Untitled Sermon

Know ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Praise God, praise God, praise God. On His days of thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Unto Him we bless His name. Praise God, praise God, praise God. Unto all, to all generations, praise God. Okay, Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians chapter 2. We're looking at the area dealing with having the mind of Christ. Rejoicing, learning to rejoice in the Lord as you have the mind of Christ. As you allow the Lord to work out of your life that that He has gifted you with when you receive Jesus Christ. And as we desire to have the mind of Christ, it's a mind in verses 5 through 11 that shows us it's a mind of humility.

That's set aside unto God for whatever He wants, that will allow Him to use us in whatever way He wants to use us for His glory, not for our benefit. When you and I became a Christian, we literally surrendered ourselves to the Lordship of Christ, knowing that He has our best interest at heart. And so we don't have to strive to obtain anything here. He's got our best at heart.

We just need to seek to be serving Him, to be wherever He wants us to be for His glory, not for our benefit. A lot of things. You're going to do in serving Christ that won't be for your benefit, that are actually going to be a labor. It's going to be out of your way. It's going to be something that's very difficult and very hard to do. And yet we have to be willing to surrender those things to the Lord for His glory, for His goodness, for His benefit.

That's the mind of Christ, verses 5 through 11 in chapter 2. Then in verse 12, we saw over the last couple of weeks, as Paul said, Therefore, my dear friends, as you've always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it's God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life, in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.

But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice. With all of you, so you too should be glad and rejoice with me. And we mentioned that if indeed we are having the mind of Christ, then there should be some noticeable difference in our lives. I mean, our lives should be different from the ways of the world, from the lives of the people in the world.

Our desires should be different. Our actions should be different. Our attitudes should be different. Let me show you an overlay. This is based on a... on a study that was done by Princeton, a recent survey in conjunction with Gallup, with a Gallup poll. So Princeton did the survey for Gallup. I don't know if you can see that or not. This is dealing with the levels of commitment, the levels of religious commitment in this country.

Now, religious commitment in this study was everything religious. It wasn't just simply Christian. And there's a difference, if you aren't aware of it, there's a difference between religion and Christianity, okay? Christianity is not a religion. Religions are those efforts based and made on the part of man to find God and to obtain an appeasement and acceptance

and be able to come into the presence of God based on man's effort. Man's looking for God. He's looking for nirvana. He's looking for the third stage. He's looking for that godhood, and he's moving towards that based on his own efforts trying to find God. Christianity, on the other hand, is God's total effort. God initiated his effort. God looked for man and found him as he was lost and not looking for God,

not caring about the things of God, actually detested God, didn't want anything to do with God. God reached down to man out of love and drew man unto himself, making that pathway open through the shed blood of his son, Jesus Christ on the cross. So religion is man's effort to find God, where Christianity is God's effort to bring man back into a relationship. But this study includes them all.

And just for the... Just for the sake of statistical comparison, humor me. 94% of the country, of our country, the society in America, says they believe in a God or a universal spirit. 94%. So we should have a really fantastic country. 94% believe in God or a universal spirit. Well, it gets worse. 92% state a religious preference. Now, in that, it means that they don't just think that there's a God out there somewhere.

They either have said they're Buddhists or they're Islam or they're Confucianists. Confucianists. Or they're Christians. They state a religious preference. So of the 94% who believe in God, 92% believe in a specific religion. 90% pray. 90% of people pray. It's almost a foregone conclusion that people in this country pray. Now, I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

I should die for a week. Pray the Lord my soul to take him in. Prayed that every, every day when I was growing up. You know, what did it mean? Beats me. I just did it every day. 90% of the people pray. 84% believe in a personal God. Now, this moves it a little closer to more of where Christianity comes into this, because really, Christianity is the only one that believes in a personal God.

The other religions believe in a state of Godhood or a God. Or Hinduism has 340 million gods that you can't really get personal with. I mean, you know, you could spend an eternity just learning the names of each one of them. They don't even know who they are. 84% believe in a personal God. So a relationship that you can actually have with God. So we're getting a little closer here.

75% pray at least daily. So the 90% who pray, 75% pray at least daily. 69% claim membership in a faith community. So now we're getting down to a denominational kind of thing. Not only are they saying that they're Christians, but they they're a particular brand, you know, they follow a particular community, whether Pentecostal or Baptist or charismatic or whatever.

