Phil 2:9-11, Name That is Above Every Name

This message originally delivered on May 26, 1991.

Episode Transcript

Kimber Kauffman (00:00):
Philippians chapter two and follow along as

(00:01):
they read, verses five through11. Especially noting verses
nine through 11, which we'll bestudying today. Philippians two,
five, your attitude should bethe same as that of Christ
Jesus, who being in very nature,God, did not consider equality
with God something to begrasped, but made Himself

(00:24):
nothing taking the very natureof a servant, being made in
human likeness. And being foundin appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself, and becameobedient to death, even death on
a cross. Therefore, God exaltedhim to the highest place and
gave him the name that is aboveevery name. But at the name of
Jesus, every knee should bow, inheaven, and on earth, and under

(00:47):
the earth, and every tongueconfess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God, theFather, let us pray, would you,
our heavenly Father, help usnow, as we spend these moments,
studying these verses, make usopen and receptive to the word,

(01:09):
May the light of the word shineinto the darkest crevices where
we needed the most, may youcause us to have understanding,
we are thankful for your word,as some have already praised you
this morning. We are thankfulthat your Word gives us
direction, and we're thankfulthat it's alive, and that it
pierces like a sword to theinnermost parts of our being.
And we desire father just not tobe religious, but to have your

(01:33):
work done from the inside out inour lives. And so help us as we
study, that we could be salt andlight, as we live this week, to
those around us, and become moreand more the people that you
want us to be in Jesus name,amen. Two times my life had been

(01:55):
to the race in 1971, I went tothe race, and skip church. And
1987, it was a rainout. And itwas rained out in the rain and
it rained on the head the nextSaturday, if you can remember.
And so someone gave us tickets,I got to go in that particular
day, I sat about 100 yards pastthe finish line and the main
grandstand. And I'll haveSaturday, it was absolutely

(02:16):
beautiful. It was one of thosedays where you could just see
for miles who was crispy, clear,it was just a beautiful,
beautiful day. And I'll neverforget standing on that
grandstand. And watching as thatpace lap comes around that you
know, after the start for awhile, you can't tell the
difference between who's infirst, second or third, unless
you're watching all the time,you don't really know who's
doing what is sort of confusing,but I remember everybody

(02:39):
standing to their feet. And herecomes the pace card carrying
around all these powerfulengines pulling behind it, and
then you watch it go aroundanother time and you see the
role 11 Guys, you know, last andthen you think now this time,
he's gonna pull it to the pits,and there's an excitement and
there's all and everybody's likethat. Do you know what? You
compare that excitement of thegreatest spectacle in racing,

(03:00):
the biggest one day a sportingevent in the world, to verses
nine through 11. And it reallypales into insignificance.
Because here you don't have fouror 500,000 people. But you have
the entire human race, plus allof the creative angels that have
ever existed. Throw in somemountains and some hills and
some trees that suddenly cantalk. And you've got everything

(03:21):
and all of creation that hasever existed, praising and
crying out that Jesus Christ isthe Lord. You see, in verse
nine, it says this, Thereforenow let's just stop before we go
any farther and consider that,therefore refers back to chapter
two, verses six through eight.
So look back to verses sixthrough eight. But before we
read those, let me say this toyou, six for eight, six through
eight refers back to the versefive, which says, Let this

(03:44):
attitude be in you, which wasalso in Christ Jesus. But before
we get to that, you got to getback to chapter two verses one
through four. And that says, Letthis mind be in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus, verse two,and don't do anything selfishly.
And what I'm saying is, we aregoing to have to use our minds
to understand the study, we justdon't jump in and totally
disrelated This passage toeverything else. But the whole

(04:06):
thing here is this. How to getalong with other people, how to
learn to be like Christ andattitude and an action. And
don't be selfish. For instance,be like minded, be unified.
Verse two, don't be selfishesteem others better than
yourself. Verse three, look outfor others and their interests.
Verse four, you can stop andsay, yeah, yeah, fine. Give me

(04:27):
all that stuff. Tell me I'msupposed to be this. I'm
supposed to that I'm supposed tobe this. But where do I find the
strength? Give me somethingdefinite that I'm supposed to
do? Or are you ready? Here'swhat you're supposed to do.
You're supposed to have the samemindset that Jesus had. Look at
Verse five, that's the answer toverses two, three and four. have
the same mindset that Jesus had.
You can say, oh, yeah, great.
You're all cliche. I mean, havethe same mindset that Jesus had.

