Let's turn now to Paul's letter to the
Philippians, Philippians and chapter one.
We've been trying to see in each letter
the main theme of that letter and we
could sum up the theme of Philippians in
one verse found in chapter two, verse five.
Have this attitude in yourself, which was in
Christ Jesus.
Having the mind of Christ or having the
attitude of Christ.
That is the theme of Philippians and everything
he writes there basically works towards that goal.
In there's a lot of emphasis on joy
in this letter.
He says in chapter one, verse four, always
offering prayer with joy in every prayer.
I pray for you.
And towards the end in chapter four, verse
four, also, he says, rejoice in the Lord
always.
And again, I say unto you, rejoice.
Now, it's very interesting to see that, that
Paul writes about joy so much from a
prison.
Philippians was written when Paul was in prison.
And he's not writing in an easy chair,
living comfortably and writing about joy.
It's one thing to talk about joy when
all your circumstances are easy and comfortable.
It's quite another thing to talk about joy
when your circumstances are difficult and you're in
prison.
And Paul writing about joy in Philippians, more
than in any other letter, shows that it's
possible for a Christian to have joy under
all circumstances, because that's that is the mind
of Christ.
That's the attitude of Christ.
Do you remember when Jesus spoke about joy
the most?
In John chapter 15, just a few hours
before he was crucified on the last night,
he said, these things have I spoken unto
you that your joy may be full.
John chapter 15 and 16.
No one can take away your joy.
I want to give you my joy.
It's like a man who's going to be
hanged tomorrow, going around encouraging people today.
Say, I just want to encourage you, fellas.
I have so much joy in my heart
and he's going to be hanged tomorrow morning.
That would be an amazing Christian testimony.
And that's what we see here in Paul.
Paul had the mind of Christ, the attitude
of Christ.
And he was also full of joy.
And those days, prisons were much worse than
prisons today.
They were dark dungeons full of rats and
mosquitoes and all types of creeping insects and
no beds.
You just slept on the floor and maybe
a little straw and no proper food, no
light.
And sitting there, he was full of joy
and writing this fantastic letter.
So remember, as you read this letter, that
this is a man living in a deep
dungeon for preaching the gospel.
And he's got no tears for his own
problems.
He doesn't want any sympathy, feel sorry for
me because I'm here struggling for the gospel.
No, full of joy.
So many times you see believers trying to
get other people's sympathy because they're having a
little difficulty, a little trial here.
What a lesson we can get from the
apostle writing this letter to the Philippians.
He says, first of all, he doesn't say
a word about his sufferings.
He says, I thank my God and all
my remembrance of you.
I can imagine that he wrote that after
a whole night of being bitten by mosquitoes
and trying to avoid the rats that were
crawling around the dungeon floor and the insects
and things that were there.
And he probably didn't even have a lot
of warm clothing in the cold in that
place, wherever he was.
We don't know exactly.
Part of the time he was in a
house where he was permitted to stay.
And even there, he was a prisoner, whether
he wrote it there or in a dungeon,
we don't know.
But it was certainly not pleasant circumstances.
And in the midst of that, he says,
I just praise the Lord whenever I think
of you Philippian Christians.
His joy came not from his circumstances.
His joy came from the result of his
work in Philippi.
Many years earlier, he had got a vision
saying, come to Macedonia and help us.
He had followed that vision and he had
gone there and led people to the Lord.
He was imprisoned in Philippi and they had
seen him praising the Lord there.
And the Philippian jailer was probably an elder
in the church now in Philippi by now.
And he would have remembered, he would have
told other people, I saw this man rejoicing
in the prison in Philippi.
And now he writes this letter and he
thanks God.
His joy was found in that he had
spent his life usefully for the Lord.
You know, when you come to the end
of your life, the thing that will bring
you joy is the fact that in the
days when God gave you health and strength,
you did not spend it making money.
You spent it serving the Lord, building the
church, gathering people to be established in his
kingdom.
Think of it now so that when you
come to the end of your life like
Paul, you can thank God for what's happened
there.
Always offering prayer for you.
Paul was a great prayer warrior.
He prayed for God's people all the time,
everywhere.
He didn't just preach to them.
He prayed for them.
A true servant of God not only preaches
but prays for his people.
And he says to them, I'm absolutely convinced
that what God has begun, verse 6, he
will complete in the day of Christ.
Verse 7, it's right for me to feel
like this because I have you in my
heart.
Now, I told you in another session that
if you want to have a prophetic word
from God for his people, you must have
two things in your heart.
You must have God's word in your heart
and you must have God's people in your
heart.
If you have God's word in your heart
and those people in your heart, then God
will give you a word for those people.
If you've only got God's word and not
those people, he cannot give you a word
for them.
If you only have the people in your
heart and not God's word, again, he cannot
give you a word for them.
But if you have God's word and his
people on your heart, you carry them there,
he'll always have a word through you for
those people.
