Episode Transcript
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It's good to connect.
It's good to be herewith you this morning.
As we continue our serieson Philippians Defiant.
Enjoy.
And, my attempt today isto one, keep it simple.
I. Woo, keep it clear and bring thisscripture to life so that we can actually
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engage in it and play around with someof the things that Paul is talking about.
Before I do that, I just wannaacknowledge and welcome my very
good friends who are visitingfrom Canberra, Christy and Steve.
And also Christy's parents, Kieran,Marian, they were my pastors
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growing up as a kid into adulthood,so I had to put up with me.
Probably my worst time you guys have,you know, I'm pretty good now, aren't I?
Well behaved.
Don't say anything that I shouldn't.
Their fault and, yeah, it'sprobably, it's actually their fault.
But I just wanna honor you guysand thank you for loving me.
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Christie and Steve, I've knownChristie since I was like seven,
and, I consider her like a sister.
But, Steve came along a bit laterin life, and I remember Christie.
Coming and asking my opinion onwhether she should marry him or not.
And the first reaction was jealousy.
'cause I'd gotten to knowhim and I really liked him.
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I'm like, well, don'ttake him away from me.
So I've, I eventually said yes,but I remember one Sunday, I had
a, had a memory, had a, i, I waslike, yes, you can have his hand.
I remember one Sunday morningpreaching at Langford.
And, I was preaching off a laptopand Steve, Steve's a bit of a tech
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guy, and, Steve goes, oh, can Ijust double check your, your laptop,
make sure it's working all right.
Unbeknownst to me, he'd sort ofsigned in and, and he was sitting
on the, on the media desk and hewas controlling my notes and adding.
I think so that's, that's thesort of the relationship we have.
And he's promised he's promised that he'sgonna try and heckle me today as well.
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So excuse him if he does that.
Shall we pray?
Yeah.
Awesome.
Well, we thank you so muchfor this time together.
We thank you for your joy.
I. We thank you that we canfind joy with you together.
We thank you Lord for this scriptureand we just pray, Lord, that through
the presence of your spirit, thatyou would make known the mysteries
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of this faith that we hold dear.
Make Christ magnified toour hearts and our minds may
capture us this morning we pray.
Amen.
All right, so let's start.
Let's start by reading this passage.
It's a reasonably long beat of passage.
It's, chapter two, verses12 through to 30.
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So let's go.
Are we ready?
Yeah.
Okay.
Therefore, my dear brothers,my dear friends, sorry.
Oh gee, my dear friends, justas you have always obeyed.
So now, not in only in my presence,but even more in my absence.
Work out your own salvation with fearand trembling for it is God who is
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working in you both to will and to work.
According to his good purposes, doeverything without grumbling and arguing
so that you may be blameless and purechildren of God who are faultless in a
crooked and perverted generation amongwhom you shine like stars in the world
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By her holding firm to the word of life,then I can boast in the day of Christ
that I didn't run or labor for nothing.
But even if I'm poured out as a drinkoffering on the sacrificial service
of your faith, I'm glad and rejoicewith all of you in the same way.
You should also be gladand rejoice with me.
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Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to sendTimothy to you soon so that I may
too be encouraged by news about you.
For I have no one else like-mindedwho will generally care about your
INJ interests, all seek their owninterests, but not those of Christ Jesus.
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You know his proven character becausehe has served with me in the gospel
ministry, like a son with a father.
Therefore, I hope to send him assoon as I see how things go with me.
I'm confident in the Lord that I myselfwill also come soon, but I consider
it necess necessary to send you apitis, my brother, coworker, and fellow
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soldier, as well as your messenger.
And minister to my need since hehas, since he has been longing for
for all of you, and was distressedbecause you heard that he was sick.
Indeed.
He was so sick that he nearly died.
However, God had mercy on him and notonly on him, but also on me, so that
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I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.
For this reason, I'm very eager to sendhim so that you may rejoice again when
you see him and I may be less anxious.
Therefore, welcome him in the Lord withgreat joy and hold people like him in
honor because he came close to deathfor the work of Christ Ricking his
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risking his life to make up for whatwas lacking in your ministry to me.
Run outta breath.
Well, there's a lot goingon here, isn't there?
Paul's trucking through some theologicalimplications and encouragement, and then
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sort of at verse 19, you, you kind offeel like he goes off on this tangent.