58% now say that religion is very important in their lives. Now, 94% believe in some deity. But now we're down to only just a little over half of them say it's very important in their lives. Let me ask you a question. What good is it if it's not very important in your life? Who cares if you believe in something else, if it's not very important in your life?

Think about the logic of this as we go down, because it it keeps getting worse here. 43% attend church in a typical week. Now, that's more of the 84% who believe in a personal God. You could you could. But really, it's taken 43% of the 94% attend church in a typical week. So about half of those who say they believe in a deity worship him. Go to go to church to worship him.

30% say that religion is the most important part of their lives. So a third of the people who say they believe in a deity, they believe in a universal spirit, they believe in a God. Only a third of them say that it's the most important part of their lives of that only 13% have a transforming faith that's manifested in measurable, attitudinal and behavioral ways. So only 13% say that their faith has affected them to the point that it's changed their attitudes and it's changed their behavior.

So I'm asking you this morning, is there any difference in your life because you believe in Jesus Christ, does it make any difference at all? Or you look just like the world, you have the same attitudes as the world, the same views as the world, you want what you want when you want it and you're going to have it. No different than the world. You see, only 13% of 94% of the people who said they believed in a deity, only 13% of them claim that that had any effect on their attitudes and on their behaviors.

And the way I read the scripture, unless it does, it's not genuine. It's not real. If you've made some commitment to Christ at some time, if you've walked some mile at some time, if you've prayed some prayer at some time and your life's not any noticeably different, then you better check and lay it before the Lord. And say, God, help me. It's interesting in this study.

It's it's a study that's called 3000 miles wide and three inches deep talking about our nation and its spirituality. It says that there's two key elements that could be offered as explanations for this religion morality paradox. While the percentages on the extent of attachment to organized religion are impressive, levels of church going, for example, are among the highest in the entire world results from the surveys on the depth of commitment are sometimes less impressive. Large numbers of Americans are biblical illiterates and lack awareness and understanding of their own religious traditions and of the central doctrines of their faith.

Large percentages, most of the people who claim to be religious and Christians don't have any idea what the word of God says about their particular doctrines of the faith that they adhere to. And so it doesn't have a practical effect on their attitudes around their lifestyles daily. Listen, if if if you have submitted your life to Jesus Christ. And asked him to bury your sins, ask him to remove your sins.

If you've come to Christ, there should be three noticeable differences in your life. And this is what Paul is telling us here in Philippians chapter two. As a result of that activity and that work in your life and Christ working out of you, that salvation that he has placed in you by his grace. There should be three noticeable differences in verse 14. We saw last time listed the first one that you will do everything now without complaining or arguing.

That you will move towards that, that you will make that effort. That's a command. Do everything without complaining or arguing. How did you do this week? Strap on the engines a couple of times. Those Jada's and blast through a crowd or blast through a day. Several that I talked to said they'd made it. You know, they made it a day without but that it was a real struggle.

You know, it is hard, but it's extremely important. And we'll see as we go through here just how much of our witness is affected by that first step. Just surrendering to the Lord and seeking to do all things and all things here, of course, is that that pertains to the working out of our salvation, we should begin to be seeing God develop in us. A contentment that make a difference where we are, what we're doing.

We're content. We're not we don't have to strive after these things. It doesn't matter what God is is called us to do or where he's put us. We shouldn't be complaining about these circumstances. He's in control and we're learning that control. And so continue to let him be working out of you the grumbling and complaining and bringing out the gift that he's put in.

Continue to minister to one another. Now, the second noticeable difference we begin looking at today is in verses 15 and 16. And you'll notice that this is a continuation of verse 14. So this just develops out of this as you do everything without complaining or arguing, verse 15, so that you may become blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life, Paul says, in order that I may boast to Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.

If you indeed manage this past week to go one day without complaining, I bet it was noticeable. I bet it was noticeable to people around you. You will be an effective witness to others. And the second noticeable difference here, if you want something to hang this on, is you will be demonstrating consistent Christianity, consistent Christianity. Let me give you a hook to kind of hook this on and it'll explain itself in a minute.