So because Paul carried these people in his
heart, like Aaron had the names of all
the 12 tribes over his heart, Paul carried
certain people.
He couldn't carry everybody in the world, but
those whom God had given him responsibility for,
he carried them on his heart.
If ever you serve God and you have
to serve people, please learn to carry them
on your heart and then you'll always, even
if you speak one sentence, it will bless
them.
God will give you prophetic words to bless
them.
And so God gave him a prophetic letter
here to bless those people.
The secret was he had those people in
his heart and he longed for them, verse
8, with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And he prayed for them that their love
would increase.
And there's one thing I want to point
out to you in verse 9.
He says, when your love increases, I know
you love one another, I'm praying for you
that your love will increase in discernment.
Love without discernment can be dangerous.
Your love must increase in discernment so that
you approve the things that are excellent above
the things that are good.
There's a proverb in English which says, the
good is the enemy of the best.
How do you, what is the meaning of
that?
Supposing you're going to a shop to buy
a pressure cooker or a tape recorder and
you find one, say, that's so good for
that price.
And you don't look around anymore and you
buy it.
And after you come home, somebody tells you,
do you know that for the same price,
you could have got another pressure cooker or
tape recorder, which is at least three or
four times better than this?
You got a good one, but the good
was the enemy of the best.
For the same price, you could have got
a far better one.
So we don't do evil things, we do
good things, but there's the best things.
Like the other day, we spoke about unrighteous,
righteous and lawful.
So he says, I'm praying that your love
will grow in discernment so that you can
approve not just the things that are good,
but the things that are excellent.
In other words, not just a good way
to serve the Lord, but the best way
to serve the Lord.
Not just a good message to preach, but
the best message to preach.
Not just a good way to help people,
but the best way to help people.
That requires discernment.
Not just a good word to share with
a person who's in need, but the best
word to share with that person who's in
need.
Like a doctor says, I don't want to
just give him a good treatment.
I want to give him the best treatment.
But for that, the doctor has to love
that person.
If it's the doctor's own relative or son
or daughter, he'll want the best treatment.
Yeah, if it's just some patient from the
street, say, OK, I'll give him some good
treatment.
If you love people, you'll want to give
them the best.
Do you desire to give them the best?
I often think of people who invite me
for a meal, how they take so much
trouble to prepare the very best for me.
And I say, Lord, when I stand in
the pulpit and I give God's word to
people, I must do the same as that
housewife has taken so much trouble to make
the best meal for me.
I must give the best.
But for that, you must love.
And then he talks about his imprisonment in
verse 12 onwards.
He said, don't be discouraged about my imprisonment
because my imprisonment has turned out, verse 12,
for the progress of the gospel.
Paul believed in Romans 8, 28, that everything
works for my good.
How did Paul's imprisonment work for good?
Well, let me tell you, first of all,
here is one way in which that imprisonment
worked for good for us.
You know, Paul was a man, I'll tell
you where I learned this later.
Paul was a man who was always on
the go.
Even when he was 60 years old, 65
years old, he was on the move all
the time.
And I tell you, he wasn't traveling in
buses or anything.
He was walking a lot of places in
ships which could be exposed to shipwreck.
He was always on the go for spreading
the gospel.
He had only one life and he knew
it was running out.
And he said, I can't afford to waste
my time.
I've got to reach as many places with
the gospel as possible.
He had such a passion and a longing
in his heart.
But at the same time, he had such
a close walk with God who had been
through so many trials and tests that inwardly
he had become such a rich man spiritually.
But he had not written down most of
those things.
You know, in any type of written form,
parchment or whatever they used those days, they
didn't use paper.
And God knew that this man has got
so much wealth.
There may almost never be another man like
this in Christendom.
And what he has learned, he must put
down in writing.
But how to get this fellow to put
down in writing?
Because he never stops for one day anywhere.
He has no time to write anything.
He's always on the move.
So what did God do?
He allowed Paul to be imprisoned.
And because Paul was in prison, now he
could not travel, travel, travel.
He had to sit in the prison.
He said, OK, let me spend my time
profitably.
Let me write a letter.
And he wrote to the Philippians and he
wrote to some of the other churches.
And what is the result?
His life has now become a blessing.
His being in prison has been a blessing
to millions of people for 2000 years.
Was that imprisonment good or bad?
Tell me.
That was good.
I remember many years ago, I think it
was 15 years ago, I had to be
admitted in a hospital for a very small
bit of work the doctors had to do
on me.
It was something the Lord could have healed
me without going to a hospital.
And I prayed much, but he didn't heal
me without hospitalization.
But he did heal me with hospitalization.
But when I was in the hospital, I
said, Lord, why have you put me in
the hospital?
It was almost the first time and the
last time I ever went into a hospital.
And I said, why did you put me
here?
You could have healed me and I could
have been busy serving you somewhere here or
there instead of lying down in the hospital
for so many days.
And the Lord said to me very clearly,
I did not put you in hospital to
heal you.