And, talking about Timothy and aPaphitis, and then Paphitis is sick
and you know, he's dying, almostdying, but then he gets better and
then he'll come and see you and, uh.
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Some scholars actually believe thatverses 12 through to 30 was actually
an original ending to this letter ofPhilippians and that Paul May have
actually come back to this letter and thencontinued writing chapters three and four.
Um.
But that doesn't actually meanthat the flow of this passage
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from, in particular, from verses 19through to 30, a tangent at all.
It doesn't mean that because if youare reading this as a Philippian
in the Church of Philippi, theflow is actually really good.
It makes sense.
You know, deeply Timothyand, you know, aph.
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As Paul's mentioning them,they're, they're familiar to you.
They're, they're intimate peoplethat the, that you know, they,
and they're mentioned by Paulfor really, really good reasons.
In fact, their mentioning helps Paul bringto life his theological encouragement.
So should we just quicklygo over the passage again?
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Firstly, Paul brings this incrediblepassage that we see in verses
five through to 11, the Christ Timthat Dale preached on last week.
If you haven't heard that, youneed to go back and listen to it.
And then he brings, he says, afterthat, therefore he brings these huge,
lofty theological visions and ideas.
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He brings them into sort of thistangible invitational posture.
He goes from big theological declardeclarations and brings them into
more of a welcoming place that wecan participate in these things.
He encourages the church, doesn't he?
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That they have livedlives similar to Christ.
When he says, just as you have obeyed,and then he offers them little warnings
or subtle warnings throughout, notto stray from this pursuit by being
in Christ like humble posture, heuses that phrase, fear and trembling.
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Or you could say submissionand reliance in Christ.
But the benefits of Christ's workon the cross, our salvation that
we're working out should be held up,therefore, in the most humble posture.
Before God and he then he finishesthis thought that for it is God doing
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all this work in and through us.
And then secondly, he weaves in moresubtle warnings not to pursue the wrong
things, but whole wholeheartedly rely uponthe word of life, which is Christ himself.
Thirdly, he mentions these two guys,Timothy and Epaphroditus, and as I
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mentioned before, they're mentionedbecause they're known by the church
and Paul uses them as examplesof individuals who are adopting
the mind and attitudes of Christ.
Lastly, Paul mentioning Ro andhis sickness was actually to make
sure that the church didn't thinkless of the guy's character.
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That he hadn't just left anddisappeared, that he had in fact been
a person that had demonstrated thecharacter and traits of Jesus Christ.
So the flow here for the churchin the Philippians, the Philippi
church is actually brilliantlysensitive and pastoral.
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Paul's love and warmth for the churchis really, really felt in this passage.
He's eagerly encouraging them in the midstof potential distractions for the church
in Philippi to pursue this life in Christ.
So what do we glean from this?
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What is, what's the encouragementfor, for us as a church in Coburn?
Out of this passage, this passage offersus a vision for life with the mind of
Christ, a life built upon and in him.
But is that where we find ourselves?
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Is that where we start?
Do do you, do we have like that,like that word, disposition.
In, in life, like that dispositionthat we see that the Church of Philippi
has, that Paul seems to reveal, isthat, is that where we're at church?
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Is that where you are atas a follower of Christ?
Could you, could you have Paul writeto us and say, just as you've always
obeyed, it's a high calling, isn't it?
So what, what are we pursuing church?
Do you read this beautifulhymn of Christ and say, that is
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what I want to pursue in life.
Are you pursuing this more way,more real way of being human
displayed in Christ Jesus?
Or are you pursuing other thingsthat will be ultimately in vain?
Are you laboring for nothing?
Are you prone to a life of grumblingand arguing a life that declares I
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will have it my way, self-seekingas opposed to humble service?
Just stop for a moment.
Just right now, you'renot listening to me.
Listen to the spirit of God.
Just stop for a moment andask, am I pursuing that life?
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Lord, what am I pursuing?
What am I cultivating?
What am I building in this life of mine?
What is it?
Search me.
Oh, God, know me.
Reveal these things to mebecause sometimes we need to
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ask that pivotal question.
It's not just asking, can webuild something in our lives?
Can we pursue something in our lives?
But it's also asking thequestion that what I am pursuing,
is it worthy of building?
Is it worthy of pursuing?
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And, and this passage in some senseinvites us into this conversation.