You will be sticky stars, sticky stars. And we'll get to that in just a second. If you go without complaining or if you if you start moving in your life where you're not complaining and not grumbling and not arguing, you will be an effective witness. You will stand out in the workplace. You will stand out in your school because you will be a believer who is doing that around nonbelievers.

And that's tremendous. That's a tremendous witness. But let me let me suggest something here that maybe you didn't notice, because Paul is talking about all of this in the context of the church, of the body of Christ, that the church, that the body of Christ would. Work out its salvation without grumbling or complaining in the body of Christ. See, so not only will you be an effective

witness out there as a believer among nonbelievers, as you individually are doing this, but as a fellowship does this collectively and people come here and when they come here, they're not hit with complaining and backbiting and gossiping. But they're met by a church that loves them. And the people here don't grumble or complain. I mean, you're going through some horrendous circumstances. You've got a lot of guys here that work for Total losing their jobs.

And as you see them trusting the Lord and they don't know what's ahead, but they know God's in control. It's awesome. I mean, out in the world, those same people, those people who are in the similar circumstances are at the mule barn, you know, or at one of the bars and they're going, this is terrible. This is awful. I don't know what I'm going to do. You know, but when you've got a community

of believers that says that is there to support and hold one another up, grumbling and complaining never solves anything. Just digs your hole deeper. And wider allows more people in. But it doesn't it doesn't do anything to better the situation. As we do that as a fellowship, we seek to set grumbling and complaining aside and not do it. You will see consistent Christianity being

lived among us and it shines forth and people notice. Have you ever wondered why there's fifty some churches, fifty two churches in our city in the area right here? And so much of the town is unsaved and unchurched, doesn't go to church. I wonder why you ever ask anybody what the number one answer is to many hypocrites in the church, too many people there who wear all their fancy clothes and do all these things and tell you what you ought to be doing and they don't do it.

Right now, why most of you quit going to church sometime. So you see, as we as a community of believers believe this and start setting aside grumbling and complaining, then in effect, what we're doing is walking the talk. We're not just saying what we believe, but it's actually being lived out in our lives. And that's what the context is implying is that this happens among believers within the church.

And when that happens, it's it's a drawing factor. People are drawn to that. So we want to we want to be demonstrating consistent Christianity in this. And he goes on to say here that you will be blameless and pure and without fault in a crooked and depraved generation of those three words, blameless, pure and without fault. Those three examples are synonyms just about all three emphasizing the same thing.

Blameless is a word which means pure or innocent without blame in the matter literally of grumbling and complaining. So we want to be consistent with this. OK, so you made it maybe half a day last week. Shoot for three quarters of a day. This week, if you made it a day, go for two this week. In other words, don't stop. It's just like we're listening to the tapes.

Yeah, this is Labor Day. And and we've been listening to the tapes all summer. And so, you know, the the actual emphasis or the push on listening through the Bible on tape is is over, I won't be pushing it. Don't stop. Keep doing it. You know, the same thing here with grumbling and complaining this week. Purpose got to help me get through two days without grumbling or complaining and give

give me a perception so the minute that I start to grumble, it's like your spirit poking a hot poker in my heart and I'm going, oh, stop, just make it stop so that I can be consistent in my Christian walk, blameless, blameless, pure, pure is from a root word meaning unmixed or absent from any foreign impurities. It's used in conjunction with wines that aren't mixed with water, but they're pure. They're the pure fruit of the vine. That's what initially what they were saying about the wine at Cana when Jesus turned the water into wine, which is amazing because it was water and he not only turned it into wine, but there was no taste of the mixture.

They didn't taste. Water and taking pure water and turn it into wine that doesn't taste mixed is a miracle. That's the way our lives are supposed to be blameless. We're blameless in the sense that we are that we're innocent of grumbling and complaining. This is emphasizing it again. We're not mixed with the lifestyle of the world that has the world's desires.

And specifically, that's evident is we're not grumbling or complaining. And then thirdly, was without fault means to be unable to accuse of wrong. So in context, it shows that we are children of God without the blemish of grumbling and complaining. Simple. And he says now and we're getting to the sticky stars part here in the midst of a crooked and depraved generation, your life.