(04:48):
Great. What mindset am Isupposed to have? Well, here
you're supposed to think aboutsome things. Now. This is what
really amazes me. The Biblegives these type have answers.
This is an epistle to give aninstruction as to how to get
along with your husband, how toget along with your wife, how to
get along with people at church,how to get along with people you
work with how to be unified andget along with you. And so many

(05:10):
people are dis unified,especially with Christians. You
know, why? When's the last timewhen you start to have a fight
with your spouse, that you said,Hi, I better sit down and
consider who Jesus was before hecame to Earth. And then I better
consider who he became when hecame to Earth. And then I better
consider the depths ofhumiliation to which he went

(05:31):
when he came to earth. You knowwhat, if you would do that you
would have the attitude thatChrist had, because verse five
says, had the attitude. Versesix says this, consider who he
was before he came to earth, Hewas God. And he didn't try to
grasp on to the equality that hehad with God, the Father, in
verse seven says, Here's what hebecame when he came to earth. He
made Himself nothing. He emptiedHimself, He took on the very

(05:54):
nature of a servant being foundin human likeness. He humbled
himself, he lowered himself. AndVerse eight says, here's the
depths of humiliation to whichhe went to. He being found in
appearance as a man humbledHimself. Remember, nobody could
have humbled him, he humbledhimself, and he became obedient
to death. He had one purpose onhis mind, his mind was like

(06:16):
this, if you're supposed to havethe mind of Christ, here's the
mind of Christ, no matter what Iwill obey the will of the
Father, no matter what, even ifit means I die, even if it means
I die by crucifixion, no matterwhat matters is not my will, but
his will, that matters, I willfocus on that. He had to even
suffer as a human. The Biblesays the book of Hebrews from a

(06:37):
human perspective, Jesus had tomature. You see, from a divine
perspective, he didn't. But froma human perspective, he was
100%. Man, he had to mature, theonly way to mature is through
suffering. And so by hissuffering, he matured. And as we
think about this humiliation,the fact that he became sin,
it's then Corinthians 521 says,he's a noodle sin became sin for
us that we might become therighteousness of God and him.

(07:00):
One thing that was sounbelievable is this, God, the
Son, realizing what doing isacross meant, it didn't just
mean nails in his hands, andthen he was going to become sin,
holy, pure Son of God, all thesins of the history of the world
who are put upon him. But youknow what else? It also meant
something else. It's, that'sit's really almost sinful for me
to run past it that quickly. Butit also meant suffering and

(07:23):
excruciating death, death bycrucifixion. But here it is. He
lowers himself, he is lonely, heis humble and he is obedient,
literally, humble, obedient,have this mind in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus, what isit? Loneliness? What else?
humbleness? What else? obedienceto the will of God no matter

(07:45):
what. And guess what, you havethose three things you're gonna
get along with people. The Biblesays only by pride comes
contention. If you're loweringyourself, and realizing that you
do esteem others better thanyourself and not demanding your
rights, I'm on my way. If youhumble yourself and say, Look, I
better think about what Jesusdid. He went from God all the
way to dying as a death as acriminal. I'm starting off as a

(08:08):
rebellious senator, how muchfarther down should I go? In
other words, we need to lower soSo I realized the world isn't
going to teach you this. But Iwill tell you, there's a
wonderful freedom. It hasbrought renewal and joy in my
heart, to realize I'm notsupposed to be demanding my ways
and saying, I deserve this. AndI deserve that. And if you don't
meet my needs, I'm gonna be mad.
And I hate this. We live in awar ourselves, humble ourselves.

(08:31):
And not only that, have amindset that says this, no
matter what I will be the wordof God. No matter what, no
excuses, no rationalizations. Nopretending that somehow it's
okay to do part of it. But Iwill be committed to doing the
will of God. Now if you've gotthat. Now let's look again at
verse nine. Therefore, God, hihighly exalted Him, or God

(08:58):
exalted him to the highest placebecause of Jesus's obedience,
because of his humility, becauseof his loneliness. He is now on
the highest seat of theuniverse, highly exalted, super
exalted to the highest place toraise someone to the loftiest

(09:22):
height. The adverb highly isactually the preposition of
fixed to the verb. He's highlyexalted is the earth tense that
means this from the time of Hisresurrection, to the time of his
ascension, there He is exaltedon the throne of the universe.
And not only that, but notice heis given a name that is above

(09:42):
every name, He has given thename exalted, of exalted
supremacy, he has been bestowedor granted graciously as a
favor, a name that is aboveevery imagine is the sin bear
this one that they mocked, theone that they're hurled insults,
they spit on it at all thathe's now is the one that's in
the seat of the universe. first.