I could have healed you without hospitalization.
I put you in hospital so that you
can just lie down for a little while
and listen to what I have to tell
you.
You're running around so much that I hardly
get a chance to talk to you.
I said, oh, is that the reason?
Then I'm happy to lie down here as
long as you want me to.
I want to hear you.
And I lay there and the Lord began
to speak to me.
And as he spoke to me, I wrote
down all that he was saying.
And that was one of the, I'd say,
one of the only articles that I've ever
written, which I wrote almost as the Lord
was speaking to me.
It's a little tract called God Needs Men.
It's just about six pages.
It's in one of my books called New
Wine and New Wineskins.
And it's also in a book called Principles
of Serving God.
But that's a little tract that I now
see God has used around the world in
so many places.
But God gave me that because he put
me in a hospital for about a week
or 10 days.
I don't remember how long.
And I see that sometimes God stops us
from doing things by sickness or imprisonment to
make us do something we would never do
otherwise.
So learn to give thanks when God stops
you from going around, traveling, preaching all the
time.
He has a purpose.
That's one thing.
The second thing is, it says here in
verse 13, as I said, the first thing
is the letter to Philippians and many other
letters.
The second thing he says, my imprisonment has
become well known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard
and to everyone else.
And later on in the end of the
letter, chapter 4, verse 22, he says, all
the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's
family.
How did Caesar's family get converted?
Because some of these people, these officers and
prison guards were getting the gospel because Paul
was there.
I can imagine it must have been something
like that.
In those days, I've heard that prisoners would
be chained to one prison guard for because
so that the prisoner doesn't run away.
So here's Paul with a chain on his
hand and chain to another Roman soldier for
eight hours.
Now, what do you think Paul was telling
this Roman soldier for eight hours?
He was telling him about Jesus and the
gospel.
And this fellow cannot escape.
It's not a one hour meeting.
He cannot run away.
He has to sit and listen to this
preacher for eight hours.
And by the time the eight hours is
over, the fellow has repented and he's ready
to receive Christ and Paul says, let's pray.
And he accepts Jesus as a savior.
And now he says, my eight hour shift
is over.
Another fellow comes for eight hours.
He says, OK, let's start now with this
new man.
And number of people were getting converted like
this.
And gradually there was a little fellowship inside
that Caesars household.
And Peter said that Paul says, these saints
are also greeting you.
Was his imprisonment good or not?
Good.
He wrote the scriptures.
He converted people.
That's not all.
Something more.
Because of my imprisonment, verse 14, many more
people, the believers have got tremendous courage now.
You know, all those timid believers who are
all scared to speak to somebody about Christ.
Oh, what will happen?
What will happen?
Now they heard Paul is in prison for
the gospel.
Who's going to preach now?
If Paul is gone, we've got to preach.
And these quiet fellows suddenly became bold.
And they got a chance to speak and
share God's word.
And they became bold.
Was Paul's imprisonment good or not?
It was good.
But he says, there are some people, verse
15, even in those days who were preaching
out of jealousy.
You know, even in the church in those
days, there were people in competition with other
people.
Some people who said we never got a
chance to preach in this church because Paul
would always come and preach.
Ah, now Paul has gone to prison.
Now is my chance to preach.
And he would get up in the church
with the wrong spirit.
To show that I'm a better preacher than
Paul.
And when Paul heard that, that some of
these fellows are jealous of you, Paul, they
don't have 1% of your anointing, but
they want to show that they are great
preachers.
And they get up in the church.
And what do you think about that, Paul?
Paul says, praise the Lord.
That's good.
They're preaching Christ.
I'm not bothered with what motive they preach
Christ.
I'm just rejoiced that Christ is being preached.
He says, some people preach Christ, verse 17,
out of selfish ambition to cause me more
pain.
What do I do?
I rejoice, again that word joy, twice in
verse 18, that Christ is proclaimed.
Today, I see so many people preaching Christ
to make money.
I rejoice that Christ is being preached, even
though I know God will one day send
them to hell.
For preaching Christ to make money.
You can't do preach Christ to make money
and go to heaven.
No.
Preaching Christ for the sake of honor, for
the sake of money.
I rejoice that Christ is being preached.
Let them do it with wrong motives.
God will judge them one day.
Is somebody preaching to show that he's a
better preacher than me?
God bless him.
Let him preach.
Let him preach Christ.
There are people who read my articles and
books and preach those sermons who are ashamed
to admit that they got those truths by
reading my books, because they're a bit ashamed
to admit that.
Praise the Lord.
Let Christ be preached.
We don't want any honor.
We don't want anybody to quote us.
Let Christ be preached and let them bless
other people.
And if they want to pretend that that
was their own revelation, let them do it.
God will judge them for all that.
Christ is being preached.
Somebody is blessed.
That should be your attitude, even when somebody
you don't like is preaching the gospel.
Praise the Lord, brother.