Listen, if you do that, you know, you talk about walking the Christian walk. Well, I got all these things we've got to do. And, you know, I want to I want to not do this and not do that. And I want to memorize the Bible and I want to memorize at least all the books of the Old Testament so I can say I'm all in order, you know, whatever this gives us a focus to just begin with those two things, grumbling and complaining, surrender those things to the Lord because you're in the midst of a crooked and a depraved generation.

Now, the word crooked. There's the word scoliosis in the Greek. So we get the English word scoliosis, which means a curvature of the spine. It's a word that means the opposite of straight. Literally, you and I live in a in a scoliosis society, a society that's bent where morals are concerned, a society that seeks to bend things to fit their own activities, the word of God lays it out straight.

But we live in a society where even as Christians, the Christians are seeking to bend the rules or bend the word of God so that it fits their appropriate sin. We're to live as straight as a stick, literally, OK, and that's adhering by faith to what we believe that the word of God says that you might be called radical when you do that. There's another article if I have time to read, there's all kinds of stuff you find in yesterday's paper in the faith and values section of the Wichita Eagle on the front page. There's a whole big article.

It says Christian tug of war. Many liberal and moderate Protestants and Catholics Catholics balk at describing themselves as Christians because the word of God tends to link them to conservative religious beliefs, behaviors and even political opinions. So what this is saying is that the Christians within the Christian community are finding it offensive to be identified with Christians because of what the so-called right wing Christians are doing so much of today. Let me read just a little section here.

There's a tug of war, it says, for the ownership of the word Christian in America that goes well beyond debate over the politics of the Christian coalition. Well, this fellow is. Among many liberal and moderate Protestants and Catholics who find themselves hesitating to call in their birthright to describe themselves, quote, to say, I am Christian, they describe a widespread feeling that the word Christian has been taken over by a particular community, namely evangelicals and other religious conservatives. You know what an evangelical is?

You know what the word evangelical means? Comes from the Greek word evangel, which is a message bearer, which means to speak forth a message, which literally means to speak forth the word of God. See, evangelicals are those people who have the audacity to believe that you should tell other people about Jesus, like at some command or something that were to go out into all the world and tell people about Jesus baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. But this idea of a Christian has been taken over by this group of evangelicals and other religious conservatives.

Recent Gallup polls indicate that while about 80 percent of Americans call themselves Christian, only about 20 percent identify themselves as evangelicals or born again, only 20 percent. That goes with about the 13 percent that we saw that say that their religion transforms the attitudes and behavioral patterns of their lives, roughly about the same thing. So because because the Christians have the audacity to stand up for their faith and vote for those in politics who conform to biblical Christianity. And that's something else that they that they complain about further in the article.

It's a big article. It goes on to the next page here and says more or less that they even have the audacity to use the Bible to back up what they do when it makes liberal and moderate Christians have to do the same thing. And it's harder for them to do. You see, it's because they're bent from the truth. And we want to consider ourselves Christians. And it even says it even says in here that, oh, where is it?

I can't find it right now. Must must I must not be needing to find it. But it basically said that Christians are those who if you go to a Methodist church or to the Baptist church or the Presbyterian church, whatever church you go to, you're a Christian, it makes you a Christian. This this says pressure on the word is such that in the larger in the larger culture, the words Christian and Jesus have a real hard time crossing the lips of people in a public way, says Morgan of Christianity.

Today, he points to the television series Touched by an Angel, which is shot through with Christian ideas about God. But they're not labeled as Christian, quote, because the nature of Christian claims seem so exclusive that unless you confess to Jesus Christ as Lord, there's no way to God, end quote. And it's like people have got this idea. You see, that your religion and your faith is a personal thing and it has nothing to do with with, you know, anybody else.

And for those that tell people about Jesus and tell them that he's the only way and that his way is the only way that they're bigoted and conservative, radical right wing Christians, when when the Bible says that we're to go tell other people about our faith and and as far as him being the only way, well, it's not just conservative evangelical Christians that do that. I mean, we do that because Jesus said in John, chapter 14, I am the way definite article in the Greek. He didn't choose not a way. He didn't say I'm a way to God and a truth and a part of life.

He said, I am the way only and the truth only and the life only. And no man. And he said this. I didn't. The evangelical Christian community didn't originate this. It's not in any of our publications anywhere other than this one. And no man comes to the father but by me, he said. And all we do is tell people that that's what he said. So that must mean that that's what he meant.