(10:03):
Do you know what your meaning ofyour name is? Kim means chief or
ruler. That's what Kim means. Idon't know, I was talking to a
man yesterday named Doug. Isaid, What is your name mean?
And I think he said it wassomething like this one who
swims in a dirty river, you sayso we're not exactly sure what
all these names mean, nowadays,all right. But in those days, in

(10:27):
the Bible's time, the fact thatelicited a name occurs more than
1000 times in the Bible, andthat attests to his theological
importance. For instance, navalin First Samuel 25, he was a
fool you remember. And he wasmarried to Abigail who David
later married after he died. Andhe was such a fool. The people
that worked with him were a foolhis wife was, well everyone sort
of says your navel, he's a fooljust like his name. And it's a

(10:49):
descriptive of who you are.
giving a name to anyone oranything was tantamount to
owning or controlling it, andchanging the name signifying
promotion to a higher status tothis day. In Orthodox Judaism, a
dying person's name is sometimesofficially changed, and hope
that a new name will bringhealth a new life and demotion
of a name to a lower status, orbloody out or cutting off the

(11:14):
name of a person or thing meantdestroying that person. Often in
the Bible, God calls himself byhis name to reveal what he is
like, because the name revealsthe real you think of this
belief in Jesus name is the sameas believing in Jesus Himself,
Whosoever shall call upon thename of the Lord, shall be
saved. prayer in Jesus name,therefore, is not some mystical

(11:36):
reliance on a traditionalformula. But praying in accord
with Jesus's character, his mindhis purpose, he is just like his
name, a name that means Savior,a name that is above every other
name. So listen, because of hisobedience because of his
lowliness. Because of this, Godhas exalted him to the highest
place in the universe, and giventhem a name that is above every

(11:57):
name. That's the result clause.
That's just point one, verse9.2. Now choose me that's the
that's the main clause point tohis verses 1011, the result
clause, and look what it says,the result of God giving him
this name, and, and giving thema name that is above every name
and exalted to the highest placeis this, verse 10, that, in
order that at the name of Jesus,every knee should bow, in heaven

(12:19):
and on earth and under theearth? In other words, because
he has this place, there is aday coming, when at the name of
Jesus, every knee should bow,isn't this interesting? The
thought of bowing, or bendingthe knees, you know what that
means? It implies a sincere actof reverence, respects the
mission, and worship. In fact,the definition of bow is to

(12:42):
yield or to submit to one as anauthority. In Romans, chapter
14, he says this, who are you tojudge someone else's servant?
Don't you know that to his ownmastery rises and falls, for
every one of us, let's giveaccount of himself before God.
And then he gives us quote,every knee shall bow and every
tongue will confess. The pointis get your nose out of other
Christians, businesses, you haveno right to be judging them,

(13:04):
because you're gonna give ananswer of yourself, you're gonna
bend the knee before God oneday. To bend the knee, I want
you to imagine your mind oneday, everyone will bend the
knee, everybody straightenedhimself to just see the
illustration. If it's soperfect, Satan himself, the
words will come out of his mouthand adoration and worship, of

(13:26):
course in sorrow, but that Jesusis the Lord and ruler and
sovereign of the universe, theone who is all powerful. You
see, it's God's desire that allwould willingly worship Jesus as
Lord has the highest rank andauthority over their lives. One
day all will but for most, itwill be too late. We say Jesus
is our Lord Jesus said to me,this, or Jesus says to us, why

(13:50):
do you call Me, Lord, Lord, anddo not the things that I say?
You see, Lordship and obedienceis totally tied in. If Jesus is
our Lord, my friends, he askedus to do something, we say how
when, and do it as best as wepossibly can with the best we
possibly can. If he says howhigh jump and we say, Hi, do you

(14:11):
want us to jump? If Jesus is ourLord, we desire to obey Him. In
fact, it says in the next partof verse 10, look at in heaven,
on earth, under the earth, everyknee will bow. And the idea here
is very interesting, all atonce. Everyone in heaven, that
is all the angels in heaven andall of the people that have died
and gone to heaven, we will allwant to proclaim He is Lord, how