Beware, beware not to devote yourselfto building something in life that
ultimately won't be worth building.
But as Paul's so convinced as he invitesus in, he says, oh, there is only
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one life that is worthy of devotionand that is a life radiating and
declaring Christ in all that we are.
We can build things thatultimately lo won't last, can't we?
Giving our whole lives tovisions and projects that will
fade and rot, they'll be lost.
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But this mind of Christ, this,this life of Christ is eternal.
It is the, it is the very lifethat will continue forever.
So let's bring.
To life, how Paul brings to life tothe church in Philippi Philippi, this
pursuit of cultivating a mind of Christwith the same attitude of Christ.
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Well, it seems to me.
That we have a bit of workto do to pursue this life.
However, it's not a striving type of work.
It's not a sheer grunt type of work,but it is a work of letting go and
submitting, and that's my first pointthis morning is that God is calling you
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and I to submit in gladness to his will.
And that's where our work starts.
Church, A life found glad in God's will.
And that word GLAD is really importantthat I've put it there because glad
describes this type of posture of thesubmission that God is inviting us into.
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It's a free welcoming of submitting.
It's a humble and secure realizationthat we are children of God.
That God has made us, that hepositions us like stars in the sky.
The the stars don't makethemselves be there.
God by his sovereign will has made it soit is by his will that we are here today.
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That we can enjoy his creation, thatwe have woken to live this very day.
That the breath that you breatheright now is because of his good will.
Amen.
To be glad.
We need to discover the overwhelmingbenefits of what it means to be
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submitted to the will of God.
Have you ever thought about.
This call of submission to God's willas actually being a life of gladness.
Have you ever thought about it likethat or is it just hard and wary
and that that, that in this life ofsubmission to God, it's a life of
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delight, joy, cheer pleasure, as Pauldescribes that it's the pure life.
What are the benefits of thissubmission to God's will?
I've got three fruits that are Bo boughtout of a life submitted to God's will.
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Are you ready to listen to them?
Do you want them?
Okay, I'll give 'em to you.
All right.
Force my hand.
I was gonna give 'em to you anyway.
Number one, GLADsubmission defies culture.
In a world that champions free willand personal freedom, submitting
gladly to God's will will seemupside down yet for the child of God.
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True joy is not found in independence,but in surrender, this gladness is
not root in circumstances, but trust.
Trust that God's will is alwaysgood, pleasing, and perfect.
Submission to God frees us from thishorrid reality that you and I have to
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build something worthy for ourselves.
Guess what His will does instead,his will invites you and I into
the worthy building of his kingdom.
Second fruit.
His submission brings his presence.
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To submit unto God is to live.
His very presence is to invite, sorry,his very presence into all of our lives.
Unlike the world that saysyou're losing some something by
having this type of relationship.
In fact, we as followers of Christ,children of God are gaining everything
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'cause we're gaining intimacy with God.
We begin to taste and see whatthat, what is it like to walk with
God in the cool of the evening?
It's that type of thing that we'reinvited into in Revelation 21, 3.
It says, then I heard a loud voice fromthe throne saying, look, God's dwelling is
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with humanity, and he will live with them.
They will be his people, andGod himself will be with them,
and they will be their God.
If you want, if you want thekingdom of God to break into
your world, into your life.
Then you need to submit to hiswill and therefore invite his
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very presence into your life.
His presence does the workof renewing our minds.
As we often say here at Red Door,we strongly believe we're putting
all eggs in this basket, thatwhen we are with Christ abiding
relying in him, we become like him.
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We believe that and wewant to live that life.
The third fruit is that a transform,transform, living reveals god's will.
The fruit of a submitted life is alife lived noticeably differently,
radiating peace, joy, and contentment.
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And this life becomes an embodiedtestimony to others, making them say, I
didn't know someone could live like that.
And this work of renewal in our livesbecause of our submitted hearts, minds,
and bodies under God means we don't justspeak God's will, but we actually end
up living his will as living sacrificeswholly and pleasing to him, faultless
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in a crooked and perverted world.
And that fruit soundsgloriously wonderful to me.
It's something that I so want in my lifebecause it, what it equals is freedom.
Submission to God equals freedom.
I mentioned these fruits firstbecause by it we see the vision
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of what God has for us as humans.