What does it matter if somebody else is
preaching your message or your sermon?
Just rejoice.
Or somebody's doing it with the wrong motive.
Let him do it.
Christ is being preached.
Somebody's being blessed.
He's doing it in a different way from
you.
Do it different from your convictions.
Let him do it.
I don't take collections in my meetings.
That person takes collections and preaches the gospel.
Never mind.
That's between him and God.
Christ is being preached.
I want to rejoice in everyone who preaches
Christ, even if he's unconverted.
Here's an unconverted person who goes around distributing
tracts.
Praise the Lord.
Somebody may get saved through those tracts.
Somebody may get saved through those gospels, even
though the fellow who distributed it will finally
go to hell.
It doesn't matter.
I rejoice that Christ is being preached.
This should be the attitude of ours.
We don't have to judge them.
God will judge them all in the final
day.
These fellows who got up in the church
and preached out of jealousy.
You think God will spare them?
He'll really judge them in the final day.
But Paul rejoiced.
He did not have a bad spirit towards
anyone who was preaching the gospel.
That's a good example for us.
And he goes on to say, verse 21,
For to me to live is Christ, to
die is gain.
If I live, that means I'll have many
more opportunities to serve the Lord.
But if I die, I'll be with Christ.
And he says, I don't know which to
choose.
If I die, that's a gain to me
because I'll be with the Lord.
If I live, I've got some more years
to spread this wonderful gospel to bless others.
That's also a great joy to me.
And he says, I don't know which to
choose.
Should I live or die?
Both are equally good for me.
He says in verse 24, I think I
should live a little longer for your sake.
And God allowed him to live for a
few more years for the sake of those
believers who still needed to be established for
a few more letters that still needed to
be written to complete scripture.
And because I'm convinced of this, he sensed
in his heart, I'm not yet going to
die.
He knew later on when he wrote 2
Timothy, Now my time is ready to go.
This is my last letter.
But here he says, I'm convinced, yeah, I
feel in my spirit that God will allow
me to live a little longer for your
sake.
And he says, only please conduct yourself in
a manner, verse 27, worthy of the gospel
of Christ, so that whether I'm in prison
or I come to see you, I'll always
hear.
This is his burden.
Listen to this.
That you're standing firm in one spirit, with
one mind, striving together.
See the expressions of unity there, one mind,
one spirit, striving together and not in any
way alarmed, verse 28, by your enemies.
Because when your enemies attack you and you're
not alarmed, that is a sign of destruction
for them.
But a sign of salvation for you.
You remember when Pilate told Jesus, Don't you
know I have power to crucify you?
And Jesus said, You have no power against
me, except what my father gives you.
Jesus was not alarmed.
And if a time comes in your life
or mine, where we have to stand like
that before somebody, remember the words of Jesus,
the confession he made before Pontius Pilate.
You have no power over me, except what
my heavenly father gave you.
No way alarmed.
And that testimony is going to be a
sign of destruction to your enemies.
Because God has given us two privileges.
What are those two privileges?
Two degrees, we can say.
Verse 29.
One, to believe in Christ.
Second, to suffer for his sake.
Both go together.
God has given you the privilege of believing
in Jesus.
God has given you the privilege of suffering
for Jesus' sake.
So he's continuing with this theme of unity,
which he spoke of in verse 27.
One spirit, one mind.
And he says the same thing in verse
2 of chapter 2.
Be of the same mind, same love, united
in spirit, in one purpose.
You see, so many times he speaks about
unity.
At least seven expressions of unity.
In chapter 1 verse 27 and chapter 2
verse 2.
Seven times he speaks about unity, unity, unity,
unity.
And then he tells them the secret of
this unity.
How we can be one body like this.
You must never do anything, verse 3, from
selfishness or pride.
Do you know the two sins that will
remain with us till we die?
Are selfishness and pride.
Dirty thoughts need not remain with us till
we die.
We can overcome them.
Love of money, we can overcome.
Getting offended, we can overcome.
Slandering, gossiping, bitterness, unforgiving spirit.
We can overcome all of these almost totally
over a period of time.
But pride and selfishness are so deeply rooted
in us that we can cleanse ourselves.
These are like two big onions.
You peel off one layer, there's another layer
underneath.
You peel off that layer, there's another layer
underneath.
And I've discovered in my own life that
it's so easy to be selfish in the
way we live, in the way we do
things, especially in the way we spend money
and the way we spend our time.
Selfishness.
And if you're getting light on it, you
can cleanse away that selfishness.
That means one more layer of the onion
is taken away.
Your selfishness becomes a little less.
And then next month, you may do something
where you get light on some more selfishness.
Peel it off.
And gradually you become unselfish and loving and
Christ-like.
But it's a very thick onion.
But if you're not getting any light on
your selfishness and you're not peeling it off,
then you'll remain with this big fat onion
of selfishness till the end of your life.
Make sure you keep on peeling off these
layers of selfishness as you get more and
more light on different areas of your life.