(14:33):
about this everyone on Earth,those that are still alive on
earth. And thirdly, all thoseunder the earth is talking about
those in hell. Everybody all atonce, at one time will bend down
and give honor and glory thatJesus Christ is the Lord.
Universal acknowledgement. Infact, you were to read Romans
chapter eight, verses 19 through22. And you see that all

(14:55):
Creation awaits. For the sons ofGod to be revealed and put This
redemption is finally takeplace. And then you tie it in
with Psalm 148. And here withthe Psalm 148 says it says the
mountains, cry out the seas,clap their hands, the whales
speak out everything in allcreation, I want you to get this
picture in your mind, there's aday coming. When God wins the
day coming when it is allsettled. Everybody all wants in

(15:17):
heaven earth under the earth,it's gonna, it's gonna make
400,000 People eating apples 500and awesome. Little tiny Pee Pee
Wee cars going around the trackseem totally insignificant. In
comparison, as everyone is gonnagive praise and worship to God,
you want to get a little pictureof this, go with me to
Revelation, the fifth chapter, Iwant you to see something, go
read the Revelation chapterfive. And you'll start to get an

(15:40):
amazing picture of what's goingto happen on that day.
First off, I want you to seewhat's going to happen for those
that love the Lord and thosethat regularly bend the knee to
his authority. says in verse 11of chapter five, and then I

(16:07):
looked and I heard the voice ofmany angels, numbering 1000s
upon 1000s, and 10,000 times10,000 They encircled the throne
and the living creatures and theelders and a loud voice they
saying Worthy is the Lamb whowas slain to receive power and
wealth and wisdom and strengthand honor and glory and praise,
I get this verse 13. Then Iheard every creature in heaven,

(16:29):
and on earth, and under theearth, and on the sea, and all
that is in them singing to himwho sits on the throne and to
the Lamb. We praise and honorand glory and power forever and
ever. And the four livingcreatures said Amen. And the
elders fell down and worshipped.
Now my friends, go over to thesixth chapter. And let's look at
the other side, starting withverse 15. says this, then the

(16:51):
kings of the earth, and theprinces, and the generals, the
rich, the mighty, and everyslave and every free man hid in
caves and among the rocks of themountains. And they call to the
mountains into the rocks fall onus, hiatus from the face of him
who sits on the throne, and fromthe wrath of the Lamb. For the

(17:15):
great day of the wrath is comeand who can stand here it is,
all of those that have rejectedJesus lordship rejected his rule
said, I will go my own way indefiance. There's a day coming,
when it would be the mosthumiliating the most disgusting,
the the absolutely the worstscenario you could ever picture
or painting, anything you couldever imagine, would be this,

(17:35):
that you have to stand beforethe Holy Son of God, who is Lord
of the universe. Having lived alife in total rebellion, and
disregard to his law. And theysay anything happened to don't
let us have to face that day.
Absolutely universalacknowledgement, even by
creation. You remember whatJesus said, when the people were

(17:58):
praising him? And they said, Youshould shut their mouths. They
shouldn't be praising you. Hesaid, hey, if they didn't praise
me, though, what would cry out?
The rocks would cry out. Thereis something in this world that
is so affected by this world, asyou say, it's so affected by
sin. There is such perversion,we are so absolutely. There's
something so evil about evil,rebellion against God has so
cursed everything, that there isjust a surging longing, volcano

(18:21):
desire from all of creation, toburst forth into praise, when
finally sin has been conqueredforever. And notice what else it
says in verse 11. Back toPhilippians. Two it says this
and every tongue will confess.
At the same time that the kneesbow, everyone falls on their

(18:43):
knees, the tongue starts toconfess. Blessed it is the
person that now in this lifefalls on their knees, and
confesses with their mouth, thatJesus Christ is Lord. The word
confess means to acknowledge orto confess openly. It's used in
Matthew three, six, that peopleconfessing their sins while
being baptized by John theBaptist and the Jordan River,

(19:04):
they publicly would confess whatthey had done against God. And
so here either in joyful faithor in resentment and despair,
every tongue confess is theJesus Christ is Lord. The way
it's worded in the Greek is thisthe word order emphasizes Lord
is actually Lord Jesus Christ isthe way it said in the Greek,
his sovereign deity, Lord, Hishumanity, Jesus Christ, His