Now, how you can spiritualize that. I mean, there's a lot of denominations and Christian persuasions to have a lot of trouble with Daniel and Revelation. That's OK. You take time to study it in the light of all of it. And it makes sense. But set those aside. I am the way and the truth and the life. And no man comes to the father but by me does not leave you much room for anything.

And we want to allow for other things. Then you'll bend in other places, like when he talks about sexual sin or when he talks about greed or when he talks about honesty or when he talks about giving unto the Lord, we want to bend the truth where those things are concerned. That's a crooked world. And see, that's all Satan wants you and I to do is bend the truth.

A little bit. Just bend it a little bit. He knows you're saved if you if you've given your heart to Christ. He knows you're saved. He just wants you to bend a little bit, bend the truth. Don't take a stand for this. I mean, I can just bend a little bit. Let them do what they're going to do. But you and I see are to stand out as lights in the midst as stars in the midst

of a crooked and a depraved generation, a twisted generation. And I think I said the word depraved means to twist or to turn away from the truth. And he says then in which you shine like stars in the universe, verse 16, as you hold out the word of life, here's the star part straight as a stick. You commit your heart to the Lord. Fill me, Lord, with the mind of Christ.

Work out of me that salvation that you've put in me so that I might be blameless and pure and without fault. I'm not going to grumble and complain, Lord. I'm purposing not to do that because you're in control. You know what's right for my life. You'll give it to me. I don't have to strive after it. And you'll be straight as a stick in the midst of a bent, twisted society.

And then it says you'll shine like stars. You'll shine like stars. I had a brother asked me the other day about the comparison. Of the stars is as to whether or not there's any any significance here with with Abraham when God took Abraham out and showed him the stars and said, your descendants will be like the stars of the sky. And later on, that his descendants would be like the sands of the sea.

And maybe there is a contrast there between Isaac and Ishmael, Isaac, the stars of the sky and Ishmael, the sands of the sea. Possibly. I don't know. But in any sense, the stars are significant throughout scripture because they testify of Christ, they testify of the gospel, Psalm 19, verse four, verses. One through four, the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the

work of his hands day after day, they pour forth speech night after night. They display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth and their words to the end of the world. Before I came to Christ, the guy that was talking to me about the Lord, my question was and I was hesitating because I felt like I was going to have

to give up, you know, so much like I was going to lose my perverted lifestyle, all my drinking, I was going to lose and all my smoking, I was going to lose all my rest of my activity, I was going to lose. And so I always ask you, well, if the thing I don't understand is if Jesus is, you know, what about these people in Bora Bora? You know, they never heard about Christ. What about the people in in outer Mongolia that there's been no missionaries to ever get to those, you know, the same basic questions you want to ask to avoid having to submit yourself to the Lord?

The answer is right there. Psalm 19, verses one through four, the heavens declare the glory of God. Paul said in Romans, chapter one, that the things that are invisible, the power of God that you can't see has been declared to the world by the things that are visible so that we're without excuse or that the heavens declare the glory of God. There's an excellent.

Study by Chuck Missler on what's called the Mazaroth. The Mazaroth is what God did with the constellations when he set them in the heavens, the astrology charts or how they've been perverted. And that was probably at the Tower of Babel. You see the constellations. If you take the constellations, the twelve constellations that the astrologers have perverted and you look

at them as they're set forth in the heavens, the Mazaroth, it's called. They declare the scriptures from beginning to end and how God sent his son to die for us on the cross. The heavens declare the gospel. You ever go outside on a star filled night? Maybe you're up in the mountains by yourself or maybe you're just you're just out here and and you just kind of go out and sit in a field

and there's no light, other light around. You just sit there and you look at the stars. You know, one of the first things you sense is a sense of awe at how vast that vast that is because your eyes can't take it all in at the same time. I mean, you keep scanning and every time you scan, you see something new and you look back over here. You can't take it all in.

And the first thing you sense is just an awe that there's something bigger than you out there, there's something got to be in control of this whole thing. That's exactly why God set the stars out there is as a testimony. When you and I take time to do that, you ever notice how the busier you get, the less time you have to do that. Satan wants you busy, wants you doing all kinds of things other than sitting around thinking about anything else because you'll think about God. You don't want to think about God.