Other area is spiritual pride.
See, it could be pride of appearance, intelligence.
But those things we usually overcome earlier on
in life.
I hope you have.
But then comes the dangers of spiritual pride.
That's another massive onion.
We sometimes say things and afterwards God shows
you that was because of a little pride
in you that you said that.
And you repent.
Sometimes we give a testimony and after we
have given our testimony, the Lord says when
we go back home, that was a little
pride in that testimony.
You didn't give all the glory to give
me.
You gave me 90% of the glory
and you took 10% of the glory
to yourself.
And I say, Lord, forgive me.
Have mercy on me.
I peel off one more layer of that
onion of spiritual pride.
This is how we become more and more
one with each other.
If you and I are faithful in peeling
off this onion of selfishness and spiritual pride.
Gradually, you and I will become more and
more one with each other.
And in this connection, it says, have this
mind in you, which was in Christ Jesus,
this attitude.
Verse five.
You know that with one that one verse,
you can live all your life.
Have this attitude in you, which is in
Christ Jesus.
You don't need any other verse in the
Bible for transformation.
In every situation, ask yourself, did I have
the attitude of Christ here?
You face another situation somewhere else and you
ask yourself, did I have the attitude of
Christ here?
Did I have the attitude of Christ in
the way I conducted myself in the dining
hall?
Was I selfish in the way I conducted
myself?
You know, there's a lot of selfishness in
us in matters of food, in matters of
seeking the most convenient place to stay and
making it a little more difficult for other
people.
Let them have the difficult, the most more
inconvenient thing.
And let me choose the convenient thing.
Let me choose the best bed and the
best food and the biggest apple and the
biggest slice of cake.
Children are like that.
They always grab.
When we grow older, we don't grab like
that because we lose our testimony.
But we're still like that inside.
We hope nobody will grab that before we
grab it.
There's a lot of selfishness in us.
And if we cleanse ourselves and have the
attitude of Jesus, what was the attitude of
Jesus?
When he was in heaven, he thought of
the poor people on earth who don't have
what he has.
And he said, they must have what I
have in heaven.
That's the attitude of Christ.
You look at other people and you say,
they don't have what I have.
I've got forgiveness of sins.
They don't have it.
I've got victory over sin.
Those believers don't have it.
I must give it to them.
They're suffering with so many difficulties.
They don't have drinking water.
They're struggling.
I must do something to help them.
Even in these practical things, they don't have
a blanket at night.
I must provide for them.
This is how it must be on a
cold night.
When you cover yourself with a blanket, think,
do the fellow believers you're responsible for all
have a blanket?
That's the spirit of Christ.
When you eat some good food, think, the
fellow believers in my church, do they all
have food to eat?
This is the mind of Christ.
In heaven, he thought, a lot of people
down there on earth don't have what I
have in heaven.
I must go to them and give it
to them.
That is the attitude of Christ.
And when he came here, that is unselfish
consideration for others.
And then when he came here, he humbled
himself.
It says here in verse 6, though he
was God, he gave up that equality with
God and became a servant.
He humbled himself.
He came here, not only became a man,
but became a servant of all men.
Amazing.
Have this attitude in you which is in
Christ.
He knew that he can help people only
if he serves them.
Not if he's like a Maharaja, a king
over them.
That's why he refused to be a king.
You can think that a king can help
a lot of people.
But Jesus showed us, it's not a king
that helps people.
It's a servant that helps people.
That's what Jesus demonstrated by his life.
That's why he refused to be a director.
He refused to be a chairman.
He refused to be a king.
He said, I am a servant.
And he spent all his life serving, serving,
serving, never taking a position or a title.
The only title he had was son of
man.
What am I?
Son of man.
An ordinary son of an ordinary man.
He was God Almighty, even on earth.
But what did he call himself?
Son of man.
He was a servant, a servant, a servant.
His whole mindset was that of a servant.
It's not just a question of serving.
Do you know the difference between serving and
being a servant?
Have you seen these photographs in the paper?
Sometimes the minister is inaugurating the cleanliness campaign
by sweeping the road.
And everybody's taking photographs of the minister sweeping
the road.
How long does he sweep the road for?
About 10 seconds.
And he wants all the photographs to come
in the paper.
This great minister is sweeping the floor.
Is he a servant?
No, he's not anybody's servant.
But for 10 seconds, he's serving to get
a reputation.
There's a difference between serving and being a
servant.
Serving, you can do like that for honor.
Being a servant is an attitude of mine
where I always think I am this brother's
servant.
I'll tell you how the Lord taught me
the truth of this in one situation.
As I told you, I spent many years
in the military where coming on time was
very important.
If we had a parade at 630 in
the morning, we had to be there at
625, not at 631.
If you came at 631, they teach you
such a lesson that for the rest of
your life, you'll never come late again.
So I learned for 11 years in the
military to be on time.
And then I became an elder of a
church where I found more than half the
people don't come in time for the meeting.