(19:27):
redemptive office, everyone isconfessing he is the one of the
sovereign God that we worshipand rule. And notice it says
this to the glory of God theFather, ultimately and finally
God's glory will prevail. Hewins all through the scriptures.
We can see he's been workingeventually all comes out, you
realize, I hate to pick oncertain individuals and God have

(19:47):
mercy on them. I mean that butone day, Phil Donahue, will bow
down and be confessing with allof his heart that Jesus Christ
is Lord. One day Madalyn MurrayO'Hair J Fonda just name a few
that we know in our country, butall of the enemies of God as
well as all the saints who willbe worshipping Him, and giving

(20:10):
them adoration and praise, theothers will fall down. And they
will see without any excuse thatthey have suppressed the truth,
they will realize there thatthey are guilty, the whole world
was guilty. No one's gonna besaying you didn't give me a fair
shake. No one's gonna be saying,hey, it wasn't right, everyone
will be acknowledging that he'sthe Lord. The friends, we have

(20:31):
dealt with the text. I want tospend the next couple of minutes
now, applying it to our lives.
Now listen to this. If you'renot living for a cause, higher
than yourself, you won't bemotivated to have hope and
endurance to go on the battle.
People that are living forthemselves. People that are

(20:54):
their own Lord are people thatcannot live the Christian life?
The world says in a tidal wave.
It says this. exalt yourself.
demand your rights. Do your ownthing. Have this attitude which

(21:20):
was in Christ Jesus think thisover and over is what the text
says there in verse five. Andwhat does that be lowly? esteem
others first, no matter what thecosts, submit to God's will. And
you know what, here's the point.
Now listen, friends, here's thepoint. All will be rewarded by
God one day. The Bible says,Consider him who endured such

(21:47):
opposition from sinful men. Asyou struggle against sin. Think
about Jesus. That bill for thejoy set before him what's the
joy set before him the fact thathe would be given the highest
place that for the joy setbefore him he endured the cross?
Hebrews to nine to 10. FirstPeter want to love it all says

(22:12):
this. He is sufferings of Christand the glories that would
follow the Old Testamentprophets understood, he would
suffer and there would be glory.
You are to consider him here toconsider him as the example who
he was before he came to earthwhat he did when he came to
earth, the depths of relation towhich you went and then also
this, his exalted place now thathe's obeyed. And the point I

(22:35):
want you to see is this, thesame principle applies to you.
This is exciting. This isabsolutely something you want to
know some bottom line principleof faith. You want to know what
it's like to live by faith. Thatmeans this, you seek now a life
of loneliness, even if obediencemeans hardship, even if it means
like you're missing out on allthe fun, you know, we in the
first service, we had amissionary family here visiting,

(22:57):
and I got a letter A coupleweeks ago from another
missionary family, the guyhighly trained, professional,
beautiful home, all kinds ofmaterial possessions. He feels
committed that God has calledhim to go to Africa as a
missionary. He wrote me in hisletter about the sacrifices
they've made not bragging aboutit very humbly writing this

(23:19):
letter, you know, he said, hesaid, Kim, we sold our house and
all of our earthly possessions.
In one day at a garage sale. Wesold their house, not at a
garage sale, they sold theirhouse and they sold all the
earthly possessions in one dayat a garage sale. As I read
that, thinking of thisscripture, I want you to notice
nothing the world looks at thosepeople and they go this loser

(23:40):
Africa, people run around withbones in their nose, no TV. And
we're sitting around thinking asto how am I gonna be able to get
that third VCR with thatautomatic control so that when I
am passing down the hallway,I'll still be able to watch the
show. Here's the point.

(24:02):
Obedience, loneliness,commitment to the will of God,
no matter what it means, nomatter what suffering takes
place. Listen. All of that whenyou do that here means glory.
Their God highly exalted Himbecause of His obedience in the
same principle is true for you.
Jesus said, everyone who exaltshimself will be humbled and he
who humbles himself will beexalted. What he's talking

(24:24):
about, will be exalted when welive humble lives now. Romans
818, I reckon, the King Jamessays, the sufferings of this
present world are not worthcomparing with the glories that
will follow. Do you want to knowif you're going to be a loser
for obeying God's seeking alowly life and doing all that we

(24:46):
can to serve Him? Let me tellyou something, friends. You
can't even compare thesufferings to the glories that
will follow. My friends. Do yourealize the kind of suffering is
the man who wrote that wentthrough? The apostle Paul, if we
had 1/10 of what he wentthrough, we would all be crying
out in agony and wanting tooffer he's given to us every