So today, today I, I wanna hope thatthis kind of thinking about the fruit,
the benefits of submission life,submitting to God is the glad life.
It's a life full of delight.
It's a full life, full of joy andpeace and cheer and even pleasure.
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I want us to have that vision in ourminds so that we can this morning together
allow our imagination by the work ofthe spirit to be caught up with this.
What do you want in life?
Do you want a life that is surrendered,a life of gladness under the will of God?
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Do you want that church?
Do you want that?
Do you wanna be free?
Are we pursuing this?
How?
How do we pursue this mind ofChrist joyfully surrendering
to the father in heaven?
Okay, let's get into the practice.
How do we practice this together?
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We've spoken about the work of God,what he's doing, and now let's medicate,
meditate upon the work we have to do.
What is in our hands?
Well, our work purely put, these arethe boundaries of our work is always
in cooperation with the spirit of God.
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It's in practicing theresisting of the flesh.
That's a good one, isn't it?
I love that one so much.
The welcoming of having one selfhumbled, the giving up position and
title like Christ Freely Gave up.
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It's the welcoming of curiosityinto the midst of those instinct
instinctive needs that all of us haveto defend ourselves at times, isn't it?
And this work is done in the medi,meditating upon Christ, entering
into his story like a disciple,watching them master their rabbi,
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demonstrating the traits and thecharacters and the ways of God.
It's like looking at the trial of Christbefore Pilate gleaning from his actions as
a teacher in this moment, in this scene.
In his words, seeing the deeperways to live like Christ lives.
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Living a life free of havingto defend myself all the time.
A free to be secure in the father's will.
Yeah,
a few nights ago.
Beck and I were having aconversation that involved
highlighting each other's weaknesses.
Just a just a casual conversation.
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Casual, very casual.
And my flesh, so loves to have thelast say in that type of conversation.
Does yours,
oh, it's so good.
It's like, I'm like an addict.
You know?
Just needing that fix ofwinning the debate of who sucks.
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Just that little bit more, you know,that's where it's coming from, right?
Let's just be honest.
It's not good.
And in this conversation, justthis once, which, you know, I
wanna, I want you to know thatBeck does this way better than me.
You know, way better.
But in this particularconversation, I just, I had, I
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had the whisper of the Holy Spirit
and I, I was, and he said,just hold your tongue.
And I'm like,
oh, she said something.
She said something andI've got the best rebuttal.
It's so good Lord.
It will, it'll just, it will silenceher and I will be the winner.
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You know, if I hold, if I hold mytongue, she'll walk away from this
conversation thinking that shewon and that, that's eats me up.
But the reason why I use that exampleof Christ before Pilate is because in
that split second I'm in that scene, theHoly Spirit takes me and he, he takes me
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to that scene of Christ before Pilate.
And I didn't have to reallythink about that too much.
And then I held my mouth and I felt thewar of the flesh for about three seconds.
And then peace.
And this is, this is just a mundaneexample of practicing, of cultivating,
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of welcoming the mind of Christ into ourlives that we can all participate in.
It's the devotingourselves, yes to scripture.
It's the learning that we areactually students under his word.
Absolutely.
In prayer.
It's the holding all our needs and ourwants before Christ, and then getting to
a place where we relinquish them to him.
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And say, I trust you.
Yes, it's in the confessing absolutelyto one another, but it's not just
confessing, it's also dedicating andcommitting ourselves to that hard
work of cooperating with the spiritand with each other to repentance to.
But it is done in the most mundane ways,this practicing the mind of Christ.
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This is what I wanna do.
Paul brings it down as tangible ways.
I wanna bring it down to tangiblepractices that we can do today.
So let's think about somethingthat we could just agree
with this morning together.
As a church, something wecould work towards and embody.
Just right now, super simple,super practical, you know?
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So do you believe that the mindof Christ, according to the Hyn of
Christ, is rich in love and humility?
Do you agree with that?
Yes.
Okay, good.
Whew.
I was like, I don'tknow what I'm gonna do.
If they say no, just skip that part.
In verse three, the prelude to this isthat Paul welcomes this, this hymn by
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saying that we need to consider eachother more important than ourselves.
Consider the interests.
What he's saying there is, he's not sayingyou've gotta flog yourself to death.
He's not saying that.
What he's saying is he's, let me putit this way, it's to consider the
interest and the concerns of someoneelse just as as important as your own.