We'd have a meeting at 930 and they
won't come on time.
I said, this used to disturb me.
And I used to say, listen, you fellows
take your children to school every day at
830 on time.
But you can't come to God's house at
930 on time.
It's because you're afraid of that principle.
You're not afraid of God.
And it's true.
But the thing worst part of it was
it disturbed me.
And then I came to rest.
When the Lord showed me, you're not a
master in that church.
You're a servant.
The servant must always be on time.
At the breakfast table, master can come whenever
they like.
Right or wrong?
Isn't that right?
Master may say breakfast at 830.
Servant must be there at 825.
Master may come at nine o'clock.
That's up to him.
And the Lord said to me, all these
people in your church are masters.
You are the servant.
Let them come whenever they like.
You're a servant.
You come on time.
And if something needs to be done in
the church, you do it.
Come on time and do it.
Then I came to rest.
Then I realized it's not serving but being
a servant attitude.
It changed my whole perspective.
It didn't make me agitated with those people.
I was agitated earlier because I thought I
was the master and they were the servants.
And when God changed my mindset and I
saw that I'm the servant and they are
the masters, I stopped being agitated.
You know a lot of your agitation is
because you think you're the master.
No, you're not the master.
You're the servant.
That's what Jesus was.
So that's a beautiful passage there.
How Jesus humbled himself and therefore God exalted
him.
The more you humble yourself, the more God
will exalt you spiritually.
He will exalt you over sin.
He'll exalt you over your lusts.
He doesn't mean he'll exalt you and make
you a director.
I never want to be one in my
life.
I want to be exalted over sin.
I want to be exalted over the world.
I want to be exalted over the devil.
I don't want to be exalted over people.
Are you waiting to be exalted over people?
Forget it.
Seek to be exalted over sin, over the
devil, over the world.
That's what I want to be exalted over.
I want to humble myself so that God
exalts me over these wretched things and keeps
me always as a servant of people.
That's how we are called to be.
And it says here, do all things, verse
14, without grumbling or disputing.
There are two things in salvation.
One is what we have to work out,
verse 12, work out your salvation.
And the other is, verse 13, what God
works in.
See this wonderful characteristic of Christ of humility
and unselfish love.
You can't produce it.
It says in verse 13, God has to
work it inside you.
And when God works it inside you, you
work it out in your daily life, verse
12.
So God works in and you work out.
And then God works some more in and
you work some more out.
God works some more in and you work
some more out.
The Holy Spirit does something in you and
you work it out.
And day by day, you grow in the
Lord more and more with the attitude of
Christ.
And we learn thereby to do everything in
life, verse 14, without grumbling or complaining.
And then he gives the example of a
man called Timothy, verse 19 onwards, and another
man called Epaphroditus, verse 25, who had the
attitude of Christ, which is just mentioned.
He says, I wanted to send Timothy to
you.
I have many co-workers and Timothy, but
Timothy was the only one whom I could
send to you because, verse 21, all the
others are seeking their own.
What a sad thing that among all of
Paul's co-workers, everybody sought their own.
They were all good people.
They were born again.
They were baptized in water, baptized in the
Holy Spirit.
They spoke in tongues.
They were anointed.
They could preach.
They've had a passion for souls.
But with all these good qualities, they sought
their own gain.
Some honor, some money, some comfort, something for
myself.
And Paul was a very spiritual man.
He could discern.
Yeah, these are good brothers, but they're not
all the same quality.
One man here is outstanding.
It's the same today among Christian workers.
In any group of Christian workers, you'll have
good brothers, very good brothers.
But you may find one is outstanding.
Outstanding in what?
Outstanding in not seeking his own.
That's what makes a man outstanding.
Even among Paul's workers, people sought their own.
So, do you think in today's Christian workers,
people don't seek their own?
I tell you, more than 90% of
born-again Christian workers in India today seek
their own.
Be among the 10% like Timothy, who
do not seek anything for themselves.
Lord, everything for you.
Lord, I don't want anything for myself in
my life.
Everything for Christ.
Everything for God.
That's the man whom God picks up and
gives revelation.
Be one like that.
Timothy was like that.
And Epaphroditus was another like that.
And he was sick to the point of
death serving God.
But his life radiated the glory of Christ.
Chapter 3, again he speaks about rejoicing.
Verse 1.
And he says, I want to write the
same things again to you.
Paul was not afraid to write the same
things again.
Some preachers are ashamed to preach the same
sermon a second time.
You know, whenever they make a list of
their notes, they'll always write underneath.
OK, this sermon I preached in this place,
and this place, and this place, and this
place, and this place, and this place.
So that when I come back to those
places, I don't preach the same sermon.
See, these are professional preachers.
They're always, they're not prophets listening to what
God is going to say.
They're saying, I must get honor.
Every time I come here, I must preach
a new sermon.
They're not in touch with God.
They're seeking honor.