(25:06):
week. He says, You can't evencompare the glory in heaven and
suffering for Jesus is so muchbetter. The disciples are beat.
And they leave rejoicing thatthey've been counted worthy to
suffer for Christ. What do youthink they're talking about? You
think that every time they gothit, it was just a beautiful
feeling of tickling. No, theywere hitting they said, all it

(25:27):
means glory. They're sufferinghere means glory there, it's
worth it. But these ones to sixand seven says, the unspeakable
riches that he is preparing forus in heaven. Turn with me to
second Corinthians 417. I wantyou to see stuff that you can't
miss. And second Corinthians417. And as you're turning, I

(25:48):
want to read you something fromFirst John three.
I'll be right over there withyou in a second you stand there
and can now that you got it anddon't just be looking there.
Listen to me, okay. Dearfriends, now we are the children
of God and we will be and whatwe will be has not yet been made

(26:09):
known. But we know that when Heappears, we shall be like Him.
for we shall see Him as He is.
Every goodness. Now one dayyou're gonna see Jesus as He is.
Everyone who has this hope inHim purifies himself just as He
is pure. One thing that you'resupposed to regularly run
through your mind is this. Jesusis our example humbled Himself
lowered himself died, a terribledeath suffered, but he's exalted

(26:32):
forever. So my life is this, Iwill lower myself, I will obey
no matter what. And one thing isthis, I will be encouraged
because God will not forget mywords, not even a cup of water,
given his name will beforgotten. Put an encouraging
thing, what a purpose in life.
Now, back I had to go to secondCorinthians four. You're over
there. Are you obediently overthere? Wait for me to get there.

(26:55):
So in Corinthians chapter four,I want you to see something.
Look down to verse 16. To getthis, this absolutely will
rejoice your heart if you let itsink in a second here. Look at
this. Therefore, verse 16, we donot lose heart. Though outwardly
we are wasting away, yetinwardly we are being renewed
day by day. What do you mean?
What do you mean? How comeyou're not losing heart? Well,

(27:16):
outwardly, we're wasting away.
What's that? We're gettingbeaten. We're starving at times.
We're in shipwrecks. We're 40lashes save one five times,
being accused of terrible thingssuffering problems. He says,
outwardly we're wasting away,but inwardly we're being
restored. Okay, Paul, what's thekey? What's the key? Because
everybody in this room, you knowwhat I'm talking about? When you
feel just the opposite. You feelin America outwardly? We've got

(27:40):
it. But inwardly we're wastingaway in the shallowness. What
was it the turn Paul around?
Look at verse 17, for our light,and momentary troubles, are
achieving for us, and eternalglory that far outweighs them
all. All suffering has apurpose, every trouble that you
are in, if you stop right thereand think about this, whatever

(28:03):
it is, physical suffering,suffering against reputation,
financial trouble, what troublethat you just have when
missionaries, you readmissionary stories? What did
they do? They went to greatextents to get the gospel out
the places where I've neverbeen, and what all their kids
die of some terrible diseasewhile they're over there. That
didn't seem right, Lord, whatare you doing, hey, the glory

(28:24):
that those children and thatmissionary will get in heaven,
you can't even compare it, youwon't even be able to admit. And
as I gave the illustration thismorning, I'll take my daughter,
and I will cause her sufferingand affliction for three or four
minutes total, by the time thisthing has gone on her bottom, so
that when she's 20 3040, and 50years old, she will be a

(28:45):
respectful person that can enjoylife much more because she's
learned discipline. Now I'msaying all this with a lot of
hope in my heart, that that'swhat's going to happen. Okay.
But the point is, how much morewill God during the 70 to 80
years or so that we might live?
Put us through trouble so thatit's going to do a work and I

(29:06):
still will far outweigh themall. By the way, when Paul says
in verse 17, our light andmomentary troubles, do you
realize what he's talking about?
He's talking about unbelievablesuffering. Beatings, people
making resolutions, they weren'tgonna eat until Paul was dead.
Hatred, trouble shipwrecks,every type of thing. Hey, it's
just like momentary, it's like,it's like dealing with about a.