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Yeah.
Does everyone agree with that?
That's what Paul's saying.
That's what we're hoping for.
Right?
So therefore, our being present, havingthe posture of giving attention to
one earth of showing interest in oneanother is to act out the mind of Christ.
Yeah.
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Oh, okay.
Right.
So you've agreed with all the premises.
Now here's the cracker.
So let's start practicing andI'm speaking to myself 'cause I'm
terrible with this, with my wife.
I'm shocking with it.
Ugh.
Let's start practicing putting our devicesdown or away when we are with each other.
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I'm looking over at Mark's onhis device, but he is, you're
writing notes, aren't you?
Yeah.
I was like, mark, I'm gonna have tohave a conversation with you now.
I'm Jo.
I'm joking.
I'm joking.
So this is, in our family, we call themRules of Life, and I'm proposing that
we have a rule of life as a family here.
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That if we find ourselves on a device,well, in conversation with another
embodied human being distracted, weare not practicing the mind of Christ.
We're not convult cultivatingthe mind of Christ.
And I'm quite good at doing this withothers, but I'm terrible at doing
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this with my, with my beautiful wife.
It's shocking.
We're out for coffee.
She's telling me somethingand I'm like, oh, you see?
She said, what are you doing?
So I need, I need to be called out.
We are not saying in that practice,but we're actually living that.
The other is, is ofless importance than me
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of not primary interest toyourself in that moment.
Therefore, we are not practicingthe mind of Christ together, and
that's something super practical.
As a church that we can just have a ruleof life with each other, our friends,
our families, and then if we see eachother doing that, what can we do gently
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remind each other that we are cultivatinga community here that is practicing
the ways of Jesus Christ in love.
Yeah.
Is it okay?
Yes.
No, no, no.
I just wanna say there is just, there'ssome disclosures to this rule of life.
If you're out in Fremont ordoing the station of the cross,
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feel free to get a device out.
Don't all just stand there and go.
We're practicing the mind of cross Luke.
Alright?
So something, somethingpractical we can do, right?
And and we can encourageeach other towards that.
And that's simple.
So simple, but it, it, itactually really pushes against the
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culture of the world, doesn't it?
It so does.
It's quite a front and we, we loveto minimize these things in our
spiritual practices, but they'reactually systems and practices we've
adopted from the world, not fromChrist, but let's be clear of that.
Yeah.
To be distracted.
Distracted when with others is to live.
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Live.
If my life is more important than theirs.
Very good.
So I'm really, really trying to conveyto us that our work, yes, is very deep,
but it's also very wide, very, very wide.
That our lived out actions, ourinteractions are also training
ground to adopt this mind of Christ.
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In every time, in every place, the mindof Christ is available to us to cultivate.
Yeah.
Now, finally.
We've gone through somework that God's doing.
We've gone through the benefits,the fruit of that work in us.
If we submit, we've gone through somepracticalities, but I wanted to end
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off with this thought, this meditation.
Finally, I want to end with, withthinking about what our obedience
declares to one another and to the world.
Okay, so I wholeheartedly believe thatin our living out, our obedience to
Christ, our obedience, that that virtueof submission under God, of being obedient
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to his commands is in itself ministering.
It's declaring the work of God.
So that can be, apart from our words,it can be apart from our mental ascent.
But our lived lives in obedience becomessignposts, admittedly, broken signposts.
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We're not the bestlooking signposts are we?
Some of us are.
Some of us aren't, and that's okay.
We're all signposts.
It's the world that welive in, trusting lives.
This is what we're doingwhen we live obedience.
We are living and declaring thatwe are living trusting lives.
Right?
In God's ability to see hismission complete in the world.
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That, that our obedience to God isactually the glorious beauty that
you and I can radiate in our lives.
That, that we begin, like Paul uses thatpicture like shining stars at night.
We become beacons.
We become, we become lightposts,lampposts, lightposts, whatever.
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They're all the same.
And it's really that embodieddevotion to the work of the good news.
That's what it becomes.
It becomes this lived out work,this life, this fleshly witness to
the work that, the good news thathumanity can and is being liberated by.
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Its true king.
Seeing our obeying as asign of trusting love.
Obedience means, doesn't it that sometimeswe continue in devotion at times when
we don't feel like it or we want to,and it's continued because of love.