But Paul said, I'll preach the same thing
again to you, because you need to hear
it.
I'll write the same things to you.
Was that what I wrote last time?
Well, if God led me to write it
this time, it's because you need to hear
it.
He says, beware of the dogs, beware of
the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision,
the people who believe in the external circumcision.
He says, we are the true circumcision.
What is the meaning of circumcision?
It means no confidence in the flesh.
Verse three and glorying only in Christ.
Cutting off of the flesh.
We are the true circumcision.
And he says this matter of confidence in
the flesh.
If anybody thinks he can have confidence in
the flesh, I more than all of them.
Because these were my qualifications.
I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
And as to the righteousness in the law,
absolutely blameless.
From my childhood, I kept the Ten Commandments.
I lived an upright life.
I had all this goodness in me.
But when I found Christ, I knew this
is all garbage, rubbish.
By the way, this word garbage did not
originate with me.
It originated with the Apostle Paul in Philippians
3, 8.
Somebody asked me once, brother, why do you
always speak about garbage, garbage, garbage?
I said, because that's what Paul says.
He says everything is rubbish compared to Christ.
He used that expression.
He says, I counted all his rubbish compared
to Christ.
It's all garbage.
It's all rubbish compared to Jesus Christ.
Have you seen it in your life?
Have you seen that all the money in
the world is rubbish compared to Christ?
Have you seen that all the honor that
people can give you is all rubbish compared
to Christ?
Have you seen all the comfort you can
get in your Christian work?
You manipulate things so that you have a
lot of comfort.
You know, it's all rubbish compared to Christ.
Doing God's will.
Being in the place where God wants you
to be.
Fulfilling the ministry which God wants you to
fulfill.
I'm not bothered if other Christian workers get
honor.
Let them get honor.
My calling is to get dishonor.
It's all rubbish, this honor and dishonor.
Are you jealous that somebody gets a better
salary than you?
And he's also serving the Lord and you're
also serving the Lord and he's getting more
than you?
That means you haven't seen it as rubbish.
Otherwise you'd say, his garbage bin is a
little bigger than my garbage bin.
He's got more garbage in his garbage bin
than I've got in mine.
Oh, how sad.
He's got more garbage, is it?
And you're feeling sad about that.
You haven't seen it as garbage.
Paul saw it.
That's why he was so free.
Oh, he's getting more honor than me.
I did the work and he's getting the
honor.
His garbage bin is bigger than mine.
This is what's happening in Christian work.
None of these people have seen the honor
of men as garbage.
None of these people have seen all that
money in Christian work as garbage.
Where can they serve the Lord?
Let me tell you, my dear brothers and
sisters, you can never serve the Lord till
you see that everything outside of Jesus Christ
is garbage.
We need money to live on the earth.
I'm not saying that we don't need it.
I need money and I receive money and
I use it for my life on earth.
I needed money when my children were being
educated.
I had to educate them.
I needed money for food.
I needed money for my children's clothes.
I needed money for earthly expenses.
I'm not saying we don't need it.
But when you're competing with somebody else, and
when you're calculating and you're thinking of money
as the main factor in serving the Lord,
you've completely missed the road.
That must be secondary.
Do you know where the gold is in
heaven?
Who can tell me?
Where is the gold here on earth, on
your heads?
That determines whether you're ready to go to
heaven or not.
If you can put gold under your feet
here, you're ready for heaven.
But if you still got gold on your
head like these earthly kings, brother, you're not
ready yet.
You better learn to put gold under your
feet.
That's where they have it in heaven.
See it as garbage.
It's something we walked on.
Yeah, we need a road to walk on,
but we don't put the road on top
of our head.
Keep it under the feet.
We need money, but keep it in its
proper place.
If somebody gives you honor or dishonor, it's
just the same.
He counted it all garbage.
He says, what is my longing in life?
My longing in life is not to become
a famous preacher, or to be well known,
or to be written about in all the
magazines.
That's all garbage.
My desire, verse 10, is to know Christ,
the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of
his sufferings.
I haven't attained that, all that I want.
He says in verse 12, I'm not yet
perfect.
In one way, I'm not yet perfect.
I've not yet reached the perfection of Christ.
But in another way, verse 15, I'm already
perfect.
Have you understood this?
Many people are afraid of this word perfection
because they haven't studied the Bible.
Paul says in verse 12, I'm not perfect.
In verse 15, he says, I and a
few other people are perfect.
And it's the same word.
All you Greek scholars can go and check
that out.
It's the same word.
What does it mean?
That means there is a perfection we can
have on earth, and there's a perfection we
can never have till Jesus comes again.
The perfection we can have on earth now
is a perfect conscience.
Perfect in my conscience, every sin confessed, everything
set right with God and man, every sin,
known sin, cleansed in the blood of Jesus
Christ, every restitution made, every debt repaid, every
apology made.
My conscience is perfect.
That's the perfection I can have.
Verse 15, the perfection I cannot have, verse
12, is becoming like Christ totally.