(29:27):
It's like Mike Tyson fighting74th ranked lightweight. Oh,
they're just little troublecompared to what it's going to
be in the future. So good. Whatcan we do as a team? So we fix
our eyes, not on what is seenfor what is unseen, for what is
seen is temporary, but what isunseen is eternal. Now one more
thing I want to show you. Tyingthis in with First Peter,

(29:50):
chapter three, where it saysthis when he was suffered, now
get this here he is. Here'sJesus. And there he is sitting
in the tree sitting down notsitting in the courtroom
spitting on his face. I told youin the last week you got to get
al George's class on scourgingeverybody ought to get that tape
and listen to it. I've listenedto it a couple times this week,
went through the scourging, thebeating, the terrible

(30:13):
humiliation that he wentthrough. And the Bible says this
when he was reviled, He revealedNot again. He took it now you
revile me. If the holy spiritisn't in control of me what
happens? You also get reviled. Ireveal back. But when he was
reviled, he'd run out again. Butwhat did he do? He committed
himself to his faithful who, tothe faithful Creator. He commits

(30:38):
himself to God. He says, Lord,He said, Father, not Lord, He
says, Father, this is what'sbest. So we commit himself in
the middle of that suffering youwill do with this, this is Jesus
example. So what do we do whenwe suffer whatever kind of
suffering, you're going throughwhatever kind of troubles come,
they're like momentary incomparison. And we just say

(31:00):
this, Lord, have your own way.
I'm the potter, you're the clay.
Do what you want to do. Work inmy life. I'll take this trouble.
I'll take this suffering,because it's best. So this
principle of Jesus loneliness,humility, and doing what's best

(31:20):
for others can be applied to ourown life. Listen, self sacrifice
for the cause. We read a littlestory, John Howard, voluntarily
making a voyage on a plagueship, and taking up his abode in
a plague hospital, and with fullexpectation of death, but in the
hope that by carefully notingthe peculiarities of the

(31:44):
disease, and leaving papers onthe subject, he might provide
the physicians of Europe withmaterials which would perhaps
enable them somewhat to stay offthe ravages of the awful
destroyer is in his grand selfforgetfulness, the type of a
glorious band whom God hasstrengthened. Many humble man
and woman who simply through theimpulse of Christian love, have

(32:07):
an imminent risk to their ownlives cared for their brother,
and by nursing them ininfectious diseases, bringing
them aid and other circumstancesof peril. Many such never heard
other half a mile from home,will be honored by the master in
that day, with a smile ofspecial tender love, as he says
to them in as much as you did onto one of the least of these my

(32:31):
brother and you did it unto me.
Some of you are thinking though,well, that's great, but what
plague is there in America thatI can go serve in? But you know,
there's something else you cando. Do you know when you
practice, love, as it's taughtin Romans 14 and 15, when

(32:56):
there's a Christian as Paulsaid, if if meat make my brother
to offend, I will eat no flesh,or eat no meat. While the world
standard list I make my brotherto offend, I'll get this here in
regard to what might seemcomparatively trifling, was real
self sacrifice for love's sake,the working of the same mind

(33:18):
which was also in Christ Jesus.
Similarly, my brother and letours be the love which seek if
not our own, if there beanything in your daily life or
mind calculated to lead othersastray. If by some sacrifice of
personal ease, or likey, we canalleviate any distress of others
remove any stumbling block outof their way or gain any true
good for them. Let us nothesitate to follow the dictator

(33:40):
of the royal law of love. Ournatural selfishness will often
struggle vigorously with theimpulses of conscious yet if our
souls that all prosper and be inhealth, one thought will tell in
the controversy with ever fullerpower. If my Savior died for me,
surely I may, in some smallmeasure die daily in self denial

(34:00):
for my brothers. Peter said thisto the Lord one day and I close
with this. He said, Lord, wehave left all to follow you

(34:21):
know what the Lord said. Hesaid, Peter, nobody who has left
home, relatives, family comfort,no matter what you left, I
assure you, you will receiveback some in this life but in
particularly in eternal life.
100 times more. Let's watch outthat the God of materialism and

(34:47):
greed and comfort doesn't eat usup. But that we remember this
passage that he will highlyexalt the law he you highly
exalted the Lord will exalt thanto reward us in eternity. For
obedience and loneliness now,let's pray

(35:13):
Thank you Heavenly Father forthe example of your Son, Jesus
Christ. Would you help us tofollow that example? It is
absolutely beyond what we'recapable of doing. Unless your
spirit strengthens us, and wedetermined with all of our heart

(35:37):
and strength to obeyteach this principle keep this
message active in our hearts andlives. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.