Heavens declare the glory of God. And you sit, you look at the stars and you realize that something's something's out there. And and the more you sit there and look at that, the more you realize just how insignificant you feel. And yet you sense some presence and you begin to speak and God has done that around the world. Psalm 19 says so that there's a there's not a people anywhere that hasn't heard.

There's not anywhere, any speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth. Their. Words to the ends of the world. Stars declare the glory of God. And he says that you and I, when we seek to have the mind of Christ, not to grumble or complain, walk is consistent Christians straight as a stick. You and I just shine forth the stars.

You just shine because you're there. You're a testimony because you're there. Now, notice the stars plural. So this is taking any idea more of the community of believers that as we do that together. Wow. Wow. You get a whole fellowship that's purposing to live their lives this way, not grumble or complain, not gossip or backbite, not getting a little clicky circles where you talk about everybody

else and what all they're doing, but you purpose not to do that, but to pray for one another and to love one another and to keep yourself walking straight. Even when the world wants to bend you over to fit its own ways. Wow. You shine forth like stars. Sticky stars straight as a stick shining out. He goes on to say, as you hold out the word of life. Now, if you have NIV and you're reading it, you have a little star there and you

notice you have a footnote down at the bottom and it says or on to as you hold out or on to the word of life doesn't doesn't hinder it in any way. And actually it expands that definition. If you're you're that way because you hold on to the word of life, you're holding on to your faith in Jesus Christ. And you're doing that because you believe the word of God and you're holding on to this and trusting what it says.

And you're going to be that because you're holding on to it. If you're holding out the word of life, that means that you believe it and you're walking that way. And as you walk that way, you're holding out the word of life for others to see and grasp on to and they can believe you're a sticky star out there in a community where you work as we gather together and praise our Lord and seek to love one another, we shine forth and it is a light. It's an inexplainable light and it's a drawing factor.

Sticky stars, consistent Christians. Finally, the third noticeable difference versus 17 through 18. You learn to become least. You learn to become least. If the mind of Christ is being developed in you and you are working out your motivation with fear and trembling, you will be purposing not to grumble or argue, not to mumble or complain, grumble or complain.

To be a sticky star, to walk straight as a stick before the Lord, shining like a star, and you will be learning to be the least. 17 and 18. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. Stop there, verse 17. Jesus said in Luke 9, 48, for he who is least among you all, he is the greatest.

He who is least among you all. He is the greatest. If you are in the world, you are seeking to be the greatest, seeking to be noticed, seeking to be known, seeking to gain for yourself, seeking what you want for yourself. But if you're in the kingdom of God and your mind is being transformed and conformed to the image of Christ, then you are going to be seeking to be the least, not known.

Just serving without having to be seen, without having to be known, without claiming rights, without wanting for self. It's totally opposite of the world. Imagine Muhammad Ali 30 years ago. He float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. I am the leastest. Now, wait a minute, that doesn't fit. People don't fight to be least. They're doing it more at the agape feast.

It's funny to watch, you know, when we pray here at the feast. And then, OK, go through the line. People hold back. You know, no, you go ahead. No, after you. No, you go ahead. No, you know. But we need to do it in other things other than just waiting. That can we can take that too far. And a lot of us get unruly if you wait too long, you know, to get to the table.

So but we need to take that beyond the cover dish dinners and out there into where your needs are more important than mine. And for the gospel sake, I will surrender my wants and needs so that you might be lifted up. John the Baptist, when his disciples came and said Jesus is baptizing more than we are, he said he must become greater and greater and I must become less and less. And really, that's the mark of us as Christians.

If I am really growing in my faith, then I become like Jesus did in Chapter two, verses five through eleven. I become less and less and he becomes more and more to where when people look at me, they see him, they see the love of God. And that's where it's manifest. That's where it's manifest is right here. Paul said for me to live as Christ. And then he emphasizes this here.

And I don't want you to miss out on it. Steve's going to talk about some more tonight at the evening service. But he says, even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad with all of you poured out like a drink offering. The drink offering is part of the Old Testament. And you need to look back to the Old Testament to find it.