I'm not like Christ.
Paul was not like Christ.
Nobody is like Christ.
That will come when we reach, when Jesus
comes again.
It's a goal.
It's like climbing a mountain.
When I'm born again, I'm at zero feet.
Becoming like Christ is 30,000 feet.
Every day I climb, maybe I've reached 500
feet.
I'm pressing on to perfection.
But I'm not going to sit at zero
feet all my life.
This is the Christian life.
So Paul says, think of those people who
are with a perfect conscience and make them
your example.
He says, follow my example, verse 17.
Follow my example and others who walk like
me, because many people don't walk like this.
They are the enemies, verse 18, of the
cross of Christ and whose God, verse 19,
is their stomach.
Do you know people whose God is their
stomach?
How do you know whether your God is
your stomach?
One day if the food is not tasty
and you get upset with your wife or
with the cook or anybody, what is your
God?
Your God lives on your tongue.
Those taste buds are your God.
And you bow down.
You think you're praying for the food.
You're actually praying to your taste buds.
I want good food.
Don't make your taste buds your God.
Don't make your stomach your God.
Let Jesus Christ be your God.
If you get good food, praise the Lord.
If one day it's not so good, praise
the Lord.
If one day the breakfast is not ready
on time and you have to go to
work, don't get upset with your wife.
Say, well, Lord, maybe the Lord wanted me
to fast today morning, so he permitted the
breakfast not to be ready.
Maybe I'm a great lover of food and
God wants to free me from it.
Always give thanks and go.
Don't make your stomach your God because it
says here, such people, their mind is set
on earthly things.
But our citizenship, verse 20, is in heaven.
Chapter 4, verse 4.
Rejoice in the Lord always.
Not sometimes, not most of the time, but
all the time.
This was the verse that challenged me many
years ago when I was much younger.
And I said, Lord, this verse is not
true in my life.
Do you want to be healthy sometimes, most
of the time or all the time?
We all want to be healthy all the
time.
Do you want to rejoice sometimes, most of
the time or all the time?
All the time.
Is it possible?
Yes.
By the grace of God, yes.
We must say, and if it is not
true in your life, be honest and say,
Lord, I'm not healthy all the time.
I'm healthy most of the time, but I
want to be healthy all the time.
Spiritually healthy anyway.
I want to rejoice all the time.
Please fill me with the Holy Spirit and
teach me that everything in the world is
garbage except Christ and I will rejoice all
the time.
It's because you don't consider everything in the
world as garbage other than Christ that you
have a lot of grumbling and murmuring and
complaining.
Rejoice in the Lord always.
And again, I say to you, I meant
what I said.
Rejoice.
And then it says another thing.
Be anxious for nothing.
That's another mountain to climb.
Anxiety comes so easily for so many things.
When you don't have enough money to meet
your needs at the end of the month.
When you're married and your children have gone
to school and they are two hours late.
They haven't come back from school.
You wonder what happened.
When you're growing older and older and older
and no marriage proposal has come.
Anxiety.
Am I going to live like this till
I'm 50?
So many things can cause anxiety.
And I'm not saying that we can come
to a place where nothing disturbs us.
But I'm saying we can press on to
that place where our faith and confidence in
God grows to the place where whenever that
anxiety comes, we can take it to the
Lord in prayer.
Like that lovely song says, what a friend
we have in Jesus.
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit.
Oh, what needless pain we bear.
All because we do not carry everything to
God in prayer.
That's what he says.
Take it to God in prayer.
And along with the prayer, add a thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving means, Lord, thank you.
You got my request.
The letter has arrived.
The message has reached heaven.
Thank you, Lord.
You'll take care of it.
Learn to thank God.
And then you may get up without your
anxiety.
Sometimes you get up with your anxiety because
you didn't learn to give thanks.
OK, learn to set your mind on things
that are excellent.
Verse 8, verse 11 and 12, learn to
be content with much or little.
Whatever God gives you, learn to be content.
I can do all things, verse 13, through
Christ who strengthens me.
I can rejoice always as Christ strengthens me.
I can come to that life gradually where
anxiety disappears from my life because Christ strengthens
me.
I cannot do it on my own, but
I can do it through Christ who strengthens
me.
And one last verse, verse 19, my God
is able to supply all your need according
to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.
Everything we need in life, God is able
to supply to us.
This is not primarily talking about earthly things.
It's according to his riches and glory in
Christ.
Everything I need for my spiritual life in
earth, overcoming sin, a life of joy, a
life of peace, a life anointed life, a
spirit filled life, a useful life in God's
kingdom.
Every single thing can become mine if I
trust him.
He can make me rich and supply all
my needs.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, help us to appreciate the tremendous
riches that are ours in Christ and to
appropriate them and to live cleansing ourselves from
selfishness and pride, partaking of the mind of
Christ and being built together for your glory
on this earth.
We pray in Jesus name.
Amen.