That's why we continuein obedience to God.
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It's fidelity.
And it's for faithfulness sake that we areobedient to God In John 1415, Jesus says
this, if you love me, if you love me, notkeep my commands, and then you'll love me.
No, no, no.
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If you love me, if I have youraffections, if I have your
desires, then keep my commands.
The love of Christ keeps usin obedience to his will.
So maybe our struggles in obedienceare less about time management,
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about just not trying hard enough.
Maybe they're more aboutthe affections of the heart.
We aren't obedient, aren't we?
We are wayward because we love thewrong things, but Christ wasn't wayward.
Why?
Ah, because he loved theright thing, his father.
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And what did that love spur him on to do?
To be obedient to even deathwhen I got married to Beck.
I was trapped in a form of addictionenslaved, unable to break this
cycle, and I did the sheer grunt.
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I did the confession.
I did the accountability partners,an addiction that was a decade
long and I found no hope.
But in a room in theshops at, at Langford.
I sat praying with someone andin a split second I realized
my affections were wayward.
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Christ in that room came face toface with me and showed exposed
his overwhelming love and devotionto me and my whole heart, mind,
and body just for that moment.
Was free for him.
Free for him.
And from that moment to today, I've neverreturned to that addictive practice.
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You see, my love and affectionsfor Christ have guided and kept me.
Now, I have days when temptationcomes, but can I testify to you
church that his love now speaksfar louder than that temptation?
I have the spirit cooperating with meto keep me from returning to the mess.
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This is the work of God, that he isdoing something in us, humbling us,
capturing our affections so that we might.
Be obedient and free.
If you desire a life submitted andobedience to Christ, having the
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mind of Christ, then where doesit begin and where does it end?
It begins and ends with love.
Love.
Andrew, do you mind just comingup and playing some keys for me?
Thank you, my friend.
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So, right now I just want you to closeyour eyes for the next couple of minutes.
I, and I just want you to sit thereand I want you to, I want you to be
open just at this moment in time.
I want you to be open to tastingand seeing the love of Christ.
(37:12):
I just, just for a moment intime, let us have the imagination
that the revealed presence ofChrist's love can do the work in US
people of God.
Will you join me to take thismoment to take a leap of faith?
(37:34):
Trusting God can do awork in us that we cannot.
And for this moment in time, as you aresitting there, I don't want you to be
concerned about areas of disobedience,but I want you to gather them all up and I
want you to lay them at the feet of Jesus.
(37:57):
All your disobedience you're proneto, to stray from the ways of God.
And just in this moment of time, Ijust want us to just put them at the
feet of Jesus, relinquishing them.
(38:18):
I hand them over, Lord,because I can't, but you can.
I hand them over, Lord.
Trusting that you'll do this work.
(38:40):
Now put him down and now turn your gazetowards this reality of divine love
that the father, son, andspirit has towards you.
Think about God as apursuing God after you.
(39:03):
He's reckless in his love towards you.
He's obsessed
with you, witnessing his affections.
Despite your wayward nature, he isliterally dying to bring you home,
(39:27):
giving you his body, his very life.
With all the desire to bind you andI into the union of this eternal
divine love that the father shareswith the son and the spirit,
(39:53):
Jesus stands before you.
Right now.
I'm stretched out, yearning.
Yearning for you to come into thedeepest realities of acceptance
this morning to taste it once again,to be revived by it once again,
(40:13):
to have hope, return once again.
So just for the next couple of minutes,Lord, by your spirit, speak your
eternal love to each person here.
Christ what you havestarted in us this morning.
(40:35):
We commit ourselves to continuingto live lives of discovering your
love, cooperating with your will
so that we may live lives obedienceto your, to your commands, which is
to love our God with all of our heart.
(40:55):
Soul, mind and strength, and tolove our neighbor as ourselves.
We pray that we would discover moreof the joy, the cheer, and pleasure
of living our lives submitted to yourwill, or glory and praise to you for
your faithfulness and your continueddevotion to us as your people.
(41:22):
Amen.
All right, we're gonna end with praise.
It's always good to endwith praise, isn't it?
Proclaiming who God is.
Amen.
So why don't you stand?
Enjoy, because you are a free people.
You are a liberated people.
You are a glad people.
(41:43):
You're a people that's goingnot by my will but his.
Amen.
Amen.
Awesome.