The first place it's mentioned is back in Genesis, chapter thirty five, verse 14, where Jacob at Bethel. He builds an altar to the Lord and he pours out water onto this rock as an offering to the Lord, as a drink offering to the Lord. You see it again when David is in the cave at a Doolam. And he just kind of, you know, he's thinking, man, I'd like to have a drink from the from the pools there at Bethlehem.

And three of his men go down. They break through the lines and bring him back water to drink. And he goes, they bring in the water and he realizes where they brought it. He says, how? How could I presume to drink when these guys have risked their lives for me? And he pours it out. Now, initially in our culture, from our thinking, you go, wait a minute. I risked my life to get to how you drink that sucker.

You know, what David's doing is offering it to God. It's an offering unto the Lord, a drink offering unto God. You see it added in to the sacrificial system in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, where it's added to the burnt offering and added to the meal offering. But it's never part of the sin offering or the trespass offering. It's never a part of the main offering that was that represented to see

the sacrificial system is all representative of Christ and his sacrifice and of us and our consecration. On the. Consecratory offerings, the burnt offering and the meal offerings where we it's a it's a it's a picture of our service to God. That's where the drink offerings were poured. And usually the priest would come in with a flask of wine and he would just pour it

on top of the burnt offering or the meal offering as it's being consumed on the altar. And what would happen to it? It just vaporize. But what it would do would enhance the smell of the main offering. You see, that's what Paul sees himself as his life as he doesn't want to be. I mean, you read Corinthians and you can get kind of messed up because Paul's defending his apostleship.

He has a reason. He has a reason for doing that there, but he doesn't want to be recognized. And up there and hey, now appearing at Corinth, you know, Paul, the apostle and get eleven million dollar endorsements and sell Hanes underwear. And every time you see Hanes underwear, man, you're going to think of, you know, you've been briefed and here's Paul, the apostle.

He's not one to make a big thing out of what he does for the Lord. See, he's saying what I'm doing for the Lord. If I'm to be offered up here and I'm to die, just hearing that your faith is thriving is great for me, that's all I want. So I just want to be my life offered up so that when you when you smell my. Life, when you when you when you think about me, you just think about Christ.

That's all I want to be. Is that what your life is? Are you trying to stack up stuff here? You're trying to gain for you here now. You see, when we're transforming, we hold that stuff with an open hand. It's not mine to grasp. It's his. He can do with it as he pleases. I'm his servant, his bond slave. I'm haggis. I'm set aside unto him. I'm already in Christ.

The rest of this stuff's really insignificant. Where he has me, what he wants me to do is really insignificant. I'm his. And see, all of this is just developing. It's saying chapter one all over again, who we are and what we are and where we are. In Christ. He says he's poured out here. We'll close with this. It's the word spendo in the Greek, which means spent.

He's literally poured out. He's literally spent just like Jesus in the kenosis in chapter in chapter two, verses five through eleven, emptied himself. We are to come to the point in our Christian walk where we empty ourselves, where we're spent for Jesus, not seeking personal recognition, not wanting to get a little bronze plaque put on a pew or on a piano or somewhere in a church so that people go, oh, well, it wasn't great open the hymnal and there's your name. Wow. You donated a billion hymnals.

Aren't you glad? Aren't you really something? No, I just want to I just want to live. My life and have the Lord live it through me so that I touch somebody else for Christ, like I'm a sticky star and they see that life and they go, I want that. I want to follow Jesus. That's what we're called to do. So are we any different? Our lives and our lives any different from the lives of the world?

I pray they are. Let's stand together. Father, people really live this way. It would be such a difference in just the city that we're in. It would make a marked difference to the community. Father, probably all of us here claim to be Christians. And I pray that we are. And if there's someone here who's not Lord, may they just sense the draw of your spirit, your your loving spirit and just surrender their hearts

to you right now and realize what work you've done for them. But all those who are here and name the name of Jesus as their savior and their Lord, God, may you free our lives of grumbling and complaining. May we walk straight as a stick in a crooked and depraved world, seeking to be least, seeking to be poured out on the sacrifice. You're the one that's going to raise up.

You're the one that's going to reward. We don't have to seek it here. The things we think we give up here. You pour out such blessing that goes beyond whatever we think. We sacrifice. So help us, Lord, to let it go. Play it at your altar. Seek to be where you want us to be for Jesus sake and for his glory. Amen.