, a fellow soldier, and a messenger, a title that would be given to the apostle Paul here.
[13:31] And he that ministered, a minister, in that short sentence, just the love that the apostle Paul is pouring out on his fellow laborer, because he was serving, not for prestige and honor, but he was serving other people so that he would serve Jesus.
[13:46] So that's how he viewed other people. When we're not seeking our own interests, and we're seeking the things of Christ and serving one another, it changes the way that we view one another. We see each other as fellow servants and as messengers and a companion in labor.
[13:59] We become each other's biggest fan. We're for each other. We cheer each other on. We want to see their success and their joy and happiness. Verse 26, For he longed after you all, and it was full of heaviness, because that he had heard that he had been sick.
[14:13] He was sorrowful and heavy because you guys found out he was sick, and that was burdensome to you to know that he was sick. Isn't that something, a person that feels bad because you know that he's sick? What an attitude there.
[14:23] Some of you know people like that, right? If they're sick, they feel bad that you know that they're sick. For indeed he was sick, nigh in the death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
[14:35] He was saying that I need to send him back to you, because if something was to happen to them, I would have great sorrow because I love him here. For I send him, therefore, the more carefully that when you see him again, you may rejoice, and I be the less sorrowful.
[14:49] Receive him, therefore, in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation. Show respect to people that serve you and that give their life to ministering one another. Because the work of Christ, he was nigh in the death, not regarding his life to supply your lack of service towards me.
[15:05] Because of the work of Christ, he was nigh in the death. I think we're looking at more than 50-50. I think we're looking at a pouring out completely of our lives in service to one another for Jesus, right?
[15:16] That's who it's for there. And look at the way Paul speaks about him. He says minister, and he says he was sick here. That's how we viewed him here. Find your interest in the interest of others.
[15:28] Philippians 2.19-24, it says, But I trust in the Lord Jesus, the sin to Mothius, shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort. Nine times it says, in the Lord Jesus.
[15:40] Some of you have written papers for college and different things, and you have to get to a certain word count, right? And so you add phrases that you don't really need. Well, that's not what's happening in the Bible. Nine times it says, in the Lord, because none of this, it's my pleasure, is going to happen if it doesn't happen in the Lord.
[15:56] Outside of him, outside of our identity in Christ, there is no, it's my pleasure in serving one another here. He's giving more than just travel plans. He is saying that it will bring me comfort.
[16:07] It is going to bring me happiness. It's going to bring me joy. The sin to Timothy to serve you. Doesn't that kind of sound like a conflict here? He's saying, I'm doing this for my own happiness.
[16:17] I trust in the Lord that I'll send Timothy, and I will be of good comfort here. How is it that sending Timothy to serve them would bring them happiness? Remember, Paul meets Timothy in Acts chapter number 16. He was a disciple, came from a good family, well spoken of.
[16:30] And what did he see in Timothy that made him want to have him on board there, what could be cultivated in his life? It's that he has no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state. Paul saw in Timothy, above all else, an ability to care for other people.
[16:45] So it's in the training center. You've heard this over and over again. But all the abilities and all the classes are going to pass, none of them are of any greater value than this, to be able to look at people and to care for them and to want to serve them because you would want to serve Jesus here.
[17:02] 1 Thessalonians 3, 2, Paul writes here, and he includes Timothy in Philippians 1, 1 because he said Paul and Timotheus, he has such a close relationship because Timothy could be an extension of what he wanted to do.
[17:21] What a great honor as a church that we'd be able to send out people to serve other people that we would never meet. What a great testimony to say that we know that if we send you somewhere to the jail or to the other side of the world, that you're not going to go there and care about yourself, or you're going to care for other people here.
[17:39] So whose joy is Paul seeking here? Did he send for his own joy or for the joy of the people? And we say that they're both connected. Verse 17, Yea, if I be offered upon the sacrifices and service of your faith, I join and rejoice with you all.
[17:52] They can rejoice together here. My joy becomes your joy, and your joy becomes my joy. That's why we can really say it's my pleasure to serve.
[18:03] Back to verse 2, Fulfill you my joy that you be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind here. Have no man like-minded. For the reason that he has given, he wanted to send somebody.
[18:15] For no one like-minded. Paul wasn't giving everyone a participation trophy here. You know, everybody else read this, and when he said nobody's like Timothy in the way that he would serve, there's other people like, hey, what about me, Paul?
[18:26] Why didn't you include me in that? Because we don't all just get participation trophies in that. It's not all the same. We have different levels in which we'd be willing to serve and to give, and it's individually a decision that we all have to make to say, am I going to have the mind of Christ?
[18:39] Am I the kind of person that looks after the needs of other people and would naturally care? It's genuine. It's not just an idea for a day. It's not just a few good ideas, but it's this constantly looking out and looking for opportunities.
[18:55] Because we know what it looks like when people don't naturally care. The woman comes to Jesus, and she pours perfume upon his feet, and Judah says, why in the world would you do that? We could have sowed that and given it to the poor.
[19:06] Is that naturally caring for other people, or is that artificial? It's most certainly artificial. Three years of faking it there, where Timothy here wasn't trying to impress anybody, but he sincerely cared for people.
[19:19] When we serve God through service to others, our joy will be full, and when we have strength and energy and time to continue in the work. We are a busy church. We have many ideas.
[19:30] We have many plans. Our choir practice is at 3.30 on Sunday afternoon. That's radical commitment, isn't it? Choir, let's have an amen. All right, amen. We have that. There's a radical commitment, and it can wear you down.
[19:43] But when we serve for lesser motives, we will become tired, miserable people who envy one another, and there will always be strife. I promise you that if we empty out our calendars, we won't find more joy.
[19:55] If we give ourself more personal time, if we spend two hours instead of one hour at night watching Netflix at home, we're not going to find more joy. Running away from the ministry and other people is not going to be the answer, but realizing that we get to serve the God of heaven by doing what he asks us to do, which is serving and esteeming other people better than ourselves.
[20:17] So I'm asking you tonight to check your heart, not to check your calendar, not to check your ministry involvement, but would you just check your heart and say, what is it that's happening here that causes me to be wore down and to be tired, and just make a commitment to Christ there and say, God, I've started to place my emphasis on other people.
[20:35] I've started to find contention and strife in there. I've started to feel certain ways that I know I shouldn't feel one another. I wouldn't describe the people I work with the same way that Paul described Ephroditus because I placed them in a position that they shouldn't be placed in, and I want to place my eyes upon you.
[20:52] I want all my service to be given over to you because you're the prime example. We don't look to one another in here for an example of our level of commitment because it would always be far too low. It would always be wrong, but we look at Jesus and we look at how he left heaven and he came and he served us here.
[21:08] I hope you find joy in the ministry. I pray that you are, and there's no reason you should leave here tonight not just having that fulfillment of joy in here to know that serving him is the greatest thing that you could do with your life.